Y/Ns POV

It's been a few weeks since the Firebolt incident. Ron and Harry were still avoiding Hermione and not talking to her. She had started to avoid the Common Room at all times because of this.

I decided to join her in the library so she would be alone and we could spend more time together, she was extremely grateful.

I honestly don't know why Ron is whining about the broom being taken. It's not even his.

We mostly just spent our time researching for Buckbeak's trial and just having fun in the library.

I also started learning how to become an animagi with Mum. She was still a bit hesitant at first, but eventually she gave in.

I have to hold a Mandrake leaf in my mouth while reciting the incantation, "Atamo Animo Animato Animagus" for an entire month. If this is interrupted just once, I need to restart the process all over again.

Eventually I'm going to have to drink an Animagus potion during a lightning storm at some point, but I won't have to worry about that until the month is over.

It has not been an easy endeavor, but nonetheless, I think I'm doing quite well with it.

Harry's POV

A few days later, I had another class with Lupin for practicing the Patronus charm. Y/N was excused from this lesson after he successfully performed the charm on his first try.

Me and Ron had been avoiding Hermione for a while. Ron had started to say some very unkind things towards Hermione, and each time he did, Y/N would give him a nasty glare.

I felt bad and I knew that Hermione had good intentions, but I couldn't help but feel a bit upset with her. I had just received the fastest broomstick in the world and got it taken away within a matter of hours.

Whenever we got the chance to see Y/N and Hermione, they were studying for multiple subject with books and parchment sprawled across tables in the library, and in the Common Room.

I still wonder how they manage to take all of these classes.

Professor Lupin and I were talking about the dementors after I had practiced the Patronus Charm while drinking some butter beer.

"Professor." I said. "What's under a Dementor's hood?"

"Hmmm....Well the only people who really know are in no condition to tell us." Lupin said. "The Dementor only lowers its hood to use its last and worst weapon."

"And that is?"

"It's called the Dementor's Kiss." Lupin said. "It's what the Dementors do to those they wish to destroy internally. I suppose there must be some kind of mouth under there, because they clamp their jaws upon the mouth of the victim and....." he paused for a moment. "And suck out their soul."

"D-do they?" I stuttered.

"Oh no." Lupin said. "Much, much worse than that. You can exist without your soul, you know, as long as your brain and heart are still working. But you'll have no sense of self anymore, no memory, no anything. There's no chance of recovery. You just exist. As an empty shell. And your soul is gone forever."

He drank some more of his butter beer and said, "It's the fate that awaits Sirius Black. It was in the Daily Prophet this morning. The Ministry have given the Dementors permission to perform it if they find him."

"He deserves it." I said angrily.

"You think so?" He said in surprise. "Do you really think anyone deserves that?"

"Yes. For...a variety of things.." I said. I didn't want to let him know that Black was responsible for betraying my parents, so thankfully I managed to be quiet.

I finished my butter beer, thanked him for the talk, and left the classroom.

I made my way to the Common Room until I bumped into Professor McGonagall.

"Do watch where you're going Potter!" She exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, Professor—"

"And what perfect timing." She said as she handed over my Firebolt. "We've done everything we could think of, and there doesn't seem to be a thing wrong with it at all. You've got a good friend somewhere, Potter."

"I can have it back?" I asked. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." She smiled. "I daresay you'll need to get the feel of it before Saturday's match, won't you? And Potter—Do try to win won't you? Or we'll be out of the running for the eighth year in a row, as Professor Snape was kind enough to remind me only last night..."

"Absolutely Professor!" I said.

I brought the Firebolt back to the Tower. As I turned the corner, I saw Ron with a massive grin.

"She gave it back to you? Excellent! Listen, can I still have a go on it? Tomorrow?"

"Yeah....whatever you want Ron." I said happily. "Let's take it back to the dorms."

We both entered the Common Room where everyone  gazed over my Firebolt.

"Have you ridden it Harry?"

"Auras won't have a chance, he's on a Cleansweep Seven!"

"Can I hold it Harry?"

"Can I sleep with it Harry?"

After a while, the crowd went away, revealing Hermione resting with her head on Y/Ns shoulder. Y/N was holding her close while Gracie and Crookshanks rested on their laps.

