A/N: I do not own Pitch Perfect or Harry Potter or any of their characters

Sixth Year

His patience was wearing thin now, each attack getting more and more furious.

Beca felt like each curse was forcing her backwards, and she could barely get her wand up in time to throw out her counter curses.

He let out a shout of frustration.

"Enough!" He yelled. "Stupefy!"

The jet of red light shot out of the end of his wand and this time Beca didn't deflect it.

She was exhausted, and it was almost a relief when the red light hit her squarely in the chest.

She felt herself get lifted of her feet and she knew a split second of relief before darkness spread through her and she was slammed into the wall behind her.

When Beca thinks back on her sixth year of Hogwarts, instead of dwelling on the death of Albus Dumbledore or all the other dark things that happened at school, she always thinks about the summer before sixth year had even started.

It had gone from the worst to the best summer of her life in the matter of a few days.

She had spent the summer with Chloe and her family, and it was perfect. They had spent the days hanging out in the fields and trees around her home. Beca had tried to teach Chloe how to fly, and Chloe had tried to Beca how to bake.

They had read together, both lounged on Chloe's sofa. They had sang together, lying in the grass in Chloe's back garden. They had wandered around Chloe's town, and made the trip to Diagon Alley to get their school supplies. And Beca was genuinely happy.

When she thinks back, that first night at Chloe's house was the moment that stuck in her head. That was when Chloe had shown her what love felt like.

It had been tense in Beca's home when she'd returned after her fifth year of Hogwarts. Her dad had been more full of hatred and disgust towards her than he ever had before.

Beca's usual method of surviving the summer at home was to stay in her room out of her dad's way, but this year he didn't seem satisfied by that.

He had been having his Death Eater friends over a lot, and he would make Beca serve them drinks.

Beca wasn't sure why. He was usually embarrassed by her presence and wouldn't acknowledge her as his daughter unless he had to. But now he seemed to make a point of introducing her to the numerous dark witches and wizards who frequented their home.

She wondered if it was to intimidate her. Maybe he thought that by reminding her that he was friends with dark and powerful witches and wizards she would be too afraid to act out and defy him.

It didn't work.

One afternoon she was re-filling her dad's and his friends' glasses when she made the mistake of rolling her eyes at something one of them said.

"What was that, girl?" A man asked.

"Nothing," Beca said, quickly.

"I've heard all about you," he said. "Not a fan of the Dark Arts I've heard."

"That's right," Beca said, sounding braver than she felt. She was tired of this. Tired of having to wait on these animals that her dad called friends. Maybe if she embarrassed him, she'd be allowed to keep out of the way when they came over.

"What a disgrace," a woman said.

"You're a pure-blood Slytherin and you don't like the Dark Arts?!" Another man asked, incredulous. "I bet you love Albus Dumbledore and that you believe mudbloods deserve the same rights as us pure-bloods."

"Something like that," Beca said. Her eyes met her dad's who stared at her with contempt. "I'm not a pure-blood though, am I dad?"

"Enough," her dad said, his voice hard and cold.

"Why? Haven't you told all your friends that my mom was a muggle?"

"You need to show your father some respect!" The woman said. "Spouting filthy lies like that!"

"I can teach her some respect if you'd like John," the first man said, toying with his wand.

"Why did you lie, Dad? Afraid your precious Dark Lord wouldn't like it if he found out you'd had sex with a mug-"

"Crucio!" The first man shouted, his wand pointed at Beca.

Pain like Beca had never felt before exploded inside her. She didn't remember falling to the floor, her head smacking off a table on the way down, and she didn't remember when she started screaming. All she knew was that this was the worst pain she'd ever experienced and she wanted it to stop.

She needed it to stop. She wanted to die. This pain had gone on for too long, how could she still be alive? It had to kill her soon. It had to.

And suddenly it was over.

She lay on the ground, shaking and breathing heavily, her head bleeding from where it had hit the table. The pain was slowly receding but Beca didn't stand up.

"That'll teach her some manners," the man who had cursed her said, sounding pleased with himself.

She waited for her dad to say something, anything, but he didn't. She struggled to her feet and turned to see him still sitting in his chair, his expression unchanged.

She wanted to run to her room but she was scared to turn her back.

"May I be excused?" She asked, her voice shaking.

With a smirk of satisfaction, her dad nodded his head. Beca turned and left, running up the stairs as soon as she was out of their sight.

Her hands were shaking as she pulled a sheet of parchment, her quill, and a well of ink out of her desk drawer.

'Chloe,

I need help.

Can I come and stay with you please?

I can explain more if/when I see you.

