Chapter 67.

"Harry… I need to tell you something."

The sound of hooves filled Magnolia's ears as a herd of Centaurs circled the group. Hagrid stepped forward when the Centaurs came to a stop ensuring that their small group was surrounded. Harry pulled Magnolia closer to him, both of them noticing the fury on the faces of the Centaurs surrounding them.

"I thought we told you, Hagrid, that you are no longer welcome here."

Magnolia listened as Hagrid and Magorian, the Centaur who seemed to be in charge, argued. Magnolia wasn't sure she had seen Hagrid that riled up before, he had obviously not taken their warnings and demands of not being in the Forest well. She could understand, Hagrid loved the Forest and he had advocated and looked after the creatures within its trees for so long. Magnolia noticed a familiar Centaur moving from beside Magorian, towards the twins. Bane looked as though he hadn't aged a day.

"Miss Potter." Bane nodded a greeting at her, "Your time is approaching. The stars are aligning, pulling your choices closer and closer together- almost entwining them. It seems it would be dire if that were to happen."

Magnolia felt the weight of what Bane was telling her press down on her. His eyes were dark with the truth of his words. She knew he wasn't lying; everything was becoming closer, swirling around her and almost each other. Her eyes flickered to her brother, maybe it was no coincidence that Bane had given her this message just as she was about to tell her twin about Draco.

"I won' be kept outta the Fores' by a bunch o' old mules like yeh!" Hagrid's bellow interrupted before either of the twins could respond to Bane.

They joined Hermione in pushing Hagrid away from the Centaurs, pushing him out of the Forest and back to the green grass of the Hogwarts grounds. He was still shouting at them until the sun touched their skin again. Magnolia could see people coming out of the Quidditch grounds, and slightly wondered who had won the game… and how badly Gryffindor had lost thanks to Ron.

"If yeh hurry, yeh'll be able ter blend in wit' ter crowd, an' nobody will know yeh weren' there." Hagrid mumbled, before splitting from the students.

Harry, Hermione and Magnolia moved across the grounds, joining in the crowds walking back to the school without saying anything. Magnolia heard the song that Draco, much to her own dismay, had made up about Ron drifting through the air towards them. She sighed, alongside her brother, who's shoulders had sagged at the sound.

"Let's hurry, before we get caught up by the Slytherins." Hermione grumbled, "No offence, Maggie."

"No, Hermione, wait." Magnolia gasped, disbelief spreading through her as the words of the song became clearer.

'Weasley is our King,

Weasley is our King,

He didn't let the Quaffle in,

Weasley is our King.'

"YES!" Harry cried, jumping in the air, and pulling his sister into a hug.

Magnolia couldn't help but laugh at her brother's reaction, his infectious good mood to the news of Gryffindors victory lifted her own spirits after the morning the three of them had had. As the Gryffindor team caught up to them, Ron on their shoulders, Harry swirled Magnolia around. His childlike dancing, and large smile, made Magnolia remember back to when they were younger, before they knew about the Wizarding World, and they were just two siblings who relied on one another for everything. They would make up silly games, silly dances, silly songs, to cheer the other up or make the hours of the day go faster.

The lightness in her chest remained even after she left Harry, both going to their separate Houses. Harry had invited Magnolia to join them for the after Quidditch party, but Magnolia had more studying to do if she wanted to do well in her upcoming exams and she knew that Harry and Hermione would want to tell Ron what happened during the match. She had stopped by the Kitchens, saying hello to the House Elves there, to collect some snacks for her and her friends as study refreshments. Practically skipping into the Common Room, Magnolia instantly spotted her friends grouped around a table that was strewn with books and parchments.

"You've been gone a while!" Pansy welcomed her back, taking a muffin from her haul straight away, "I thought you'd be out all night after their win."

Magnolia smiled, "It was Ron's victory. I didn't want to outstay my welcome."

The group lapsed into study mode after that, only speaking when asking questions, or the occasional swearing mutter when one of them really didn't understand something. The mound of snacks in the middle of the tables between them gradually diminished until nothing remained, and one by one the tired students pushed their books away for some light conversation between each other. Magnolia felt fingers softly stroking through her hair as she sat back, smiling.

"Where were you?" Draco murmured.

"When?"

"During the match. I couldn't see you in the stands."

"Oh. Harry, Hermione, and I… we, erm, went for a walk." Magnolia mumbled.

"Anywhere nice?"

"Just the grounds." Magnolia shrugged, "I should get to bed."

