The travel back to Hogwarts after the break was... an unpleasant experience, to say the least. No one on the train expected for them to stop before arriving at their destination only to be faced with a herd of freaking dementors. Sure, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban. He was dangerous. Big deal. But why exactly were there dementors guarding Hogwarts? None of them understood the idea.

They didn't understand and they sure as hell didn't like it either.

The group was spread out across several compartments and so they saw how the encounter impacted each and every one of them only after they all got out. They didn't talk to each other much even then, each trapped in their own dark pasts. They gravitated towards people who shared or at least understood their worst memories. While still on the train, Eren left Levi's side to huddle close with Mikasa, Isabel taking his place immediately. They noticed Annie passing their compartment in a hurry, white as a sheet, probably unwilling to let anyone see her losing composure.

The worst, however, was the scream they heard while the dementors were still there. No one could ever imagine Ymir scream.

As they met up at the station after finally arriving, each of them took in how their friends looked. Isabel was still sobbing uncontrollably into Levi's shoulder while clutching Farlan's hand. Farlan and Levi themselves were stroking her hair and back, murmuring to her quietly, while looking somewhere half-way between sick and murderous. Eren and Mikasa were holding hands and standing close together, both identical looks of cold distance on their faces. Armin was leaning onto Mikasa, hugging himself, dried tears on his face. Erwin was nowhere to be seen, just as Mike and Nanaba. Sasha, Connie and Petra were still crying. Marco was clutching at the right half of his face, looking around in panic while a trembling Jean tried to calm him down with questionable results. Ymir was standing a bit back trying her best to look as aloof as ever, yet failing miserably with how twisted her impassiveness seemed and how she was clutching Krista's hand. Krista on the other hand had an expression that screamed to sod the fuck off unless they wanted to lose a limb or four. Finally everyone understood why she was in Slytherin. The rest wasn't that bad off, or maybe they just hid it better. However, they were still definitely of varying shades of white and green.

Only Hanji tried her best to be her cheerful, crazy self, running around and making jokes about anything that came to mind. She probably managed to fool a lot of people into thinking she wasn't affected at all. However, her act fell through as soon as she stopped running around and instead ran off to throw up into the nearest bush. Moblit shook his head and shakily went to scold and take care of her.

Armin leaned more of his weight onto Mikasa, whispering, "We've never talked about it but how many of us do you think can see the thestrals?"

Mikasa looked down at him, her jaw locked, not saying anything, while Eren looked around with a slightly crazed look in his eyes, raising an eyebrow. "I think a better question would be how many of us can't."

They didn't say a word after that.

Luckily the depression that fell over the people after that evening raised again quickly and by the breakfast the next day, everyone was back in gear.

Levi was dozing off on Eren's shoulder, having stayed up until early morning with Isabel, when he was rudely awakened by the stern voice of professor McGonagall who was handing out timetables. "Mr Ackerman, what do you think you are doing here?"

Levi blinked up at her as Eren bit his lip to try and keep a straight face and Mikasa across from him snickered. "Sleeping. Or trying to," Levi replied, closing his eyes again.

McGonagall rubbed her temples with a sigh. "Go back to your table."

"Why? We're spreading interhouse unity." The ultimate argument. Not a single person had been able to tell them anything after pulling this card.

"You can't get your time-table otherwise," the professor tried but Levi only snorted.

"Snape doesn't give a darn. He'll just give it to Farlan or something. By the way, will you give me Izzy's?"

The older woman took a sharp intake of breath. "And where exactly is miss Magnolia?" she asked flatly.

Levi cracked an eye open to give her a look before making himself comfortable again. "Where do you think? At the Slytherin table, sleeping on Farlan's lap. Girl was crying until freaking 4 in the morning."

Eren's hands curled into fists. He didn't know exactly what the dementors forced Izzy to remember but he had a general idea. No wonder both Farlan and Levi were so protective of her.

She aggressively tapped her wand handing them all their time tables, Levi indeed receiving Isabel's, humming his thanks. McGonagall's lips formed a thin line as she snapped, "Ten points from Slytherin and Gryffindor."

Eren cocked his head to the side, "There are no points yet; can you even go into the negative with points?"

They had a feeling McGonagall actively chose to pretend not to hear him.