Beca.'

She went to the cage in the corner of her room where her Tawny Owl Newt was sleeping, his head tucked beneath his wing. She had bought Newt the previous year when she had started writing to Chloe more frequently.

"Hey bud," she said softly, stroking his feathers.

He let out an annoyed hoot at being woken up.

"I know, I'm the worst," she said. "I need some help, Newt. I need you to get this to Chloe as fast as you can. Can you do that for me?"

He nipped her fingers with his beak affectionately, and held out his leg so she could attach the letter to it.

"Thank you," she said, opening her bedroom window so he could fly out.

She quickly and quietly packed her clothes, books and the school supplies that she had taken out of her trunk over the last few weeks. She wanted to be ready to go quickly. She didn't know what Chloe's response would be, but she didn't want to be in this place any longer than she had toq.

Now the adrenaline was starting to fade away, she was left feeling aching, tired and shaken.

She dropped onto her bed and hoped Chloe would get back to her soon.

She must have fallen asleep because it felt like minutes later when Newt was hooting beside her, nipping her with his beak.

"Ow," Beca muttered, disoriented. It was starting to get dark and she reached out to switch on a light.

Newt hooted again and Beca took the letter from him.

'Beca,

Of course you can come and stay.

My parents and I are coming to get you tonight. If you can be on the corner of your street, where the street sign is, by 7pm we will leave then. If he won't let you out, or for whatever reason you aren't here by 7:30pm, we're coming to the house to get you.

Stay safe.

Chloe.'

Beca checked her watch and saw that it was 6:30pm.

She coaxed Newt back into his cage and picked up her trunk with her other hand.

She crept downstairs and almost made it to the front door when she heard her dad speak.

"Where are you going?" He asked.

"Why do you care?" Beca replied, her voice shaking. "You don't want me here and I don't want to be here. This is for the best."

He didn't speak for a few minutes. "You're right," he said. "I don't want you to come back here, Rebeca. Ever."

"Good," Beca said.

And she left the house without another word.

She went to the corner of her street and sat on the wall and waited. She was shivering from a mixture of cold and fear. She was terrified that her dad would change his mind and come back for her. She was scared that Chloe wouldn't show up, or that she'd go to a different location. Chloe hadn't ever visited her house before, but she knew that her parents were familiar with the area.

Beca looked at her watch and saw that it was 6:50pm. A second later she heard a crack that made her leap off the wall and hold her wand out in front of her.

"Beca," Chloe said, rushing over to her from where she'd apparated to. Beca sighed with relief and let her wand drop.

"Hi," Beca said, softly, hugging Chloe tightly.

"What happened?" Chloe asked.

"I'll tell you later," Beca said, looking around. "Please can we go?"

"Of course," Chloe said. "Mom, are we ready?"

"Yes," Mrs Beale said. Beca met both of Chloe's parents briefly at the train station at the end of her first year at Hogwarts, and she'd had small conversations with them every year since, but she didn't know them very well.

"Beca, honey, if you take my hand you can do side-along apparition with me. Chloe will go with her dad and he'll take your luggage too. Let your owl fly to our place though, he won't like apparition.

"Sure," Beca said. "Newt, buddy, can you go to Chloe's house? We'll meet you there." She opened the cage and he hooted before taking off into the sky once more. "Thank you so much for this," Beca said as she took Chloe's mom's hand.

"That's okay," she said. "We can talk about it soon. Ready?"

"Ready."

Mrs Beale turned on the spot and Beca suddenly felt herself get squeezed from every possible angle. Her chest felt tight and she couldn't draw a breath. She wanted to cry out as she was getting crushed, but couldn't make a sound.

And then it was over, and she was standing outside a two story house. The house was small but it was surrounded by grassy fields and trees. She knew from listening to Chloe talk that the her family owned most of the grounds surrounding their home.

"Let's go inside," Chloe said, taking Beca's hand. Beca looked away from the house to see Chloe staring at her, her eyes full of concern. "Have a seat," Chloe said when they got into the kitchen.

Beca sat down at the kitchen table. She felt drained and sick but so relieved to be here.

"Chloe I'm gonna make some food, can you take care of Beca?" Mrs Beale said.

"Yeah," Chloe said.

"Thank you for coming to get me," Beca said. She heard Chloe rummaging around in a cupboard before she came to sit at the table beside her. She had a small bottle labeled 'Essence of Dittany' and a cloth in her hand.

"You don't need to keep thanking us," Chloe said. She opened the bottle and poured some onto the cloth. "This might sting a bit."

