"Ready for this?" Tobias asks from where he sits next to Ginny at a table in the Great Hall.
Lunch has long since been cleared away, the fifth-years and participating seventh-years waiting for their afternoon practical DADA exam to begin.
"Does it matter?" she asks, giving him a grim look.
He smiles. "How bad can it be?"
The written exam had been straightforward enough, no big surprises. But now it is time to show that they know more than theory.
The room falls quiet as the Head Examiner, a stern witch of indeterminate age, stands at the front of the room. "Fifth-year Hufflepuffs, you are with Examiner Hartwick," she says.
The rest of the fifth-years are assigned by house, all of them filing out behind their purple-robed examiner.
Ginny gives Nicola and Reiko encouraging smiles as they walk past. Reiko nods at her, dragging the far more pale-looking Nicola along with her.
"As for the rest of you, we'll be breaking you up into smaller groups as well. Please listen for your name."
The group of seventh-years is nearly as large as the fifth-years, thanks to there being quite a few students coming back to repeat from last year. But also because nearly every member of the DA is sitting the exam. Not because of career plans; they're hardly all becoming Aurors, after all, but more as a matter of principle. The Ministry and their series of professors may not have valued their learning of practical skills, but they have. They do.
Tobias gets called up before Ginny, joining Padma, Dean, Vaisey, and a few others.
Ginny ends up in the next group with Luna, Neville, Rosier, Parvati, Terry, Seamus, and Harry. At a nearby table, she can see Harry peel off from Ron and Hermione who will no doubt be in the last group. Harry smiles at her as they follow their examiner out and down the hall. They take a staircase down, not quite as far as the dungeons, but near enough.
"In here," the examiner says, gesturing them inside a classroom that Ginny half suspects only appeared for these exams, having never noticed it before.
Walking inside, Ginny feels her body go cold. For a moment, it looks exactly like the room used by Amycus, stone walls and a long platform running through the middle with rows of benches lined in front of it. But it isn't the same one of course, and she forces herself to think about that, the fact that there are windows running along one wall, small as they are. This is not that place. And this is not that time.
They are not those people anymore.
She glances at Neville and to judge from the tension hardening his face, he's made the same connection. Seamus doesn't look any happier, muttering something to Parvati that makes her nod in grim agreement.
Harry catches her eye, a question there. She just shakes her head, crossing over to sit with Neville and Luna as if not bothered at all. She will not let this rattle her.
Harry doesn't press, taking a seat next to Seamus.
"Okay," the examiner says, tucking a piece of parchment under his arm to clap his hands and get their attention even though they were already silent. "This will be pretty straightforward. I'm going to duel each of you to assess your offensive and defensive skills as well as ability to react in real time. Alright?"
He seems casual and matter-of-fact about it, but it doesn't really do anything to dispel the feeling in the room.
Neville's hand immediately shoots up.
"Yes, Mister…?"
"Longbottom, sir," he supplies. "Would you mind if I went first?"
Ginny isn't even remotely surprised to hear him ask.
The examiner shakes his head, looking down at his parchment. "We're actually supposed to go in alphabetical order, Longbottom."
Neville doesn't budge, clearly unwilling to be so casually brushed off. "I understand that, sir. But I really need to go first."
The examiner frowns, probably wondering why Neville is being so pushy. It has nothing to do with his eagerness to get the exam over with and they all know it.
"Oh," he says, the tension in the room finally seeming to register to him as more than just exam nerves.
The look he levels on them makes Ginny think he must have attended the Carrows' trial.
For Merlin's sake, just stay down. Just give up!
Ginny breathes out slowly through her nose.
"No," the examiner concedes. "I suppose this isn't the best place for this."
"It's fine," Neville says, jaw tight. "Defense can't always be about being comfortable, can it?"
"No," the examiner says, considering him. "It can't. But you're—" He seems to think better of finishing his sentence.
"We're what?" Neville asks.
Children, Ginny knows he wants to say. She looks around at the students, all of them seventh-years and older. All of them members of the DA. All of them survivors of the war.
"None of us have been children for a very long time," she says.
The examiner regards her a long moment before finally nodding. "Very well. Mr. Longbottom, would you please come up?"
Neville gets to his feet, climbing up on the long dais while the examiner squares off with him on the other side.
Ginny feels Luna's hand slip into hers.
She squeezes her fingers back, working to carefully control her breathing. This entire year, Merriweather never dueled them himself, no professor has. Not since last year. Not since the last time Ginny saw Neville stand up there, reckless and ready to make a painful statement.