"Armin, guess what? I made friends with a Grim!"

"You what?! Hanji Zoe, it's barely the second day of school!"

Everyone was curious to see what their new DADA teacher would be like. Although, admittedly, the bar was low after Lockhart, they were pleasantly surprised. The guy was nice and a good enough teacher. Definitely a good guy, too, as proven as soon as their first lesson with him.

He came in to the classroom full of sixth year students, smiling brightly. "Hello, NEWT class. My name is Remus Lupin and I will be your Defence against the dark arts teacher this year. I have to say, I am very pleasantly surprised to see how many of you are here. After seeing how far behind the other classes are, I wondered how so many students managed to pass their OWLs."

Ymir snorted from the back, "That's the freak year for you. There were like three people who didn't get O or E in every single subject."

There was silence for a long time, the sixth years all holding their breaths as Lupin stared at Ymir thoughtfully. "Miss... uhm..."

"Just call me Ymir," supplied the girl.

"Right. Miss Ymir, shouldn't you be in your own class? I just saw you this morning with the seventh years," the kids were surprised he sounded more curious then angry and let out a relieved breath.

Ymir grinned cheekily, "Snape will survive without me for one period. Merlin knows he can't stand my guts anyway."

After a few seconds of tense silence the professor started laughing, and to everyone's shock and joy said, "Okay, point taken. However, why are you here and not skipping class by the lake or in bed like a normal person?"

Ymir smirked, throwing her arm around Krista's shoulders and relaxing, masking her threat with her trademark nonchalance, "You're new here; just making sure you keep your hands to yourself because me and Krista are getting married as soon as she's seventeen."

"Ymir, stop it," scolded Krista immediately, making it seem more like reflex then a conscious choice.

"Okay, then," Lupin looked like he wasn't sure whether Ymir was serious or not but decided not to question it. Just like everybody else. "I assure you I'm not into blonds." Everyone laughed and Lupin grinned back at them. "Well, you guys passed you OWLs so can I assume you aren't as far behind as miss Ymir here?"

They laughed harder at the offended look on Ymir's face.

Sasha Blouse wasn't sure how she ended up roped into tracking a Grim "for science" but she was pretty sure Grims didn't even leave tracks. Except this one apparently did. She did the only sensible thing. She ran, leaving Hanji Zoe to fend for herself.

Levi and Eren were dead last leaving the Great Hall the night of Halloween. Or, well, they left the Great Hall among the first people but didn't get far after, as they ended up in the cleaning closet just outside. They spent a long time in there, just talking quietly, cuddling and snogging heavily. They were in there so long that they wasted most of the oxygen in there and the noise from the feast went long silent.

Finally Levi decided he couldn't take the heat and recycled air anymore and called it quits, leaving Eren pouting and dissatisfied inside. Levi stretched, his back aching from the awkward position he's been in for the past minutes, and shot a look back at Eren.

"You coming or what?"

The Slytherin smirked at how fast Eren's face lit up and then laughed when the boy stood up too eagerly, banging his head on the closet ceiling and consequently falling face-first out of the cramped space.

However, he froze when he heard people coming closer. A big group of people.

The boyfriends exchanged glances before they ran to hide under the staircase to assess the situation. And they didn't fancy getting caught like this. That would be awkward for all people involved.

Much to their confusion they soon saw the entire Gryffindor house coming back to the Great Hall, most of them looking spooked, shooting nervous glances around them as if expecting a ghost to jump up at them any second. (Ha!)

Of course, their friends were within the group, too. Mikasa in particular took one look at the still open closet and, obviously having noticed her brother was missing, looked towards the most logical hiding place, waving the two boyfriends over.

Having been caught, they tried to look as inconspicious as possible as they jogged towards her.

"What's going on?" Eren asked in a whisper as soon as he was close enough.

"Apparently Sirius Black got into the castle, tried to get into our tower, ripped up the portrait of the Fat Lady and disappeared," Mikasa said in an almost bored tone.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Well, the goddarn Dementors are obviously doing their job, aren't they."

