After his head stopped pounding, Severus and I worked on some less dangerous defensive spells.

"I should get going." I said. "It's dinnertime and I'm sure Susan is waiting for me."

"I suppose I should get you your winnings." He said as he moved the table from in front of his office door.

"Don't worry about it." I said as I moved the table away from the classroom door. "You can use it to buy me something pretty."

I flashed a smile before I slipped through the doorway.

I sprinted upstairs and into the Great Hall where I slid onto the bench across from Susan. The hall was still decorated as a sunny day even though thunder boomed outside.

"Did you see Henry?" I asked.

"If by 'see Henry' you mean, did I stand in a huddled mass with practically every non-Slytherin girl in the school, then yes." She said, digging her hand into the picnic basket between her and I, withdrawing a chicken leg. "But only for a moment. My time was much better occupied doing homework."

"Did you find out what happened to him?" I asked, reaching into the basket and pulling out a Cornish pasty.

"The favorite theory, by far, is the Snape theory." She said. "But that's all I heard though, more theories, nothing with any credibility. I caught a glimpse of him in his bed though, he was wrapped in bandages and his face was swollen and black and blue."

"Snape thought he was hit by a Bludger." I said. "That would make sense if his face was swollen."

"Honestly, I don't know why I care." Susan said, pouring herself a glass of lemonade. "He has more than enough girls to worry about him. I have better things to occupy my thoughts."

"Boy," I marveled. "You certainly run hot and cold."

She gave me an annoyed side glance. "What about you? How was your afternoon?"

"Well," I paused. "I nearly knocked him unconscious."

"Good job." Susan said with an approving smile.

"Then he kissed me and lost a bet we had." I said, reveling in the slight look of disgust on her face.

"Why do you tell me these things?" Susan asked.

"You asked." I said with satisfaction.

"You know I don't want to know about that." She said.

"Which is exactly why I tell you." I said with a smile.

We finished our meals and exited the sunny excitement of the Great Hall, entering into the dim castle halls. Susan turned to head back to Ravenclaw tower before I grabbed her by the arm and started pulling her in a different direction.

"What are you doing?" She asked, reflexively tugging her arm away.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"…Hogwarts?" She said.

"The Great Hall." I said. "Meaning that…"

"…They're eating?" Susan guessed.

I let out a sigh; Susan had no idea what I was getting at. "It means that they aren't in the Hospital Wing."

"Ruby…" Susan began, but before she was able to protest I began pulling her to the hospital.

We entered into an empty wing filled with beds, only one of which was occupied. We walked over to a still unconscious Henry Wood.

"You can't even tell it's him." I said as I looked over his swollen and bruised face.

"I didn't think it was this bad." Susan said, taking a seat next to his bed. "I didn't really get a good look at him earlier."

"I don't think he'll be waking up any time soon." Madam Pomfrey said as she walked into the room with a tray of potions. "That Bludger well rattled his head."

"So it was a Bludger?" I asked.

"You can see the impression of the stitches from the ball right here." She said, gesturing to a series of short thin lines above his eyebrow curving around to his cheek.

"That was a pretty direct hit." I said, following the dashes.

"Nothing I haven't seen before." She said, dabbing a salve over his cheek. "Quidditch is a dangerous sport. Injury is expected to happen at some point."

The swelling on his cheek went down immediately and he looked more like Henry Wood and less like a lumpy blob.

I spent the next half hour examining the vials on the tray Madam Pomfrey had placed on Henry's bedside table while Susan sat staring at Henry. We left when a few other girls came from dinner to visit him. I looked up from the vials when I heard the other voices and only then did I realize that Susan was already gone.

"Why do you do that?" I asked as soon as I found her in the entrance to the hospital wing.

She shrugged. "I don't think Henry wants people to know that we're friends."

"Did he tell you that?" I asked. "Because I have no problem punching a wounded, unconscious creep."

I turned on my heel to go back and give him what for.

"No." Susan said. "He's never said that. It's just...he's too good, you know?"

"I can't say that I do." I said.

I few more girls wandered into the hospital wing and Susan hung her head and exited to the halls.

"What are you doing?" I asked, running after her.

"There were times when Mark didn't want to be seen with me." She said. "I assume…"

"Mark is ridiculous and stupid." I said.

"I can't imagine that Henry is okay with…"

"That's dumb." I said. "He's socialized with you in public."

"Yes but he was always the one who instigated it." She said.

"Meaning that he doesn't care if people know that you two are friends." I said.

"Meaning that he didn't care in those moments." She said.

