Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling, nor will I ever be. Therefore, I do not own Harry Potter or it's characters... Just wanted to make that clear... haha

This story is rated T for foul language

Chapter 12

Landen's POV

I'm sitting in the library with Al discussing Caledon when my twat of a stepbrother walks over to us. He has a large sneer on his face as he slaps his hands on the table loudly. "Well, well, well. What do we have here?"

I roll my eyes and frown. "Piss off Caledon."

"Tsk tsk. You really shouldn't be so testy. Is this what happens when that filth you call a girlfriend leaves for a bit?" His sneer widens on his face as he watches the anger play out across my face.

Al jumps up from his chair with a grunt and pushes Castor back. "Piss off you twat!"

Suddenly Andromeda is standing next to us, her face twisted into fake concern, as she shoots me an angry glare. "Mister Raghnall! Mister Potter! Zere iz no fighting here at Hogwarts! Come wis me now…" She grabs Al and me tightly around the arm and pulls us out of the library. I look back at Castor angrily and see he has a look of victory etched on his face.

Andromeda drags us to her office and shoves us each into a chair. I glower at her from my seat and say through gritted teeth "What is our punishment Andromeda?"

She wags her finger at me and smirks. "Now, now. I am a professor here at Hogwarts. Show some rezpect."

I grit my teeth harder and take a deep breath. "Sorry, what's our punishment professor?"

"You two will fight wis each ozher." The corners of her mouth twitch slightly as she looks at each of our faces.

I look at Al and shake my head. "That is NOT going to happen."

She sneers at me and wags her finger again. "Now, now Landen. You seem to have some respect issues… I will fix zat soon enough."

Al chimes in. "Why exactly do you think we should fight each other? That's against the rules here at Hogwarts!"

"You obviously think fighting iz acceptable. If it's so acceptable then you two will be fine wis fighting each ozher." She is looking at me again, the crazy fire in her eyes that I recognize from last year.

I shake my head and put down my wand. "No. I refuse."

She shakes her head and draws out her wand. "Wrong answer Landen." I look over at Al with wide eyes and he reciprocates my expression. Andromeda raises her wand and says "Imper-"

Before she can say the spell someone opens the door. Al and I take this moment of hesitation to pick up my wand and run away from Andromeda. We push past Scorpious Malfoy as we run through the corridors. "Thanks Scorp!" I yell back as we run away. I drag Al into the Gryffindor common room and into the Heads dorm. It's empty since both James and Ariana are in America for holiday. "We can hide here for a bit."

Al nods and sits on the couch. "That was almost really bad…"

I nod in agreement as I walk into Ariana's room. I grab a new shirt and change into it. I look at Ariana's alarm clock and sigh loudly. "I have to do the radio broadcast in fifteen minutes. Do you want to come with?"

I walk back out into the common room and Al nods distractedly. "Has it really already been a week? It doesn't feel like it's been that long…"

"What do you mean it's already been a week? I think you mean it's only been a week." I smirk at him as he flips me off.

"You know what I meant! Do you really want me to come with you tonight?" He asks me sincerely.

I nod with a smile. "Of course! I could use a co-broadcaster! Plus, I'm sure James, Freddie and Ariana would love to hear your voice and know you're okay."

He smiles largely and jumps up off the couch. "Well let's go then!"

We leave the common room and Gryffindor tower, quietly making our way through the empty castle. We continually look over our shoulders for anyone who could be following us as we make our way to the room of requirements.

Once we get into the room of requirements, or currently a radio broadcast station, we make sure that nobody else can get in with us and start our broadcast. "Hello again outside world! Chaser one here! I have a special guest here with me for tonight's broadcast. Say hello special guest!"

Al rolls his eyes and clears his throat. "Um… Hey. Seeker one here. Uh, what's up?"

I cover the mic and smirk at him. "Really? What's up?" Al shrugs with a laugh and I uncover the mic to continue my broadcast. "Alright! That awkward bloke was seeker one… Not much has changed here at Hogwarts since last week. Professor Longbottom and Professor Patil have left, but I'm not sure when they plan on coming back so I can't give you much information on that… Is there anything else you can think to say seeker one?"

Al shrugs again and leans toward the mic. "Uh… no?"

I stifle a laugh and nod. "Okay then. As always, I hope you brilliant listeners stay safe out there! Chaser one and seeker one out."

I turn off the equipment and look at Al with a grin. "What the hell was that?"

He laughs and shakes his head. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You were so awkward!"

He shakes his head. "I was a bit nervous, alright! I don't know how you do it!"

I sigh heavily. "You want to know my secret? I pretend I'm talking to Ariana. We always have odd conversations, which makes this rather easy. You just have to pretend that you're talking to someone rather than doing a radio broadcast."

