Bookcozy: We're going from denial with George at this point, but sometimes the story takes on a life of its own, so let's see if it stays that way LOL. I do love her relationship with Cedric though and I do think he is a nice change of pace from Tori and the twins at the moment. George and Nessa's relationship is still by far my favorite. I cannot get over him sometimes, he's just so sweet.

Wikked: Hahaha, I am so sorry! You are not the only one who I have betrayed with the Cedric/Nessa development. He certainly isn't leaving yet and there's always time for some more drama, so we'll see what happens!

Chapter Fourteen

Two weeks before the end of the term, the sky lightened suddenly to a dazzling, opaline white and the muddy grounds were revealed one morning covered in glittering frost. Inside the castle, there was a buzz of Christmas in the air. Professor Flitwick had already decorated his classroom with shimmering lights that turned out to be real, fluttering fairies. The students were all happily discussing their plans for the holidays. Ron and Hermione were remaining at Hogwarts. Ron said because he couldn't stand two weeks with Percy and Hermione said that she needed to use the library, but Nessa was fairly certain it was only because Harry was staying.

Nessa was still undecided on what her plans were at the moment. She hadn't agreed to go to the Burrow yet, but the thought of it wasn't as intimidating anymore. She and George were no longer arguing — it felt a little futile at this point considering everything that had happened — even if they still hadn't spoken about the larger issue yet. It was an awkward sort of camaraderie they had now. She could tell he wanted to talk to her, but Fred said he was worried to bring anything up at the moment because he didn't want to upset her so soon after everything she'd had to deal with in the last week.

After George had told Alicia he was tired of listening to her unacceptance of his friends, he had not wavered. On the contrary, the more Alicia pushed him, the more he distanced himself. Which all worked out for Fred, who was now able to make plans for the shop with George without having to wake up at ungodly hours of the morning. Nessa didn't say so, but George also seemed happier when Alicia wasn't around — less stressed, less anxious, less irritable, less exhausted looking. Much less of a git, although she didn't think he'd appreciate her saying so.

All in all, if Tori pushed hard enough, she might have been convinced to go home with them. Especially because going with them would prevent her from having to listen to Ron and Hermione arguing about Crookshanks having it out for Scabbers. Peanut had also attempted to eat Scabbers, but Ron had been much less angry about this for some reason. Tori maintained it was because Ron was afraid of her, but Ron insisted it was because Peanut didn't seek Scabbers out intentionally and only did it if they were in the same vicinity. Nessa did not point out how little sense that made. Scabbers looked half dead anyway, so maybe Crookshanks was just cleaning up the mess.

Instead of pushing her to come home with them for Christmas, however, Tori (and the twins) had taken to pushing her to let Harry come to the Hogsmeade visit that was coming up on the last weekend of the term.

She almost missed the Christmas debate.

"Nessa, he isn't going to be attacked by Sirius Black in Hogsmeade," said Tori in exasperation. "They've got more dementors around the place than they do Azkaban."

"Is that supposed to be comforting?" said Nessa incredulously. "Because it isn't."

Fred rolled his eyes.

"They aren't in Hogsmeade during the day. Just around it. You can't even tell they're there."

"He's already gotten past the dementors twice, Fred. I don't think they make much difference at this point."

"You need to get out of this castle, Nessa," said Tori seriously. "You're going to go mad in here."

Nessa refrained from saying anything to this. It wasn't entirely incorrect. Aside from her runs with Fred and Care of Magical Creatures, she hardly went outside at all. The last time she had was flying lessons with Cedric and even he had mentioned how frazzled she looked in their last few meetings.

"George, thank Merlin," said Fred, as George made his way over to them at the back of the common room. He looked a little irritated, so Nessa assumed he'd been with Alicia. "Please convince Nessa to go to Hogsmeade."

Nessa scoffed at him. What difference would George make in the conversation? She hardly thought he'd be able to come up with any reasoning that Fred and Tori hadn't already. Besides, George was going to Hogsmeade with Alicia. He hadn't looked happy at the prospect, but Tori had said he was trying to smooth things over with Alicia a little and show her he could have friends without it impacting their relationship.

