LUCY:

Since Fred had sent me a letter earlier in the week saying that Jae Kim was still more than willing to exchange Honeyduke's sweets for whatever I could find in the Gryffindor common room sofa cushions, I changed out of my Quidditch robes and made my way up to the castle in record time. It was odd, going by myself without Tweedledee and Tweedledum for company, but I found the one-eyed witch statue without any difficulty and followed the passage all the way to the base of Honeyduke's.

I released the Snitch from my pocket — the twins had given it to me over summer, pre-loaded with a few Galleons in case the sofa cushions weren't as bountiful as they once were — and hid in the shadows while it bounced against the trap door.

After about a minute, the trap door opened slightly.

"Who is it?" a voice called.

I stepped forward to confirm that the voice belonged to Jae before replying. "It's me, Lucy Diggory. The twins passed the torch this year and Fred told me you were still willing to do business with Gryffindor house?"

"Ah, that's right! Alright, I'll be down there in a bit!"

A couple minutes later, the trap door opened wide, and Jae dropped down into the tunnel, two bags in hand.

"I take it you won?" he asked with a friendly smile.

I nodded. "We weren't sure if we would, being down a player, but Dennis Creevey was excellent."

"Oh, was that student who got cursed last week a Gryffindor Quidditch player?"

"Yeah," I replied with a sigh. "I'm surprised we still had the match at all, to be honest with you. I was half-hoping the professors would postpone it until she was back, out of respect or something, but — here we are." I managed a smile. "I guess you just need to carry on as best you can and cling to what makes you happy even when the world's turned upside down. I think everyone was happy today, aside from the Slytherins of course. We won by two hundred and fifty points."

"I'm always happy when Slytherin loses. Thank you for making my day with that news." Jae grinned at me as he started lifting himself back through the trap door. "Watch out for yourself, Lucy Diggory."

"You too," I called back as he disappeared.

I hurried back to the castle with the candy and butterbeer in tow, making a mental note to ask Ginny to accompany me after we won the match against Hufflepuff. She'd need to know the routine for her seventh year anyway, once I'd graduated.

I was welcomed to the party with loud cheers from the people closest to the portrait hole, and I flashed an embarrassed smile at the crowd as I started dropping handfuls of sweets onto every flat surface I could find.

"Brilliant match, Lucy!" Neville said as he rushed over to me. "Here, I can help set the butterbeers out!"

"Thank you! On both counts," I replied, my smile turning more genuine.

He grew serious as we started filling a table with bottles of butterbeer. "Zacharias was out of line. I'm sorry you had to put up with that."

"It's alright, it didn't bother me as much as it apparently bothered Ginny," I said with a shrug. "The way she crashed into the commentary booth was funny, though. I don't suppose he's going to want the job anymore after that."

"Merlin, I hope not. For what it's worth, I've never liked Zacharias, and that's coming from someone who spends more time in the Hufflepuff common room these days than his own."

I glanced over at Neville, trying to gauge his facial expression. "Have you heard anything from Hannah?"

"No. I sent her a long letter, but I haven't heard anything back yet. It's okay, though, I understand."

"I'm sure she appreciated it, even if she doesn't have the energy to reply yet. Losing her mother so unexpectedly, the way Henry and Gretch did — that's hard."

"I suppose if anyone would understand something like that, it would be us, yeah?" he asked with a sad half-smile.

I nodded. "I suppose so."

"Anyway, enough of that." Neville reached for a bottle of butterbeer and passed it to me before grabbing his own. He tilted the neck of his bottle toward mine and smiled. "Cheers to a game well-played."

"Cheers," I replied, smiling as we clinked our bottles together.

I looked around the room for Harry. He was surrounded by girls at the moment — completely surrounded.

Neville followed my gaze and sighed. "Must be hard, fancying the Chosen One." I choked on my butterbeer, and Neville laughed as he clapped me on the back. "Sorry, sorry, didn't mean to alarm you. I thought you knew that your friends all know that you fancy Harry. We're the only ones who do, because obviously you've been subtle enough about it that Harry hasn't caught on yet, but still, we know. For what it's worth, Harry's been glancing at the door every two minutes, looking for you. I'm quite sure he's going to come running over here as soon as he sees you."

