A/N: Sorry this took me a couple of days to update. I went to the MoMA, which was awesome, but I also have the worst cold ever, and I pretty much needed a day off to go cuddle with my girlfriend and be taken care of. Still feel sick and gross, but I wanted to update :)

Also, I went through the last few chapters and fixed a few of the grammar/spelling errors that had been pointed out to me. I think I got them all. This one, I know, is error-free!

Enjoy & Drop me some feedback!

We ambled back up to the Main Street, and I tried to break the silence that had fallen between us.

"This whole defense thing sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?" I smiled. "Learning how to duel, and make Patruonuses and stuff…"

"Yeah…cool," Ivy replied, with a faraway look. She was quiet for a few seconds, before saying suddenly: "So I guess it's really true, isn't it? He's back?"

I sighed. So this is what she had been thinking about. "Yeah, I suppose he is."

She looked down. "It didn't seem real before. I was afraid of it, but I didn't want it to be true…" She shook her head. "But I'll just have to believe it now, won't I?"

I bit my lip, not knowing what to say to this. I didn't like having this conversation with anyone, and I wanted to change the subject. At the same time, I wondered how upset Ivy was about this. I wondered if she had anyone to talk to about it.

"Let's sit down somewhere," I said, finally. I spotted a bench outside of one of the shops, and pointed to it. "How about there?"

"Sure," she agreed, glancing over.

We took out seats, with a bit of space between us. She still wasn't talking, and I decided that I would have to be the one to break the silence again.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" I asked. It was the only thing that came to mind.

"About what?" She replied, looking over at me.

"About…whatever you're thinking. Whatever is bothering you." I paused for a second, but decided to go on with what I wanted to say. "I know Cedric was in your house. That can't have been easy."

She seemed to visibly deflate, and looked away again. "I'm fine, now."

"But you weren't, after it happened, were you?" I knew how she felt, not being able to talk about something that was scary, or upsetting. I knew how much better she would feel once she got it off of her chest. And I wanted to get the smiling, happy Ivy back as soon as possible.

She took a little while before responding. "Everyone in our house was devastated last year." I waited quietly, letting her continue at her own pace. "Hufflepuff never gets any of the glory. We were all so proud when Cedric got chosen for the Tournament. And he was tied for the lead!" She sighed, looking a bit bitter. I was thankful that she wasn't like some others that I had talked to, who blamed Harry, and all of Gryffindor, for stealing the limelight. Or, at least, if she did feel that way, she didn't say anything. "We all thought that he had a shot of winning. Everyone was really excited."

She stopped and took a deep breath. "And then Harry Potter came back, and he had Cedric's body…" I shuddered, remembering, too. "I don't think I could ever forget that image, of Harry, covered in blood, and Cedric, dead. I still have nightmares about that." She admitted. "And I was scared to death, since Dumbledore was telling us that it had been You-Know-Who." Her voice cracked. "I don't know what to do, if he's back! I'm a Muggle-born!"

She looked at me, wide-eyed, and I decided that I could speak again. I tried to choose my words carefully. "I'm a Half-Blood, and my family would be in danger, too, if he were back." I tried my hardest to sound reassuring, rather than giving the impression that I was trying to one-up her. I moved a bit closer to her. "Did you tell your parents about what happened?"

She shook her head. "They knew something was up. I was really nervous and quiet…" She trailed off, and I got the impression that there was more to this part of the story. She didn't seem to want to talk about it, though. "If I had told them, I know that they wouldn't have let me come back to Hogwarts this year. They're really protective."

"Have you talked to anyone, since what happened?" I asked.

"No." She finally looked at me again. "Not until just now."

I hesitantly put my arm around her shoulders, and to my surprise, she didn't pull away; rather, she leaned into me. I would have blushed, if my cheeks weren't already red from the cold. But I tried to keep my voice normal. "I'm here, if you ever need me."

She gave me a hint of a smile. "Thanks, Avalon. But I think I'll be alright for now."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah." She smiled a little wider. "Want to go get some hot chocolate or something?"

"That sounds nice," I smiled back at her.

