HARRY:

Wednesday morning before breakfast, I found myself sprawled on the floor of the Gryffindor common room with Lucy and Ginny on either side of me, discussing how many photographs they could cram into the envelope while I skimmed the note Lucy had already written.

To the residents of 93 Diagon Alley —

Those of us here at Hogwarts would like to extend our sincerest apologies for the fact that you were not around to witness the masterful marvels of magical mischief that transpired yesterday. In the absence of the beloved Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley and their current accomplices Mr. Furls and Mr. Graye, a small trio banded together to attempt to achieve a feat worthy of such a noble holiday as the first of April. We'd like to extend our congratulations and well wishes to Gred and Forge, who are now nineteen years of age and therefore ancient. Without further ado, please enjoy the attached pictures. Our only regret is that not even magical photographs are capable of capturing sound; you would have loved to hear the laughter ringing through the halls all day yesterday.

"Lu, this is brilliant, but you forgot to sign it," I pointed out.

"I was waiting for you two to sign it first," she replied without looking away from the photographs. "I think we should put the one of ginger Snape on top. It's sure to be a hit among all four boys, since they all hate Snape and you, Ginny, hero of the day, charmed his hair Weasley red."

"Fine by me!" Ginny said, slapping it on top of the stack. "I think we should have the picture of the 'Fuck Umbridge' fireworks in the Great Hall on the bottom, save the best for last."

Lucy pressed her thumb over her mouth, deep in thought. "Maybe we could put the photographs in chronological order, then, since we started the day with the charm that turned everyone's robes purple and orange the second they set foot in the Great Hall. Snape would be the second picture, since you hit him with the charm while he was distracted by the fact that everyone was laughing at his reaction to his robes turning WWW colors."

"Chronological order makes sense to me," Ginny agreed with a nod as she started sorting through photographs.

"I'm so glad you were able to use the camera I got you for Christmas two years ago in such a noble way," Lucy commented with a happy sigh and a dazzling smile my direction.

I smiled back. "Yeah, well, I'm so glad you were able to use your supplies from the twins in such a noble way. It's great to see something from the Triwizard Tournament make people happy instead of..." My voice trailed off as I realized what I'd said.

Lucy and Ginny both stopped what they were doing and turned to stare at me.

"I never once thought about the winnings," Lucy said softly as understanding dawned on her face, "or really wondered how they got off the ground in terms of production. I never asked." She turned to Ginny. "Did you know?"

Ginny shook her head. "The twins never explained how they got the money to get started. I just assumed it was something illegal so I didn't ask."

"Ah, well, no, not illegal." I rubbed the back of my neck, face flaming. I glanced at Lucy. "I offered the winnings to your parents, and they refused, so I more or less cornered the twins at the end of the train ride back to London and, er, made sure they couldn't refuse."

Lucy narrowed her eyes at me. "How?"

"I told them to buy Ron new dress robes. You remember how awful his were at the Yule Ball, don't you?"

"Out with it, Potter, there's more, what else did you say?" Ginny asked.

I sifted through pictures until I found one where Lucy could be seen laughing, then held it up. "I asked for this." I tossed it into their stack. "I told them to make Lucy laugh again, and they've succeeded a million times over. Anyway — " I reached for the note and slid it over to Lucy. "Sign this. First. It was your idea, after all."

Lucy sighed and reached for a quill, signing her name before passing it to Ginny, who passed it to me. We stuffed it into the envelope with as many pictures as we could, then Lucy reached for the wax.

As soon as the envelope was sealed, Ginny announced that she forgot something in her dormitory and disappeared in a flash of red hair with a poorly-suppressed giggle. Lucy watched her go with an amused, if resigned, expression.

"Any idea what that was about?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm sure there's about to be an emergency gossip session about the two of us," Lucy replied softly. "I reckon she's on her way to my dormitory, not hers, to inform my roommates that you told the twins to use the Triwizard money to make me laugh again."

I looked at Lucy. "Why would she do that?"

"Well, that was rather romantic of you, Potter." Lucy smiled. "You're sweet." She rose to her feet and extended a hand. "Would you like to come with me to the Owlery?"

I accepted her offer readily, and on our way from the Owlery to the Great Hall, Lucy tugged me into one of our favorite broom closets and pressed her lips to mine.

I blinked, dazed, smiling. "Any idea what that was about?"

"That was for making me happy," she replied. She popped to her toes and kissed me again, sweeter this time. "And that was just because."

I smiled wider and let her tug me back out into the real world. Unfortunately, our day was too busy for us to have another chance to sneak off again — in all of the preparation for April Fool's Day, Lucy and I hadn't gotten the chance to write the essay on dementors Snape had assigned that was due at the end of the week. Hermione was able to finish it Wednesday night, and so was I, but Ron decided to put it off until Thursday and Lucy spent so much time grappling with the essay that she decided to write two — one where she wrote about what Snape said was the best way to deal with a dementor on Wednesday night, and one where she wrote about what we had taught the D.A. was the best way to deal with a dementor on Thursday night — and just turn in whichever she grabbed first on Friday morning.

So, Thursday night, the four of us were gathered around a table, Ron and Lucy scribbling out essays while Hermione got ahead on Ancient Runes work and I flipped through the Half-Blood Prince's book looking for anything that would help me get Slughorn's memory. It wasn't helping. The only note of interest was an incantation, "sectumsempra," that was labeled "for enemies." I was intrigued by both the spell and the people for which it was intended to be used, but considering I was sitting with Hermione, Ron, and Lucy, I obviously didn't test it out. Hermione and Ron were far from my enemies, and I'd never do anything that could risk hurting Lucy.

