I wanna be your end game
I wanna be your first string
I wanna be your A-Team
I wanna be your end game, end game

~

LUCY:

The first D.A. meeting of the year was dedicated to Shield Charms.

"We'll start with the easiest and most common Shield Charm for now," I explained, "but once everyone masters this one, there are other variations we can teach you. Tonight, the incantation is protego. If anyone feels like doing homework, we'll be working on protego duo and protego maxima in the coming weeks. Protego, though, is powerful enough to block most jinxes, hexes, and physical objects. It can protect against a couple of curses, too, but it does not block Unforgivable Curses, so you'd be better off dodging, should a fight ever come to that. Anyway..." I glanced at Harry. "Do you want to demonstrate the shield, or should I?"

The look on his face made my stomach erupt with butterflies. He had been looking at me like that — with a combination of pride and relief and excitement and whatever else — ever since I'd asked him to duel the night before. He grinned. "I'll do the shield. Hit me with your best shot."

We backed up until we were ten paces apart and locked eyes. Our wands snapped into motion at the same time.

"Flipendo!"

"Protego!"

The yellow jet of light of my Knockback Jinx bounced uselessly off of Harry's Shield Charm.

I shrugged and turned back to the group. "Well, there you have it! Use cushions until your Shield Charms become more reliable, I'd rather prevent injuries than have to heal them. Harry and I will make our way around and check up on all of you as you practice! Good luck!"

Shield Charms were difficult, so I was glad I'd recommended the use of the cushions. It was a bit dangerous trying to walk around the room, with objects and bodies flying all over the place, but Harry and I did our best to avoid getting knocked over by one thing or another.

"Say, Lucy!" Fred called as he fired a spell off at George. "Come over here! I have a very important question to ask you!"

"This can't be good," I muttered to Harry.

"Good luck! Let me know if you need back-up," he replied, cheerfully patting me on the shoulder and shoving me in Fred's direction.

I sighed as I approached him. "You've had this charm mastered for years. What question could you possibly have?"

"Well, seeing as Valentine's Day is only a little over a month away, I merely wanted to ask if you had any plans for the wonderful holiday," he said with a waggle of his eyebrows.

"That's what's so important?" I asked incredulously. "No, of course I don't."

Fred clucked his tongue disapprovingly. "Such a shame. A fine young witch such as yourself shouldn't have such a dismal outlook on the most romantic day of the year."

I shook my head. "What are you on about? You have a girlfriend."

"I'm fully aware of that, Cub," he said, glancing over my shoulder briefly before returning his attention to the casual duel he was having with George. "I wasn't asking you out of my own self-interest. There are plenty of other blokes who don't have plans for the day who would be very lucky to spend the day with you."

"Yeah, well, I have Quidditch practice anyway," I replied.

"Only in the morning. I would know, my girlfriend is Gryffindor Quidditch Captain. She wanted to practice all day, but I convinced her to make it just a morning practice so the two of us could have the second half of the day to ourselves."

"How romantic of you," I said dryly. "It just so happens I was planning on spending my afternoon studying for O.W.L.s, so the aforementioned 'other blokes' are out of luck, I'm afraid. Or in luck, really, depending on how you look at it."

He glanced over my shoulder again for a second and continued in a louder voice. "Well, I still maintain that a young witch as delightful and lovely as yourself should not be spending her Valentine's Day at Quidditch practice and studying for O.W.L.s."

"They giving you a hard time, Lu?" an amused voice asked from behind me.

I bit back a groan. Harry. Fred, you git—

"Just Fred," I replied. I glanced at George. "Unless you've got a remarkable quip you've been saving for an opportune moment?"

George grinned. "My opportune moment hasn't come yet. I believe Fred's comments have been sufficient for one night."

"I don't know what you two are playing at, but in case you've forgotten, I think Valentine's Day on the whole is a positively dreadful holiday and I happen to be very much looking forward to Quidditch practice and revising for O.W.L.s. There are worse ways to spend a day. Do you have any more relevant questions, or should I go make sure no one breaks our new Seeker's arm before our first practice tomorrow?"

"Just one," Fred answered with a grin. "Harry, what are you doing for Valentine's Day?"

"I, er, I'm going to Hogsmeade with Cho," he replied, blushing furiously.

I glared at the twins one last time before patting Harry on the shoulder. "Right. Well, seeing as these buffoons would rather take the mickey out of me about my Valentine's Day plans than discuss Shield Charms, I'm going to go."