Neville and the examiner salute each other.
"Let us begin," the examiner says.
From the start it appears to be a normal, straightforward duel. The examiner is methodical in his approach, gradually increasing difficulty and speed, but never pressing in unfairly on an advantage. Only after they both settle in after the first few exchanges does he start to vary patterns, pushing Neville, surprising him, but never saying a word, just occasionally nodding his head as if in satisfaction with one of Neville's better responses.
By the time it's finished, Neville climbing back down, Ginny feels like she can breathe again.
"Nice work," she says to him as he returns to his seat.
He gives her a warm but exhausted smile. The examiner may have been fair, but he hadn't gone easy on him either.
They work through the rest of the duels, Terry next and then Seamus, Luna, and Parvati. They all make a solid show of it, Terry a bit less so than the others. Parvati is particularly strong, standing up there with a hard, determined gleam in her eye, like she's still trying to find a way to have been stronger, to have been better, to have saved her best friend in that final battle.
After Parvati jumps down, wiping the sweat from her forehead, Harry starts to shift to his feet, only for the examiner to call up Rosier instead.
"Quickly, now," the examiner says impatiently when Rosier and Harry look around in confusion.
Harry lowers himself back down into his seat, his brow furrowed.
Ginny only realizes this is far from a simple alphabetical mistake when she is called up next. She glances at Harry as she passes by and he shakes his head, giving her an encouraging smile.
Ginny calmly ascends the stairs, claiming her spot at the far end of the long platform. Taking a few deep breaths, she holds her wand loosely at her side.
"Ready?" the examiner asks.
She nods, and he immediately steps in with the first curse. She casts a spell to counteract it rather than block it, allowing her to immediately send a salvo back without the interference of a shield. He doesn't give her any time to take pride in her good start, immediately pressing in with another attack. It all becomes ritual then, action and counteraction, the split moment of recognition, the proper reaction, reaching for the right words and movements.
It is far more difficult that it looked, sitting comfortably watching, but then it always is. She does have the benefit of watching all of the duels before her, so she's able to put her knowledge to use, but the truth is that she has always been a competent dueler, but not much more. It's just not where she's put her time.
In the middle of the next salvo he does something completely unexpected, going against earlier patterns, and she can't react in time, reaching for the wrong spell. The curse impacts her, knocking her off kilter enough that she stumbles down to her knee, rolling into the fall rather than risk dropping her wand by bracing herself with her hand. She hits the wooden dais with horrible familiarity, automatically preparing herself for the follow up, knowing what comes next when you lose, the pain and screaming that always follows. Her heart pounds and pounds in her ears, all spells and plans leaking away.
The tread of his feet moving closer is the only thing she can hear over the panic, and she doesn't think, just reacts. Fights back.
Not this time.
Rolling onto her back, she wordlessly flings out a curse, only realizing after that it's just the examiner, that this is just a test, that he was only moving closer to check on her, to help her back up, not curse her. Not punish her.
The curse impacts him with a sick thump, his breath gone for a moment. Ginny scrambles to cast the counter curse as he stumbles back.
"I'm sorry," she says. "I thought—" Merlin, why is her voice shaking?
"No, no," he says, smiling even as he's rubbing at his chest. "You certainly got me. And you're right. You should never let your guard down."
She thinks it's rather kind of him not to point out that she clearly panicked. She doesn't let herself look at the other students, too embarrassed to see their reactions.
He takes a few steps away from her, shaking his arm out. "That was a good one. What was it?"
She hesitates, but before she can answer, he turns and throws a hex out at her without warning. She barely gets a shield charm up in time, but she does, following with a random barrage of spells only meant to give her enough time to roll back to her feet, get in a better, more defensible position.
The back and forth continues for a few more minutes, the spells varying and requiring different counterspells before he lifts his hands and calls an end, clearly content to have seen the range of her skills.
Ginny finally lowers her wand, her breathing rough and unsteady.
He grins at her, nodding. "Well done."
It's hard to turn her back on him to climb back down, but she forces herself to do it, even as she keeps a firm grip on her wand. Back in her seat between Luna and Neville, she tries to be relieved she's done, to take a moment to breathe. Only then Harry gets to his feet.
"I hope you haven't forgotten me," Harry says.
"Of course not, Mr. Potter," the examiner says.
Harry nods. "So just the alphabet then."
Seamus snickers, but Ginny is more interested in the way the examiner looks vaguely uncomfortable.