Hagrid had made the three of them promise that no one, aside from Ron, would find out about Grawp. Magnolia hated lying to Draco, but she had promised Hagrid. Luckily, there were plenty other things to talk about as the days dragged on, exams were fast approaching, and everyone was reacting in different ways.

Magnolia was often having to dodge students that were walking through the hallways with their heads buried in books. Draco had had to pull her into his side protectively when she had almost become swallowed in a group of particularly oblivious Ravenclaw students. Even within her friends groups, people were acting strange. Hermione had become less annoying, focusing more on herself, and blocking others out. Harry was going through peaks and troughs of panic and ease. Theo was practically tearing his hair out at the prospect of getting anything less then Exceeds Expectations. Pansy was the only one with anything else to focus on; she was determined to shop as much as possible with Magnolia.

The evening before their first exam, everyone except Magnolia and Draco were sat huddled over revision. Magnolia and Draco were instead wandering the halls of Hogwarts on patrol, enjoying the easy conversation between them instead of the tense barrage of questions being hurled everywhere. Magnolia laughed as Draco imitated Blaise when he had gone swimming in the Great Lake and thought a Grindylow had tried to attack him, it had turned out to just to be seaweed. She was enjoying the two of them being so open outside of the Common Room, something that had become more of an occurrence since the day of the last Quidditch match when Magnolia had almost told Harry about them.

Magnolia still wasn't sure of the best track to take with that, and she had spent many nights talking it through with her dorm mates for the girls opinions, but Bane's warning circulated through her mind every day. She could tell Harry about her and Draco, but things were going so well between the twins at the moment, and soon enough it would be just the two of them stuck together at the Dursley's for the summer, at least until they could escape to Grimmauld Place. Her body hummed when she thought of going to Grimmauld Place at all, especially instead of the Dursleys. She was excited to spend more time with Sirius, desperate to get back to the late-night conversations they had whilst hidden away in Buckbeak's room.

Magnolia's mind was still on Sirius when she finally crawled into bed that night. She was looking forward to seeing him; to having those one-on-one chats and laughs, to feeling his arms wrap around her in a way she imagined her fathers would have, she was excited to open her exam results with him. Magnolia craved the normal family life she had been denied for so long, and she was thrilled that she finally got to have some of that with her Godfather. Magnolia smiled at some of the memories from her time with Sirius, although he had had no children, or sisters of his own, he was the perfect father figure for her.

The exam weeks started much as Magnolia had envisioned; the 5th and 7th year students barely spoke about anything except their next subject of exam and were often found hushing the younger years. Magnolia and the girls were enjoying their nightly meditation sessions- something that was helping them relax around their exams and helping Magnolia centre herself and her magic more. She knew that the boys often joined, not for the relaxing and mindful benefits, but to see how Magnolia was doing following the Easter Ball fiasco. Magnolia had distanced herself slightly from the Gryffindors for the exam period, after her suggestion of meditation to Hermione to help her relax had gone down particularly badly. Ron, of course, hadn't been able to stop laughing and Harry had unconsciously started to move in front of Magnolia as Hermione's tirade of not having enough time to do anything but study, and how Magnolia should know this, had gone on and on.

Magnolia practically skipped up the steps to the Astronomy Tower for their practical exam; excited for her second to last exam, and because she not only enjoyed the subject, but the Tower itself had a calming affect on her. Beside her, Draco laughed and stroked his fingers down her arm before they went their separate ways to set their telescopes down and begin filling in the blank star chart they had each been given. Magnolia glanced across the moonlit grounds during her exam, the tips of the trees of the Forbidden Forest softly swayed in the light breeze and some of the owls housed in the Owlery flew across the starry sky.

As the exam wore on, the quiet in the Astrology Tower was broken through by a loud bang coming from the grounds. Magnolia looked out again, seeing Hagrid surrounded by six people, all who had their wands out and were attempting to stun him. The exam was quickly forgotten about as shouting began within the group on the ground, and Professor McGonagall ran in to the centre. Magnolia's heart hammered against her chest as she saw four of the wizards shoot stunning spells at Professor McGonagall, sending the Deputy Headmistress flying backwards off her feet. Magnolia screamed as Professor McGonagall's limp body hit the grass below her, obviously knocked out cold.