I blushed, unsure of how to respond.

"Don't worry, Lucy, you two are going to be just fine. Those other girls don't mean anything to him."

"Oh." I laughed. "Thank you. It's okay, I know. He looks immensely uncomfortable." Even as the words left my mouth, Romilda Vane tossed her head back and laughed at something Harry said. She reached forward and touched his arm, looking quite enamored with Harry. My hand involuntarily tightened around my glass of butterbeer, even though Harry's revulsion was apparent.

Neville rested a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry. You two will figure it out."

I nodded, blushing harder. I had no reason to be jealous, it was just — everyone else who fancied Harry was allowed to be so open about it. Everyone else could publicly compete for his affections. Their only fear was rejection. I was the person he loved, his affections were mine, but I had to hide it, we had to hide it, because our fears were so much bigger than rejection. We had both feared rejection for so long, up until that fateful night on the roof of the Burrow when we tore our walls down under the stars, but as soon as we'd overcome that fear, a dozen more rushed to fill its place. Our love for each other made us both vulnerable. We had to hide, even from the friends who knew us best. I wasn't jealous of Romilda, not really, I knew that Harry was mine, but I was jealous of her ignorance. She had no idea how dangerous it was, to love Harry and be loved by Harry in return.

But I loved Harry, danger and all, and he loved me too. I knew that, and Harry knew that, and it was okay if nobody else knew that yet, because we had each other, and that was enough.

"Oh, Lucy, you're here!" Ginny appeared out of nowhere and scooped me off of the ground in a hug.

I laughed when she set me down. "Yeah, I'm here, hi."

I glanced over her shoulder and immediately made eye contact with Harry, who'd heard her shout. He beamed at me then started trying to make his way over to me through the crowd.

"Told you," Neville muttered, grinning at me.

I looked down at my shoes and smiled in an attempt to hide how pleased I really was.

"Hi Lu," Harry said, intentionally grazing my shoulder as he reached past me for a bottle of butterbeer. "Thank you for providing the perfect excuse to escape Romilda. She wants me to take her to Slughorn's Christmas party." He twisted the lid off of his butterbeer and had a long sip. "Bloody hell, my little trick this morning with Ron's pumpkin juice backfired horrendously. Have any of you seen Ron? I should make sure he's okay — "

"He's over there, the filthy hypocrite," Ginny answered as she pointed to the corner of the room. "He's okay."

My jaw dropped. Ron and Lavender were snogging. Aggressively.

"That's an interesting turn of events," I managed after a moment.

Lavender had fancied Ron from time to time over the past few years, but I'd always assumed it wouldn't lead to anything since Ron was so besotted with Hermione.

"It looks like he's eating her face, doesn't it? But I suppose he's got to refine his technique somehow," Ginny said.

I scanned the crowd, anxiety building in me. Everyone could see Ron and Lavender, they had chosen the most conspicuous corner in the room. "Has anyone seen Hermione?"

The sound of the portrait hole opening unfortunately answered my question for me. Hermione appeared for only a second. She had spotted Ron and Lavender immediately.

I passed what was left of my butterbeer to Ginny and chased after Hermione.

I found her sitting on a desk in the nearest classroom with a flock of yellow birds flying in a circle around her head.

"Hermione?" I asked tentatively.

She turned to face me, blinking away the tears in her eyes. "Oh. Hi."

I went to sit beside her without a word.

I reached for my own wand, and I conjured a flower, a maroon rose the same color as the Gryffindor scarf wrapped around her neck. With another spell, I made the rose glow. I held it out to her, a silent offering of solace, and she accepted it with a confused but appreciative expression.

Before either of us could say anything, the door behind us opened, and Harry walked in.

"Oh, hello, Harry. I was just practicing," Hermione said.

Harry nodded, walking over to us slowly. "Yeah, they're — er — really good."

"Ron seems to be enjoying the celebrations."

"Does he?" Harry asked.

"Don't pretend you didn't see him. He wasn't exactly hiding it, was he?"

I became suddenly aware of two sets of footsteps outside, most definitely belonging to Ron and Lavender.

I jumped to my feet and pointed my wand at the door. "Colloportus!"

"No, no, let them in," Hermione said, voice trembling. "Alohomora."