As Harry climbs up on the platform, a door opens in the back wall of the room, a wizard walking in. He isn't wearing the purple robes of an examiner and something about the way he carries himself instantly has Ginny on alert.
She glances at Harry to find him watching the wizard as well, eyes narrowed, and Ginny wonders if he is familiar to Harry.
"Would you mind?" the wizard asks the examiner, gesturing towards the spot across from Harry.
The examiner shakes his head. "Not at all, sir."
Considering how unsurprised he looks, Ginny assumes the question is all for show. No one bothers to ask Harry if he minds.
Ginny leans into Neville as the wizard gets in place. "Do you know who that is?"
"Gawain Robards," he whispers back.
Ginny sucks in a breath. The Head Auror? She sits up taller, all of her earlier anxiety returning in a rush. What the hell is going on?
Robards lifts his wand in front of his face, bowing his head at Harry before flicking the wand to the side.
Harry mimics the salute.
"Ready?" Robards asks, stepping into a wider stance.
Harry's only response is a curt nod, his eyes flashing with what Ginny realizes is anger. Though whether that's for clearly being treated with special attention or something more personal, she isn't sure.
Robards begins first, immediately casting a incredibly complicated barrage of spells, signaling right off that this duel is nothing like the others. There is no smooth easing in.
Harry is caught off guard, but recovers quickly enough, countering each spell, using some unorthodox movements to familiar spells that nonetheless work well, if not better. His anger seems to be driving him, and he manages to get Robards pushed back with a defensive charge, only for the Auror to press in with even more complicated spells. More than one of them seem dangerously overpowered and could cause serious injury.
Ginny tries to take comfort in the fact that Harry is clearly very good. He's always been a natural on a broom, but here he is energy and movement, and it's mesmerizing to watch, even as the hairs on her arm seem to rise as if from static, from the magics in the air. From seeing him there, facing off against a relentless opponent.
It's just a test, she reminds herself. It's not real. And this is an Auror.
Robards summons one of the unoccupied benches, bringing it to life with a shouted oppugno and sending it after Harry. There's a heavy donging sound when Harry's curse hits the bench, the wood once again immobile as he flings it back towards Robards.
With a flick of the Auror's wand, the bench erupts into flames, burning to ashes in seconds.
"Holy hell," Seamus mutters.
In his seat next to her, Neville shifts, body angling forward, the duel clearly on the edge of becoming something else entirely. Something much more dangerous.
Up on the platform, Harry starts losing ground, but it doesn't seem like he's being overwhelmed, so Ginny isn't sure why he's doing it, why he's retreating, when suddenly a few things happen in rapid succession. Harry ducks under Robards' curse rather than responding with magic, which seems reckless and unnecessary until he spins on his heel to throw up a protective spell just as another curse is sent at him from the side. Somehow, there is a second wizard, and where the hell had he come from? Through the back door while they weren't paying attention?
Robards doesn't seem alarmed or even surprised, still pressing forward.
Harry falls back further, jumping down off the dais as he now faces two people at once.
"What the hell," Neville says, just as a third wizard steps in from the side. "Behind you, Harry!"
Neville is up on his feet, casting a stunner towards the new combatant, but then there is a fourth and a fifth and a sixth.
Ginny feels everything closing in all at once, Harry surrounded by assailants, and all thoughts of this being a bloody test evaporate because it's smoke and chaos and the castle rumbling around them.
Ginny surges to her feet, hexing one of the wizards with his wand trained on Harry, vaguely aware that all the other students have followed suit. It's clearly an ambush, and none of them are going to waste time figuring out intentions or leave Harry to face this alone.
The students' addition to the fray is enough to distract a good portion of the wizards from Harry, but he's still isolated from them on the other side of the dais, besieged from both sides and barely keeping his feet.
"We need to split them," Neville shouts, looking at Seamus and Parvati and jerking his head to one side. They peel off from the group, Terry going with them, effectively drawing more of the attackers away from Harry.
The rest of them shift in the other direction, forcing the wizards to pull apart and turn their attention to the students or risk getting picked off one by one.
Soon there's a gap big enough for Harry to make a run for it and come back to the greater safety of the group.
"Harry!" Ginny yells.
He glances back, and she knows he's seen the opening.
She steps forward with Rosier and Luna to cast protection spells as Harry turns and vaults over the dais. One of the wizards nearly gets Harry in the back, but Luna sends a particularly vicious conjunctivitis curse at him, the wizard falling back with a howl.
