A/N: I've learned that I am not very good at chapter titles. It's definitely one of the things I struggle with the most with any story I've written, and sometimes I wish I just numbered them. But I know I personally love stories with chapter titles because it makes it easier to go back and find things when you know where to look, and they may or may not give some insight to what's about to happen. Some can be misleading… some are spot on. This one, could be either, but take that as you will :)

Edit: Wow, I also managed to forget to actually name this chapter when I posted it which I find to be incredibly ironic based on my original A/N. I didn't even notice I forgot until right after I posted it. Surprisingly that was not even done on purpose. I wish I was that clever... so your email alert didn't have a chapter name, sorry!

Chapter 33 – A Final Farewell Feast

The Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw match had been a close game; one that went on much longer than Hermione would have liked when there were exams to be studied for. Unfortunately, after the match had ended, she had to hear her housemates complain for the following days about the upset of having Ravenclaw win. Sirius was beside himself at the fact that it had been Marcus that cost them the game. Gryffindor's seeker had been mere centimetres away from catching the snitch when she was nailed in the side by a bludger, opening an opportunity for Ravenclaw to take the win for themselves. Sirius could barely look Mary in the eye afterwards, even though she had kept her word and cheered for her own house. While James had played brilliantly and was graceful in his defeat, Hermione could still tell he was still rather upset.

There wasn't much time for him to mope once they were in full exam season. Hermione always found this time of year to be both incredibly stressful, while somewhat amusing. Seeing some of her fellow classmates who would normally slack off begin to panic was always satisfying and had her feeling a little smug. The feeling only intensified when many of her friends, and even classmates she rare spoke to, would ask her to study with them and use her notes. That had her feeling even more smug, if not slightly irritated.

But Hermione had enough stress from worrying about her own revising rather than assist everyone else in theirs. Even Sirius, who had always just seemed naturally gifted with his skill (much to Hermione's annoyance) was taking his exam revision quite seriously, no pun necessary. Much of his spare time was spent with James, Peter, and Remus with books out in front of them and rolls of their notes spread around them. Sometimes Hermione would join them, but she mostly found herself with Lily and Mary, who were slightly more organized, even if Mary seemed to be one wrong practice answer away from blowing a fuse.

It was no surprise that her favorite person to study with was Remus, even if he had multiple people vying for his attention those days. Particularly from a blonde haired Hufflepuff. From the best of Hermione's knowledge, they weren't actually dating, but Remus and Claudia were spending an awful amount of time together between classes and prepping for exams. Or at least that's how it felt since she had become so accustomed to his presence. The only thing that kept Hermione from completely crumbling was Remus's insistence that they still studied for Ancient Runes alone together. They hadn't gone back to their room since he had laid out his entire heart to her, but they'd tuck away in the library or common room, and Hermione was just grateful to have him near, whether it was with Ancient Runes notes, or revising with the others.

But once exams finally begun, Hermione immediately fell into element, which clearly was not the case for others.

"That's it, I'm dropping Defense Against the Dark Arts next year!" said Mary as soon as they exited their Defense exam.

They were now nearing the end in the last week of term and Mary was completely a wreck. In an odd way, she almost reminded Hermione of Neville Longbottom with all of his insecurities surrounding his abilities and fear of failure. These seemed to physically manifest themselves on Mary because she had purple bags forming under her eyes, and if Hermione had to guess, Mary probably hadn't bothered brushing her hair since that Monday and instead wore her hair in a messy ponytail.

"But it's such a good skill to have, Mary," said Lily with a frown. "And don't you want your N.E.W.T for it?"

"At this rate I wouldn't even get any N.E.W.T for Defense, so why even bother!" huffed Mary, trying to appear indifferent. It wasn't working because Hermione could see by the look in her eye that she was clearly upset with herself. "I can spend my time doing other things instead."

"Do you not need it for what you want to do after school?" asked Hermione.

"Ha! Like any job would want me with my level of skill. I only even took Defense this year because Warbeck was incredibly lenient and allowed Acceptable scores in. If things stay how they've always been and we get a new professor next year, who's to say they'll want me in the class anyway!"

"You never know," soothed Lily, looking upset as she wrapped an arm around Mary's shoulder. "Maybe you did better than you thought."

Mary snorted. "I'd be lucky to even get a Poor!"

