I received a full month of detentions. That was not unexpected seeing as I was the cause of Draco's bloody nose and bruised face, although nothing Madam Pomphrey couldn't fix within five minutes.

To make matters worse, after McGonagall was done lecturing me, I was forced to go to my next class: Potions. So, I spent the next hour listening to Snape intentionally try to wind me up, Draco smirking in the background. Usually when this happens, I try to control my anger, very rarely letting it out. But today I was already set off, so I was only ten minutes in when I received another lot of detentions.

So with my next few weeks full with homework and detentions, I had zero time for a social life. At least when the Easter holidays came, I had less homework to worry about. So the time I would usually spend studying, I spent in the arms of my new boyfriend.

Sometimes Harry and I would make out, but most of the time we just talked. It was amazing how much I enjoyed his company. No matter what we did (or didn't do), these moments became some of the best moments of my life.

April passed and with it, the last of my detentions. While those were out of the way, I still had an ever-increasing workload to deal with. But each time I thought about complaining, I remembered that Harry had even more to deal with. He had to worry about the third and final task, which he still had no idea what he'd have to do.

That was, until the end of May, when McGonagall held him back in Transfiguration.

"I'll wait outside," I told Harry, before leaving him alone in the classroom. Minutes later, he had joined me outside.

"I have to go to the Quidditch field tonight at nine," he said.

"That's all she said?"

"Yeah."

I frowned at Harry's neutral expression. "How are you so calm about all of this?"

Harry turned to face me. "Who said I was?"

"You don't look worried at all – I know I would be if I were in your shoes."

There was a pause. "I'm terrified," he admitted quietly.

I stepped forward, closing the distance between us by wrapping my arms around Harry, and letting my head fall against his chest. "It'll be okay," I promised, "because whatever happens, you'll still have me cheering you on."

"It's been forever!" I exclaimed, tapping the end of my quill on the table that Ron, Hermione and I were sitting at. "How long does it take to say, 'your last challenge is this.'"

"Harry had to go all the way to the Quidditch pitch," Hermione reminded me without taking her eyes off her page.

"But that was over an hour ago! He should be back by now!"

"Don't worry about Harry," Ron said. "I'm sure he can survive a walk between here and the Quidditch pitch."

Irritated, I stood up and began pacing nervously, silently begging for the portrait door to open and for Harry to appear.

It was several minutes before my wish came true.

"Harry!" I exclaimed when I saw him, rushing over and dragging him over to our corner. "So? What is the challenge? Have you got a plan for it? Do you need help with something? Or do you need us to stay out of it? You know you can tell us whatever, we're easy-going. Easy-breezy Lean, that's me. Hey, did anyone notice that rhymed... why is no one speaking?"

"Because you're not giving anyone a chance," Ron said with a slight eye roll.

"I'm sorry, are you waiting for an invitation, Ron?"

"Just a half a second pause will do."

"Guys!" Harry interrupted. "Do you want me to tell you what happened or not?"

"Tell us," Hermione said, glaring between me and Ron.

"First, the challenge is a maze. It's a race to get past the obstacles and get to the middle, where the Triwizard cup is placed. Whoever gets there first wins."

"That doesn't seem too hard," Ron shrugged.

"You said first," Hermione noticed. "What else happened?"

"This is the interesting part," Harry said in a small whisper, glancing around to make sure no one was close enough to overhear. "Krum and I saw Mr. Crouch at the edge of the forest. He wasn't normal, he kept talking to this tree as if it was Percy. He said he needed to warn Dumbledore... that he's done something terrible. He also mentioned his son and Bertha Jorkins and Voldemort – apparently he's getting stronger."

"What were you doing by the edge of the forest with Viktor?" Hermione asked.

I shot her a look. "That's what you're most concerned about?"

Hermione just shrugged.

"He just wanted to talk," Harry said. "He... wanted to know if you – Hermione – and I were..."

Hermione sighed. "Oh, for goodness's sake, him too? Why does everyone believe that Rita Skeeter woman?"

"Yeah, she's awful," Ron said impatiently. "Anyway, what happened next, Harry?"

"I left him with Krum and went to get Dumbledore, but when we got back, Crouch was gone and Krum was stunned. I don't know who attacked them."

The three of them continued to discuss the matter, but I just stared ahead. You-Know-Who getting stronger? If he returned, who would be first on his kill list but the only one he wasn't able to kill before? As long as he lived – Harry would never be safe.

I tuned back in to the conversation right as Hermione suggested Harry writes to 'Snuffles'.

"Who's Snuffles?" I asked curiously.

"A family friend," Harry said to me, then to others, "Dumbledore told me to wait until morning."

"Well, you can write it now," I suggested, handing him the piece of parchment I was supposed to have started my History of Magic essay on. "And how come I've never heard of this 'Snuffles'?"

"I dunno," Harry shrugged, avoiding my gaze as he stole my quill and began scribbling furiously on the parchment.

The next morning, the four of us woke early to go to the Owlery and send Ron's owl – Pigwidgeon – with the letter to Snuffles. We stayed up there, continuing the conversation from last night, or I should say, Harry, Hermione and Ron continued the conversation. All I did was listen half-heartedly while staring out at the misty grounds and hoping Crouch was wrong about You-Know-Who getting stronger. But some part of me knew he wasn't.

"We need to see Professor Moody," Hermione said. "We need to find out whether he found Mr. Crouch."

"If he had the Marauder's Map on him, it would've been easy," Harry said.

