November 1947
The silence outside Professor Dippet's office was almost deafening as Poppy waited for the first indication of footsteps approaching from down the corridor. She was sat on the bottom step of the stairs leading past the gargoyle to the Headmaster's office door, Irma sandwiched between her and Minerva while Ro's legs leaning against Poppy's shoulder where she sat on her other side a few steps up were a grounding presence. It had been a day since their Occlumency lesson with Professor Merrythought and Poppy still felt as tense as she had done the moment Irma's secret was revealed, and she knew very well that that had only been the beginning.
Their last class of the day had ended not long ago, and as agreed with Professor Merrythought the day before they had all made their way to the Headmaster's office after dropping off their things back in Gryffindor Tower. Now they were waiting for the Professor to bring Septima from Ravenclaw Tower and then everything was in Irma's hands. She'd been assured by everyone that she could still back out if she wanted to, but stern resolution in Irma's eyes any time someone reminded her of that was a sure sign that she wasn't planning on changing her mind anytime soon.
"Evening ladies."
Poppy jumped at the voice out of the silence, grateful for Ro's hand squeezing her shoulder briefly. Professor Merrythought wore a grim look as she strode towards them, no trace of a smile in her eyes or her tone. But that was nothing compared to Septima walking behind her; there was a stony look on her face that chilled Poppy faster than the cold step she was sat on.
"Good evening Professor," Irma said, standing up and meeting Professor Merrythought's gaze neutrally. She gave no indication that she had acknowledged her sister's presence.
After responding to Irma with a quick nod, she motioned with a twitch of her hand for the girls to stand up and let her up the stairs. Poppy hopped up immediately while Ro just shuffled to lean against the bannister, only standing when Poppy offered her a hand and not letting go of it afterwards.
The Professor muttered a quick word under her breath to the gargoyle overlooking the stairwell and the door clicked open. As she held the door for them all to enter she said "Professor Dippet won't be joining us this afternoon, I spoke to him earlier and he agreed we could have the office to ourselves. A little more privacy." Poppy was glad of that; even though the Headmaster was always nice enough in the few encounters she had with him she didn't think that any of them would be comfortable enough to go ahead with him in the room. It did feel odd being in someone's office without having the occupant there though, but Professor Merrythought's was clearly comfortable as she crossed the room to unlock a cabinet, revealing a stone plinth with what looked like a baptismal font atop it.
"Now ladies, here's how this will work," Professor Merrythought began. "This is the Hogwarts Pensieve, a magical contraption that allows memories to be viewed by a third party. With Irma's consent, I will extract the memory from her mind and add it to the bowl so that it can be viewed by you, Septima. This is something that Irma wants to do and I hope you will give her this chance."
There was an unmistakeable note of warning in her tone as she finished, a reminder that she was still Septima's Head of House at the end of the day. But Septima just gave a sharp nod. Poppy did notice her glance once at Irma, but Irma's gaze remained firmly on the floor.
Professor Merrythought nodded in return, appearing to steel herself for a second before she approached Irma and lead her over to the Pensieve. "Irma, do you give me consent to take this memory to view? It will only be seen by willing people in this room, you can withdraw consent at any time, and the memory will be cleansed from the Pensieve before we leave so no other party can view it without your consent or knowing."
"You have my consent, Professor," Irma said, sounding steadier than Poppy suspected she felt.
"Then we'll begin."
Tilting Irma's chin up with her wrist, she held her wand at an angle so that the tip just brushed Irma's temple. After muttering a quiet incantation the tip of her wand began to glow as a silvery substance manifested beneath the tip, and Irma's eye twitched uncomfortably as Professor Merrythought withdrew a twist of silvery strings from Irma's forehead. The Pensieve glowed as the substance was dropped gently in, lighting Professor Merrythought's face in white as she peered into the bowl.
"Irma, would you like to view the memory first so that you know exactly what we will be seeing?" she asked.
Irma was quick to shake her head, the first signs of hesitancy creeping into her voice as she answered "No. Thank you but I have no wish to experience that again." Professor Merrythought gave a hum of understanding, glancing back as Irma spoke again unexpectedly. "Can- can you view it first?"
There was quiet for a moment after the hurried request, then Professor Merrythought nodded. "Of course dear," she said, smiling faintly before stepping up to the Pensieve and leaning over the bowl.
