May 1946

It took the rest of the weekend for Ro to feel vaguely human again. Even the dragon pox epidemic they'd endured in their second year hadn't left her feeling quiet so terrible, which was saying quite something. She and Poppy both skipped breakfast and lunch the following day, the mere thought of food more than enough to send Ro's stomach lurching again, but they were hungry enough by the Sunday evening to join Minerva and the others in the Great Hall for dinner.

More frustrating than missing the traditional Sunday roast lunch, Ro's favourite meal of the week, was the lost Quidditch practise. With their final match the following weekend Ro had wanted to get in a good hour of practise minimum each day, but it didn't take much insistence from Poppy for her to admit that she needed rest. So Minerva led the team's practise on the Sunday and Monday while Ro recovered back in Gryffindor Tower, still feeling as if her whole body had been dragged through a mangle.

"It went really well," Minerva reported upon returning to the dormitory on Monday night. "Edwin reserved Seeker for us and we played through a whole match. Without wanting to speak too soon, I don't think we've got anything to worry about."

Ro nodded, satisfied. "Glad to hear it. I tried to watch out the window but couldn't see very much, so Poppy and I have been playing chess."

"Didn't Septima work out that you didn't even need to win to get the Quidditch Cup?" Poppy asked, to which Ro and Minerva both nodded. "So there's no need for you to go over the top and scare me again."

Patting Poppy's knee, Ro gave her an apologetic smile. "No-one got hurt in the Ravenclaw match, did they? It's just the Slytherin matches where we take our lives into our hands."

Poppy frowned. "That's not helping."

Ro shrugged. "It's probably not. But my point is that we're going to be absolutely fine. Plus if Minerva could out-Seek Alfred Diggory last year then I shouldn't have any trouble doing it. Not that I doubt your Seeking abilities, Min, but you're much better as a Cha- what in Merlin's name are you doing?"

Minerva had started hugging the bedpost; Ro gave her a confused look before she explained "You're making me nervous, so I'm touching wood until you stop talking!"

By the time the day of the match arrived, Ro couldn't help feeling less confident. Although she had no doubts in the ability of her teammates, she knew that the Hufflepuffs were an equally strong set of players. And though Septima's calculations were reassuring, there was always the chance of a disaster big enough to lose them the Cup at the last minute.

She didn't bother with a pep talk before the match; they'd practised enough that every player knew the team strategy off by heart and she didn't want to make anyone's nerves worse by going through it all again. Nancy was the same rock of unwavering determination as she always was and both Ernest and Cleatus were looking confident, but it was Minerva, Larry and Anthea's pre-match nerves that she was looking out for. When their signal sounded, Ro gave the silent order and they marched as one out onto the pitch.

"And here come the Gryffindors! Hooch, Newton, Spencer-Moon, McGonagall, Campbell, Lawrence, and Weasley. Quite the impressive team put together by our youngest Captain in a good few years, and judging by their previous performances this season they're easily the favourites to win the Quidditch Cup."

"That's a little biased, Miss Jordan," Dumbledore's amused reprimand sounded over the megaphone.

"Sorry Professor, got a little carried away there," Maggie apologised before continuing her commentary. "But everything can change in this final match, and once Madame Douglas blows the whistle then we'll be off."

Ro offered her hand to Hufflepuff's Captain, Rodney Lloyd, and he shook it with a grim look. Marilyn released the Bludgers and the Snitch as both teams mounted their brooms, checking a final time that everyone was ready before throwing up the Quaffle to start the game.

Ignoring the blur of yellow and red that rushed up towards the Quaffle, Ro was already heading towards the Snitch. This match wasn't going to be like the last time they had played against Hufflepuff in her second year; there was no waiting for enough points to be scored before she could catch the Snitch so she just wanted the game over as soon as possible. There were only a few feet between her and victory when Seeker Diggory suddenly flew in front of her and she was forced to swerve around him to avoid a crash. She had no idea what he'd been attempting, but if it had been to lose them both the Snitch then he had succeeded.

Muttering angrily to herself, Ro pivoted the Rocket around to take off in the opposite direction of the other Seeker. No points had been scored by either team, though it was so soon in the game that Ro wasn't surprised. She didn't hand about before racing off in pursuit of the Snitch again, not wanting to risk losing the game through dawdling by watching the Chasers.