"I do need to thank you," Beca said, as Chloe dabbed the cloth onto the cut on her forehead.

"What did he do to you?" Chloe asked.

"It wasn't him. Or, not directly him. He had some of his Death Eater buddies over and I should have kept my mouth shut and I didn't. One of them used the Cruciatus curse on me, and I hit my head on the table," Beca said, her voice devoid of emotion.

She heard a gasp behind her.

"He did what?" Mrs Beale asked. "That's illegal, he'll go to Azkaban for that."

Beca shrugged. "He won't though. I don't think the Ministry cares about this kind of thing right now."

"So this guy used the Cruciatus curse on you… He used an unforgivable curse on you, and your dad just sat there?"

"Pretty much," Beca said.

"He didn't stop them? He didn't say anything?" Chloe asked, appalled.

"Nope," Beca said. "Are you surprised? You know who this guy is, right? You know what he's done?"

"Yeah, but you're his kid," Chloe said.

Beca laughed. "Chloe, he hates me."

"I'm so sorry, Beca," Chloe said, pulling her into a hug. "You're safe now."

Beca hugged her back, closing her eyes. "Thank you."

"I have a bed set up for you in Chloe's room," Mrs Beale said, once hers and Chloe's hug had ended. "Once you've eaten you can go and make yourself comfortable. You look exhausted so I'm guessing you're gonna want to turn in early, but you don't have to."

"Thank you Mrs Beale," Beca said. "I mean it, I really can't thank you all enough."

"You don't need to thank us anymore, honey. I'm glad we got you out of there," Mrs Beale said.

She put a bowl of thick vegetable soup in front of Beca along with a couple of rolls of warm bread.

"My Mom's a feeder," Chloe said, helping herself to one of Beca's rolls. "Don't feel like you have to eat it all."

Beca didn't answer, but shovelled the soup down as if she hadn't eaten properly in weeks. "It's really good," she said between mouthfuls.

Chloe's mom rested a hand lightly on Beca's back. "Thank you. There'll always be food for you here. And safety."

Once Beca had finished eating, Chloe showed Beca up to her room.

Beca couldn't help but laugh at the sight.

"So did Helga Hufflepuff throw up in here?" Beca asked, laughing.

"What? I have a little house pride!" Chloe said, glad to see Beca laugh.

Chloe's room was covered in Hufflepuff flags and pennants. She also had a poster of the Holyhead Harpies, a Weird Sisters poster, a lot of photographs of her and her friends and family, and a large double bed full of cushions and blankets.

There was a camp bed set up on the floor, and Beca saw that Chloe's dad had brought up her trunk.

"I'm super tired," Beca said, pulling some pyjamas out of her trunk. "Is it okay if I turn in?"

"Of course it is," Chloe said. "Listen, I know my Mom has set up the camp bed, but it isn't very comfy. If you're okay with it, you can share my bed if you want?"

Beca swallowed. "Would your Mom be okay with that?"

"Yeah, she told me I could ask you. As long as there wasn't any funny business," Chloe said, and Beca laughed.

"Are you okay with it?"

"I wouldn't have asked you if I wasn't Bec," Chloe said. "If it makes you uncomfortable or anything you don't have to. You can even take the bed and I'll take the camp bed."

"No," Beca said. "I'd… I'd like to share with you. It's been a really rough day and… And I could use a bit of… good human contact. Does that make sense?"

"If you wanna be the little spoon you just have to ask," Chloe teased.

"Shut up," Beca said, laughing. "I'm gonna go change."

Beca went into the bathroom and changed into some pyjamas and brushed her teeth. When she got back to the bedroom Chloe was already changed.

"Make yourself comfortable," Chloe said, kissing Beca on the cheek, before leaving to brush her own teeth.

Beca hovered beside the bed, not sure what to do. She felt weird getting into the bed before Chloe did, so she waited.

"That's a weird way to get comfy," Chloe said when she got back to the room, closing the door behind her.

"Sorry," Beca said with a nervous laugh. "I didn't want to just make myself at home."

Chloe climbed into the bed before patting the empty space beside her.

"Come here," she said softly.

Beca got into the bed, and Chloe flicked off the lamp. She then wrapped her arms around Beca's waist and pulled her close.

"Is this okay?" She asked. Her breath tickled the back of Beca's neck.

"Yeah," Beca said, letting out a shaky breath. "This is exactly what I needed. I… I needed someone to touch me without… without hurting me."

Chloe's grip tightened. "I'll never hurt you, Becs."

"I know," Beca said, smiling.

"I'm so glad you're here," Chloe said.

"Me too," Beca replied.