"Right behind you," Harry muttered, and the twins laughed behind us as we walked away and headed in opposite directions.

I thought that would be the end of it, but Fred kept it up all the way to the Gryffindor common room later, even with Harry right there next to me.

"Why do you despise Valentine's Day so much, Cub?" he asked in the most innocent voice he could manage.

"It turns people into fools," I replied simply.

"Ah, so you think love is foolish."

"No!" I protested. "No, I — I don't think that, I just think Valentine's Day puts these foolish ideas about love into people's heads and they make fools out of themselves accordingly."

"Ah, come on, you need to listen to your inner romantic!"

I held up a finger and fell silent for a couple of seconds. "I did. She says Valentine's Day serves no meaningful purpose."

"Well, she's no fun!" Fred declared. "Unlike you, of course, which is why I'm so surprised your inner romantic is such a nihilist." He draped an arm dramatically around my shoulders. "I am in a very happy and committed relationship, but if I weren't, I'd have half a mind to prove to you that the world of love and romance is far more fantastic and free than you could ever imagine in your wildest Valentine's dreams. You could tag along on my date with Angelina and see what it's really like."

I shoved his arm off. "I'll pass, thanks."

"Right, right, you'd rather be on your own date," he said, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "That could be arranged."

"Yeah, right." I huffed and rolled my eyes. "The eligible bachelors of Hogwarts are certainly lining up on my doorstep. Come off it, Freddie, it's pointless. Everyone knows how the Maxence situation ended. I'd rather not set myself up like that again."

"Well, he was a prick," George piped up. "Don't let one prick ruin all of the other men in the world for you."

I shook my head, relieved we had finally reached the portrait hole. "You're both nutters. No one can change how I feel about Valentine's Day, not that anyone would ever want to try anyway." I turned to Harry, who had been walking with us the entire time in complete silence. He had an odd expression on his face, but in my desperation for this conversation to end, I didn't acknowledge it. "Do you mind if I borrow your History of Magic notes from Monday? I realized earlier that my notes are far less coherent than I thought they were, and I know better than to ask for Hermione's chicken scratch. I'll trade you for the Charms notes I know you didn't take."

He blinked hard, jumping out of whatever train of thought he'd been riding, and nodded. "Sure thing. Be right back."

"Thanks!" Once the door closed behind him, I turned to the twins, Fred in particular. "What on earth are you playing at tonight? You're acting very... odd."

"Just testing the waters for you," Fred replied with a grin. "Georgie will get his turn soon enough. Harry may be blind, but maybe if we start cleaning his glasses for him, he'll figure it out soon enough."

"There's nothing to figure out," I muttered. "I told everyone months ago, it's not like that anymore. And even if it was, it would be hopeless anyway."

"Give yourself more credit," George said.

"Yeah, you're Lucy Diggory!" Fred declared. "Star Chaser turned star Beater—"

"I haven't even played in a real practice yet," I protested, but he kept going.

"—leader of Dumbledore's Army—"

"One of the leaders—"

"—protégé of the famous Weasley twins—"

"Infamous, more like—"

"—among many other notable accomplishments that unfortunately do not come with their own special titles. Point is, everyone's missing out."

I sighed. "Whatever you say."

Harry chose that moment to return. Before he could say anything, the twins decided to make a spectacle of their departure.

"Well, good night, our lovely Cub," George said, tugging on my ponytail and kissing the top of my head.

Fred took it a step further and bent down to kiss my cheek. "Until tomorrow, dearest Cub."

"Good night, idiots," I called after their retreating forms, shaking my head. I looked back at Harry and grinned. "Must be something in the air tonight making everyone act all funny, eh?"

"Must be," he agreed, his facial expression completely neutral as we sat down at a table and exchanged notes.

I sighed silently. Those Weasley twins would be the death of me.

I got a reputation girl that don't precede me
I'm one call away whenever you need me

The next morning, I buzzed with anticipation from the second I opened my eyes. It was the day of our first Quidditch practice.

Finally, finally, finally, finally, the time came to head down to the Pitch. Ginny and I made our way down together, new bats in hand.

Dennis was already in the locker room, pacing back and forth. He jumped high in the air when he saw us.

"Oh, hi Ginny, hi Lucy," he stammered, his face burning bright red. "Is it almost practice time already?"

Ginny nodded. "You bet! Nervous at all, Creevey?"

"A little," he admitted in a voice that made clear he was very nervous.

