[A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reached out and was so understanding about my hiatus. My baby and I are doing well! He's sleeping on my chest as I post this chapter and as I write new ones!]

Matilda was laughing, almost hysterically. Rory sat beside Hermione on her bed, while Matilda lay across the bottom of the bed, holding her stomach.

"Can you please stop?" Rory asked.

"I'm sorry," Matilda tried to catch her breath. "It's just-." She continued laughing.

Hermione was suffering from secondhand embarrassment after Ron told her every detail of what he'd seen despite her adamant protests. She'd escaped to their dorm to hide from him until dinner, which is exactly where Rory had gone as well. And Rory had to tell Matilda what Ron saw as well.

Which is why Matilda was doubled over in laughter at the foot of her bed.

Matilda finally took a few deep breaths and managed to stop laughing. She sat up.

"Sorry. It's just, a month ago you were telling me that you and Harry have never gotten past first base, and now Ron walks in on you the first time you're letting him feel you up. It's too perfect," Matilda said.

"How is it perfect?" Rory asked.

"Especially since half the common room heard him before I could get him to shut up," Hermione said.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Everyone assumes she and Harry are fooling around anyway," Matilda said.

Rory's jaw dropped. "What?"

"I mean, I'm your best friend and I assumed you were until you told me otherwise. Harry Potter with his hand up your skirt is going to have everyone saying, 'well obviously' because they think you've done all that before anyway," Matilda said. "At least in Gryffindor. Don't know all the gossip in the other houses. You should ask Susan what the Puffs say about you."

"I'd prefer this got around to as few people as possible," Rory replied.

"Susan's not going to tell anyone," Matilda said dismissively. "She's a Hufflepuff. One thing you can count on Puffs for is that they don't snitch. I need a Hufflepuff friend."

Rory rolled her eyes, but she was considering asking Susan.

"So… I wasn't going to ask—well, that's a lie. I was definitely going to ask. I just had to prepare myself for you to scold me, but you said Harry's trousers weren't done up when Ron came in," Matilda said.

Rory narrowed her eyes. "I did say that."

Matilda stared at Rory for a long moment. Rory was hopeful that she could possibly see what Matilda was thinking, but there were a thousand inappropriate questions that could come up with the door she'd just opened.

"How big is he?" she asked.

"MATILDA!" Hermione scolded her. Rory's jaw had dropped and her face went completely red.

"What? You're not curious?" Matilda asked.

"NO I AM NOT THE SLIGHTEST BIT CURIOUS!" Hermione shouted.

"Calm down," Rory said placing a hand on Hermione's shoulder. "Hermione's basically his sister. She doesn't want to hear about this."

"Well, tough tits, Granger. I do," Matilda said. "Harry exudes, what did you call it, big cock power."

"Oh, my God; it's big dick energy," Rory said.

"I told you to stop teaching her muggle slang," Hermione said whacking Rory on the arm.

"Hey. I just want to know if his energy matches… His parts," Matilda said.

"I dunno. I have no basis for comparison, obviously," Rory replied. She really didn't have a basis for comparison, but she had been surprised by Harry's size. But she didn't know anything. Maybe he was just average. Harry did have a good eight inches of height on her. Who knew how skewed her perception was.

"Get your wand," Matilda instructed. Rory retrieved it from her robes. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's not as big as your wand; that might make me terrified of him. But compared to your wand."

"We are not doing this," Rory said.

"Just show me," Matilda said. "Unless he's like, really small."

"No!" Rory said defensively.

Hermione groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Tell me, Rory. Peer pressure! Peer pressure! Peer pressure!" Matilda chanted.

And just so she would shut up, Rory gave in and showed her.

Matilda looked at where Rory held her wand and then looked Rory in the eye.

"Are you serious right now?" Matilda asked.

"Yes," Rory said. "Though I can't be expected to remember with perfect accuracy."

Matilda stared at her hard. "Did you have him in your hand or your mouth?"

"MATILDA!" Hermione scolded her again.

"What? He'll seem bigger if she was giving him a BJ rather than a handy," Matilda said.

"I am uncomfortable with every part of this conversation," Hermione said. She wrapped her arms around Rory. "You don't have to answer her."

"You asked, and I gave you my answer and I can't be perfectly accurate, but I can be pretty certain," Rory replied. "Okay?"

Matilda nodded. "Well good for Harry Potter and his big dick energy. And his big—"

"Nope. We're done. Please stop. Thank you," Hermione said. "I already have images in my brain that I can't wash away thanks to this conversation."


