When Poppy arrived at Grimmauld Place for dinner, she expected to be shown into the house by Mrs Weasley as usual, but was instead surprised by a tired-looking Bill.

He greeted Poppy at the front door, and led her down the hall, guiding her to the bottom of the stairs. He pointed upwards and Poppy sighed, seeing Ginny who was sitting halfway up the staircase.

"I'd give it a few minutes if I were you," Ginny muttered darkly, nodding her chin over at the kitchen door, which was shut. "Mum told Dumbledore about Sirius sneaking out again. He's basically been put on house arrest now."

Poppy's mouth fell open and she mouthed, "What?" as she climbed the steps, coming to a stop a few below the small Weasley daughter. Poppy leant against the rail and, after Ginny recounted a rather terrible sounding argument and described Dumbledore's face of thunder when he found out about Sirius' excursions, Poppy turned to Bill, her eyes wide and lips pursed.

Bill grimaced at Poppy's reaction. "She thinks she's doing it for the right reasons," he whispered loudly.

"The right reasons? We all know he can turn into a dog, so it's not like hiding is a problem, is it?" Poppy asked in a loud whisper, staring over his shoulder at the kitchen door. She crossed her arms and turned back to Bill. "You have to talk to her," she said, reminding him that this wasn't the first time they'd had this conversation.

This wasn't something Poppy would back down on. After finding her freedom, her worst nightmare was having to go back to live with her father, so she felt for Sirius. The idea that he would have to live in his childhood home with a speaking image of his mother superglued to the hall wall, and with an ancient House Elf who spouted the same rhetoric as the Death Eaters, all without being allowed to leave if it became too much, was abhorrent to her.

"Pop, not-" Bill cursed under his breath, eyed the kitchen door, and then bounded up the steps, saying in a slightly louder but still quiet voice, "Not now, okay?" He nodded his head towards his little sister, who was watching them both and looked a little down. "You okay, Gin?"

"I'm fine," Ginny said, pulling her knees to her chest, hugging her legs. "Just tired of all the shouting. They'll settle down soon."

Poppy, could tell that Ginny was lying - Ginny wasn't the kind of person to be affected by her mum's shouting. Normally she just ignored it, rolled her eyes, sympathised with the accused, or laughed at her brothers. Poppy narrowed her eyes, but didn't push her. If it was something more, Ginny would tell her in her own time.

Poppy sat down, and soon Bill followed suit, sitting just below her. Poppy was just explaining to the twosome why she was there, when they heard a CRACK! and Fred and George appeared below them.

Bill shook his head, but he smiled at his brothers, who seemed excited that they could now Apparate. Poppy grinned. The last time she'd seen the boys, they'd not taken their tests yet. She congratulated them.

"Thanks," George said, grinning.

"You alright Pop?" Fred asked, winking at her.

"How's our brother? Heard from him recently?" George asked in a serious tone.

Poppy was surprised that they'd want to speak about Percy. Especially since they'd tried not to mention his existence in the past weeks. It was so bad that when she'd mentioned his name during an Order meeting, Mr Weasley had practically turned into a tomato and Mrs Weasley had started to sob.

Poppy glanced at Bill, and then said, "He's… fine, I guess? Don't know really, been too busy to talk to him for a bit."

"Well, I'm sure he's missing you," George said, looking pointedly at Bill.

Poppy allowed her nose to scrunch and her mouth to downturn. "Really…?"

"What was that?" Fred asked, narrowing his eyes. "I thought you and Charlie were close."

"Oh! That brother," Poppy said with a relieved chuckle. "I thought you meant Percy. Oh yeah, haven't heard from Charlie since he left for Romania but I think he'll write soon." She tried to shrug to feign nonchalance, but inside she blushed and she felt butterflies in her stomach at Charlie's mention. She shifted in her seat, trying to stop herself from feeling.

Fred looked as though he wanted to punch the wall, but Ginny shoved his shoulder and his face slowly turned less red. George found a corner to stare at and silently seethed.

"Sorry," Poppy muttered, looking down at her hands in her lap. "I shouldn't've…"

"It's fine. You're good," Bill said, smiling, although she could tell that he was also annoyed at Percy's mention. He was much better at hiding it though.