Tori had made it very clear that she thought it was a waste of time.

"What's the current dispute?" George said, running a hand over his face. Nessa frowned in concern at how tired he looked, but said nothing.

"That Harry won't be murdered by Sirius Black if he leaves the castle."

"And that she needs to get out of the castle because she's six seconds from ripping all of her hair out," Tori added. "Which would be a real shame because it's very pretty hair. And I'm not sure she can pull off the bald look."

Nessa made an indignant noise. Fred narrowed his eyes thoughtfully and tilted his head as if he were trying to picture it himself.

"Nah, I think she could," he said seriously. "Although, I still think we should avoid the hair ripping part."

"I'm not going to go just to spite you all now," Nessa said huffily.

"That would be more threatening if you actually planned on going," Tori said with an eye roll.

"Yeah, well, if the two of you can't convince me to let Harry go, I don't see what George could say that's going to change my mind. I've already heard it all from the two of you."

Fred and Tori shared one of those stupid knowing looks with each other and Nessa refrained from throwing her quill at them. George sighed and looked at her thoughtfully.

"We can give Harry the map," he said.

Fred and Tori looked at him as if he'd gone mad. Nessa was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before.

"What?" she said in surprise. "Why would you — What difference does that make?"

"It makes a load of difference," he said tiredly. "You don't want him to get caught by a teacher any more than you want him attacked by Sirius Black. They'd lose it if they saw him there, knowing what they know about Black. I assume that's part of it, yes?" She gaped at him, but he seemed to take this as confirmation and continued, "If he used the map, he can avoid any teachers until he gets to the passageway."

"Okay, but then the two of you wouldn't have the map for — well, I don't really know what shenanigans the two of you get up to after curfew, do I?" she said slowly as though he were being daft.

Fred straightened with a grin, clearly following his twin's train of thought.

"We don't need it," he said, waving a hand dismissively. "Not really anyway. Neither of us cares much about getting detention. And we know the map by heart."

"And you'd just give it up?" she said skeptically. "Just like that."

"Well, it'll be a wrench giving it to him," said Fred with a shrug. "It's gotten us out of a lot of tight spots —"

"-but we don't need it," finished George. "And you've been listening to Harry complain during every Hogsmeade visit since the year started. He clearly wants to go. So do you. So, all in all, fair trade."

She looked between the two of them thoughtfully. They didn't appear to be that upset about letting the map go, in all honesty. And it wasn't as if they couldn't ask to borrow it from Harry, if they really needed it. And, really, even with the map, the twins got more detentions and owls sent to their mother than every other student in the school combined. It's not like a few more would make much difference to them.

"Okay, well, what about when he gets into Hogsmeade then?" she said stubbornly. "The teachers could see him there. Tori said she saw McGonagall and Flitwick keeping a close eye on everyone when she went."

"That was before the dementors were stationed outside the village," said Tori with an eye roll. "They haven't been there much since. And besides, Harry has the Cloak. Tell him to wear it while he's there and Ron and Hermione can help him otherwise."

She hesitated still. It felt so risky still.

The likelihood Black would murder Harry in broad daylight in front of that many people and the dementors so close by did seem a little far-fetched. But he'd murdered in broad daylight in front of muggles before, hadn't he? Although she supposed even that was still probably safer than doing so in the middle of Hogsmeade. For one thing, muggles would be fairly useless against someone with a wand anyway. It's not like they could have done anything to stop him. Which wouldn't be so easily done in an all-wizard village.

"Nessa, love, just go," George said gently. "Harry will be fine. Black won't even be able to tell where he is if he uses the cloak the entire time. It's the best protection he can have. And you've already risked going into Hogsmeade last year, so you'll be fine."

Nessa sighed heavily and Tori grinned and started clapping her hands excitedly before she could even say anything.

"I didn't even agree yet!" Nessa exclaimed.

"Didn't have to," said Tori happily. "I can read between the lines. And now I don't have to do your Christmas shopping for you."

