Harry didn't mind that he was spending the night away from Ron and Rory. Aside from the fact that Rory and Ron being in close proximity to each other for the rest of the week was going to be a nightmare, he was sure that the alone time with her dad was much needed and Harry was happy to get some time by himself with Sirius as well.

He'd seen Sirius several times at Hogsmeade this year, but he'd always had to share him with Rory and Atlas. Harry didn't mind at all, but it was their absence was nice, at least for tonight.

"So can you explain what happened on the train?" Sirius asked. Tonks was grabbing plates from the cupboard and whipped her head around quickly.

"Yes! Please tell me. I am dying to know," she said.

Harry sighed. The last ten minutes had been more eventful than Harry had been anticipating. He recounted the whole situation to Tonks and Sirius: Ginny and Dean getting into an argument, Ginny deciding that the proper way to break up with him was to kiss Atlas, Dean yelling at Atlas and Ginny, Atlas making the entire situation worse by telling Dean "It sucks to suck," which resulted in Dean punching him square in the face.

"Wow, he really did deserve it," Tonks said.

"Ginny and Atlas though. Didn't see that one coming," Sirius said.

"The whole situation is kind of a nightmare honestly," Harry said. "Dean is our reserve chaser until Katie is back from St. Mungo's. If he quits, I'll have to put in Cormac McLaggen who is just… The worst."

"That bad at Quidditch?" Tonks asked.

"He plays Quidditch fine. It's his personality that's terrible. And Ron can't stand him. Especially since he went out with Hermione," Harry said. "Hermione also doesn't like Cormac by the way. She only went out with him after Ron started dating Lavender, and she says she didn't go out with Cormac just to annoy Ron, but she definitely did. Anyway, I can't put Cormac on the team or Ron will go off the rails again. It's been dicey having Dean on the team in the first place."

"What's wrong with Dean?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing. Ron just got annoyed every time he saw him with Ginny. Of course, now he's going to be annoyed every time he sees Dean on principle," Harry said. "And I'm sure Atlas is going to be his favorite person now, which is only going to make things with Rory worse."

"Ron and Rory aren't getting on?" Tonks asked. "When did this happen?"

"Rory is upset that Ron basically blew Hermione off for Slughorn's Christmas party to go out with Lavender and she wants him to apologize to her," Harry said.

"And he won't apologize?" Sirius asked.

"Well, he'd have to admit that he liked Hermione if he did that," Harry said.

"So… Ron and Rory aren't speaking?" Tonks asked.

"Not if they can help it," Harry said. "And Hermione and Ron also aren't speaking. Oh, and Neville and Matilda were dating over the summer and broke up after her parents died, so they're not speaking either. And this morning Rory and Matilda got into an argument so Matilda isn't speaking to Rory now. So, almost none of my friends are on speaking terms with anyone other than me."

"That is an impressively frustrating situation you have found yourself tangled in," Sirius said. "Dare I ask how things are with Rory?"

"Great, actually. Genuinely never better," Harry said. Things with Rory were excellent. She was the highlight of his time at school. They got on famously. She was less intense as a study partner than Hermione. The defense lessons were going great too. There were other things about Rory that he was absolutely not going to mention to Sirius, but he had zero complaints where Rory was concerned, even after the issues with the Servants of Pythia. The only snag was—

"I think Rory is fully prepared to take her grudge against Ron to her grave if I'm being honest," Harry said.

"They'll get over it before that," Tonks said. "Trust me."

"I hope you're right," Harry said. "I imagine the holiday is going to be a nightmare in the meantime."

Rory couldn't have been happier to be back with her dad. She barely registered saying goodbye to Harry and Sirius and Tonks when she got to Grimmauld Place because she was happy to see her dad, alive and relatively well.

He looked pretty tired and ragged from his time away. Rory wasn't going to press him about it today. For now, she just wanted to enjoy dinner with him and catch him up on her life.

"Here you go," she said, sitting the stack of letters on the table in front of them.

"Wow," he said, examining it.

"I wrote at least two a week. Sometimes more if something dramatic happened," Rory said. "But they're all in chronological order, and I numbered the envelopes just in case they get mixed up."