Before I could lock the door again, Ron and Lavender stumbled inside, laughing.

Ron stopped immediately, eyes wide as he stared at the three of us. "Oh."

"Oops!" Lavender said with a loud giggle. She smiled wide at me before slipping out of the room, and I offered what smile I could in response.

"Hi, Harry! Wondered where you'd gone." Ron turned to me. "I didn't get to talk to you after the match since you disappeared so quick, but well-played, Lucy!"

"Thanks," I replied, hoping my sincerity was apparent despite the intense awkwardness of the situation.

"You shouldn't leave Lavender waiting outside. She'll wonder where you've gone."

With that, Hermione slid off the desk and started walking toward the door. I got off the desk too and started to follow her, confused but grateful that nothing worse had happened.

"Oppugno!" she shouted suddenly, and the flock of birds she had summoned started attacking Ron.

I slashed my wand through the air. "No! Enough! Evanesco!" The birds vanished. "Expelliarmus!" Hermione's wand flew into my hand. "This is ridiculous!"

I stood in the center of the room, holding two wands, heaving for breath and feeling dizzy.

I deliberately lifted Hermione's wand and pointed it at Ron, who was wincing as he examined the wounds on his hands and arms from the birds' beaks.

"Episkey," I said.

I lowered Hermione's wand and walked over to her. I rested a hand on her shoulder and gently but firmly guided her out of the room, past Lavender, in search of a different vacant classroom.

We walked in silence. I forced myself not to think of Marietta. I forced myself not to think of all of the times I'd been collateral damage in Hermione's quest for her own idea of justice. I forced myself to focus on Hermione and Hermione alone, who was hurting and saw no better way of expressing it than violence.

"I know you're hurt, but that doesn't give you the right to physically attack Ron," I said, my voice strained. I handed her wand back to her. "Please don't be upset with me for healing him. I would have done the same for you, if the roles had been reversed and he had physically attacked you."

"Lucy, I didn't — I wasn't thinking when I made the birds attack Ron. I wasn't trying to hurt you, I — this isn't Marietta."

"I want to believe you. I know you're hurting, and that's okay, I would be hurting too in your shoes."

"I wasn't trying to hurt you," she said again. "Just — I just wanted to hurt Ron, even though that sounds bad when I admit it out loud."

I nodded. "It's alright. That's a very human reaction."

"Did you ever want to hurt Harry, when he was with Cho? I know that must have hurt you, even more than Ron's hurt me. She was Cedric's girlfriend before she was Harry's."

"I never wanted to hurt Harry, not that I remember, but — I don't know, Hermione, I was grieving, I was worried about far more than who Harry was dating. For what it's worth, when I showed up to the party, Harry was surrounded by girls, and I watched as Romilda Vane got a little handsy with him, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't upset me at all. But at the end of the day, I just want Harry to be happy, even if it's not with me."

"I want Ron to be happy too, but I'd much prefer it if he was happy with me," she muttered darkly. She sighed. "You're a better person than I am, Lucy Diggory."

I shook my head. "Just because we get different amounts of upset for different reasons doesn't make us better or worse than one another. I've hurt people too, people who may or may not have deserved it." I sighed. "Just — try to save the aggression for the people who deserve it most, yeah? Unfortunately, you have greater enemies in this world than a foolish teenage boy."

"Foolish teenage boy sounds about right. I can't believe — after everything, all of the years I've — ugh!"

Hermione stamped her foot, and I could tell from the way her fist clenched even tighter around her wand that she was trying very hard not to lash out again.

"If you need to let off steam, why don't we start those dueling lessons I promised you?"

Hermione's eyes widened. "You'd do that?"

"Of course." I nodded. "I told you I would, so I will. Speaking of people who deserve your aggression — "

"You don't," she said immediately.

"No, no, not me. Maybe Ron wanted to hurt you, maybe that's why he kissed Lavender, but Ron loves you, really he does. But Death Eaters? They want to kill you. Save all of this — " I gestured to her general posture of anger. " — for them."

"Right." Hermione sighed. "Priorities."

I chuckled in spite of myself. "Sure, that's one way to put it. Priorities. Now come on." I flashed her my bravest smile. "Let's practice our spells until we forget about all of the foolish teenage boys in the world."

