"I can't believe you didn't tell us about this for almost two weeks," Cole whined as the two of us, Alia and Hollie sat in front of the dying fire, eating ice-cream from the tub. "I said to tell me straight after!"
"We were just trying to get back to us," I said with a coy smile. "Plus, we weren't sure if this was going to work out again."
"What like a two week free trial?" Cole smirked. "Has he got the full subscription now?"
Shoving Cole as he started to laugh at his lame joke, Alia spoke over him. "If I said that to Colin when we started dating he probably would have made a little card...." Her smile faltered. "I wish I knew where he was.... Last thing I heard, he was herding sheep in Wales or something."
"You'll see him soon, Alia, don't worry." I said, rubbing at her shoulder as she bit down on her nails, most likely thinking of Colin.
"He doesn't even like sheep, why is he sheep herding?" Alia shook her head. Then she turned to me. "So you two are back together?"
I nodded. The past two weeks had gone swimmingly well—we were almost the same as we were almost two years ago—but better in a way. With Draco losing his bullying streak we were arguing less.
But of course, things were strained considering I had to play the part of Lena for most of the day. Draco refused to kiss me when I looked like Lena, he said he felt like he was cheating on me—which was honestly ridiculous.
But we made it work—we'd meet up after dinner in his head boy office sharing kisses and stories about our day, plotting how to deceive the death eaters.
"I wish I had a girlfriend," Hollie announced, looking determined but a bit embarrassed.
Assuming that Hollie liked girls in any case, I just gave her a proud smile that she was being open with me. "So no boys in the future, I'm guessing?"
"Boys are gross," she shuddered. "They don't give me tingly feelings like Gabrielle did. And she promised me in the summer that we could be girlfriends after the war!"
"I swear, Hollie, you are Sam reincarnated." Cole said with a sad smile, before something seemed to dawn on him. "I read a book before about Queen Victoria being reincarnated into this kitten. Oh my god, it was the highlight of my childhood—"
"That's very interesting Cole," Alia rolled her eyes. "But I read a book about a crocodile who tried to eat children but then an elephant threw him into the sun—I win."
"I think Harry's story could be a good story for kids," I said thoughtfully. "We should write it all and give it to the Carrows for Christmas. Show them we still all support Harry.
Hollie gasped so loudly that I almost fell off the sofa. "I have an idea!" she declared.
And after she told us the idea, I had to agree—it was a good one.
*****
"You want to throw a 'support Harry' party?" Hagrid said sceptically. "And you want to do this in me 'ouse?"
Hollie and I nodded as we trailed after Hagrid in the forest. We'd purposefully gotten detention with Hagrid to run through the idea with him. The rest of the DA was on board for this idea, but we thought Hagrid should be the one to host the party.
"It's a good way of boosting morale," Hollie said firmly. "I learnt that word from Camille!"
"It 'ould be risky girls," Hagrid said hesitantly.
"We can do it after count," I said to Hagrid. "Look, Hogwarts isn't the same, and we need to prove that we are united and still willing to fight for Harry—and Dumbledore."
Hagrid faltered. "I'll provide the drinks."
*****
That Saturday after we were all counted and told to head back to our dorms, the real fun began. We began sneaking out of the castle in groups of three at a time; and when I finally ran down the grounds with Hollie and Cole, I was greeted by a wonderful sight.
Hagrid's hut was covered in red and gold banners, many with Harry's face and lightning bolts on. Fairy lights were strung across the door, making the whole hut glow with an amazing energy.
"Gennie would have loved this," Cole said quietly, rubbing at the engagement ring on his left hand. "I just want her back."
"If she's not out by Christmas we'll organise a rescue mission, eh?" I said, half-joking, half not. I missed Gennie so much it hurt, sometimes I'd wake up in the morning and turn to her bed thinking she was there but find my heart sink when I remembered she was gone.
"Yeah," Cole said, a smile playing on his lips. "If anybody could organise a break out of Azkaban it'd be us."
"Can I come?" Hollie asked excitedly.
"No!" Cole and I said together as we pushed the door open and slipped inside the hut.
The inside of the hut was possibly better than outside. Most of Hagrid's furniture had been moved to allow more people inside, and while almost every spot was crammed in by DA members a buzzing euphoria was in the hut.