"Great," George said heavily. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go question my life choices or drown myself in the shower. I haven't decided which."

And before any of them could ask anything, he'd left and disappeared up the boys' dormitory stairs. Fred scowled after him, but didn't move to follow. Tori folded her arms across her chest and glared across the room at Alicia, who looked very upbeat and unconcerned despite George's sour mood.

Nessa bit her lip and wondered if maybe she shouldn't have been so harsh with him before. She did appreciate him standing up for her, but she could sort of see now why he hadn't wanted to in the beginning. She was sure George had his own issues in the relationship, but Alicia didn't always act like she cared when he was upset, even if she had been the one to upset him. Nor did she appear to be all that willing to compromise with him on what bothered her.

It was irrational to feel bad about something she had no control over, especially because neither her or George was doing anything wrong to upset Alicia other than being friends. And George certainly wasn't blaming Nessa for the current state of his relationship, so she probably shouldn't be blaming herself anyway. And, really, she could probably argue that he'd made his own bed, but that didn't make it any easier to watch. Especially because the twins had always been so carefree. She'd seen them unhappy on so few occasions and she wished there was something she could do to help him.

Except they still hadn't really discussed anything and she didn't want to overstep by telling him how she felt about his relationship. Especially because Alicia was already doing that to him about her and George's and he hadn't asked for her opinion anyway.

"Do you think I could knock her off her broom next match and pretend I didn't see her?" Tori said, still glaring daggers at her. If her gaze alone could set someone ablaze, Alicia would have been ashes to the wind.

"Maybe if it's raining as much as it was when we played Hufflepuff," said Fred seriously.

"Absolutely not, Tori," said Nessa firmly. "If you're going to do something stupid, at least make sure it's something that won't land you a cell in Azkaban."

Tori snorted.

"Quidditch is a dangerous sport, Nessa," she said. "Accidents happen."

"You are insane."

"Maybe so, but I've had it with her already," she snapped. "He's miserable and she couldn't give a rat's arse."

Nessa looked at Fred, who was still scowling at the staircase as if he hoped George would come bounding back down with a grin and say he was overreacting.

"Have you talked to him?" she asked softly.

"Course, I have," he said, tone filled with frustration. "He's losing patience with the whole thing, but they used to be friends and we play Quidditch together and he's worried if he breaks things off with her, it could get messy."

"Who cares at this point?" said Tori angrily. "I don't give a shite if we have to spend the next two years arguing with Alicia as long as he isn't killing himself trying to make everyone happy, but himself."

Nessa sighed heavily. God, this sucked.

"He won't leave until he's ready," Nessa said. "It's easy for us to say he needs to when it isn't us in the situation, isn't it?"

Tori huffed.

"Maybe so, but I'm telling you right now," she said warningly. "If the bitch doesn't cool off over Christmas break, I'm not going to give him much choice."

Nessa really did not like the sound of that.

-o0o-

On the Saturday morning of the Hogsmeade trip, Nessa joined Fred, George, and Tori in explaining the map and how it worked to her brother, as well as how to get into the village. She'd made it very clear that he had to bring his Cloak with him if he was going to go and he'd agreed without hesitation. They bid the three of them farewell, grabbed his cloak from the dormitory, and then made their way to the secret passage together.

Harry was much taller than her and having him there to help her into the passageway made the ordeal much easier and faster than it had been the last few times she'd snuck out. But she'd completely forgotten how tiresome the trek into the village was. Although, her runs with Fred did mean she was in much better shape, the passageway was long and there were so many stairs and an incline that she almost wondered how'd she'd even done this the last year.

She followed after Harry when they reached the Honeydukes cellar, barely avoided one of the owners when they'd been coming down to restock the Jelly Slugs, and then told him goodbye when they'd finally reached the shop floor. No one could see him so the fifth-year Ravenclaw that had been standing next to him had eyed her oddly and she blushed in embarrassment. It was always great when someone thought she was talking to herself.

She found Fred, Lee, and Tori back in the same section they had been last time.