Harry makes it safely across, but a moment later, Luna gets hit with a streak of red light, slumping to the floor. Ginny drops down, Rosier covering her while she drags her back behind the rest of their classmates. After a brief check that Luna is fine, Ginny uses her momentary protection as a chance to assess the situation, watching the movement of the attacking wizards. She can see it, what they plan on doing next.
Getting to her feet, she touches on Harry's back, careful not to get in the way of his wand movements. She can feel the tension in his body.
"They're going to try to divide us," she says loud enough for him and Neville to hear.
Harry casts another spell, deflecting an incoming hex, his head turning to take in the layout. He nods his understanding.
They could give up their position, but it's slightly better, more open for movement, rather than littered with the overturned benches closer to where the other group of students is struggling under a renewed barrage.
"They'll need to come to us," Ginny says.
"Seamus," Neville calls.
Terry has gotten hit at some point, Seamus and Parvati standing in front of him as more wizards press in on them. It's going to be hard for them to get Terry back to the group and not get hit themselves.
It would honestly be foolish for them to even try.
"They should just leave him," Rosier says.
Harry shoots him a withering look before darting across the room towards Seamus without any warning, flinging spells over his shoulder as he goes, his movements careless.
Rosier curses under his breath, but doesn't hesitate to follow after Harry, casting a shield charm just in time to keep him from getting hit. Seamus drags Terry back into the larger group while the others keep up protections.
"Have they forgotten this is just a school test?" Seamus says as he slouches behind an overturned bench with Terry, nursing a nasty set of boils in his arm.
"Apparently," Parvati shouts back, casting an impressive leg-lock spell that takes one of the wizards down, nearly knocking his neighbor out too.
Ginny dares to dart a glance at Harry's face. His expression is set and he seems to be radiating some sort of powerful energy that reminds her inexplicably of her mum.
Rosier stumbles back under an impact, his eyes looking a little unfocused, clearly hit by something interfering with his reflexes.
"We can't keep this up," Ginny says, stepping in front of him to provide coverage. The simple fact is that they are outnumbered, not to mention severely out-skilled by their better-trained opponents.
"Got any suggestions?" Neville shouts back.
She doesn't get a chance to answer, a hex impacting her leg, her entire body feeling like it's turned to jelly. Her leg buckles under her and she stumbles, tripping over Luna's foot. Unable to catch herself, she falls backwards, her shoulder catching the edge of an overturned bench. Her breath seems to leave her in a rush, but she still manages to keep her wand, struggling to find the breath to cast a shield to protect herself from any further damage even as pain flares through her body.
She vaguely hears someone shout her name, and then a powerful shield flares to life across the middle of the room, the chandeliers above swinging with the sheer force of it.
"Enough," Harry bellows.
Robards jumps up on the dais, hands lifted. "Yes. Enough."
The room falls silent, but Ginny still isn't ready to believe it. None of the other students are either to judge from the way they warily stand shoulder to shoulder around the fallen, wands lifted. The attacking wizards all lower theirs, pulling back to the walls. At least those who aren't in various states of immobility on the ground.
Harry doesn't immediately lower the shield, glancing back over his shoulder at her.
She nods to let him know that she's okay. Rosier leans down to help her back to her feet. She cautiously rotates her arm, but other than a little discomfort, it's working fine. Parvati drops down to revive Luna and Terry.
Only then does Harry return his attention to Robards. "What are you playing at?" he demands.
"A very good question," Robards says, hands tucked behind his back like this is a lecture. "Anyone care to hazard a guess?"
The students are still heaving with the effort of the fight, looking like Robards is out of his mind.
"You wanted to see how we would work as a team," Neville eventually says.
"Very good," Robards says.
"And with no warning," Seamus adds, rubbing at his leg as if still shaking off the effects of a stinging hex.
Robards smiles, jumping down off the platform. He walks over until he's standing in front of Harry. Neville and Rosier tense on either side of him, stepping up like they might have to defend Harry again, and Ginny can tell this amuses Robards, his lips twisting.
"I must say you took me by surprise, Potter. Very impressive. Embarrassingly shoddy wand technique, but nothing that a bit of vigorous training can't fix."
"I'm flattered," Harry says, voice dripping with sarcasm even as his breathing is still slightly labored from the fight.
"Well, you shouldn't be. Your wandwork is the least of your problems."
Harry's jaw tightens with what Ginny imagines is the effort of not telling Robards off. "Enlighten me," Harry bites out.
Robards steps into him, a blatant show of aggression that Harry doesn't budge against, holding Robards's gaze. "In short? You're too emotional. You're letting your emotions drive you instead of your head, and it makes you reckless. And dangerous."