"Alright, Dumbledore's Army leader Lucy Diggory, how do you propose we do that?"

"I'm sure the Room of Requirement would be happy to volunteer a training dummy or two. We can actually have a proper duel against each other once we've practiced on the dummies a time or two, since it's been a while."

She agreed, so we made our way to the seventh floor. Unfortunately, though, the door didn't reveal itself.

"I wonder who's inside," I remarked. I shrugged. "Oh well. I know of a couple of training dummies on this floor. Follow me."

"How did you know these were here?" she asked once we reached the classroom and closed the door.

"The Fat Friar told me that Cedric would attack said training dummies on full moons from time to time," I replied quietly.

"Cedric? He'd do that?"

I nodded.

"That just seems so — he always seemed so cool, calm, and collected."

"Everyone has their reasons for being upset and lashing out at the world. Lycanthropy was Cedric's reason. Mine too, I suppose."

"Mine too," Hermione said, her voice soft and gentle.

I managed a smile. "Well, let's lash out at these training dummies. Just do whatever feels best for you right now. Once you get it all out, we can practice specific spells, but first? Just go for it. Chances are you're going to be very upset when you're actually fighting for your life, so you need to learn how to produce spells in both controlled and uncontrolled environments."

"Right." She pointed her wand at one of the training dummies and squared her shoulders. "Incendio! Bombarda! Inflamare!" Hermione released an angry screech, and the biggest blast of fire yet shot from her wand and knocked the training dummy back against a wall. She blinked, startled, and looked at her hands in shock before looking at me.

"You've got the right idea," I said with an encouraging smile.

I lifted my own wand and pointed it at another training dummy, pouring all of my emotions into a steady stream of fire that burned an unnatural rainbow of colors, a kaleidoscope of my inner world on display for Hermione to see.

Scarlet for anger. Harry was mine, and it wasn't fair that the world didn't know that.

Orange for pride. I was still alive, despite everything. Despite everything, I was still alive, damn it.

Blue and violet, for sorrow and fear. The world had taken my family from me, the Everlins first and then the Diggorys, and I was terrified of who would be taken next.

The most prominent color, though, was red. Love. In the surprisingly-wise words of Fred Weasley, love was at the center of everything. I was surrounded by people who loved me, and who loved each other. I had to trust that they'd all remember just how much we all loved each other in time, even though there had been no shortage of conflict in the past week.

I glanced over at Hermione, who was watching me with wide eyes.

"Come on, Granger, your turn," I said. "Show me what you've got."

She blinked and returned her attention to the training dummies, nodding. With a deep breath, her nonverbal fire spell joined mine, hers roaring with almost as much intensity as mine.

We stayed there a long time. She explained to me what had happened in the changing tent, when Harry revealed that there hadn't actually been any Felix Felicis in Ron's pumpkin juice. I talked about how Harry dating Cho had made me feel. She told me about what she was learning in her Arithmancy class. I told her about what I was learning from Hagrid. Hermione wasn't in the mood for the Quidditch party, and I couldn't blame her. In the end, hunger won out, so we headed down to the Great Hall for dinner.

On our way back up to the common room, Hermione sighed.

"Thank you for staying with me today, Lucy," she said quietly. "I'm sorry you missed the Quidditch party."

I dismissed her concern with a wave of my hand. "Don't be sorry, it's alright. You know I've never particularly enjoyed Quidditch parties anyway."

"Still, you're captain."

"Co-captain."

"Still."

"It's okay."

"You played well today, you know. Zacharias is a prick."

"Thank you. It was an interesting match, to say the least. I'm just glad we all left the Pitch in one piece."

"I'm always glad when that happens." She chuckled, shaking her head. "Quidditch is so dangerous. You're all mental to play it, you know that, right?"

"You know, Hermione, normally I'd disagree with you, but worrying about Dennis all week has really shifted my perspective. We are mental. I wouldn't trade it, though. Everyone has to have something they love. People — they can be finicky. Even the best relationships don't last forever. But having something to love when having someone to love gets complicated, that's meaningful in its own way. We all need a something and a someone, as many someones as possible. Quidditch is my something."

"Learning is mine, I think," Hermione said.