It was another 15 minutes before Ro saw the Snitch again, and again she was blocked at the last minute by Diggory. As she reversed away she wondered about his odd tactic; he didn't seem to be trying to catch the Snitch again, just block her from catching it herself. Perhaps he knew that Gryffindor were going to win and was trying to stall the inevitable for as long as possible. If she wanted to catch the Snitch then she'd have to take him by surprise or outmanoeuvre him, though with her trusty Rocket that wasn't going to be difficult.

As she circled around above the pitch, she kept half an eye on what the Chasers were doing. Both Houses had one goal each, and it quickly became obvious that neither team could keep hold of the Quaffle for long before being intercepted. All four Beaters were on top form, making it very difficult for the Chasers to get anywhere near the Scoring Hoops.

Diggory looked to be tailing Ro rather than looking for the Snitch himself, so she felt safe enough to fly over to where Nancy and Ernest were guarding the Gryffindor Chasers. "Forget about their Chasers, go for Stebbins and Jones," she said, motioning to the two Hufflepuff Beaters before flying off without waiting for acknowledgement. It wasn't long before Nancy struck target by hitting Stebbins in the shoulder of his beating arm, showing off the precision that Ro had never seen in any other Beater. Ernest was less accurate and Jones missed the Bludger by the smallest of margins, but it was enough to give Minerva, Larry and Anthea the break that they needed.

With the scoring issue taken care of, Ro turned her full attention back to finding the Snitch. Diggory was still on her tail when she saw it at last, and she wasn't about to let him intercept her for the third time. Thinking back to how she had tricked Ravenclaw back in second year, Ro picked a point about 30 feet above where the Snitch was hovering and zoomed towards it at full throttle.

As she had expected, Diggory appeared just as she reached the imaginary Snitch. But rather than stopping as she'd done previously she shifted her weight sharply to one side, which changed the direction of the broom to send her falling downwards. Keeping remarkably calm despite the speed at which she was losing height, Ro made sure the Rocket was firmly between her legs before letting go to pluck the Snitch out of the air in one hand. With the other hand she grabbed the Rocket's handle and flipped herself over, the Rocket's precision steering responding beautifully to her every move. She was so close to the ground that she felt the grass skim the toe of her boot, but with the Snitch in hand she rose upwards and screamed out a victory cry.

The stands exploded with a deafening roar of applause. Ro was nearly knocked off her broom as Minerva gave her what might have been intended as a hug but felt more like a full body slam. Once on the ground they were united with the rest of the team; Nancy gave her another rib-crushing embrace while Minerva was swept into Larry's arms. After exchanging near-painful high fives with Ernest and Cleatus that left her palms stinging, Ro saw the rest of the House were now leaving the Stands to join them on the pitch.

Poppy appeared through the crowd and hugged first Minerva and then Ro. When Ro caught sight of the frown on her face she knew she was in for a lecture even before Poppy opened her mouth. "Please don't tell me you've made 'falling at breakneck speed towards the ground' your new favourite tactic?" she demanded.

Ro couldn't help but laugh as she pulled Poppy into another hug. "I am truly very sorry for all the panic that my Quidditch playing causes you, and one day I promise I will make it up to you."

"Hmph. If you live long enough." Poppy grumbled into Ro's shoulderpads, before she stepped back and gave Ro a smile. "I am proud of you, I really am. Now go on, you've got a Cup to collect."

Ro turned to see Professor Dippet walking across the pitch towards them, the enormous Quidditch Cup held in his hands. As the Cup was presented to her she was grinning from ear to ear, and she ran her hands across the shiny metal and crimson ribbons with awe. She was given a moment's warning before Ernest and Cleatus lifted her onto their shoulders so she could be seen by the cheering crowds. Holding the Cup above her head she shouted "LIONS FOR THE CUP!" and, as predicted, the Gryffindors went wild upon hearing the slogan written on the banner in the Common Room.

By the time the Quidditch Team arrived back in Gryffindor Tower after changing out of their uniforms, the party was already in full swing. Ro had given the Quidditch Cup to Poppy for safekeeping while she was in the changing room; the first thing she saw when the Fat Lady let them into the Tower was the Cup on the windowsill, with Godric the Puffskein sat happily in the bowl wearing the tiny red and gold hat that Augusta had knitted for him. A selection of food from had been brought from the kitchens and the Wireless had been turned up full volume, blasting out fast-paced songs that fuelled the celebratory atmosphere.