Hermione wasn't sure what to say to her after that. To her, the exam hadn't been very difficult at all, at least not in comparison to some of the other ones they had already completed. But mentioning that to Mary in the state she was would probably have been rude, so Hermione bit her tongue.

Right behind them, Remus, James, Sirius, and Peter slowly made their way out of the classroom as well. The four of them were joking around with each other and Hermione considered walking over and ask how she thought they did.

"Is that Professor Dumbledore?" asked Lily before Hermione had even taken a step towards the boys. Hermione turned back to Lily, who was staring down the corridor with a perplexed look on her face as Dumbledore approached. "I wonder what he's doing here."

It wasn't often they saw Dumbledore walking the corridors, and it was an odd sight to say the least. It was even odder when the smiling headmaster stopped in front of the three of them.

"Ah, Miss Evans, Miss Macdonald, and Miss Dawson, I trust you've all had a good Defense Against the Dark Arts exam?" Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.

Mary looked almost murderous at the question and Hermione put her fist up to her mouth to stifle a laugh.

"Ah, perhaps not?" Dumbledore said, his smile becoming more sympathetic.

Mary shook her head and muttered something unintelligible, and Lily patted her soothingly on the back. Dumbledore gave Mary a final smile before turning his attention to Hermione.

"Miss Dawson, I was hoping to have a word," said Dumbledore, gesturing down the corridor.

"Oh, uh, sure," said Hermione, fighting back her surprise.

She exchanged a confused look with both Mary and Lily before beginning to follow Dumbledore down the corridor.

Hermione caught Remus's eye and he looked between her and Dumbledore with a small and confused frown on his face. James, Sirius, and Peter were also looking on curiously and Hermione gave all of them a reassuring smile as she continued to follow Dumbledore towards the stairs.

"Mister Lupin appeared to be worried about why I've stolen you away," said Dumbledore. He was still facing forward but there was a faint smile on his face.

Hermione felt her own face begin to burn.

"I'm sure they're all just wondering what this is about," said Hermione.

"And you?" asked Dumbledore, turning to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"I am as well, sir," looking at his from the corner of her eyes.

"I thought it would be wise to have one more chat between the school year ends," said Dumbledore, nodding to himself.

It was silent the rest of the walk, and by the time they arrived at his office, Hermione's was beginning to feel more and more nervous. It felt cryptic of Dumbledore to not have given her any indication on what their conversation would be about.

"Butterscotch," said Dumbledore to the ugly stone gargoyle guarding the entrance to his office when they arrived.

Hermione looked up at him curiously.

"I've becoming quite fond of muggle sweets as of late," said Dumbledore with a smile.

When the gargoyle moved aside, he placed his hand gently on Hermione's upper back, right where her hair ended, and led her up the stairs and through the door into his office. With his free hand, he gestured towards the open chair that sat across from his desk.

His arm dropped and Dumbledore circled around to the front of his desk and sat down across from her. Nerves were building in Hermione's stomach as she slowly sank down into the chair.

"How are your exams going?" asked Dumbledore.

"Fine, sir."

"Ah, good," said Dumbledore with a smile before pausing for a moment. "Do you know what day it is?"

"18th of June," Hermione said automatically, and then she felt her stomach drop.

"One year since you were found in the Department of Mysteries," said Dumbledore, echoing where her own thoughts had gone.

"It feels like a lifetime ago," said Hermione.

"In a way it was," said Dumbledore with a sad smile. "Similarly to last year, I've made arrangements for you to stay in the castle again this summer."

"Oh, that won't be necessary," said Hermione quickly. "James Potter is letting me stay with him for the holiday."

Dumbledore's eyebrow twitched up in surprise. He slowly leaned forward and placed his elbows on his desk, locking his hands together as he looked over his half-moon spectacles at her.

"I see. Do you think that is wise?"

Hermione was not particularly fond of his tone and she looked at him cautiously.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"I assumed you would wish to stay at Hogwarts to be near, just in case there was any new information regarding your status," said Dumbledore. "I thought it would be best to have you here to be able to better reach you with updates on returning to your own time."

"Well, it's not as though I'll be hard to find," said Hermione with a frown.

There was something in his expression that didn't seem quite right. Was he worried about her not being around? Not being near him? But that was ridiculous, he had been the one disappearing and ignoring her all term! Why would he now try to insist she had to stay under his watch?

