I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANYTHING AFFILIATED WITH IT. I ONLY OWN DEVYN AND HER PARENTS.

Chapter 13

It had been about a week and a half since Neville and Devyn had shared their first kiss and began dating. Things had been going perfectly. In all honesty, their relationship was just the same as it had been, only with more hand-holding and kissing involved.

Moony had already given Neville the customary "talk"; the "Hurt-Her-And-I-Will-Find-You" one. Of course, Neville never had any harmful intentions toward her in the first place, and Devyn told Moony as much, but Moony shrugged and said he figured that much, but, as her godfather, that it was his obligation and privilege to warn any boys that if they so much as touched her the wrong way that they would be hunted down like prey.

"It's my job, Devyn," Moony said, half seriously, half jokingly. "You should know that by now."

Devyn merely rolled her eyes and said, "Yes, Moony, I know that."

She also knew that if Neville ever hurt her – something he wouldn't ever do – Moony would be the least of Neville's concerns. Luckily, he would never need to worry about that, because she had full confidence that he would never do anything to hurt her – at least nothing she couldn't handle herself.

Despite occasional jibes from the Peanut Gallery – AKA Draco Malfoy and his cronies – Neville and Devyn were in bliss. They couldn't be happier. There was something special in being romantic with your best friend. There was no need to impress each other or put on airs, because you already knew each other so well.

Anyway, soon enough, the first Hogsmeade trip came around on October 31st, and they were all really excited. They had heard great things about Hogsmeade from the older students, and they couldn't wait to experience it for themselves.

There was just one unfortunate fact – Harry couldn't go. He hadn't gotten his permission form signed.

And it wasn't from lack of trying, either. Harry had told Devyn that he had asked his uncle, but that was about as good as asking a brick wall to do the hula – and he even tried asking the Minister of Magic when he intercepted Harry at the Leaky Cauldron after Harry blew up his aunt.

Devyn and Neville felt bad for Harry, but there was nothing they could do. And so, there they stood, in front of McGonagall, being lectured about how Hogsmeade was a privilege, not a right, so they shouldn't embarrass the school with any of their antics.

Filch was standing next to McGonagall, taking the permission forms from the students, and when Devyn handed over hers, she was pretty sure that Filch growled at her. She guessed it was probably because she had undermined his authority back in first year. Like he had any authority to begin with…

Devyn just rolled her eyes and walked back towards the crowd of students, hand in hand with Neville.

"Now, remember!" McGonagall said loudly. "These visits to Hogsmeade Village are a privilege. Should your behavior reflect poorly on the school in any way, that privilege will not be extended again."

At that moment, Harry walked up to McGonagall and she looked at him. "No permission formed signed, no visiting the village. That's the rule, Potter."

"Those with permission forms signed, follow me. Those without, stay put…" Filch said, smirking at Harry when he walked by him. Devyn gritted her teeth and tried not to let Filch get to her. She knew why he was so vindictive, but that still didn't make it alright.

Devyn, Neville, Ron, and Hermione all stayed put for a few minutes, to see how Harry's plea to McGonagall worked out. Devyn didn't want to be a pessimist, but she didn't see it going well.

"But Professor," Harry said, "I thought if you signed it, then I could go –"

McGonagall shook her head and said, "I can't. Only a parent or guardian can sign. Since I am neither, it would be inappropriate." Harry's shoulder slumped in disappointment and McGonagall seemed to feel bad or at least sympathetic. She put her hand on Harry's shoulder and said, "I'm sorry, Potter. That's my final word."

Devyn felt bad for Harry, as did the other four, but as before, there was nothing they could do.

"Forget about it, guys," Harry told them. "See you later."

They nodded and walked off. Hermione waved goodbye as they did and they walked briskly to catch up with the rest of the group.

Once Filch finally left them to their own devices, Devyn and Neville split off from Ron and Hermione and went their separate ways. Ron was confused until Hermione smacked his arm and gave him a significant look.

"Oh, you want to be alone. Right. Your date. Right…well, have fun," Ron said, grinning. Hermione rolled her eyes and she waved at them.

"Have fun, you two."