"Tori, you might as well just buy stock in their chocolate at this point," she said in alarm, as her friend rifled through the tubs of chocolates. Not only was she making Fred carry her additional candy bars, but she appeared to be shoving some at Lee as well.

"I think it's getting worse," Fred said seriously. Tori glared at him, but continued sifting through one of the tubs that had assorted flavors.

"I don't have any left," she said as if this were obvious. "Those stupid dementors have made me go through my entire stash."

Nessa looked at her doubtfully.

"How? You've only run into them twice."

Tori looked at her as if she'd gone daft.

"Yes, but I know they're there, don't I?" she said. "Just waiting to drive me mad. It's very unsettling."

Lee laughed.

"Sooo, what —- you've just been eating chocolate to forget they exist?"

"Yes."

Fred shot Nessa a wide-eyed look and she bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing.

"I'll be right back. I need more Fizzing Whizzbees."

Fred grimaced as Tori shoved more chocolate bars at him and looked up at the ceiling as if praying for patience. Nessa snorted and pushed her way through the crowd to the other side of the store.

There weren't many Fizzing Whizbees left and she had to lift herself up onto the barrel in order to reach the boxes at the very bottom. She was barely able to reach one and it took her several seconds of pushing at it with her fingers before she realized it wasn't going to happen unless she wanted to fall head first to grab one.

She huffed in irritation and pushed herself back onto the floor. She'd have to ask Fred or Lee to grab a box for her.

"Nessa?"

She jumped and whirled around to face Cedric.

"Cedric! You scared me!"

"Sorry," he said, clearly trying not to laugh anyway. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, uh, well, Fred and George snuck me out so I could do some Christmas shopping," she said, looking around her to see if anyone had heard her. "So if anyone asks, you didn't see me."

"Got it," he grinned. "Did you — er — need help?"

She closed her eyes and tried to control the flush on her cheeks.

"What are the chances that I can convince you to pretend like you didn't see me doing that?"

"You mean trying to climb your way into a barrel of candy like a child?" he said with a smirk. "About zero. Although, I must say I admire your dedication to Fizzing Whizzbees."

Nessa huffed and rolled her eyes.

"They're good," she said matter-of-factly and huffed when his grin widened. "But if you're going to make fun of me, the least you could do is grab me a box, yes." Still grinning, he moved to reach around her and plucked one of the boxes out of the barrel in a matter of seconds and held it out to her with a smirk. She snatched it away from him and muttered, "Show off."

"Oh, no problem, Nessa, I'm happy to help," he said sarcastically. "You're so welcome."

She huffed a laugh and smacked him on the shoulder with the back of her hand.

"Don't start, Diggory," she said.

He grinned again and leaned back against one of the barrels, crossing his legs at the ankle and folding his arms in front of him. She tried not to stare that much. Even though she'd made the decision to remain friends with him and had no interest in anything more than that, it made no difference on the effect he had on her. On most women apparently because there were a couple of fifth-year Ravenclaws standing behind him that were looking over at him and giggling to each other.

"Christmas shopping, huh?" he said. "What are you getting me then?"

She shook herself a little and forced herself to focus on what he was saying.

"I haven't decided yet, but I was thinking about a box of coal."

He rolled his eyes.

"How thoughtful. I considered getting you something nice, too, but then I decided I could just get you one of those little kiddie brooms. You know, the ones that hover about two inches off the ground?" He raised an amused eyebrow at her scoff. "It seemed a safe option, but now that I think about it, maybe I should ask them to add some protective gear too."

He pursed his lips to keep from laughing when she glared at him.

"You said you wouldn't make fun of me for falling off your broom anymore."

He shrugged and smiled at her sweetly.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I only wanted to make sure you were safe."

She gave him a disbelieving look, but chose not to comment. He was having too much fun.

"Are you alone?" she queried curiously. "You can always come with us."

"I appreciate it, but I'm meeting Devin at the Three Broomsticks soon," he said. "Besides, something tells me the Weasley twins don't like me much."

She snorted.

"Something tells me that too," she said with an eye roll. "And it was them."

He laughed and straightened, brushing his hands on his pants.