"Again, wow," he repeated, picking up the stack. "How did this come about?"

"It was Harry's idea to write them," Rory said.

"Really?" Remus asked.

She nodded. "That first day of classes was brutal. I completely checked out in the middle of Snape's class. I had no idea what was happening in Ancient Runes. McGonagall wanted me to change my course load. All before I even had lunch. It was all just a lot. And I always tell you when things like that are going on but, I couldn't this time. So Harry said I should write to you anyway, even if you couldn't read it right now."

"Did it help?" Remus asked.

Rory shrugged. "I would've preferred to have your guidance every once in a while."

Remus nodded. "Well, I've heard you— and everyone else, loud and clear about my leaving."

"Good," she replied. "Because I hated it. And you look terrible. Have you slept at all?"

"Not enough, apparently," he replied, running his fingers through his beard. Rory couldn't recall having ever seen her dad so bushy before.

"When did you get back?" she asked.

"Yesterday afternoon," he said. "Sirius did get me up to date on your meeting with Tonks and Robards."

She wondered if she was going to be the one to bring it up or if he would.

"So are you more concerned that I was talking to the SOP, that I can put things into people's heads, or that I yelled at yet another high-ranking government official?" Rory asked.

He didn't react to her joking and instead shook his head.

"I'm sorry that you were struggling and that I wasn't here for you," he said. "I'm sorry you had to deal with any of it in the first place."

Rory felt her chest tighten. "No guarantee that I wouldn't have talked to them if you'd been around."

"Maybe. But that won't ease my conscience at all," he said.

Rory couldn't do anything to ease his conscience either. He would almost certainly tell her that it wasn't her responsibility if she tried to say anything.

"You're here now," Rory said. "Try not to run off anymore."

"I promise I'll never leave you again," he said.

"Good," she replied. "I'll hold you to that."

Rory proceeded to fill her dad in on all the things she'd been up to while at school. He had the letters, sure, but everything was still spilling out of her. She couldn't stop herself.

The last thing she did was fill him on what happened on the train. She'd told Atlas to stay out of the Ginny situation, and yes, maybe Ginny had been the one to kiss him, he certainly hadn't needed to go rub it in Dean's face.

Remus sat in thought for a few moments mulling the words over.

"What is it?" Rory asked.

"I'm just replaying the list in my head of all the impulsive things you've done in the last year just to irritate other people," Remus pointed out.

Rory pointed. "Well, it was usually just Snape and not my peers."

"Have you thought about trying to be polite to Snape?" Remus asked.

"No. I'm already nice to Kreacher and Draco. I do not have space in my life to show any other people any kind of grace," Rory said. "Ask Ron."

"I thought you and Ron got on just fine," Remus said.

"We did until all that nonsense with Lavender and Hermione. Even if he changed his mind about going out with her, he could've had the decency to tell her, or suck it up and apologize to her for blowing her off," Rory said. "So I told him, we can be friends again after he apologizes to Hermione."

Remus looked at her with the same exhaustion on her face that Harry had when she told Ron to apologize in the library.

"I don't think I'm being unreasonable," Rory said.

"Perhaps not," Remus said. "But Ron is your friend, so maybe, before anyone else, he deserves a little bit of grace."

"I'll think about it," Rory said. She would not think about it and Remus seemed to recognize that Rory was only saying that she would to appease him.

"But things have been good?" Remus asked. She nodded. "Taking care of yourself?"

"Yep. I'm finally starting to sleep the normal amount," Rory said.

"Things with Harry are good?" Remus asked.

Rory nodded. "Yep. No complaints. I mean, he's worried about what Draco Malfoy is up to all the time, but that's standard Harry Potter behavior."

"And how is that going? With Draco I mean?" Remus asked.

Rory thought for a moment about how she wanted to explain this. "You know I hate giving Dumbledore any kind of credit, but I think that he was right about Draco, needing a friend."

"And are you friends?" Remus asked.

"We're friendly," Rory said. "It bothers Harry because he doesn't trust him, which I get. Draco is almost certainly a Deatheater. But I don't think he's got much choice in the matter. He might be as unwilling a participant in all this as the rest of us are."

