Happy New Year, lovelies! May 2024 be even better than 2023. Stay safe tonight!
readerfaye: Thank you for the review! I would never have guessed that English wasn't your first language! It was definitely an intense chapter, but I loved writing it! George is perfect for her, I agree. Things get much better for him and Nessa very, very soon :). The next chapters are so exciting! I can't wait until you guys get to read them!
Chapter Twenty One
Murton and her friends had not been expelled.
McGonagall had come to the common room to speak with her about the decision they had made in terms of their punishment a few hours after they'd left Snape's office. She and Professor Snape had been of the mind that they deserved nothing less than expulsion — a belief with which her friends shared — but Dumbledore had, apparently, taken her request into account. The three of them had been suspended for the rest of the year, and had lost Slytherin House so many points that Nessa was fairly certain that there was no chance that Slytherin would manage to win the House Cup at this point.
She'd expected the punishment to make her feel….something. Really, she just felt as anxious as she had before. They probably did deserve to be expelled…if it had happened to Harry instead of her, she had not a single doubt in her mind that she would have accepted no other alternative. Getting the three of them expelled, however, still felt like losing somehow. An opinion with which her friends did not understand.
They'd not said anything to her for the two days that Dumbledore had ordered she'd take off from classes — which she spent the majority of her time continuing to practice wandless magic or staring blankly out the common room window — but they'd not avoided the conversation for much longer. The argument that had ensued between the four of them had attracted the entire fifth year boys' dormitory. The twins and Tori were upset that she'd even care at all what happened to Murton and her friends because they clearly didn't have the same regard for her. Tori had insinuated that Nessa only cared because she was unable to convince herself the entire thing wasn't her fault and that she had a tendency toward self-destructive behavior when she wanted to avoid her problems.
The fact that she couldn't entirely refute that statement as a whole had really only served to piss her off more and she'd told the three of them under no uncertain terms that they had no right to judge her for how she chose to cope with what had happened. Especially not when they had forced her into speaking about something she wasn't ready to talk about, with no regard for how traumatic it would be for her to relive the experience.
The argument had not been resolved, as neither of them really knew how to argue with each other, when both assessments were entirely true. So they'd mutually decided to drop the entire thing altogether, and the twins and Tori had agreed to try to be content with the fact that at least some form of punishment had been meted out. Her friends' opinions were the very least of her concerns anyway.
Only the seven of them, and the three professors, had been a part of the meeting where the truth about the ordeal had come to light, so, naturally, the entire school knew what had happened. Dumbledore had spoken with Cedric to corroborate her whereabouts on that night and ask if he'd seen the three Slytherin girls in the library that night. An action which had only been to further serve as proof to the parents of the three Slytherins, who were being sent home at the first opportunity, that they'd done as much investigating as they were able. He'd made it particularly clear that Nessa's reaction alone had been proof enough for him that she was telling the truth, even without the state of the trunk as evidence, but Murton's father was a school governor, and a particularly difficult one, and he had no doubt that he would raise hell when he heard of his daughter's suspension.
Cedric had, apparently, seen the three of them lurking in the stacks when they'd been working, but had not thought much of it, and advised that Nessa had not been forthcoming about the incident with him. She'd never actually seen Cedric angry before —- much less angry with her — but he'd not been at all happy to know what had happened to her. Even more upset because she'd been flying with him days later and had said nothing to him. Even angrier, still, that she had tried to save them from expulsion, and he made it entirely clear how disgusted he was by the clear disregard they'd had for her safety and mental health. It was the only instance with which she'd seen him and the twins agree on anything.
Cedric hadn't spoken with her for several days after he'd found out because he was too angry with her for not having said anything. Nessa hadn't had the energy to argue with him at that point, but George had not had the same restraint.
He'd come storming over with a very irritated Cedric, being dragged against his will by his robes, and told him to quit acting like such a prat to her because, no matter how he felt about the situation —- and, much to Fred's amusement, had made it brutally clear exactly how much he disliked him in the process — Nessa was still the victim in all of it, and George had not an ounce of patience within him to listen to his overinflated ego and misplaced betrayal.
The irony of George forcing Cedric to apologize to her so they could maintain their friendship was not lost on her.
Cedric had apologized to her, looking a little guilty at his behavior, but also had been eyeing George warily the entire time. Nessa had had to bite her lip to keep from laughing at how nervous he'd looked, but she had chided George for being so brutal with him anyway. He'd ignored her completely.
Harry had been the most upset, however.
He'd spent an entire hour yelling at Fred, George, and Tori for not having told him what had happened, which, much to Nessa's surprise, the three of them had the good sense to look guilty about. He told them the next time something like this happened, he wanted to be told immediately, and if he so much as found out, they'd made some "bullshit excuse" about what was really wrong with his sister, he'd make Mrs. Weasley's rage appear tame in comparison. Adding on to Fred and George that he could care less if they spent the entire rest of their lives trying to shove his head in a toilet for his cheek —- because the two of them were clear idiots and he didn't care what they thought of him at this point —- had been a statement that Nessa had found entirely unnecessary, but amusing all the same. If only because she'd never seen Fred and George look as though they'd been forced to swallow rotten eggs.