Ron and Hermione walked off in the direction of Zonko's Joke Shop and Honeyduke's Sweet Shop, both of which Devyn and Neville planned to visit later.

And then, at long last, they were alone. They were young, together, in Hogsmeade Village on a crisp fall day with all the time in the world.

"So," Neville said, interlacing their fingers. "Where do you want to go?"

Devyn shrugged and said, "Wherever is fine with me."

"Okay…how about we go to The Three Broomsticks, we get a couple Butterbeers, and then we decide from there?"

"Sounds perfect," Devyn said, a smile crossing her face. Honestly, as long as Neville was with her, she didn't care where they went.

But at that very moment, they set off for The Three Broomsticks and walked hand in hand the entire way. They wanted everyone to know they were together. The reactions they got on the way were funny and completely varying.

Some of the older girls cooed at them, which was a bit weird, and some of the older boys thumped Neville on the back and said 'good for you, mate', while most of the third years they passed either ignored them or started whispering about them.

"What do you think they're whispering about?" Neville asked her as they passed Lavender and the Patil twins just before the doorway of The Three Broomsticks.

Devyn shrugged and said, "Probably just gossiping. Who knows? I learned a few years ago not to listen to Lavender anyway."

"Good idea. She rarely ever comes out with something worth listening to," Neville replied. "Okay. Why don't you grab a table, and I'll get the Butterbeers?"

"Okay," Devyn said. She let go of Neville's hand and went to find an empty table. Luckily, she found one and within minutes, Neville had returned with two glasses full of the delicious and famed Butterbeer.

"Thank you," she said when Neville handed her glass to her.

"You're welcome," he said, sitting down next to her. They both took a sip of their drinks at the same time and their eyes widened when they realized how delicious it actually was.

"Oh my god," Devyn said. "This…this is…wow."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Neville agreed. They sat there, drinking their Butterbeers in relative silence, although it wasn't for lack of anything to say. They knew they didn't need to talk around one another. They could be quiet and still be comfortable around each other.

"Okay," Neville said. "So, I'm thinking we should definitely try and go to Honeyduke's."

"Definitely," Devyn agreed. "And we should at least check out Zonko's, right?"

"Yeah," he said.

"Okay, well, that's two places we can go. Do you wanna go up to the Shrieking Shack?"

"Yeah, we could do that."

"Okay…"

"Hey guys!"

Devyn and Neville turned around, both digging into the Halloween Feast laid before them. They looked around and saw Hermione and Ron making their way towards them.

Devyn swallowed the bite she had just taken and made room for them on the bench.

"Hello. Did you have fun in Hogsmeade?" Devyn asked Hermione as she sat down next to her. Ron took the seat next to Neville and they both nodded.

"Yes, it was wonderful. And you? How did your date go?"

"It went perfect. As I knew it would. We just walked around, you know?" Devyn said, smiling at Neville. "We went to The Three Broomsticks first and got some Butterbeer."

"And then," Neville said, "we went to Zonko's Joke Shop. That was really cool."

"Yeah, it was. And then we went to Honeyduke's. Oh, man, all the chocolate. I could've stayed there forever," Devyn said, smiling as she remembered all the delicious sweets in that wonderful shop.

Hermione giggled and Neville said, "And then we went to the Shrieking Shack. We didn't stay there long, but it was pretty cool."

Devyn nodded. "It was pretty cool. Creepy, but cool. And Neville wanted to go to Dogweed and Deathcap, so we went there."

"That was brilliant. All the different plants…! So what did you and Ron do?" Neville asked Hermione.

"Well, we both went to Honeyduke's and Zonko's. After that, we split off. I went to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop for a bit, and then I spent hours in Tomes and Scrolls."

"Ron? What did you do?"

"Af wen ta Spintwitches," Ron said, his mouth full of food. "An fen af wen back ta…" Ron swallowed the food he had in his mouth and said, "And then I went back to Zonko's and Honeyduke's."

"Sounds like fun. Listen, has anyone seen Harry, since this morning?"

Ron, Hermione, and Neville all shook their heads. Devyn frowned.

"No, I've not seen him either. What do you think he did all day?" Devyn said.

"With any luck, he'll have tried to get some of his homework done. He's falling behind," Hermione commented.

