„Take me with you." She begged.

„Aya, dear, you know we can't." Her mother sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time.

„You have to finish your education." Her father added, adjusting his hat, the wrinkles on his forehead looking deeper than ever.

„Screw my education, what if he recruits me?" Tears stung her eyes but she refused to let them fall.

„He won't, you're too young..." Her mother whispered, sounding as if she was trying to convince herself.

„…And if he does, stall it until graduation, then you can follow our example and come find us." Her father advised as he gave her a firm hug and a kiss on the head. Her heart went racing at the thought of dealing with it all with her horrible aunt by her side and not her parents.

„You want me to run away?" her mind stalled it's racing at the thought of leaving. It felt strange, she didn't want to leave, even though staying would likely mean her doom.

„Not run away, starting a new life, a new beginning away from the war." Her father rushed as he threw the last trunk in the car. Her mother pulled her into a hug and Aya felt a sudden tug at her stomach and the urge to vomit as she was apperated somewhere. Looking up, she saw her aunt's house standing at the end of the road and she shivered. She felt a hand stroke her cheek and she looked up into her mother's teary eyes, willing herself to be strong.

„Promise me you'll write." She could barely hear her own voice as she hugged her mother one last time.

„As soon as we're able." The last thing she saw was her mother's sad smile before a loud zap sounded and she was gone.

She woke up to loud whispering in her dorm room. Rubbing away the dried tears on her cheeks, she kept her eyes closed for a moment, wanting to see her parents for a little longer. Her chest ached of hearing their voices in her head but the whispering on the other side of the room was growing louder, disrupting her thoughts. Raising her head and opening her eyes, she saw her roommates seemingly arguing at the door.

"No, you have no idea! She will prove you both wrong! She has a plan and he will…" A way too familiar voice sounded but trailed off as the brown eyes belonging to it found hers and stilled.

Velda Casey.

Aya had never had a best friend, per say, but Velda came the closest. She suddenly came into her life in second year and wouldn't go away, and besides from her, sometimes, hateful slurs, she was pleasant company. Except when she decided she couldn't be seen with her in public after the incident with her parents.

The other girls followed her gaze and immediately glared as their eyes set on Aya. Picking up their bags, they left the room as if nothing had transpired there.

"I'll be there in a sec, I need to do my hair." Velda called after them. Sitting up, Aya concluded she had another restless sleep, as a headache immediately grew behind her temples. Rubbing them shortly, she got up and pulled on some clothes, vividly aware of the form slowly moving closer to her.

"Aya…" Velda whispered, but she didn't spare her a glance as she strode to the bathroom and locked the door. "Aya, please…you know I have no choice." Her former friend pleaded through the door. She stubbornly brushed her teeth so she wouldn't be able to reply. After a long moment of silence she assumed she had left and went to wash her face.

"I've seen you've been talking to Longbotton during DADA." Velda piped up, sounding casual but she could detect the coldness in her voice. Aya stilled. It was true; Longbottom wouldn't leave her alone since that first class a month ago, always piping up a conversation about whatever he could think of. At first she was vary and ignored him, but eventually caved the morning when he starting talking about his favorite types of plants. There was something in his voice that she couldn't resist but listen to and she found that she enjoyed the way his eyes sparkled when talking about plant life. She had never seen anyone so passionate in her life and she felt an immense tug towards him.

"Yeah, so? It's not like you're talking to me." She bit out as she shook herself out of her thoughts. Drying off and moisturizing, she waited for the apologies to rain, but they never did.

Fiercely opening the door, she strode past Velda to retrieve her bag, not caring about her hair or face; she was late as it was.

"You know this is a perfect opportunity, don't you?" She wasn't expecting the delicacy in Velda's voice, and she wasn't expecting her excited expression either as she turned around.

"What?" She breathed.

"You're befriending Longbottom!" Velda squealed. Aya's brows furrowed and she felt a strange knot grow in her stomach.

"I wouldn't call it-" She started.

"This is your shot at redemption!" Velda was stepped towards her and tried to take her hand but Aya flinched away. She had a bad feeling about this but she couldn't figure out why.

"Again, what?" She was sure she looked like a lost dog.