"We still have more than a month to practice before the match against Hufflepuff, so don't worry about being perfect right away," I said in the most comforting voice I could manage. "Nobody is going to expect you to be perfect anyway. I mean, you just rode a broom for the first time less than a year and a half ago! The fact that you've made it here is remarkable in and of itself. You're going to be just fine."

He seemed to relax a bit, nodding and flexing his fingers. "And your job is to stop the Bludgers from hitting me?"

"That's right!" I said. "Don't worry about those. We'll do our best to stop them from hitting you."

"Do they hurt? When they... do hit you?"

"Yup," Ginny said with a nod. "They do, but Madam Pomfrey can mend broken bones in an instant."

Dennis paled at that, but he didn't say anything further, so I ducked into my locker to change. Once I emerged, the rest of the team had arrived. Ginny and I helped tighten each other's arm guards, and we made our way through our pre-practice good-luck ritual — clacking our arm guards together, then our bats together — and marched out onto the Pitch with our brooms slung over our shoulders.

"Alright!" Angelina said once we had all circled up on the grass. "Welcome, everyone! Today, we're going to focus on getting comfortable. With the team, with the Pitch, with the balls. We Chasers will score as many goals as we can, Ron will stop us as often as we can, Ginny and Lucy will keep the Bludgers away from all of us, and Dennis will catch the Snitch. We'll just do this until we settle into it. Sound good? Good! Let's take to the sky!"

I grinned at Ginny as we kicked up in unison, bats in hand. Merlin, it felt so good to be in the sky again.

Everything considered, practice went very well. Nobody sustained any life-threatening injuries, Dennis caught the Snitch three times, Ron blocked half of the goals, and no Slytherins showed up to sing "Weasley is Our King." Our only spectators were Fred, George, and Harry, but Harry had to leave an hour into practice to go find Cho for their first date.

I had been tempted to mention the date to the twins the night before, but I knew that would just make them double down on their matchmaking efforts. It wasn't going to be anything elaborate, really, they were just going to watch the sunset on the lake, but Harry was certainly nervous about it.

Angelina called practice to a close shortly after the sun had gone down and announced that we'd have practice again in the morning, during which we'd start workouts and drills again. With that, we returned to the locker room, and Ginny and I helped each other wrestle off the arm guards before changing into our regular robes.

As we left, she gasped and grabbed my arm.

"What? What is it?" I asked, looking around for whatever had gotten such a strong reaction from her but not seeing anyone except for Cho and Harry, who were heading back up to the castle side-by-side.

"Cho's stealing him!" she hissed. She wrenched her wand out of her pocket. "I ought to hex her!"

"What? No!" I jumped in front of her and pushed her back until we were both in the locker room. "What on earth is wrong with you Weasleys?"

"Harry's got his head up his arse and we're trying to help him sort it! Cho's stealing your man from you! You had him wrapped around your little finger until she showed up with her starry eyes and pretty face!"

I blinked in surprise, then laughed. "Ginny, what in the name of Merlin are you on about? She didn't 'steal' Harry from me, I don't own him."

"But you two are meant to be together," she moaned. "Everyone knows it."

"Um, I'm going to have to disagree with you on that one—"

"Fine, everyone knows it except you two. Now if you'll excuse me, maybe if I hex her well enough Harry will realize he should fancy someone who can defend herself, meaning you."

"What? No, Ginny, no." She tried to get past me, but I jumped in front of her again. "Look, I'm not upset by the fact they're dating."

"You're not?"

"No. But even if I was, it wouldn't be her fault."

She sighed. "So I can't hex her?"

"No, of course not." I echoed her sigh and stared down at my shoes. "Besides, there's obviously something very special about Cho if she can attract both my brother and Harry. I think we'd be good friends if she stopped looking like she wants to cry every time she sees me."

Ginny was silent for a long moment. "You're much too noble, Lucy Diggory."

"Thanks?" I glanced up and met her eyes. "I think?"

"I think that's a compliment," she replied with a shrug. "Don't worry, Lucy, Cho and Harry won't last. He'll clean his glasses and see you soon enough. Now come on, I'm starving."

I was relieved as we left the tent. Finally I would be able to escape the awkwardness of the conversations about romance, I thought.

I was wrong.

As soon as we arrived in the Great Hall and slid in between the twins, George decided his opportune moment had come.

"Such a shame you had to leave early, Harry, you missed the best of Lucy's performance!" he declared, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me close for a moment before dropping his arm so he could use both hands to demonstrate what I had done. "So the Bludger was coming this way, right? Right for Dennis! Ginny was trying to get there, but there was another Bludger on Lucy's tail, so she changed course and started heading toward that one to try to save Lucy's skin so she could save Creevey's. But Lucy, our incredible and well-coached Lucy, managed to hit both in the same swing of her bat! Isn't that amazing?"

