Hermione and Cedric are still the endgame couple. It'll just… take some time.

"Miss Sanchez, it's really important that you are focused on this task," said Professor Cotilla-Gallo.

"I'm sorry, Señora," Hermione sighed. "I'm just… not all there."

"I understand," she said sympathetically. "Your E.D.A.M.s are coming up and you also have your Apparition exams. How did you do on your driving test?"

"I passed with an 89," she said. "I botched my parallel parking, but I think he gave me a pass because the car I practiced in was a compact, but a kid totaled it and they only had the pick up truck available for the test."

Hermione plucked one of the wards her teacher was having her weave. It buzzed and the other wards fell apart. There was a lot in ward manipulation. Setting them up in the most optimal way, evading them, even learning how to break them down from the outside. As she had the fortune of being able to see magic and perform it wandlessly, if she went about it correctly, she could touch wards without setting them off. That, of course, depended on how heavy they were and how they were built. Wards carved onto anchor stones were much more difficult to mess with.

However, she couldn't focus on this particular lesson and was making a big mess of things.

She wanted to focus. She had to keep busy. If she didn't fill every single second of every single day then her mind was free to wander and think of… No. No, no, no.

"Ouch!" someone cried from the corridor.

Professor Cotilla-Gallo placed a faraday cage over the training tool. Bernice entered the training building, rubbing her arm.

"Nia," she said. "I thought you'd be here."

"I didn't miss a S.A.M.B. meeting, did I?" she asked.

"No, but you were summoned by your guidance counselor," she said. "I volunteered to get you, the girl they usually send is such a…" she glanced at Professor Cotilla-Gallo. "Well, I thought it'd be better if a friend got you."

"I think we've done enough for today," said Professor Cotilla-Gallo. "I'll see you in class Nia."

"See you in class." Hermione rose to her feet and went over to Bernice.

They took a cart with several other curse-breaking students back to the main area of the campus.

"So, how's the documentary going?" Bernice asked.

"I've been editing it," she said. "I did come up with a way to make some money for S.A.M.B."

"Oh, yeah?"

"I was thinking we could apply the enchantments on my video camera to a few others," she said. "And then we can go to all of the clubs on campus and make videos of them. Performances or even just explanation videos of what they do. Then during the last week of school when everyone and their guardians are here, we can sell those videos. Half the proceeds will go to the clubs we film and the other half will go to S.A.M.B. to finance various projects. I was going to present it to the meeting tomorrow and we'll get the cameras and fix them up, then start asking around the club leaders."

"That sounds like a great idea," said Bernice. "As leader of the Romani Cultural Club, I definitely consent to our presentation being recorded. I think it'll also be a great way to help convince new students to join existing clubs. It's hard to tell if you'll like something on paper, but if you can see a video of the club members in action…" Her eyes lit up. "Yeah… I bet the Synchronized Flying Club will love it. They've been trying to get funding since they were founded and if adults can see that they're serious…"

The cart stopped and the students diverged, some to go to other activities, some to dorms, and others to get food. Hermione and Bernice walked along the canal rather than wait for a barge. The day was pleasant and dry, the birds were singing and people were playing games or splashing around in the canal. The sunlight glinted off the pyramids and cast beautiful lights through the colored glass of several buildings. Animals lounged and basked in the beautiful day. The breeze held the promise of a chill meaning that once the sun set, it would be perfect for a shawl or to cuddle close with someone you cared about. One of the benefits of the school moving closer to the Andes.

It was terrible.

How dare everything seem so wonderful when everything had gone so wrong?

As they grew closer to the administration building, they ran into their other friends.

"Hi, we missed you in study group," said Cássia. "We were just going to dinner before hanging out. Want to come with?"

"I've been summoned," said Hermione. "But I do have something I want to talk to you guys about. Where will we be hanging?"

"My dorm common area," said Márcia. "My dorm is farther away, but most groups will be hanging out in the common areas closer to the mess halls."

"We're going to Mess Hall C," said Alejandro. "I can wait for you."

Márcia copied what he said in a silly voice, making him swat at her. She laughed and shoved him back.