I was jerked from my thoughts by Hermione, who had looked up from her Ancient Runes book to see what I was reading. "I'm telling you, the stupid Prince isn't going to be able to help you with this, Harry! There's only one way to force someone to do what you want, and that's the Imperius Curse, which is illegal — "

"Yeah, I know that, thanks. That's why I'm looking for something different." I sighed. "Dumbledore says veritaserum won't do it, but there might be something else, a potion or a spell — "

"You're going about it the wrong way. Only you can get the memory, Dumbledore says. That must mean you can persuade Slughorn where other people can't. It's not a question of slipping him a potion, anyone could do that — "

Lucy didn't look up from her essay as she spoke. "Since veritaserum won't do it, the twins' truth candies are out, but a dare candy might do the trick."

"What makes you say that?" Hermione asked suspiciously. When Lucy didn't answer, Hermione blinked. "They didn't charm those with — "

"I'm just saying," Lucy interrupted. "It might do the trick."

"I've always had my suspicions, but I didn't think they'd actually use one of the Unforgivable Curses to charm — curse, I mean — sweets!"

Lucy looked up from her essay with a small smile. "There's a reason they don't sell those. We debated it over summer. It falls into a grey area, but unsurprisingly, they didn't want to risk even the smallest chance of life in Azkaban."

"Sorry to interrupt, Lucy, but I don't think 'belligerent' starts with a B, U, M, does it?" Ron said, staring at his essay with horror.

Hermione pulled his essay over to her. "No, it doesn't start like that, and 'augury' is spelled wrong, too. What kind of quill are you using?"

"It's one of Fred and George's Spell-Check ones, but I think the charm must be wearing off."

Lucy wordlessly reached for Ron's quill, held it with both hands for a second, then set it back down before returning to her essay. No one other than me noticed this, though, because Hermione was staring at Ron's essay and Ron was staring at Hermione.

"It must be wearing off, because we were asked how we'd deal with dementors, not 'Dugbogs,'" Hermione was saying, "and I don't remember you changing your name to 'Roonil Wazlib' either."

Ron groaned loudly. "No, don't tell me I have to write it all out again!"

"It's okay, we can fix it," Hermione replied as she reached for her wand.

"I love you, Hermione," Ron said, sighing as he reclined back in his chair.

Hermione blushed. "Don't let Lavender hear you say that."

"Here, test this out, Ron." Lucy slid his quill over to him. "I think I fixed it."

"Fixed it?" I asked incredulously. "Lu, you just held it for a couple of seconds."

Lucy shrugged. Before she could say anything out loud, Ron was reaching for a scrap piece of parchment and scribbling something down.

Ron handed Lucy the scrap. "Is this how you spell 'mimbulus mimbletonia,' Lucy? I know for a fact I don't know how to spell that without a Spell-Check quill." When Lucy nodded, Ron raised his eyebrows. "Damn, thanks, that's really neat. I know you were anxious about missing two nights in a row of your self-run magical training sessions, but clearly you are doing just fine." Ron looked at me, grinning. "Where would we be without our girls?"

I grinned back. "I don't even want to imagine a world without our girls."

Both Lucy and Hermione were blushing furiously at that point, so we dropped it. Shortly after Hermione finished fixing Ron's essay, there was a loud crack, making us all jump, Lucy most of all. Dobby and Kreacher had come to offer a report on what they'd noticed about Malfoy. Kreacher's report, predictably, was less than helpful, but when Dobby said that Malfoy was regularly on the seventh floor with various students keeping watch for him, Lucy slapped a hand to her forehead and muttered that he was using the Room of Requirement. Once Kreacher and Dobby disappeared, Lucy sighed and shoved her essay off to the side so she could drop her head against the table with a soft thunk.

"I'm up on the seventh floor almost every night. I always thought it was odd that I bumped into so many random students up there, but since they were all different, I didn't think much of it. I'm sure they're all Crabbe and Goyle polyjuiced as different students, I doubt Draco would want too many people to know about whatever it is that he's doing. They must have told Draco I'm on the seventh floor so often that they needed a lot of disguises to stop me from catching on." She sighed bitterly. "It worked. Bloody hell. Draco's smart, I'll give him that. If only I'd been training in the Room of Requirement this whole time..."

The two of us exchanged a long look. We were both thinking of the nights that the Room of Requirement didn't reveal itself to us when we snuck out under the invisibility cloak, and of the nights where we saw Crabbe and Goyle on the Marauder's Map and avoided the seventh floor entirely. It happened rarely enough that we didn't piece it together.

I started talking just to try to distract from the seconds we'd just spent staring at each other. "There was a great vat of it down in the dungeon. He stole some of the polyjuice potion Slughorn showed us in our first Potions lesson. Yeah, it all fits, Crabbe and Goyle are stupid enough to do what they're told even if he won't tell them what he's up to, but he doesn't want them to be seen lurking around outside the Room of Requirement, so he's got them taking polyjuice to make them look like other people. Those two girls I saw him with when he missed Quidditch must have been Crabbe and Goyle!"

"And that little girl whose scales I repaired on the seventh floor the other day..." Hermione said slowly.

Lucy nodded. "Yeah, Malfoy must have been inside the Room of Requirement. Maybe it was code for 'Don't come out, someone's here,' or something to that effect. Well, now I'm determined to catch him. I'll start training in the Room of Requirement at night now, so he can't use it."

"And I'll try to get in when he's in there, Malfoy got into our headquarters there last year, so I'll be able to get in and spy on him, no problem," I said, nodding.