"Well, fortunately for me, you seem to like me just fine. I'd better go before I end up being late. Enjoy your break, alright? I'll see you when we get back."

She nodded and let him pull her into a goodbye hug, trying not to think about how good he smelled. Was it his cologne or was she insane?

"What's going on?"

Nessa pulled away from Cedric and rolled her eyes at Fred, who was looking between the two of them suspiciously. A slow grin was spreading over Tori's face.

"We can come back," she said facetiously. Nessa groaned but Cedric just chuckled and grinned back at her.

"Don't worry about it, Hastings," he said and then turned back to Nessa with a charming smile. "I'll see you when we get back. Buy me something pretty, gorgeous."

She laughed quietly and shook her head in exasperation when he shot her an exaggerated wink and disappeared through the crowd. Fred, Tori, and Lee all spoke at once.

"Gorgeous?" Fred said in disgust.

"Soooo…what was that?" said Tori, still grinning.

"So, Tori was right about the snogging then," said Lee in amusement.

Nessa huffed and pointed at the three of them dangerously.

"Shut up, all of you," she said sternly. "There is no snogging, and I don't want to hear anything about it."

None of them said anything to her, but Fred was shooting her contemptuous glances, Lee was snickering at Fred's distaste, and Tori was shooting her sly glances as they paid and exited Honeydukes.

As they stepped outside, Nessa was struck by how much Hogsmeade looked like a Christmas card. She had not been to Hogsmeade during the Christmas season; Last year, the visit had fallen on a day that she was meeting with Ginny, so she'd opted to skip the visit in an attempt to figure out what was going on with her.

The little thatched cottages and shops were all covered in a layer of crisp snow; there were holly wreaths on the doors and strings of enchanted candles hanging in the trees. She was grateful she'd dressed so warmly because there was a thick, swirling snow and the wind was like ice against her face. She followed her friends around to all of the shops to finish Christmas shopping, often sneaking things up to the registers to pay so they couldn't see any of her purchases for them. After visiting what felt like every shop in the village, she happily agreed when Fred and Lee suggested they go to the Three Broomsticks before they went back to the castle.

They had just reached the door of the pub when it shot open and something no one could see nearly bowled Fred over.

"Bloody hell!"

Ron and Hermione came sprinting out next and Nessa's heart plummeted at how pale they looked.

Harry.

"What happened?" she said frantically, taking off at a run after them. She heard Fred make some excuse to Lee and then he and Tori were running behind them to catch up.

"Dunno," huffed Ron. "He followed Fudge and McGonagall upstairs when he heard them talking about Sirius Black and he just took off running."

What the hell did that mean?

Promise me that whatever you might hear, you won't go looking for Black.

Son of a bitch.

She pushed herself faster, harder, following the footprints her brother left in the snow and the shocked cries of people who were knocked over by something they couldn't see, and prayed that whatever he'd heard wasn't the thing that Mr. Weasley had been referring to.

They were coming up to the end of the street now and just passing Zonko's when the door opened. Nessa had no time to stop her momentum as George stepped out and she ran directly into him, gasping in pain at the impact. George swore and tried to catch them before they fell, but the ground was too slick with the snow. At the last minute, he twisted so that he landed on the ground hard and she landed on top of him.

"Merlin, Nessa, what the hell is —"

"Harry," she gasped, shooting up immediately and racing after Ron, Hermione, Tori, and Fred, who had all passed her in an attempt to keep pace with Harry when she'd fallen.

She didn't even bother explaining when he yelled after her and kept running. Distantly, she thought she heard Alicia calling after George, and she tried not to register surprise when he ended up closing the distance and running next to her.

"What's going on? What happened?"

"No idea," she said, swearing and catching herself on his arm when she slipped on a patch of ice.

Where the hell was her brother even running to? He was heading in the opposite direction of the castle and they'd passed Honeydukes minutes before. They turned the corner toward the Shrieking Shack and Nessa ended up running directly into Ron, who was standing still now, panting hard. George apologized hastily when he ran directly into Hermione. Fred, Tori, and Hermione were panting and looking off at the edge of the treeline, where a large boulder sat, covered in snow.