"I got it back!" I said with a grin.

"That's great mate." Y/N said. "But I think you owe somebody an apology.

"You're right." I said "I'm sorry Her-"

"Whatever." Ron interrupted. "We told you lot, there was nothing wrong with it in the first place."

"Oh look." Y/N said to Hermione. "They're talking to us again."

"That's good." Hermione said cuddling into Y/N. "But there could have been something! I mean as long as you know it's safe."

"I suppose you're right." I said. "I'd better put this upstairs."

"I'll take it!" Ron said eagerly. "I've got to give Scabbers his rat tonic." He held the Firebolt as if it was an expensive piece of glass, and led me up the stairs.

Y/Ns POV

"Sometimes I wonder how we manage to get through all of these classes." I said to Hermione. "Maybe we should drop a couple of subjects."

"We can't do that!" Hermione said.

"Come on Mione." I replied. "You've been stressing so much. Maybe a rest from these subjects would help."

"I suppose you're right." Hermione said. "Maybe I can see which ones-"

But which subjects she was thinking about dropping, I never found out. Because at that very moment....

"LOOK!" Ron yelled out with a bedsheet in his hands.

"LOOK!" He exclaimed once more as he shook the sheet in front of Hermione's face.

"Ron want the hell-" I said.

"SCABBERS!" He shouted. "LOOK! SCABBERS!"

The bedsheet was covered in a red substance as Hermione leaned away from it.

"ITS BLOOD!" Ron shouted. "AND YOU KNOW WHAT WAS ON THE FLOOR?"

"N-no." Hermione said in a scared voice as I stood in front of her protectively.

Ron then threw somethings onto our papers, revealing them to be several long, ginger, and grey cat hairs.

All belonging to Crookshanks and Gracie.

Our cats murdered Scabbers.

"Those bloody beasts murdered my rat!" Ron shouted. As Hermione flinched behind me at the sound of Ron's voice.

"Calm the hell down!" I shouted back. "You're scaring her!"

"You two better keep those beasts away from me before I skin them myself." Ron said angrily.

"You lay a hand on my cat, Weasley." I said. "You're going to wish you were never born."

———————————————————————————

After the Scabbers incident, Ron did not speak to me and Hermione at all. And we didn't speak to him either. We mostly spent our time with, Harry, Selena, Ginny, the Ravenclaw trio, and the Slytherin quartet.

Eventually, Hermione stopped talking to Harry, since he was certain that Scabbers was murdered by the cats.

Speaking of Gracie and Crookshanks, Hermione had to lock both of them inside of her dormitory. Ron believed this was the right thing to do as all pets in Gryffindor would be safe by our "murderous" cats.

I don't get why he's so mad, he's always complained about Scabbers and how useless he was.

"Ron is just being a git." I told Hermione as we sat on the couch together. "Like he always is, he'll come around."

"He really is." Hermione replied. "Crookshanks and Gracie were doing what cats do."

"At least we have each other." I replied as Hermione cuddled herself into me.

A few days later, the Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw Quidditch match was about to start. Selena had asked Hermione to go sit with her in the Ravenclaw stands, next to Elijah Farrell and Kayla Roserio. Ravenclaws, and fellow students of ours.

Ron would most likely antagonize her if she sat with the Gryffindors, and honestly, nobody could really stand Ron at the moment.

"You better win today Y/N!" Charlie Kynaston, a fellow Gryffindor said to me.

"I have 20 galleons on Gryffindor!" Kieran Winston remarked.

"I'll keep that in mind guys!"

Before we let off to the pitch, Hermione stopped me on the way and pulled me close. Kissing me on the cheek for good luck.

"Be safe for me, ok?" She asked in a quiet voice

"Always." I said with a smile.

"Okay lovebirds, break it up." Selena smirked at the entrance to the locker rooms. "Let's go Hermione."

Hermione blushed a heavy red, nodded, and went to follow Selena to the Ravenclaw stands.

As the game began, I noticed Sam who was the Ravenclaw seeker, smirk at us.

"Don't think I'm going easy this time L/N." He said playfully.

"Yeah, yeah whatever mate."

I also noticed the Ravenclaw chaser, Cho Chang ( a good friend of Sam, Axel, and Thea) smile at Harry, who blushed as he got on his Firebolt.

