When Peace got Screwed Over (Edited)

Summer Time

It was the summer holidays before their fith year at Hogwarts. Harriet had been studying like mad, determined to take her Ordinary Wizarding Level exams around Christmas.

She spent the rest of her time thinking up plans. Investigations were running. Amina and Elizabeth were doing their part.

Harriet and Draco were sometimes found sorting through old documents and photographs. It was how they had stumbled across the Order of the Phoenix. An interesting organisation that Dumbledore had founded. They were trying to figure out what the main plan of his was.

Sirius and Remus helped with pieces of information here and there. They had realised they couldn't stop the teenagers so they joined them instead.

Pansy had been released from St. Mungo's and had been going through wolf training with Lupin.

When Hermione had heard she had proceded to sing "Mr, I'll make a wolf out of you!" very loudly causing Harriet and Seamus to laugh very loudly, confusing the others entirely.

The Circlet had grown a lot closer over the past few weeks due to the mandatory group therapy ordered by Minerva McGonagall. Unlike a certain other Headteacher, she actually cared about her students. The group had also found out that Percy Weasley sang in the shower (courtesy of Fred, followed by a chuckle from George).

It would still take a while for George to recover from Jiyu's untimely and very messy goodbye, but he was starting to deal. How he was dealing was a different matter. Fred had, unkown by the others, held his twin through many nightmares.

Pansy walked through Grimauld Place in search of Remus Lupin. There was something she still needed to do.

Softly, she knocked on the kitchen door. She could hear Lupin and Sirius talking through it.

"Pansy!" Lupin said smiling at her kindly.

"Hi," she said, "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure." Lupin replied.

"Ugh! Wolf buisness!"Sirius joked, "I'll go check on the other kids." He grinned and patted Pansy on the shoulder on his way out.

"I - er - I wanted to apologise." Pansy said.

Lupin looked utterly confused. "For what?" he asked.

"I didn't exactly treat you the best before this summer." Pansy explained scratching the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Oh!" Lupin said, "It doesn't matter. Coming to terms with a werewolf isn't easy. Coming to terms with becoming one is even more difficult. "

"I know..." Pansy trailed off.

"But?" Remus prompted.

"I still feel bad about it." Pansy said quietly.

"Pansy," Remus said walking over to her, "At St. Mungo's they told us I wasn't the first werewolf you'd ever encountered. If the first time you ever saw a werewolf wasn't on the nicer side of things, I completely understand why you had a hard time being around me. Ok?"

Pansy sniffed and hugged him. Then promptly dissolved into tears. Lupin rubbed circles on her back. She needed the understanding. Being turned into a werewolf was a horrid experience, regardless of your age. She was older than he had been when she had been bitten, but that didn't make things any less traumatic. Fifteen was still very young. He didn't know what memories she held from other encounters with werewolves, but he could tell they weren't good. Now, she was also dealing with being a werewolf herself. She had turned into one of the things she was afraid of. That was a feeling he knew all too well.

Meanwhile, the others were having a bad day. Harriet and Seamus were fighting again. They'd barely been together for two months and the arguments were already starting. It usually started over something small and insignificant, like wether or not to open a window, and then extended to the complete register of things. The two options were either taking cover or joining in. Most of the others made it up to the stress of the Tri wizard tournament and the Pendant situation finally taking hold.

The house of Grimauld Place had taken to a new noise level since everyone else had been invited to stay over the summer. The parents had agreed it would be a good idea for the kids to spend some time together. Mainly for therapy reasons and so they could talk about their problems.

The pendant situation weighed heavily on everyone. Nightmares overtook their dreams. Tears replaced a lot of the times their would have been laughter. It felt as if they were all seperatly falling apart and the only thing that was remaining whole was their group. No one mentioned the missing piece.

The one thing everyone was looking forward to was the next school year. It was the only thing that seemed normal at the moment.

The big news in the world outside the circlet consisted only of Dumbledore's death and the engagement of Marcus Flint and Oliver Wood. Cornelius Fudge, minister for magic, had also announced his retirement for August the following year. No one cared. They were too busy cooing over the two best Quidditch players of the generation.

There was something going on behind the scenes. Draco had set his mind to figuring out what it was and had dragged Blaise into the situation as well.

"The amount of questions you ask," he told the blond, "could make you a reporter."

"Viable career option, just not my style." Draco smirked.

Harriet wrote to Charlie more often when the nightmares got worse. She didn't want to bother Seamus. Not after the "We're all dealing with it Harriet! Or trying to at least" conversation. She suspected he wasn't talking to her about his nightmares either because of the "Honestly Seamus, think about this logically! You're being absurd" speech she had given him. To be fair, they both had a point. Neither of them were going to apologise however due to being as stubborn as water wearing down stone.

Harriet wasn't entirely sure where their relationship was headed and she didn't want to think about it.