Disclaimer: Like I've already said, not all of this is truly mine. If I owned the Harry Potter universe/world/galaxy, I probably wouldn't have killed Sirius or Dobby or Lupin or Tonks and so on, for the sake of saving tears, but I don't. So that's what this disclaimer is for: I don't own the original stuff. But I guess I do have a say in what my characters (like Dee and Lee) do, so in that case, they're mine. Back off (lol nah I'm only messing around).

Title: Anger and Apologies

Time: October 2021

Gossip Columnists

Every corner, windowsill, bed sheet, shoelace, and quill held secrets, and it seemed the students of Hogwarts made it their mission to learn them all. Corridors buzzed with conversations of who dumped who, who hexed who, who snogged who, and so on. The girls' toilets were ideal spots to hastily pass on a new rumor, fresh off the press, to a friend in between lessons. Gossip was unavoidable; gossip was inevitable.

Dee didn't care to fill precious brain storage with useless tales, so she was often horribly out of the loop. She would occasionally catch snippets of her roommates' conversations and would be quite annoyed with the ridiculousness and indecency of some of her peers. However, she understood that sometimes rumors were harmless, and in fact quite funny.

Dee Collins

"So," said Rose, falling in step beside Dee, the two walking through the corridor on the way to Charms, "I've been hearing things."

"Oh?" Dee inquired. "Should I have Professor Longbottom refer you to St. Mungo's?"

Rose rolled her eyes in a very Rose-like fashion, but the corners of her mouth quirked up and Dee felt sheepishly proud of her retort. "According to Sav," she dramatically began, and Dee couldn't help but wonder what Savitri Malladi could possibly have to say that concerned her, "Corner's been asking about you."

"Oh?" Dee repeated, but this time with more caution than humor.

Then Rose asked thoughtfully, "Didn't you date him?"

"Well, yes, but how'd you know that?" Dee didn't think her distressingly small love life was a deserving source of interest for the Hogwarts student body. She especially wouldn't have expected the likes of Rose Weasley to know who she had and hadn't dated. There were far better things to spend time dwelling over, which was why she was taken aback at Rose's reply.

"People talked about it," she said, as if it were obvious. "Mostly, they just said he's a tosser and you were bloody brave to put up with him. Others said you were lucky to escape when you did. But anyways, Sav said she overheard Corner asking the Scamander twins if they'd spoken to you recently. She thought it was odd seeing them together, since Lorcan thinks Corner's an absolute knob, so she listened in and reckons he's going after you again." By now they'd reached the Charms classroom, but Rose took a moment to consider Dee's stunned expression (and to breathe, because she had said so much in such a short time frame). "I just thought I'd let you know."

Watching her friend's ginger hair swish from side to side as she strode into the room, Dee came to a conclusion: Rose Weasley had a soft spot for gossip.

Backbone (or Lack Of)

Dee was never one to intentionally cause conflict. In fact, if it were up to her, she'd take the blame for pesky little problems just to save others from unnecessary arguments and hurt. But when it came to her own issues, she preferred to wait them out; if she avoided an issue long enough, it'd blow over. Doing so had worked up until now, so it only made sense to keep at it.

Occasionally she'd pluck up the courage to talk about something that'd been worrying her, to stand up to someone who'd been a prick and tell them to sod off, but if she lost the chance or momentum, it wasn't happening again soon.

What Dee didn't realize—or maybe she did, but just didn't enjoy acknowledging it—was the fact that some people took advantage of her passive outlook. They used her to feel higher and mightier. They subtly insulted her, but knew she wouldn't speak against them because it would only cause more unwanted drama.

In more ways than one, Dee held the blueprints of her own demise.

Dee Collins

"Dee."

Lee was relentlessly pestering Dee. He wanted to properly apologize for when he left her for Quidditch practice, Dee was sure, because they hadn't seen each other since, but she wasn't giving him the time of day (partially because he was being extremely aggravating and partially because it was too bloody early for Dee to be dealing with anything of remote importance.)

"Dee," he repeated, growing more exasperated with every passing second.

She stared so intently at her breakfast that she began seeing double, chewing her food more forcefully than necessary. His nagging and her disregard continued until Dee finished her breakfast and trudged out of the Great Hall, Lee only a step behind. Once they were well out of earshot and once she sent a warning glare to Albus, who was standing by the entrance, she rounded on Lee.

"What do you want?" she asked, even though she had a very good idea of what he wanted.