"I don't know how long my meeting will be," said Hermione. "Let's just plan on meeting at Márcia's common room. That's the dorm with the llama thing with wings, right?"

"Alpaca," Quripuma corrected.

"Right."

"My thing won't take long," said Bernice. "I'll see you guys at the mess hall."

They moved on. Once they had disappeared, Bernice looked at her friend.

"Alejandro has a crush on you."

"I'm aware." It had gotten easier for her to notice when people were flirting with her and quite a few had. She was surprised, since it was known she was part of the cursed Sanchez family, but she'd already been asked out twice and flirted with several times since it came out that her hot werewolf boyfriend was a fugitive and dumped her. Hermione was very aware of Alejandro's feelings for her, but he didn't make things weird so she just ignored them. "Do you think I'm leading him on?"

"No, you've made your feelings of friendship clear," she said. "But you did take to Troll society really well. Maybe next year, if his feelings are the same and your heart has mended a little, you two could make a very sweet couple."

"I don't know. Even before we liked each other romantically I always thought… I thought… we'd al- al- always," she stammered over the words until all she could make were clicks.

Bernice patted her arm and nodded. "That's understandable. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up."

"They searched my room," said Hermione. "When the Aurors came back, they searched and upturned everything. My drawers, my trunk… like I was hiding him. They even wanted me to contact him so they could track the owl and find him."

"What'd you say?"

"I told them they were mad and I wouldn't take part in any of it." She heaved a sigh. "That I wouldn't help them arrest someone innocent."

Bernice nodded. "What's stopping them from sending their own?"

"I don't know. I think they were just testing me to see whose side I was on."

The administration building was just as beautiful as the rest of the school and the interior was decorated with art done by former students. Hermione had only been here once before after she was kidnapped by the Wyvern and was surprised she hadn't met with her guidance counselor yet. Perhaps because she was seen as a set with the rest of her family and was simply overlooked.

"Senhora Roque's office is down that way," said Bernice, pointing. "On the left."

Hermione nodded and scrubbed the tears from her cheeks as she made her way to the correct door. She knocked softly.

"Come in!"

Senhora Roque's office was about average-sized for a guidance counselor. Her windows were partially blocked by filing cabinets and she had a bookcase filled with books on counseling, psychiatric health, child development, and other topics. She even had some colorful children's books that, judging by the tiny print on their thin spines, simply explained certain topics. Probably useful if someone was in shock, or just needed to start with the simplest explanation. There were framed photos on the wall of Senhora Roque along with her certificates of education. Looked like she trained in the muggle world as well as at Castelobruxo. The counselor herself was very petite and wore a tichel, or some similar type of headscarf.

"Óla, Senhorita Sanchez," said Senhora Roque. "Please, have a seat."

Hermione plunked down into a chair and folded her hands into her lap. Her guidance counselor rolled her chair over to the filing cabinet and sifted through the folders, finally bringing out hers. She brought it back and flipped it open.

"You went to Hogwarts for four years, yes?" she said.

"That's right," said Hermione.

"So, we never talked about your career trajectory in third year." She tapped her fingers against her cheek. "I think we really should have met during your first week, but better late than never, yes?"

"Sure." Hermione tapped her heels against the floor. "I'm not in trouble am I?"

"No…" That almost sounded like a question. "But your teachers and dorm supervisor have expressed some concern for you. They said you haven't been engaged much this past week, but you've been having issues turning in your homework on time since late February/early March. They also say that you know your stuff and that if you can keep track of the time limits, then you should have no problem passing your Level Ones."

"I've just… had a lot going on."

"Anything you'd like to talk about?"

"No."

Senhora Roque accepted this and moved on.

"Tell me, do you have a career in mind or maybe just something you're interested in exploring? I see that you've started a club."

