The days after the Triwizard Tournament were gloomy. No one smiled much anymore, now knowing the truth about Cedric's death. Dumbledore had made an announcement at Cedric's memorial, informing the school on new safety precautions. Harry had never experienced anything like it before.
The end of term was in a few days time. Harry would be back with the Dursley's, Severia would go home with Snape, Ron would return to the Burrow, and Hermione would stay with her parents. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to them just yet.
Severia went to the Gryffindor common room after talking with Ruby. Harry had given her the password so that she could visit more often. Once she said it, the painting swung open.
When she walked in, she overheard Ginny talking to a group of girls.
"How could she save Harry? She may be his daughter, but what else can she do?" Ginny laughed. Severia kept her head as she approached the group.
"Oh, Ginny. Always one to make jokes." Severia said smoothly. Ron, Harry and Hermione came down from the boys' dormitory and watched quietly. They were unaware of why this conversation started.
"S-Severia, I uh-" Ginny tried to explain.
"If you weren't Ron's sister, I'd have dealt with you by now." Severia said in a low voice. Ginny let the hatred pour over her.
"Lucky for you, I don't care who he's friends with." Ginny said, pulling out her wand.
"Ginevra, enough!" Ron shouted.
"Stay out of it, Ron." Ginny said, shushing him. Ginny cast a spell at Severia that should have lit her arms on fire.
"Ginny, please! Don't!" Harry shouted. He ran towards Severia. Hermione took out her wand after noticing that Severia made no move for hers. However, she never had a chance to counteract the spell and Harry was too late.
Once Ginny had said it, the spell wrapped around Severia in a green light. It then dispersed as quickly as it appeared.
Severia didn't know why this happened, but she took this as her chance to get closer to Ginny's face. The rest of the room held their breath.
"Careful, Ginny. You wouldn't want to start something you aren't able to finish." Severia hissed. She looked Ginny in the eyes before smiling. Then she turned away from her to join her friends.
~~~
They stood around Harry's bed silently. Severia kept glancing at them, but they were still wide eyed. They were trying to process what they had just witnessed.
"I- I'm sorry. Especially to you, Ron." Severia said.
"Severia," Ron said nervously. "I should be the one apologizing. My sister tried to set you on fire!"
"How did this even happen?" Hermione asked before Severia could comment.
"Well, when I came in to see you all, I heard her telling her friends that she couldn't believe I saved Harry." Severia said weakly. She realized how stupid she was to react this way.
"But she knows you saved him!" Ron said. He was frustrated with his sister. He cared deeply for Severia, so how could she do this? Severia just shrugged Ron off.
The room went silent again for a few minutes.
"Sev, how did you deflect that type of spell without your wand?" Harry asked quietly. He was still healing from the recent events and a fight between Ginny and Severia was not what he wanted to be dealing with. However, he was still intrigued. He didn't know something like that was possible.
"I-" She stuttered. She had no idea how she did that. She didn't even notice the spell was stopped. "I don't know, honestly. When Pansy threw me into the wall, I didn't deflect it like I did today."
"Did you feel anything?" Hermione asked, curiously.
"No, no. Not at all. I just stood there." Severia said.
Harry wanted to rest. He wanted to take Severia's hand and listen to her talk about anything other than this. He would never have the confidence to do so, but that was all his mind could think of.
"Harry, are you okay?" Severia asked. Harry was staring at her, blankly.
"I'm- I'm okay." He said, sadly.
"Harry..." Severia said while going over to sit next to him. The rest of his friends looked at him with concern. "I'm sorry her and I fought. I'm so sorry. I should've kept it together, we are already dealing with so much."
The guilt was eating at her. "I should've known better. He's going to hate me now. How could you I that to him?" Severia thought, making herself feel worse.
"It's not you, Sev. I just... I just don't want to say goodbye to you all." Harry said. This was partially true, but he wouldn't ever mention the rest. His friends let their curiosity about the spell fade away at his words.
"Oh, Harry." Hermione said leaning into him.
"I'll have my family invite you over, Harry. I promise." Ron said, putting an arm around him.
Severia tried not to be sad, but she so desperately wanted to be with them, too.
"I'll talk to my mom about you, too, Severia." Ron said, noticing her face drop.
"Really?" Severia said. She felt a smile coming, but it never made it.
"Of course! I'll make sure Ginny behaves though." Ron tried to joke. It was much harder to laugh after the death of Cedric.
She felt her heart swell. "Finally, a summer where I'm not alone."