"But I don't think you will, Harry. Malfoy already knew exactly how we were using the room, didn't he, because Marietta..." Hermione glanced at Lucy for a second before looking down. "Anyway, he... he needed the room to become the headquarters of the D.A., so it did. But you don't know what the room becomes when Malfoy goes in there, so you don't know what to ask it to transform into." She got to her feet and put her bag over her shoulder. "Before you get all excited, I still don't think you'll be able to get into the Room of Requirement without knowing what's there first. And I don't think you should forget that what you're supposed to be concentrating on is getting that memory from Slughorn. You should be working on your assignment from Dumbledore too, Lucy. Good night."

With that, she marched off to the girls' dormitories, disgruntled expression on her face.

I sighed and turned to Ron. "What do you think?"

"I wish I could disapparate like a house elf so I could pass the apparition test," he replied.

"Oh, right, that's coming up, isn't it?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, the fourteenth," Ron confirmed. "You reckon you could nick some of Malfoy's supposed polyjuice and go take it as me? You're the best at it, and you won't even be seventeen for almost two more months."

Lucy shrugged. "Honestly? I don't know how polyjuice works for werewolves, or if it works. I wasn't here for Christmas our second year, remember?"

"Oh right. Best not to risk it, then, I don't want you to disapparate as me and reappear as you," Ron said.

"Can you imagine the look on Wilkie's face?" Lucy laughed. "Merlin."

Ron screwed up his face and said in his best Wilkie Twycross impression, "'Why, Miss Diggory, you are such a strong apparator that it would seem that you've apparated from within the school grounds to switch places with Ron Weasley! Bravo, bravo!'"

"You'd both pass with flying colors," I said, chuckling and shaking my head.

"That would be nice." Ron got up and stashed his essay into his bag. "Anyway, I reckon I should head to bed. I'll finish my conclusion during my free period tomorrow. Are you coming, Harry?"

I shook my head. "I'll keep Lucy company to make sure she doesn't stay up too late."

Ron ruffled Lucy's hair. "You heard him. Don't stay up too late working on Snape's essay." He reached over to ruffle mine. "Don't stay up too late obsessing over Malfoy. You both need your sleep."

"Yeah, yeah," Lucy said dismissively, not looking up from her essay as she scribbled down another line. "Night, Ron."

Once Ron left, I reclined back in my chair to play footsie with Lucy under the table. She humored me, still not looking up from her essay. After about five more minutes, she sighed and dropped her quill with a flourish.

"I finished your essay twice over, you bastard," she muttered, glaring daggers at her parchment.

"Congratulations," I said.

Lucy smiled. "Thanks. I think I'm going to turn in the essay Snape's more likely to agree with, but I'm going to make copies of this one to hand out to anyone who wants to know how to actually deal with dementors."

"Mail it to the Daily Prophet," I suggested. "Or even better, turn it in tomorrow. Then mail it to the Prophet, complete with the failing grade on top."

"You're brilliant," she said, laughing. "I'm still going to turn in the one that makes it seem like I listened to him, but I'll be sure to personally hand him a copy of the Prophet with my article in it."

"Perfect. I think I'm going to use my free period tomorrow to try to get into the Room of Requirement."

Lucy nodded. "Sounds good. I'll start training in the Room of Requirement when I get the chance. If he's already in there, there's nothing I can do, but if I beat him there, he won't be able to get in."

"Sounds good." I smiled at Lucy as we got to our feet. "Have I told you I love you yet today?"

"Only about sixteen times," she replied, reddening.

"Well then, here's seventeen: I love you."

Lucy smiled. "I love you too. Good night, Harry."

"Good night, Lucy."

When we got to breakfast the next day, Lucy passed along her plan to Hermione.

She pointed to the front page. "I'll be there soon, just you wait and see. 'Lucy Diggory's Guide to Dealing with Dementors' will be revolutionary."

"I don't doubt it," Hermione said with a grin, which faded as she read lower down the page. "Mundungus has been arrested and sent to Azkaban! Something to do with impersonating an Inferius during an attempted burglar. And someone called Octavius Pepper has vanished. Oh, and how horrible, a nine-year-old boy has been arrested for trying to kill his grandparents, they think he was under the Imperius Curse."

Once the girls left for Ancient Runes, Ron headed up to the common room to finish his essay while I made my way to the seventh floor. I paced back and forth in front of it for the whole period to no avail. The door didn't reveal itself to me, no matter how hard I tried. I checked my watch and sighed heavily before hurrying off to DADA.

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

LUCY:

"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked once we got to DADA and found Ron sitting by himself.

Ron shrugged. "No idea. I finished my essay in the common room, he went somewhere else."

They both turned to look at me, in perfect unison.

I held my hands up in surrender. "Why are you looking at me? I was in class with you, Mione! Why would I know where he is?"

"Because you and Harry are you and Harry," Ron replied, as if that should be obvious.

I was spared from answering by the arrival of none other than Harry himself. He skidded to a stop at the desk he shared with Ron every Friday.

"Late again, Potter. Ten points from Gryffindor," Snape said.

My jaw dropped indignantly. Harry was one of the only people in the room that was seated — nearly everyone else was still milling around and shuffling through their bookbags. I thought about saying something, but I thought better of it and settled for glaring at Snape.

"Before we start, I want your dementor essays, and I hope for your sakes they are better than the tripe I had to endure on resisting the Imperius Curse," Snape grumbled as he collected the essays with a wave of his wand. "Now, if you will all open your books to page — what is it, Mr. Finnigan?"

"Sir, I've been wondering, how do you tell the difference between an inferius and a ghost?" Seamus asked. "Because there was something in the paper about an inferius — "

Snape sighed. "No, there wasn't."

"But sir, I heard people talking — "

"If you had actually read the article in question, Mr. Finnigan, you would have known that the so-called inferius was nothing but a smelly sneak thief by the name of Mundungus Fletcher."