He'd spent another thirty minutes yelling at Vanessa for always being on his case about keeping secrets from her when she was running around doing the very same thing to him. He was the only one of them who hadn't laid into her for trying to keep them from being expelled, but he'd had no interest in a single one of her apologies about the entire thing. His opinion was the only one that had really had much of an impact on her.
She did yell at him frequently about keeping things from her. She had, on several occasions, told him that doing so just to keep her from being worried about him was not an acceptable reason. Yet, she did the opposite when she was placed in similarly dangerous situations. Her explanation that it was her job to protect him had been met with a deadpan expression and stony silence. He'd stared at her with that expression until she'd promised him to tell him if anything like that happened to her again, and he'd dropped the entire thing with a concerned expression after that. It had been an endeavor convincing him that she was alright and he didn't need to hover around her afterward. He'd eventually acquiesced and gone to the Quidditch pitch with Ron with a last scathing glare at the twins and Tori.
Between all of them, the stares and whispers she was getting from every other student in the halls, and the glares she was getting from everyone in Slytherin, she was at the end of her emotional tether. Being stressed out about Ginny last year felt like fool's play at this point. She'd never in her life felt so…unstable. Whatever trauma response she was having about the stupid trunk was one thing, but she still had to worry about her brother and Sirius Black, her brother and his friendship with Hermione, Tori and her feelings about Sirius Black. Sirius Black in general, really.
With as little sleep as she was getting recently, she had far too much time on her hands to think about all of the things she had to be worried about. Maybe she just liked to torture herself at this point, she couldn't tell anymore. It was hard enough waking up and having to light her wand to calm her racing heart. But then she spent the next few hours staring up at the tapestry above her bed, letting the darkness in their dormitory shine a light on the darkness within her head. Wandless magic was starting to take a toll on her —- the exhaustion was so deep that she could barely keep her eyes open, but her nightmares wouldn't allow her enough of a reprieve to sleep. Tutoring Cedric and running with Fred were only barely holding together the shreds of whatever sanity she had left. Alicia and George weren't even speaking to each other anymore, although George had said they were still together — and hadn't sounded like he was all that excited about it.
She still couldn't figure out she felt about the knowledge that Sirius Black was the reason that her parents were dead. Even now, standing in the darkness of the Astronomy tower, she still tried to avoid the feelings thinking about Sirius Black brought forth. Her brother had said very little about him since Christmas, for which she was grateful, and she had pushed her photo album as far back in her nightstand as she could in order to avoid looking at it. But the Daily Prophet was reporting about him in every issue at this point, and it made it more and more difficult for her to avoid thinking about him entirely.
She'd seen in the Daily Prophet in the last week the fate that awaited Sirius Black once he was found. The Dementor's Kiss. She'd never seen the color drain from Tori's face so quickly — they'd spoken very little about it since, but Tori's hatred for the man did not make it any easier for her to cope with the fact that he would soon be soulless. Nessa had no idea how to comfort her about it either, other than telling her that she understood how complicated it must feel for her. The guilt of caring about what happened to him seemed to be eating Tori from the inside out — she maintained that she shouldn't care what befell him because he'd done unforgivable things, but every time she said it, the words were as hollow as her eyes.
When the dreams had woken Vanessa again tonight, that hollowness was the first image that came to her mind as she'd stared up at the tapestry above her. So, she'd taken her lit wand, slid on a pair of slippers, and snuck out of the dormitory on light feet, trying to avoid waking up her dormmates. Creeping through the halls of the castle, dodging the prefects on the way, had been about as much excitement as she could bring herself to muster, before she'd slipped into the Astronomy Tower.
She'd extinguished every one of the lanterns that had been lit after the last class of the evening, so that there was no glare from the lights to prevent her from seeing the stars above her. The light of the crescent moon above her, her favorite shape of all of the moon phases, was the only light she had to go by, the faint silver glow making the shadows look even sharper against the wall behind her. The blanket she'd brought with her was hardly enough to ward off the chill of the evening, but the bite of the wind against her face made her feel more alive than she had in the last several weeks.
She couldn't tell how long she'd been up here, leaning against the ledge in front of her, and tilting her head up toward the sky above her. It was uncharacteristically cloudless tonight, so she could see every single one of the stars as they twinkled brightly overhead. The silence of the evening, other than the sounds of the swaying tree branches scraping against each other, somehow helped clear her head, while also making the pit in her stomach feel more intense somehow. But she could breathe, at least. A small reprieve from the building pressure she'd been feeling in her chest and shoulders.
She missed being at the Burrow already — none of her problems had existed there. The heaviness had felt lighter there somehow. There was less judgment there.
"Vanessa?"
She jumped about a foot in the air, whirling around with a barely suppressed scream of terror. She'd managed to choke it down a little, but it still came out as a high-pitched, closed-mouth squeal.
"Professor Lupin," she said breathlessly, trying to calm the pounding of her heart at his sudden appearance. She lowered her wand slowly. "Sorry, you — you just startled me. I didn't even hear you come in here."