A tense silence descended over the office as they all waited for the Professor to view Irma's memory. Poppy was glad that it was only viewable to one person at their choosing rather than everyone in the room, since she didn't think she could bear to witness her friend receiving the injuries she'd had to patch up in her Muggle kitchen all those weeks ago. As if able to sense what Poppy was thinking, Ro leaned in to whisper in her ear "I think if I watched you wouldn't be able to stop me from flying to wherever he is and hex the bastard."
Upon seeing Professor Merrythought's ashen face emerge from the rim of the Pensieve, Poppy couldn't agree more. Considering what she knew of the Professor's history and what they'd all seen her face during their last five years at Hogwarts, wars and tournaments included, for her to look as shaken as she did Poppy knew it had to be bad.
"Septima," she spoke after blinking hard several times, leaving the Pensieve to approach the one member of the group who was standing apart from the rest. "What you're going to see is what happened on the afternoon of OWL results day before Irma left home. Exactly what happened, as if you were a fly on the wall. This memory hasn't been altered in any way, I can confirm that much." The Professor's voice wavered for a second and she broke off to swallow heavily before continuing. "What you do with this information is up to you. Do you understand?"
Septima was still for a moment before giving a wordless nod, walking over to the Pensieve when Professor Merrythought motioned for her to. Once again she hesitated, making Poppy's chest clench in the sudden fear she would refuse to view the memory, but then she breathed out a quiet sigh when Septima placed her hands on the rim of the bowl and leaned her face in. The minutes felt like hours as Poppy watched her for any sort of a reaction to what she was seeing. Ro's hand held hers tightly as Septima's body jerked suddenly, her knuckles going white as her grip on the Pensieve tightened, though with what emotion they couldn't tell.
It felt like the world had come to a standstill when she finally emerged from the memory, jaw slack and eyes blank as she stared into the Pensieve for a moment longer and then looked at her sister.
Irma's shoulders were tense as she matched Septima's gaze for the first time in weeks, and for a moment Poppy was afraid that another fight would ensue like in that train compartment so long ago. There was a heartbreaking fragility in her voice as she forced out "Well? Will you listen to me now?"
The raw question made Septima flinch as if she'd been struck herself. "Irma," she started, a tear rolling down her cheek as she said "I'm so, so sorry."
Poppy stayed absolutely silent, wary of intruding on such a pivotal moment for the twins, but the relief she felt was enough to make her knees threaten to give out. Beside her Ro let out a low exhale and Minerva closed her eyes for a few seconds as all three of them shared in the same feeling.
"I'm sorry I never believed you, I'm sorry I put him over you, I'm sorry it took… took this for me to listen. I'm sorry Irma. I'm so sorry," Septima repeated, distress and guilt written plainly on her face. Her hands twitched at her sides before she suddenly ran forwards and flung her arms around her sister; Irma's arms stiffened and remained by her sides, but the fact she didn't pull away for several seconds was enough indication that the gap between them was on the path to closing.
None of them were naïve enough to think that everything would go back to normal immediately; there had been too many feelings hurt for everything to just be forgotten about. But Poppy's heart felt lighter than it had done all term when she was sat at the Gryffindor table for dinner that night and a small voice asked "Can we join you?" Even though Septima stayed quiet for most of the meal, the mere presence of her and Millicent beside them seemed to fix the balance that had been off since the beginning of sixth year.
Now that Irma and Septima were back on speaking terms and the cloud over all their heads had lifted, Poppy was glad to finally get to catch up with Septima and Millicent after hardly speaking to them since mid-August. As expected, Septima was quick to announce with a shy smile that she'd been dating Philip Ackerley since the evening of the Ravenclaw Quidditch trials, when him asking her to help pick new recruits had ended up with her staying the night in his dormitory. That hastily told story had elicited a lot of shocked and knowing gasps from everyone else, Poppy sparing a thought to be glad they were in the Gryffindor dormitory since Ro's loud response would have caused some stares had they been in the Great Hall. Millicent had much less to report personally, but she'd established a mentoring program among the Ravenclaw prefects to help the younger years and she was getting on brilliantly with the younger girls she'd taken under her wing.
November raced into December, and brought with it some unusual feelings towards Christmas. With all the excitement of the Yule Ball the previous year Poppy couldn't help feel as though it was a little anticlimactic, especially when she thought about how many students would go home and how quiet everything would feel when last year Hogwarts had been bursting at the seams. But part of her was glad to be back to the quieter Christmases she was used to from her earlier years.