"I thought Snape and Mundungus were on the same side. Shouldn't he be upset Mundungus has been arrested?" Harry whispered to Ron.

"But Potter seems to have a lot to say on the subject, so let us ask Potter how we would tell the difference between an inferius and a ghost," Snape said loudly.

Harry froze. "Er — well — ghosts are transparent."

Snape rolled his eyes. "Oh, very good. Yes, it is easy to see that nearly six years of magical education have not been wasted on you, Potter. 'Ghosts are transparent.'"

"Yeah, ghosts are transparent, but inferi are dead bodies, aren't they?" Harry continued bravely. "So they'd be solid — "

"A five-year-old could have told us as much. The inferius is a corpse that has been reanimated by a Dark wizard's spells. It is not alive, it is merely used like a puppet to do the wizard's bidding. A ghost, as I trust that you are all aware by now, is the imprint of a departed soul left upon the earth... and of course, as Potter so wisely tells us, transparent."

Ron sat up straighter in his seat. "Well, what Harry said is the most useful if we're trying to tell them apart! When we come face-to-face with one down a dark alley, we're going to be having a shufti to see if it's solid, aren't we, we're not going to be asking, 'Excuse me, are you the imprint of a departed soul?'"

"Another ten points from Gryffindor. I would expect nothing more sophisticated from you, Ronald Weasley, the boy so solid he cannot apparate half an inch across a room," Snape sneered. He smirked as Ron turned beet red and fell silent. "Now open your books to page two hundred and thirteen, and read the first two paragraphs on the Cruciatus Curse."

I shot my hand into the air.

Snape sighed. "Yes, Diggory?"

"Sir, I was just wondering why you appear to be in such a foul mood today," I said as sweetly as I could manage. "Did you sleep poorly? Did you receive bad news? Are you under the weather? Are you — "

"That's enough," he snapped.

"I don't mean to pry, sir, but you seem to be upset and you're taking it out on all of us, so I was only wondering if there was anything we could do to help! Do you want to talk about it? Do you need a good cry? Do you need a snack? Do you need a nap? Do you need — "

"What I need is silence! Ten points from Gryffindor! Open your books!"

I arranged my face into a mock pitying expression. "If something's wrong, Professor, taking thirty points from Gryffindor for silly reasons isn't going to make you feel better. You're not accomplishing much, anyway, because Hermione and I earned several points apiece in Ancient Runes just now, and I expect we'll earn even more in Transfiguration after lunch. Besides, Professor, don't you think learning about the Cruciatus Curse from a book is something of a disservice? With the state of the world today, wouldn't our time be better spent learning how to defend against the spell and how to take care of someone who has been attacked with it? We already covered the mechanics and effects of the curse with Professor Moody — well, Barty Crouch Jr., technically — so really, this lesson is just a review anyway."

"Defending against it is nearly impossible," Snape grit out.

"It is possible, though, sir?" Neville piped up, his voice fragile.

"Not for you, Longbottom," Snape sneered. "Not for any of you. It's far too advanced for a bunch of sixth-years. Why would I even bother to try to explain — "

"Then teach us how to recover from it, Professor," I interrupted.

Snape exhaled sharply as he glared at me. "You'd like to know that, wouldn't you, Diggory? As I recall, your hands shook for months after you experienced the Cruciatus Curse."

"Yes, they did," I replied, keeping my voice even and cool. "As I recall, you were too lazy to even try to read my handwriting, which was affected by that traumatic ordeal. I'd like to spare my classmates the same fate, should they tragically find themselves in the same situation I once found myself. What happened to Cedric and what happened to my parents and what happened to me is proof enough that anything can happen to anyone at any time, and it's best to be prepared. There wasn't even a war then, as far as we knew, but there is a war now. Please, Professor, teach us what we need to survive. You were already wrong about the dementors — "

"That's enough, Diggory."

" — so really the least you could do is try to deal with whatever is bothering you today so you can properly equip us to survive the Cruciatus Curse in this war-torn hellscape where we find ourselves at sixteen, seventeen years old."

"Lucy's right," Parvati said quietly. "Professor, I think we'd all like to learn what to do with the Cruciatus Curse rather than just learn about the Cruciatus Curse. Not to use it, of course, but what to do if it's used on us or on people around us."

"Look around the room!" Dean burst out. "They put all of us sixth-years into the same DADA class period because so many of our classmates had to go home that it didn't make sense to have multiple periods of it! Don't you all want to know how to survive, well, everything? Isn't that what this class is supposed to be about?"

A murmur of assent went around the room. Snape stared blankly at us for five long seconds before sighing.

"Read the chapter on the Cruciatus Curse while I pull a presentation together on how to recover from it. You have twenty minutes."

I breathed a small sigh of relief that I hadn't gotten detention before bowing my head low over my book and forcing myself to read the chapter dedicated to one of the most traumatic experiences of my life. Snape's presentation was rather surface-level, I already knew everything, but based on the way I saw people around me taking notes, it was new information to someone. Harry and I hadn't touched on the Unforgiveable Curses in Dumbledore's Army. It was too fresh a wound. But Snape, for once in his life, was being helpful, to someone at least. And I was proud of the fact that it was at my prompting.

I was correct, Gryffindor earned not just thirty but forty points in Transfiguration. I earned even more points the following week, though, in Care of Magical Creatures.