"That makes sense. What teenager would choose this?" Remus agreed.

"I've talked to Tonks about it a bit," Rory said.

Remus nodded and his eyes drifted down to the letters in his hands. "You talk to Tonks often."

"Yes," she said. She didn't need to be suspicious about why her dad wasn't making eye contact with her. He was trying to check in on Tonks without having to have an actual conversation with her. Rory had seen this behavior a thousand times from her own friends. All boys were stupid. Even her dad was stupid.

"That's good," Remus said.

Rory let out a groan. "Merlin, you are unbelievable."

"Excuse me?" Remus asked, an amused lilt to his voice.

"I know I'm not supposed to know that something was going on between you and Tonks, but I do know. And you've both been miserable since you stopped talking," Rory said. "You used to be obnoxious."

"Obnoxious?"

"To be in the same room with. Like when I told my friends I was going out with Harry and everyone was like 'ugh, finally' because they couldn't stand the pretending anymore. Sirius and I used to openly make fun of the two of you and you never noticed because you never paid us any mind when the two of you were together," Rory said.

"Aurora," he started, "there's more to this than you're aware. I know you like Tonks but-"

"Dad, I'm not trying to play matchmaker with you. I just think you don't have a legitimate reason beyond 'she can do better' which is crap," Rory said.

"Sweetie, I know you mean well—"

Rory shushed. "No. Stop. Whatever you're about to say, it's probably dumb. You are being dumb."

At this, Remus tried to fight back a laugh. "I don't think you've ever called me dumb before."

"Because you are being dumb. Being a werewolf is not a valid reason—"

"Aurora, I cannot begin to express how much I'm not going to have this conversation with you of all people," Remus said. She opened her mouth to speak again but he held up a hand. "No. I will indulge in you all sorts of things but this is not one of them."

"Fine," Rory huffed, "but I'm going to give you a piece of advice."

He sighed, clearly not wanting to relent but 15 years of putting up with Rory had taught him that she was determined to get at least a word in.

"'Don't worry so much about what you can do for everyone else and just be selfish,'" Rory said.

"Selfish?" Remus asked. "I'm not sure you're aware of this, but being a parent involves a lot of not being selfish."

"This has nothing to do with you being my dad. This is just about you letting yourself be happy," Rory said. "You're allowed, you know."

"Do you want to know what makes me happy?" Remus asked.

"If you say being my dad I'm going to vomit right here on the table," Rory said rolling her eyes. He chuckled. "You're not just my dad. And you're certainly not just a werewolf. And everyone else seems to know that but you."

Remus nodded. "I hear you."

"So you say. One of these days you'll act like it," Rory said. She got to her feet and walked over to him. She hugged him tightly. "I'm going to bed. I love you."

"I love you too," Remus said. He kissed the top of her head.

"Do you want to know what makes me happy?" she asked.

"Harry Potter," he said.

She chuckled and kissed his cheek. "Seeing my dad happy."

The moment Harry walked into the Burrow the next afternoon, he was wrapped in one of Mrs. Weasley's hugs. She went on and on about how sorry she was she hadn't gotten to greet him properly at the train station.

Harry barely got a moment to say hello to Remus and Mr. Weasley before he was guided outside where Ron, Ginny, and the Twins were supposed to be playing Quidditch. They were on the ground at the moment.

"Where's Rory?" Harry asked.

"She was out here for a while, but she got cold and went inside. She's probably in Ginny's room," Ron said. "Honestly, I think she was just trying to get away from me. I tried saying 'hi' to her and she basically ignored me. Even my mum noticed. She asked why we weren't getting along?"

"What'd you tell your mum?" Harry asked.

"If you're wondering if he told Mum that he blew off a date with Hermione—" Ginny started.

"It wasn't a date," Ron hissed.

"Sure," Ginny said, waving a dismissive hand at him. "And that Rory is angry with him for hurting Hermione's feelings, then no. He didn't. He also failed to mention the shouting match that Rory got into with Lavender and that the two of them hate each other."

Harry also withheld information about the fight. For some reason explaining that Lavender told Rory that Harry was only dating her because they were sleeping together wasn't high on the list of things he wanted to tell Sirius.