Nessa tracked the footsteps in the snow and sagged in relief that they ended at the boulder. No more running then. She still couldn't see him though, as he'd not taken off the cloak even though he'd stopped and there was no one even in the general vicinity who would have seen him.

"What's going on?" she panted when no one said anything.

"You should talk to him," said Hermione softly.

She was opening her mouth to ask why they hadn't already said anything when she heard the noise. It was soft, barely noticeable over the sound of the wind and snow. A gasping sob, a catch in the throat. Her heart plummeted.

She couldn't even remember the last time she'd heard her brother cry. It had to have been years ago. When they were children. He'd always been a little emotionally distant. He didn't cry. Not even when he'd had to fight off Voldemort, not when he'd found out the screaming was their mother, not when Dudley had broken his finger when he was eight.

She should ask the others to leave before she said anything probably. He probably didn't want them to see him like this, especially Fred and George. He probably didn't even want her to see him like this. But when she met Tori's eyes in hesitation, there was genuine concern there. The sort of steely resolve she got when Nessa was hurt.

She took a cleansing breath and took a hesitant step forward.

"Harry?" she said, her voice so soft she wasn't sure he could hear her. Another step. Another. The snow crunched under her boots. The silence behind her was somehow deafening. Her heart was pounding. "Harry, are you alright?"

It was a stupid question. He clearly wasn't. Her mind was racing with what he could have heard that would have caused this sort of reaction. There was nothing. He'd hardly even reacted when he'd been told Sirius Black was after him. And now he was crying on a rock in the middle of nowhere in Hogsmeade?

She saw her gloved hand reach out slowly as she got closer. She was shaking. When her hand met something solid, she closed her fist around the soft cloth of their father's cloak and tugged lightly. The cloak came off quickly and pooled at her feet. Her heart lurched when she saw his face. He wasn't looking at her, his head twisted in the opposite direction toward the trees beside him, but she could see some twisted expression of anger, pain, and betrayal. And there were tears on his face.

She almost didn't even want to ask. But she took another breath and lowered herself to her knees, sitting back on her heels and ignoring the cold wetness that seeped into her jeans.

"Harry, what happened?" she said quietly, as if the sound of her voice would break whatever control he was trying to maintain.

"He killed them."

She looked back at Tori in confusion. She stared back at her with a frown. Ron and Hermione shrugged at her. They didn't know what he was talking about.

"Killed who, Harry?" she said, turning her attention back to her brother.

"Mum and Dad. He killed them."

Nessa was so floored by this response that she gaped at him for several seconds. They'd said he heard them talking about Sirius Black. Surely, her brother wasn't actually suggesting…

"What are you talking about? Voldemort killed them."

"He knew where they were. He told them where they were."

Nessa was trying to maintain her patience. She was. Because he needed her to be calm and to not push too hard. He was clearly in some form of shock and she wasn't experienced enough to know what the hell to do when someone was clearly this distressed, even though she had been in this position herself before.

But she was freaking out a little. Nothing he said was making sense and his voice was dull, like he had turned off every emotion he had the capacity for.

"Harry, tell me what is going on," she said firmly. "Right now."

"He was friends with Dad, Nessa. They were best friends at Hogwarts."

"Okay…"

She had a bad feeling about this all of a sudden. Like she was going to hear something she'd wished she hadn't. A part of her wanted to tell him not to tell her — that she wouldn't be able to live with it. But her mouth wouldn't form the words, even as the dread began building in her gut.

"Someone told Dumbledore that Voldemort was after them. After me. He told them they had to go into hiding. So they performed the Fidelius Charm —"

There was a gasp from behind her and she looked to see Hermione covering her mouth in surprise.

"What?" Nessa said. "What does that mean?"

Ron looked green.

"They used to use them a lot when You-Know-Who first came to power," he said. "When he was looking for people that were fighting against him. Dad told us about it."

"It conceals a secret inside a single, living soul," Fred said. "A Secret-Keeper. You can use the charm to hide an entire building, so that only the Secret-Keeper would know."