"Have you killed your plant yet?" Bill asked, moving the conversation on. "Or did you move it to the living room?"

Poppy shook her head. At the start of the summer, Esther had sent Poppy her Starthistle plant, which Professor Sprout had gifted her for her eighteenth birthday - Esther's accompanying letter had been short, simply apologising for accidentally taking the plant when they left Hogwarts, and reminding Poppy of how to care for it.

When she'd moved into her new shared flat, Poppy had brought her plant with her, but it didn't seem to be thriving - Poppy didn't mean to neglect it, but it seemed that between her studies to prepare for the Auror assessment centre, working full-time at the bank, and attending various Order meetings or dinners to get aquainted with the Order members, she didn't have the mental space to care for a plant, and it seemed to be wilting.

"Still alive, still by my window," Poppy said slowly, as if mentally ticking off a long to-do list. "I have an alarm now to remind me to water it, and I know I need to play classical music every night, preferably the Haunting Witches Hour, but…" She sighed. "I think it hates me. I think it's missing Esther," she admitted. "I have no idea how it's still here…"

That was a lie… Poppy did know – Fleur had stepped up as its second 'parent'.

Fleur was surprisingly caring towards Poppy's single plant, and the little flowers on the starthistle always seemed to perk up when the silver-haired beauty popped into Poppy's room to look at it. At one point, Poppy was convinced that the plant was throwing up the water Poppy offered it so that it would have to be tended to by Fleur, but then she told herself she was being silly, and went to sleep.

The twins and Ginny shared a look that even Poppy noticed.

"It's just a plant," Poppy said, shrugging. "I'm trying, okay?"

"No, it's just… well, look, it's none of our business, but does Charlie know about the two of you dating?" Fred asked bluntly, raising an eyebrow.

Ginny turned her face away and glared at the wall.

"Whoa, what?" Bill said immediately.

Poppy simply answered, "We're not," firmly.

Ginny turned to stare between her brother and friend. "You're not? But you were talking about dating in the kitchen," Ginny said slowly. "Weren't you?"

"That's why you've been upset the past two weeks?" Bill asked, frowning.

"Well, yeah," Ginny replied.

"Because I'm seeing someone? Because if you want to get into it, these two told me about you dating a kid named Michael Corner. Or do you want me to respect your privacy?" Bill asked pointedly.

Ginny flushed and pouted, looking down at her shoe. "No, I was annoyed because I thought it was Poppy," she mumbled, glaring at Fred and George who smiled sheepishly at her. "She shouldn't be dating one of you."

Poppy stilled. Until then, she'd been bemused, but Ginny's words hurt. Did Ginny think that Poppy wasn't good enough for one of her brothers?

"I don't think she meant it that way," George said quickly, but Poppy began to shut down, deciding to turn her face away from the group to hide her hurt. She studied the corner of a portrait at the bottom of the stairs, while she tried to control her emotions.

It was one thing Poppy refusing Charlie to keep him safe in the coming war, but she didn't expect Ginny to be so anti-Poppy.

"Oh, yeah, it's not because I don't think you're good enough for-" Ginny began.

"Ginny," Bill warned, when Poppy's lips pursed.

"Oh, well, it's because it's both of you," Ginny said quickly.

Poppy rolled her eyes and shook her head, though ther nausea and the tight feeling around her skull began to ease.

"It's not, really," Ginny said, "I just thought… I don't want you to date Bill, you know…" The small girl trailed off. She must have known that she'd said something incredibly wrong, as she didn't normally trip over her words, or stop speaking.

"You are always at Poppy's flat," George said quickly, trying to fill the silence. "Even Mum commented on it the other night when Dad went to get you for dinner and you weren't home."

Poppy could feel the Weasleys' stares on her, but she avoided their gazes and continued to glare at the wall above the kitchen door. She tried to rearrange her features, but she found that she was too upset still to do so.

"That would be because I'm tutoring Poppy's roommate," Bill said. "And I have been for the past two weeks."

"What?" Fred asked, the frown evident in his voice. "In curse-breaking?"

"No, English lessons," Bill said quickly. "I've been helping her with her pronunciation."