Nearly everybody had a drink and were making toasts under large banners of Harry, which included pictures of philosopher stones, baslisk fangs, dragons and mermaids—and an artsy creation of Harry kicking Voldemort into a rubbish bin.
"You three made it!" Hagrid roared after we shut the door, and after I hooked off my necklace he brought the three of us into a huge bear hug.
"Good turn out," Cole said, taking a firewhisky from a table.
"Brilliant idea, girls," Hagrid beamed. He looked slightly drunk with excitement. "Best 'oment of the year!"
Taking a firewhisky from the table I wandered around the hut greeting people and listening to stories about my brother until I found the person I was looking for, who was sat on a chair looking amused by the amount of stories being spread.
"Hello there, boyfriend." I said coyly, sitting on Draco's lap, giving him a quick kiss.
"Hello there, girlfriend," he smiled, winding an arm around my waist. "This is possibly the best party I've ever been to."
"Oh come on, the Yule Ball was pretty fun when we had a total cliché moment in the snow." I giggled. "And you accused me of being in love with two of my friends."
"It might have been cute, but it was freezing, I wish we had our first kiss somewhere warmer." Draco said. "Like a tropical island or the lake."
"Shut up, you whining idiot." I giggled, kissing him again. Looking at him, I saw his eyes looked brighter, the bags under his eyes less prominent. "You look happier."
"I've never been so happy in my life," he whispered, leaving a small kiss on the side of my neck. "I'm finally the person I wanted to be."
"Who would have thought five years ago you'd be at a Harry Potter party and being head over heels in love with his sister?" I teased.
"You wish," he snorted, and I smacked his arm. "I don't own heels."
"But I already got you a pair for Christmas!"
"Shut up," he pouted, and giggling the two of us kissed again.
The next hour and a half was spent with stories told about Harry and stupid conspiracy theories about where he was (the best one was that he was trying to become an electronic DJ to destroy Voldemort with some sick tunes). Several people ended up drunk, including Camille who kept giggling and falling on the floor.
"Having a good time?" Hagrid said, stumbling over to the two of us, who were equally as tipsy and giggly.
"I'm—I'm sorry for how much of a meanie I was to you," Draco giggled to Hagrid. "I was a bully and the bird with wings got killed because of me!"
"All birds have wings, Draco."
"Not all birds!" Draco laughed, putting his head onto my shoulder and giggling in my ear really cutely.
"S'alright, you're doing the right thing now." Hagrid said, who looked amused. "But Buckbeak—well Witherwings—is out in the vegetable patch now."
Draco gasped, and grabbed my hands. "Rory, we have to go see the bird with wings!"
Rolling my eyes, I let him pull me to my feet. "You aren't having anything else to drink though, okay?"
"But I'm so cute," Draco said, reaching out and poking my nose. "But you're cuter!"
Stumbling out into the darkened grounds, with my lit wand leading the way we soon spotted Buckbeak. He was tied to a large pumpkin that didn't look like it was moving any time soon.
"Hi buckeabeak," Draco said, and he knelt on the ground beside the creature he once disrespected. "Do you remember attacking me?"
Buckbeak seemed to not, as he knelt to Draco, nudging his head against Draco's hand. Draco stroked the feathers coating his head with a small smile on his face.
"Sorry for being mean so you had to attack me," Draco said to the creature. "I wasn't very nice back then."
"Well you're very nice now," I said, kneeling down and resting my head on Draco's shoulder. "Remember we used to argue most of the time about you being attacked?"
"How could I forget?" Draco said huskily. "It was the first time I properly noticed you. I was thinking I was dying, and you were the one who opened the gate and told me not to die."
"Well come on, I wouldn't have somebody to annoy if you were dead."
"Shut up and kiss me."
And the two of us kissed again, starting softly with hands pressed to cheeks before we became more needy for contact; the kisses quicker, more urgent. We'd spent so much time apart that we seemed to naturally gravitate to each other, wanting the closeness and love you couldn't get from anybody else.
Stumbling backwards still kissing, I found myself practically lying across Draco, his hands stroking my lower back. "I love you," I blurted out. "And I know we've been through a lot of shit in the past, but I love you."
"I'm starting to love me, too." Draco said with a shy smile, pressing his lips against the side of my neck. "But I love you more."
