Seventh Year

Althea felt deliriously happy. The past few days had passed far too quickly for her tastes, and had felt exactly like a dream. She couldn't believe that she and Remus were in a couple. She knew Remus, and she knew that he was shy and he didn't think anyone would want him because he was a werewolf. So, him suddenly confessing that he had feelings for her felt a little bizarre, and she wondered what had led to it. She had a feeling that one of his friends had finally talked some sense into him, and had given Remmy the encouragement that he needed. Althea was just glad that he had confessed his feelings for her before it was too late. Voldemort and his followers were growing braver, and there was no certainty that any of them would survive.

This was a war, and there were always casualties in war. Althea sat next to Remus in the Great Hall, grabbing toast and jam. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. She hoped that the two of them would survive this, but looking at her group of friends she couldn't help the sinking feeling in her stomach that told her that there would be casualties. Remus glanced down at her, catching her and she timidly smiled at him.

"Morning Thea," he greeted her, eating some oatmeal.

"Hi Remmy," Althea murmured shyly, a blush appearing on her face. "Could you help me with my Arithmancy homework?"

"You don't even have to ask," Remus told her, with a small grin. "Arithmancy and Ancient Runes are…enjoyable subjects. But, DADA is much more fun."

Althea scowled, "I understand DADA, Remmy. I don't understand Arithmancy, and I only mildly understand Ancient Runes."

"Everyone understands DADA," Remus answered with a roll of his eyes. He hesitated, "Well, almost everyone."

"So, about that Arithmancy?" Althea asked.

Remus laughed a little, "I already told you that I'd help you with it, Althea."

She pouted, "I know, I just wanted to make sure." The owls swooped down from above delivering mail, and Althea grabbed her letters and the Daily Prophet. "Mum and Da, wrote to me." She glanced at Remus, "Your Mum, wrote to me too."

Remus's eyes widened and he reached out trying to snatch the letter from her hand. The look of utter panic on his face made Althea laugh a little and she leaned away from him, holding the letter close to her chest. Remus wrapped an arm around her waist, tugging her closer to him and she tried to twist away laughing.

"God, they're sickening," James groaned from across the table, and the two stilled. "No, continue on. Just know that I think you're disgustingly cute. Really, don't worry about giving the rest of us diabetes."

Althea giggled, shoving Remus away. "Are you jealous that I stole Remmy, James?"

James glared at her, "I am not jealous." He looked to Sirius, "Tell her that I'm not jealous Padfoot!"

While Althea laughed at James, Remus took advantage of her distraction and snatched the letter from his mom to her away from her. Althea turned to him, glaring as he ripped open the letter and read it. When she reached out to grab it he batted her away, and she leaned back a pout on her features. Once Remus had finished reading the letter, he handed it back to Althea.

"Really, Prongs you told my Mum that I was dating Althea, before I even got the chance to tell her?" Remus said, narrowing his eyes at one of his best friends.

"Yes, yes, I did, mate." When Remus's glare intensified, James sighed, "I knew that you wouldn't tell her right away, mate. So, I thought I would do it. Don't be mad Moony."

"I'm not mad, I am only frustrated because you didn't let me tell her." Remus told him. "I sent her a letter about it a few days ago."

"Oh," James mumbled awkwardly looking down at the table. "Sorry, mate."

Remus rolled his eyes. Althea leaned against him, looking down at the letter that his mom had sent her.

Dear Althea,

James has told me that you are my Remmy's girlfriend, and I am so thrilled. You're the first girl that Remus has ever expressed an interest in. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm probably being incredibly embarrassing right now. My name is Hope, and I'm Remus's Mum, but I'm assuming that you are already aware of that. I don't know much about you, I'm afraid, because Remus is a very private person. Could you perhaps tell me about yourself?

Signed,

Hope Lupin

The letter was a little odd and eccentric, Althea thought, but as Remus's first girlfriend I guess it's understandable. Althea shook off the odd letter, but did promise herself that she would write Hope back. She wanted to have a good relationship with Remus's parents. Althea quickly glanced through the other letters, one from her parents and one from Anastasia. The only thing that had been delivered to her that morning was the Daily Prophet, which she was hesitating to read because she knew that it would focus primarily on Voldemort, and it would sugarcoat things so as not to alarm the public. Shaking off her trepidation, Althea grabbed the Daily Prophet, flipping through it and looking at the headlines that said: FENRIR GREYBACK AND WEREWOLVES JOIN VOLDEMORT, VOLDEMORT SEEKING ALLIES IN THE GIANTS, VOLDEMORT'S FORCES GROWING, etc. Nearly all the headlines were about Voldemort. Honestly, Althea would have preferred to read something about Quidditch.

"What'd your Mum and Da, have to say?" Remus asked, wrapping an arm around Althea's waist as she leaned against him, dropping the Daily Prophet onto the table.

"I don't know, I haven't looked at it yet," Althea whispered. "I'm scared too. I'm afraid that they're going to tell me that they aren't safe in America, or that something bad has happened."

Remus pulled her as close as he could given that they were seated on the bench. "I'm sure they're fine, Thea." He whispered.

"But what if they aren't?" She replied. "What if something has happened?"

Remus sighed, "I don't know. But I know that we'll deal with it if the time comes."

Althea bit her lip, leaning into Remus's embrace. Slowly, she picked up the Daily Prophet again, glancing through the articles. All of them were written in a blasé way, like the author was trying to sugarcoat it. Even looking at the number figures, Althea could tell that many of them were wrong or numbers weren't given and it was just a vague "a lot" or "many". The Ministry of Magic, was trying to stop the public from panicking, but they didn't realize that by doing nothing and continuing to let the public be uninformed they were playing right into Voldemort's hands. People truly didn't realize how much danger they were in.

"Hello Evans," James beamed as Lily sat beside me.

"Potter," Lily returned evenly. She turned to Althea, "You okay, Thea, you look a little tired."

"I'm Lily, just exhausted," Althea murmured, her cheek resting against Remus's shoulder. "Just one more week and then Christmas break, huh?"

"Thank goodness," Lily murmured, "I really don't want to go back, because my sister is getting married, and she hates me. But at least I'll be away from Slytherins, and I'll actually have an opportunity to get ahead on my homework."

"I'll be staying here over break," Althea mumbled. "My family is…away. I have nowhere to go, so I'll be staying here."

"I've elected to stay here as well," Remus spoke up. "I figured that my parents could use one Christmas alone together, without me being a burden. Very few students will be remaining over the holiday, so I may actually have a chance to get ahead on homework as well."

James rolled his eyes, "The three of you are so boring. Padfoot and I are going to be at my house, and wreaking havoc on all the Muggles that live in the neighborhood."

Lily shook her head, "Honestly, I thought that the two of you were finally starting to grow up. In case you didn't notice, there is a war going on. Perhaps you should become a little more serious."

Sirius sighed, "We are aware that there is a war going on Evans, however we can't let it control us. We can't always live in fear."

"Fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself," Althea whispered. They looked at her in confusion and she mustered up a smile, "Just something that Dumbledore told me."

Lily huffed, annoyed that the two were seemingly not taking the war seriously and that Althea had also seemingly agreed with them. However, that wasn't the case at all. They were all taking the war seriously, and Sirius and James were just dealing with it in their own way. Althea, herself, was trying to be brave by remembering the words that Dumbledore had said to her.

Fear of a name only increases fear for the thing itself. So, I'm not going to be afraid anymore. I'm going to be a Gryffindor. I'm going to try to be brave, Althea thought.