Dumbledore stayed quiet for a moment, not taking his eyes off of her before nodding slowly.

"That is very true. And I will have ways to be able to reach you with information while you are at Potters'," said Dumbledore.

Hermione could barely believe what she was hearing. Was he actually offering to keep her notified with what he was doing?

"And you'll keep me updated this summer, right? You'll let me know my chances of returning home?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes, that being one of the reasons I had expected you not to go too far," said Dumbledore, continuing to peer over his glasses at her. "You will most definitely be hearing from me at some point this summer. Hopefully if this summer goes well, in a few days it will be your final farewell feast here in the 1970s."

Something about the way Dumbledore said it immediately caught Hermione's attention.

"Has something changed? asked Hermione with her heart pounding.

Dumbledore nodded again, suddenly looking more serious than before.

"I have come across one final idea that I think may be your ticket back to your own timeline. I plan on spending a good portion of this summer holiday researching it. Truly, it may be our last option, but it appears promising. You will hear from me before terms starts about how it goes, and that is a promise."

Hermione's heart leapt in her chest. If Dumbledore was even mentioning an idea to her then he must have believed there was a good chance of it working. This entire year he had remained so secretive about what he had been doing in regards to finding a way for her to go home to the point where there were moments she thought he had given up. It had made her give up, in a way.

"What is the idea?" asked Hermione eagerly, leaning towards him on the edge of her seat.

Anticipation, nerves, excitement, fear… They were battling throughout her body at the idea of Dumbledore being able to send her home, She'd be able to see her parents again; her friends! She wouldn't have to worry about making anyone unborn or destroying the future! It was the first real communication Dumbledore had given her about anything. Having him share this information with her was almost too good to be true.

"Alas, I cannot tell you that at this moment. But I am hopeful," he said.

"You can't tell me?" asked Hermione, fighting the urge to roll her eyes as she sunk back into her chair. Ah, so his apparent candor had been too good to be true. She should have known.

"It is something top secretive that I am not even supposed to know about," said Dumbledore. "But if I find that this does exist, and it does have the ability to work, I will tell you."

"And if it doesn't work?"

"Then we will have to find a solution that allows you to stay and be registered within the Ministry. Hopefully before it is time to take your N.E. so you truly receive those qualifications. That would be one of the first steps in finding a way for you to start a life here. But that is something we will worry about if this summer results in failure. I will do my best to make sure it does not come to that."

Hermione automatically started to nod, grateful that he was finally sharing even a bit of information with her and that he really hadn't given up. But then his words replayed in her head, and Hermione was struck with a sudden, horrifying thought. If she couldn't yet take the N.E. until Dumbledore found a way to register her with the Minister, how had she been able to retake the O.W.L exams when she first arrived? If she had taken those, then there had to be some sort of record of her.

Then that left the Apparition test. If there was a record of her after the O.W.L, then she should have been allowed to take it. Had Dumbledore really been telling her the truth when he said she couldn't take the Apparition test, or was he trying his best to limit her mobility? It seemed like a likely theory that he wouldn't want her to be able to go anywhere at the drop of a hat; he clearly seemed bothered by her not staying in the castle over the summer. Yet, he was still allowing her to leave, most likely because there's only so far she could go without being legally allowed to apparate. But if she couldn't take the Apparition test because there really wasn't a record of her at the Ministry, then how had she taken the O.W.L?

Her stomach sank as a different realization hit her. But had she really taken the O.W.L? Hadn't Dumbledore been the one to give her the exams and results himself rather than Ministry officials like they were supposed to? At the time she had believed that perhaps an exception had been made due to Dumbledore's influence within the Ministry, or an exception to make things more convenient for her. But now she wasn't so sure.

Hermione suddenly felt sick.

"Is there something bothering you, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked, interrupting her panicked thoughts.

Hermione wondered if she should confront him about it. Something wasn't adding up at all, but whichever one had been the truth, Hermione was certain of one thing: Dumbledore was lying to her.

There was an overarching sense of betrayal that Hermione felt now as she looked at the old Headmaster's face. Hermione had always considered Dumbledore a great man. An endless source of wisdom, bravery, honor, and nobility. This entire time he had been the only person she could fully trust with her secret, but knowing now that he didn't feel confident enough in her to return the favor, she wondered how much she really could trust him. There was no possible way all of the things he's told her could exist at the same time. Why wouldn't he just tell her the truth? Communicate with her? As angry as she had gotten at him this past year, she had always eventually pushed it aside because she assumed he was trying to work with her, with her best interest in mind and for the greater good. It no longer felt like they were working together.