However, we stayed sitting for a few more seconds, my arm around her shoulder, and her head leaning against me. It felt nice. Comforting. Until a couple of Slytherin girls walked past, staring at us. We jumped apart to opposite sides of the bench, and I felt as if my face was on fire.

I stood up, not able to meet her eyes. "Er…hot chocolate, then?"

"S-sure," she stammered, standing up, too. We walked to the Three Broomsticks, looking in opposite directions.

Luckily, we were able to salvage a conversation when we sat down with our cocoa, and we stayed in our cozy little window seat for a couple of hours. We talked about happier things, and slowly the funny, cheerful Ivy returned. I found out that she had a younger brother whom they had found out was also a wizard, and that he would be coming to Hogwarts in two years. She was very amused when she realized that I knew more about the Muggle world than she had assumed, and it was fun to be able to talk about things such as our favorite Television shows, as well as more magical topics. I spent a quarter of an hour ranting to her about my favorite Quidditch team, the Hollyhead Harpies, whom she had heard of, but didn't know much about. We then launched into a playful argument about which band was better: she tried to convince me that some American Muggle group, the Indigo Girls, were great, while I firmly stood by the fact that no one could be better than the Weird Sisters. Eventually, we decided that it was about time to go back to the castle.

We made our way down the road, pulling our cloaks a bit tighter around ourselves as the sun began to set. I found myself wishing that I could be close to her again; as we had been on the bench…she was so warm…

I pushed the notion away. What on earth was I thinking?

We got back to school, and stopped in the Entrance Hall.

"That was really nice," she told me, smiling. "I had a great time."

"I did, too." I replied. "Thanks for coming."

"Thank you for inviting me." She winked. "And I can't wait for that club."

"Neither can I!" I smiled. "I'll let you know when the first meeting is, as soon as I find out."

"Great," she said. "I hope it's soon."

"I'm sure it will be." I was excited. Not only because I loved the idea of learning defense while defying Umbridge, but also because I knew that Ivy would be there.

"I'll see you soon, then," she gave me one final smile.

"Yeah, see you," I smiled too, and gave a small wave as she walked away.

When I got to Gryffindor tower, I bypassed the common room and went straight to my dormitory, wanting to be alone for a little while. However, when I opened the door, there was already someone there.

"Hi, Katie," I said. She looked over at me from where she was on her bed, and gave me a small, nervous smile.

"Hey…" She sat up, fiddling with a thread on the sleeve of her sweater.

"What's going?" There was obviously something that had happened.

She looked at the door behind me, making sure that we were alone. "Can you keep a secret? A really big secret?"

I sat across from her, at the foot of the bed. "Of course. Anything."

"Pinkie Swear?" She held out her pinkie finger, just like we had done when we were little. I knew that this must be something important as I wrapped my pinkie around hers.

"I promise."

She took a deep breath. "Alicia and I…after the meeting today…we were just walking around Hogsmeade, and we were down one of those side streets and…

"She kissed me, Avalon! She kissed me, and it was amazing!" Her face went completely red, and she couldn't meet my eye. "I've liked her for a long time."

"Are you two a couple now, then?" I asked. I had been wondering about the two of them for a while, but Katie hadn't said anything, and I hadn't asked.

"I think so," she looked up at me. "You probably think I'm weird, right? I'm sure everyone else would, if they knew."

"I don't think you're weird at all!" I meant it. "I'm happy for you!"

She smiled, still a bit nervous. "Really?"

"Really," I said, and beamed at her. "You have to tell me everything!"

She blushed deeper. "Everything?"

"Yes! The whole story."

She smiled, and told me. Everything that I had inferred about her relationship with Alicia turned out to be true, and I was quite proud of myself. I was also happy for her. I was glad that she had found someone to love, and I told her as much. She apologized for not telling me sooner. She said that she would have, but she wasn't sure how I would react.

I could forgive her. I could easily forgive her, because right then, as I listened to Katie describe her feelings for another girl, my own confused thoughts about Ivy began parading through my head. And I knew that I could never tell a soul about how I felt.

A/N: It's true. I ship Katie and Alicia so hard. Did you like that little twist?