Mikasa shrugged, gesturing for them to hurry up and move. The kids behind them looked awfully scared and pushy in getting back inside the Great Hall and Levi rolled his eyes. As if Black would be stupid enough to attack such a big group of people in a place where a bunch of adult wizards, an army of house elves and freaking Dumbledore could get to him in a second. Sneaking inside a common room while no one was there was one thing. This would be completely different and not even 50 years in Azkaban could make an intelligent person crazy enough to do that unless they had no other choice. Levi was pretty darn sure nothing was going to happen now. Not to them anyway.

"Come on," Eren muttered as he grabbed the Slytherin's hand and tugged him forward. The three of them moved along the crowd and soon joined their small group of friends. They were huddled in a corner, talking and laughing quietly. Apparently none of the older students were worried much, the anxiety obviously limited to the first years, second years and the random third year.

As soon as they were close enough, the eyes of the group zeroed in on them, blinking a few times before sly grins spread across their faces. Of course, it was Reiner who spoke up first. "Oh, Eren. We were wondering where you disappeared to. Good to see you're still healthy." He laughed teasingly as Eren, Levi and Mikasa gave him a disgusted look.

They just settled into a better topic than any of their sex-lives, when the door opened again and the Gryffindor's were joined by the other three confused and disgruntled houses.

As soon as the last student entered, the door slammed shut again and Professors McGonagall and Flitwick went around locking all the small doors around the Hall, while professor Dumbledore spoke to the students, "The teachers and I need to conduct a thorough search of the castle. I'm afraid that, for your own safety, you will have to spend the night here. I want the prefects to stand guard over the entrances to the Hall and I am leaving the Head Boy and Girl in charge. Any disturbance should be reported to me immediately. Send word with one of the ghosts."

Eren heard his sister groan next to him and smirked. Not for the first time he thanked Merlin he wasn't a prefect.

Dumbledore was about to leave the Hall when he turned around, and said, "Oh yes, you'll be needing..." He waved his wand twice lazily and the tables flew to line up at the walls, almost decapitating several students on the way, Ymir being among them to everyone's amusement. She was pretty far away from the Gryffindors but they heard her curse all the way from there until Krista slapped a hand over her mouth. Jean snickered as the others smirked.

As soon as the tables were out of the way, sleeping bags appeared in their place and the headmaster wished them good night.

The room immediately exploded in questions and confused muttering since no one but the Gryffindors knew what was going on. The group of Gryffindor sixth years plus Levi was soon joined by the others, all of them asking for explanation.

Armin huffed upon hearing the situation they were in, grumpily mumbling to himself, "And he couldn't have broken in fifteen minutes earlier? I literally just climbed up all the darn stairs into the tower when we were told to go back down!"

His fellow Ravenclaws complained enthusiastically in agreement, the Slytherins and Gryffindors nodding sympathetically as they were in a similar position as them. Only the Hufflepuffs exchanged smug looks. They were always happy about the location of their Common room, I mean, no stairs, close to the Great Hall and closer to the kitchen, and hearing their friends complain always made them feel even smugger about it.

They talked comfortably for a few minutes among themselves, creating purposefully crazy theories about how Black got inside the castle, when they were rudely interrupted by red-headed shadow appearing behind them.

"Didn't you hear professor Dumbledore?" Percy Weasley hissed in his pompous, head-boy tone, glaring at them. "The prefects are to guard the Hall."

"Now he remembers who the prefects are..." Mikasa muttered in an irritated tone and the others laughed.

The Head Boy ranted at them for a few minutes, not that anyone listened to him, before resolutely ordering them to go to sleep and for the prefects to follow him. Mikasa and Annie made an identical irritated face at him and those who noticed struggled not to laugh again.

When the prefects and, most importantly, Weasley, were out of earshot, Levi wondered flatly, "Erwin, remind me why aren't you the Head Boy again? I think if the guy talked any longer, I'd shove the badge up his arse where it obviously belongs." Eren buried his face in Levi's hair to muffle his snort and Levi wondered why Eren found him so funny. His boyfriend was so weird. The Slytherin loved him for it.

Erwin chuckled, answering in a knowing, amused tone, "Because I didn't find it necessary to become one and I refuse to bootlick for no reason."

"Right."

Levi nodded in understanding while Eren made a face, whispering so only Levi heard, "Maybe it's a good thing it's Weasley." That earned him an elbow to the ribs.

