A/N: Thank you for sticking with this story, guys. Every one of you mean so much to me, and I am so happy that you have enjoyed reading. I'm beginning to wrap it up; forgive me if the appearances in this chapter are somewhat unexpected. I'm trying to tie up loose ends. Review and tell me what you think!

Chapter 32 - Strangeness and Charm

"Really, Harry and Ginny, thank you so much."

"Well of course, darling," the red-headed woman said with a smile. She reached over to Harry and wrapped an arm around him lovingly.

I smiled in return, letting out a gentle sigh.

"We hope to see you this summer," she continued. "Lily loves you so much, as we all do."

"That would be wonderful," I said honestly.

"Good luck with your exams," Harry said, and then added, "I'm so glad I don't have to take them anymore."

"Harry!" Ginny said, slapping his shoulder.

He laughed.

Then, she released her husband, took a step towards me, and pulled me into a hug. I stiffened at the unfamiliar contact, before tenderly returning the embrace. She was warm, and she smelled of vanilla,and everything that a mother should smell of. Her right hand brushed over my dark hair as she said, "You are always welcome in our home, Rosalie."

Letting me go, she gave me a maternal smile, and I thanked her again.

"I got our trunks on the train," said James as he knifed through the crowds of Hogwarts students and their families, and appeared beside me. "We're leaving soon, so we better up."

"Bye James," Ginny said, giving her eldest son a tight hug. "Stay out of trouble, you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Mum."

Harry opened up his arms for his son and James accepted the offer. The height difference between James and Harry was minimum, with James standing just an inch or two above his father.

"What she said," he told him with a grin.

After another brief moment, we departed from his parents and boarded the Hogwarts Express. Clouds of black smoke filled the air around us, and I was reminded of the beginning of the year, before my sixth year had begun. My eyes found the very spot where I'd said my goodbyes to my family; by one of the barriers, towards the far wall. I could picture clearly in my mind the looks on my mother and father's faces that day. I remembered the cold handshake my brother had given me.

I couldn't stop myself from wondering about them. Where they were right then. If they were in the very same room as I was, merely feet away from me, saying their distant farewells to Mariette.

But I didn't search for them. I didn't know if I wanted to see them. I supposed that I was afraid of them being happier without me.

"Ugh, I'm so hungry I'm going to die," James muttered as we clambered into the carriages drawn by invisible beasts.

"You are not going to die," I told him with an eye roll, crossing my legs beneath my heavy black cloaks. My hands patted my pocket, to ensure my wand was safely stowed away in the folds.

"I might."

"No, you won't."

"Well, what if-."

I gave him a look. "I am not going to start with you, Potter."

"Oh, and we're back to Potter," he said, slouching his shoulders so his head was level with mine.

"I'll tell you when we're back on a first name basis," I said, a half-grin sprouting on my lips, pushing him away.

The air was cool, its caress welcomed after the hours spent on the stuffy Hogwarts Express. The night sky was covered in a layer of dark clouds, unlike the previous evening at the Burrow, where the stars had been so vivid.

The carriage jolted, and my eyes flickered to the castle, glowing in the darkness like a beacon. We passed the road to Hogsmeade, and I suddenly remembered that I would have to speak with Madame Rosmerta about keeping my job at the Three Broomsticks. I began to fiddle with my hands, consciously starting to prepare a speech I would make for her.

I felt James' eyes on me.

"What?"

"Nothing, it's just... you do this thing," he began. "You play with your fingers and suck in your cheeks when you're worried."

My eyebrows drew together at his speculations. "Oh. Yeah, I was just thinking about something." It occurred to me that he didn't know about my job at the little inn in Hogsmeade. "Something we can talk about later."

I felt his arm wrap around my shoulders, and I sighed as I leaned into him, molding our bodies together. When I was around him, I felt like the giant burden that clung to my back had evaporated, leaving me free to breathe. It was invigorating and freeing.

We hit a bump and we jostled together.

"I like being with you," I told him, the words rolling off of my tongue comfortably.

"I should hope so, with you being my girlfriend and all," he joked.

Smiling, I added, "It's just a little deeper than that. I feel free around you. I feel good."

"I feel like that around you, too, Rosalie."

And I knew he was telling the truth because he had addressed me by my full name, and he only did that when he was being serious.