Minerva found the approaching festive season hard for a different reason though. Just like at Halloween, the occasion with so many memories tied to the previous year had brought back a lot of lingering thoughts about Svetlana and Reynaud. Unlike Halloween though there was no reappearance of the nightmares she'd been plagued with in the aftermath of the Third Task, but on more than one occasion Poppy had woken up to the sound of sobbing poorly muffled by the hangings around their beds. Sometimes she'd slip out of her own bed and crawl into Minerva's to help calm her down, but sometimes a silencing charm would slam down the second that Poppy was given away by her mattress squeaking with her movement. On those nights she had to resign herself to the fact that not even the greatest healing spells could help post-traumatic stress.
There was one thing that gave them something unusual to look forward to though, which came in the form of a sheet of parchment delivered to Poppy, Minerva, Ro, and Septima during breakfast one day in early December. "Looks like the Slug Club's hosting a Christmas party," Ro commented before Poppy could unroll hers. "December 19th. What joy."
Septima gave a low laugh, glancing apologetically at Millicent who was sat next to her. Although Millicent had never seemed too bothered by her lack of invite to the Slug Club since the very first session, Poppy still felt like it was unjust for only one of the group to have never been asked.
"Well I've never been asked back since the first meal so I doubt I'll be going," Irma pointed out dryly, giving Millicent a wry smile. "You and I can find something to do with our evening that doesn't involve getting our brains picked."
"Hang on, it says we're allowed to bring a guest with us," Poppy pointed out as Millicent laughed, leaning over Ro's invite and showing her.
Ro hummed thoughtfully. "Well in that case, with four of us already invited then it'll be easy to get you two in!"
"I'm going to have to bring Philip with me I'm afraid, he's not a member and I'd feel bad leaving him out," Septima apologised.
There was a thoughtful expression on Minerva's face as she scrutinised her parchment. "Larry is a member, but I'm not sure I'll be allowed to bring anyone else if I'm technically attending as his partner."
Ro shrugged, glancing at Poppy. "In that case I think you and I have just scored ourselves party dates!" she grinned, raising her goblet to chink it with Millicent's from across the table. With that settled Poppy gave Irma a warm smile, reassured to see it returned with as much enthusiasm as Irma ever smiled in.
As it happened, their plans weren't necessary at all as Irma managed to find another way to get her and Millicent technical party invites. Professor Slughorn had asked around the Slytherin Common Room for anyone willing to be a waiter for the night, and with a little bit of persuasion she had managed to get both herself and Millicent added to the list.
"I really did appreciate the offer of going with you two but I think I'll find this more comfortable," Irma said to Poppy as they walked up to the Ancient Runes classroom together. Minerva and Septima were walking just behind them and discussing the possibility of a double date with Larry and Philip during the last Hogsmeade Weekend of the term, their giggles easily reaching Poppy's ears. "I'm not great in party situations anyway and at least if I'm waiting on people then it'll give me something to focus on. So don't worry about me."
Poppy smiled and nodded. "As long as you're happy, that's all that's important. I'll make sure to come and keep you company when I can."
When the day of the party came, Poppy couldn't deny being a little nervous as she stared at her reflection in their dormitory mirror. The dress code wasn't nearly as grand as it had been for the Yule Ball so she'd pulled one of her summery dresses from the back of her wardrobe, hoping that the white polkadots on dark blue with a sunny yellow cardigan wouldn't make her stand out too much. Meanwhile Minerva was wearing an elegant green dress with a leather belt around her waist, while Ro had foregone dresses entirely and had persuaded Larry to lend her one of his waistcoats.
"Much better than that bloody dress I was stuck in last year," Ro declared as she jumped off her bed to elbow Poppy lightly for some space in front of the mirror. Stepping back to look her up and down, Poppy didn't get a chance to say anything before Ro added "Yes I know it's too big before you say anything, that's what you get with being short and your friend dating a tall bloke, but anything's better than that ridiculous dress. Wish I'd thought of this for last year."
Laughing at the indignation in Ro's voice, Poppy shook her head. She'd actually been thinking that the oversized waistcoat only added to the outfit, somehow contributing to the scruffy vibe that her choppy haircut, undone top buttons, and pushed up sleeves created. But none of that mattered in the wake of how happy and comfortable Ro looked. "I think you look wonderful," she said honestly, meeting Ro's eyes with a smile of her own.
Minerva's voice from across the room made them both turn around. "You both do, and Larry's going to love it. Speaking of, we should get going before he wonders what's become of us. It's almost 8 o'clock and we don't want to be late."