Connie interrupted with a loud groan, stretching. "Maybe we should grab a sleeping bag and at least pretend to go to sleep? Weasley's starting to look like he's going to literally blow up if we don't move."

"I want the purple one!" Hanji called loudly which earned her several disbelieving stares.

"Hanji... they're all purple?" Petra tried kindly.

The Ravenclaw pouted, slowly lowering her hand. "I know. That was a joke. You guys are no fun."

They all stared at her for a few more moments before collectively deciding to ignore her, turning around to figure out their sleeping arrangements.

"Ugh, why does it have to be purple..." they heard Farlan mutter to which Isabel giggled.

Ymir smirked. "Careful there; you're ruining your cool guy image."

"Go to hell, Ymir; I am allowed to hate purple. Just like you're allowed to hate dicks."

Ymir's smirk widened as she agreed, "Touché."

Levi rolled his eyes, grabbing the nearest bag and wiggling into it. He struggled to make himself comfortable when suddenly the bag was opened again and Eren shoved his big body next to him. Levi had trouble to comprehend what was going on for a second, but then he hit his boyfriend over the head. Hard. "What the fuck are you doing, brat? Go get your own bag." He shoved at the taller Gryffindor, successfully getting him back out, and zipped his sleeping bag again.

"But Levi~ I wanna cuddle," the brunet whined, a pout on his lips.

"Too bad," Levi deadpanned, turning his back towards him.

"Leeeeviiii!"

"Shut it, Jaeger," came a growl from Jean and everyone suppressed a groan as Eren turned to face him, a challenging gleam in his eyes.

"What, Horseface; jealous you can't stargaze with Marco? Not my fault you're too stupid to be a prefect like your boyfriend."

"What did you say, you suicidal-"

"Okay!" called Reiner loudly, dragging a sleeping bag across from them. "How about a round of Exploding Snap instead?"

The two boys glared at their fellow Gryffindor for a while before resigning to a truce, swearing to beat the other in the game. Several people from their group gathered around Reiner as he dealt the cards while the others sat further away to watch.

Just as everyone picked up their cards, ready to win, there came a shout of, "The lights are going out now! I want everyone in their sleeping bags and no more talking!"

"What? Why?! It's like eight! No no, wait-" Reiner's desperate call got interrupted by the darkness that engulfed the Great hall. No one moved for several long seconds before all of them moved at once, scrambling away frantically and blindly, trying to get as far away from the cards as they could.

A series of explosions echoed around the dark hall immediately after.

"Okay, so it's not a Grim. And not a dog. I think it's an animagus. No, wait, it's okay, it's friends with that half-kneazel; it's gotta be a good human!"

"Hanji Zoe, really..."

The second half of the year welcomed the sixth years with apparition classes. They were, of course, more than excited to finally learn how to, even with the money they had to pay and the free time they were forced to sacrifice for it.

The ministry guy who was to teach them seemed okay enough, even if a little annoying. But his explanations were easy enough to understand and that was enough for most of them.

But of course, the classes didn't go as fun as easy as they imagined. For most of the first lecture most of the students kept spinning in place uselessly, laughing at each other only to be laughed at in turn. Of course, that lasted only until the instructor noticed two individuals who weren't exactly doing what they were supposed to.

Levi and Ymir were leaning against the far wall, watching the others and laughing together, especially at Jean and Eren, who made it into some twisted competition to see who could spin more aggressively instead of focusing properly and Hanji, who took it upon herself to strike a new pose every time, each one more ridiculous than the last one.

The old man apparated in front of them, glowering. "Care to explain why aren't you participating in class?"

Ymir smirked lazily. "I'm not in this class, you gave me my license last year. I'm just here to laugh at them."

Levi nodded as if that made perfect sense, before the instructor addressed him. "And you?"

Levi shrugged, giving the man a bored look. "I'm just pretty sure I can do it and don't need to bother."

The class was completely silent at this display of confidence and the instructor raised an eyebrow. "Try it then," he said challengingly. "Go to your circle and apparete to the other one."

"That's boring," Levi muttered before he lazily, yet elegantly spun in place and disappeared with a pop.

Only Hanji's teasing call of "Show off," could be heard after that. Eren grinned proudly because that was his boyfriend, while Farlan rolled his eyes. Everyone else looked around the Great Hall in search of the raven Slytherin. Some started to look worried he accidentally appareted himself somewhere completely different or maybe splinched into some tiny pieces. It was only a minute of searching later, when an amused voice came from the head of the room, "Over here."