"By the way, that offer is still on the table. You know, having you stay at our house for the summer. I talked to my dad, and he was fine with it. If you weren't too scared of my family." He added the last part lightly.

"I meant to talk to you about that, actually. I think that this summer... I'm going to search for my own place. A flat, somewhere in a Muggle city. Somewhere I've never been before, away from magic. Close to you, maybe," I said pensively. "But I'd love to visit you and your family during the holidays. And you could visit me."

James peeked at me from the corner of his eyes. "You really want a place of your own?"

Shrugging, I looked back at him. "Yeah. I mean, I want a place to call my home. And your house is lovely, but it's your home."

He pursed his lips, before saying, "I understand. I could help you. Find a flat."

The carriage groaned as it came to stop in front of the school's gates. James threw himself over the edge, and lent me a hand, helping me down to the ground. "That would be lovely," I said. My eyes averted to the entrance of the stone castle. "So, this is it. Last time to back out."

His eyes narrowed and he took my hand, emphasizing his movements stubbornly. "Nope. You're kind of stuck with me."

I let him swing our arms as we walked up and into the school. I felt like I should be anxious, but how could I be anxious about something that felt so right and felt so good?

The corridors brought a mundane sense of normalcy that I hadn't realized I'd been craving. The portraits came alive on the walls, the painted figures joyously enjoying feasts in their own little realities. Students crowded the halls, keen eyes spying on James and I, whispering about our joined hands. But one statement stood out above the rest, and it made my cheeks glow for the rest of the evening:

"I knew it."

James started mumbling about food as we strolled into the Great Hall. I let him part from me to join his fellow Gryffindors, making brief eye contact with him before sitting at my own table, besides a familiar head of tousled black hair.

"Five minutes back and everyone's already talking about you and my brother." Albus groaned. "I can't get away from him, can I?"

I gave him a look. "What are they saying?"

He grinned lopsidedly. "Who cares? If he makes you happy, why should they have a say in any of it?"

Knowing that Albus was right, I sighed to myself and waited for Headmistress McGonagall to stand before us and welcome us back to Hogwarts. It was her typical speech, with a warning against going into the Forbidden Forest and something about the graduation celebration for seventh years. And then the feast commenced, food filling the platters on the table, hungry children eagerly reaching for anything to fill their plates.

My stomach grumbled, and I helped myself to a roll, before scooping some boiled potatoes and corn onto my own plate. The food smelled delicious, and as always, the House Elves didn't disappoint.

But, soon enough, an enormous wave of exhaustion rolled over me. I was reminded of my late night with James, just talking, the previous evening. It brought a smile to my lips. I silently excused myself from my house's table and wandered up the aisle. My hands flitted to Kate's shoulder, to say hello, and then I slipped through the large double doors.

It was dark, and quiet without the boisterous groups of students everywhere. I could hear my own feet shuffle against the cobble flooring as I walked towards the Slytherin Common Room, the stupid grin still lingering on my face.

"Look at you. So happy."

The voice was cold. It was resentful and livid. It was strikingly familiar, bringing chills down my spine and raising goosebumps on my arms like no one else's voice could. I stopped, the smile dropping from my face fast, my stomach dropping with it. I felt like my heart had jumped into my throat, and that I was choking.

He was behind me. He was too close; close enough for him to reach out and touch me.

"You haven't forgotten me, have you? Too busy with your new boyfriend, the fool Potter?" He laughed, as if it were humorous. "So petty. Please, look at me when I'm talking to you. Don't be so rude. Didn't your parents teach you proper etiquette? Oh, that's right. You don't have parents anymore."

I swerved on my heels, swallowing my urges to cower, facing him defiantly. "What do you want from me, Matthias Avery?"

A name I hadn't spoken in months. Someone I hadn't dared to think about for so long. I had let myself forget about him.

He was only a foot or so away from me. We were alone, surrounded by the empty hall, with no one to stop anything from going to far. "What a horrendous scar on your face." His traced it, his touch as light as a feather's. "It's quite unattractive."

"I don't remember asking for your opinion," I said sorely, taking a precautionary step back.

Matthias smiled, but there was no trace of happiness in it. A low chuckle emitted from him, his towering frame at least a foot taller than me. "I've heard you've gotten closer to that scum, Potter. And that you're friends with his filthy family, and that deaf bitch, Levesque. So much has changed about you, Rosalie. Where's the pure-blooded Slytherin that I knew so well?" He caressed my cheek. "That I loved?"

