Disclaimer: Newsflash, nothing has changed. I have not spontaneously come to own Harry Potter. Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling and, obviously, I am not J.K. Rowling.

I'm sorry for the long wait. I lost motivation for a while. But I kicked myself back into motion, so here it is. It was really hard to finish this chapter, for some reason.

"Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so you apologize for truth" -Benjamin Disraeli

"For every minute you are angry, you lose sixty seconds of happiness" -Author Unknown

Remus sat at the table, a paper on the table on front of him, his head resting in his hand. Persephone walked over carrying two cups of steaming tea. She put one of the cups in front of her husband and sat down in the chair.

"Hey, Honey, you okay?" she asked, concerned.

He didn't answer for a while, "Am I just a bad father?"

"No," she answered without hesitation, "Where would you get that idea?"

"She hasn't even talked to me for days," Remus sighed.

"She's just a bit upset, you know how she gets," Persephone consoled, "Besides, she and the others aren't allowed to go outside. They're all on the edge and stir-crazy," she sipped her tea. There was silence for a moment, "Anyway, you're much better off than Arthur."

"How is he, anyway?"

She shrugged slightly, "No different- miserable."

Remus nodded and drank some of the tea.

She thought a while, "If it helps, I'll go talk to her later today."

"Yes, thank you," Remus murmured.

"Okay," Persephone whispered. She put her hand on his shoulder and gave him a tender kiss.

"This library is disgusting," Hermione stated for the fifth time.

"Yes, we know," Avanne fused, "Thank you for the input, Hermione," she grabbed a doxy by the leg and sprayed it with killer viciously.

"What's got your hair in a bloody knot?" Ron snapped as he, too, exterminated another doxy.

Her anger and annoyance flared up. She scowled at Ron before storming out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

"Is it a girl thing, or something?" Ron asked Hermione.

She rolled her eyes at him and turned away. Ron gave a frustrated sigh.

She stomped through the halls, fuming. She stopped dead in one of the hallways, and turned around. She kept going back-and-forth until she just stopped and scoffed, realizing she was lost, again. She became consciously aware of something clutched in her hand. She realized she was still carrying the doxy poison.

There was a sudden, loud crack behind her followed by two, loud, enthusiastic "HI!"s

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She wheeled around to confront the two offenders.

"Why is it so difficult to take only a few minutes out of your lives to simply walk?" she snapped.

"Precious minutes that we could use, Avanne," Fred said.

"Like, for perfecting our joke shop products," George continued.

Fred added, "We're still trying to figure most of the formulas, though."

"Especially this one that can change eye color and hair color," George finished, "Maybe you could help us out with it."

She resisted the urge to yell in their faces, as well, and stomp off. Instead she asked, "I don't know why you're asking me, I don't have any experience with pranks."

They both clapped her on the shoulder, "It's in your blood," they chimed with admiration.

She rolled her eyes and shook them off her shoulders. They still idolized the marauders, and it wasn't seldom that they would ask Sirius or her dad- whom she was still angry at- all about their days as master pranksters.

"Then why not just ask Sirius or my dad?"

"Because you can help us with this particular product," they said together.

"Why would-" she realized why, "Oh. Metamorphmagus, right."

"We would've asked Tonks-"

"-but you're less likely to tell Mum,"

She gave them a smug grin, "Yeah, for now. Pull any of your pranks on me, and I might just reconsider."

"Deal," they agreed simultaneously.

"So, what exactly do you need?" she asked tentatively.

"Well, since we're just starting to experiment with the formula, we're going to need a sample of you-" George began.

"-I doubt you want to give us your toenails-" Fred was interrupted.

"Okay, I get where your going," she held up her hand to silence them. She moved her hand to her head and plucked some of her purple hairs out.

"Thanks," they both grinned as they took the hairs.

"Once we've finalized the product-" Fred began.

"-you can get it for free!" George finished.

They grinned and disappeared with a pop.

She shook her head as a smile tugged on her lips for a moment. Count on the twins to lift you from a bad mood.

Avanne felt shame as she thought about how nasty she had been to anyone who had dared to cross her path. She resolved to go right back to Ron and Hermione and apologize (and put away the doxy poison). She began to walk but then stopped abruptly.

She fused, remembering that she was still hopelessly lost.