Harry has no ready comeback this time, clearly very close to losing his temper, his hand clenching and unclenching around the handle of his wand, Robards still staring him down.
This overbearing posturing is so clearly yet another test, another attempt to push Harry, test his limits, that it becomes glaringly obvious that this Robards's real aim. It's always been about Harry. Ginny is just done because how dare he. How dare he stand in this place with these students and blatantly attack Harry both physically and personally.
"Reckless?" she says, voice flat and even but no less sharp for it. "Like setting fully trained Aurors on schoolchildren? Students who not so long ago spent months being brutalized in a room very much like this one, by someone very much like you?"
Robards's eyes slide over to her, coolly assessing. "As Mr. Longbottom so aptly put it, defense can't always be about being comfortable."
She supposes he means this as a way to put her in her place, throwing their own words back at them, but all he's done is shown his cards, making it painfully clear that he's watched every moment of this so-called exam even before he showed his face. That he's planned every moment of this little spectacle.
She smiles. "As if any of this was about testing our defense abilities. If that's all it was, there's no reason for you to be here." She shakes her head. "No. The only reason you're here is to indulge your curiosity. And you didn't care how you went about it."
She's watching Robards closely enough that she doesn't miss the flicker of surprise, like he didn't expect anyone to pick up on why he's really here, what this bit of theater was really about when the clues are ridiculously obvious. They're all just kids, after all, aren't they?
"Oh, I'm sorry," she says, pressing on, because she doesn't care if he's the bloody Head Auror, he has no right. "Did you think your motives were somehow not completely transparent?"
Robards's attention is fully on her now, his expression difficult to interpret, but gaze completely unyielding. He moves in her direction, clearly about to stride over to her, aggression in every line of his body.
He doesn't get very far, Harry deliberately stepping across his path, placing his body between Robards and Ginny without hesitation. Like he has no intention of letting Robards anywhere near her.
Robards looks at him, the two of them nearly of a height, expressions equally implacable.
The tension in the room ratchets up again; Seamus shifting slightly in front of Ginny, his wand tapping against his thigh in agitation.
"Oh," Luna says, voice mildly curious. "Are we going to fight again?"
Luna's question seems to finally penetrate the standoff, Robards looking away from Harry. After a long moment, he relents, taking a few steps back away, and Ginny gets the distinct impression that he's regrouping.
"I admit," Robards says, hands once again behind his back. "I was curious. I'd heard a lot about the so-called child-soldier army of Hogwarts. I suppose I wanted to see it for myself."
Yet another partial truth, but Ginny knows she's already pushed as far as she dares and so lets it lie.
Robards paces the length of the room, looking at each of them in turn as if he's studying them. He eventually comes to a stop in front of Terry and Parvati. "But I can see you're right, Miss Weasley," he says without looking at her. "None of you are children. And you weren't playing at anything, were you?"
Despite the panic and anger still swelling in her chest, Ginny's voice is calm and flat as she responds. "No, sir."
He nods. "There's a lot of potential in this room. Far more than I expected. A lot of skill and willingness to work as a team and some sheer raw talent. With the right kind of training and a lot of hard work, you could really make something of that. Make a real impact."
An impact somewhere more important than just a school, Ginny assumes he means.
He crosses back over to stand in front of Harry. "In truth, I would be honored to have any of you join the Auror Academy."
He holds Harry's gaze for a long moment before looking at the rest of them in turn, as if to make them understand exactly what he is offering. Without another word, he turns and walks back out the rear door. The other wizards quickly follow suit, leaving the students alone.
"What the actual fuck," Rosier says the moment the door closes behind them.
Ginny can't help but silently agree.
"Christ, Ginny," Seamus says, turning to her. "Is there anyone you're actually afraid of? You're almost as bad as Harry!"
She shakes her head, abruptly sitting down as her heart starts to pound away in her chest, the adrenaline of the moment starting to fade. "There's plenty of things I'm afraid of, Seamus. But pointing out people's hypocrisy is not one of them."
Terry scoffs. "Honestly, did he really think we weren't going to notice that every DA leader and every student even considering applying for the Academy is in this room?"
But some of the others are looking around as if they are realizing that for the first time.
Luna sits down next to Ginny, her hand on her knee.
"Not Ron and Hermione," Neville points out.
"He wanted Harry on his own," Ginny says, this being the part Robards seemed least willing to admit. "Probably wanted a glimpse of what The Chosen One is capable of without his trusty sidekicks there."