"You never loved me," I snapped, slapping his large hand away. "And that part of me is gone. I'm not like that anymore."

"That part of you never leaves," he informed me. "You just suppress it, until someone digs it out from the depths of you."

"What do you want from me?" I repeated scathingly.

"You didn't think I was actually done with you, did you?" That chilling smile emerged again. "I know it's been a long time, but I'll never be done with you."

My heart stopped beating. Why was I afraid of him? What could he do to me? How could I make him go away, and leave me alone? "Matthias, I want you to stop. I won't tell anyone if you just leave me be."

"Rosalie Flint, begging?" He barked with harsh laughter. "That's certainly new. There's a lot I don't know about you. Let's go get to know each other a little better."

My hands met his chest and I shoved him as hard as I could. "I have nothing for you. Leave me alone!"

His icy eyes, hard as steel, focused on me. "Get your hands off of me, bitch." The back of his hand slapped into my cheek, the blow knocking me to the side. My hands frantically searched for something to balance myself against, and I clutched the stone wall to keep myself from falling over. "It's my game. My rules. And I say let's go find somewhere more private. If I can recall correctly, we have some unfinished business."

Images of that evening filled my head, at the beginning of the year, sending violent chills through my body. But I wasn't that girl anymore. I wouldn't listen to him.

"I don't give two shits about your stupid games," I said, finding my way back to my feet, wiping the blood that had started to trickle from the corner of my mouth. "I said leave me alone."

"Did I ever tell you how delicious you are when you're stubborn?" he whispered, hovering over me, watching me like a lion watches its prey.

"Go away," I stated. I started to fumble for my wand, but it jostled out of my pocket and clattered to the floor. My hands were clammy, my skin growing hot.

"I can't tell if I liked you more when you were grovelling at my feet, or now, as the Forbidden Fruit."

Blood was pounding in my ears. Furiously, I hit him again, but it had no affect on him. The more I tried to resist his advances, the more fuel I added to the fire. His hands were on me, on my clothes. Where was everybody? Why were the corridors so empty?

"How dare you choose blood traitors over your own house. How dare you choose them over me."

"Matthias, leave her alone."

Another voice I hadn't heard for a long stretch of time. Calm, lethal, like a snake about to strike. Blake Zabini entered into view, his tall and dark form cloaked in heavy black robes.

Matthias stopped, eyes coldly sliding to Blake. "Did you want something, Zabini?"

"Yes. I want you to leave her alone."

"You cannot tell me what to do."

"I just did."

The air surrounding Blake was so eerily calm as he watched Matthias with black eyes. I felt, if I were to reach out and touch his skin, that it would be as cold as ice.

Matthias straightened his robes, stepping away from me and towards the other Slytherin. "You're damn lucky your father is a Zabini, or else I would beat the shit out of you, right here and now."

"Such foul language," he said carelessly. "Seems suitable for such a foul person."

"I beg your pardon?" he seethed.

"Leave the lady alone."

"She's hardly a lady," he snorted, pushing his blonde hair back.

Blake blinked heavily, staring at Matthias, waiting for him to do his will. The latter turned to face me again.

"Tell that idiot of a blood traitor I said hello," he snapped, giving me a sharp look.

And that was when I decided that I couldn't be afraid of him anymore. Everything he'd said and done to me was in the past, and this was the present. I stood up straight, setting my shoulders. "I'm not afraid of you." I pulled my arm back, and it snapped out, my fist connecting with his nose. Pain instantly shot up my arm, but it was worth the look of pure shock on his face as he stumbled two steps backwards, blood bursting from his nose.

"And don't talk about my boyfriend that way, you prejudiced asshat."

A flood of curses fumbled out of his mouth as Blake led him away from me, black eyes finding my hazel ones. He gave me a curt nod, before he started away. I briefly wondered about him, how he was, what he had been doing. For a moment, I missed him. As he went away, with the cursing Slytherin in tow, the thoughts faded away, leaving me with my injured hand.

"Fucking bitch. Fucking punched by bloody face. Bloody fucking hell."

"You punched Avery. In the face." James had stopped asking questions now, and had resigned to just blatantly repeating everything I had reported to him about the previous night.