She had just noticed the absence of Honeydukes sweets when Maggie approached her and Minerva out of the crowd. "Makes you miss Fleamont's cloak, eh?" she said, laughing at Ro's look of confusion. "I badgered him into telling me after you two pulled off that prank with the chandelier last Christmas. But don't worry Captain, the boys and I have got a plan."

Ro looked beyond Maggie to where Larry, Ernest and Cleatus were stood, all with identical mischievous expressions. Maggie gave her a conspirative wink before they all left through the portrait hole.

"Are they trying to get into Hogsmeade?" Poppy asked, appearing by her side. "They'll have some trouble without Fleamont's invisibility cloak."

After watching them go, Ro nodded in agreement. "I'm not sure how they'll manage it. They know a few secret passageways though, maybe there's one that leads into Hogsmeade straight from the castle."

Minerva shrugged. "There could well be, we'll have to ask them when they get back." A pause, and then "I was thinking I could have gone because no-one would question a cat in the village, but I'm not sure how I'd carry anything back!"

Ro burst out laughing. "We'd have to build you a tiny version of your schoolbag, you might get one bottle of Butterbeer in there!"

"A cat-satchel, now that's an interesting idea," Minerva said, looking thoughtful for a moment before she suddenly grinned. "Or should I say- a catchel?"

Poppy was in fits of giggles at the terrible pun but Ro just sighed dramatically. "I could hit you," she said, meeting Minerva's wicked grin with an exasperated look.

"Now now Captain Hooch, that's no way to treat your loyal Chaser," Nancy scolded her playfully, handing Ro and Minerva a glass of pumpkin juice each. "What are you lot doing over here? Come and get some food before the rest of the House nicks it all!"

It was a couple of hours before Maggie, Cleatus, Ernest and Larry returned, but it was worth the wait when Ro saw the sheer amount they had brought back with them. Maggie had a bag of Honeydukes sweets on each elbow and the boys all had their arms laden with Butterbeer bottles.

That proved to be a problem when Professor Dumbledore arrived shortly after midnight to ask those still partying to go to bed - the third years and below had been sent to their dormitories by the Prefects an hour after curfew, and some of the seventh years with NEWTs upcoming had turned in too. There were bottles all over the floor, and the instinctive response of nearly everyone was to sit down on them. It didn't cross Ro's mind until after he had entered the Common Room that the sight of several people lying across the floor in the middle of a party was going to look fairly suspicious.

"Miss Newton? Why are you all on the floor?" Professor Dumbledore asked, faintly amused.

Anthea looked very uncomfortable at being on the receiving end of the question; Ro supposed it was because she was the oldest prefect still up. Nancy came to her rescue though with a response that resulted in several hushed sniggers across the Common Room. "Sleeping Lions."

If Professor Dumbledore didn't believe them, which Ro thought was highly likely, then he didn't show it. "Then might I suggest you all be sleeping lions rather than playing it by going back to your beds," he said, failing to conceal his twinkling smile, before he turned back towards the portrait hole.

The minute the portrait had swung shut behind him, the Common Room was filled with laughter. "Oh Nancy that was genius!" Ro exclaimed, high-fiving the triumphant looking sixth year. Poppy was thumping Larry's back to stop him choking on a mouthful of Butterbeer.

"Hey!" yelled a voice, and they all looked up to see the seventh year prefect Bertha Maurice frowning down at them from the balcony where the girls' dormitories were. "Some of us are trying to sleep up here!"

The Quidditch Party was the last time for a few weeks where they were free of studying. With exams fast approaching there was very little free time available since everyone was forced to concentrate on revision. Ro, Minerva and Poppy spent most of their revision time in the Library along with Irma, Septima and Millicent, meaning they could split into smaller groups when revising their elected subjects. Ro found this a lot better than trying to revise alone in silence, as she worked much better when she had someone to talk things through with. When the exams arrived, far too soon for Ro's liking, she was feeling far more confident then she thought she would have done a few weeks ago.

With exams over and the end of term fast approaching, their focus turned from studying to the summer holiday. Although they had said on the Hogwarts Express at the beginning of the year that they'd try to spend the summer together, organising a way to do that turned out to be a lot easier said than done. Septima and Irma's house was absolutely out of the question, and both Minerva and Millicent's families weren't going to be keen on having six student witches staying for the holiday. Poppy's parents had agreed to take them the following summer, keen to meet Poppy's friends but concerned that London was still being rebuilt in places from the damage caused by the Muggle War. With nowhere else for them to go, Ro reluctantly suggested that they spend the summer in Little Wakering.