Draco slammed the door behind him.

"Daney!" he shouted.

A half a second later, there was a nervous crack from the other side of his room. The house-elf stood there, wringing his hands apprehensively, staying a good distance away from him.

Draco restrained himself from grabbing the elf by the neck, "Didn't I say, very specifically, that if they became suspicious, you were to come to me immediately?"

The little house-elf grabbed his own neck with his long, thin fingers, "I'm sorry, sir, I'm sorry!" he cried as he fell onto the floor.

His anger dissolved as he watched the pitiful house-elf spluttering his feeble apologies on the floor, looking as though he was trying to choke himself.

Sighing, he knelt onto the floor, picked up the house-elf, and steadied him into a standing position, "Well?" he asked, "Why didn't you?"

Daney suppressed his sobbing as he answered in a shaky voice, "Mistress Narcissa told Daney he could not warn young master."

Draco tried to bite back his annoyance, "Why didn't you come to me anyway? You could have-"

"Young master would have been in trouble, sir. Greater trouble than otherwise, sir," Daney explained desperately, "Young master's father would have…"

Draco froze. He didn't hear what the house-elf said after that. Instead, the scene played out in his mind. His father had been home when his mother had become suspicious. Somehow, she must have kept it from his father when she demanded an explanation from Daney. And then she ordered the house-elf to not warn him, Draco. Daney, even though he knew what he, Draco, had told him, didn't come to him anyway.

What if he had? If Daney had come to him anyway, then obviously, he, Draco, would head straight back. He probably would have apparated home with the house-elf. But what if his father noticed? He, his father, would question the both of them. They would be forced to tell him, landing Draco into some seriously deep trouble.

Draco knew that the reprimand and punishment from his father would have been ten times worse than any punishment his mother would even consider giving. In an odd, twisted way, Daney may have saved him from a much worse potential string of events.

But he knew that there was a chance that it wouldn't have gone precisely that way. There was a chance he could've kept it from his father. Still, when it came to his father, Draco knew that he wouldn't have taken that chance.

"Daney," he told the still-blubbering house-elf, "You can go, now."

The little house-elf regained his composure.

"Wait," Draco said before Daney could leave. The house-elf looked up at him with fearful eyes, "Don't- don't punish yourself for this," he told him, "Understood?"

Daney gave a relieved sigh, and gave a grateful nod before disappearing.

Some little part of Draco had told him that it was his own fault for this mess- and Daney didn't deserve to be punished for his own mistake. But he rejected that reasoning.

Instead, he convinced himself that his father would notice if Daney stuck his hands in the oven, even though he well knew that he wouldn't.

Considering the alternative, he supposed he should have been grateful for how things had gone, though he wasn't. But he sure didn't feel sorry for himself, either.

She walked down the hall, making her way to the library that she knew the kids were de-contaminating. Since her had husband asked her, she was going to talk to Avanne about apologizing to her father. She admitted to being a little disappointed that she hadn't done it on her own, already.

She was surprised when she saw her purple-haired teenager sitting on the floor in one of the hallways, holding a can of what appeared to be poison.

"Hi, mum," she said, a relieved look crossing her face as she stood up.

Persephone eyed her daughter questioningly.

"I got lost," she explained, "I was trying to get to the library."

"That's funny, I was just going there to see you," Persephone commented.

"Oh," Avanne said slightly nervous, "Why?"

"Well," she treaded cautiously, "You've been kind of moody since- well, since the night Percy, erm, left."

Avanne suppressed a snort at the mention of the prat.

"And then," she continued, "you had your outburst at your father and- Avy, he's been having a hard time, lately. It would lift his spirits a bit if you just went to him and apologized-"

"Me? He was the one who-"

Her mum abruptly gave her the infamous death stare. Upon noticing it, she abruptly shut herself up.

Persephone sighed, "Apologize to him," she told her.

"Fine. I'll say sorry when I next see him," she mumbled shoving her available hand into her pocket.

That was the best she was going to get, the mother figured.

"Still need to get to the library?" Persephone asked.

She nodded mutely.

Without a word in return, Persephone led her to the library, wondering if a map would do the girl some good.

Once they reached it, Avanne went inside, sparing just one glance at her mother and mumbling a thank you.