"I want to be a lawyer," said Hermione. "Pro bono. Human rights cases, a voice for the voiceless, those sorts of things. I know there's no money in it like I would get as a contract lawyer or a litigator, but I really think my calling is in defending others. I already have two successful cases. I prevented a hippogriff from being put to death and saved a teacher's job in the same case. I think I also got back the teacher's right to carry a wand, but I haven't really followed through on whether or not he got a new one. My second trial was in front of the entire Wizengamot of the British Ministry. Believe me, I wasn't expecting to present my case in front of more than just the school board, but I managed it."

Senhora Roque looked thoroughly impressed.

"Well, you definitely dream big," she said. "And I think your S.A.M.B. organization is a wonderful cause. Now, I do see here that you were researching a dark artifact earlier this semester?"

"That's right. Profesora Cotilla-Gallo helped me with that and has been training me to deal with future dark objects."

"Are you a prophecy child?" She started writing on a small notecard. "There's a prophecy child support group on campus that meets once a month. Four of the members are students and the rest are former students who have already fulfilled their prophecies. They help current prophecy children decipher the prophecies, prepare to face their foe, that sort of thing. I just wrote down the names of a couple members as well as their mailing address in case you know of any."

"I'm not a prophecy child," said Hermione. "But my foster brother is one and the guy he's supposed to destroy used him in a ritual to basically raise himself from purgatory."

"They've got a pamphlet for that," she said and made a note. "I'll make sure one is sent to your mailbox so you can pass it on to him."

"Thank you."

"Is that what's been bothering you?" Senhora Roque asked. "Your foster brother's prophecy?"

"Mm… surprisingly, no. I've known Voldemort was back for months and I already have a plan to defeat him. I… well, there don't seem to be any secrets in this school. I'm sure you've got it in your file that I was involved with a werewolf. Cedric Diggory?"

"Dona Claudia did tell the staff about the Triwizard Tournament," she said. "We all knew what happened to those four Champions, but I didn't realize one of them is your boyfriend."

"Was," corrected Hermione, feeling tears catch in her throat. "He… He was framed for the murder of a kid he tried to help and then-" She couldn't tell the truth… She had to believe that he didn't do it. "He… was also framed for a break-in at the Ministry. They found polyjuice potion containing his hair and not to mention the fact that there are pictures of him there and yet it was a full moon! Anyway, there was a Kiss on Sight order for him and so he went on the run…" Tears pooled and spilled down her cheeks faster than she could wipe them away. "And he broke up with me and maybe—maybe if I had been there then maybe none of this would have happened! I should've been there to stop Umbridge from torturing everybody!"

Senhora Roque pushed over a box of tissues.

"I love him so much. He wasn't just my boyfriend, he was my best friend. We've known each other most of our lives. We know more about each other than ourselves and I failed him."

"Oh, you didn't fail him," said Senhora Roque. "Sometimes, things happen outside of our control and it's not fair that it has affected both of you in this way."

Hermione felt all her emotions boil up like an overflowing soup pot. She shuddered and tugged on her braids.

"Senhorita?"

"I'm—fine," she said through gritted teeth.

"Here." Senhora Roque handed her a small, round sphere.

Hermione took it and squeezed it, finding that it was squishy. She grasped it between her hands and squeezed it as hard as she was able. Her grip was still weak like a child's, but smushing the death out of this thing was better than pulling on her hair.

"You s-said my teachers tell—tell me m-my grades are in—in trouble, yeah?" she said and took a deep breath. "What can I do?"

"Well, you can ask for extra credit," said Senhora Roque, writing down a note and copying it. "I'll ask for you and you can expect the packets in your mailbox by Monday."

"Thank you, Señora," said Hermione.

"I know things look hopeless right now, but if you ever want to talk you can talk to me or Senhor Luna. Just write ahead so I can shift my schedule around to meet with you, okay?"

Hermione smiled slightly and nodded.

"And listen, you might be better off taking B-Group classes next semester," said Senhora Roque. "It's not an insult to your intelligence, but even the smartest of people can have trouble if they take on too much at once. Take it slowly or you'll go gray."

"Ah-ha! Too late," said Hermione, pointing to the white in her hair. "I have more gray than my parents."

