"You got it back?"

"Yes!" Harry grinned at Freya. They had met in the hallway where he was coming back from seeing Lupin and McGonagall and she'd been walking up, a troubled expression on her face that cleared into pleasant surprise at the sight of Harry carrying his firebolt. "Hey, uh...now that it's all good now maybe we should make up with Will...he was only trying to help."

Freya smiled, "Yeah, all right. Come on, he's working in the common room for a change, it's like he knew that we'd make up with him today or something the stupid know it all..."

They entered the common room after helping Neville who had forgotten the passwords in as well and after ten minutes of being surrounded by Firebolt admirers, they went towards the only person who hadn't joined the crowd. Will was in one of the chairs, bent over his homework, carefully avoiding their eyes before they'd approached close enough to where he couldn't ignore them anymore and he looked up.

"I got it back," said Harry, lifting up the broom.

"See, William? There wasn't anything wrong with it." said Freya who couldn't help but sound a bit superior.

"Well, there might have been." said Will frowning, "And at least we know it's actually safe."

"Yeah, you're right, Will." coughing awkwardly, Harry scratched the back of his neck. "I'm really sorry for being so mad at you for so long. You were right since the beginning it was just...well, I was really happy to have the broom. Which is sort of lame but-"

"No, Harry, I get it." said Will. "I saw how much it broke your heart when McGonagall took it away. I'm guessing that's why Freya's been so mad at me too even though she knows I was right?"

"You're always right," said Freya with a roll of her eyes, "It's annoying but you are. But seeing you make Harry sad was...wrong."

There was a moment of silence before Freya clasped her hands.

"Well, I'm feeling a bit awkward by this feeling sharing thing we've got going, so can we say we're all good now? We forgive you, do you forgive us, William?"

Will stared at them before his lip quirked up.

"Ha, he smiled, he loves us." Freya grinned at Harry who laughed. "Want me to take the Firebolt upstairs to your room, Harry? I've got to give Scabbers his tonic anyway."

Harry nodded and as Freya went upholding the broom happily, he glanced at Will. "Can I sit down, then?"

"Why can't you? Haven't we made up?" asked Will as he moved a large stack of parchment away from the chair next to him.

Harry sat. "Ah, because I still feel bad about arguing. Really good we have Freya, right?"

"'Ha, he smiled, he loves us'" Will shook his head with a small smile, "I don't get how she jumps to the conclusion she wants so quickly...but yeah, I guess I did smile so that's apparently my forgiveness, Harry."

Harry laughed. Then he looked around at the mess of papers deciding that now would be the time to ask it as he looked at one long Runes essay, "Seriously, Will. How are you getting through all this stuff?"

"Oh, well-you know-hard work." said Will. Close up, Harry saw that he looked almost as tired as Lupin.

"Why don't you just drop a few subjects?" suggested Harry, picking up a very complicated-looking graph for a class he wasn't even sure of.

"I couldn't do that!" said Will blinking as though Harry had suggested he ballroom dance with Snape. "

"Why not? Arithmancy looks terrible." said Harry, flipping through the textbook.

"Actually, it's my favorite subject." said Will earnestly, "It's brilliant how-"

But what exactly was so wonderful about the subject, Harry didn't get to find out, for at that moment Lavender and Pavarti came over to them looking angry, arms crossed as they stopped in front of Will and Harry.

"Yes?" asked Harry, confused.

"We're not here for you, Harry." said Lavender as they both looked pointedly at Will. "We're here for you."

"Uh, okay." said Will, confused. "What is it?"

"Scabbers is gone." Harry blinked as Pavarti shook her head, "There was blood on the sheets. And not only-Freya said to do something with this."

Pavarti threw a baggie at Will and eavesdroppers on the conversation were craning their necks to see what it was.

It was a small baggie of several long ginger cat hairs.

"The cat ate the rat!" someone whispered in shock before people shushed him.

"She cleaned it up and said to tell you that she didn't want to see another hair of that cat in our dormitory or in our common room-she doesn't want the cat in her line of sight ever or she'll hex it." Lavender sniffed, "Kind of her to warn you, I would have come down yelling for revenge if it had been my pet."

"Why isn't she down here?" said Harry, who still hadn't gotten over all his shock that Crookshanks had actually eaten Scabbers. "Why are you relaying messages?"

"She didn't want to come down," said Pavarti looking sympathetic.

"What do you mean she didn't want to come down?" Will looked stricken, "Why isn't she down here yelling at me? She's always yelling at me and now she gets to yell that she was right while shehas the rightand she's not taking the chance? Do you know when she'll come down? I can't go up there but there must be another explanation for this, Crookshanks would never!"

Harry didn't really believe that Crookshanks wouldn't ever or that he didn't already eat Scabbers, but he'd just befriended Will again so he didn't say his thoughts out loud.

Besides, there was something more pressing.

"Yeah, why isn't she already down here?" asked Harry, who would have thought with how Freya previously acted when her rat was attacked, he'd be having to protect William's life or at least his head.

"Are boys really so out of tune with feelings these days?" Pavarti asked, sounding stunned.

"They must be because it's obvious, isn't it?" asked Lavender.

They stood like that for a moment before they must have seen the cluelessness on both boys' faces because Lavender sighed, shaking her head as she finally gave a straight answer.

"She was rather broken-hearted looking when we went up there. Didn't have the energy to come down here and tell you off, looked sadder than I'd ever seen her."

Both boys' eyes widened as Lavender looked up towards the entrance of the girl's dormitories with a sigh.

"I guess she really did love that hideous rat, huh?"