"I don't even know how to reason with you." I said. "He flew past and winked at you at the beginning of the match, in front of the whole school."

"Oh come on," She said. "No one saw the wink."

"Everyone around you did." I said. "He likes you and he doesn't care who knows it."

"Stop it, Ruby!" Susan shouted at me, pausing to turn around. "Don't you dare give me false hope, not about Henry! The only reason he's even started talking to me is because he pities me. He never said a word to me until I showed up to Gryffindor entrance practically in tears. No one else thinks Henry and I are anything so I don't know why you do."

"He doesn't pity you." I said.

"Then why now?" She asked. "He and I have been going to the same school for seven years and he has never once talked to me."

"There are plenty of reasons why he hadn't talked to you." I said. "He found you beautiful and therefore intimidating, he couldn't think of the right thing to say to you that wouldn't make him seem idiotic, he was afraid he couldn't measure up to the other boys in school, you were stupidly dating Mark."

"Stop it." She said, continuing to walk back to the Ravenclaw entrance.

"Fine." I said, racing after her. "Maybe he does pity you. But if that is the only reason he talks to you that already makes him more decent than any other stupid guy you've been interested in."

I sped up and stomped past her up the stairs.

Once I arrived in the Ravenclaw commons I went straight to the dorm and loaded my bag with books with the intent of spending the rest of the night in the library. I walked out of the door into the halls and went straight to the library and found a secluded spot in the stacks.

I looked through Transfiguration, Herbology, and Potions but I was drawn back to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Severus had suggested that he and I have Saturday lessons until the N.E.W.T's, which were only about two weeks away. My stomach pulled at the thought that it was so close and I felt totally unprepared. I took one deep, calming breath.

Despite my efforts, my mind continued to fill with everything I had learned over the past seven years. I couldn't remember what I learned in October during my third year of Potions. What if there was an entire section on exactly that in the N.E.W.T's and I couldn't remember any of it. What if I started taking the test only to realize that I hadn't learned anything in all my time at Hogwarts? What would I do? I didn't have any skills to find suitable work in the muggle world. My entire life depended on getting outstanding N.E.W.T's and getting a spot at St. Mungo's, if that didn't happen…

My panic attack was interrupted by a bag landing with a thud on the table. Susan took a seat across the table.

"Where have you been?" I asked, relieved to be taken out of my own thoughts.

"I went back to the hospital wing." She said. "You were right. He didn't seem to mind being seen with me."

"What?" I asked.

"It was stupid of me to act like I'm not friends with Henry." She said. "I think I was just afraid that he might not consider us friends even though I do."

"That's a dumb thing to think." I said. "He had breakfast with us this morning with a few of his teammates. I think he considers you friends and I don't think he's embarrassed by it."

"Well, yeah." She said. "I know that now."

"Why didn't you know that earlier?" I asked.

"I don't know." She said with a shrug. "A few of the other girls in the hospital wing wanted to know what he's like. Most of them were admirers and hadn't really talked to him much. He's always friendly when he sees them in the hall but they aren't really familiar with him. It was weird. All those girls hanging on every word I said about him. It made me sort of uncomfortable because I don't know him that well, we study and he's been nice to me but…I don't know."

"That's odd." I said. "I assumed he was one of those guys who was friends with everyone."

Susan nodded her head. "I think he might actually be one of those people who everyone knows about and is nice to everyone and everyone wants to be his friend but he is really only close friends with a few people."

"And you're one of them." I said with a teasing smile.

She shook her head and looked down at the table. "I don't want to assume that. It doesn't make sense. I'm not that great."

"I know there are plenty of people who would disagree with that." I said.

"Shut up." Susan said, fighting a smile as she dug in her bag for a book. "Help me with potions."

The week past in a busy blur of classes and homework. Susan and I spent every night in the library studying and I spent time in between classes on the grounds casting defensive spells at different objects. The fifth years were spending all of their time in the Great Hall, sitting their O.W.L's and studying. Their studies only made me more nervous since their tests meant that mine were coming even more quickly than I was ready for.

Henry remained in the hospital wing with no word of waking up. Susan, who had been checking on him daily, told me that his face wasn't swollen anymore and the bruising was almost gone.

Before I knew it, it was Saturday and I was finishing up Defense lessons with Severus.

"You're getting better." He said, lifting himself off the floor. "You're not so erratic and you seem to have better control. How does it feel to you?"

"Better." I said, putting my wand in the pocket of my robes. "I'm not so afraid of hurting you anymore."

He chuckled. "I'm not entirely sure if that's a good thing or not."