"Who's your roommate?" George asked Poppy.

Poppy didn't reply, and so Bill answered; "Fleur Delacour."

Fred and George paused, turning to share a look.

"Fleur Delacour?" Fred asked excitedly once he'd recovered from the shock. "Well, well, well, William, very interesting. How long's this been going on for then?"

"Poppy?" Ginny said quietly when Bill began to explain his new relationship to his brothers.

Poppy was saved from replying by the kitchen door, which swung open to reveal a flustered Mrs Weasley.

"Was that you two Apparating a few minutes ago?" she asked the twins. "In. Now. And no funny business or you'll go to bed hungry. Ah, Poppy, come in. Arthur's waiting for you."

"Kingsley said you did well," Tonks told her over dinner, once Poppy had spoken to Mr Weasley in private.

Poppy had chosen to sit next to the newly-qualified Auror for the meal so that they could chat about the assessment and Tonks could offer her more advice.

Bill had joined her and Tonks, sitting between them and his siblings, but was now in deep conversation with Lupin, who was sat across from him.

Fred, George, Ginny, Ron and Hermione (who had arrived at the Order headquarters a week previously) were all pretending not to listen in on Poppy's conversation, but she could tell that they were by the way that they were angled towards her and kept relaying things on to each other when they missed words here and there due to having to listen around Bill and Lupin's conversation.

"You denounced Dumbledore even under Veritaserum," Tonks continued. "The three people who didn't were ousted straight away. But tomorrow-"

"You did what?" George asked, frowning at Poppy. His exclamation stalled the other conversations in the room. "You said you didn't believe Dumbledore? Under Veritaserum?"

Poppy nodded, swallowing a spoonful of beef stew.

"You can lie under Veritaserum?" he asked, impressed. "I heard that was really difficult."

Poppy shook her head. "No, I can't. Not yet."

"Not many people can," Lupin said. "You have to be able to act as though you believe your lie, be incredibly strong willed, or be able to hide your truths away somewhere inside your mind, which is notoriously difficult to do."

"I've never got the hang of it," Tonks supplied. "You have to be really good at lying and my hair just ends up giving me away."

Poppy smiled at Tonks, and then turned back to a confused George. "Moody gave me a vial of antidote," she said.

"The Aurors just let you take that in front of them?" Ron asked, leaning forwards.

He looked to Hermione as if perhaps his question was silly, but she seemed impressed and Ron looked relieved. Poppy smiled, thinking of how quiet Ron had been around her since the start of the summer. It seemed that he was more confident now that one of his best friends was by his side.

Poppy shook her head. "The antidote stays in your bloodstream for a while. Depending on its potency, you can take it a while before you're even poisoned. I drank an eight-hour dose before I even stepped foot in the Ministry."

She turned back to Tonks and pretended that she was unaffected by the impressed looks on the eavesdropper's faces.

"I thought I was a goner when they called my name with a couple of the others," she said to the blue haired witch, "but that was for what I think was the Potions aptitude test. Not sure though… I thought it would be longer since I didn't do my NEWT," she added, frowning.

"What was the test?" Hermione asked eagerly, leaning over the table.

The Weasley children weren't acting as though they weren't listening anymore, and were all openly staring at Poppy.

Poppy sighed and explained about the vials, and Kingsley's instruction. She was halfway through explaining how the first three candidates just drank the potion, when Moody, who was sat across and three seats down from her, scoffed.

He swallowed a mouthful of his drink and said gruffly, "Idiots, the lot of them. It's a common sense test in its purest form. How long did you hold out before Kingsley gave up and told you you passed? An hour?"

"I uh… I waited for a bit, but then I did," Poppy replied slowly. "I drank the potion."

Most of the now recommenced chatter in the kitchen stopped when Moody turned in his seat and let out a loud angry noise. "Ridiculous. Here I was thinking you were smart. Fine. We'll just have Tonks and Kingsley to rely on now. See what you've done?"

"Mad-Eye," chided Tonks exasperatedly.

Poppy glared at her spoon and dropped it into her stew. "Well I went through to the next stage so I didn't do too badly, did I?" she asked Moody, glaring at him.