Aragog had been sick for quite a long time, but he'd taken a turn for the worse. I spent every free period I had that week helping Hagrid. Since Aragog was really only fond of Hagrid, I never went to care for him myself, so I spent my time taking care of all of the other creatures so Hagrid could spend as much time as possible with his dying friend. Hagrid even let me teach the lessons that coincided with my free periods, which I loved. Dennis jokingly referred to me as Professor Captain during the lesson I taught with the Gryffindor and Slytherin third-years, and he got Ginny and Demelza to do the same when I filled in for Hagrid in their class.

Over the weekend, the sixth- and seventh-years aiming to take their apparition tests on Monday went to Hogsmeade for extra practice sessions, meaning Ron and Hermione left but Harry and I stayed. As impressed as Wilkie Twycross was with my apparition skills, I couldn't take the test until I was seventeen. It was just as well, really, because I got to stay behind to help Hagrid and Harry got to stay behind to try to catch Draco around the Room of Requirement. Harry was unsuccessful in his endeavor, though he did have an odd conversation with Tonks. I was more successful, in the sense that all of the creatures in the reserve were properly cared for, but Aragog was past saving, and we both knew it.

It was no surprise, then, when a girl I recognized from one of the lessons I'd taught the past week handed me a note at lunch.

"'Dear Lucy, Harry, Ron, and Hermione,'" I read aloud, "'Aragog died last night. Lucy, I know you loved him, and Harry and Ron, you met him so you know how special he was. Hermione, I know you'd have liked him. Don't come to class today, Lucy, I can move his body by myself, but it would mean a lot to me if you'd all nip down for the burial this evening. I'm planning on doing it around dusk, because that was his favorite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the cloak. Wouldn't ask, but I can't face it alone. Hagrid.'"

"Oh, for goodness sake," Hermione said with a sigh.

Ron was pale. "He's mental! That thing told its mates to eat us! Told them to help themselves! And now Hagrid expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible hairy body!"

"He's asking us to leave the castle at night and he knows security's a million times tighter," Hermione added, "and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

"Are you okay, Lucy?" Harry asked, looking at me intently. "I know how you are with creatures."

I nodded. "Yeah. I was never close with Aragog, I'm not terribly sad, but I do feel sorry for Hagrid. Well, I'm going," I said firmly. "You can all decide if you're going too or not, but I'm going. We wouldn't get caught, not between me and the cloak, but I understand if you'd rather stay. You two will just be back from your apparition tests, and maybe Harry can stay behind after Potions to talk to Slughorn or something."

"Potions will be almost empty this afternoon, with us all off doing our tests, so soften him up a bit then, Harry!" Hermione agreed with a nod.

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" Harry muttered.

Ron blinked. "Lucky... Harry, that's it — get lucky! Use your lucky potion!"

"You're brilliant, Ron!" Hermione said brightly.

I nodded. "That's perfect. Harry, use the Felix Felicis!"

"D'you reckon I'd have to use all of it?" he asked. "I — well, with the way the world is right now, I was saving it for something more important."

"What on earth is more important than this memory?" Hermione inquired.

"Staying alive if the fight finds us again," Harry replied bluntly. "If I'd had my wits about me that night at the Burrow, I would have given it to someone. And I was... thinking maybe it would help with a full moon, too."

"I understand the concern, Harry, but Dumbledore made this memory sound really important, and the moons have been okay," I said. "I'm sorry I didn't figure out how to un-alter the memory, but — "

Harry shook his head. "No, Lu, it's okay, that's not your fault. You've been busy training your magic and helping Hagrid and everything else. I'll take it. I'm sure that Felix will achieve what I couldn't."

"Well, that's settled then!" Hermione said cheerfully. She returned her attention to the Common Apparition Mistakes and How to Avoid Them pamphlet that she and Ron were sharing. "Destination, determination, deliberation, destination, determination, deliberation."

When lunch ended, Harry and I bid the others in our year good luck and goodbye before heading to Potions. There were only four of us there — Harry, Draco, Ernie, and myself — which was truly a humorous combination.

"All too young to apparate just yet? Not turned seventeen yet?" Professor Slughorn asked.

I shook my head. "Not yet, sir."

"Well you, I've heard, Miss Diggory, can apparate very well, such a shame that you're not seventeen yet." Professor Slughorn shook his head sadly. "Ah well, as we're so few, we'll do something fun. I want you all to brew me up something amusing!"

Draco looked less than amused. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, surprise me!"

I studied Draco for a long second as he opened his book. He didn't look well. A quick glance at Harry confirmed that he had noticed the same.

"I guess the mission isn't going well," Harry whispered in a voice he knew only I could hear.

I nodded subtly, then set to work on my Babbling Beverage while Harry started on an Elixir to Induce Euphoria.

Slughorn was immensely pleased with Harry's potion — "Well, now, this looks absolutely wonderful! Euphoria! You've added just a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a stroke of inspiration, Harry, of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking! I really don't know where you get these brain waves, my boy, unless it's just your mother's genes coming out in you!" — but unfortunately didn't consume any of it.

"It was worth a shot," I said as we left the dungeons. "Felix should finish the job, don't worry."

When we got to dinner, Hermione happily reported that she had passed.

"Good job, Mione!" I said, high-fiving her over the table.

Harry nodded. "Well done! And Ron?"

"He just failed," Hermione whispered as Ron approached, looking sullen. "It was really unlucky, a tiny thing, the examiner just spotted that he'd left half an eyebrow behind. How did it go with Slughorn?"

I shook my head as Ron joined us. "It didn't."

"Bad luck, mate, but you'll pass next time," Harry said. "The three of us can take it together over summer."

"Yeah, I suppose, but half an eyebrow! Like that matters!" Ron groaned.

Hermione rubbed his upper arm soothingly. "I know, it does seem really harsh."

"Who needs eyebrows anyway? Merlin knows I've singed mine off a hundred times," I said. "Anyway, in better news, Felix will finally get us the memory tonight."