"I want to apologize." She didn't respond. "I'm sorry. You needed me, but I wasn't available. I'm sorry," he stressed. Dee's shoulders slumped and her arms began to unravel from their crossed state, but Lee's resolve suddenly grew stronger. "But you know how important Quidditch is to me. Not as important as family," he responded quickly to her unasked question, "but I couldn't just leave my team. And besides, I told you I was free afterwards, but you never came to find me."

Dee didn't exactly want to hear what he was saying because she knew he was right. She tried making eye contact with Al so she could make an easy getaway, but he was now caught up in a conversation with his brother. "Can we talk about this later?" she mumbled.

"What? No," Lee exclaimed, grabbing hold of her wrist. "We've got time now. Dee, you never talk to me about yourself. I don't think this is just about the other night anymore. This is about— "

But Dee didn't get to find out what he thought their conversation was about, because they were rudely interrupted.

"What's going on?" James Potter asked, trying—and succeeding, in Dee's opinion—to appear threatening. Lee dropped her arm as Albus tugged on Dee's elbow, increasing the distance between her and her brother. "I don't take kindly to pricks that harass their sisters, Collins, and for a second, that looked bloody similar to what was going on."

Lee set his jaw and straightened his stance. "You don't have a clue what was going on, Potter, nor do you have a right to know," he almost snarled.

"If it involves one of my friends, I think I have a right."

As touched as Dee was by James declaration of the two being friends (considering they'd only talked a few times), she thought he was being stupid. "Potter," she said. When his gaze snapped to hers, she continued. "Enough with the Gryffindor pride. Lee wasn't threatening me, and even if he was," she raised her eyebrows, "I don't see how that's of your concern."

While her words seemed to have a decent effect, neither of the boys backed away; they were almost nose-to-nose.

James Potter

James noticed the way she was standing, arms tightly crossed and legs about shoulder width apart, as if Dee were guarding or bracing herself. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't like it.

With Al's protests barely processing, James stalked over to where the siblings were conversing. "What's going on?" he asked. From the corner of his eye, he noticed Al pulling Dee away from her brother, but most of his attention was focused on the snake that was Lee Collins. "I don't take kindly to pricks who scare their sisters, Collins, and for a second, that looked bloody similar to what was going on," James flared.

"You don't have a clue what was going on, nor do you have a right to know," Collins snapped.

"If it involves one of my friends, I think I have a right."

Despite what he was saying, James didn't fully understand why he felt so strongly. It's not like he'd never argued with his own family. But he supposed, with his own family at lease, most of those arguments were short lived and silly, and this one didn't seem to fit that bill.

James glanced at Dee. She had a weird expression on her face. "Potter," she said. "Enough with the Gryffindor pride. Lee wasn't threatening me, and even if he was," she raised her eyebrows, "I don't see how that's of your concern."

Her words somersaulted around his head before sinking in. James still didn't move, but he was losing his fire. After a few more moments, though, he stepped away, having decided picking a fight with Lee Collins was useless.

But if there was one thing James could take away from this scene, it was the knowledge that Collins knew not to go too far again, at least not with James around.

James was lounging in the Gryffindor Common Room with a book and a roll of parchment in his lap, occupying a squashy seat close to the blazing fire and across from Fred Weasley, who was eyeing a group of girls giggling in the corner.

"What do you think they're giggling about?" he asked.

Before James had a chance to come up with a reply, Roxanne said to her brother, "They're laughing about the gaping hole in your trousers."

Fred uttered a noise of disbelief, but he looked down to examine his trousers anyways. "Oh, piss off," he grumbled to Roxanne when he realized she was messing with him.

James ignored the rest of their conversation and tried to refocus on his Transfiguration essay. Because Transfiguration was one of his better classes, the essay itself wasn't causing too much grief, but there were so many distractions that James couldn't hold on to his train of thought.

"James."

It was Albus. James wasn't in the mood to see his brother, especially after making a foolish spectacle outside the Great Hall after breakfast. "Al," he said, not tearing his eyes from his writing.

"James," Albus repeated, more firmly.

He looked up. Al's face held an unimpressed expression and James sighed. "Yes?"

"I want to talk to you." James followed him to the opposite end of the common room, where he waited for Albus to speak again. "About this morning," Al began, and James huffed. "No, listen. I appreciate you sticking up for her, but she had it covered." Al sighed. "Look, Collins really wasn't threatening her, he was apologizing. The other day, Dee received a letter from her mum saying her aunt's gone missing. Collins was busy and wouldn't stop to talk to her. He was apologizing for that, but she wouldn't hear it." James crossed his arms but understood what Al was saying.

"Is that all?" James asked. "I've got essays to write."

"I guess," Al replied, and when James turned to leave, he added, "Just don't be a prat to Collins, okay? He doesn't really deserve it, at least not when it comes to that."