"Photo first! We can get Larry to take it in the Common Room," Ro insisted, grabbing the instant camera she'd been given for her birthday in one hand and Poppy's wrist in the other.
Larry was waiting for them at the bottom of the girls' staircase when they arrived into the Common Room, dressed in a tidier version of what Ro was wearing with his shirt tucked in and the same maroon tie he'd worn to the Yule Ball. After greeting Minerva with a brief kiss he turned to survey Ro's outfit, commenting "You look absolutely brilliant in that," and laughing at her cheeky curtsey.
"Thank you good sir," she said, shoving the camera into his hands. "Now do us a favour and take a couple of these? I've got a good stash building that I'm going to sort into a scrapbook once lessons are over."
Ever patient, Larry made the three of them stand nicely together to get a formal photo and then let Ro take the lead. Her insistence on wanting to be the taller one for once lead to Minerva and Poppy sitting on the sofa while Ro perched on the back with an arm around each of their shoulders, their laughter evident on the moving photograph. After taking one of Larry and Ro being 'waistcoat twins', Poppy managed to capture a sweet moment between Larry and Minerva, and there was just enough time for a photo of Ro and Poppy stood arm in arm after which Ro sprinted upstairs to dump the camera and photos on her bed when Minerva insisted they really did have to go.
Professor Slughorn's office felt as though it was bursting with people when they arrived shortly after 8pm, and to Poppy's surprise a good proportion of them were evidently not students or staff. "He likes to invite former student members to events like this. I was surprised too when I turned up for the Christmas party in my fifth year," Larry explained, clearly having noticed the confusion on her face as they all squeezed through the door.
"Makes sense. No point making all these connections then never speaking to 'em again once they've graduated," Ro thought aloud.
No-one got a chance to reply before Professor Slughorn's booming voice warned them of his approach. "Ah, Miss McGonagall and friends! Such a pleasure to have you here, and you too Mr Spencer-Moon. In fact I have someone I'd like to introduce you both to," he said, whisking both Minerva and Larry away without another word.
Ro blinked in surprise for a couple of seconds. "I suppose you and I are just 'and friends' now," she said dryly, and Poppy giggled as she was nudged with Ro's shoulder.
"Welcome to a typical Slug Club Christmas Party," said an amused voice from behind, and they turned to see Professor Merrythought stood with two glass of something presumably alcoholic levitating next to her. "If you're looking to avoid Professor Slughorn then you should be relatively safe with me; I think I've overdone it a little teasing him about how much bigger my office is. He's been jealous of it for the last decade and never more than when hosting a party."
She laughed as she caught Poppy glancing between her two drinks, taking a sip of one before adding "I'm off duty girls, I refuse to be responsible for anything tonight. I deserve one Christmas off after the debacle that was last year's festivities. Anyway they're not both mine, I did take one for Theodosia but then she was carted off to talk to someone else. It's how it tends to go at this event."
"We've gathered," Ro said, exchanging a glance with Poppy.
Professor Merrythought grimaced briefly, then glanced down at the other drink and up at Ro. "Do you want this, Rolanda? You're of age now. I'm afraid I can't give it to you what with you still being underage, Poppy, but I can certainly look the other way if the pair of you wanted to share it."
"Cheers, Professor," Ro grinned triumphantly as she took the glass and took a confident sip. There were a lot of what looked like daisy flowers and mint leaves in the glass, which made sense when Ro said "Daisyroot Draught!" as she handed it to Poppy.
The Professor made a show of turning to look behind her as Poppy sipped it cautiously, surprised by the pleasant floral taste. Her parents had never drunk much alcohol during her childhood with their tendency to be on call at any moment so unlike some she'd never been introduced to alcohol by them, and even if she had then she still wouldn't have known of the non-Muggle alcohols which were being handed out.
She hummed contentedly as she took another taste before handing it back to Ro. "Thanks Professor, but I think I'll be staying sober tonight anyway. I suspect I might need to look after this one in a few hours," she giggled, meeting Ro's look of mock outrage with a beaming smile.
"Very sensible I think dear," Professor Merrythought chuckled, taking another sip of her drink.
"Galatea!" Poppy turned to see none other than Madame Crickerley hurrying over to them, clearly slightly tipsy by how loud her shout had been and how she was lacking her typical Quidditch-honed elegance. "I escaped from that old Ministry wizard I have to avoid enough at work let alone here, so I'm back," she said, pausing to peer at the one drink Professor Merrythought was now holding before asking "Did you give my drink away?"
