A/N: I hope you enjoy my fourth addition! Please read and review, Thanks!
Since the Battle at the Ministry, the Daily Prophet and the Ministry of Magic both recognized that Voldemort had in fact returned. The days were steadily growing darker and darker, as if a giant tempest were heading our way. After Sirius died, it was publicly announced in the Daily Prophet that I was his "long lost daughter"; Sirius had left everything he owned to me and Harry. I decided to change my surname legally to Burby-Black as a tribute to my dead father and my living one as well. Since it was common knowledge now that I was the daughter of Sirius, it was fairly obvious that I had a large target on my back and that the Death Eaters would be looking for me, especially Bellatrix Lestrange. My father feared for my safety so we hid out during the summer at 12 Grimmauld Place, where most of the Order of the Phoenix resided. It was quite strange to stay there without Sirius to keep me company while my father went on missions with the other members of the Order. I missed how on rainy days Sirius and I would drink hot tea by the fire while would tell me all sorts of stories from his years at Hogwarts. The entire house seemed darker without Sirius... Eventually the end of summer holiday was here; my father returned to our own home and I went to spend the last week of my summer with the Weasley's at the Burrow. It took both me and my father to convince Hermione's parents that we would be safe at Hogwarts and should return for our sixth year. Luckily they understood the importance of education and let Hermione join me at the Burrow for a few days before we left for school.
On one of our last nights at the Burrow, at around nine in the evening Hermione and I were brushing our teeth and preparing for bed. Just as I had finished brushing my teeth and grabbed my comb to de-tangle my long hair we heard Ginny call up to us.
"Is Harry up there with any of you?" Hermione and I went to the stairs and leaned over, looking down at Ginny.
"No…He's not here." I answered slowly.
"Well his stuff is."
"Harry's here?" Ron asked as he popped out of his door.
"No one's seen him. Apparently he's just wandering around somewhere."
"Really?" Ron asked.
"Really." We all heard Harry laugh as he spoke to us from the living room. Hermione, Ron and I all ran down the stairs and over to Harry. We each hugged him and greeted the boy we hadn't seen all summer.
"What's all this?" Molly asked as she walked out of the kitchen, we separated and she immediately saw Harry. "Oh Harry! So good to see you, why didn't you tell us you'd be coming?"
"I didn't know I would be, Dumbledore sort of just dropped me here."
"Ah, that man…should have known." Molly then saw his luggage and Hedwig, "Well, let's get you settled into Ron's room then?"
Once we had everything settled in and Aunt Molly had gone to sleep, Hermione, Harry, Ron and I all went into Ron's room where Harry told us about his evening with Dumbledore. "He said he's going to give me private lessons this year as well…" Harry spoke.
"Probably some high level defensive stuff… with you-know-who and his followers lurking about and you being their biggest target." I explained.
"Right… well how have things been with you all?" Harry asked but didn't get a reply right away…finally I was the one to speak up.
"It's been real dark Harry. People are disappearing every day. You don't know who to trust and people have been saying that Hogwarts won't be safe…in fact, Hermione and I had to virtually beg to come back."
"And my mum isn't happy about me and Ginny returning either. Loads of people won't be returning."
"But it's Hogwarts we're talking about, Dumbledore's there." Harry tried to reason.
"I know but…well, some people seem to think he's gone off his rocker." I tried to say it as gentle as possible.
"What a load of bullocks…it's Dumbledore we're talking about."
"I know Harry…"
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
It was finally September 1st, and Hermione, Ron, Harry, and I were all sharing a compartment together. The train had left the station only moments earlier and we had just finished getting our trunks all settled in when Luna and Neville appeared at the compartment door.
"Neville!" I called out as I got up from my seat and went over to hug my best friend who I hadn't seen all summer. "Blimey, you've gotten tall Neville." He blushed just like he always does and averted his gaze to everyone else in the compartment.
"Hi everyone." He said shyly. I went back to my seat and Neville sat down next to me. Luna took a seat on my other side and picked up Mynx and set him on her lap, Luna then struck up a conversation with Harry, Hermione and Ron. Neville and I weren't particularly interested so I turned to face Neville and smiled at him, brushing some hair behind my ear.
"How are you Neville? I never heard from you, how come you didn't write?" I asked.