"What? How?" he asked, both narrowed eyes fixed on Poppy. "Drink the potion and you're out. That's how it works."

Poppy wanted to say 'thanks for the warning' sarcastically, but she knew he wasn't able to help prepare her – while he may have known most of the tasks, they were picked each year at random.

"I made Kingsley drink too," Poppy said matter-of-factly as she lifted her glass to her lips.

After a moment, Moody let out an uncharacteristically loud, booming laugh.

The Weasley children and Hermione let out a collective breath and laughed with Moody.

Poppy pursed her lips and reached over Tonks to grab a bottle of Butterbeer from the centre of the table. She didn't want to show how Moody's laughter made her shudder, or that the fact that his electric-blue fake eye was fixed on her made her feel sick. It all took her back to when fake-Moody had laughed and watched her gasping out breaths after he'd tortured her just months before.

With a barely controlled shaking hand, she re-filled her goblet with the warming butterscotch-like drink.

Tonks chuckled along with the others, not noticing Poppy's discomfort.

"Kingsley won't hear the end of that one for a while I'm sure," she said, laughing. "He's only just stopped hearing about the poisoning incident of eighty-nine! It was your potions test, yes," she said, turning back to Poppy. "If you get in you'll still have to do a year's worth of Advanced Potions classes. It's just a bit easier if you've done your NEWT. But there's nothing to say you won't be smart enough to ace that course, and with your performance and OWL results, I don't think you'll have to do any other Potions tests or anything."

"Thanks," Poppy whispered, smiling into her glass, which she had pressed to her lips.

"What did you get?" Hermione asked Poppy, leaning forwards again. "For your NEWTs I mean. If you've received your marks of course." She looked as though she'd been dying to ask.

Hermione glanced at Fred and George, who both looked unbothered, but definitely noticed the younger girl's expression.

"We didn't live up to Granger's academic expectations with our OWL results," Fred explained with a proud smile.

Poppy bit her lip to stop her own smile. "How could I forget?" she asked. She sipped her drink and then placed the bottle back onto the table. "Well I think I did okay in the end, all things considered," she said, shooting a glare at Moody. She didn't think she needed to hide that emotion.

"Glare all you want, girl. Doesn't mean I was ever your teacher," he replied, meeting her glare with one of his own.

"Oh you two," Mrs Weasley chided, "try to get along would you?"

Bill's cough sounded to Poppy like, "Sirius?" and she tried not to laugh - Mrs Weasley and Sirius had refused to speak to each other so far that evening, even going as far as to pass food to eachother via third parties.

"Poppy?" Hermione asked.

"Oh," Poppy said, controlling her features. She turned to the younger girl. "I got an Exceeds in Muggle Studies. O's in the rest."

She didn't add that she'd scored 100% in both of her Care of Magical Creatures exams – she didn't think that Hermione would care about her scores in that subject as much. Plus, she was saving her tongue in cheek bragging rights for when she saw Charlie next. He'd only scored 100% in his practical, achieving 89% in his theory.

"That's really impressive!" Hermione said loudly.

Ron's voice sounded out over the laughs at Hermione's outburst. "Always the tone of surprise!"

"And it's not even that surprising," Poppy grumbled.

"No, it's not," Ginny replied, shooting Hermione a look. "I'm really proud of you," she added.

"Thanks," Poppy said quietly.

She turned back to her food. Despite what Ginny had said on the stairs earlier, her heart swelled. She'd not had someone say they were proud of her grades since she was in primary school (discounting Professor Sprout, but she told all of her Hufflepuffs that she was proud of them).

"Right. Tomorrow. You'll need to know some good countercurses," Tonks said, grabbing Poppy's attention once more. "Ones they won't teach you at Hogwarts."

"Like Subsisto Apparitio and Desine Sanguinem?" Poppy asked.

Tonks looked impressed.

Later, after a dessert of treacle tart and more tips from Tonks, Poppy said her goodbyes.

She was about to Apparate away from the top step outside Grimmauld Place, when she heard the door open once more.

"Hey, take me with you?" Bill asked with a cheeky smile. "I told Mum I was going back to The Burrow," he said closing the door quietly. "But uh… Well, Fleur invited me over."

