Harry woke early on the day of his hearing and he was all nerves. He didn't want to get expelled, didn't want to leave Hogwarts, to live like a muggle with the Dursleys forever. But that is what he faced. He dressed in his nicest clothes, which weren't even that nice, and went to the dining room. Mister and Missus Weasley were there, along with Sirius and Lupin.

And Rory. She was clearly tired from waking up earlier than even he had, but it made him feel good to see her there before he went off.

Everyone tried to keep his spirits up as they talked about what was to come. Everyone except Rory. She sat beside him, discreetly placing a comforting hand on his knee.

"It's all going to work out," Rory said. "I can feel it."

It was a bit of a comfort knowing that Rory, a seer, felt confident about the outcome.

"Don't let them rattle you," she said.

"Eat your breakfast," Mrs. Weasley said.

Harry poked at his eggs in front of his. He had no appetite. He was too nervous.

"You really should eat something," Rory said encouragingly. "You'll feel worse on the stand in front of everyone if your stomach's empty. You'll be even more nervous than you anticipate. And then you'll be hungry."

And with that Harry gave in reluctantly and forced food down even though it all tasted like sand in his mouth. Just as he finished eating and Mrs. Weasley gave up on trying to comb his hair, Rory turned serious all of a sudden.

"It's earlier than you think," she said.

"What is?" Remus asked.

"The hearing," Rory said. "It's sooner than you think. Be prepared."

Harry had read over the letter informing him of his court date many times, but he knew it was at 11 o'clock. But, he also trusted Rory more than anyone else in his life.

"We'll need to be heading out now, Harry," Mr. Weasley said.

Everyone gave him words of encouragement and said their goodbyes, but Rory was the last to do so. She grasped his hand, pulled him toward her, and kissed him, full on the mouth. It was not a quick, fleeting kiss. It was a kiss, the kind he was used to giving her when no one was watching. It was still "chaste" by the standards of everyone watching, but Harry, and everyone else, seemed shocked by Rory's boldness.

"If you get expelled, just know it'll be up to me to make sure Ron and Hermione don't murder each other and you're the only one who can talk them both down," Rory said.

"Neville could also," Harry said, knowing it was true.

"Well, then by all means go ahead and let yourself get kicked out of school since Nev has this under control. Absolutely no one will miss you. Least of all me," Rory said.

He grasped her hand, not nearly bold enough to kiss her again. "I'll be back. And I love you."

Rory's face turned pink and she saw tears fill her eyes. "I love you too."

Harry left with Arthur, leaving Aurora to stare after them after they were gone.

"Well," Remus started. But Aurora snapped her head away from the door.

"Don't start," Aurora said.

"Start what?" Remus asked.

"Whatever it is you're going to start," Aurora said.

"It's good that Harry has you in his corner," Sirius chimed in. He and Remus had come to an agreement that they were going to try to co-parent. Remus suspected that they might end up playing good cop/bad cop, but Sirius always counted on the 14 years Remus spent with Aurora to put him in the "good cop" position.

"I'm sure it is," Aurora said. "It'd feel nicer if I wasn't being judged for wishing him good luck."

"No one is judging you. It's totally acceptable to snog your boyfriend before he faces the ministry down," Sirius said.

Aurora continued to glare.

"Would you like some coffee?" Molly asked.

"No. I was planning on heading back to sleep if I could," she replied.

"By all means," Remus said.

She got to her feet and glared at Remus the whole walk back to her room.

"What did I do?" Remus asked.

"Nothing. Teenagers are exceptionally unpredictable," Molly said. "I wouldn't worry much about it."

"But I should worry a little?" Remus asked.

Molly flushed a bit. "Well, they are at that age where it's better to keep an eye on them. Just in case. And Aurora has grown quite brazen, which could mean nothing, but it could also mean other things are happening."

"Noted," Remus said. Tonks had talked to Aurora a few days before but had gathered nothing too important. Aurora was quite in love with Harry.

"Plus, despite all her posturing, there was no way to tell if things really will turn out alright for Harry," Sirius said.

"I'd keep an eye on them all the same," Molly said. "Just in case."

"They are very well supervised already," Remus said. "And it's not as if they really have the ability to sneak around here." Sirius looked thoughtful for a moment. "What?"

"I mean," Sirius started as he picked up his mug of coffee, "Harry does still have that invisibility cloak."


Rory was so relieved when Harry came back and announced that he'd been cleared and would in fact be returning to Hogwarts in September. She tossed her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

"I knew they couldn't possibly punish you for defending yourself," Hermione said.