Hermione felt deceived; manipulated. Like she was a pawn in his desire to preserve the timeline at the expense of her own sanity. That he didn't believe she shared his interest in protecting the future, even after she had hurt and lied to people she cared about to do so. She had gone against all her better judgements. She had given up so much to follow everything he had asked her to do. She had broken more than one heart to abide by his rules. The idea of that just further twisted at her stomach.

If Dumbledore was hiding things from her, then revealing that she realized it to him was the last thing she believed she should do. At least not yet. It was the smallest bit of power she had come in possession with this entire time. Letting him believe that she was still willingly obedient to his rules would give her the opportunity to try to figure out the truth herself.

"No," Hermione said. "Nothing."

"Good," said Dumbledore with a smile. He clapped his hands together good-naturedly and stood up from his desk. "Then I shall let you return to your studying."

.:~*~*~*~*~:.

The Great Hall was bustling with lively chatter as the entire school sat at the end-of-term feast. As always, the food was incredible and the energy of the room was electric, leaving everyone in a spirited mood.

Hermione sat with all of her fellow sixth year Gryffindors as they ate from the mountains of beautiful food piled down the table. It was amazing to see the stark difference in all of them from the beginning of the school year. Not only would Hermione have never expected to see Lily and Mary as comfortable with the boys and enjoying themselves as much as they were based on those first few nights in the castle, but she never would have thought how much she would enjoy being around all of them as well. It had felt so odd seeing them all for the first time, but looking around at them now, something almost felt right. As much as she wished to go home for numerous reasons, the idea that this could be her final feast with all of them saddened her in a way.

As the feast came to a close, Dumbledore made his way in front of the staff table and looked out at all four house tables.

"Just some final thoughts before we all finish up our feast! I want to thank Professor Felicia Warbeck for stepping in as our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this year. It is with great sorrow that I announce that she will be leaving us as this term comes to an end."

Sirius, who had not been able to prove his theory, rested his face in his hands and grumbled.

"No surprise there," grinned James, clapping along with the rest of the hall as Professor Warbeck stood up and gave a little wave.

"Instead, she is going to be leading up a security team for her sister-in-law, Celestina Warbeck, on her next international tour!" continued Dumbledore, and the hall broke into countless excited conversations.

"Aha!" shouted Sirius, launching to his feet. "I was right!"

He turned, beaming towards the Hufflepuff table where Jared Muller was sitting and pointed directly at him. "Pay up, Muller!" he shouted, looking way too pleased with himself.

"Sirius…" said Hermione, pulling on the sleeve of his robes and trying to hide her smirk. "You may want to sit down…"

"No way, I knew it! I was right!" grinned Sirius. "They are related!"

"Sirius, she's her sister-in-law," said Hermione, shaking with silent laughter. "Sister-in-law. She married into the family. They aren't related at all!"

Hermione wished she had a camcorder with her somehow to be able to record Sirius's reaction. His once beaming face dropped into a look of pure horror so fast that it reminded her of a cartoon character. A flash from across the table went off and a photo slowly came out of Mary's camera.

"I want a copy of that," said Hermione to Mary.

"Oh, trust me, the whole school will be getting a copy of this," said Mary, wiggling the photo and grinning from ear to ear.

"I expect my two galleons before we get back to London, Black!" called back Jared with his hands cupped around his mouth. His friends around him burst into laughter and Sirius slowly sunk back down onto the bench, placing his forehead against the table with a soft thump.

"There, there, mate," laughed James, patting Sirius on his back. "Like I said, there's always next year!"

Sirius groaned.

An amused looking Dumbledore cleared his throat and the hall fell back into silence.

"Thank you for that bit of entertainment, Mister Black and Mister Muller," said Dumbledore with a twinkle in his eye. "And thank you, Professor Warbeck for your wonderful teachings this year. We will surely miss you."

Another round of applause went through the hall as Professor Warbeck gave a small bow and sat back down.

"Now, I wish to offer a toast to all of our graduating students. Let us all raise a goblet and wish them well in whatever they decide to do next. I'm sure we will see great things from them!" said Dumbledore.