Rory and Harry were made to write the same things on their hands as they had the week before. Rory protested that she wasn't given detention for anything that had to do with her father, which only made Umbridge threaten to give her detention for the rest of the week instead of just for the evening.

"We have to tell someone, Harry," Rory insisted. Both of their hands were bleeding profusely by the time detention was over. Umbridge had given them both a handkerchief to stop the blood but otherwise sent them on their way.

"It'll be fine," Harry insisted. He could handle this. No one else had helped him this whole summer or in the tournament or in the graveyard. And what could anyone do about it now? It was clear Umbridge was running the show.

"Harry, this isn't fine," Rory said, holding up her hand to him. Blood was already seeping through the white cloth on her hand. "How can you possibly say this is fine?"

There were tears in her eyes. He'd seen her cry almost every night last week, and he was sure to see it again this week.

"Just trust me, Rory," he said.

"Well, stop provoking her, please," Rory said. "I hate the bullshit she's spreading as much as you do, but… You can't keep doing this. I can't keep doing this. I didn't even do anything today and I ended up here. Don't keep giving her a reason."

Harry sighed. "But she-."

"Harry, please," Rory pleaded. "Please just… Just let her be. Please."

Harry didn't know if he could stomach just letting Umbridge be, but he didn't think he'd be able to stomach even more of Rory's crying.

"Alright. I'll try," Harry said.

They returned to the deserted Common Room where Ron and Hermione were waiting with a Murtlap tentacle salve for their hands to help stop the bleeding and speed the healing.

"This is cruel," Hermione said as she wrapped a bandage around Rory's hand. Somehow the wound seemed worse on Rory's hand than it did on his.

"I'll handle it," Harry said. His eyes met Rory's for just a second, and then she looked away, back down at her hand. A pang of guilt tugged at him for a moment.

"Thanks, Hermione," Rory said, when her hand was finished.

"What's almost worse than this is that we don't have a proper defense against the dark arts teacher this year," Hermione said. "We have OWLs this year. A lot of futures get decided based on how well we do on these exams."

"Think you can talk her into actually teaching?" Ron scoffed. Hermione had gotten in trouble in class today for disagreeing with what was written in their textbook.

"We need a teacher who can teach us how to do these spells and correct us when we do them wrong. And not just for this test," Hermione said. "We have to be able to defend ourselves."

"Well, what do you want us to do, Hermione?" Harry asked. He was trying to keep the irritation out of his voice, but it was hard.

"You could teach us," Hermione said.

He looked up at Hermione, expecting her eyes to be on Rory, but they were on him.

"Me?" Harry asked. "You want me to teach you?"

Hermione nodded.

"Not a bad idea, actually," Ron agreed.

"You're joking," Harry said. "You must be."

"Harry, you've dealt with all this stuff before," Hermione said. "You know how to defend yourself. You could teach us."

"It's not as simple as all that. You don't know what it's like to face him. It's not as simple as memorizing a bunch of spells and firing them off," Harry said.

"That's why you have to do it," Rory said quietly. She was sitting on the floor at his feet, staring down at her hand. "Because you're the only one who does know what's it's like to face him. Who better to teach us?"

Harry wanted to argue, but they had a point.

"Half the stuff I did, I almost always had help," Harry said. "Some of it was just luck."

"We're going to need a little luck," Ron said.

"And Rory can help you," Hermione said.

"You're about as smart as I am, Hermione," Rory said.

"Maybe, but you and Harry are the only ones who have a real skill for it," Hermione said.

"And half the stuff I can only do because your dad taught me," Harry said. "Besides… You're the only other person who's got an idea of what it's like."

She was the only one who had some idea. She could've been dead just as easily as Cedric was last year. And whatever danger she was in as a seer had Voldemort set his eyes on her as well. How many spells had she looked up with him and practiced last year to get ready for the third task? How much had Lupin taught him when he'd been here?

"I'll think about it," Harry said. "But I won't do it without Rory."

She looked over to him and nodded. "I'll think about it too."


Initially, Rory was excited to be back at choir on Wednesday evening. She hugged Susan tightly and Ara ruffled her hair. They were two members smaller than last year with Connor and Marley having graduated, but Rory didn't miss them. But the rest of the choir seemed to be apprehensive of her presence.