Harry nodded as he pushed peas around his plate. "I don't reckon I'll need all of it, not twelve hours' worth, it can't take all night, I'll just take a mouthful. Two or three hours should do it."

"It's a great feeling when you take it, like you can't do anything wrong," Ron said with a happy sigh.

Hermione laughed. "What are you talking about? You've never taken any!"

"Yeah, but I thought I had. Same difference, really," Ron replied.

After dinner, the four of us snuck up to the boys' dormitory after confirming that Neville, Seamus, and Dean were all in the common room.

Harry reached into his trunk and extracted the vial. He stared at it apprehensively for a second before tipping it to his lips.

"Well, here goes."

🩵💛❤️💜🩷

HARRY:

For a second, nothing happened. Then, the golden potion seemed to transform me from the inside out. It was almost as incredible as the warm glow I felt when I was around Lucy, almost like her dazzling yellow sparks were coursing through my veins.

"How are you feeling, Harry?" Lucy asked, her beautiful sky blue eyes staring intently into mine.

I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you, I love you.

I wanted nothing more than to scoop Lucy up into my arms and kiss her — I felt convinced that if we did, we'd float off the ground, lost in the love we felt for each other — but Felix told me that wasn't a good idea so I refrained, with no small amount of effort.

I grinned. "Excellent. Really excellent. Right... I'm going down to Hagrid's with you, Lu."

"What?" Ron and Hermione asked in unison.

"No, Harry," Hermione said, "you've got to go and see Slughorn, remember?"

"No, I'm going to Hagrid's, I've got a good feeling about going to Hagrid's," I said.

Ron blinked. "You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?"

"Yeah! I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

"No," Ron and Hermione said in unison.

Lucy giggled. "We have to trust the Felix, I suppose."

"You're sure this is Felix, right?" Hermione asked, snatching the vial from my hand.

"Might be Essence of Insanity," Ron muttered.

"Don't worry, I'll stick to him like a Sticking Charm all night, I'll make sure he talks to Slughorn before the Felix wears off," Lucy assured them. "Oh sweet Merlin, Harry's going to put the 'fun' in 'funeral' tonight."

She giggled even louder, and I couldn't help but smile at her as I held up the invisibility cloak.

"Alright, get that lovely smile over here, Giggle Girl," I said. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing, or at least Felix does!"

With that, we headed down the stairs, me under the invisibility cloak with Lucy and Ron and Hermione chasing after us.

"What were you doing up there with her?" Lavender squawked when we got to the common room.

"Oh shit," Lucy groaned quietly as we rushed through the portrait hole. "That's going to be a mess. Oh well, bury the spider and talk to Slughorn first, deal with that later. So, not that I'm complaining, but why Hagrid's?"

"No idea," I said. "It feels like I can see the next couple of steps, but that's it. I know I'll get the memory, but I'm not sure yet. I'm on the right track even if I can't see the whole road yet."

"Okay. I trust you."

"You trust Felix, you mean?"

Lucy slipped her hand into mine and squeezed. "No. I trust you. The Felix doesn't hurt, though."

"That's my girl," I said with a laugh.

"Always your girl," she replied.

Once we got to the castle grounds, I announced that I fancied a trip to the vegetable patch on the way down to Hagrid's.

"Alright," Lucy said. "I trust you. Any particular reason why you want to pay a visit to the vegetable patch?"

"Nope!"

Lucy giggled again. It was the giggliest she'd ever been. She popped up to kiss me on the cheek.

"I really am the luckiest person to ever exist," I said, touching the spot where she'd kissed me, "Felix or no Felix."

She blushed so intensely I could feel the heat radiating off of her. Pleased, I smiled and started swinging our hands back and forth beneath the invisibility cloak.

To my surprise and delight, we found Slughorn in the vegetable patch talking to Professor Sprout. Lucy and I crouched behind a stone wall, still under the invisibility cloak, and listened to their conversation.

"I do thank you for taking the time, Pomona, most authorities agree that they are at their most efficacious if picked at twilight," Slughorn was saying.

"Oh, I quite agree! That enough for you?" Professor Sprout asked.

"Plenty, plenty. This should allow for a few leaves for each of my third years, and some to spare if anybody over-stews them. Well, good evening to you, and many thanks again!"

I peered over the wall to see that Professor Sprout was heading toward the greenhouses, while Slughorn was starting to head back to the castle with an armful of plants. I knew that moment was the perfect time to reveal myself, so I whispered a quick "Stay under the cloak" to Lucy before popping to my feet.

"Good evening, Professor!" I called.

"Merlin's beard, Harry, you made me jump! How did you get out of the castle?" Slughorn asked.

"I think Filch must've forgotten to lock the doors," I replied with a shrug.

"I'll be reporting that man — he's more concerned about litter than proper security if you ask me — but why are you out here, Harry?"

"Well, sir, it's Hagrid. He's pretty upset. But you won't tell anyone, Professor? I don't want trouble for him."

"Well, I can't promise that, but I know that Dumbledore trusts Hagrid to the hilt, so I'm sure he can't be up to anything very dreadful."

"It's this giant spider, he's had it for years. It lived in the forest. It could talk and everything!"

"I heard rumors there were acromantulas in the forest... it's true, then?"

"Yes, but this one, Aragog, the first one Hagrid ever got, it died last night. He's devastated. He wants company while he buries it and I said I'd go."

I knew it was best to not mention Lucy. Slughorn had to think I was alone. I could trust Lucy to understand, and to stay out of sight, and to help if she could. I could trust Lucy with anything and everything. I was the very luckiest person in the world, because I had Lucy.