He was eyeing her by the light of his wand, his gaze somewhere between disapproving and concerned. He looked healthy at the moment — he was still a few weeks from the full moon — although his robes were as shabby as ever.
She hadn't seen much of him outside of class. Not since their conversation about her knowing about his monthly disappearances. She was fairly certain he avoided her under most circumstances at this point, but she hadn't bothered going to his office again to ask him about it. It wasn't really her place, for one thing, and for another, she'd made it pretty clear how she felt about the entire thing.
"You shouldn't be out of your dormitory after curfew," he said disapprovingly. "Not with Sirius Black on the loose."
Nessa raised an eyebrow at him and clutched the blanket she'd brought with her tighter around her shoulders.
"Sirius Black is after Harry, not me," she said calmly. "I don't imagine he'd be wandering around the Astronomy Tower when he knows where my brother sleeps. I'm probably safer here than my own dorm."
He eyed her sharply, his gaze intense and probing, as if he were trying to figure out what exactly she was doing up here in the first place. If he expected his stare to make her feel uncomfortable enough to provide him with an explanation, it wasn't working. She merely stared back at him blankly.
He took a step toward her and then froze completely, as if he'd been slapped. She had to suppress a laugh at how uncomfortable he looked as he seemed to realize that they were the only two up here. With a flick of his wand, he lit the lanterns again and she refrained from complaining, despite the fact that she had been enjoying the darkness around her. He eyed her closely again and then took a step away from her and grimaced.
"It's not a full moon, Professor," she said, unable to hide her amusement at his nervousness. He flinched at the reminder of her knowledge. "You don't have to stand so far away from me."
"You should go back to bed, Vanessa," he said again as if she hadn't spoken at all.
Maybe she was just too numb to care at this point or maybe she was simply too comfortable with him at this point, but she ignored him completely and turned back around to lean against the ledge of the tower and look back up at the stars.
"Nessa," she reminded softly, taking in a slow breath through her nose as she relaxed again, letting the wind and sounds of the night surround her again. "I couldn't sleep," she continued by way of explanation. "The stars relax me."
There was silence from behind her, and she wondered if he were debating reprimanding her for her clear defiance of his request for her to return back to her dormitory or if he simply just wasn't sure what to say. She heard him sigh heavily behind her and then footsteps sounded against the stone floor. She smiled to herself when he came to stand next to her, although he still stood further away than most people would have. He smelled like old parchment — an oddly relaxing scent as it reminded her of the library.
"I heard about what happened to you," he said calmly, leaning against the ledge himself and training his eyes across the grounds at the forest beyond. "It was kind of you to keep them from being expelled."
Nessa tensed at the reminder and refused to look over at him.
"Tori says that it was just a form of self-sabotage," she said with a derisive snort. "That I just don't want to feel guilty about their punishment, even if it makes me miserable in the process."
"Is that what you think?"
She did, although she wouldn't admit it aloud to any of them. She cared very little about her own well-being, even though she spent so much time worrying about everyone else's. Even if it meant she'd have to see Murton and her friends in the halls next year, at least she could remain guilt-free.
Instead of answering, she smirked.
"You'd make a very good shrink, Professor," she said dryly.
He chuckled beside her.
"Your mother told me that once," he said fondly. "She hated when I answered her questions with questions." Nessa snorted and refrained from saying that most people likely would have hated that. There was a long moment of silence, broken only by the sound of the trees and the sound of owls in the distance, before he spoke again. "Your grandmother had anxiety."
She couldn't stop herself from jerking her head in his direction at this statement.
"I'm sorry?" she said in surprise.
Clearly, he'd heard more than just what had happened to her. To her mortification, he appeared to have heard about her panic attack as well, if his careful glance was anything to go by. McGonagall and Snape had kept a rather deliberate eye on her since she'd broken down in his office, but neither of them had mentioned it to her directly. Although she supposed to them, the panic attack was justified given the situation. They didn't know her well enough personally to suspect it was anything more than a one time occurrence.
She did not know how to respond to someone who chose to be so direct to her about it. Because she wasn't stupid — he wasn't bringing it up to tell her more about her family life. He was feeling her out, trying to determine if this sort of reaction was more common than she let on.
A good shrink, indeed.
"James never mentioned it much," he said, his voice carefully casual, non-judgmental. She wondered why he even bothered pretending he didn't know her parents very well at this point, but she refrained from saying so. "But she took a potion occasionally to help with the intensity. She was a very sweet woman —- she doted on James. I'm afraid to say he may have been a little arrogant because of it."
Nessa hid her grin by averting her face.
"Professor Snape has told Harry that he used to 'strut,'" she said in amusement.
Lupin smiled slightly.
"He was not short of confidence," he agreed. "Your grandmother used to marvel at how different he was from her — I saw him nervous on so few occasions. Unless your mother was near, of course."
Nessa smiled in a bittersweet way. She could tell based on what little she remembered of the two of them — and the photos Hagrid had given her — that her father had been wildly in love with her mother. In every photo she had of them, he looked at her like she hung the moon, like he was still trying to believe that she was really his. She'd have loved to have watched them together in real life, if only as a reminder of what love should look like.