The goblets around the tables suddenly all became full. All around the hall, students and professors alike raised their goblets to toast the departing students. Hermione could hear clanks all around her and some of the seventh year students quietly crying.

"Hear, hear!" said Sirius, before taking an eager sip. Immediately he began spluttering, making everyone in the immediate area flinch.

"What's wrong?" demanded Remus, who looked down at his own goblet that he had just drank from.

"It's pumpkin juice!" said Sirius, sounded aghast.

"So what?" asked Peter, who was now staring down in horror at his goblet as well.

"What's wrong with pumpkin juice?" asked Lily, looking at Sirius like he had grown a second head. "We've all seen you drink that before!"

"Well, I thought it may be something stronger given the occasion, not bloody boring pumpkin juice!" said Sirius with a pout.

"You thought they'd give students something stronger?" gaped Remus, causing Peter to start snickering to himself.

"Wishful thinking?" said Sirius with a cheeky smile.

Dumbledore gave a quick cough from the front of the hall, and his eyes were settled on Sirius who quickly went silent.

"With all that said, I wish all our students leaving us, a memorable final farewell feast. For the rest, I wish you a wonderful summer holiday, and for all of you, a safe journey back home."

~o~

The next morning, Hermione woke up with an odd sort of ache in her chest. Going home was always bittersweet, even in her own time. Being at Hogwarts, surrounded by so much history and knowledge, so much magic and mystery, made her feel alive in a way the muggle world never truly had. In a way, she always agreed with Harry; Hogwarts was her home, and the first place she felt she truly belonged. As much as she loved her family and enjoyed her simple, muggle childhood, there was always that feeling of emptiness returning to a world without magic and leaving her friends behind. It was one of the reasons she had always jumped at the chance to stay with Ron and the Weasley's whenever she had been invited. It made her wonder if she should have stayed with her parents more often.

But as Hermione quickly double checked that she had packed everything in her trunk, there was also budding excitement at the idea of summer holiday. Sure, she would miss her classes and the friends she had made, but returning to the Potters' where a certain potion was inside a certain tree on a certain island, excited her more than anything had in recent memory.

There was also the excitement of the possibility that Dumbledore would finally find a way to send her home. Selfishly she hoped that if he did, it would be after she learned how to transform into an animagus, but Hermione didn't expect that to actually be a problem. It had been over a year of searching already and Hermione doubted he would figure out a way sometime before the next electrical storm. Besides, who was to even say what Dumbledore said to her was true anymore? For all she knew, he could have been lying about his new lead just as he had been lying about everything else to make sure she remained a good girl. She refused to get her hopes up.

After breakfast, Hermione began following the rest of the school out to the carriages. Mary had immediately gone off to find Marcus, which gave Sirius the perfect opportunity to complain about him costing them the quidditch match again.

"Bloody, Donner, had to go and ruin our chances. We would have won without that hit!" whined Sirius animatedly as he walked down the slope.

"It was still a good game," said Peter.

"It was a good game and it was a good hit," agreed James with a shrug. "But have you seen Gwen giving the whole team dirty looks all week? She is not pleased that Ravenclaw won. I sometimes wonder why she's not captain. I thought that I took Quidditch seriously, but she's on her own level."

"It's only a game…" said Lily.

James's mouth fell open. "It's not just a game! It's way bigger than that!"

"Then there's always next year!"

James snorted. "Try telling her that, she looked like she was ready to hex us."

"If she hexes any of you next year then you come straight to me and I'll stick her in detention for a fortnight. She can let that anger out while scrubbing trophies. Right Remus?" said Lily with a grin, turning to look at Remus.

Remus, who looked like he wanted nothing more than to never have to give someone a detention again nodded with a weary smile. "Yes, of course."

James stared at Lily for a moment and then burst out laughing. "Who are you and what have you done with Lily Evans?"

Lily laughed too. "I could be asking you the same thing! You haven't had a detention in months!"

"I guess I'm a changed man," said James with a grin.

"I guess you are," smiled Lily, shaking her head at James.

Even as they continued to walk, Hermione could see Lily occasionally stealing glances at James with a fond smile.

Remus leaned in closer to Hermione with a faint smile on his face. "That's a new development," he said softly so only she could hear.

His words tickled her ear, and Hermione grinned back at him. "Oh you have no idea."