Everyone's head snapped in that direction and saw Levi sitting on top of the teacher's table, looking as expressionless as ever, only the ones who knew him best saw the glee in his eyes.

The instructor was fuming. He scolded Levi for twenty minutes about how dangerous his actions were and demanding he tell him where he –illegally – learned to apparete, refusing to believe that was Levi's first time ever trying.

But Levi's confidence and annoyance with the questioning forced him to admit he was dealing with an exceptionally talented magician. He let him go finally, completely forgetting he should be dealing with one more "student". Levi returned to Ymir's side where she was now making herself comfortable sitting on the floor, before the nearest students flocked around him, firing questions and words of praise. Levi waved them off, or more like chased them away with his glare and sat down next to the year older student.

After receiving a wink from his boyfriend, naturally.

He hoped no one noticed his blush. Because he was not blushing.

"You're a dirty liar," Ymir sang quietly with a smirk.

"At least I'm darn good at it," Levi shot back smugly. No one had to know he forced Erwin to teach him last summer – at least not those who didn't already figure it out.

Ymir and Levi continued to attend the classes with no intention of doing anything in them and the instructor learned to ignore them. Later Ymir at least started bringing her notes for NEWTs with her and stopped making a racket with her commentary. Although, honestly, everyone else was more distracted by seeing Ymir study than they'd be by her comments.

As the classes progressed, everyone was getting better and better at it. By the time it was time for them to take the tests, the splinching incidents were on bare minimum. Eren and Jean soon understood that the best way to get on the other's nerves was to master the art sooner, and started taking the classes seriously. Not surprisingly, it was Eren who won, although Jean called for disqualification on the grounds of him cheating, since he was getting extra help from Levi. The only reason it didn't end in bloodshed was Marco's swift action of dragging Jean as far away from Eren as the Hall permitted.

Levi Ackerman could only face-palm as Hanji Zoe walked up to Remus Lupin with a happy smile, asking if he would take her to his "werewolf pack" next summer. (Levi promptly left the classroom when he noticed the professor looked like he was going to faint any moment.)

The beginning of May welcomed most of the sixth years with brand new apparition licences. The still-underage-squad led by Marco happily congratulated everyone who passed, consoled the few who failed and politely declined all assurances that they'll do even better than them come summer. Reiner accompanied that with a laugh, stating that he had too much muscle mass that wouldn't let him apparate properly. Isabel, Sasha and Connie congratulated everyone with identical jealous pouts.

In the end, the only ones who failed the test were Auruo, Krista, Armin the nervous wreck, and, funnily enough, Farlan. The usually confident Slytherin somehow managed to not even apparate anywhere. He looked like he was ready to die in shame any moment for the next week, especially since everyone who was present at the time started laughing every time they remembered him spinning in place in confused panic.

The last weekend at Hogsmead was spent with the group falling apart before they even left the castle. Erwin and Ymir were staying behind, using every opportunity to study, although it was more than probable Ymir only stayed because Krista forced her to. Farlan, still drowning in shame, refused to show his face unless necessary since his epic failure during the apparition test. Mikasa, exhausted from last minute Quidditch practices, didn't even show up for breakfast and according to Petra she was still asleep when they were leaving. Hanji was using the opportunity of the almost empty castle to do whatever her crazy brain came up with this time, Moblit dutifully-slash-tiredly following. Armin and Annie already announced they wanted to go alone.

The group – or what was left of it – fell apart even further as soon as they arrived in the village. Sasha and Connie immediately ran towards Honeydukes, Connie probably motivated more by the need to hold his girlfriend back than anything. Mike and Nanaba headed straight to Madame Puddifoot's. No one understood why the two liked the shop so much, not even Levi. Levi loved tea beyond anything but the shop disgusted him only seeing it from the outside. Petra and Isabel decided to use the opportunity to go clothes shopping. No one bothered to follow them.

The remaining guys looked at each other before they shrugged and Reiner decided to lead the way towards the Zonko's. Levi hated that shop with a passion greater than he felt for Madame Puddifoot's. He grabbed Eren's hand and dragged him away, deciding to abandon the others and rather enjoy a quiet walk with his boyfriend.