Poppy shook her head and smirked as she held out her arm for him to take and said, "Come on lover boy."

This wasn't the first time that Bill would be 'popping over to stay the night'. Since Fleur had begun her role at Gringotts, she and Bill had been on no less than six dates. It seemed that the silver-haired beauty's worry that Bill didn't actually like her was unfounded – he was, as she was, smitten.

"You're not annoyed about us yet?" Bill asked once they'd arrived outside Poppy and Fleur's building.

Poppy unlocked the main entrance door and let him in, watching the road for a moment to see if anyone was following them.

Once she confirmed the coast was clear she closed the door and shook her head. "Why would I be annoyed?" she asked, beckoning him up the stairs.

"Well, after she got over the shock, Ginny said she thinks Fleur's a bit young for me," Bill explained with a sigh.

"Oh please," Poppy said, pulling out her other keys as they went up. "She was angry for the two minutes she thought I was dating you, so I'd ignore that. Anyway, I've thought about it more and Fleur is Fleur. You're you. You're a Curse Breaker, she charmed a dragon. Now or in five years you would've found each other. Plus, you're both of age," she added as an afterthought. "I'm only worried that you're meant to be two of the smartest people I know, but you both keep saying you're teaching her English. I don't know how much language can be taught with someone's tongue down your throat."

Bill chuckled. "You'd be surprised."

Poppy made a gagging noise, which made Bill laugh louder, the sound echoing up the stairs.

When they reached the floor of her flat, Bill said, "Ginny's got a protective streak. She didn't mean anything by what she said. I think she uh…, well, she thought that maybe you and Charlie might have a… chat…"

Poppy couldn't help her dry chuckle, despite feeling a jolt of sadness as she remembered his note, which she had yet to decipher.

"She doesn't know…" Poppy said, shaking her head as she slid the key in the lock. "You know, this isn't the first time Ginny's doubted me," she said, changing the subject, "thought that I've hurt Charlie, or decided I'm some kind of heartless-"

"Poppy," Bill interjected. "She loves you. She didn't mean it like that. She was just concerned for Charlie. They all were. It's not every day he… well, it's just…"

Poppy sighed and turned the key, unlocking the door. "Charlie and I are friends. So there's nothing to be concerned about."

"You sure?" he asked, frowning.

No, said the voice at the back of her mind.

"Definitely," she said quickly, pushing the door open. "It wouldn't work with our roles in this…" She didn't say 'war,' but she knew Bill understood.

Bill looked as though he wanted to say something, but the moment he stepped through the door they heard a high-pitched squeal and a pair of pale arms wrapped around his neck.

Poppy laughed despite her bad mood, and shook her head and rolled her eyes at the sight of an over-excited Fleur greeting Bill by kissing every inch of his face.

Bill was smitten, Poppy decided. Fleur was already in love.

"I'll be in my room," Poppy said, putting on a smile and a lighter voice, "but remember, I have to get up early so please keep the noise down?"

Poppy ducked as a pair of half-filled wine glasses zoomed over her head and into Fleur's waiting hands.

"And dull the glow," Poppy warned an ecstatic Fleur, whose skin was shining brightly in their otherwise barely-lit living room. "Pretty sure Bill needs his eyes for work tomorrow."

Bill laughed and shook his head. "It's not too bad."

Poppy smiled. Fleur had explained that Bill wasn't too affected by her glow, even when she was flirting with him. It was refreshing, apparently, and a quality Veela looked for in their partners. If a lover could survive or grow to be unaffected by the glow of happiness, then they could survive the wrath of a Veela's anger.

Once Poppy reached the comfort of her room she shook her head to get her mind back into Auror mode, and summoned the empty capsules she'd picked up from the Muggle pharmacy earlier that evening. She sat cross-legged on her bed as she began her task.

Opening a capsule, she placed three drops of Veritaserum antidote inside, and then placed a simple stasis charm on the tiny container that would stop it from being affected by contact with her skin or her sweat.

She continued the process until she had six capsules complete and ready to be used.

The next morning, she slipped two capsules into her bra, and returned for another day of Auror training safe in the knowledge that should she need it, an antidote to Veritaserum was just seconds away.