Professor Merrythought laughed guiltily, motioning over to a slightly starstruck-looking Ro. "I'm afraid I did, I wasn't sure if I'd see you anytime soon and I don't fancy testing my wandless levitation skills when there's alcohol in the mix. But it's gone to a good home."
Her eyes widened as she noticed Ro and Poppy for the first time. "Captain Hooch! Lovely to see you again Rolanda, good to know you've got a good taste in drinks. How's the new Quidditch Season going?"
As much as Poppy could never tire of watching Ro talk about Quidditch, she knew that she would never get a word in edgeways and there were other people at the party she wanted to see. "I'm going to try and find Minerva, I'll catch up to you soon," she said quickly before Ro could launch into anything, touching Ro's arm and returning her bright-eyed smile before she slipped away into the crowd.
Navigating her way with difficulty around the various conversations going on, Poppy could understand why Professor Slughorn was so desperate for a bigger office. While it was big enough for the smaller Slug Club meetings Poppy had been to in the past, squeezing a whole Christmas Party in there was much more difficult. She was wondering how in Merlin's name she was going to track down Minerva and Larry when she was patted on the shoulder, turning around to see Irma standing behind her.
"Can I offer you a drink?" she asked with a playful hint in her voice, smirking as she lifted her serving tray in offering.
"I'm glad I've seen you, I was wondering how I was going to find anyone with how busy it is in here!" Poppy said, glancing down at what Irma was wearing. As waitress she'd been put in a white shirt and bowtie along with a long black skirt, not dissimilar enough to what Irma normally wore to be that unusual. "And I don't think you can offer me anything, I'm still underage remember?" she pointed out.
Irma shrugged. "I don't think that's bothering her," she said, motioning across the room.
Poppy followed where she was pointing to see Septima downing a small glass of Firewhiskey with great eagerness, her arm slung round Philip's waist as she did the same. When Septima caught sight of them she gave them a sloppy wave, then turned around and started to kiss him with equal enthusiasm.
"I think that's the most communication we'll be having from her all evening," Irma commented dryly. "And I should also think she will regret that tomorrow."
Humming in agreement, Poppy turned away from Septima and Philip to just look at Irma just as Minerva and Larry approached them from the other direction. "Found you!" Larry said with a slightly breathless smile, "We've been struggling to avoid politicians for the last half an hour."
"From what Professor Merrythought and Madame Crickerley said that seems to be the theme of the evening," Poppy giggled. "Who did Professor Slughorn drag you away to talk to?"
Minerva took a glass from Irma's tray and pressed it against Larry's flushed cheek as she answered. "The junior editor of Transfiguration Today is here, Fayre Fortescue. She seemed nice enough, eager to talk about last year's First Task and she actually asked me to write an article for the paper." Once Larry started looking a little less scarlet, presumably from making stammering excuses over and over which he was never good at, she eyed the contents of the glass and took a couple of drinks.
Poppy grinned on instinct, but then her smile faded a little at the thought of what that request would entail. "And how are you feeling about that?" she asked, wanting to find out Minerva's perspective before she launched into congratulations.
"I'm not sure yet. I think I'll do it, it's too good an opportunity not to, but I might need some time."
"She did say that you could take as long as you wanted," Larry pointed out, fishing in his waistcoat pocket to pull out a business card. "And you've got her address if you wanted to send her an Owl. Just take your time with it."
Minerva gave a small smile as she shrugged, leaning over to kiss Larry's cheek. "I know. And I know you'll all be there."
Irma stayed talking to them for a little while longer before she was forced to move on and keep doing her job, after which Poppy found herself roped into a conversation between Professor Slughorn himself and a former Potions prodigy of his who never thought to tell her his name. With the crowded office making it so stuffy and no clock in sight it was impossible to tell how fast time was progressing, so when Poppy eventually tracked down someone wearing a watch she was surprised to find she'd been there nearly two hours. She hadn't seen Ro since leaving her with Madame Crickerley fairly early in the night, so she excused herself from talking to Professor Aurelius and set about on her own again to try and find her and see if she wanted to leave yet.
A glimpse of ruffled mousy hair in the corner of the office grabbed Poppy's attention, but she didn't take more than two steps forwards before she stopped in her tracks and hardly noticed one of the guests bumping into her from behind. It was Ro she'd seen, but she wasn't alone. To Poppy's utmost shock she had her hands cupping someone else's jaw as she kissed them; Poppy recognised one of the seventh year Ravenclaws, Keziah Mulberry, as the girl pulling Ro in by the collar of her waistcoat.