"They all think your boyfriend is bonkers," Ara whispered to Rory. "Mind you, I think if Moody turned out to actually be a Deatheater, anything is fucking possible, and like, why would one come out of the woodwork and try to murder you if his boss man wasn't around, so like, I dunno. People are being shady as hell about it. I'm sure you know."

"Oh, I know," Rory replied. Between Lavender and Seamus, not to mention countless other students she didn't even know staring and whispering at Harry in the corridors. She knew it all too well.

"My aunt, Amelia Bones, she's on the Wizengamot. She told me all about Harry's hearing this summer," Susan whispered. "For what it's worth, I don't think he's crazy either."

Rory felt relieved, and she was excited to tell Harry that he had more people in his corner than he realized. She didn't care about the other members of the choir staring and whispering at her.

Flitwick got everyone on task and started everyone off with a vocal warm-up. Halfway through the warmup, Umbridge came in the door. Everyone fell silent.

"Sorry to interrupt. I misread the time for this meeting," Umbridge said. "I promise not to be too disruptive. I just want to… Hear what our lovely choir sounds like. I've heard great things." She took a seat and motioned for them to continue.

Rory did her best to pretend Umbridge wasn't there, but her presence completely unnerved Rory.

"Our first performance this year will be on Halloween," Flitwick informed everyone passing music sheets around.

"Back to the toads, sir?" Stephen Cornfoot, a Ravenclaw in Rory's year, asked.

"You can endure one performance I'm sure," Flitwick said. "You went without them at all last year."

"Who is your best singer?"

Everyone looked over to Umbridge.

"Pardon?" Flitwick asked.

"Who is your best singer? The most talented of the bunch," Umbridge said.

"All of my students are talented in their own right," Flitwick said.

Umbridge chuckled. "But surely you have a standout?"

Flitwick was absolutely not going to play into her hands. He frowned at her. "As I said before, Professor Umbridge, each of them standouts in their own way. I would not have Mister Cornfoot perform a soprano piece any more than I would have Miss Lupin take on the part of a tenor. Given the right piece of music, each of them shines."

Umbridge didn't seem to appreciate that Flitwick wouldn't take the bait.

"Well, I'd like to hear you sing something then," Umbridge said. "We want to be sure this is an extracurricular worthy of our students' time. Wouldn't want them to waste their time on something that's not worthwhile."

"This is the most worthwhile thing I do here," Susan said.

Umbridge smiled at her. "Your grades are proof enough of that, I suppose."

Susan's face dropped immediately.

"Just ignore her. I'm learning to," Rory whispered to her.

"Now are you going to sing?" Umbridge asked.

Flitwick cleared his throat. "Let's do the Emmerson Sparks 'Magic River' ballad. The acapella arrangement. Stephen, Aurora, join Ara on the trio please."

"Can Susan take my part, actually? I'm feeling a bit shy today," Ara said. Susan blushed.

"If that's alright with Miss Bones," Flitwick said. Susan nodded. "Then let's begin."

And so they did. Rory sang all the time, but it felt good to do something she was unquestionably good at in front of Umbridge. Even Susan seemed more confident than usual beside her right then. As they finished, Umbridge was scribbling down on her clipboard. Then she looked at Flitwick.

"You always sing traditional music?" Umbridge asked.

"Generally, though we've added some contemporary music to our lineup after last year when we heard some complaints from students," Flitwick said. "I'm trying to be good about adapting to their interests."

Umbridge bristled at this. "Adapting to their interests? Is that wise?"

"Helps to keep them engaged if they're interested in what they're doing," Flitwick said.

Umbridge gave him a very forced smile at this and then scribbled on her clipboard.

"They sound quite lovely. Mister Cornfoot, you have a lot of promise," Umbridge said.

Stephen raised an eyebrow. "Uh, thanks."

"Although, I might rethink my choice in giving Miss Bones and Miss Lupin a leading role next time. They might drag you down," Umbridge said as she got to her feet. Rory rolled her eyes.

"Merlin," Ara scoffed under her breath.

"You've something to say, Miss Ashe?" Umbridge asked.

"Just wondering if you're deaf or something since Rory's easily the best singer out of all of us," Ara said.

"Ara," Rory warned her, but she shushed her.

"I mean you asked who the standout is. It's Rory. She's the only one Professor Flitwick trusted to sing a solo with the freaking Weird Sisters last year and she killed it because she's so absurdly talented. If anything, the rest of us are bringing her down," Ara said.

"Ara, seriously," Rory said.

"No, no, let her continue, Miss Lupin," Umbridge said.