"Having her scrub trophies?" said Sirius with a laugh. "That's adding insult to injury. Imagine she had to scrub Ravenclaw's house cup trophy. Ha!"

As the carriages came into view down the hill, Mary reappeared with Marcus by her side. Hermione caught Sirius rolling his eyes at the sight of him and she sent a glare his way. He really had to get over himself with the quidditch rivalry.

"Wait! Before we get in the carriages there's something I want all of us to do!" Mary said before quickly bending over and digging into her bag.

"What's up, Mary?" asked Lily.

Mary's head popped back with a grin and she looked at Marcus.

"Marcus can you take our photo?" said Mary. She didn't wait for an answer before shoving the camera into a surprised Marcus's arms. "All the sixth year Gryffindors to mark the end of the year?"

"Here?" asked Marcus, looking around the grass and dirt path with confusion.

Mary rolled her eyes playfully and pointed back up the hill towards the castle. "Yes but with Hogwarts in the background."

"Oh, right. Yeah sure," said Marcus.

"Brilliant! Come on, everyone! Get in close!" said Mary, waving them all closer to her with a huge smile.

"A group picture? Really, Macdonald?" said Sirius as everyone else started to head over to her.

"Shut up, Black, and get in," said Mary, this time rolling her eyes in annoyance.

By the look on his face, Hermione thought Sirius secretly was excited by the idea, because he quickly made his way towards James and leaned into him with a grin. Hermione maneuvered through the seven of them, wanting to be absolutely nowhere near Peter as they all awkwardly tried to find a good place to stand.

"Here, come by me," said Remus. He reached through them and took Hermione's arm, leading her to his side. By the time they were all settled, she found herself between Remus and Mary, which she thought was much more desirable.

"Alright, everyone," said Marcus, bringing Mary's camera up to his face. "Smile!"

Hermione smiled brightly, and a blinding flash went off.

Mary immediately skipped back over to Marcus and planted a kiss on his cheek before taking her camera back. She had a grin on her face as she wiggled the photo that came out of the camera as they all began walking again. Hermione fell into step beside Remus.

"Are you ready for a whole summer with James and Sirius?" asked Remus with a smirk.

"There may be some exciting things planned…" smirked Hermione, keeping her voice low.

"Ah, yes, I may have heard something about that…" Remus said with a crooked smile.

"Are you ready to try to catch more flying shoes on the way back this time?" asked Hermione, teasing him slightly.

"Actually, Claudia asked me to join her compartment for the journey back," said Remus with a frown.

"Oh," said Hermione, feeling her own smile fall. "Well that's nice of her. I doubt any shoes will be tossed out windows there."

"Not unless Sirius makes an appearance and leaves a shoe around for Doris to grab," said Remus with a small laugh. He must have sensed her disappointment because it seemed like an obvious attempt to lighten the conversation and he smiled warmly at her. "But don't worry. I'll make sure to stop in and say hi during patrols. That's a promise."

He put his hand on her shoulder for a moment and Hermione smiled fondly up at him.

There were some excited yells coming from the crowd of students behind them and Hermione turned to see what the commotion was. What appeared to be a group of first years was quickly running down the path. At first, Hermione thought they were just excited for summer holiday and racing towards the carriages, until she saw the terrified looks on some of their faces, followed by bursts of light hitting the dirt behind them.

There was a short scream as one of the smaller boys was hit in the back with a spell that came from somewhere in the crowd. He flew forward and his arms and legs snapped together, before falling face down into the grass where he lay motionless.

Three figures emerged from the pack of students, and there was no surprise when Hermione recognized Avery and Snape, with Mulciber walking in front of them, leading their little group.

"Next time watch where you walk," snapped Mulciber, and he and Avery snickered as they walked over the paralyzed, body-bound boy. Snape watched on with an unreadable expression.

"What's your problem?" yelled out Sirius, reaching for his wand.

But someone else had been quicker.

One of the boy's friends must have been feeling particularly brave, because the young girl shakily raised her wand against the three Slytherins and stared unwaveringly at them.

"Turn him back!" she yelled with an unsteady voice.

Mulciber must not have liked this, because he laughed darkly before quickly turned and took aim at her as well. Avery was quick to follow his lead.

There were two great flashes of light simultaneously, and Mulciber and Avery were launched off of their feet. The two Slytherins hit the ground a short distance away with an audible thump and lay motionless in the dirt.