"Who all was there?" Sirius asked.

"Everyone it seemed like," Mr. Weasley said. "Even Lucius Malfoy was lurking around."

"Of course he was," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Dumbledore was there," Harry said, "not that he said two words to me, but at least he bothered to show up."

"I'm sure Dumbledore is very busy at the moment," Mrs. Weasley offered.

Harry rolled his eyes at this but was clearly not going to press the issue.

"The entire wizengamot was there. And there was one woman there who really nasty," Harry said. "Umbridge I think was her name."

Rory and her dad groaned in unison.

"You know her?" Harry asked.

"Know of her," Rory said rolling her eyes.

"She's a bit of a pioneer when it comes to restrictive legislature. She doesn't have a remarkably high opinion of werewolves, merpeople, centaurs," Remus said.

"But especially werewolves," Rory said. "I'd like to know who gave that bigot a job."

"What a scathing review of her character. I love it," Matilda said.

After lunch, they were left to their own devices. Rory sat with Harry in the lounge. They were alone again for the first time since Matilda had left them in the study. Rory was tempted to take advantage of the solitude, but she knew that any second now someone was going to realize they were alone, again, and come through the door.

"Thank you," Harry said suddenly.

"For what?" Rory asked.

"For being there this morning," Harry said. "Before I left."

Rory scoffed. "Did you really think I would see you off?"

"I didn't even want to be up that early," he said.

"Neither did I, but we make exceptions when it's important," Rory said. She kissed him, allowing herself to linger against his lips for longer than was probably advisable. "I love you, you know?"

"I do know, even if I don't see the appeal," Harry said. "Maybe it is just because I play Quidditch."

"Oh, Merlin, will you and Matilda ever let the Quidditch thing go?" Rory asked. "I went out with Connor and he didn't play Quidditch."

"Well, he didn't count remember?" Harry said. "Although I do recall you having a bit of crush on both Cedric and Viktor who both play Quidditch. And they're both seekers. You only like seekers."

"You know you can be quite annoying when you want to be," Rory said.

"Good, that's what I was going for," Harry said.

Rory kissed him again, only briefly this time.

"I love you too," he said. "And I especially love making fun of you."

"Well, it's not fair. There's nothing worth teasing you about," Rory said. She flopped back on the couch. "'Annoyingly perfect and perfectly annoying.'"

"I just think you're perfectly perfect," Harry said.

"Hardly," Rory said dismissively. "For one thing, apparently I'm only interested in seekers."

"And you're quite short as well," Harry said.

"I'm not short. I just seem short because you're a giant," Rory said.

Harry scoffed. "Five foot eight hardly makes me a giant. You're tiny."

"I am a perfectly respectable five feet tall, thank you very much," Rory said.

"Five feet short more like it," Harry said. He reached out and tickled her sides. She laughed and swatted his hands away.

"Stop it. You're going to get us in trouble again," Rory said, pushing herself up on her elbows.

"I didn't get us in trouble last time. You definitely kissed me first," Harry said.

"Yeah, well, you… You shouldn't be so good at it I suppose," Rory replied. She let herself flop backward on the couch again.

"Don't mind me saying, but that is the weakest excuse I've ever heard," Harry said.

Rory pulled her feet up between them and inched herself toward the other end of the couch away from Harry.

"Aw, are you angry with me for teasing you?" Harry asked.

"Furious," Rory laughed.

Harry scooched closer to Rory, lifting her legs so they draped across his lap.

"Sorry. I promise not to tease you for at least another hour," he said. And then his hand came to rest on her thigh, and it felt like a bolt of lightning shot through her. It was obviously a meaningless touch. His hand was simply there just because that's where it had fallen, but the warmth of his hand against her skin was delicious.

"You all right?" Harry asked. "You look a bit flushed."

"I'm fine. It's just—it's quite warm in here," Rory said. Not exactly a lie because Grimmauld Place felt like a furnace most days.

"At least you have the luxury of being able to wear shorts," Harry said. His gingerly placed hand now gave her thigh a deliberate, but gentle squeeze. "I think I only own jeans."

"Pity that," Rory said.

"I think I'll survive," Harry said. Then he leaned down and kissed her, his hand still on her thigh.

Rory was delighted when he didn't pull away from her immediately. She wanted to savor the feeling of his closeness for just a bit longer.

"Hello."

Rory and Harry had never sat up so fast. She kicked herself for pulling her legs onto the couch because they were still stretched across Harry's lap and she had to scramble to right herself.