"There is no shame in asking for help, Vanessa," Lupin said softly from beside her when she didn't respond. "We all have things we'd rather keep in the dark, but there is bravery and strength in admitting we cannot do it on our own."
She felt a flare of anger at the words. Misplaced, of course, because he was not wrong and was only trying to help. She'd spent her entire life helping others and she'd never once thought that any of the people she helped were weaker because they'd needed it. But hearing someone tell her to admit that she needed it made her feel weak anyway. There was an irritation in having someone who knew her so little be the one to notice that she needed help at all.
Even if he had been familiar with her family before her.
She opened her mouth to retort and say something she was certain she would regret later —-something horribly defensive —but when she looked over at him, he looked….sad. He looked alone even though he was standing directly next to her. The expression on his face gave her pause as she stared at him curiously.
She supposed that knowing her family was only part of the reason he could tell that she was drifting in the wind these days. Perhaps he knew what she felt like only because he was familiar with the feelings himself. He always seemed to be very friendly, comfortable, fairly confident. But looking at him now she wondered if that was just a charade. Being a werewolf could not possibly leave someone with any of those feelings. Made worse, of course, by the way that society treated them. She imagined he'd spent most of his life — if not all of it — feeling alone, feeling unwanted. The world had likely shown him nothing different, and he appeared as though he'd merely accepted it. It would certainly explain why he was still standing so far away from her, as if he were sure she was uncomfortable being around him. It would explain why he was taking pity on her now instead of insisting she go to bed.
Perhaps his kindness stemmed from the fact that he had received so little himself.
It was hard for her to snap at him when he looked so alone. It was hard for her to not see herself when she looked at him. It was hard for her to be defensive with someone who would just see directly through her anyway. And, perhaps, it was just hard because she was so tired of pretending like her mind was not racing a mile a minute, even when she looked calm on the outside.
So, instead of snapping, she sighed heavily and took a step closer to him. He tensed in surprise, but didn't reprimand him or move away. She looked up at the stars again for a long moment before she responded to him.
"I've always been self-sufficient," she said finally. "Harry has always been my primary concern. I don't give much thought to what would best help me most of the time. And I've lived my entire life handling the feelings on my own to spare him from worrying."
She could see him raise an eyebrow out of the corner of her eye.
"Do you believe that you can best care for Harry when you cannot help yourself?"
The question made her want to bristle, except he sounded more curious than judgmental. She tried to focus on that fact instead of how much the words themselves hit her in the gut.
"And you think that if I were to tell Madam Pomfrey that I was having these feelings," she said slowly. "That that would be better for Harry? That it wouldn't just cause him to worry more than he already does?"
He chuckled to himself, leaning forward further and folding his arms over each other, still staring off into the distance.
"Answering questions with your own questions, I see. Perhaps I've been a bad influence on you," he said in mild amusement. "I think," he continued thoughtfully. "That you and your brother have been given a lot in life that most people cannot begin to understand. I think that, if you do have these feelings more regularly than you let on, that it is certainly not something to be ashamed of, considering everything you've been through with your brother. And likely will go through with him in the future, if the past is any indication." He paused for another moment before sighing sadly. "And I think that these feelings will only get worse for you as those times come."
"That's not really an answer, you know," she said dryly.
His next laugh was more of a sharp release of air this time.
"I think that you are not the only one who worries," he said sagely. "Your dedication and concern for your brother is admirable, but to say that he does not already worry about you would be an untruth. Do you not believe that in helping yourself, you would not also be saving him from that concern as well? That in doing so, you would not be more suited to protect him in the future?"
She rolled the words over in her head, rather than responding. She didn't think he really expected a response from her — he wasn't pushing and the decision of seeking help for these sorts of things was a long and difficult decision. But, she did concede that he had a point, even if a part of her wanted to continue to refuse that it was true. A part of her wanted the relief of feeling less on edge all of the time. A potion would not cure her — she knew that — but it would help dim the intensity, so that she didn't have to rely on George and Tori to talk her out of an anxiety attack. Not that either of them had complained about having to do so, but it would certainly help with the self-sufficient thing.
Another part of her was too anxious to give the entire thing much thought. What if she tried it and it didn't help at all? How did you even bring up such an issue to a Healer in the first place? Did the Wizarding World even care that much about these sorts of issues? Even in the Muggle world, there was a stigma around needing psychological help.
"I'll think about it," she said by way of an answer.
It wasn't really an answer, but it wasn't a lie. She'd consider it, if only to never have this conversation with someone else again. He accepted the non-answer anyway, standing up fully and looking down at her sternly.
"Well then, I must insist that you go back to your dormitory," he said seriously. "I don't imagine even Sirius Black can put a damper on the Quidditch match tomorrow morning."
-o0o-
The next morning was filled with excitement, as Professor Lupin had surmised it would be. He'd walked her back to the common room himself, assuring her that Harry was doing well enough in his dementor lessons that, should they show up again, he would be able to keep them at bay long enough to reach the ground. The knowledge had helped her sleep easier for the rest of the evening, and her relief persisted into the next morning.