Slughorn didn't appear to have really heard me. "Touching, touching, but acromantula venom is very valuable. If the beast only just died it might not yet have dried out. Of course, I wouldn't want to do anything insensitive if Hagrid is upset, but if there was any way to procure some... I mean, it's almost impossible to get venom from an acromantula while it's alive... seems an awful waste not to collect it, might get a hundred Galleons a pint. To be frank, my salary is not large."

"Well, if you wanted to come, Professor, Hagrid would probably be really pleased! Give Aragog a better send-off, you know?" I suggested.

"Yes, of course! I tell you what, Harry, I'll meet you down there with a bottle or two. We'll drink the poor beast's — well — not health — but we'll send it off in style, anyway, once it's buried. And I'll change my tie, this one is a little exuberant for the occasion."

Slughorn hurried off toward the castle, and I returned to the spot where I left Lucy. I tugged the cloak off to find her twitching with suppressed laughter.

"This is one of the best days of my life," she choked out between giggles. "Harry, I love you."

"I love you too," I announced with a smile as I helped her to her feet and tossed the cloak back over the two of us. "Alright, so Felix is telling me to tell Hagrid that you're going to be there, but under the invisibility cloak because Slughorn doesn't know you're down there and he's more likely to get you in trouble than me. We won't mention the Felix. You can talk to him before Slughorn arrives, though."

"Works for me," Lucy said with a shrug. "Let's go."

As soon as we got to Hagrid's hut and closed the door, Lucy shed the invisibility cloak.

"I'm so sorry, Hagrid," she said gently.

A sob punched out of Hagrid as he scooped Lucy up off the ground and pulled her into what I was sure was a bone-crushing hug.

"Yeh came," Hagrid managed.

"Of course," Lucy said.

"Ron and Hermione couldn't though, with their apparition test, they're really sorry," I added.

Hagrid set Lucy down and mopped his eyes. "It's alright, he'd've been touched yer both here."

"Where are we burying him? The forest?" I asked.

"Blimey, no. The other spiders won' let me anywhere near their webs now Aragog's gone. Turns out it was only on his orders they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that? Never bin an area of the forest I couldn' go before! It wasn' easy, gettin' Aragog's body out of there, I can tell yeh — they usually eat their dead, see, but I wanted ter give him a nice burial, a proper send-off."

"I'm sorry, Hagrid, that's awful," Lucy said as she crouched down to pet Tuck. "Yes, hi buddy, yes I missed you, yes I know, it's been a whole day since I've seen you, I'm sorry." She scooped him up and pressed a kiss to his nose. "I'm sure Aragog would appreciate being buried in your garden, Hagrid."

"Just beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought. I've already dug the — yeh know — grave. Jus' thought we'd say a few nice things over him — happy memories, yeh know — "

"Professor Slughorn met me coming down here, Hagrid," I said.

Hagrid looked distressed at this announcement, though the Felix had assured me it was the right decision. "Not in trouble, are yeh? Yeh shouldn' be outta the castle in the evenin', I know it, it's my fault — "

"Harry's not in trouble, Hagrid," Lucy assured him quickly. "I was under the cloak, though, so he doesn't know I'm here. I'll stay with you for the burial, but I'll be under the invisibility cloak just in case."

I nodded. "I'm not in trouble, don't worry! When he heard what I was doing he said he'd like to come and pay his last respects to Aragog too. He's gone to change into something more suitable, I think, and he said he'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aragog's memory."

"Did he? Tha's — tha's right nice of him, that is, an' not turnin' yeh in either. I've never really had a lot ter do with Horace Slughorn before. Comin' ter see old Aragog off, though, eh? Well, he'd've liked that, Aragog would."

There was a knock at the door then, so Lucy set Tuck down and disappeared under the invisibility cloak. Once she was hidden, Hagrid opened the door to let Slughorn in, who was wearing all black and carrying a lot of bottles.

"Hagrid, so very sorry to hear of your loss," Slughorn said.

"Tha's very nice of yeh. Thanks a lot. An' thanks fer not givin' Harry detention either."

"Wouldn't have dreamed of it. Sad night, sad night. Where is the poor creature?"

"Out by the pumpkin patch. Shall we do it, then?" Hagrid asked with a great sniffle.

The three of us — plus Lucy under the invisibility cloak, I was sure — headed out to the pumpkin patch, where the massive corpse was waiting.

"Magnificent," Slughorn said as he stepped closer to inspect Aragog, positioning himself so he could collect the venom without Hagrid seeing.

"Not everyone appreciates how beautiful they are. I didn' know yeh were interested in creatures like Aragog, Horace," Hagrid said.

"Interested? My dear Hagrid, I revere them!" Slughorn stepped back from the body, apparently satisfied with however much venom he'd collected, and turned to Hagrid. "Shall we proceed with the burial?"

Hagrid scooped Aragog up, sending him rolling down into the grave. It hit the earth with a rather sickening crunch that made Hagrid start crying again.

Slughorn reached up to pat Hagrid's elbow. "Of course, it's difficult for you, who knew him best. Why don't I say a few words?" When Hagrid nodded, Slughorn cleared his throat. "Farewell, Aragog, king of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained."

"That was beautiful!" Hagrid cried, sobbing anew.

"There there, let's head inside," Slughorn said, guiding Hagrid back to his hut.

I followed the men inside, knowing Lucy would be right behind me, because where else would she be? Surely enough, when we got back to the hut, Tuck rushed directly to a seemingly-empty corner, and a hand appeared suddenly to pet him, but she had cleverly chosen the corner that Slughorn had his back to, so he noticed nothing unusual at all.