If we were talking, I would for sure tease him for this.

"They're off!" the voice of Lee Jordan boomed. Doing amazing commentary as always. "According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt is going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this years World Championship...."

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" Mum said sternly to him.

"Right you are Professor—just giving a bit of background information—the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto break and—"

"Jordan!" Mum yelled.

"Okay, okay!" Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell for Gryffindor, heading for goal..."

Katie scored a goal, and shortly after I managed to do the same.

"Hey Axel!" Sam shouted while on his pursuit for the snitch. "Learn how to protect the damn hoops!"

"Why don't you focus on chasing the snitch, and mind your own business!" Axel shouted as he made his way back to the hoops.

"Show him your acceleration, Harry!" Fred shouted. He started to chase Sam, who went off course and lost track of the snitch.

"Gryffindor leads by 80 points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go!" Jordan announced. "Potters really putting through its paces in now, see it turn— Auras's comet is no match for it, the precision, the balance of the Firebolt is really noticeable in these long—"

"JORDAN!" Mum yelled. "ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!"

I looked at Harry, who was still chasing Sam as they continued to race for the Snitch.

"Harry!" Wood bellowed. "Just knock him off his broom if you have to!"

They still continued to go after the Snitch until Sam noticed something and averted his attention towards the ground. Harry am I looked down to see the most peculiar thing underneath us.

Three Dementors, all staring at us.

Harry pulled out his wand as I did the same. At the same time, we shouted "Expecto Patronum!" A silver eagle erupted from the top of my wand, paying the dementors back. As this happened, Harry flew over to the Snitch and caught it. He then flew down to many Gryffindors cheering happily.

"That's my boy!" Wood yelled as Katie and Angelina kissed me and Harry's cheeks repeatedly. Fred and George hugged us both as Hermione came down from the Ravenclaw side and hugged me tightly.

"Well done, Harry!" Kieran said happily as he came down from the stands. "Pay up Kynaston."

Charlie reached out with a growl and gave Kieran his galleons.

"Good for you, Harry!"

"You showed them!"

"That was quite some Patronus." Lupin said to the both of us. "You continue to amaze me Y/N."

"The Dementors didn't affect us at all!" Harry said. "I didn't feel a thing!"

"Well that would be because they—er—-werent Dementors." Lupin said. "Come and see."

He led us to the so called "Dementors," they turned out to be Draco Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint.

All wearing dark robes

"Sure as hell seems like you gave them quite the fright Harry!" Axel said as Mum marched over furiously towards the four Slytherins.

"And unworthy trick!" She yelled. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and 50 points from Slytherin. I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, Perfect timing, here he comes now!"

The four Slytherins still tried to get out of the robes while Fred came towards us.

"Harry, Y/N! Party! Gryffindor Common Room, now!"

The party was amazing. Fred and George managed to disappear for a while and once they came back, they returned with bottles of Butterbeer, pumpkin fizz and lots of sweets from Honeydukes. They even managed to come back with some Firewhiskey as well.

It seemed like there were students from every house at Hogwarts here as well. Mia looked like she was having a fantastic time dancing with Pansy.

Hermione wanted to read for a little bit, so I brought her over some Butterbeer, since I knew she loved it at Hogsmeade. Harry had decided to join me, he seemed to be in a good mood and wanted to talk to us again.

"Did you come to the match?" He asked Hermione.

"Of course I did!" She said rather quickly. "I just went over to the Ravenclaw side with Selena. I'm glad we won, and I think you both did very well, but I need to read this by Monday."

"Normally I'd agree with you Mione." I said taking the book from her hands and throwing it away. "But you need to have some fun."

"I agree with Y/N." Harry said. "You should come join us."

He really matured quickly, unlike Ron.

"I can't, Harry. I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" She said. "And...he doesn't want me to join them."

"Screw him." I said. "Let's go and have fun."

As I took her hand and led her out to the Common Room, Ron decided to speak loudly.

"If Scabbers hadn't been eaten, he could have had some of those Fudge Flies. He used to really like them—"

At that moment, Hermione burst into tears and ran into the girls Dormitory. Hearing this, Selena, Laura, Thea, Ginny, and Mia all ran upstairs after her.