"Gran didn't think it was safe…She said there's been a lot of owls getting intercepted. I didn't really want to chance it." I nodded in understanding. "Where were you this summer anyways?"
"I spend a week back at home, but some rather shady people started hanging about our area so my dad took us to stay at the Order's safe house until about a week ago when I went to stay at the Burrow with my cousins. My dad's gone back to work at the ministry though and is living back at home…it gets me nervous to be honest." There was a short silence between us before I reached forwards and grabbed his hand. "I really missed you Neville."
"I missed you too." We spent the rest of the ride talking about the most random of things, trading chocolate frog cards and eating all sorts of food from the trolley. Harry left us about half way through the train ride and when we reached Hogwarts and began to disembark the train, Harry was nowhere in sight.
"He's probably got ahead of us somehow…" Hermione guessed as we all got into a carriage that took us up to the castle. "I just hope he doesn't do anything stupid."
XOXOXOXOXOXOX
The school year had proved to be a rather difficult one, all the classes were very advanced and it was nearly impossible to keep up with the loads of work we all had. Somehow, Harry still managed to keep a keen eye on Draco; he was convinced the Slytherin was up to no good. Even though I understood how Harry felt about Malfoy, I also felt that my education should come before anything else. It was my goal in life to become an Auror, and I had aced my O.W.L.'s for Potions, Charms, Transfiguration and Defense Against the Dark Arts, but I had just barely managed to score high enough in Herbology. Herbology had always been a very difficult subject for me, though I still managed to do better than Ron. Luckily Neville was a Herbology genius and spent many hours in years previous tutoring me and this year was no different; in fact this year it seemed Neville and I were always in the greenhouses together. Neville had a natural talent for teaching Herbology and I would often point it out, even if he would laugh it off.
"Seriously Neville, you should become the Herbology teacher here when Professor Sprout retires." We were in greenhouse 6, cleaning up after tending to some Venomous Tentacula.
"Yeah…right." Neville scoffed.
"Oh come on Neville…you'd be perfect." I paused while taking off my dragon-hide gloves, shoving them into the pockets of my robes. "What were you planning on doing anyways?"
"I want to become an Auror with you and Harry; I thought I told you that."
"Oh blimey, I didn't think you were serious Neville. You really want to be an Auror? Well, that way we could work together, maybe be partners."
"Yeah, if we get through our N.E.W.T.'s and the training as well…"
"Oh don't remind me…" I groaned out in misery. "You going to Hogsmeade?"
"Yeah, are you going? Or do you have choir rehearsal?"
"I have rehearsal, but it doesn't start until 7, so I'll be able to go for an hour or so." We made our way out of the greenhouse and headed up to the common room where other students were already gathered to head to Hogsmeade.
"Would you mind joining me for a butterbeer?" Neville asked me once we stopped in the middle of the common room.
"Yeah, of course. I just have to change real quick; I'll be down in a few." With that we separated and I jogged up to my dorm and pulled off my robes after grabbing some clothes and heading into the bathroom to change. It was snowing outside, so I decided to grab a pair of black corduroy pants and a violet jumper. I combed through my hair and sprayed on a bit of perfume since I was slightly smelly from being around Dragon dung all day. Before I headed out the door I grabbed my knit hat, scarf and gloves that aunt Molly had made me last Christmas. I quickly jogged down the stairs and saw that Neville had changed into warmer, non-uniform clothes and was sitting in an armchair waiting for me as he warmed himself by the fire. "You ready?" Neville nodded at me and we both made our way out of the castle and finally into the warmth of The Three Broomsticks at Hogsmeade where we sat at our usual booth in the back of the pub. Once we sat down we each ordered a butterbeer and soon sat holding the warm drink up to our mouths, drinking leisurely.
"There's nothing quite like a warm butterbeer on a cold day." Neville said happily.
"I agree." I smiled at him, taking a large gulp of the soothing drink. "So, how have you been Neville? I feel like the only things we talk about anymore is school work."