He nods thoughtfully then grins. "She'll be back, I'm sure of it."

"I know. I wouldn't have let her go if I didn't think she would be." We walk out of the room and hide behind a suit of armor as Monroe passes by us.

Once she's out of sight, Al scoffs. "LET her go… right."

I look at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"

He shakes his head and smirks. "Oh nothing. I just think it's funny that you think you 'let her go'… Ariana is as stubborn as she is sarcastic. She may have let you THINK you were letting her go, but she was going to go no matter what."

I roll my eyes and sigh but don't say anything. Al takes my silence as a victory and grins. "You know I'm right…"

Al and I walk back into the Gryffindor common room and sneak into the Heads dorm. "Yes, I know you're right… I hate when you're right... Do you want James' room or Ariana's room?"

He looks at me questioningly. "For what?"

"To plot our takeover of the world… To sleep in you prat!"

He flips me off with a laugh. "Oh! I'll take James' room. It would be a bit odd for me to sleep in your… friend's… room."

I roll my eyes and give him a parting wave. I walk into Ariana's room and change into my pajamas. I grab her Gryffindor quidditch blanket and crawl onto her bed. I drape the blanket over myself and close my eyes.

My eyes snap open and I jerk upright as I hear shuffling sounds coming from the common room. I silently grab my wand and hop off the bed, landing lightly on my toes. I quietly creep over to the door and inch it open so that I can find the source of the shuffling noise. I see something dart in front of the crack in the door causing me to jump back, startled. I shake my head at the fact that the movement startled me and roll my eyes. I fling open the door and turn on the lights, my wand extended out in front of me defensively. I look around the room and drop my wand in shock when I find the source of the shuffling. "James?"

Ari's POV

I walk out into the living room with Brittney, Eli, James and Freddie in tow. We had just listened to Landen's broadcast and explaining the Hogwarts situation to Eli and Brittney. Brittney has been home for six days and we STILL haven't been able to explain EVERYTHING that has happened at Hogwarts to her. I plop down on the couch and sigh as I look at Freddie. "So that's two more professors who fought in the war who are gone… What the bloody hell is going on at Hogwarts?"

Freddie shrugs his shoulders and sighs. "I honestly don't know Ari… But I think I'm going to go to bed. Maybe sleeping on things will help."

We all nod our agreement and head off to our rooms. I look at the time then jump into my bed and close my eyes, thinking about how grateful I was to hear Landen and Al's voices tonight. I really was worried for them with Andromeda being there. I drift off to sleep fairly quickly.

"Ariana… Hey Ariana, wake up…"

I open my eyes slowly and see James standing next to my bed with a worried expression on his face. His expression wakes me up immediately. "James? What's wrong?"

He looks at the ground and sighs heavily. "I, um… I had a dream, of sorts."

I look at him warily and encourage him to continue. "Okay… What about?"

"It was about Al. He was being tortured by a blonde, French lady. And… and then she killed him. I'm going back to Hogwarts to look after my brother."

He looks like he's about to break so I sit up and pat a spot on my bed so he can sit. "James, you really don't have anything to worry about. Landen is there and-"

He cuts me off with a bitter scoff. "Landen… I don't trust him one bit."

I narrow my eyes at him and frown. "Why is it Freddie and Al can get past what he did, which wasn't even legitimate, yet you can't?"

He returns my frown and icily says "Because he has you."

I roll my eyes and smirk. "Well that should be all the more reason to trust him. He obviously has great taste… And he doesn't have me. I'm not some bloody item that can be possessed…"

He smirks at me and shrugs. "I just wanted to come in here and tell you that I'm not going to give up on you."

"Okay, fine." I say nonchalantly.

He nods and walks to the door, pausing before he leaves, and turns around to me. "I'm really sorry I'm leaving, Ariana. It's just something I have to do."

I nod and say "I understand. I would do the same thing if I were in your shoes… Oh! Hold on!" I jump out of bed and run over to my purple bag. I reach my arm into the bag and dig around for a moment. I find what I'm looking for and quickly scribble notes on them. I fold up the letters, placing them in an envelope, and then hand them to James. "Can you give these to Landen and Al when you get back please?"

He takes them from my hand and nods. I put my hand on my hip and give him a stern look. "Promise?"

He nods again then leans down and plants a kiss on my cheek before apparating out of the apartment with a loud "POP". I stand in the doorway, looking at the spot he disappeared from for a few moments before getting back into bed and falling back asleep.

Landen' POV

"James?"

He looks up from his bag, surprise apparent on his face. "Landen? What the hell are you doing in Ariana's room?"

"What the hell are you doing back? Are all of you back?" I walk out of the room hurriedly and look around.

James shakes his head and glowers at me. "Nope, just me. Sorry to disappoint."