I growled, "Yes, how many times do I have to say it?"

"Well, if he didn't like you before, he certainly will loathe you now," he contributed unhelpfully.

"Thank you, as if I didn't know that already."

Tenderly, in a way I had always thought he wasn't capable of, he lifted my bandaged hand. We were sitting together, side by side, on the library floor, underneath a shelf of books. It was my corner, the one I typically hid myself in. I had let him join me, and books were sprawled out in front of us. The first day back was always the hardest.

"I tried to heal it myself," I said lowly, watching as he observed it. "But I only made it worse, so I went to Madame Pomfrey. She gave me a potion, and told me that I could take it out of the bandages in two days. I broke two knuckles, but she told me that I broke his nose, so I'm okay with it."

"Why did you do it? Punch him in the face?"

Letting the bitter expression fall from my face, I gave him a toothy grin. "Because he called you an idiot."

James snorted with laughter. "Merlin's beard, Rosie."

"And I'm the only one who's allowed to call you an idiot," I added thoughtfully, bringing my good hand up and popping his nose.

"Did you just boop my nose?"

"Yes, no, maybe so."

I hadn't told James the whole truth about the encounter I'd had with Matthias. How he had tried to get me alone, how he had hit me. Not because I didn't want James to know, but because I was afraid that he would do something stupid, putting him in a compromising situation. Gryffindors were blindly brave and loyal, and Slytherins were known to be tricky.

"How were your classes today?" I asked mindlessly, letting him trace lines up and down my arm. I think he was tracing the veins running the length of my arm.

"Good. If I get good grades in Transfiguration, McGonagall says she will teach me how to become a registered Animagus."

"You've told me before. That's exciting," I hummed, letting my eyes wander across the pages of the open book in my lap.

"Maybe I could teach you, when I'm done."

"Wouldn't that kind of be illegal?"

"Oh, yeah, that's right." He said it so nonchalantly I almost laughed. "You remember my cousin Teddy? He's a metamorphmagus. It's really cool; he can change his nose into a pig's snout."

I let James talk to me for a while, even though I wasn't quite listening. He knew it, too, but I was positively convinced he just liked to hear the sound of his own voice. Either that, or he was trying to avoid doing his schoolwork. As he chatted to me, someone interrupted him from around the corner, intruding my spot.

"Rosalie Flint?" It was Ali Longbottom.

"Hello, Longbottom," James said cheerfully.

"So it's true, then?" she asked distractedly. "You two are dating?"

Before James could reply, I stated coolly, "Is that why you've interrupted our studies?"

She flushed. "Oh, no. Um, Mcgonagall has requested to see you."

Slightly shocked, I muttered an "oh" before heaving myself onto my feet. "Did she say what she wanted?"

Ali shook her head, hair falling from her shoulders in waves. "No; she just wants you in her study immediately. She says it's of great importance."

My eyes fell on James' crouched form, still on the library floor. "I'll be right back. Try to get some actual work done."

He grinned, and I hurried out of the library silently, in an effort to not bother any of the other students who were studying. Ali Longbottom followed me out, before she departed from behind me and went on her own way.

The walk to the Headmistress' study was not far from the library. I found the familiar, majestic statue of an eagle in the corridor, and whispered the password calmly. As a Prefect, I was required to keep up to date with the study's password.

Stones groaned against the walls as it started to turn. Standing on the platform, I was encased by the eagle's wings, and taken to the doors of McGonagall's study. Politely, I knocked on the heavy doors.

"Enter," croaked McGonagall, and I obeyed.

"You asked to see me, Headmistress," I stated, coming to a halt before her large desk.

Through her spectacles, she looked up at me, and sat up, placing her quill down gingerly. Despite her elderly age, she was extremely intense. "Miss Flint," she greeted tersely. "Please, have a seat."

Guiding myself to the chair before her, I sat down.

"I have just received some news regarding your brother."

I stiffened, the subject of my family still too soon to approach. I was still bitter with resentment towards them. "I have no brother," I said coldly.

McGonagall took off her spectacles, holding them in her wrinkled hands. "Of course."

"What is it?" I prompted.

"The letter is from St. Mungo's Hospital. Marcus Flint the Second committed suicide last night, in his own home. His body is being held at St. Mungo's presently."