I nodded. "I think you're right. Would going up to the dormitory and just reading a textbook help you feel better right now?"

"Yeah, probably." She sighed. "I'll do that. Good idea."

"Do you want me to be with you?"

"I don't mind if you're in the room, but — I think I'd rather just be alone."

"I understand." I stopped and pulled Hermione into a tight hug in the middle of the corridor. "I'm sorry. I know how much you love him. I know how much it hurts. It's going to be okay. In the meantime, I'm here for you, and I love you, and — "

Then, and only then, did Hermione Granger let herself truly cry. I held her through it, never wavering as sob after sob escaped her.

"Just a foolish teenage boy," I murmured through it all. "It's going to be okay. I'm here."

When her tears dried, we walked the rest of the day to the Gryffindor common room. The party was still in full swing, surprisingly, so Hermione was able to easily slip up to our dormitory unnoticed. I was about to follow her and take a shower and just call it a night when Ginny shouted my name.

"Oi, Diggory! Over here!"

I turned in the direction I heard my name to find Ginny sitting with Dean and Harry.

The second I lowered myself next to Ginny, she looked at me with wide eyes. "So? What happened? Harry just said you grabbed Hermione and walked off."

"I brought her to a classroom on the seventh floor with training dummies. She needed to let off a bit of steam. Did I miss anything with Ron and Lavender?"

"Nope," Harry said. "Haven't seen either one all night."

I sighed. "Maybe that's what's best for everyone. Speaking of, I think me showering would be what's best for everyone. I haven't exactly had time to do that yet, between the Honeyduke's run and the whole Ron ordeal."

"Ron's been causing a lot of ordeals lately," Ginny muttered.

"Be nice," I chided her with another sigh. "It's been a hard year for everyone. And, well, everyone has romantic endeavors they regret from time to time, myself included. This will sort itself out."

"You have a point. I regret Cho," Harry said, smiling at me sheepishly as a slight blush rose to his cheeks.

"I regret Michael," Ginny piped up. "What a tosser."

Dean looked at me with a curious expression. "Who's your regret, Lucy? I thought you and George went to the Yule Ball as friends."

"Oh, we did, we did," I confirmed with a nod. "Friends, just friends, and it was lovely. My regret's name is Maxence."

"He's a prick," Ginny and Harry said in unison.

I laughed. "Yeah, he really is. He was a Beauxbatons student, one of the Chasers in that inter-school match we played."

"Huh. I never knew that about you."

"There's a lot more to Lucy than meets the eye," Ginny said with a fond smile my direction. "Unfortunately, it's meeting my nose at the moment, so please go shower."

"Oh, piss off." I playfully shoved her head as I rose to my feet.

"Wait, wait! Before you go — " Harry jumped to his feet as well and handed me a crumpled scrap of parchment. " — would you mind taking a song request to the Creevey brothers?"

"Of course," I replied, trying not to let my confusion show.

He smiled, a mischievous gleam in his eye. "Thanks, Lu. I wrote it kinda small, so you might have to take a closer look."

"Well, in that case, I'll just — " I opened the parchment up slightly to read what it said. There, in tiny handwriting, were the words 1 AM, common room? "'I'm a Believer' by The Monkees it is, then! Well, I think I'm going to just go to bed after I shower, so I'll see you all tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow," Harry said sweetly, knowingly, because yes, technically, 1 AM counted as tomorrow.

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

True to my word, I showered then went to bed. I pretended to be asleep when Lavender returned, but I listened intently to what she and Parvati whispered to each other. Lavender had fancied Ron on and off for years — she was delighted by the sudden turn of events in her favor. I pretended to wake up just as they were about to sleep, and I made my way over to Lavender's bed.

"I just wanted to let you know that Hermione's upset, but I'm not," I whispered as I sat cross-legged on her bed. "As long as Ron makes you happy and you make him happy, I'll never say a word against you two being together, okay?"

Lavender nodded, looking relieved. "Thank you. Ron told me about what you did, in that classroom. Thank you for stopping Hermione, and for healing him."

"Of course. I think it would be best for everyone if, ah, I tried to keep Hermione busy for the next couple of days, so I'll be spending a lot of time with her, but I wanted to tell you that I'm happy for you and I'm happy for him and I hope this makes you happy no matter how long it lasts."