Someone curses under their breath as if they are finally realizing just how premeditated that all was, just what Robards hoped to achieve. The Head Auror wanted to see how much of a problem this school army might be, see what kind of applicant pool he was going to get, and get unfettered access to Harry Potter, all neatly tied up in one little ambush.
She wonders how much McGonagall knew about this. Or Kingsley.
"I wasn't," Harry says.
"What?" Neville asks.
"On my own," he says, glancing around at them. "I had all of you."
She can tell it means a lot to him that no one in this room hesitated to throw in with him, test or no. They all had his back, even if he's probably already berating himself for getting them in this position in the first place.
Seamus shrugs as if it's no big deal. "Of course you did."
Next to him, Neville nods. "We may be Dumbledore's Army, but we've always been yours too, Harry."
Harry blinks, looking like he's struggling with how to respond to that.
"Come on," Parvati says. "Let's talk about this somewhere else. I'd really rather not spend another moment in this bloody room, if we don't have to."
Neville nods. "Does anyone need to see Pomfrey?"
Despite more than one visible injury, they all shake their heads.
"We still have supplies in the DA room," Ginny says. "We can just go there."
"Yeah," Parvati agrees. "We can see how everyone else fared in their exams."
She, Terry, and Seamus file out together, Ginny not getting up from her seat.
Harry appears in front of her. "Are you okay?" he asks.
She looks up at him, doing her best to smile at him. "I'm fine."
He doesn't look appeased, and she drops her eyes to his hand, the way it almost reaches for hers only to drop away.
"Uh, are you okay, Luna?" he asks, seeming to recall that Luna and Neville are still both here.
Ginny turns to look at her, noticing that she doesn't look all that well.
"Getting stunned always leaves me with a headache," Luna says, brow slightly furrowed. "I believe I'll go get a potion from Madame Pomfrey." She gets to her feet.
Neville steps closer, taking her elbow. "I'll walk you," he offers.
"No thank you," Luna says serenely, patting his hand absently. "I will be quite alright on my own." She turns and walks out without another word.
Neville watches her go, clearly not pleased.
"I'm sure she'll be fine," Ginny says, getting to her feet as well, doing her best not to wince at the pain in her back.
"Yeah," Neville says.
They walk out of the room, catching up to the rest of their group where Seamus is already regaling other students with the thrilling tale of their exam.
Tobias strides up to Ginny. "What the hell happened to you lot?" he asks.
He looks completely unmussed while the rest of them look like they've been through a particularly rough Quidditch match.
"Ambush," she says succinctly.
"What?" he says with enough alarm to confirm nothing like that happened in his session.
She nods. "Organized by the Head Auror himself, no less."
Tobias is satisfyingly shocked. "Why in the world would—" he starts to say, only to break off when he notices Harry. "Oh, right. Of course."
Harry does not look particularly pleased with this assumption that of course weird, violent things would be happening around him.
"Harry!"
They turn, seeing Ron and Hermione rushing towards them.
"What the bloody hell is this we're hearing about you getting attacked during your exam?" Ron demands, looking like he really hopes they're going to deny it.
Ginny's impressed with the speed of the news traveling about, unless Ron just has a sixth sense about Harry getting himself in trouble.
"It was pretty exciting. You really missed out," Ginny says.
"You mean it's true?" Ron asks. He looks Harry over as if inspecting him over for injuries. "We leave you alone for one afternoon and this is what happens."
"I hardly asked to be ambushed," Harry defends, already looking marginally more relaxed just to have Ron and Hermione here.
"What exactly happened?" Hermione asks.
Ginny decides to leave them to it, walking into the DA room with Tobias.
"You okay?" he asks her, unerringly nudging her in the exact most painful spot.
She tries to bite back the hiss of pain, but can't quite manage it. "We don't happen to have any of that bruise salve still lying around, do we?"
Tobias frowns. "I'm sure we do."
He leads her towards the small cupboard they keep stocked with basic supplies—a habit they've never quite been able to break. While Tobias is digging around through the various crocks and vials, Ginny shucks her robes and tie, dropping them on a nearby chair.
Having spent months together in tight quarters at the end of the war, the DA members aren't exactly overly precious about privacy, so Ginny doesn't think anything of unbuttoning her shirt, knowing she has a tank top underneath that more than keeps her covered. If anything, she's just hoping she can get her injury dealt with before Ron and Harry wander in.
It's a good instinct if Tobias's reaction is anything to go by.
"Christ," he says. "What kind of curse did this?"