"I know, this year is really difficult… I've been fine though, stressed but I'm glad we get to spend so much time together…even if it's to do homework together." We both laughed and fell into a comfortable silence before I began to look around the pub. I saw Dean and Ginny snogging in a booth. I didn't really have any romantic feelings for Dean, and I was glad that Ginny seemed happy…but I couldn't help but notice how obvious it was that Harry was head over heels for my cousin. I continued to survey the pub and saw Ron and Lavender also snogging in another booth…but poor Hermione and Harry we off at another table, each looking rather miserable. It was so obvious that Hermione and Ron belonged together, just like Harry and Ginny…I'm telling you, my cousins are absolutely daft sometimes. Now that I actually thought about it, it seemed that almost everyone in our year was either romantically involved or seriously attracted to someone else…well, expect for me and Neville…and Draco. I'd never really fancied anyone other than Dean, although in my third year I sort of fancied Harry…but once I found out that Sirius was my dad, I could only look at Harry as a brother. I shook my head and looked away from all the romance and back to Neville.
Neville was sort of staring off into space like he does when he's thinking really hard. He was chewing on his bottom lip and had his eyebrows knit together tightly…it was quite cute actually. Neville had always been so nice to me, even when we were both first years. I still remember the little pudgy boy who couldn't remember the portrait password and was so accident and injury prone. Neville had really grown up over the years; it seemed he got taller every time I saw him. Neville had also lost a lot of his baby fat over the years, especially over this past summer. Neville was still a little pudgy around his middle, which in my opinion only made him an even better teddy bear that always gave the absolute best hugs. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I would really fancy Neville if I wasn't such good friends with him now…I'm actually really surprised he hasn't had a girlfriend yet, he is a total sweetheart, even if he is shy and awkward around most girls. Come to think of it now, I don't think Neville's never mentioned a girl he's fancied, at least not to me. This realization hit me hard and made me wonder if we really were as close as I thought.
"Neville…can I ask you something, even if it's sort of awkward?" I asked almost nervously.
"Sure, ask me anything." He replied.
"Well, it's just that I've just realized you've never told me about any girls you've fancied…and I was wondering if you fancied anyone?" Before I knew it, Neville was beet red and suddenly became very interested in the bottom of his empty mug. "Oh come on Neville, you can tell me, I'm your best mate." I tried to coax him some.
"Yeah, I do fancy someone…" He sort of mumbled out quietly.
"Who is she? …it is a she right? I mean it doesn't matter to me! Either way I'm still gonna support you."
"Oi! Of course it's a girl."
"Just making sure. I mean I'd still love you if you were gay."
"But I'm not!"
"Right, sorry Nev…" I officially felt stupid, "well, who is it then?"
"I'd rather not say."
"Oh come on Neville!"
"I don't want you to make fun of me."
"I won't make fun of you Neville, you're my best mate."
"I don't want her to know…yet. I'll tell you when I want her to know, alright?"
"Okay, fair enough." I huffed and sat back against the wooden booth. "Why don't you tell me about her…what is it about her that you like?"
"Well, for starters she's the most beautiful and talented witch I've ever met." For some reason this confession made my heart sink and my eyes instantly drifted towards Hermione…it made sense. Hermione was beautiful, and amazingly talented. I didn't dare express my guess though.
"What else?"
"Well…she's always been really nice and sweet to me, even when others weren't. I can't tell you how many times she's stood up for me." It definitely had to be Hermione; she always defended Neville, even since our first year. I acted happy for Neville and smiled at him encouragingly, but it was difficult to ignore the strange pain in the bottom of my stomach..it felt similar to that one time in third year went I swallowed a few Fizzing Whizzbees the wrong way and they got agitated and proceeded buzzed around against my stomach walls painfully.
"I'm happy for you Nev, she's a lucky girl. I hope things work out."
"Yeah, me too. I can't imagine being with anyone else." We sat there in silence and right after I finished my butterbeer, Michael Corner, a Ravenclaw boy in the Frog Choir, came up to our table.
"Hi, Astrid, Neville."
"Hi Michael" I stood and hugged Michael. We had really gotten to know each other while in Frog Choir as well as in a few classes…not to mention he was quite handsome in a dark sort of way.
"I'm going to head up to the castle for rehearsal, care to join me?"
"Yeah, that sounds great." I grabbed my scarf and gloves before turning back to Neville, "Hey Neville, can you grab me a few chocolate frogs and sugar skulls at Honeyduke's for me? I told my dad I would get him some for Christmas…and I'll pay you back, I swear." Neville nodded and I turned back to Michael who grabbed my hand in his, which sent a blush to my cheeks.
"Let's go then." Michael said before leading us out of the Three Broomsticks and up to Hogwarts castle.