Rory flexed the fingers on her right hand, remembering the words carved into her skin there, remembering how she'd gotten them. She didn't want that for Ara. She was sure to get into trouble for standing up for Rory.

Rory gave Ara a pleading look.

Finally, Ara sighed. "All I'm saying is Rory and Susan sound great."

Umbridge continued to frown as she scribbled on her clipboard.

"And do you agree, Professor Flitwick?"

"Agree with what?" Flitwick asked.

"That Aurora Lupin is the best singer in your choir?" Umbridge asked.

"Doesn't matter what Flitwick thinks," Stephen Cornfoot chimed in. He was a fifth-year Ravenclaw. He'd joined the choir the same year as Rory had. There weren't many boys in the choir, but Rory though he'd always done better than Connor. "Aurora's fantastic."

"Stephen," Rory started to protest.

"No, Rory's it's fine," Stephen said. "They can attack your beliefs and biases and whatnot, but you can't fake that voice."

Rory smiled, and her cheeks burned. She knew she had Ara and Susan on her side, but Stephen who was best friends Ernie (Hufflepuff's prefect for that year), that meant something.

"Thanks, Stephen," Rory said.

"No thanks necessary. It's the truth," Stephen said.

Flitwick was prepared to get them on course for the Halloween song, but Umbridge chimed in.

"Do you sing Muggle music?" she asked.

"I've elected on doing one muggle song a year. We do have muggle-born students after all," Flitwick said.

"You sang Muggle music last year?" Umbridge asked.

"Yes," Flitwick said.

"Why?" Umbridge asked.

"Because the whole point of the TriWizard Tournament was international magical cooperation. Professor Dumbledore felt we couldn't achieve that without including all of our students, even the Muggle Born ones. We couldn't just honor Wizarding traditions, or that would erase the history of our muggle-born and half-born students," Rory said. "So bringing in Muggle music to our roster was important."

Umbridge scribbled down on her clipboard, then she looked up at the choir.

"Well, we'll just see how long that lasts, won't we?" Umbridge asked.

Rory bit back a frown as Umbridge walked out the door. She was grateful no one lost house points or got detention. All the same, Professor Flitwick seemed a bit distressed.

"I hope you all give it your best this year," Flitwick said. "Otherwise we may not have a next year it seems."

"She's just a bigot, Professor," Stephen said.

"Mister Cornfoot!" Flitwick protested.

"She is," Rory chimed in. "She hates half-humans. That's why she's so awful to me, because of my dad."

Flitwick sighed. "Professor Umbridge is a colleague of mine and-."

"Doesn't mean you have to agree with her," Rory said. Everyone knew that Flitwick was half-goblin, half-human. But this was the first time Rory ever sought to call him out on it. Or anyone had. "Ministry might want you to like her, but all you have to do is pretend to like her."

"Rory clearly doesn't even pretend to like her," Stephen said. "Or tolerate her."

"That's quite enough about Professor Umbridge," Flitwick said. "We're here to sing. Not discuss our staff."

When practice was over, Stephen found Rory as she was heading out the door.

"Can I ask you something, about Harry Potter?" Stephen said.

Rory nodded but braced herself. She was expecting everyone to give her a hard time about Harry.

"He's really telling the truth about Voldemort and all that?" Stephen asked.

Rory nodded. "You think he's making it up?"

"It's not that I think he's making it up. It all seems a bit unbelievable to me, but honestly, it tracks doesn't it?" he asked.

"It tracks?" Rory asked.

"Well our first year, Professor Quirrell did try to kill him. And second year there was a basilisk roaming around petrifying students, and third year Sirius Black. And last year, Barty Crouch Junior, an actual deatheater, certainly believed You-Know-Who was back and he tried to kill both of you. So like, maybe I don't really believe You-Know-Who is back but it makes sense that Potter would believe it," Stephen said. "I do think something strange is going on."

Spoken like a Ravenclaw, Rory thought. "And you don't think the strange thing might be that Voldemort is back?"

Stephen shrugged. "Unlikely, but honestly, nothing would surprise me at this point."

"Me either," Rory said.

"Well, I hope people stop giving him trouble anyway. I don't think anyone would ask for this kind of unwanted attention," Stephen said.

"That's what I keep saying," Rory said.

"And no one's giving you trouble?" Stephen asked.

"Just Umbridge," Rory said, rolling her eyes.

"Noticed that. Don't let her push you around too much," he said, giving her an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Goodnight, Rory."