"Oh, leave the bloke alone, Hermione. He'll get it done. You know Harry," Ron told her. Hermione shot him a look but remained quiet.

"Oh, there he is!" Neville said, gesturing to towards the Great Hall doors. And sure enough, Harry was walking through them and started making his way over to them.

He plopped down next to Ron with a half-smile. He looked tired.

"Hey, Harry," Devyn said. Harry smiled at her before starting in on some of the food in front of him.

"So what did you do all day?"

"Oh, you know," Harry said with a shrug. "Just sort of hung around. Caught up on some homework. Spent some time with Lupin."

"Oh, you did?" Devyn replied with a bright smile. She was glad that Harry spent some time with Moony. As it was, Moony was really the only close link to James and Lily Harry had, and Devyn thought it would be good for him to spend some time with him.

"Yeah. He's a really nice guy. I guess I never noticed it before."

"Well, you've never spent time with him before," Devyn said.

"Fair point," Harry conceded. He cleared his throat. "Do you remember how he stopped me from going up against the Boggart?"

Devyn nodded and Harry said, "Right, well, he did that because he thought Voldemort would have been my Boggart."

Devyn, Harry, and Neville ignored the shudders that came out of Ron and Hermione. Devyn genuinely didn't know why Hermione was so terrified of Voldemort's name. Honestly, a) it was just a name and b) she had never gone up against Voldemort before. Devyn had and now that she had, she had even more of a reason to use his name.

Yes, Voldemort was terrifying, but not saying his chosen name out of fear was sort of respecting him, and Devyn would be damned if she ever showed respect to that monster.

"Yeah, well, I can imagine that would have caused a panic," Devyn said. Harry chuckled and she asked, "What?"

"Nothing. It's just…that's what Lupin said, too. You guys are more alike than you realize."

Devyn smiled and nodded. Far more than you realize, Harry. Kindred wolf spirits we are. It's a wonder the wolf in Moony hasn't connected with the wolf in me yet.

"And he mentioned my parents. He said my mother was there for him at a time when no one else was. That not only was she a singularly gifted witch, but that she had a way of seeing the beauty in others…when and perhaps most especially when they couldn't see it in themselves."

Devyn smiled when Harry quoted her godfather. She knew exactly what Moony was referring to when he spoke about Lily. Devyn wondered if Lily reacted the same way she did when she found out Moony was a werewolf. By the sound of it, she did.

And what about Devyn's mother, Victoria? How did she react? She'd have to ask Moony someday.

"And he said that my dad had a talent for trouble, which he passed onto me."

That got them laughing. If anything was true, it was the affinity Harry had for trouble. Or maybe the affinity trouble had for Harry.

After the Halloween Feast, they all started trudging up to Gryffindor Tower like usual. On the way up, Ron was telling Harry all about Hogsmeade.

"Honeyduke's Sweetshop is brilliant, but nothing beats Zonko's Joke Shop. We never did get to go to the Shrieking Shack though. You heard it's the most -"

"-Most haunted building in Britain. Yeah, I know."

Oddly enough, they had to stop walking because the entire group of Gryffindors grinded to a halt and whispers started breaking out among them.

"What's going on?" Harry wondered aloud.

"Probably Neville's forgotten the password again…" Ron grumbled.

"Hey!" Devyn and Neville protested from behind Ron. He must have forgotten that they were behind him.

"Oh, you're there," Ron said, looking at Neville completely unapologetically.

"Let me through, please! Excuse me, I'm Head Boy!"

And there's Percy…Devyn thought to herself. He never missed an opportunity to exert his power over them.

Suddenly Percy's pompous tone changed into a more anxious and fearful one, which caused Devyn's internal alarms to start going off.

"Get back, all of you," Percy said. "No one is to enter the dormitory until it has been fully searched."

Ginny fought her way through the crowd and told them something Devyn honestly thought she would never hear.

"The Fat Lady….she's gone."

Hey everyone. Firstly, I am so sorry it's taken so long to update. I've had major writer's block lately and it's been a struggle to write anything. Thank you for not giving up on me. As always, please leave a review and tell me what you thought. And also as always, I don't know when the next update will be, but I will try to keep it within a timely fashion.