She stared at them in shock for a moment or two before hastily disappearing back into the crowd in case one of them caught her looking. There was an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't identify – nothing to do with the fact it was a girl Ro had chosen, she knew some would care but it was nothing to her – but regardless of what it was she found herself wanting to get as far away from the pair of them as possible.
"Poppy! Are you alright?"
At the sound of her name being called she stopped trying to delicately shove her way to the opposite side of the room, turning to see Millicent in her waitressing uniform hurrying after her. "Are you alright?" she repeated once she had Poppy's attention, tucking her empty tray under one arm to grab both of Poppy's hands.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me," Poppy insisted while trying to smile, but she knew for Millicent to have chased her she had to have been looking worse than she thought she was.
Millicent looked far from convinced, but to Poppy's relief she dropped her hands without pressing her for answers. After a beat's silence she opened her mouth briefly and hesitated, looking to be wrestling with her own words before asking "Did you find it odd? When Minerva and Larry started dating?"
Humming in deep thought, Poppy considered the question properly before she said "No. It was such a natural transition from what they'd been building up to that it felt like nothing had changed really, and she was always really mindful about not leaving us behind. I think it helped that Larry's always been a close friend of ours too." She watched the look in Millicent's eyes for a second, picking her words carefully as she added quietly "I'm guessing Septima hasn't been so mindful?"
"No," came the immediate reply. There was a look of almost gratitude in Millicent's face, as if she'd been thinking that for a while but unable to voice her worries due to the ridge Septima herself had driven between them all. "It's all felt so fast. And I know she still cares about me, but she's spending so much time alone with him lately that I'm feeling… I don't know, left out I suppose. But I don't want to look selfish by telling her that," she admitted.
"Millicent, I don't think you could be selfish even if you tried," Poppy said, reaching out to take her hand again. "I say this as someone who loves Septima a lot; I don't think she's been fair to you or Irma lately. But you're still her best friend. You should tell her how you feel, she cares about you so she'll understand."
There was a moment where Millicent remained still, before she let out a soft sigh. "I know you're right. Thank you," she said, squeezing Poppy's hand briefly. Her gaze flickered to a point over Poppy's shoulder before she added "And I think you should take that advice for yourself too y'know."
Poppy's gentle smile turned into a frown at Millicent's words, immediately wondering if she'd seen more of her overly dramatic escape than she was letting on. As she turned to look at what Millicent had spotted behind her she immediately found herself with an armful of Ro, somehow reacting quick enough to catch her as she tripped over nothing. "Hi," Ro practically squeaked, her pupils enormous as she gazed up at Poppy.
Despite her conflicted feelings from a few minutes ago, every misgiving seemed to melt at the sight of the childish smile beaming at her. It was obvious that Ro was drunk and the fact that she'd left Keziah Mulberry and sought Poppy out in her inebriated state was oddly touching. "Hello you," she said fondly, readjusting Ro so that she was standing a little more solidly on her feet and not leaning all her weight into Poppy. "I was looking for you earlier actually. Do you want to go back to the dormitory?"
"Mmm. Yeah," Ro said after thinking for a few moments.
Poppy glanced round with the intention of telling Millicent she and Ro were leaving, but was surprised to see her standing several feet away with a refilled tray serving snacks to Minerva and Larry. Millicent gave her an encouraging smile, and Minerva just mouthed something that might have been 'I'll see you later' before she turned back to her conversation with Millicent and Larry. Satisfied that no-one would be wondering where she'd gone, she turned her attention back to Ro and getting her safely up to Gryffindor Tower.
It seemed the Fat Lady and her friend had joined in the festivities from her portrait, since she was joyful enough to let them in without even requesting a password. Poppy was glad when they made it up the final set of stairs to the dormitory since navigating all the way up to the seventh floor had been more than hard enough, and with a heavy sigh she let them both crash backwards onto her bed. Her shoulders were aching but she was content in the knowledge she'd have nothing of the headache Ro was sure to have waiting for her the next morning.
"Is it bedtime now?" Ro asked, rolling over to lean on Poppy's chest and look deeply into her face.
Poppy hummed tiredly, reaching up without thinking to brush a few errant hairs from out of Ro's eyes. "Yes. Pyjamas, then bed."