In the doorway was, of course, her rather irritated Dad and Sirius, who looked more or less like he wished hadn't also walked into the room at that moment.

"Honestly, it feels as though I might have to separate you two," Remus said.

"We weren't-," Rory started to protest, but Remus held up a hand and she shut her mouth. There was no point in arguing about it. She knew it didn't look good. Harry hadn't practically been on top of her and his hands certainly hadn't been visible. Rory could say "It's not what it looks like" but that would only make them seem guiltier.

"I know how frustrating it is to be stuck in this house all day with nowhere to go, to not even have a moment to yourself," Sirius chimed in. Remus looked too frustrated to articulate his feelings. "And I'm sure it's all the more distracting to be stuck inside with each other, but for everyone's sake try to keep your hands to yourselves some of the time?"

"And as a reminder, you're both 15 and should be keeping your hands to yourselves most of the time anyway," Remus said. "Unless you'd like one of us to constantly supervise you for the duration of your stay, I highly recommend seeing to it that another one of these encounters not occur. Is that understood? Both of you?"

"Yes," Harry and Rory said in unison.


Remus was awake reading. He didn't sleep much most nights. Being a werewolf had given him chronic insomnia, so this was how he spent most nights.

There was a gentle knock on his bedroom door and he looked up from his book.

"Yes?" he asked. The door creaked open slowly and Aurora poked her head in.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Of course," he said. She walked inside, letting the door close behind her. She walked over to his bed and climbed on top of the covers to sit beside him and rest her head on his shoulder. Remus couldn't remember the last she'd done this. Certainly, before she'd started at Hogwarts.

He put an arm around her and she scooted in close to him. Aurora was growing up, but it was times like these that he remembered that she was still a child.

"Harry thinks you don't like him," she said.

"Why would he think that?" Remus asked.

"Because you kind of spent the rest of the afternoon glaring at him whenever you saw him," Aurora said.

Remus sighed. "I was not glaring at him. And I like Harry just fine. Maybe, today, he's not my favorite person, but in general, I like Harry quite a lot."

"And what's so different about today?" Aurora asked.

"I seem to recall you being there, in the lounge on the couch with him," Remus said.

"I was lying down on the couch and he happened to kiss me, one time, at the very moment you came in," she said. "I know that's not what it looked like, but that's truly what happened."

"Be that as it may-."

"You're only upset about it because you saw it. It's not like I haven't kissed him before when you haven't seen me," she said.

"There's a time and a place. And here is not the place," Remus said.

"I think you and Sirius have made that abundantly clear," Aurora replied. "But you're not allowed to be cross with him for kissing me. And that's all that's happened by the way. Only kissing."

Remus shut his book and thought about the right way to articulate his feelings without upsetting her, but he thought that was unlikely.

"I worry that you're too young-."

"Too young to kiss my boyfriend?" she asked. "Do you not believe me when I said that's the only thing that's happened?"

"That's not it at all," Remus said. "I do believe you. And I know you mean it right now when you tell me I have nothing to worry about. But your feelings are not static. The way you feel now is not the way you'll always feel. And it is an inevitable fact life that sometimes kissing leads to… Other things."

"I have no plans to do 'other thing,'" she protested.

"I know you don't. Right now you don't. But I'm sure that will change in the future," Remus said.

"And you think I'm too young to be doing these unnamed 'other things' then?" Aurora asked.

"I think that you are too young to be so serious with Harry," Remus said.

"We're fifteen. How can we possibly be serious about anything?" she asked.

"And that's what I mean," Remus said. "You're not serious about anything right now, but there are serious consequences to your actions if you don't take it seriously."

Aurora groaned and slumped down beside him dramatically.

"It just feels like you don't trust me is all," she said.

"I'm sorry it feels that way, but it's not my intent," Remus said. "I've raised you to be smart and responsible, I hope. But sometimes we make mistakes, or do things we regret, or jump into things that we think we're ready for and then it turns out we're not. That is in the nature of being fifteen because you're just starting to figure things out. And there is nothing I can do to stop you from exploring things. So when I see your boyfriend lying on top of you in the lounge-."

"He wasn't lying on top of me," Aurora protested.

Even if it was only one kiss, Remus knew what he'd seen, but now was not the time for an argument.

"I worry about you. And I think of all the things that could possibly happen to you. I even have to wonder sometimes if this boy you love is going to break your heart someday," Remus said. "So I have to ask you, again, to please refrain from snogging your boyfriend with such vigor while you're here."