"Unless Crouch was already outside the grounds," Ron reminded. "Because it only shows up to the boundaries, doesn't —"

"Shh!" I said suddenly. All three of them looked at me quizzically. And then they heard it too; two voices arguing outside on the stairs leading up to the Owlery.

"That's blackmail, that is, we could get into a lot of trouble for that," one of the voices said.

"We've tried being polite," the other voice said. "It's time to play dirty, like him. He wouldn't like the Ministry of Magic knowing what he did."

"I'm telling you, if you put that in writing, it's blackmail!"

"Yeah, and you won't be complaining if we get a nice fat payoff, will you?"

The door opened and Fred and George came over the threshold, freezing at the sight of us.

"What're you doing here?" Ron and Fred said at the same time.

"Sending a letter," Harry and George said in unison.

"What, at this time?" Fred and I said at the same time.

Fred grinned at me and I rolled my eyes in response. I had only spoken to him and George once since their birthday, and that was just before the Easter holidays. They had apologised, and I had accepted their apology, mostly because I was in a rush to meet Harry.

"Fine," Fred said. "We won't ask you what you're doing, if you don't ask us." Then he stepped to make a mock bow and pointed to the door. "Well, don't let us hold you up."

Neither of us moved. "Who're you blackmailing?" Ron asked.

George glanced at Fred before smiling at his younger brother. "Don't be stupid, I was only joking."

"Didn't sound like that."

"I've told you before, Ron," Fred snapped. "Keep your nose out if you like it the shape it is. Can't see why you would, but—"

"It's my business if you're blackmailing someone," said Ron. "George's right, you could end up in serious trouble for that."

"Told you, I was joking," said George, taking the letter out of Fred's hands and attaching it to the nearest barn owl's leg. "You're starting to sound a bit like our dear older brother, you are, Ron. Carry on like this and you'll be made a prefect."

"No, I won't!" Ron said angrily.

The barn owl took over at the window, and George grinned at Ron. "Well, stop telling people what to do then. See you later."

Harry, Ron, Hermione and I stared at one another as the Weasley twins left.

"You don't think they know something about all this, do you?" Hermione whispered. "About Crouch and everything?"

Harry shook his head. "No, if it was something that serious, they'd tell someone. They'd tell Dumbledore."

Ron, however, was looking uncomfortable. Hermione asked him what was wrong. "Well..." he said slowly. "I dunno if they would. They're... they're obsessed with making money lately, I noticed it when I was hanging around with them – when – you know –"

"We weren't talking." Harry finished the sentence for him. "Yeah, but blackmail..."

"I noticed it too," I added. "They're really serious about starting their own joke shop, but they need gold first."

"But they wouldn't do anything against the law to get gold," Hermione said. "Where are you going, Lean?"

I had stood up and was making my way toward the door. "To ask them," I answered without any more of an explanation.

"We already tried that," Ron pointed out.

I stopped in the doorway and turned back to face the Golden Trio. "I know, but you'll find I can be pretty persuasive..." I winked, before descending the steps and running down the corridor until I saw the two Weasley twins in the distance.

They were arguing in hushed whispers, but both turned around at the sound of footsteps behind them.

"Lean?" Fred said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Does a girl need an excuse to hang with her friends?" I asked, throwing my arms around their shoulders.

"A girl does when she hasn't spoken to her so-called friends in over a month," Fred answered, shrugging me off his back.

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," I said. "I've been pretty busy lately..."

"Oh yes, we've noticed," George said. "How is Harry?"

"He means when you're not sticking your tongue down his throat?" Fred added bitterly.

"He's well," I said, choosing to ignore that last comment. "So... now that it's just us..."

George raised his eyebrows. "You want to ask about the letter?"

"Well now that you bring it up..."

"As I already told you and your friends, we're not blackmailing anyone."

"I never mentioned blackmail."

"Enough Lean," Fred said. "We didn't tell our brother, what makes you think we're going to tell you?"

"There are things people tell their friends and not their siblings. Do you think I've told Draco everything that's happening in my life?"

"That is completely different, and you know it," Fred said. "Besides, anything we tell you, you're just going to go tell your boyfriend."

"That is not true!" I spat back, now feeling defensive. "I have always been loyal to my friends—"

"Friends you still hate!" Fred snapped back.

"Fred," George hissed warningly.

"And you know what's funny?" Fred continued. George muttered something to his twin in a low voice, but Fred continued as if he hadn't heard him. "You hate us for trying to use you to get to Malfoy, and now you're doing the exact same thing - using us! Only, instead of a friendly prank, you're using us to get points with your boyfriend!"

I felt my face flare up, and I knew I was seconds away from completely losing my cool. Again. "You are way off Weasley—"

"Am I interrupting something?"

Harry had chosen that exact moment to appear behind us, arms crossed as he glared at Fred.

"Your girlfriend was just leaving," Fred muttered coldly, before he and George walked away.

Harry walked over to me and rested his hand on my shoulder. "You alright?"

"Fine," I mumbled, shrugging his hand off. "Let's just find Hermione and Ron and go get something to eat. I'm starving."

As I walked away, I thought about what Fred had said. He was wrong, wasn't he? Was I just using him to make Harry happy? Because the truth was, I actually missed having Fred around as a friend and while I obviously wanted the truth from them, I mainly chased after them, so I could perhaps regain our friendship, which, I realised now, would take more than hopeful conversations.

I sighed. How was it that I was finding myself continuously fighting and apologising with people? Did I just not know how to control my temper?

It's the Gryffindor in you, a voice in my head said, and I couldn't help but agree, my heart filling with pride.