"You're a dick!" Laura yelled at Ron before continuing up the stairs.

The music stopped and everyone stared angrily at Ron as i walked in front of him.

And it was at that moment, that Ronald Billius Weasley knew

That he fucked up.

Because I picked him up by the collar and punched him square in the jaw.

He flinched back as he looked at me angrily. "What the hell was that for?" He yelled with blood dripping from his mouth.

"ITS NOT HER DAMN FAULT YOU GINGER BITCH!" I shouted. "STOP ACTING LIKE THIS!"

"It is her fault!" He shouted back. "And it's yours too! Your cats killed Scabbers! But of course you'd defend her!"

"I defended her because she's my best friend and I care about her!" I yelled. "How many god damn times do I have to tell you!"

"You both can't admit you're wrong! And don't act like you're defending her because you care." He smirked. "We all know how you feel about her."

I felt the rage in me boiling as I walked towards Ron who was trembling in fear, and just as I was about to punch him again...

Axel slammed his fist into Ron's nose

And it started bleeding.

"Fuck you, Weasley." He said as he left the Common Room with the others.

Ron had clearly ruined the party with his antics.

"I would think you cared more about your friends than a god damn rat." I said quietly. "You stay the hell away from Hermione, and you stay the hell away from me."

And without another word, I left the Common Room and went back to my dorm.

———————————————————————————

Hermione's POV

It's been a few hours since the party ended. I thought Ron would stop putting the blame on me and actually forgive me, but he kept bringing it up.

After I went to my dorm, a few girls including Mia and Selena came upstairs to comfort me. Mia and Pansy had even tried to cheer me up by joking around, which ended up working.

Ginny had also told me that Y/N had punched Ron in the face and did it because he cares about me.

If I haven't fallen in love with Y/N already, I sure am now.

I can't believe he cares about me just as much as I care about him.

After the girls cheered me up, I fell asleep in my bed as the other Gryffindors came in and fell asleep until somebody yelled from the Boys Dorm, which woke all of us up.

"AAAAARGHHHH! NOOOOOOOO!"

I jumped out of my bed along with everyone else and ran over to the dorms, where Ron was yelling and Harry looked startled.

"What's going on?" Percy asked.

"Perce-Sirius Black!" Ron said. "In our dormitory! With another man! And a knife! Woke us up and suddenly he's on the floor!"

"Ron you probably had too much to eat." Percy reasoned. "Just a nightmare."

"Just a nightmare?" Ron scoffed. "Then look at Y/N!" He said pointing to him on the ground.

I immediately looked down and put his head on my lap. He had blood dripping down his head and his hands. I checked to see if he was still alive as his blood got onto my hands.

And thank Merlin he was. Just passed out.

"Enough's enough!" Professor McGonagall said before she laid her eyes on me and cried, "What happened!"

"I don't know, I just came down after I heard yelling." I explained. "I found him like this!"

"We must take him to the infirmary!" She exclaimed. "Mr. Weasley, you must explain everything right now! Miss Granger, please take my godson to the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey should have something to help him."

I nodded as I supported Y/N on my shoulder as we took him to the hospital wing.

I swear Y/N pays a visit here every year.

As we arrived, Madam Pomfrey rushed over and placed Y/N onto the bed as I watched her work.

I was about to cry until she reassured me that Y/N was going to be okay and he would wake up soon.

I was so scared, Sirius Black had tried to kill him, the boy I care about more than anything.

And he had an accomplice as well.

After a few minutes, I heard groaning from my left side and my head turned quickly to see Y/N awake. As I checked to make sure he was okay. I hugged him tightly and kissed him repeatedly on his cheek.

"I'm so sorry Y/N!" I cried.

"It's not your fault Mione." He said sweetly.

"You could have been killed!" I exclaimed.

"But I wasn't." He said with a smile. "I'm sorry to say that you are stuck with me."

"Do you need anything?" I asked.

"Will you stay with me?" He asked.

"Always." I said sweetly as I climbed into the bed and wrapped my arms around him.

"There's something I have to tell you Mione." He said after a few minutes.

"What is it?" I asked, continuing to cuddle into him.

"I don't think the attack was intentional."