Pressing our lips together once more, we were trapped in our own little infinity and even though my brother and friends were missing and Gennie was in Azkaban, I felt whole again.
A scream rang out from the darkness.
Sitting up, the moment was lost and our wands drawn, sobering up at last. Members of the DA were running screaming from Hagrid's, and as we ran towards the hut as I tried hastily to tie the warp star necklace I could see why.
The Carrows and the death eater guards had appeared, shooting spells into the terrified crowd of children. How had they known we were here?
Alia, Cole, Seamus and Luna were on the front line, shooting spells at the teachers as they tried tackling the younger ones to the ground; torture curses and small fires erupting all around us.
"HAGRID!" Hollie was screaming and I saw Hagrid was running away from the crowd as his house burst into flames, Fang in his arms. Cameron was chasing after him at an alarming speed.
"Go, make sure everyone is safe!" Draco screamed, and we separated, and I began running after Hollie, who was in hot pursuit of Cameron.
"Crucio!" I heard a familiar voice scream, and I could feel my heart stop as I realised it was Hollie saying it to try and let Hagrid escape. She had hit the torture curse at Cameron, who was now on the floor, writhing in pain.
"Stop, Hollie!" I screamed, and I caught a glimpse of Hollie's face as she turned to face me—her expression dark and unfamiliar. But distracting her came with a price—Cameron managed to stumble upwards and hit her right around the face.
"GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF HER!" I shouted, and I began shooting every spell I could think of at Cameron as I hurried my speed to reach my sister, who was a crumpled heap on the floor.
Grabbing Hollie's shoulders I tried to get her away from Cameron's wrath only to have Cameron laugh manically and kick me to the floor, taking Hollie down with me. Curled up in a ball, everything was a blur as I took a painful kick to the ribs and face, wishing I could get away.
Hollie was screaming as I felt more blows cover my body, and then I heard her scream in delight.
Looking up through blurred vision, I could see Draco tackling Cameron away from me, screaming abuse at him as he tried to keep him down. Draco was shouting something to me—run?—and disorientated I got to my feet as the screams of the DA members picked up frequency.
"DRACO!" I screamed, though my voice was very far away as I watched Cameron get an upper hand on Draco, shoving his head into the dirt, laughing as he started to perform crucio on him. "STOP IT!"
"Don't worry," Cameron said with a smirk over Draco's agonising screams. "Your little boyfriend will be fine after some discipline."
Starting forward to kill Cameron, I felt somebody grab me from behind. Struggling, I screamed as I was pulled away, until I heard Cole whisper in my ear: "He'll be okay, we need to leave before they kill us."
It was too much, my vision became covered in dots and I staggered sideways, hearing Draco's scream as I fell unconscious.
*****
Waking up felt like a punch to the face.
Blinking a few times I saw Cole and Neville stood next to me, clutching a piece of paper between them. Everything hit me in one suckerpunch, and I tried to stumble upwards, only for Cole to shove me back onto a pile of pillows.
I was in my dorm, the curtains drawn and an odd silence over the room. "Where's Draco? Where's everybody?" I croaked out.
"He's fine, he's resting up in Slytherin." Cole said, sitting on the edge of my bed. "Everybody else pretty much got away okay—Alia burned her hand and Ginny lost some hair from Carrow yanking at it, but we're all okay."
"Sort of," Neville said.
Eyeing him up, I saw the both of them had grave expressions on their faces. Sitting up, I felt a knot build in my stomach. "What's going on?"
"There's a mole in the DA." Neville said gravely. "Somebody is giving information to the death eaters—we were set up last night."
"But—"
"Just read this," Cole said, thrusting the piece of paper into my hands. "It was found in the headquarters this morning."
In handwriting I didn't recognise a message was scrawled hastily.
This is only the start. They'll find out soon who you are soon, Aurora, trust me. If I was you, I'd run before things get messy for all your friends.
No love,
Anonymous
"Shit."
---------------------------
A/N Oh dear. Who do you think has betrayed Rory this time around? (it might be expected but idk)
Shout out to Pretty Little Liars, which inspired the note at the end! I'm really loving it!! (and I love Hanna and Emily so much they are my faves)
Also Obliviate hit 500k reads yesterday and I nearly cried, thank you thank you thank you for every single one of you who's ever clicked on it and given me a chance <3