Slughorn assured me that he'd thoroughly checked all of the drinks for poison as he poured a mug for me as well as Hagrid and himself. The Felix told me not to drink it, so I merely pretended to do so, but Slughorn and Hagrid kept drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and drinking, and drinking. Slughorn seemed genuinely interested in Hagrid's job as gamekeeper, and Hagrid was all too happy to talk all about the creatures he tended. When the drink supply started to run low, I executed a nonverbal Refilling Charm for the first time ever — thanks to Felix — and watched and waited for my opportunity to get the memory.

It was over an hour before I had a chance. Once the magical creatures discussion was over, they started making toasts. Once the toasts were over, they started singing. Hagrid fell asleep after making a couple of comments about my parents ending with the word "Terrible," but Slughorn remained awake.

"Sorry, can't carry a tune to save my life," Slughorn said to Hagrid's snoring form.

I shook my head, feeling a little more sober. "He wasn't talking about your singing. He was talking about my mum and dad dying."

"Yes, that was — was terrible indeed. Terrible... terrible..." Slughorn sobered up a bit too, looking sadly into his glass. "There are so few of that generation left. Your parents' friends, they... most met terrible fates... terrible... terrible... your parents weren't the first, nor were they the last... families torn apart... families just gone... children murdered, your parents included, they were still just children... some died without any explanation, any detail, just gone... I never knew what became of quiet Carter, or of eager-to-please Regulus, who had so much potential to be so great... some deaths were reported with so much detail I still... still imagine it when I close my eyes... what happened to the McKinnons, the whole family, they were all such feisty souls, so full of life... what happened to... to brilliant Keira and to sweet Cassidy... I don't... they were just children..." Slughorn swallowed hard and looked up at me. "I don't... don't suppose you remember it, Harry?"

"No — well, I was only one when they died, but I've found out pretty much what happened since," I said slowly. "My dad died first. Did you know that?"

Slughorn shook his head slowly. "I didn't."

"Yeah... Voldemort murdered him and then stepped over his body toward my mum," said Harry. "Voldemort told her to get out of the way. He told me she needn't have died. He only wanted me. She could have run."

"Oh dear, she could have... she needn't... that's awful."

"It is, isn't it? But she didn't move. Dad was already dead, but she didn't want me to go too. She tried to plead with Voldemort, but he just laughed."

"That's enough! Really, my dear boy, enough. I'm an old man, I don't need to hear... I don't want to hear... I've heard enough already in the past several decades, I have heard too much — "

"I forgot, you liked her, didn't you?" I asked, a lie prompted by the Felix.

Slughorn's eyes filled with tears. "Liked her? One spring afternoon I discovered a bowl on my desk with just a few inches of clear water in it. And floating on the surface was a flower petal. As I watched, it sank. Just before it reached the bottom, it was transformed into a wee fish. It was beautiful magic, wonderous to behold. The flower petal had come from a lily. Your mother. The day I came downstairs, the day the bowl was empty, was the day your mother... I don't imagine anyone who met her wouldn't have liked her, Harry. Very brave, very funny, absolutely brilliant. It was the most horrible thing — "

"But you won't help her son. She gave me her life, but you won't give me a memory," I said bluntly.

"Don't say that. It isn't a question. If it were to help you, of course, but no purpose can be served."

"No, it can. Dumbledore needs information. I need information." I studied Slughorn for a minute. Felix seemed to be telling me that Slughorn was too drunk to remember any of this come morning. "I am the Chosen One. I have to kill him. I need that memory."

"You are the Chosen One?" Slughorn repeated disbelievingly.

I nodded. "Of course I am."

"But then... my dear boy, you're asking a great deal, you're asking me, in fact, to aid you in your attempt to destroy — "

"So you don't want to get rid of the wizard who killed Lily Evans? What about James Potter, and Carter, and Regulus, and the McKinnons, and Keira, and Cassidy, and every other student of yours and friend of yours who died because of him?"

"Harry, Harry, of course I do, but — "

"You're scared he'll find out you helped me, then? Be brave like my mother, Professor."

Still, Slughorn hesitated. "I am not proud... I am ashamed of what — of what that memory shows. I think I may have done great damage that day."

"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory. It would be a very brave and noble thing to do."

Slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, slowly, but surely, Slughorn reached for a vial, extracted the memory, and handed it to me.

"Thank you, Professor," I said, holding it reverently in my hand.

"You're a good boy. And you've got her eyes. Just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it."

With that, he rested his head on his arms and fell asleep.

"Thank Merlin," Lucy whispered from the other end of the room, shedding the invisibility cloak and patting Tuck on the head one last time before hurrying over to me. "Okay, we got it, let's head back up to the castle before the Felix wears off. Good job, Harry."

She tossed the invisibility cloak over both of us, and we got a couple steps out of Hagrid's hut before Lucy paused.

"Wait, I want to fill the grave," she whispered, "so Hagrid doesn't have to worry about it. It won't take long, I promise."

"Okay."

We detoured slightly, and she stepped out from under the cloak. She drew her wand and narrowed her eyes, gently guiding the earth into the hole and arranging it into a nice mound. She summoned a bouquet of flowers to lay on top, then hurried back under the cloak. We stopped briefly by Dumbledore's office to see if he was in, but when the statue didn't budge, we rushed to the common room, a tremendous weight lifted off our shoulders.

I had finally gotten the memory, with Felix's help. It had fully worn off by the time Lucy and I arrived in the empty common room, but I still felt like the luckiest person in the world. Lucy Everlin Diggory was under the invisibility cloak with me, looking at me with stars in her eyes. I cupped her face in my hands and pressed her lips to mine, and the rush I felt as I did so was more incredible than anything I'd felt on Felix Felicis.