"Makes them impossible to find," said George softly, making direct eye contact with her. She knew just based on the way he was looking at her that he knew where the conversation was going. "Unless the Secret-Keeper chooses to divulge the secret, you could go walking right past the place someone lived and never know they were there."

Nessa didn't look back at her brother. Couldn't break her eyes away from George. His gaze was the only tether she felt like she had to reality at the moment.

She knew what was coming, but she didn't want to hear it anymore.

"Dumbledore knew there was a spy. Voldemort knew too much. So he offered to be their Secret-Keeper, but they refused. They told him that Black would rather die than betray them. They told him that Black was my godfather —" Nessa flinched. God, no. " — that he'd never put me at risk like that. He was their best friend. He'd never give them away and he was going to go into hiding too." Harry was looking at her now. She could feel his gaze on her face, but she didn't look away from George. "And within a week of the charm being performed, they were murdered."

Nessa took a shuddering breath. Tried to remain calm in front of her brother, not to cry in front of him. She didn't like crying in front of him — she was the strong one, the rock. She couldn't cry. So she kept staring at George. Kept breathing. Ignored Hermione's tears and Tori's pained expression before she turned to hide her face in Fred's shoulder. Ignored the shocked expression on Ron's face and the wince Fred tried to hide.

Just keep looking at George and ignore the rest of them.

She was breaking.

The devastation her parents must have felt…

"The wizard Black murdered on the street in front of those Muggles," continued Harry despite her internal devastation. "Peter Pettigrew. He was their friend too. He went looking for him when he found out what had happened, when he found out Black had betrayed them. He tried to stop him before he could go back to Voldemort. Fudge said he annihilated him. The only piece of him they found was his finger." Harry was breathing hard now. "And you know what he did after that?"

"Stop, Harry," Tori said quietly, turning back to face the two of them and catching the brittle control her best friend was maintaining.

"HE LAUGHED!" Harry roared. "HE WAS THEIR FRIEND! AND HE BETRAYED THEM!"

Nessa flinched at the sudden noise. Birds scattered from the trees and fled from the noise. Hermione squeaked.

"I hope he finds me," Harry said angrily. "Because when he does, I'm going to be ready. When he does, I'm gonna kill him!"

The words sparked Nessa's instincts back to life. She jolted as if she'd been shocked and whipped around to look at her brother in alarm.

"No, you will not!" she exclaimed, well aware of the hysterical pitch to her voice. "You are not going to do anything to him!"

"He killed them, Nessa!" Harry yelled back. "He deserves to die!"

Nessa shot to her feet and clenched her fists at her side.

"I don't care! I don't care what he did! You are thirteen!" she yelled back. "Let the dementors deal with him! This is not your job to take care of!"

"They already said the dementors don't affect him the same way as everyone else! He got past them twice!"

The anger was mounting, mixing with her crippling devastation. She could feel it burning in her chest, under her skin. She could feel it taking over her head, burning out every other thought. She wouldn't let him die for this. She was not above telling every professor in that school that he had a map of the school and a cloak that could keep him hidden. She wasn't above letting them know about the three passages Fred and George insisted no one knew about other than them.

As angry as she was, she didn't even think she was above locking him in his dormitory until they caught Sirius Black, however insane that solution may be. He was all she had.

"I. Don't. Care." she said through clenched teeth. "Killing him won't bring them back, Harry! And you're the only family I have left! I'm not letting you risk your life for some stupid revenge plot!"

"You can't keep an eye on me twenty four-seven, Nessa," he said stubbornly.

The comment pissed her off. He was often too brash, too bold, too irrationally emotional. They were opposites in that regard. She didn't care. She didn't care about any of it. She would watch him every second of every day if she had to. If it would keep him alive, she didn't care what she had to do. She would —

There was a sudden surge of power around her and she stumbled backward from the force of it. Harry went flying and there was a loud snap and a huge tree limb hit snapped behind him and hit the ground with a loud crack. Hermione screamed.

"Bloody hell!" Ron shouted in alarm.