Thankfully Ro still possessed enough sobriety to get herself changed into her sleep shirt and shorts while Poppy quickly put on her nightdress. To her surprise though she didn't get into her own bed, instead returning to Poppy's as soon as she lamps were turned down and curling into her side with an arm slung over Poppy's middle and her head rested on her collar. Poppy was stiff for a moment, unsure what to do, before she relaxed and brought her arm up behind Ro's upper back to hold her closer.
"Cosy?" she whispered as Ro made a happy sound.
The only answer she got was a sleepy sounding hum. Poppy smiled, murmured a quiet goodnight, and fell asleep.
She was woken by the sun streaming through the crack in the curtains an unknown amount of time later. Ro hadn't moved throughout the night and was still a comfortable weight in Poppy's arms, but she let out an unhappy groan when Poppy shifted to stretch out the arm she'd been lying on.
"Sorry," she apologised, waiting for her shoulder joint to click before stilling to let Ro be more comfortable again. "How are you feeling?"
"My everything hurts and I don't like it."
It was hard not to laugh at the unhappy pout on Ro's face, but Poppy really did feel sorry for her. "That's what you get for drinking too much Daisyroot Draught," she reprimanded gently.
Ro grumbled at that, turning her head to bury her face in Poppy's shoulder. "I can't even remember how we got back up here. I'm guessing you were my knight in shining polkadots?"
Laughing gently, Poppy glanced up when she heard the door being opened. The sight of Minerva trying to creep through the door made it dawn on her that the bed next to hers was still empty, the fact she was still wearing her dress from the party making it very obvious that she'd never made it back the previous night. Her attempt at sneaking in unnoticed only lasted a couple of seconds until she looked directly at where Poppy and Ro were watching her with matching grins.
Her mouth opened in speechlessness as she realised she'd been caught, then laughed and pointed at them with a cry of "Not a word!"
Poppy and Ro both broke down into giggles, leaving Minerva to sigh dramatically as she sat down on the end of Poppy's bed. "Am I allowed to ask where you spent last night?" Poppy asked slyly, gently manoeuvring Ro upwards so they could both sit up against the headboard.
"In the boy's dormitory with Larry," Minerva replied with bravado in her voice that dared either of them to comment. She was still smiling though so Poppy knew it was all in good faith. "So don't worry, I did spend the night in a bed. Is Ro alive?"
"Barely," Ro muttered. Poppy smiled, bringing a hand up to gently stroke her hair.
A knock on the door made them all glance up, with Minerva swinging her legs off the bed to stand and open it. "Good morning," Irma said far too chirpily as Minerva let her in, giving Ro a pitiful look as she perched on the edge of the bed. "You're not the only one feeling sorry for themselves if that's any consolation," she added, raising an eyebrow at Minerva's outfit but otherwise not commenting. She was the only one out of the four who was fully dressed for the day but Poppy supposed that was because she'd walked all the way up from the Dungeons.
"Depends who it is," Ro responded, not looking up from where she was still resting her head on Poppy's collar.
Irma smirked. "Well, I dropped by Ravenclaw Tower to check on Septima and found bent over a toilet with Millicent holding her hair back. From the look of things she'd been there for quite a while."
"Oh poor thing," Minerva chuckled, shaking her head slightly. "I suppose that's what you get for drinking Firewhiskey as enthusiastically as she was. I doubt she'll make the same mistake again."
Poppy hummed in agreement, thinking of the Yule Ball afterparty the previous year when the seventh years had smuggled Firewhiskey in from Hogsmeade and the entire Quidditch Team had suffered for it. "You live and you learn I suppose," she conceded.
"You say that now but watch me make the same mistake next time I'm given that level of alcohol," deadpanned Ro.
While Poppy laughed along with Minerva and Irma, inwardly she couldn't help thinking back to what she'd seen between Ro and the seventh year girl. Was that what she considered her mistake? Poppy was torn between asking her and knowing that would reveal she'd seen them and potentially bring up a host of other complicated feelings, so she pushed everything to do with Keziah Mulberry to the back of her mind. For the moment she could just be grateful that Ro was in her arms and no-one else's.
The Slug Club Christmas Party marked the end of term for Hogwarts, and two days later the Tower was considerably quieter once most of the students went home. Minerva said a fond farewell to Larry in the Entrance Hall on the morning the Hogwarts Express left back for London, the sombre look on her face suggesting she wished he could have been staying in the castle though she was all smiles when she turned back to Ro and Poppy.
"Are you ok?" Poppy asked, giving her an understanding smile.