She and Tori had been the first down to breakfast that morning, to their surprise. The meaning of this became clear to them, however, whenever Harry arrived with his Firebolt clutched in one hand, surrounded by Ron and all of the other boys on the team. Nessa could not suppress the eye roll at how serious they all looked.
"Aw, how sweet," she said sweetly as her brother, the twins, and Ron took a seat next to them, as heads turned in the direction of the Firebolt and the Great Hall broke out into excited muttering. "It's like an Honor Guard."
Tori laughed, even as she was currently eyeing the Firebolt appreciatively herself. The Slytherin team were all looking thunderstruck, which she could not help but feel enormously satisfied about. Malfoy looked as though he was having his worst nightmare realized. Wood, too, was basking in the reflected glory of the Firebolt.
"Put it here, Harry," he said, laying the broom in the middle of the table and carefully turning it so that its name faced upward. Nessa was forced to hide her grin behind her goblet —- truthfully, Quidditch fanatics were their own breed. People from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were soon coming over to look. Cedric was the first of them to arrive, straddling the bench next to Vanessa with a grin and leaning over to pop one of her grapes into his mouth.
"Cedric!" she scolded, swatting at him in reproach. "We've talked about this a hundred times. Do not steal food from my plate."
"She goes feral for food, you know," Tori grinned.
Cedric laughed and squeezed Nessa's waist in response. She jumped at the tickling sensation and gasped in surprise.
"She goes feral about a great many things," he said conversationally, grinning widely when she huffed at him. "Congratulations on the superb broom, Harry! You couldn't have acquired a better replacement for your Nimbus."
Nessa rolled her eyes at the excitement on his face as he leaned forward to look at it. Fred and George were watching his every move like hawks, as if they expected him to sabotage it directly in front of them all.
"Do you imagine you'd have beat us on that then, Diggory?" Tori said with a smirk.
Cedric grinned good-naturedly.
"I suppose we'll find out next year, Hastings," he said confidently. He looked up when Devon yelled his name from across the hall and nodded, stealing another grape off Nessa's plate and winking at her glare. "Good luck, you lot. Catch you later, gorgeous."
Harry raised an eyebrow at the pet name, and opened his mouth — for what Nessa was sure would be an inquisition — but Percy and his girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, appeared at that moment. Penelope wasted no time in asking if she could hold the Firebolt, which effectively distracted her brother, much to her relief.
"Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!" said Percey heartily as she examined the Firebolt closely. "Penelope and I have got a bet on," he told them all. "Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match!"
Penelope put the Firebolt down again, thanked Harry, and went back to her table.
"Harry — make sure you win," said Percy in an urgent whisper. "I haven't got ten Galleons. Yes, I'm coming, Penny!" And he bustled off to join her in a piece of toast.
"Just when I was beginning to think he had no whimsy," Nessa said, only half-joking. The twins and Tori grinned at her in response, but Draco Malfoy appeared before any of them could say anything else.
"Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" he said in a cold, drawling voice.
The entire team glared at him as he approached, but Nessa just grinned sweetly at him. He gave her a wide berth, no doubt because he was going to say something insulting and had learned the hard way how she reacted to such things. Crabbe and Goyle followed right behind him.
"Yeah, reckon so," said Harry casually.
"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?" said Malfoy, eyes glittering maliciously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute — in case you get too near a dementor."
Crabbe and Goyle sniggered. Nessa did glare at him then, and opened her mouth angrily, but Harry spoke first.
"Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy. Then it could catch the Snitch for you."
The entire Gryffindor team laughed loudly. Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed, and, with a flick of his eyes in her direction, he stalked away. They watched him rejoin the rest of the Slytherin team, who put their heads together, no doubt asking Malfoy whether Harry's broom really was a Firebolt.
"Are you sitting with us, Nessa?"
She looked up to see Hermione and Ginny standing behind Tori. Both were wrapped in scarves and winter jackets and grinning widely, although Hermione was doing her level best to avoid eye contact with Harry.
Nessa nodded.
"Of course," she said, taking a last drink of her apple juice. "Be safe," she said to her brother — as usual — and he merely nodded placatingly, as usual. And, because she could not help but think about how the last Quidditch match had ended, she squeezed him tightly and whispered, "I love you," before pulling back and grinning at the team. "Good luck."
The walk down to the pitch with Hermione and Ginny was quick. They'd hurried so they could get decent seats in the front row, so Nessa's legs were burning a little by the time they got to their seats. The weather could not have been more different from the match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze. There was further relief in knowing that there would be no visibility issues for any of them, and that she wouldn't have to worry about any of her friends or Harry being electrocuted mid-game.
When eleven o'clock neared, and the three of them were packed into the stands with the rest of the school like sardines, the two teams finally walked out onto the pitch. She cheered loudly with the rest of her house — if they lost this match, they were out of the running for the Cup and she could not think of anything worse at the moment. Although, she felt like that at every match, once she was surrounded by the excitement and competitive atmosphere of the entire school.
Wood and the Ravenclaw captain — who she thought was named Davies — shook hands and then the whistle blew and they were rising into the air to loud cheering. She watched in amazement as her brother zoomed higher and faster than any of the other brooms on the field. They might have all been utterly ridiculous, but she had to concede that it was a superb broomstick.