Ginny cranes her neck, trying to catch sight of the area. Sure enough, a bruise is already forming down over her shoulder blade. "I tripped."
The look Tobias gives her makes it clear that he doesn't believe her. "Suppose you're useless off your broom," he mutters. "Can't even walk in a straight line."
She nudges him in retaliation.
"If you could refrain from violence long enough for me to help this would go a lot easier," he chastises, pulling the top off the crock with a pop.
Ginny rolls her eyes, but dutifully submits herself to his ministrations, hissing only when he hits a particularly nasty spot.
"Stop being a baby," Tobias says, but he also lightens his touch.
"Ginny!" Ron says. "What happened?"
She sighs, knowing it was probably too much to hope that she wouldn't have to deal with this.
She glances back over her shoulder to see Ron, Hermione, and Harry standing behind her. Harry is staring at her shoulder like he'd very much like to have another go at Robards.
"I'm fine," Ginny says. "It's nothing."
"It doesn't look like bloody nothing," Ron says.
"Yeah, well, it's nothing enough that I could still easily hex you if I wanted," she says, not in any mood to deal with his overly protective brother mode right now.
Mercifully, Hermione drags Ron off, Harry reluctantly trailing after them with one last glance at her shoulder, his face tight with anger. They don't go all that far, settling on a sofa nearby, shooting her less than subtle looks.
"So, besides the ambush, how'd the exam go?" Tobias asks. "You did actually have a real exam too, right?"
Ginny is grateful for the change in subject, more than happy to talk about anything other than the ambush or her injury. "Ugh. I botched it."
"Yeah? You trip up there too? Accidentally hex yourself?"
Ginny let out a huff, shaking her head. "I flubbed a counter-curse. It was a stupid one to miss too."
"Meh," he says. "Most people missed at least one. I doubt it means you're gonna get a failing grade."
"Yeah," she sighs.
Tobias' eyes narrow. "What is it?"
"It's not that I missed the spell," she admits. "It's what happened after."
"Yeah?"
Ginny looks down at her hands. "The examiner got a hex in on me and I'm lying on that dais and he walks towards me and I just…"
"Cursed the shite out of him?"
"Yes," she says, letting out a shaky laugh. "For a moment I thought…"
Tobias smooths the last of the salve on with an intense sort of concentration. "You thought it was me."
She lifts her face with a jerk, but he isn't looking her in the eye.
She doesn't deny it because there's no point in lying. They both know that's exactly what happened.
"Don't look so glum, love," he says, putting the lid back on the crock. "There's a reason they call them unforgivable after all."
She watches him put the crock back in the cupboard.
"Maybe if you were better at spells," she says. "As it was, I'd say it was mildly reprehensible at most."
He lets out a bark of laughter, but Ginny can't help but think his heart isn't really in it.
A heavy silence falls between them as she shrugs her shirt back on and buttons it up. "Tobias…"
He gives her a crooked smile. "Don't worry. You know me, I always land on my foot."
"Ugh," Ginny says, stretching up and pressing a kiss to his cheek. "Now that was unforgivable."
He tugs her braid and then walks off, over to talk to Rosier, which is an improvement over leaving altogether, at least. Only then she notices that Ron is watching her with very poorly concealed horror. She'd really hoped they weren't close enough to hear any of that.
He leans over the back of the sofa towards her. "Are you saying that he—"
"Did what he had to?" Ginny cuts across him. "Yeah. A lot of us did."
Ron's eyes widen, looking comically torn between concern for her and anger at Tobias. She doesn't need either.
"I am not talking about this, Ron," she says, moving further away to sit with Parvati and Padma.
Fortunately there is a bit of a distraction then, Dean careening into the room with Ritchie and Jimmy on his heels.
"There was a fight?" Dean asks, glancing around the room. "Someone tried to kill Harry?"
Seamus laughs. "Wow, that one grew fast. It was just a minor scuffle. Purely academic, right, Harry?"
"Right," Harry says, voice wry.
Dean drops down on the sofa next to Seamus. "Are you okay?"
Seamus grabs his fingers and gives them a squeeze. "You know me. Pretty sturdy."
Dean just shakes his head, clearly at a loss for words.
The entire room launches into yet another retelling for the benefit of the new arrivals. Ginny sighs, looking around the room, and of course she can't stop herself from looking at Harry. To the casual observer, it looks like he's just talking with Ron and Hermione as always, but she can see the way he's quietly fuming, his knee bouncing a bit.
She doesn't blame him, feeling pretty close to losing it herself.
Roughly shaking her head, she decides that's it. She's done giving Robards any more thought. They all need something else to focus on.