"Thank you," Lavender said again, reaching forward to hug me tightly.

"It's about to be awkward in our dormitory, isn't it?" Parvati asked with a sigh.

I shrugged. "I hope not. Anyway, I'm going back to bed, I just saw that you two were back and I wanted to tell you that."

They nodded their understanding, and the three of us all crawled into our own beds. I dozed off a bit, but I'd charmed my watch to vibrate at 1 AM, so I woke with a start and crept down to the common room.

I couldn't see Harry, but I knew he was there anyway, under the invisibility cloak.

"What was your plan for this evening, Mr. Potter?" I asked.

His head and one of his arms appeared, and I smiled. He gestured for me to join him, so I did.

"Hi," he said once we were both securely under the invisibility cloak.

"Hi," I replied, bouncing to my tiptoes to kiss him.

"I know you've had a rough day after a rough week, so I figured we'd sneak to the Room of Requirement and enjoy a little alone time. It's been a while since we've had that. I've planned it all out — just trust me."

I nodded. "I do. I trust you." I kissed him again. "Let's go."

Fortunately, this time, the door appeared immediately. We ducked inside and shed the cloak as soon as the door was closed behind us. The Room of Requirement presented us with a large sofa in the middle of the room and a ceiling full of stars.

"Shall we?" Harry asked.

"Yes. Wait." I looked at him, suddenly worried. "What if someone looks for one of us and then tries to get the other to help look and they realize we're both gone and — "

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, it's okay, slow down, love," Harry said. He extracted the Marauder's Map from his pocket and spread it out. "I planned ahead. If we see any of our friends gathered in the common room, we'll head up to the castle and pretend that I noticed you were sleepwalking and brought you back, okay?"

I nodded, my anxiety dissipating almost instantly. "Okay. Okay. Good idea."

"I have those from time to time."

"You have those often."

"The Felix Felicis one backfired."

"Nobody's perfect."

Harry landed on one end of the sofa and gestured for me to join him. I curled up next to him, resting my head on his shoulder and my hands on his thigh as he wrapped an arm around me. He placed the Marauder's Map on his knees, and we looked back and forth between the map and the stars.

We talked about the match. We cuddled. He asked me what had been bothering me for the past week. I was honest and told him that watching everyone fight was breaking my heart because we needed each other more than ever. He kissed me to remind me that the two of us had each other, even if everyone else was fighting. I kissed him back until the stars in the ceiling weren't the only ones I could see.

And the best part of all was that nobody had any idea that anything was happening. All of our friends were clueless, asleep, completely oblivious.

I was sorry for Hermione, and for Ron, and even for Lavender. Really, I was. I knew that was all going down in flames one day.

I was sorry for myself, too, and for Harry. It was unfair that we had to love each other in secret.

But that night, I couldn't bring myself to care about the unfairness at all. The sheer proximity of Harry was enough for me. His lips on mine, his arm around my shoulders, his fingers carding through my hair, his eyes staring into mine, his hands pulling me ever closer, all of that was enough for me.

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

Sunday was spent trying to keep Hermione away from Ron and Lavender at all costs — I went so far as to volunteer to spend the day with her in the library.

I welcomed the relief Monday brought. I told Hagrid and Grawp all about the drama of the weekend, and it felt great to get it off my chest. Hagrid even let me fly the hippogriffs so they could stretch their wings and get a bit of exercise. I used the need to exercise the hippogriffs as my excuse to ditch Potions that day, but unfortunately, I couldn't think of an excuse to wiggle out of it on Tuesday.

I had just joined my table — still consisting of Cam, Hermione, Harry, and Ron, despite the silent treatment Ron and Hermione were giving each other at the moment — when Professor Slughorn made his way over.

He greeted me with a warm smile and a hearty pat on the back. "Lucy Diggory! Just the witch I wanted to see! You were very missed yesterday!"

I blushed. He was often too busy praising Harry to pay me any mind, which was more than alright with me, but I had his undivided attention in that moment and I didn't know what to do. "Sorry, Professor. I was attending my Care of Magical Creatures class with Professor Hagrid and we both lost track of time."