Lee Jordan's magically magnified voice filled the stadium as the game commenced in front of them.
"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship —"
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.
Nessa met Ginny's eye in amusement, and cheered loudly when Tori rammed into one of the Ravenclaw Chasers and snatched the Quaffle for Gryffindor.
"Right you are, Professor — just giving a bit of background information — the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and —"
"Jordan!"
"Okay, Okay, Gryffindor in possession, Victoria Hastings of Gryffindor heading for goal…"
Nessa shook her head in amusement at her friend's antics — although she admired his passion — and watched in interest as the Ravenclaw Seeker, Cho Chang, tailed Harry closely. She was a good flier, cutting across him and forcing him to change direction several times. She was surprised her brother allowed it for as long as he did before he accelerated past Fred, who was pursuing a Bludger that was aiming for Alicia, and left Chang behind.
Tori scored the first goal of the game, and the entire Gryffindor stand went wild.
"Look!" said Hermione excitedly.
Nessa's breath caught as her brother dove for the ground and leaned so far forward that she had to hold onto the railing for balance as she watched him tear after what she assumed was the Snitch. Cho caught on immediately and tore after him. Harry was speeding up and she held her breath in excitement, but yelled angrily when a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere, forcing Harry to veer off-course and only avoiding it by an inch.
There was a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment from the Gryffindor supporters, but Nessa made her feelings much more clear, swearing so loudly and violently that Ginny was sent into peals of laughter and Hermione went red in mortification with a horrified "Nessa!" Her swearing tirade was cut short when George vented his feelings by hitting the second Bludger at the offending Beater, forcing him to roll right over in midair to avoid it.
"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn — Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long —"
"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"
Nessa couldn't help the loud laughter that released at the sound of McGonagall's obvious irritation, even as Ravenclaw started to pull back. They scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead, which was nowhere near enough for Gryffindor to win if Cho Chang got to the Snitch first. She watched as Harry dropped lower, narrowly avoiding one of the Ravenclaw Chasers, scanning the field frantically for the Snitch.
It was several more minutes before he accelerated again, this time toward the Gryffindor goalposts. Nessa did not have long to get her hopes up this time because Cho was much faster this time, cutting him off completely. Harry, instead of flying into her or forcing her to veer off course himself, made a panicked motion and came to a stop before he could hit her.
"What's he doing?" Ginny yelled angrily. "Knock her off her broom!"
Nessa laughed this time and could see Oliver Wood screaming at her brother as well. She did not need to hear him to know that he was likely saying the same thing. Cho was grinning, as Harry turned his Firebolt upward and hovered twenty feet above the game. Cho went with him, following his every move.
"Is she even looking for the Snitch?" said Hermione in irritation.
"No, she's tailing him," said Ginny knowledgeably. "A fairly good tactic, considering her broom can't keep up with Harry's. She's not likely to catch the Snitch, but she can hold Harry off until Ravenclaw scores enough points that they'd win anyway."
It was a decent plan, except she knew her brother would not allow it to happen. He was too proud to accept defeat in that manner. Just as she was thinking it, Harry took a dive again and she leaned forward to watch again and cried out in confusion when he pulled out of the dive very sharply. Cho had followed him and had no time to right herself as she hurtled downward and Harry rose as fast as a bullet. He switched position again, shooting toward the Ravenclaw side of the field, and Cho, who was several feet below him, did the same. He definitely saw the Snitch this time. She could tell based on how flat he'd sat on his broom. He needn't have bothered — he was winning, Cho still too far behind to keep pace with him.
But suddenly, she was pointing downfield with a horrified expression and Harry was following her finger, distracted by whatever outburst she'd made.
"It's a trick!" Ginny said angrily.
Nessa was inclined to agree, but she looked down at where Cho was pointing anyway and froze completely. Three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at her brother as if singling him out completely. The horror she felt was immediate, causing her limbs to freeze entirely and her breathing quickening minutely. Her heart pounded as she waited for the icy, terrible feeling to pervade again, except….
Except there was nothing…
No ice, no unbearable, inescapable cold, no screaming voices in her head. She looked up at Tori, who was still flying haphazardly through the Ravenclaw Chasers and was not having any sort of reaction at all — she didn't appear to have seen them at all, in fact. The rest of the crowd didn't seem to be paying much attention to them either.
What the hell?
An enormous, silver-white something — she thought it looked like a stag, but she was so surprised by its presence that she couldn't be entirely sure — erupted from the wand her brother pulled from his robes and charged directly at the dementors. She was so awestruck by the sight of a corporeal Patronus — a real, corporeal Patronus — that she did not immediately realize that they'd won until Ginny and Hermione were screaming and jumping excitedly, throwing their arms around her and forcing her into an excited, squealing huddle.
She was grinning again, her head still miraculously clear, as she rushed down to the field to congratulate the team. Ron beat her to her brother, yanking his arm into the air, chanting "Yes!" over and over again. She caught him next before the gaggle of Gryffindor supporters racing behind her. She nearly knocked him over when she threw her arms around him, although she suspected this was partially because he didn't have control over one of his arms.