Minerva nodded. "Yes, I am. I'll see him soon enough. And I'm looking forward to a quiet Christmas just the six of us."
Poppy glanced over to where Septima was waving Philip off, thinking back to her conversation with Millicent back at the party. "I think it's exactly what we all need," she agreed warmly.
Waking up in Gryffindor Tower on Christmas morning along with Minerva, Ro, and Irma made Poppy feel like she was back in one of the Christmases of her younger years at Hogwarts. Septima and Millicent met them in the Common Room to open their presents by the fireplace, joining an odd collection of non-Gryffindor students making up the Tower's population. The roaring fire kept them all warm as the unusual group played games until it was time for lunch, when they all made their way down to the Great Hall for the traditional Christmas Feast. As much as Poppy had loved the Yule Ball and all its ceremony, there was something comforting about just being in a hall without any fancy decorations in her casual clothes with only her closest friends.
After food, songs, and pulling crackers, the Feast ended and the six of them ended the evening stood looking out from the Clock Tower balcony. "What a year it's been," Millicent murmured quietly, leaning her arms on the stone barricade and sighing slightly.
Minerva gave a heavy hum, prompting Poppy to close the distance between them and let Minerva rest her head on her shoulder.
"Feels like we've grown up," Ro remarked. "Two of us have come of age, we passed our OWLs, we're dealing with… romance things 'n all." The scrunched up look on her face as she said 'romance things' made Poppy huff with laughter for a second.
"It's certainly changed us," Irma pondered quietly.
Septima hummed, glancing briefly at her sister. "And I missed three months of it because I couldn't see beyond the end of my own nose," she muttered bitterly.
There was silence from everyone for a moment, before Poppy gave her head a quick shake in an effort to get rid of the sadness she could feel creeping in. "But we still had some fun times, didn't we?" she argued gently, "spending summer in London, getting back on the Quidditch Pitch, I know the year was hard but we still have some good memories to look back on."
Millicent gave a firm nod of agreement from Poppy's other side. "And we have everything to look forward to next year," she added on, ever the optimist.
"It's also our last full calendar year as Hogwarts students." A quiet voice muttered. Everyone was still for a second as the realisation dawned on them, before they all turned to look in shock at Ro who had made the revelation.
Poppy stayed quiet amongst the disbelieving responses from nearly everyone else, letting out a deep exhale at the thought of everything she knew beginning to come to an end. "Well, that only means we need to make the most out of every single day we have together," she said in a solemn tone.
Quiet noises of agreement sounded from all around her, as Poppy's seriousness broke into an involuntary smile when she cast her gaze out over snowy Hogsmeade. Despite everything they'd faced, everything that had changed in their lives in the last year, she still had exactly what mattered in the friends who stood around her.
Author's note:
Gosh it's been a long time since I've given you a chapter. I wrote enough over last summer to probably finish the rest of the fic but it was all for a different fandom I fell into, and then with uni resuming I've had choreographing an entire musical and captaining a dance team to keep me occupied alongside actual study things. So it's taken a literal pandemic for me to get back to writing this (luckily our musical was performed a week before everything started to shut down) but it's felt like no time at all since I was last in these characters' world. More evidence that I will finish this enormous project one day! But I'm so so grateful to every single read and review my beloved girls still get, it's what keeps me coming back even after months away.
Onto the chapter notes now, and I hope that the first scene with Irma and Septima doesn't come across as an easy fix by any means. I tried to really convey how emotionally hard it was for Irma to let Septima see her like that, and the relationship between the two (and by extension the rest of the group) will need a lot of time to be back to where she was. While Septima isn't one to hold grudges she does feel a lot of guilt which is why she can't go back to normal as fast as she did after the argument about time turners they had back in fourth year. But goodness it's nice to have all six of our girls back in the narrative!
Slughorn's party was good fun, sneaking a lot of little things into that scene. Madame Crickerley was never meant to return this fast but the thought occured to me and I had to, she's such a gem. More importantly, I have finally confirmed something about Ro that I seriously hope was not a surprise at this point. I've been dropping hints since fourth year! And then there's Poppy - I know a few of you in the reviews picked up what I'd been heavily hinting between them with the Amortentia scene. I'm giving no commentary about Ro's true feelings right now, you can share in Poppy's confusion for the next chapter or so ;)
Seeing as I have literally nothing else to be doing with my time I should imagine the next update will be fairly fast! In the meantime though, I hope you're all keeping safe and well. Until next time :)