Eren and Levi walked around the village for a long time, just holding hands and talking only occasionally. They even managed to get into parts they've never been to before, away from the noise of the High Street. When they wandered into the grassy area behind the village and realized how muddy it was, Levi was immensely happy he was off age and allowed to do magic. He immediately casted a charm to protect their shoes and clothes, sighing happily.

"Clean freak," Eren laughed fondly and Levi shoved an elbow into his side.

"Excuse me for not wanting to get my things fucking dirty beyond salvation."

"I think it's cute, you don't have to be so defensive."

"Shut up or I'll make you climb the mountain."

Eren frowned, throwing a critical look at the mountain towering in front of them. "I could just apparate up there, you know?"

"You think I would let you?" Levi said flatly, challengingly.

Eren weighed his options for a second, deciding he didn't want to tempt Levi into trying to prove him wrong. So he only shook his head, snaking a hand around Levi's waist, and leaned down to lightly kiss his temple. "Sorry, love, I won't tease you anymore."

"You darn better," Levi huffed and Eren secretly smiled at the sight.

"Three broomsticks?"

Levi nodded and they headed slowly back in silence, taking the long road through the back alleys and around the Shrieking Shack. To their slight disappointment, as they neared the haunted house, they heard some voices. They were only talking at first but then there was a suspicious noise followed by loud laughter. Eren felt Levi sag against him slightly. They turned the corner and the road in front of the Shack came into view, revealing to the two what was going on.

Levi instantly wished he didn't have to see that. The Malfoy kid and his two goons were dripping in mud and the older boy shuddered in disgust, quickly pulling out his wand and enforcing the protective spell on both him and Eren. Luckily, before they even got close, a head appeared out of nowhere and the three ran away screaming, taking the threat of getting dirty with them and Eren sighed in relief. Dirty Levi wasn't something he wanted to end their date with.

They watched as the until-then-unnoticed ginger-haired boy talked frantically to the air – or more like his invisible friend, who was probably in Hogsmead without authorisation – before he ran off as well.

The two boyfriends didn't comment until a few seconds passed and Levi let out a disgusted huff of "Kids."

The Gryffindor laughed at that, squeezing Levi's hand tighter. "We're, like, three years older than them."

"Your point?"

"We're also kids."

"Well, I never fucking played with dirt."

"I'm sure," Eren snorted and Levi's eyes narrowed.

"Eren, the mountain is still there," he said offhandedly and the other could only gulp loudly.

"Miss Zoe, you do realize your grade depends on how fast you get through the obstacle course, right?"

"But, Professor, how can I just curse and ignore these babies, they're just lonely! They just need some compa- Oops, that was close, little guy! One second faster and you'd have me! Aww, you're so cute!"

Remus Lupin could only look on helplessly as Hanji Zoe laughed maniacally while praising yet another vicious creature.

At the end-of-the-year feast, as Eren, Levi, Mikasa and Annie sat with Armin at the Ravenclaw table, none of them could say they were surprised Gryffindor had won the House cup. The only surprise came with the fact that this year it was a fair victory, with none of the last minute dubious point appointing.

Most people were actually more concerned over Black getting away; wild theories were going around over how he managed to escape again but critically speaking, not a single one seemed plausible.

Eren sighed as he overheard some first years speculating that maybe he could walk through walls and turn to Armin. "Twenty galleons that Potter had something to do with it."

Armin didn't even look up from his meal as he replied, "Very probable. I'd give you 1.5."

"Come on, I'm your best friend, can't you give me a better rate?" Eren whined while both Mikasa and Levi rolled their eyes.

Armin looked Eren in the eyes impassively, telling him flatly, "1.5 is the better rate. If I were keeping it real, I'd give you about 1.2," he paused as Eren scowled before continuing. "But it doesn't matter; I refuse to accept bets where it's impossible to confirm results."

Eren huffed unhappily as the others laughed at him.

A/N: I wanted to publish it only when I had the second part written completely but I've had it in this state for a long time now, and I'm stuck. Like, I know exactly what I want to write next, the fourth year is what started this fic after all, I just don't know how to connect the last scene I have with the next one. So I decided to give you what I have in the meantime while I figure it out...