He was laughing as she yelled excitedly. Pulling away, she put her hands on either side of his face and grinned widely.
"You did it!" she yelled, happily. "That was amazing, Harry!"
"Well done, Harry!" said Percy from behind her, looking delighted. "Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me —"
"Good for you, Harry!" roared Seamus Finnigan.
"Ruddy brilliant!" boomed Hagrid over the heads of the milling Gryffindors.
"That was quite some Patronus."
Nessa and Harry whirled around, her arms still wrapped around him and the excitement still coursing wildly through her. It was Professor Lupin, who looked both shaken and pleased.
"The dementors didn't affect me at all!" said Harry excitedly. "I didn't feel a thing!"
Right, the dementors. She'd forgotten about them. They hadn't affected her either…
"That would be because they — er — weren't dementors," said Professor Lupin. "Come and see —"
She followed as he led Harry out of the crowd until they were able to see the edge of the field.
"You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright," said Lupin.
She stared. Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost fury on her face, was Professor McGonagall.
"An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"
Nessa was opening her mouth to say something to Professor Lupin, who was watching with an unimpressed expression on his face, but she was grabbed from behind and spun around so fiercely that she screamed in surprise.
"We won! We won!"
"Put me down this instant, Fred Weasley!" she said sharply, trying very hard not to lose her breakfast from the spinning.
He laughed and put her on her feet again, but the dizziness caused her to go stumbling sideways and into George, who was grinning widely and lifted her off the ground in a hug that nearly broke her spine in half.
"Harry, you beautiful boy!" Tori said, grabbing him on either side of the face and placing a loud, exaggerated kiss on his mouth.
Harry spluttered in surprise, turning as red as a tomato, as Nessa covered a hand with her mouth to keep from laughing in shock. She took a glance at Fred to see how he'd felt about that particular sign of affection, but he was either unsurprised by Tori's exuberance or not at all threatened by Harry as a potential suitor, because he was doubled over laughing at the expression on Harry's face.
Ron fought his way through to Harry's side and doubled over laughing at the sight of Malfoy fighting to extricate himself from the robe, Goyle's head still stuck inside it. George, who was still holding her in a tight grip, grinned at the sight and tilted his head in the direction of the castle.
"Come on, Harry! Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"
-o0o-
It felt as though they had already won the Quidditch Cup; the party went on all day and well into the night. Fred and George disappeared for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags of Honeydukes sweets.
"How did you do that?" squealed Angelina Johnson as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.
George didn't deign to respond, but winked at Nessa as he chucked one of the sweets in her direction. She rolled her eyes with a grin, shaking her head fondly at him. Tori had been in control of the music and there was some sort of pop Wizarding band playing loudly from a wireless that she'd amplified to be louder and some fifth-year boys cleared a space in the middle of the room that was being used as a dance floor. She'd had to look away when Percy Weasley, so high from his ten Galleons and their win, had begun dancing hysterically.
"It's horrible, isn't it?" said Tori with a grin, her eyes focused on Percy as she took a seat next to her. She was breathless from having been dancing with some sixth-year student whom Vanessa had never even spoken to.
Fred was sitting on the other side of her, in some excited discussion with Lee and Angelina, and had been carefully avoiding watching Tori with the fellow Gryffindor. When Nessa had asked if he were alright, he'd said that he was fine. She'd given him a look of disbelief, but he grinned at her and booped her on the nose.
"It's Tori, darling," he'd said casually. "She's not the dating type. I've got nothing to worry about in the long-run."
She'd gaped at him — because he had truly appeared as though there was nothing to be concerned about — and wondered how he could be so secure about the whole thing, even if he didn't tempt fate by watching them too closely together. Fred Weasley was an interesting enigma.
Nessa snorted at Tori as she dragged her eyes back to Percy.
"Did you three slip him something?" she said. "He's being way too fun-loving. The Percy I know wouldn't be caught dead trying to do the robot."
"I don't think you can really call that a robot," said Tori in barely masked disgust. "It looks like his brain is no longer in control of his limbs. Maybe he's trying to look like a scarecrow…"
Nessa laughed and barely noticed when George slid into the seat across from her, as she watched Percy's continued jerky dance moves. He'd disappeared with Alicia at least an hour ago and she was going to avoid looking at him until she could pretend to be less disappointed that they had worked things out again.
"But no, we didn't slip him something," Fred said, breaking away from his conversation with Lee and Angelina as Alicia joined them at the table, forgoing the empty chair altogether and sitting directly in George's lap. "Perhaps the regular shagging has gone to his head."
Nessa smacked him upside the head in reproach and everyone at the table laughed loudly.
"Oi! What was that for?"
"For being crude," she said smugly. "Maybe if your mother hit you upside the head more often, you'd be more polite."
Tori snorted.
"That lump on the back of his head is from the number of times Molly has hit him upside the head, so clearly not," she said dryly. "Pity she couldn't have smacked a few extra brain cells into his head while she was at it."
Fred smirked at her and raised his eyebrow dangerously before Tori went toppling backward in her chair with a scream.