She saw Hermione and Ron- now with Ginny- busy spraying the last of the proxies. Upon seeing it was her, they turned their backs and ignored her.

She put the doxy poison on a shelf and took a deep breath. Might as well get some practice with it, she thought.

"Um, guys?" she called their attention.

Hesitantly, they ceased what they were doing to see what she wanted.

"Erm," she fumbled, feeling some much-needed humility, "Well, uh, I know I've been really, really nasty lately with you-"

"Hell, yeah," Ron commented openly.

Hermione stepped on his foot. Hard.

"Ow," he choked weakly, allowing Avanne to continue.

She decided not to attach some crummy excuse. That always ruined an apology.

"And, I'm really, really sorry," she said sincerely, "You're my friends and I was just a git."

"Don't think you're the only one that's angry," Ginny walked right up to Avanne, raising her voice, "You were using us as verbal punching bags! Don't you think that we would love to just shout at our friends when we're like this? But guess what? We don't!" she shouted.

Avanne, not quite expecting that reaction, stood, frozen and ashamed. It just plain confused her when Ginny suddenly broke into a smile and gave her a quick, friendly hug.

"Just kidding," she laughed, pulling away, "But that did feel good," she remarked to herself.

Understanding what was going on, Hermione, too, gave a smile and said, "You can make it up to us by helping with the doxies."

"But we're almost done with this room," Ron remarked, not understanding.

Hermione turned toward him abruptly and threatened to step on his foot again. He squeaked and took back his words. Hermione gave a satisfied smirk, and went back to the doxies.

"She is scary," Ron muttered, and also went back to work.

Avanne and Ginny watched in amusement, and wondered how long it would take them to realize that they liked each other.

"Fred and George told us that your mum told you to apologize to your dad," Ginny commented to Avanne, climbing into bed.

Avanne, who had already been settled in her own bed, occupying herself with a spider crawling across the wall, snapped back into focus at the statement, "How'd they find out?"

Ginny gave a shrug, "They're Fred and George- how do they find out anything?"

"Well?" Hermione inquired, tearing away from her book, "Did you apologize to him?"

"What are you reading?" Avanne asked instead, wondering what book Hermione had been so consumed in since she'd first gotten there.

"Nothing, just a book," Hermione answered shiftily, "And you are ignoring the question."

"What I'd told my mum," Avanne explained, "Was that I'd apologize to him when I next saw him."

"Ah, so now you're just going to purposely hide from him as long as you can," Ginny realized.

"I wouldn't have put it like that," she paused, "But, yeah, that's pretty much what it is," she finally admitted.

"You know," Hermione said knowledgeably, "It would be a lot easier if you just went to him and apologized."

"You know, Hermione," Avanne imitated her, "It would be a lot easier on everyone if you just went to Ron and told him that you like him."

Hermione went completely red, "I do not-" she tried to protest but was interrupted by a tapping from the window

Visible through the clouded window was a snowy owl with a note clamped in its beak.

"Hedwig," Ginny said, getting up to open the window.

"Head-wig?" Avanne questioned.

"Hedwig. She's Harry's owl," she explained, opening the window.

The snowy owl immediately flew to the still-blushing Hermione. She took the letter and read it.

"Let me guess-" Ginny began.

"He's still asking for an explanation," Hermione sighed.

"Why not just explain it to him, then?" Avanne asked.

"Dumbledore told us very specifically not to," the brunette told her, grabbing some parchment and a quill pen, "It would be very bad if the letter got into someone else's hands and blew the Order's cover," she scribbled something onto the parchment and sent it off with Hedwig.

Avanne shrugged. It made sense on the surface, but she remembered how frustrated she had been. She nestled under the blankets and wondered how he was faring with it.

Finished the chapter. I don't know, it felt like a rushed job, even though it took me weeks. I had something specific in mind for this chapter, but after looking it up in the book, it wouldn't have followed with the timeline at all. Not to mention my use of logic crumbled right under my feet.

I just want to say sorry to everyone- my friends and family- that I've been absolutely horrid to. I've been treating you sort of as 'verbal punching bags,' and I'm really sorry.

I'm anticipating a tooth pull on about the 26th. I'm not even entirely sure why it's needed in my case (it's really not). Hopefully, I'll get in another chapter before then.

Happy summer everyone!