Ro's emotions were in turmoil when they arrived via Floo from Erika's London flat. She hadn't been back to her childhood home since the single day she's spent there after being released from St Mungos. Kurtis had assumed ownership of the house and had lived there with his long-term girlfriend ever since, and Ro didn't know whether or not she was glad to see the house looking different in places. Some things had remained untouched, like Ro's attic bedroom and the family photos on every wall, but some of the old furniture had been replaced and the master bedroom that had once been her mum's had been completely redone for Kurtis and Carrie.

"It's odd," she confessed as they all sat on the attic room's balcony, watching the sunset their first evening there. "I don't really know what I was expecting. On one hand I thought it would all be exactly the same as how I'd left it, but on the other hand so much has changed since then that I thought the house would have changed too."

Poppy nodded. "I thought the same when I went home last year after the evacuation. But even though it looks the same, it didn't really feel like home."

"I suppose Hogwarts is more home now than anything else." Septima suggested, and there were quiet noises of agreement from all around.

"We do spend all but less than 2 months a year there, so I suppose it should do really. But I think it's partly the lack of magic that makes home seem... not home." Minerva said, staring thoughtfully into the distance. "I don't know how anyone could turn their back on magic like my mother did. Being without my wand feels like someone's taken off my right arm."

Millicent and Poppy were both nodding firmly; Ro figured that as Muggleborns they'd feel the absence of magic even more than Minerva did. "It seems ridiculous to think that this time four years ago I didn't know anything about magic at all." Millicent said, pausing for a moment before correcting herself "Well, I'd found about magic when Professor Dumbledore visited me on my birthday in April, but I still didn't really know what it meant."

"I still didn't know, my birthday is later this month. I only had 5 weeks to get all my supplies ready for September- that was a very busy summer!" Poppy said, smiling at the memory.

"That's not long to get used to the idea of magic! I'm glad I had a few months. " Millicent laughed.

Ro sighed, leaning back in her chair to rest her feet on the balcony barrier. "I can't imagine not knowing about magic. I grew up seeing Mum and... and Dad use it all the time, and I was only 4 when Kurtis turned 17."

Her voice had tightened after saying the word 'mum' and she bowed her head forward in an attempt to hide the tears she could feel building up in her eyes. She had hardly spoken of her mother in the year and a bit since her death, and being in her house meant that her emotions had caught her by surprise. She looked over as Poppy put a comforting hand on hers, squeezing it gently in a gesture of thanks.

There was a comfortable quiet for a moment before Irma spoke up, having been silent for most of the conversation. "I'm not sure Hogwarts does feel like home to me. I don't actually think I know what home feels like at all, because where I grew up never did and the dungeons certainly don't either. But if home is where you feel safe and where you... where you feel like you matter, I suppose, then home for me is wherever you all are."

Minerva was grinning, putting an arm around Irma's shoulders to pull her into a side-hug. "We got through in the end then," said Minerva, and Irma gave a genuine smile.

Ro agreed with her entirely. Her friends had been there for her during the hardest time of her life; without them her recovery would have been so much harder, because she wouldn't have the five of people she had recovered for. She wouldn't have the way Poppy could give comfort with just a gentle touch, the way Minerva could bring an instant smile to her face with a single witty remark, the way Septima could lighten any situation with her infectious laugh, the way Millicent could make anything seem simple with her infallible logic, and the way Irma could give her grounding with just her calming presence.

They were more than just her friends now. They were her family.

Author's Note:

I. Freaking. Love. This. Chapter.

At long last we've finished fourth year, concluded by Irma simultaneously warming and breaking our hearts in one small speech. I love these characters so much, and I hope that came across in the end of this chapter.
I've enjoyed this year, but I think the lack of overall running plot might have contributed to why it's taken far far longer than usual to write. Fifth year has a big running plot though that I am actually so excited to get started on. And from here on in the story is pretty much completely planned out, which is a nice feeling.

I hope all of you had a good Christmas/Hanukkah/December! I certainly did: if you've read my bio then you'll know that I'm hoping for a career as a vet. Well I had an interview at the Royal Veterinary College in mid-December, and just before Christmas I was offered a place. I am beyond excited and still can't quite believe it!
Since university starts in late September, I am so hoping to get this finished before then. I'll have to take a break during the exam period, but I will write like crazy over the summer to get it done if needs be.

Until next time :)