"Oh, Merlin, here we go," said George in a long-suffering tone, rolling his eyes to the ceiling.
Tori let out an unholy screech and lunged for Fred, who Nessa assumed had used his foot under the table to kick her chair backwards, but he was already shooting out of his chair and racing around the room, laughing uproariously as he danced around startled Gryffindors.
"Should we do something?" said Angelina nervously as Tori took a running leap off one of the tables and tackled Fred onto the ground with a startled "Oomph!"
"It's better if you don't," said Nessa in a mock all-knowing voice that made Lee choke on his butterbeer. "The last time George tried to break them up, he nearly lost a finger."
George gave a morose nod, sighing in an overly dejected way. Nessa's lips twitched, but she managed to maintain her serious expression.
"I'll always have this scar to remember that heroic day," he said seriously, holding out his thumb, which did, in fact, have a small, thin scar on it.
"A hard won battle, indeed," said Nessa, hiding her grin behind her own butterbeer bottle when he winked at her.
Alicia scowled at them and opened her mouth to say something, but Percy's loud, irritated voice broke through the room.
"The two of you are behaving like children!" he was yelling indignantly as the two of them rolled around on the floor below him, Tori growling at Fred in irritation as he held her hands above his head to prevent her from throttling him. "Have you no propriety? Wrestling on the floor like heathens! You wait until I inform mother of this — this — indecency —"
Nessa knew that the two of them were going to do something stupid when they both froze on the floor and grinned at each other devilishly. Before she had any time to warn Percy, they'd both reached out and pulled on Percy's ankles so that he tumbled backwards on the floor with a cry of surprise. Fred and Tori were upon him immediately. Fred held his arms down as Tori climbed over him and started placing loud, smacking, obnoxious kisses over his cheeks, forehead and nose.
Percy looked momentarily horrified — so much so that words seem to have escaped him completely — but then his face shifted into irritation again. He struggled against Fred's hold, kicking his legs out futilely against the floor.
Nessa burst into laughter at how ridiculous the three of them looked, and the entire common room started sniggering at him.
"Unhand me this instant! Victoria, stop that! This is not —- this is — you can't just accost people —"
Angelina was watching on with a mixture of amusement and horror on her face.
"I don't understand the way their relationship works," she said honestly.
"No one does," said Lee with a roll of his eyes.
-o0o-
Nessa awoke violently that night with a gasp and racing heart.
She stared up at the tapestry of her foreposter and furrowed her brows in confusion, trying to remember if she'd had the nightmare again. The one where she was stuck in that trunk again. Her hands weren't clammy and her forehead and back weren't slicked with sweat, so she didn't think she had.
But something had awoken her….
It took her several minutes to realize that what had awoken her was a distant shout. She shot up and grabbed her wand from her nightstand, peering around the tapestry to look out into the dormitory. Tori and Katie Bell were already grabbing their own wands and robes in confusion.
"What's happening?" Nessa croaked.
"No idea," said Katie. "Someone has been shouting for the last few minutes. We were just about to go and see what's happening."
Nessa followed the two of them hastily, nearly tripping over her feet in her haste to get down the stairs to the common room, where there was some kind of commotion. The common room was lit by the glow of the dying fire, still littered with the debris from the party. They were the first of the Gryffindor girls to come down the stairs to check what the noise was. Ron, Harry, Dean, Neville, and Seamus were in the center of the room, Ron looking frantic and deranged.
"What's all the noise?" said Tori, clearly irritated at having been awoken.
"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"
"Excellent, are we carrying on?" said Fred brightly.
Nessa could not have rolled her eyes harder. It was as though the man was completely incapable of reading the room. George appeared behind him, looking far too chipper after only a few hours worth of sleep.
"Everyone back upstairs!" said Percy, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pajamas as he spoke.
"Perce — Sirius Black!" said Ron faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"
Nessa's entire heart stopped beating. Tori tensed beside her in horror and latched onto her hand immediately, linking their fingers together and squeezing hard. Nessa squeezed back as the terror coursed through her. Fred and George caught their eyes across the room and looked somewhere between frozen in shock and disbelief.
"Nonsense!" said Percy, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron – had a nightmare —"
"I'm telling you —"
"Now, really, enough's enough!"
Professor McGonagall, who had put an end to the party at nearly one in the morning, was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.
"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"
"I certainly didn't authorize this, Professor!" said Percy, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare —"
"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled so loudly that she jumped violently. Harry met her horrified gaze across the room and seemed to be trying to decide if he were more concerned or terrified. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"
Professor McGonagall stared at him.
"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have gotten through the portrait hole?"
"Ask him!" said Ron, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw —"
Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGonagall pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The entire common room listened with bated breath.
"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?"
"Certainly, good lady!" cried Sir Cadogan.
There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room. Nessa was entirely certain she was going to be sick.
"You — you did?" said Professor McGonagall. "But — but the password!"
"He had 'em!" said Sir Cadogan proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"
Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. She was white as chalk.
"Which person," she said, her voice shaking. "Which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"
There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville Longbottom, trembling from head to toe, raised his hand slowly into the air.
-o0o-
Up next: personal revelations and an end