"Then just… take it easy this summer. Rest, have some fun, and tell me, is there any reason I shouldn't contact your parents? I mean, would it put you in harm's way if I told them my concerns?"

"No," she said. "They want what's best for me and I plan on telling them about the horcrux myself. My friends are actually helping me make a video to explain everything to them."

"Alright, then I will leave that up to you. And, again, feel free to message me if you want to talk."

"Thank you, Señora Roque." Hermione got up and placed the stress ball back on the desk and taking the information about the Prophecy Child Support Group in its place.

She put on her headphones and played her sad mixtape as she headed to Márcia's dorm. She wasn't really hungry and the hunger pangs were usually a good distraction. Her camera and Walkman weren't the best at distracting her from Cedric, but they were too big a part of her life now that going without them would probably make her fall apart entirely.

"Nia!"

Of all the people to approach her, she was surprised it was Luiz. He looked nervous and out of breath.

"Hey, Luiz," she said, pushing her headphones around her neck. "Qué lo que?"

"It's fine," he said. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Um, okay."

Luiz took a deep breath. "I ask you because… well, you're the least likely to give me a hard time or to blab."

"Okay." Hermione had no idea where this was going now, but she was glad it wasn't another flirt attempt. "Walk with me."

"So, um, Noa… has she told you anything about the kind of people she likes? Or anyone in particular?"

"It's not something we usually talk about," Hermione admitted. "But I think she'd tell me if she had a major crush on someone. Why?"

"It's just… I… I like her. I've been wanting to ask her out, but we've been friends since our second day of school. What if when I ask her out she laughs or, or doesn't want to be my friend anymore?"

"If you'd like, I could ask," said Hermione. "Tactfully of course. I ask her if she has interest in anyone and if she does then I'll tell you and you can make your choice then."

"Oh, would you?" he sighed and hugged her. "Thanks!"

"Yeah, no problem. She's been sitting up with me on the patio, so I'll ask her then and tell you what I find before class."

"Great. Thanks again!"

"Of course." Hermione continued on to meet her friends.

She found them at the foosball table. Quripuma was sitting out, but everyone else was playing. In order to make the game fair, Alejandro had blindfolded himself and stood opposite Cássia while Bernice and Márcia weren't. They all seemed to be having fun.

"Hey," she said, tapping Quripuma's arm to alert her of her presence.

She smiled and pointed to the page in her notebook, which was scrawled with the creative language their friends had used during their game, before switching to a clean page and setting up the dictaquill.

"How'd the meeting go?" asked Cássia. "You were there for a long time."

"Oh, you know. Just talking about my grades, recommendations for next year. There were also a lot of tears," she said. "I should've left, but I can't stand watching a grown woman cry."

They laughed at her joke, but she could tell that it was muted because of their concern for her.

"I've got next game," she said, sitting next to Quripuma. "Though I thought we were studying. E.D.A.M.S start in three weeks."

"That's what we're trying to forget," Márcia groaned.

"Constant cramming makes it harder to retain important information," said Quripuma. "We need to have fun."

She underlined the word 'fun' to emphasize her point.

"I guess that's true," Hermione sighed. "Oh! I was going to tell you guys my idea."

"I told them," said Bernice.

"And?"

"It sounds like a great idea," said Cássia.

"Okay. I'll see if my cousin Noa can reverse engineer my camera and if she can then we'll present it at the meeting tomorrow."

As that had been decided on, Hermione allowed herself to think of nothing except their games. They played foosball, dominos, and cards until the ten o'clock screaming time. Then it was decided everyone should go back to their rooms and at least think about doing the ever growing pile of homework. At the very least, they could skim through the study guides and flashcards they made weeks ago.

Alejandro walked with Hermione back to their building. The night was chilly with them being so close to the mountains, but she hardly noticed. Scotland had been much colder.

"Nia."

She blinked out of her thoughts and looked up at her friend. "Alejandro."

"I know it's not a good time," he said. "But I'm sure you know by now that Trolls don't keep their feelings to themselves for very long. You don't have to comment on it and we can forget about it if you want to but…" he held out a crystal. It was a beautiful chunk of quartz all in purple, orange, and yellow.

