Seventh Year

Dear Mom,

Graduation is tomorrow and I'm pained that you are not going to be there. But, these things happen. Sometimes life is out of our control and that's okay. I don't blame you, your safety is more important than being here to watch your daughter graduate from Hogwarts. Is it weird to say that I'm excited yet at the same time I feel like I'm going to throw up? I hope not. I've been looking forward to this day for so long but now that it's actually here I'm not sure what to think. Life is spiraling out of control and changing faster than I can keep up with.

Lily and James, two of my friends (I'm sure I've told you about them) are moving in together and are going to get married. He hasn't proposed yet but we all know that it's going to happen; he's been in love with her since second-year or something like that. They're adorable, but I can't help but feel a little envious of them. That's not to say I don't treasure my relationship with Remus or that things are going poorly between us; everything is fine. But…I don't know how to explain it without sounding like a bitch (pardon my language). I don't want to say the relationship has stalled because that sounds horribly insensitive and that I don't think we're going anywhere but, it seems everyone's relationships are progressing further except ours. He doesn't want to move in with me and I've tried to be understanding yet at times I find it a little difficult. And marriage is practically a taboo word around him.

I know that we're young. We're both only seventeen, and not even out of Hogwarts (Yet). But I do want a future with him, I know that I do. However, I'm not quite sure that he feels the same; Remus has always been private and introspective, that's what I love about him because he's like me. But just this once, I wished that he didn't think about things so deeply and just let emotion guide him. More than anything, I just want a clear signal of where we're going. I want to know if we're ever going to move in together or if we're ever going to get married. This sounds like a conversation that I should be having with him, and I will in time. For now, I needed to get it off of my chest.

Graduation is a daunting prospect. I'm sure I've told you that before. I'm also sure that I've told you that I don't feel ready to move on into the real world and I still am not ready. Moving on means that the conflict with You-Know-Who is real. It suddenly makes every bad thing happening more real than what it already feels like. I'm not sure how to deal with that. God, I wish that you were in England so I could get your advice because now more than any other time that is what I need the most of. I've never been much of a Mama's girl, I've always fancied myself rather independent but I'd give anything right now for you to be here so I could run into your arms and have you dote on me and treat me like a little kid. I'm sorry for ranting.

Love,

Althea

Althea rolled up the parchment, tying it with a ribbon and whistled for her owl. Faith landed on the windowsill and Althea tied the letter to her leg, feeding her a quick treat before sending her off. She watched Faith until the owl was no longer in sight and then moved to head back to the Gryffindor Common Room. Her footsteps echoed on the stone floor, and every little noise or shadow made her hand twitch towards the wand at her waist. Tomorrow was graduation, hopefully the Slytherins would have enough sense not to do anything stupid. But, she had seen how restless they had grown. She rounded the corner, her eyes darting around the corridor nervously.

She couldn't see anyone, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Maybe there weren't Slytherins here waiting to ambush her. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she figured it didn't hurt to be too careful. Being too trusting could get her killed. Althea moved further along, and moving faster the closer she got to the Gryffindor Common Room. She had two sets of stairs left, and a few hallways until she was within the safety of Gryffindor Tower. She had finished the last set of stairs when, she knew she wasn't alone. She whirled around, her eyes growing wide as a wand was pressed into the sensitive skin of her throat. Dammit. She had been too slow.

"Not a word Mudblood," the familiar voice of Timothy Yaxley hissed.

Althea tensed eyes growing ride, and unbidden tears sprang to her eyes. She remembered Yaxley. How could she forget him? He had tortured her, but Snape had saved her. Her eyes darted around the darkened corridor. But now there was no one here to help her. She wanted to curse; she had been so stupid to send out a letter on her own, she should have brought someone with her. She supposed that was why they said hindsight was 20/20.

The wand dug into her neck, and Althea winced away. Yaxley's eyes glimmered dangerously, and for the briefest moment she felt fear.

I have to be a Gryffindor. I have to be brave.

Her hand darted down to her wand, and she whipped it out pointing it at Yaxley. His eyes grew wide but he didn't do anything else. He didn't move he just stared at her, the tip of his wand pressing against her neck and her wand pointed at his head.

"You're not going to actually do anything, Mudblood," Yaxley taunted Althea. "You're too weak and spineless to do anything."

"Really?" Althea raised a brow. "Says the person who kidnaps and tortures someone just because they were born in a Muggle household. If that doesn't say cowardice and insecurity I don't know what else does."

His face practically turned purple with rage. He just started mouthing a spell, when she flicked her wrist. Light exploded in front of her, blinding Yaxley and partially blinding Althea. She ducked to the side, flinging a stunning spell at him. Yaxley was sent flying back into the stone wall. He crumpled to the ground unmoving. She could see his chest moving up and down as he breathed, so he was alive just unconscious. It filled her with relief to know that she hadn't accidentally killed him. Tucking her wand into the back pocket of her shorts, she turned around rushing toward Gryffindor Tower. Quickly whispering the password to the portrait, she slipped into the Common Room futilely hoping that she would go unnoticed.

But, she was by Remus. He stood up, his eyes wide as he stared at her. It was then she realized that her cheek was stinging. She raised her hand, lightly touching it and hissed in pain staring as her hand came back stained with blood.

"Thea!" Remus gasped, heading toward her closely followed by Sirius, James, Lily, and Peter. "What happened?" he demanded, holding her face in his hands.

Althea smiled sheepishly, "Well, I was sending a letter and I was ambushed by a Slytherin."

"Althea!" Lily scolded. "We told everyone to go out in pairs, because we knew something like this was going to happen."

"I know, I know," Althea muttered. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"Clearly," Remus snapped. His face softened when he saw her hurt eyes staring at him and he leaned closer to her, pressing his forehead against hers. "You worried me."

"I'm sorry," Althea apologized, feeling tears beginning to well in her eyes.

She was glad that he didn't say anything else. He just wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly to him. As the war went on, things would only begin to get worse and this instance would be nothing in comparison. Still, that didn't take away how scary it had been. She sighed, sinking into Remus's embrace. Next time she went out of the Common Room, she'd end up bringing someone with her. Remus pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Are you alright?" He asked quietly.

"I don't know. But I will be," she smiled.