"I just mean that I feel like a can control how strong I cast the spell." I said. "I think I'm better at my aim too."

"I'm just relieved that I'm not going to have to pretend like I don't have a splitting headache for a few days." He said.

"I'm really sorry about that." I said.

"You've been apologizing all week, stop." He said. "I'd be lying if I told you I hadn't been expecting bodily injury when I offered to help you, but I'm impressed at how quickly you've progressed. How is it that you get good so quickly now when you've had seven years? Perhaps you simply haven't been applying yourself."

I turned my head to see him eyeing me with a challenging smirk. "Or, perhaps, you have been pretending to be bad just so I would help you."

"Don't flatter yourself." I said. "Who was it that insisted he help me all the way back in December?"

"Who began giving herself detention just to spend time with me?" He asked.

"Well…I, er…" I stuttered.

A smug grin spread across his face.

"Oh, shut up."

The smile remained on his face until we had the classroom straightened out.

"I should be going to dinner." I said, a bit sad to be leaving him.

"I should take care of a few things." He said.

I reached out and ran my fingertips over the back of his hand as a good bye before I turned and made my way up to the Great Hall.

Susan was already sitting at the table. I watched her push her potatoes back and forth across the plate as I approached. I sat down and began plating my own dinner. Susan continued to push her food around, her head propped on her free hand and her gaze staring distantly at her supper.

"How was your afternoon?" I asked.

Susan jumped, startled as though I had jumped out at her from a hiding place.

"Ruby." She gasped. "When did you get here?"

I tilted my head to the side. "About five minutes ago. What's wrong?"

"Nothing." She said as she gave her potatoes one final shove with her fork before dropping it on her plate. "Henry woke up."

"Well, that's…good." I said a bit surprised she hadn't been waiting for me to tell me the news. "Isn't it?"

"He asked for me." She said.

"…oh?" I still didn't understand why she wasn't happier about this.

"One of the Gryffindor girls came and got me from the library because he wanted to talk to me."

"Right…"

"Now everyone thinks he and I are a couple."

"And that's…bad?" I asked still trying to understand.

"Of course it's bad." She said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've been dated, engaged, and dumped in front of the entire school. I really don't want another public romance to have crash and burn in front of everyone again."

"But…you two aren't together…are you?" I asked.

"Of course we aren't!" She snapped.

"Well, then, there really isn't a problem."

"I can't even talk to you." She said, springing up from the table and taking off at an impressive speed.

I looked back down at the food I hadn't even had a chance to taste and back up to see Susan disappear out of the doorway.

I got up and chased after her.

"Sue, stop." I said running after her, nearly crashing into a fifth year getting up from the Hufflepuff table. "Wait!"

I caught up with her in a second floor hallway.

"Hey!" I said reaching out and grabbing her shoulder, bringing her to a stop. "What's wrong?"

She looked at me, breathing heavily from her jog. "Today in the library Mark approached me."

"Alright." I said.

"He said if there was anything going on between Wood and I, that the Bludger to the face was only the beginning."

"Are you saying that Mark hit the Bludger intentionally to hurt Henry?"

Susan shrugged.

"You have to tell Dumbledore." I said.

"And say what? I have no proof. I don't even know if Mark was telling the truth."

"You should still say something to someone."

"There's nothing I can do. What's done is done and I can't prove it. He'll deny saying anything, I know he will."

"Tell Henry." I said. "He's a brawny sort. He'll take care of it."

"Have you even heard Henry raise his voice to anyone? Because I haven't."

"Are you seriously going to let Mark turn you off to Henry?"

"I don't want another public relationship in this school. Mark has nothing to do with it."

I stared at her. She refused to look me in the eyes. She had always been a horrible liar.

"As long as it's your choice."

"It is."

"I still think you should tell Dumbledore, McGonagall, or Flitwick about what Mark said to you. You're not one to make up stories, they'll know that."

She shook her head. "There is nothing going on between Henry and I, I don't have to worry about Mark fulfilling his promise. I didn't even visit Henry when he woke up."

"Really?"

Susan shook her head. "I said I had to study and to tell him that I'd be by later. He's smart. He should get the message when I don't show up at all."

"That's a rude thing to do to him."

"I don't want him to think there's anything more between us than there is."

"Then tell him that. Don't just abandon him."

"I studied with him a few times." She said, her voice becoming thick as she fought back tears. "I don't owe him anything much less an explanation. It's his own fault for assuming anything."

She turned and stormed off lifting her hand to wipe away the tears that had begun to flow despite her efforts to quell them.