Once Hermione took it he sighed with relief and rubbed his chest like holding onto the thing had been a large burden on him. Perhaps it was a bigger burden for trolls to keep secrets than it was for humans. Maybe humans didn't do any favors keeping things to themselves like they did. She rolled the stone around in her hand.

"Why do you like me?" she asked.

"Why? Well, I think you're about as tough as any troll I've ever met," he said and his eyes widened. "I mean that as a compliment, of course! You won six crystals during the autumn festival!" He pointed to a single crystal hanging around his neck. "I've only got this one for helping you with the horcrux. And I don't just like you because you're tough, you're also very compassionate, I've never seen anyone care about anything here like you do for us monsters. And you have very pretty eyes. One like hessonite and the other like ocean jasper."

He sounded so much like Cedric. Oh, she was a terrible, awful person. Hermione touched Alejandro's arm.

"That's very sweet of you," she said. "You're a very kind person, Alejandro."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it," he said. "I think you're awesome."

"Say I agree," she said, feeling guilt turn her stomach into knots. "I'm still hung-up on my ex, so you'd be a rebound. There are six weeks left in the school year, which doesn't leave a whole lot of time for dating and most of them would be study dates. It's unlikely I'll be returning next year and it's obvious that long-distance just doesn't work, so we'd probably break up on the last day of school and remain as pen pals and friends. Could you live with that?"

He thought about it for a moment. "You know, I think I could."

"Alright then," she said and reached into her purse, summoning the raw piece of Larimar her abuela had sent with Stephen Squawking that morning. "We'll try one date. You tell me the time and dress code." She handed him the stone.

He looked at it in shock and back at her. "Really? I wasn't… you don't have to say yes to spare my feelings."

"I'm not sparing your feelings. Look, maybe I am using you as a distraction for my broken heart, but I do enjoy your company. And what if you decide that you don't want to date me after all? Won't know unless we try, right?"

He nodded. "Right. Um, sorry, I just didn't think I'd get this far and was surprised. I do appreciate your honesty in this matter and I promise to treat you right."

"You already do." In the lobby of their building, she squeezed his hand and climbed the stairs to get to her dorm.

Hermione didn't remember her promise to Luiz until she had already gotten ready for bed. Wrapping up in her bathrobe, she stepped out onto her patio to see Noa awake and writing in her journal, enjoying the night air.

"Aloha," she said.

Her cousin looked up. "Hey. How are you holding up?"

"With rubber bands and glitter glue. I have a favor to ask."

"Sure, anything."

She told her all about her idea about recording all the performances to sell and Noa thought it was a great idea. Hermione handed over the video camera and decided to move on to the next topic at hand.

"Alejandro asked me out," she said.

"Huh… I owe Bembe seven sickles," Noa replied.

"I agreed."

"Okay… we didn't bet on that." Noa tapped her fingers against the binding of her journal. "I thought that you were just going to, I dunno, never love again."

"I'm dating Alejandro, not marrying him," she sighed. "He knows he's just a distraction from Cedric. Does that make me an awful person?"

"If he thought you were as into him as he was into you then yeah, but if you told him like it is then… I don't know. That's a really weird thing to do, Nia. It's been, what, a week?"

Hermione sighed. "Honestly? Given time, I probably really could care for Alejandro. He's sweet and adorable."

"That's what your cat is for."

"Just because I'm dating doesn't mean I'm moving on." She heaved a sigh and cast her bait. "Why is this such a big deal? Did you want to date Alejandro?"

"Eh, no. I'm sure he's great and all, but it's not him I'm interested in."

"Oh? And who are you interested in?"

Noa bit her lip and suddenly looked shy.

"You wouldn't go blabbing to everyone, would you?"

"Of course not."

"Alright, just checking because my sisters definitely would. Especially Esperanza, she would insist on getting involved and just… ugh, it's so annoying."

"Me thinks you're dancing around the subject."

"And me thinks you're a little nosy," Noa retorted.

Hermione scooted a bit closer and rested her chin in her hands.