She pops up to her feet with an exaggerated stretch. "Okay," she says loudly, drawing the attention of most people in the room. "That's enough of that. I need a fly. Who's up for a scrimmage?"
She looks at Dean expectantly.
He lifts his hands, shaking his head. "I've already had my arse handed to me by you on a broom far too many times this year, thanks all the same."
"Coward," Ginny accuses.
"You'd think winning the Quidditch Cup yet again would be enough for her," Ritchie grumbles.
Vaisey and Rosier share smug grins.
"What can I say?" Ginny says, making a show of tossing her hair over her shoulder. "I never get tired of winning."
Considering how smug she tries to sound, it's no surprise that Seamus and the others groan in complaint.
She's just about to give another little push, when Harry unexpectedly speaks up.
"If I remember correctly," he says, "I've never lost a single match to you."
"Oooooh," Seamus says, looking between the two of them with horrified delight.
Ritchie cackles while Jimmy just lifts his hands behind his head. "Potter only speaks the truth."
Ginny turns to regard Harry, keeping her face placid despite how pleased she is to see Harry's natural competitiveness rouse him out of his fuming. "Well then," she says, "no time like the present."
"Do you really think you could manage it?" he shoots back, all that fractious energy still bubbling right under the surface.
"The term isn't over yet," she says. "I'd say there's still time to prove it."
Dean looks between the two of them. "Well now I want to play."
"Tomorrow afternoon," Ginny says. "Assemble your team, Potter."
Harry leans forward. "You're on."
Someone lets out a cheer, the rest of the room bursting out into excited chatter.
"What's the wager going to be?" Seamus presses.
"Oh," Ginny says, waving her hand dismissively. "Beating Harry will be reward enough for me."
"Afraid, are we?" Harry asks, voice mild.
Someone whistles, low and impressed.
Ginny feels a slow smile spread over her face, finding this side to Harry far more appealing than she probably should.
"Fine," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "When my team wins, you'll wear Slytherin colors for the rest of term."
There's a chorus of reactions around them.
"Low blow, Weasley!" Jimmy complains.
"Who says we want him?" Tobias asks loudly.
Harry ignores them all, his eyes still on Ginny. "It won't be a problem, as I have no intention of losing."
"And what will Ginny have to do?" Dean asks.
Harry taps his chin, clearly giving it some serious consideration. Ginny isn't too worried, knowing he won't do anything to humiliate her. And he knows she doesn't have money for a side bet.
As he lingers over the decision, people shout out ideas, everything from making her wear a shirt that says Gryffindor Rules to a not-so-quietly muttered suggestion that she polish his broom.
Harry's eyes narrow, his head whipping around as he tries to locate the source of that suggestion, but before he can say anything, Ron gets there first.
"You'd better fucking mean his Firebolt or I'm going to use you as the next Weasley Wheezes test subject, you sodding twat."
Jimmy leans into Ritchie and in a stage whisper says, "Maybe we've been afraid of the wrong Weasley this whole time."
Ginny just rolls her eyes. "I'm waiting."
"Okay," Harry says. "You serve us breakfast. By hand. No magic."
Embarrassing, but not horribly so. Just enough to make a spectacle of herself and let them revel in their win. It's a good choice.
"All of you?" she asks.
Harry nods. "The whole team. You know how annoying it is to have to get up and refill our plates."
Ron laughs appreciatively, slapping Harry on the back.
Ginny just smiles at them. "Pour your tea for you?" she says in an overly sweet voice that makes the smile slip off Ron's face.
"She'll probably poison it," Dean says in an undertone.
"Nah," Seamus says. "Do you know how many people have tried to kill Harry? Even Ginny probably couldn't manage it."
"That is an entirely different wager," Terry points out.
Seamus nods, eagerly turning to him. "You're right. Odds?"
"Oi. That isn't funny," Ron says, though whether at the idea of his mate being poisoned or his sister poisoning people is unclear.
Seamus shrugs. "You didn't see how many Aurors Harry took on at once."
Before the conversation can devolve into yet another discussion of Robards, the door opens with a slam, Demelza and Reiko striding in with Martin on their heels.
"What is this I'm hearing?" Demelza demands.
"You mean about the ambush?" Parvati asks, turning in her seat to look at them.
Reiko frowns, waving her hand dismissively. "Ambush? Who cares about a sodding ambush?"
Demelza nods. "Yeah. We heard something about a Quidditch match?"
After a stunned moment of silence, everyone bursts into laughter.