James made a face, gathered his books and parchment and quills, and exited through the portrait hole. The noise in the common room had started to drive him insane, so James left. He searched for solitude, which he found in the library. But despite the almost complete silence, he couldn't concentrate. Collins doesn't deserve it, my arse, he thought bitterly.

Dee Collins

Dee realized she's been seeing less and less of her roommates as term went on. She wasn't sure if it was because they weren't in Ravenclaw Tower as often as before, or if Dee herself wasn't.

The realization of the answer to this hit her in the corridor on the day after Halloween. She was in the middle of a conversation with Rose when suddenly she stopped walking.

"Dee? Is something wrong?" Rose inquired, alarm and confusion flitting across her face.

Last year—last term, even—Dee hardly had half the friends she had this term. Rose and Albus didn't even talk to her. It wasn't until the previous night, during the Halloween feast, that Dee realized she was "coming out of her shell", to quote her mother.

It's not that Dee didn't have friends in the previous years. She got along with her roommates, the Scamander twins, all her past Potions partners, and so on, but the more she thought about it, the more Dee recognized that she never went out of her way to simply seek her company and neither did they.

"Everything's fine," Dee replied. "Look, do you think we could go to Gryffindor Tower instead? I'd quite like a change of scenery."

Rose blinked, taken aback. "Of course."

They resumed walking, but in silence. Dee felt elated, a new spring in her step. She even laughed at the password to enter the Gryffindor Common Room (Blibbering Humdinger, which Rose explained was the result of a bet between her cousin Fred and the Fat Lady), instead of worrying what other Gryffindor's would think of a Ravenclaw in their Tower. The portrait of the Fat Lady shot her a skeptical look but swung forward all the same, and Dee followed Rose into a reasonably crowded, cozy, circular room. Her eyes trailed over many tables, tapestries, and chairs, until she realized Rose was already a ways away by a fire, chatting with some of her family.

Albus caught Dee's eye and grinned. "Look who it is!" he exclaimed, wrapping her in an overly affectionate hug. "How adventurous of you, braving the Gryffindor Tower."

"Shut up," Dee, embarrassed, mumbled.

"Would you like a trophy for this achievement? I'm sure Fred or James could nick one from the Trophy Room," Al continued to tease.

"Quit taking the mickey," Dee groaned, "and let me go!"

"I'm only joking, Dee," Al smiled. "Come on, I've got a bet to win, and I'm sure my family would love to meet you."

He dragged Dee to the armchairs by the fire, where most of the Weasley clan sat. Rose was now sharing a seat with Roxanne, James and Molly each had their own, Al took a seat at Lily's feet, and Fred was glaring at Hugo from the other side of a Wizard's chessboard. Dee sat on the floor next to Albus and asked, "Does the bet you mentioned have anything to do with who wins that chess match?"

Al's grin returned and he nodded. "I've got three galleons on Hugo."

"He's going to win," Rose pitched in from Dee's other side. "Roxanne," she nudged her cousin, "this is Dee."

Roxanne tore her gaze from the chess match and regarded Dee. "You're Lee Collins' sister, right?" Dee nodded. "Huh. Nice to meet you."

"Dee!" It was James, two chairs down.

"Hi, James," Dee replied, an unsteady and sheepish smile forming at her lips.

"How're things?" he asked, ignoring the curious glances from his cousins and brother.

Dee, who didn't miss those glances and also didn't ignore them, averted her eyes and mumbled, "Things are fine."

"Good. Listen, I want to apologize for how I acted last week."

She cleared her throat and silently thanked Al and his sister for possessing the decency to seem tremendously interested in the ongoing chess match. "It's not a big deal. You really—"

"I don't know you well, and I was out of line," he continued.

"Potter. James, or whatever," she stammered, struggling to get a word in. "You don't need to apologize. Really."

"Sure I do. I've got to retain some dignity, haven't I?"

Dee noticed a glint in his eye, but thought for sure she was mistaken. Then he grinned and Al pinched her side, and she laughed, embracing the truly nice feeling spreading from her head to her toes, that result of feeling a part of something bigger than herself.

A/N: kljhsdjfhgsk I love you guys. Hopefully this chapter was worth reading… Now, I've realized there's a lot that goes on in these chapters AND many, many characters (and the way I write this story with separate little scenes probably doesn't help) so if you visit my fics blog it might help. I post character maps and stuff, I'll answer any questions you may have, and I may even post spoilers (if you want them, I mean). So yeah, pay me a visit maybe? Link is in my profile.

Revised March 2015