I shrug my shoulders and put my wand in my back pocket. "No matter. How was trip? Why are you back so early?"

His glower deepens as he answers. "I came to protect Al."

I throw up my hands and laugh cynically. "Are you bloody kidding me? Why is it that everyone else can trust me but you can't?"

He tosses an envelope at me and says loudly, "Because you were so good at pretending to be a slytherine last year! You were so bloody good at fooling everyone! How do I know you're not doing it again? Ariana is taking a big risk keeping you around and I don't like it! We've had enough people die already! We don't need anymore!"

The door to James' room opens and Al steps out, yawning widely. "Landen, what the bloody hell are you yelli-?" He sees James and stops talking. "James? When did you get back?"

James looks at Al with a smile. "I'll explain later. First, Ariana gave me a letter to give to you." He walks over and hands Al a white envelope, which reminds me that he threw an envelope at me. Is mine a letter from Ariana too?

I pick up the envelope off the floor and walk back into Ariana's room, shutting the door behind me. I sit down on the bed and slowly pull out the piece of parchment, unfolding it quickly as soon as it's free from the envelope. Ariana's familiar slanted writing covers the parchment.

Landen,

I just want to start out by saying that I absolutely loved Al on the broadcast tonight. After hearing that Andromeda is there, I was really worried about you two. She's not doing anything to you two, is she?

I also wanted to let you know that everything is going well with us. We are staying with some old friends here and things are going as planned. For the most part... I just wanted to let you know so that you don't worry too much.

I have to go now but I will see you soon.

-Ari

I fold up the parchment and pocket it. I lie back down on the bed and close my eyes, finding sleep quickly.

Ari's POV

"He WHAT?"

"He went back to Hogwarts, Fred… He feels like he has to protect Al. You would do the same thing if you thought Roxie was in trouble." I take a bite of my cereal as I explain James' logic to him.

He shakes his head with a sigh and turns the television on. "Fine. I guess I can see what you mean…"

The news flashes on and I turn my attention to it. We've been watching the news daily, looking for anything that could help us. A video of the President plays across the screen and I watch intently.

"…The President will be in New York City this week for the lighting of the Christmas tree…"

I look at Freddie with wide eyes. "Christmas is already this week?"

He nods distractedly as he continues to stare at the TV. "Yea, I guess. Why?"

"I don't know… I was hoping we would be home by Christmas…" I put my empty cereal bowl into the sink and sigh.

Eli walks out of his room, stretching and yawning loudly. "What time is it?"

"11:30 am." I toss a box of cereal and a bowl at him. He catches them graciously and pours himself some cereal. He tosses the box back to me and I toss a spoon and some milk to him.

He looks around and frowns. "Where's James?"

Freddie scoffs loudly. "The bloody prat went back to Hogwarts."

Eli sputters loudly as he chokes on the cereal in his mouth. "He WHAT?"

I roll my eyes and slap him on the back to try and help him recover. "You are as bad as Freddie… He went back because he thought his younger brother was in trouble. Imagine if you thought Bri or I was in trouble. You would do the same thing, wouldn't you?"

He nods his head as he finally recovers from his choking fit. "Yea I guess so… But I thought you said your headmaster sent him with you specifically?"

"She did, but extenuating circumstances came up. I still have Freddie. I will be fine. Now, what are we doing for Christmas?" I walk over to Brittney's door and loudly bang on it. "Bri! Get up already!"

Brittney walks out of her room glowering at me. "What the piss do you want you whore?"

I stifle a laugh as Freddie turns around and looks at her with wide eyes. "Wow Bri… Are we going to do this every morning?"

She growls at me. "That's up to you Ari… I hope you'll make the right decision tomorrow morning…"

Freddie, Eli and I burst into a fit of laughter at her response which earns Eli and me a glare from her that shuts us up.

Eli smirks at me and says "To answer your earlier question, we are going to my dad's for Christmas." I frown at the thought of spending Christmas with their father. He never really liked me because he was convinced that I was a bad influence on Brittney. Eli sees my frown and laughs. "Don't worry. He's lightened up since you last saw him. I'm sure he doesn't hate you anymore…"

Freddie smirks. "HATE? Ariana what did you do?"

I laugh and shrug my shoulders. "I didn't do ANYTHING! He just really hates me…"

Brittney laughs loudly and shakes her head. "Lies! We used to get in tons of trouble back at Salem! There was this one time Ariana and I were class and she accidentally turned a teacher into a rat! Then she blamed me for it! I got a week of detention!"

I smirk. "Okay so he has a good reason to hate me…" I look back at the news, which is still playing on the TV, and gasp. "Bloody hell… That's Caledon!"

Alright yall, as always I would love to hear your thoughts and opinions about this chapter! :)

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-Tx