Hands found Magnolia's shoulders, holding her still, fingers stroking the bare skin to help her calm down. She could hear Draco's quiet voice reminding her to breathe. Hagrid was shouting now, swiping out at the wizards on the ground as Magnolia let herself shrink back into Draco's body behind her. They saw Hagrid crouching down, before standing back up with something slung over his back. Magnolia sobbed as she realised that it was Fang's limp body, she hoped more then anything that Hagrid's loyal dog was alive. Umbridge's shouting could be heard clearly from the Tower, yelling at the Ministry wizards to capture Hagrid as he ran, Fang still across his shoulder, across the grounds of Hogwarts towards the gates to get away.

Reluctantly, Draco and Magnolia moved apart from each other again, spending the final five minutes of their exam finishing their star charts, before everyone made their way back to their Common Rooms. Magnolia briefly spoke to Harry, who told her to get her rest and they could talk in the morning. She could tell he was shaken up by Hagrid's attack, after all Hagrid had been the first one to save them from the Dursley's and tell them about the Wizarding world they belonged in.

"She's a vile woman." Magnolia seethed as she walked with her friends back to the Dungeons, "This must be the last straw. Hagrid didn't deserve that, and in the middle of the night! She obviously didn't want to be seen... but Professor McGonagall! Do you think she'll be ok? Four stunning spells, that can't be good."

Draco's thumb stroked across the hand that he held safely in his as she ranted. She hated Umbridge. Everything that woman had done since coming to Hogwarts had only made the school worse, Magnolia could only hope that with the school year coming to an end she wouldn't be in situ for much longer. Surely Professor Dumbledore would return before their sixth year, Magnolia wasn't sure how she would face another year of Umbridge at her school. She was struggling more and more every day to keep up the sickly-sweet pretence she had had to put on around the horrid woman. Unlike the other students, who were excitedly discussing the events of the night, Magnolia went straight to bed when she got back to the Slytherin Dungeons, her mind swirling with possible ways of making Umbridge pay.

The following morning, Magnolia woke up feeling like she hadn't slept at all. She drifted her way through breakfast, struggling to keep her focus on anything her friends were talking about. Today was her last exam, History of Magic, and she knew she needed to focus her mind to be able to remember all the dates of different events. The morning seemed to speed up, and before she knew it, Magnolia was stood beside Harry as they waited to go back into the Great Hall for their final exam. Harry wished her luck, looking as tired as she felt, as she took her seat behind him.

Opening her parchment, Magnolia began to furiously scribble down answers, trying to remember as much as she could. All around her she could hear the scratches of quills on parchment as her fellow students did the same. Strangely, Magnolia felt like the repetitive noise was helping her mind settle and recall the events her exam was referring too. She lifted her head to check the giant hourglass at the front of the Great Hall, noting how much time had passed, when she noticed that Harry's head was rested on his desk.

Magnolia rolled her eyes, of course her brother would fall asleep during their exam. Watching him closer, Magnolia realised that he was twitching, and she was sure she could hear him moaning. She put her quill down as Harry's quiet moans turned into shrill screaming, and his twitching turned into what looked like a full-on fit. Magnolia jumped up as her twin's body hit the floor with a loud thump as he screamed.

"Harry!"

Magnolia crouched next to her twin, who was still screaming and twitching on the floor, pulling his head on to her lap to stop him hitting it on the stone floor of the Great Hall. The exam invigilators appeared next to her quickly, shushing the rest of the students and telling them to continue with their exam. Magnolia glared at one of them when he told her to go back to her desk.

"He is my twin brother. I am not leaving him."

Slowly, Magnolia felt Harry's body relax and his screaming quieten as he opened his eyes. He gripped on to her hands as he realised that she was holding him and looked into her eyes with true fear on his face. The exam invigilator crouched next to him, telling them he would need to go to the Hospital Wing, and that Magnolia needed to finish her exam. The twins didn't bother acknowledging anything he said- Magnolia had gone cold at the look on her brother's face, she had never seen him look so pale and terrified before.

Both of them were panting as the invigilator helped Harry stand, finally accepting Magnolia wasn't going to leave Harry. He clung to Magnolia, pulling her as close to him as he could as though she was the only thing on earth, before whispering in her ear.

"He has Sirius."

A/N: Thank you so much everyone who has reviewed/ PM'd me about this story- I am eternally grateful that so many are finding my fic and enjoying it, and absolutely astounded that so many are re-finding this fic after being away for so long! (Special shoutout to Ghostwriter71, who was my very first review on this fic, and has found us again!) Reviews give me so much oomph to keep going, and I love reading your thoughts of my writing and Magnolia's story! Thank you!3