Both James and Lily stood with their wands stretched out in front of them, wearing equal looks of concentration as they glared down the Mulciber and Avery, who were now moving feebly and moaning.

"What spell did you use?" asked James, looking at Lily beside him and lowering his wand. "I used a Stinging Jinx."

"Sea Urchin Jinx," said Lily, tilting her head and grimacing at the sight of them.

"Ah, that explains the spikes…"

Both boys' faces and arms were beginning to balloon with small, bright red welts swelling across their skin. That mixed with the dark brown and purple spikes emerging down their body had them looking as if they were some sort of bloated pufferfish. Even with their faces becoming more and more swollen as welts and spikes continued to form, their expressions still managed to express extreme discomfort.

Lily had dropped to her knees and was now checking on the boy who had been body-bound, with James quickly following her to the ground.

"Is anything else hurt?" Lily asked the boy in a soft voice. The boy just blinked at her, unable to do anything else.

Still standing on the path, was Severus Snape. There was a look of pure loathing on his face as he looked between James and Lily. With his chest heaving, Snape raised his wand and pointed it directly at James.

"What on earth is going on here?" demanded a stern voice.

Professor McGonagall made her way up to where the group of them were standing. Her eyes went wide when she noticed the first year, body-bound in the dirt with James and Lily beside him, before scanning the ground to see what used to look like Mulciber and Avery.

Without even a hint of hesitation, Snape turned and forced his way through the growing crowd, disappearing amongst the other students headed towards the carriages.

"Coward," scoffed James under his breath as he got back to his feet.

"Someone explain, this instant!" demanded Professor McGonagall, who was now looking between Mulciber and Avery and Lily, James, and the body-bound first year. She waved her wand at the small boy, freeing his limbs and he let out a small gasp before sprawling out.

"Professor, it was all Mulciber and Avery," said Mary, pointing angrily to them on the ground.

"Yeah, they attacked those first years!" said Sirius.

"James and Lily stopped them," added in Remus.

Everyone began talking at once about what had happened, and how Lily and James and only done what they did to stop more people from being attacked. Even the other first years had plucked up the courage to plead their case. One of them, the girl who had raised her wand, explained that they had been messing around and accidentally knocked Mulciber over, which lead to the chase. Professor McGonagall was still red in the face with anger, but she stood with her arms crossed, listening to what everyone had to say.

Once everyone had finished telling Professor McGonagall their account of what happened, she held up a hand to silence them all. She then turned her attention to both James and Lily, who wore equal nervous expressions as they waited to hear what their Head of House would say.

"Is this true?" asked Professor McGonagall, who's eyes drifted to Lily for a confirmation.

"Yes, professor," said Lily firmly.

Professor McGonagall nodded to herself.

"That was very gallant of the two of you," Professor McGonagall said to both of them, approval rich in her voice. Both James and Lily physically relaxed at the compliment. "While I cannot condone violence against classmates, I can respect the desire to protect your fellow students."

Mulciber and Avery let out more groans in the grass as another batch of spikes began growing on their faces.

"As for you two, you are both very lucky the term is over, or you'd have to face the utmost of consequences!" Professor McGonagall seethed at them. "Cursing first years for accidentally bumping into you, how entirely unacceptable!"

She turned to face the rest of them.

"You all can all make your way to the carriages now," said Professor McGonagall to the crowd in a much calmer voice, but one that was still stern.

"You could always give us early points for next year, Professor," ventured James with a winning smile. "You know, for protecting our fellow students."

Hermione swore she saw the corner of Professor McGonagall's mouth twitch as she stared at him sternly.

"An interesting offer, Mister Potter, but perhaps if you and your friends were willing for something to be passed into the next school year, we could also add in detentions?" she said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"On second thought, I think it's best we just head to the train," said James with a nod, looking around at his friends.

"Yes, I do think so," said Professor McGonagall, looking at them over her glasses. "Now go along, while I fix these two up," she said, looking at Mulciber and Avery with disdain.

"Yes, ma'am," said James with wide eyes, but still grinning.

As they started heading towards the carriages again, they could hear the shrill sound of Professor McGonagall ripping into Mulciber and Avery again. At the sound of it, Sirius barked out a laugh and high-fived James, who was looking quite pleased with himself.

"What did I say?" said Sirius brightly as he practically skipped towards an empty carriage. "Sometimes you have to send a message!"