"They don't hate each other," Ron said. "They just really, really don't like each other."

"I'm sure this holiday isn't going to be at all uncomfortable," Ginny said with a smile.

Harry joined his friends for a few rounds of Quidditch before they were called inside for lunch. He volunteered to go upstairs to get Rory and found her exactly where Ron said, in Ginny's room lounging on a cot, a book in her lap.

"I saw you out the window," Rory said closing her book. Did I ever tell you how dashing you look on a broom?"

"You have mentioned it, thank you," he said. "As much as I'd love to sit here and let you tell me how good-looking I am when I volunteered to come up here, Mrs. Weasley looked at a clock on the wall, so I'm assuming she's got a countdown going in her head."

Rory laughed and tossed her book aside. She walked over and gave him a kiss.

"By the way," he said, "I was wondering if it would be possible for you to try, just a little, to get along with Ron while we're here?"

"Why?" Rory asked as they walked out of the room.

"Because I think people are noticing that you're not speaking," Harry said.

"I'm not speaking to him," she pointed out. "And I did tell my dad I'm not speaking to him And I assume you also told Sirius. So his parent probably also know."

"I know," he said. "But while I'm more than happy to make that my problem while we're at school when we're here, it's everyone else's problem. And they're going to ask why you aren't talking."

"But—"

"I know, I know, I know. It's not your problem. If Ron hadn't been an ass in the first place you wouldn't have shut him out, but do you think Hermione wants his mum to get a rundown of what happened?" Harry asked. "I mean, did you tell your dad about the double date?"

Rory rolled her eyes. "Left that bit out." It wasn't a moment that reflected well on any of them.

Rory thought for a moment, pouting as she did.

"Fine. If he talks to me, I will respond, but I'm not going to actively engage him," Rory said.

"And do you think you can keep from being sarcastic the entire time?" Harry asked.

"You are asking so much of me, Harry Potter," she said, still pouting. He kissed her and they walked down to the kitchen.

"So, catch us up. How has school been this year?" Mrs. Weasley asked once they were all seated and plated. She was obviously fishing for some kind of information about Ron or Ginny, but at this point who knew which she was more interested in.

"Yes, how are your NEWT classes going?" Sirius asked. Harry was thankful for him always trying to spare them any extra embarrassment. "Still at the top of your class, Aurora?"

"Only after Hermione, always," Rory said. "Ancient Runes is really tough. I'm still getting O's in that class but I feel like it's a miracle every time."

"What a problem to have," Ginny said. "I'd love to get above an 'A' in that class. You should tutor me. Might help you with your retention."

"You're right about that," Rory agreed.

"You're taking alchemy as well, aren't you?" Mrs. Weasley asked. "Very tricky that subject."

"It is, but I've always really excelled at potions and transfigurations and while this is wildly different, a lot of the concepts are the same, so I'm doing fairly well," Rory said. "Slughorn thinks I've got quite a talent for it actually. He introduced me to Augustine Goosander at his Christmas party on Saturday."

"Really?" Sirius asked. "We used one of his books in my class seventh year. He's highly regarded in that field."

"I forgot about the Christmas party," Mrs. Weasley said. "Ginny you were invited weren't you?"

Ginny slouched in her seat a little. "I didn't go, Mum. Wasn't really feeling up to it when it came 'round."

"Oh, why not?" Mrs. Weasley, disappointment evident on her face.

"Well, I was supposed to go with Dean," she said simply enough that Harry understood that Ginny had explained to her mother at least in part that they'd broken up on the train. Whether she went into detail about Atlas was a mystery.

The mystery was quickly solved because now Mrs. Weasley looked uncomfortable as she pressed on to her next question.

"Oh, well, at least you're better off now?" she asked. "I mean, that is, you prefer Atlas to Dean."

"Atlas is cool, Mum," Ron said coming to his sister's aid. "I wouldn't worry about him."

"Well, that's very good to hear," Mrs. Weasley chimed in, clearly happy to move the subject away from Ginny and her romantic entanglements. "Tell us about Lavender, Ron."

Rory was now very focused on her food and didn't look up as she ate.

