They found Ron and Ginny, in front of the Fat Lady, beside each other, against the wall, to the left of the painting. Ron had said something, softly, to Ginny, who had nodded and responded back just as quiet, both eyes down cast.

"Hi." Hermione said, as she and Harry came down the hall.

Ginny lifted her head and informed them, "Neville, Ernie, Justin, Susan, and Hannah are still at the library, in case you had gone back there."

She led the way, followed by Ron, Hermione, and Harry, and added, "So, do you think, even if you don't want to tell all of us about everything, you could at least tell Neville?"

Harry and Hermione felt like a block of jagged ice had been pushed through them, as they recalled baby-Neville pinned to the ground, Bellatrix ready to use the Cruciatus curse on him.

Ron had just widened his eyes and felt what he knew cause pressure to intensify in him, like when you try to push two north ends of magnets together, "Ginny…"

Ginny turned around, sharply, and walked backwards. Her eyes were flared and she shook slightly, with a rage Harry realized Fred and George had described perfectly. Although, there was a ripple of pain through her as well.

Ginny barked, "Ron, they know something! And I know they told you!" She turned to harry and Hermione and drilled into them, "Something bigger than all of your parents being friends made you trust them! Whatever it is, Neville should know! He deserves to know!"

"We can't." Harry and Hermione informed her, both a little pale, which rendered Ginny and Ron speechless.

Ginny tried to speak, but the look of her friends made her sick, like a lump of sludge was stuck in her stomach.

"Ron, you were never really good at waking people up." Ginny remarked, after he had startled Justin, who had been sleeping at a table, the same one the trio had found everyone at earlier, and been unfortunate enough for Ron to come in and be the one to say, in his normal tone, "Oi, Justin, you'll want to hear all of this mate."

Justin had sat up, immediately, a little confused, "I'm awake!" and then Susan, who had been standing next to him, patted his shoulder.

After Justin had adjusted, everyone turned from him to Harry and Hermione, who glanced at each other, before Hermione told the group, "We really didn't get to talk a lot, before Harry and I left. Well—Well, I know you don't want to be kept in the dark about why Harry and I trust Mr. Snape, and Natalie, and Mr. Filch, and, yes, even Professor Snape," she lowered her eyes a moment, "despite everything, but it's complicated." She swallowed, like she had tasted spoiled fish, and then added, "And," she locked eyes with Harry, "Harry and I have…"

Harry gave her the same distressed look Hermione gave him. He turned to the others and explained, "We don't want to keep secrets from you," he eyed Ron, reluctant about giving away how much Ron knew, "neither does Ron," Ron nodded at them, with his mouth clamped tight, nervously, "but we can't tell you why we trust them. We just need you to trust us-"

"Like you asked us to trust you last year?" Ernie inquired, non-threateningly.

Harry nodded, "Yeah."

"I'll do better than I did last year." Justin promised, firmly. "I won't duck out this time, if things get hard."

Harry and Hermione shook their heads, to let him know everyone's lack of involvement in the Department of Mysteries was not a source of anger for them, while Ron agreed, but remained silent. He watched the other part of the trio and reflected on how it was turning more into a duo. Ginny noticed and swung her eyes from her brother to the duo, but was unsure of how to comfort him.

Susan nodded at Harry and Hermione, "I'll stand by you too. If anyone insults Natalie or… Well, I don't know if I could defend Professor Snape or Mr. Filch for that matter, but I could tell whoever is doing it that Natalie could come around and hear them or that she will hear them, if she's around."

"I can do that too." Hannah chimed in, from where she sat.

Ernie, who was sitting next to her, nodded, "Same here."

Neville told Harry and Hermione, "They were my parent's friends and I'm sure they would have loved Natalie, if they could understand who she was, and," he gestured to himself and Harry, "so would we and you and I would have been friends, before we came to Hogwarts, and that's good enough for me. There's good in them, if my parents saw it. Even in Professor Snape. I guess I'll have to call him Professor, now." Harry nodded, understandingly. "I'll never understand why he's treated us so badly through the years and maybe you know why and you don't have to tell me, but he was friends with our parents."

Harry nodded, as he recalled Baby-Neville pinned to the ground and how Snape had been his hero.

Then, Harry let a smile slip onto his face and he shared, "It's good to know we'll have more people we can depend on, for Natalie's sake, especially."

Justin jested, "Well, we really haven't got much choice, have we? You might set some snakes on us, if we didn't comply."

Everyone cracked up and Harry shook his head and grinned, "No, I wouldn't do that, except I might make an exception for you, Justin."

Justin gave Hermione a mock-offended look, "It's always like that, isn't it? Go after the muggleborns."

Hermione gave him a dramatic It happens. look, which prompted Harry to gesture to himself and remind them, "Hey, I lived as one of you. I had people from the wizarding world recognize me, but not one of them would tell me who I was. Try being a kid and having strangers talk to you."

Ron took this moment to get Harry's attention, "Not one of them could bother to tell you? What? Did they like scaring a child? Maybe, they wanted to outdo Voldemort. He couldn't kill you, so they would give you the heart attack that did."

Harry laughed and Ginny sensed how Ron relished being able to joke around with Harry.

(A/N: Ok, we really need to see the next day.)