"Don't you see? This is brilliant! You're an outcast now, your parents defied the Dark Lord! He will have an easier time to trust you than anyone else!" Velda's smile threatened to jump off her face as horrible realization washed over her.

"Vel, you're not suggesting I'm-"

"Yes, I am! Aya, I know you, you're brilliant when you need to be, and can I just say, excellent choice going with Longbottom, he's definitely the most gullible, dim-witted member of the Order!" She laughed, a proud look on her face. Noting her disgusted and shocked look, she rolled her eyes. "Don't be so modest, you don't fool me."

"Vel, I…No!" She sputtered. She didn't know why, but Vel's dig at Longbottom made her blood boil at an unreasonable rate for someone who's supposed to hate him. "Vel, we're just talking about the class subject, nothing else!" That was a lie, but she didn't feel comfortable knowing Velda knew so much already. Were they that obvious? They were at the back of the room, she thought she was safe!

"Mhmm…" Velda hummed, obviously not believing her. "Sure, but don't say I didn't know when the Dark Lord makes you his personal agent of the Order." Her smirk almost made Aya as sick as her assumption. She would rather die than give valuable information to him! Wait, did she just think that?

"Whatever." She murmured and left the room, feeling a horrible sense of dread set in her heart.

She managed to slip into class, just as the bell rang and made it to her table relatively safe and puffing out breaths after her run, hastily pulling her short, brown hair into a somewhat bun.

"Late morning?" Longbottom asked with an amused smile.

"Shut up." She huffed, but couldn't resist smiling back. Their moment was interrupted by a familiar drawl at the front of class that declared he was handing out their essays. She suddenly felt something being pushed into her hand under the table. Looking confused up at Longbottom, she saw him smile nervously.

"It's tea, lavender and lime flower, grown in the greenhouses." He explained.

"Okay…and I'm getting this why?" she asked and internally winced. He was giving her tea and she was asking him why? Well she was confused, but still, it was rude. Longbottom played with his quill nervously as he opened and closed his mouth a few times before actually getting some words out.

"Well, I've noticed you've been kind of…tired lately." He finished, wincing as he spoke, as if he thought he was being over the line. His eyes were gauging hers for a reaction but Aya only stared at him, not really comprehending the fact that he noticed that she was sleep deprived and got her something for it. Why? Why did he care enough to do that?

"Miss. Reeds." A voice startled her out of her reverie and she looked at Snape as he put her essay on the table, a bright 'Acceptable' staring up at her. She guessed it could have been worse. Snape didn't spare her a glance as he turned to Longbottom. "Mr. Longbottom, looks like your grades are resembling your contribution to our society." He jeered as he threw his essay on his table; a clear 'Dreadful' written on the top right-hand corner. Longbottom withered from embarrassment as the Slytherin's around them snickered, and Aya felt rage rise up in her chest. Pulling his essay towards her, she quickly scanned it as Snape continued down the row, ignoring the confused boy beside her.

"Excuse me, Head Master Snape, but I think you've made a mistake." She called out over the classroom, her anger giving her a strange sense of confidence. Snape turned towards her, his permanent scowl deepening.

"What was that, Miss. Reeds?" He swiftly made his way over, glaring her down, but he didn't intimidate her in the slightest as she picked up her quill and pointed it towards the first paragraph of the essay.

"Well, you asked us to explain to you why the Unforgivable curses are unforgivable sir, and right here Mr. Longbottom points out their severities, just as I did in mine, but still you gave him a minus but not me." She didn't know she had missed her cold, know-it-all tone, but using it at this moment almost made her smirk. The twitch in his eye almost made her laugh, but she continued before he could reply.

"And right here, here and here," She crossed under a few sentences, oblivious to warning and panicked looks Longbottom tried to give her. "…are completely valid points from the book that you wrote down as 'wrong'. Then we have the conclusion, that I must say, is much better than mine, and I got an 'Acceptable'. I honestly don't know why you would give this essay a 'Dreadful' Head Master as it's clearly good and even better than mine." She finished and smiled up at the steaming man in front of her. Her classmates looked at her in a mixture of shock and confusion as she met Snape's eyes with a challenging look in her eyes.

"Miss. Reeds, how dare you question my method of teaching?" He snarled at her.