"Oh," Ron said, going red in the face. "She's great."

"She's your roommate isn't she, Aurora?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

Rory took a long drink of water and nodded. "Yep."

"You two must get on quite well then," Mrs. Weasley went on.

Rory smiled and shrugged. "We're not close. Different personalities and all that."

"Oh, everyone likes you," Mrs. Weasley said, which was funny because sometimes it seemed like she didn't really like Rory. "I bet it would be fun for the four of you to go on a double date and get to know each other better."

Ginny snorted into her sandwich while Harry and Ron quickly tried to downplay the idea. All the adults at the table looked baffled, but it was Rory who finally chimed in.

"We attempted a double date once, but we just don't mesh well," Rory said simply.

"Interesting use of the word 'attempt,'" Fred said.

"Did you actually make it on the date?" George asked.

"We decided it would be better we not go on the date together," Ron said. "That way everyone could still go to Hogsmeade and have a good time."

Harry wasn't sure if Ron and Lavender had actually had a good time at Hogsmeade that day. Harry had. In fact, aside from the two arguments with Ron and Lavender that bookended their Hogsmeade visit, he'd had a great time that day.

"That must be some personality difference," George said.

"Shutting it down before you even get the chance to see how it goes," Fred said.

"Then again, Rory can see the future," George pointed out.

"True. Was it inevitable, Rory?" Fred asked.

"I've been sharing a room with Lavender for almost six years. Didn't need to be a seer to know we weren't going to have a good time if we went ahead with it," Rory said. She quickly glanced at Ron and then returned to her sandwich.

She had a point. But then again, Harry had also tried to explain to Ron that Rory wasn't. It seemed obvious to everyone now that there was more here at play than they were saying, but they didn't broach the subject of Lavender again for the rest of lunch.

Harry and Ron sat down to play a game of chess afterward. Ginny sat with them observing, while Rory looked over a product with the twin that they wanted to add to their joke shop.

"I didn't expect Mum to ask you outright about Lavender," Ginny said. "I thought she would be completely uninterested after hearing about Atlas."

"Well, she knew about Lav at least. She had to hear about Dean and you and Atlas at the same time," Ron said. "And you know how well Sirius and Mum get on."

Harry remembered well the argument that Sirius and Mrs. Weasley got into when he got to Grimmauld last summer. They weren't exactly each other's favorites after that Harry suspected. The idea of Ginny dating Sirius' son probably didn't thrill her.

"Atlas and Sirius aren't the same person," Ginny said. "And I don't even know that Atlas and I are anything. All I did was kiss him on the train to make a point. He might just think I'm crazy now."

"You shouldn't just go around kissing people," Ron huffed.

"Isn't that how you got your girlfriend? A girl randomly kissing you in the middle of the common room?" Ginny asked.

Harry said nothing and would say nothing. He'd said all he'd wanted to about Ron and Lavender. Ginny on the other hand was more than welcome to harass him.

"That's different," Ron said.

"Yeah, you're right. Atlas and I made our feelings for each other pretty obvious to each other beforehand. Because Atlas is such a gentleman he said he didn't want to talk on it any further while I was still dating Dean," Ginny said. "Meanwhile, a few chats in the common room while you've got a date with some other girl planned and Lavender decides to throw herself unexpectedly at you."

"It wasn't like that," Ron hissed.

"Sure," Ginny said. "Harry, did you kiss Rory on a whim when you started going out?"

"No," Harry said, shaking his head. "I asked to kiss her before I did it."

"Really?" Ginny asked.

Harry nodded. "Just wanted to make sure I wasn't misreading anything."

"Another gentleman," Ginny said. "And if someone kissed you out of the blue you wouldn't just up and decide to date them would you?"

Harry was about to say no, but— "Well, technically."

"Yeah. That's what happened with Cho," Ron said.

"Wait, what?" Ginny asked.

"That's why he and Rory broke up. Because Cho went and kissed him and Rory saw. Didn't you know that?" Ron asked. "It was when Zac set the room on fire."

"How did I not know this?" Ginny asked. "No wonder Hermione was adamant about me not going after you. You were being kind of the worst."