Noa picked at a hangnail and muttered, "I like Luiz. I've always liked him. I wanted to ask him to be my partner for my quinces and… I chickened out and told Esperanza I had no one in mind."

"What's keeping you from asking him out now?"

"Well, we've been friends for years! Do you have any idea what it's like to be in love with your friend?"

Hermione gave her a look.

"Oh, right…"

"Noa… don't do what I did," she said. "Don't waste time wondering if he'll like you back. Time with someone you care about is precious and you might go on thinking you have all the time in the world to figure things out and then you'll wake up to find that that time has passed and you can never get it back." Hermione felt the tears lodge in her throat. "Promise me that whenever you wake up, you'll go to Luiz and tell him how you feel."

"Okay."

"Pinky promise?"

Noa hooked their pinkies and shook on it. "Pinkie promise."

~o0o~

Noa and Luiz were officially a couple by breakfast. Hermione was glad about that. She'd hate to let two people waste time because they were scared of what the other might think. Alejandro still gave her the same amount of space as he did before, claiming that they could see how their date went before deciding if they actually wanted to announce themselves as a couple.

Everyone at the S.A.M.B. meeting that evening thought that recording and selling videos of the other clubs was a great way to get funding as well as attention, though some were, understandably, skeptical.

"Wouldn't that give the misconception that we are a film and photography club rather than an activist group?" asked Tomás Flores.

"I had considered that," she said. "But I figured we could get around that by displaying our Get To Know You video during presentation week. I want everyone who is comfortable with it to please submit photos as well as a script of what you'd like to say so I can start filming. I think we'll make a statement if we open the documentary with a little performance that says who we are, but I am, of course, open to suggestions."

"What about the song I wrote for the documentary?" Nicolas Guimarães demanded. He was one of her non-Being volunteers. "Remember, I dropped off the sheet music by your dorm?"

"Nicolas, that is the worst song in existence," said Hermione.

He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Tell me how you really feel."

"Okay, I will. If that song were to be played in its entirety, it would set civil rights for everyone back a hundred years. I have the urge to shake you down for lunch money and then dunk your head in a toilet every day for the rest of our natural lives."

"Are you done yet?"

"Not quite. The only reason that song should be played is during battle so that both sides will be as violent as possible. It has the power to make the most dedicated of activists raging bigots. This song is more rage inducing than "Imagine". Anyone who performs this song live should be hunted for sport."

"It can't be that bad," said Alejandro.

Hermione took the sheet music out of her file and handed it to him. He read through it, handed it back, calmly walked over to the nearest tree, and punched it with an enraged yell. The leaves fell off at once and he shuddered.

"I rest my case," said Hermione, putting it away.

"That's a 'no' on Nicolas' Acceptance song," said Márcia. "Honestly, it's probably better if the song itself is written by an M.B. It'll be more genuine, but if we can't find anything then maybe we should just record ourselves singing our alma mater?"

"Yeah, I might also ask my cousin if she has anything," said Hermione. "She's not an M.B. but I mean she at least knows that this is important."

"Oh, my God, if we can get an Esperanza Sanchez song for our documentary we'd have people begging to join us," said Cássia.

"Maybe I'll ask her anyway and we can have an opening and closing song," said Hermione. "Raise your hands if you agree."

The majority agreed to that, though Nicolas muttered under his breath. Hermione let it go. Instead, she got volunteers for the jobs that needed to be done. Six of the members either had video cameras at home or had the funds to buy one, so she asked them to turn those in to her by the end of the week if possible. She then got volunteers to man those cameras, people who would take it seriously and make sure they could get good footage. She also got volunteers to ask the club leaders for permission to film. With all of that decided, she called an end to the meeting.

"Okay, get back to me before our next meeting on Thursday or I will come after you."

"That sounded vaguely threatening," said Márcia.

"It was supposed to."

"On that note. See all of you next week."

Hermione put everything away in her accordion file folder.

"Nia," said Alejandro. "Saturday, seven o'clock, business casual. I'll come by your room."

"It's a date," she said.

He smiled and she felt awful.