"Well, if your method of teaching is treating your students with unfair difference and giving wrong grades, then I think questioning them is rather important, actually." She kept her tone casual, preparing herself for the fall back.

"Detention. Tonight. 8 o'clock." He bit out and she just about to think she got out lucky when he added; "With the Creeds." She felt her heart sink at his evil sneer. "And if you ever speak to like that again Miss. Reeds, I will guarantee to move you to their 'Specials' list." She gulped. The 'Specials' were the ones the Creeds considered needed 'extra help' in their studies and she had heard horrible things about that class. Just last week she saw Seamus Finnigan wearing a cast on his leg and refused to tell anyone how he broke it.

Snape was gone with a swish of robes and she was left to stare begrudgingly at her table, pushing Longbottom's essay towards him again. She didn't see it, but she could hear him trying to say something.

"It was a good essay." She said with finality in her tone that shut him up for the rest of the class.

All she felt was pain and exhaustion as she sat on a hospital bed, holding a bag of ice to her face. She could still hear the Second year boy whimpering on the other side of the hospital wing, but he had considerably quieted down. Madam Pomfrey was currently tending the Fifth year that hadn't said a word since they arrived. Aya had told her to care for them first since she got out the luckiest, but Madam Pomfrey still insisted on getting her a bag of ice, which she was grateful for.

"Hey." She jumped out of the bed and dropped the bag of ice as a voice spoke beside her. Looking up, her heart calmed a bit to see Longbottom standing there with a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." He apologized.

"No, no, it's okay, I'm just a bit…jumpy." She explained awkwardly, regretting her words as she saw the guilty look on his face.

"Merlin, I shouldn't have let you get a detention for me, I'm so sorry-"

"Longbottom." She interrupted, shooting him a gentle, but strained, smile. "It's alright, I chose to get this detention, it was my doing, not yours." He didn't look convinced, but didn't say more, instead choosing to step closer in the moonlight to examine her face better, or more so, the bruises that littered it.

"Yeah, the Creeds find it amazingly funny to cast the Imperius curse on you and make you smash face first into walls." She remarked with a sarcastic tone, trying to not wince at all as she spoke. His frown deepened and he bent down to pick up the ice bag and handed it to her. She gave him another, quite hurtful though she wouldn't show it, smile.

"You shouldn't have done that for me." He whispered, eyes raking over her face with guilt. God, he was way too kind, he shouldn't be guilty about someone like her getting hurt.

"Longbottom." She deadpanned, looking into his eyes to get him to understand. "It was my pleasure." His face turned confused as he processed her words but she wouldn't let the moment last as she cleared her throat as sat back down. "So, why did you come here anyway, it's almost curfew." She kept her tone light and avoided eye contact.

"I, um, mostly to see if you were alright and to apologize." He whispered distractedly. The bed sunk a bit as he sat down beside her and for a while they remained silent, the only sounds were the whimpers of the boy and of Madam Pomfrey bustling about, who hadn't said a word about Longbottom being there, even if she swore she saw her glance their way a few times.

"What's your favorite plant?" He suddenly whispered.

"What?"

"Well… it's just I've realized I've talked to you about all my favorites but never asked you yours." He explained, his tone regretful. She couldn't help but chuckle, finding his thoughtfulness endearing.

"I, ah, I guess I've never thought of it, so I'm not quite sure." She smiled at him. He hummed, seemingly deep in thought.

"Well, what's your favorite subject then?" He asked after another moment of silence and she gave him a weird look.

"I don't know…Astronomy? What's with all the questions?" She wasn't sure through the darkness, but his cheeks looked a bit redder than normal.

"I don't know, I just wanted to know something about you, I guess." He murmured, avoiding her gaze. Her heart jumped at his words and she stared at him in confusion. Why would he want that? "Why do you like Astronomy?" he asked and she decided to just go with it.

"Um, well, it's going to sound stupid, but I just…really love the stars." She said awkwardly.

"That doesn't sound stupid." She arched her eyebrow at him. "I really love plants! Being passionate about something isn't stupid." He explained with a giddy smile that absolutely melted her heart.

For the moment, she forgot everything she'd ever been taught and felt her chest swell as she smiled wider than she'd done in years.

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