"Professor Hagrid speaks highly of your expertise with creatures! I must say, Miss Diggory, I'm afraid I've failed to properly invite you to Slug Club. Your performance in the Quidditch match on Saturday was superb! I have never in my many years seen a Beater fly with such grace and play with such intensity!"

"Oh — er — thank you." I cleared my throat, trying to ignore the way my face was burning as if it were legitimately on fire. "Slytherin is very — er — aggressively competitive, so I knew that I needed to protect my team to the best of my ability. Ginny was a great help — "

"Yes, yes, Miss Weasley's performance was great as well, but yours was simply spectacular! You must come to the Slug Club's Christmas party! I promise that it will not interfere with your team's Quidditch practice — I see now why the Gryffindor Quidditch team was practicing so diligently, and it truly paid off this weekend! I must say I was disappointed to see Slytherin lose, but, Merlin's beard, we simply had no chance against the team you lead with Harry! Perhaps the Gryffindor co-captains could come together to the party!" He chuckled to himself, shooting a wide grin at Harry. "I will see you both there, possibly together as dates!"

And with that, he swept away and started class. I missed what he said, because I was too busy staring into my lap and trying to force my face to return to its natural color and temperature.

Before I could do so, however, I realized with horror that Ron was sitting next to me.

I swore under my breath and rested my forehead down against the cool stone table.

The awkward silence hanging over our table once we started working was so heavy I could barely breathe. The second the bell rang dismissing us, a painfully long time later, I grabbed Ron by the wrist and all but dragged him out of the room.

"Why do you look so upset? Congratulations on your Slug Club status," he muttered, yanking himself free from my grip.

"Because I don't want to be in the bloody Slug Club!" I hissed. "Bloody hell, Ron, I'm sorry, he should have asked you, not me, you were the one who saved the game, not me!"

"Hey, no, that's not true. You were brilliant — "

"We almost lost because of me! I hit the Bludger at Harper but I missed! If Harry hadn't mentioned Malfoy, Harper would have gotten to the Snitch first and we would have lost and it would have been my — "

"It wouldn't have been your fault," Ron interrupted. "That was the only time you missed a shot all game. Honestly, Lucy, I really think that was the best match you've ever played as Beater, Slughorn was right to notice it."

"I still don't want to be in the Slug Club," I said, crossing my arms and fighting the urge to pout like a child. "I don't want to go to a Slug Club Christmas party and spend the whole night with the likes of Cormac McLaggen and Blaise Zabini — "

"Just go with Harry. You'd have a great time."

"No. I — I can't."

Ron grinned despite himself. "Can't, or won't?"

"Both."

"Why so stubborn, Diggory?"

"Because — because — you should be my date instead." I looked up at him with pleading eyes. "Ron, please, I'm sure Lavender wouldn't mind, you could come with me and you could see what the Slug Club is really like and — "

Ron shook his head. "No. I can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Both."

"Why so stubborn, Weasley?"

"I have a girlfriend now, that's why."

I narrowed my eyes at him and lowered my voice. "Ronald Weasley, I know you. You still have feelings for Hermione."

"No, I don't." He huffed. "That would be awfully foolish of me, to fancy Hermione while I'm with Lavender. Did you even hear what she said about me in the changing tent?"

"Yes, I did, but accidents happen — "

"Lucy, please just drop it," he said earnestly. "Lavender appreciates me in a way Hermione never did. I know you mean well, but please just drop it, okay?"

"Right. I'm sorry." I sighed. "I'm just going to tell you what I told her, then. As long as you make Lavender happy and she makes you happy, I won't say a bad word against your relationship."

Ron gave me a funny look. "You know, Harry told me that you said something similar to him about Cho."

"Yes, I did," I confirmed with a nod. When he didn't reply but continued looking at me funny, I raised my eyebrows. "And? What about it?"

"Nothing." He shook his head. "Never mind. Just thinking."

"Can't have that, now, can we?" I retorted with a smile.

Ron reached forward to ruffle my hair. "Oh, piss off."

"For the record, I still don't want to go to the Christmas party," I mumbled as I dodged his hand. "I truly don't think you're missing out on much."

"I intend to snog Lavender until I forget it's even happening that night," he announced with a wide grin.