Harry was staring at her in shock and she was fairly certain her own face mimicked the expression because she had never in her life felt that sort of magic come from her body before. Well, not entirely true. She'd had a similar flare of power with the Acromantulas when she'd gotten so angry her brother was going to die because she'd let him convince them to go rushing in there with no help.

But it had been a weaker surge. And it hadn't been directed at her brother. And she'd been in control of it then. She hadn't done accidental magic since before she'd come to Hogwarts.

"Holy shite," Tori whispered in surprise from behind her. She'd put one of her hands out, half in placation, half in an attempt to ward off whatever had just happened. "How the hell did you do that?"

"I — I don't know," Nessa said, shaking her head. "I've never —"

"Okay," said Fred slowly, eyes wide and staring at her in shock. "Let's just — let's just all take a breather. And we can — er — we can talk about this later. Once we've all had a chance to cool down."

"Not bloody likely," muttered Ron. George hit him upside the head and he swore violently.

"Harry, I'm so sorry," Nessa rushed out, racing to help him up off the ground. He was still staring at her in surprise, but he didn't seem all that angry.

"It's fine, I —" He shook his head in bemusement. "I shouldn't have pushed so hard."

She didn't say anything because she didn't really know what to say. Was this what Harry had felt like after he'd blown up their Aunt Muriel?

She jumped when someone grabbed her hand and looked up at George.

"C'mon, love," he said calmly. "We can figure it out later. Let's just go back to the castle and —"

"No, wait," Harry said suddenly, as if he'd just remembered something else. "I forgot, but —"

He was looking at Tori now, scanning her in an odd way. Tori took a step away from him.

"What?" she said, shooting a wary look at Nessa.

Nessa would have been amused about this under different circumstances. Harry had such an uncanny ability to freak people out when he looked at them like that.

"They — They weren't just talking about me when I — when I was listening to them," Harry said carefully. "I wasn't the only one they thought Black was looking for."

There was a deliberate steadiness to his voice. A deliberate carefulness to his expression that Nessa had never seen before. A spark of pity in his eyes. He had the air of someone who was going to drop a bomb that would leave them all in a tailspin.

Nessa tensed again. She felt George grip her hand harder as he waited. Saw the rest of them go so still that they looked like they weren't breathing.

"Who else were they talking about?" Hermione whispered, looking between him and Tori, who were still making eye contact.

Nessa had no idea what he was going to say. Could tell that Tori didn't know either and couldn't even hazard a guess. But it was the way he was looking at her. The way he was speaking so gently. Like he was about to tell someone they had only a day left to live.

Mr. Weasley had wanted Tori to promise him as well….

Nessa didn't want to know. She didn't want Tori to know.

"Harry, please —" she started with absolutely no idea what she was going to beg him for.

"Tori," he said, his voice still way too gentle.

The kind of voice you'd use at someone's funeral. There was a spark of panic in Tori's eyes and she took another step backward, stumbling a little and catching herself on one of the benches outside the Shrieking Shack.

Fred and George didn't like the tone of his voice either. The three of them spoke at the same time.

"Harry —" said George, panic in his voice.

"Wait a minute —" said Fred, taking a panicked step toward Tori.

"Harry, please —" Nessa repeated, her voice breaking.

Whatever he was going to say would kill her. She knew it would. Tori was so strong, but when she broke, it was intense. Nessa didn't want to watch that happen again. Ignorance was bliss.

"Tori, they said he was looking for you too because — because he's your father."

-o0o-

Ayoooo!

I know there was at least one of you that had already guessed who Tori's father was in the last story, but I can't remember who at the moment. I left a few clues within this one and several of you picked up on it this time around as well. I am irrationally excited about it finally being out in the open!

This is officially the last complete chapter that I have typed out, so we're officially caught up!

As a side note, I am very heavily thinking about making a story of one-shots dedicated solely to Fred and Tori. Because I am just living for them right now. I have no idea at what point in this series I would decide to start it and am not sure it would be any time soon, but thoughts?

Up next: Tori's reaction to the news