Aurora groaned again, but he knew this meant she was giving in.

"All right," she said sitting up. "But can you make an effort to not glare at Harry tomorrow? Please?"

"I wasn't glaring at him," Remus insisted.

"I know you think that's true, but it's not," she said.

Remus chuckled and kissed the top of his daughter's head. "Thank you for trusting me enough to have this conversation with me."

"Well, I knew you'd just be super annoying if I didn't," Aurora said.

"I love you. Go to bed," Remus laughed.

"Love you too," she said embracing him tightly. Every time he got a hug from Aurora, Remus felt renewed. There was nothing quite like a hug from your child. "Goodnight. Try to sleep."

"I could say the same to you," Remus replied.

She kissed his cheek and jumped up from his bed. "Love you, Dad."


As breakfast was winding down the next morning, Rory vacated her seat beside Harry to go with Hermione to look into one of their schoolbooks. They were debating, something the two did on a semi-regular basis. Generally, Hermione ended up being correct being that her memory was near photographic, but Rory was also too proud to back down until she was definitively proven wrong.

"I think they're only going to get worse since we've got OWLs this year," Neville said as he rose from the table.

"At least you don't have to share a room with them," Ginny said.

"At least you don't have to continue to share a room with them after summer's over," Matilda said.

"That's fair," Ginny said.

"I always just leave when they're arguing," Ron said. "Good of them to leave on their own this time."

"Harry," Lupin said, entering the room, a fresh mug of coffee in his hand. "Mind if we have a chat?"

For a moment Harry was paralyzed with fear. Twice now Rory's dad had caught them snogging. Yesterday had been especially terrible since he'd been practically lying on top of her. He'd only meant to kiss her the one time because she had warned him that they might get into trouble again. But Harry had epically bad timing.

Was he finally going to get a talking to, threatened by his girlfriend's father?

"Uh, okay," Harry said. He was about to get to his feet, but instead, all of his friends rose from the table and made a beeline to exit the room. Once they were gone Lupin gave him an apologetic smile.

"Well, I suppose that proves Aurora was at least a little bit right about what she said to me yesterday," Lupin said.

Harry was confused. "Right about what?"

Lupin sat across from him at the table and took a deep breath.

"She felt that I was harboring some undue hostility towards you, and I suppose, admittedly, there is some truth to that," he said. "So, I'd like to apologize to you for that."

Harry nodded, feeling a bit relieved. "I was kind of starting to feel like you were angry with me."

Lupin took a drink from his mug. "I'm sure you realize that the nature of our relationship has changed now that you're dating Aurora."

Harry nodded again. "Of course." He tensed again. He did not know where this conversation was going to go.

"I'm always going to be protective of her. As much as I like and respect you, Harry, she is my daughter. So naturally, I'm going to be wary of you," Lupin said.

"I mean, you'd be wary of anyone she dated, obviously," Harry said in agreement, but Lupin seemed to turn those words over in his head. How could Harry have possibly said the wrong thing?

"Yes, I would be. But also, I grew up with your dad, and you are so much like him," Lupin said. A rock sank down into Harry's stomach. Almost always this had been said to Harry in the positive. This was the only time he'd ever heard it in the negative. "Which is not to say that James was at all someone to be distrusted when he was dating, but…"

But Lupin would not have wanted James Potter dating his daughter. Those were the words he was dancing around saying. Was Harry's dad such a cad or a lech that somehow they suspected Harry might be too? He didn't dare ask. He didn't want to know the actual reason.

"All any parent wants is for their children to be better than they were," Lupin said. "And even though you have not given me any reason to distrust you, I am still going to be mindful of you because I don't want to see her hurt."

Harry shook his head. "I would never. I mean, Rory and I haven't even—I mean—"

"I know, I know, but that's not what I meant," Lupin said. "But she loves you and she trusts you, and without even meaning to you can hurt her."

Harry could not fathom ever doing anything to hurt Rory. He loved her as well. All he wanted was for her to be happy. Sometimes he felt he wanted that even more than his own happiness.

"That being said," Lupin said, "I'm also aware that you're teenagers and will behave as teenagers do. But I would greatly appreciate it if you truly did everything in your power to ensure that I don't see the two of you quite so entwined in the future."

Harry was pretty certain that he wasn't going to even let himself so much as hold Rory's hand in this house again. He nodded.

"Yes. Okay. Not a problem," he said.

"Excellent," Lupin said. "Thank you for taking the time to chat with me."

Harry nodded. "Of course."