I sighed. "You do that." Then, realizing I should probably say something to make it sound like Harry and I weren't together yet, I added, "Must be nice, having someone to snog."

"Yeah, it is. Just ask Harry to be your date to the Christmas party and I guarantee you, Diggory, he will — "

"I can't."

"Can't, or won't?"

"Piss off."

Ron laughed, and then I laughed.

"There you two are!" Harry said, sounding annoyed as he appeared in the corridor. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," Ron replied lightheartedly.

"Let's head to Charms," I suggested.

Harry shot me a confused look, but I responded with a Tell you later look, so he simply said, "Yeah, let's head to Charms" before the three of us started down the corridor together.

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

I told him about the conversation that night, on the sofa in the Room of Requirement, with the Marauder's Map on his lap and his hand in mine. We laughed about it together, and then I kissed him, and he kissed me back, and a couple minutes later, Harry chuckled.

"It is nice, having someone to snog," he said. "You were right."

I laughed as I buried my burning face against his chest. "Obviously. What are we going to do about the Slug Club party, though? As much as I'd love to go with you..."

"I know, we shouldn't." Harry sighed. "I don't know. We can talk about it tomorrow night."

I lifted my face to look at him. "Tomorrow night?"

"Yeah, I — well, I was hoping we could do this tomorrow night, too. If that's okay with you?"

"Obviously," I replied with an eager nod. "We need to be careful. We can't do this too often. But — tomorrow night would be nice."

And so passed the next couple of weeks. Harry and I danced around each other by day, careful never to stare too long, say too much, knowing that by night, we could be ourselves, freely and truly and genuinely and authentically and fearlessly ourselves, under the light of the stars gifted to us by the Room of Requirement.

Some nights, we would just talk, holding hands and looking at the stars together. Some nights, we'd kiss until our lips were swollen, because we really did have to make up for lost time after years of secretly pining for each other. Some nights, we would just hold each other, I'd hold him or he'd hold me or both.

As the full moon approached, he spent more and more time just holding me. I would get too overwhelmed doing anything else. The night before the full moon, however, I noticed the anxious crease between his brows and held my arms out.

"Come here, love," I said. "You look like you need the comfort more than I do tonight."

He opened his mouth to protest, but I inched closer and snaked my arms around him. After just a moment, he deflated with a sigh and rested his head against my chest and wrapped his arms around my waist to pull me closer, closer, closer, closer, closer as we laid flat on the sofa.

With a flick of my wand, I made the Map levitate so I could see it without needing to hold my neck at an awkward angle or hold the Map up with my arms. By some miracle, nobody had noticed our escapades yet. I stayed in my dorm on nights I had a bad feeling that Ginny would have a nightmare, and we just went to bed whenever we had just completed a lot of homework. We were still careful, though, so careful, and we always kept the Map close.

After a couple minutes, Harry lifted his head to look at me. "You alright, love?" he asked.

"As alright as I can be considering the full moon is tomorrow night, yeah," I replied with a shrug. "I don't feel any less alright than I usually do this time of month, anyway. Why?"

"Your heartbeat just seems faster than normal. I wanted to make sure you were okay. Is something bothering you?"

"Oh, no, nothing's bothering me, don't worry. That's normal for me."

He frowned. He opened his mouth to say something, but I pressed my finger to his lips before he got the chance.

"Harry, my brother was a healer, remember? He worked closely with Sloane that summer he spent at St. Mungo's. This is normal for us. It's alright. Don't worry about it."

"I always worry about you," he mumbled even as he rested his head back against my chest.

"I always worry about you too," I replied, running my fingers through his messy hair.

"I love you."

"I love you too." I tilted my head back to look at the starry ceiling, a smile impossibly finding its way to my lips as a laugh tumbled out of me. "I still can't believe we're here. Wake me up, I must be dreaming, Harry James Potter just told me he loves me."

"This isn't a dream," Harry said. His arms were still wrapped tightly around me, but he loosened his grip and maneuvered himself until our noses were nearly touching. "Lucy Unspecified Middle Name Everlin Diggory, may I kiss you?"

"Please," I murmured.

Harry James Potter complied eagerly, pressing his lips to mine.

He was right. It wasn't a dream. It was, somehow, even better than anything I'd ever dreamed. And, best of all, it was real.