Harry grinned and nodded. "Definitely amazing. I might have missed that one, but she was plenty amazing before I left, too."

An uncomfortable blush crept to my cheeks. Before I could say anything, though, George was rambling again.

"Well, yes, you did see her chase the Bludger halfway across the Pitch then whack it into oblivion so Katie could score, but she could have done that in her sleep. You should have seen the second time she saved Dennis! He was about to get the Snitch, but the Bludger appeared out of nowhere so he panicked and was about to turn around when all of a sudden Lucy appeared and hit the Bludger directly into the ground! He caught the Snitch! He would have likely caught the Bludger between his shoulder blades if Lucy hadn't been there."

"He would have been fine," I muttered, taking a long drink of water to hide my face.

"I don't know, Lu, sounds like you saved him to me," Harry said.

George leaned forward like he was about to share a brilliant secret. "I was thinking, we should invite all of the eligible young bachelors of Hogwarts to Gryffindor practices. You get a Valentine's date in no time, after a practice like that!"

"No, no, no." I blushed even more intensely and shook my head as I choked on my water. "Don't you dare."

"And why not?"

"I'm not interested. I'm more than content spending my day with books and Bludgers, I don't need to add boys to the mix too."

"Well, suit yourself," he said. "Say, Harry, I can't remember, were you still there when Ginny and Lucy hit that Bludger together? It was really quite something—"

I groaned and buried my head against Ginny's shoulder. "Make him stop, Gin."

"And why would I do that?" she whispered in my ear. "Haven't you realized that they're doing this to try to bring Harry to his senses?"

"Of course I've noticed," I muttered.

"So what's the problem?"

"I can get my own boyfriend when the time comes, if it's meant to be."

"You know what, you're right." She shoved me off of her and said in a louder voice, "Come on, George, let the boy breathe. He's just gotten back from his first date, I reckon he's overwhelmed enough as is."

This announcement completely changed George's demeanor. A disbelieving smile spread across his face as he glanced at me. "You knew?"

"Of course I knew," I said, rolling my eyes. "I fully intend to pry every last detail out of him later. For now, though, by all means tell Harry about the time Ginny saved Ron from the Bludger that nearly tore his foot off."

George launched into the story, but as soon as that was through, he continued bragging about me, with a little playful flirting thrown in. And, I'll admit, I even joined in. George had been my Yule Ball date, after all, a fact of which he reminded Harry later that night just before he headed up to the seventh year boys' dormitory.

"Good night, my charming Yule Ball date," he said as he ruffled my hair. "I look forward to meeting your blue eyes in the morning."

"And I too look forward to seeing your monstrous bedhead at breakfast," I teased.

George pressed a hand to his chest. "You wound me."

"I always fix it, don't I?"

"You do indeed, little miracle worker, you do indeed. Good night!"

I laughed. "Night, George."

Knew her when I was young
Reconnected when we were little bit older
Both sprung, I got issues and chips on both of my shoulders
Reputation precedes me, in rumors I'm knee deep
The truth is it's easier to ignore it, believe me
Even when we'd argue, we'd not do it for long
And you understand the good and bad end up in the song
For all your beautiful traits, and the way you do it with ease
For all my flaws, paranoia, and insecurities
I've made mistakes and made some choices, that's hard to deny
After the storm, something was born on the fourth of July
I've passed days without fun, this end game is the one
With four words on the tip of my tongue, I'll never say

As soon as the door closed behind him, Ron, Hermione, and I whirled on Harry.

"So how'd it go?" Hermione asked.

Harry shrugged. "It was alright. Going to the lake wasn't the best idea. Cried a bit thinking about a time Cedric took her there, but I patted her on the shoulder until she stopped and the sunset was pretty so I think she enjoyed it."

"Patted her on the shoulder?" I repeated in a pained voice.

"Well, yeah," he replied. "What else was I going to do?"

"Sounds good enough to me, mate," Ron said, leaning back in his chair and shooting me a meaningful look. He knew as well as I did that Harry was far more physically affectionate comforting me than he was when he was trying to comfort Cho.

But at the same time... what is it with these Weasleys the past couple days?

"Are there plans for another day between now and Valentine's Day?" I asked.

Harry nodded, a slow smile creeping onto his face. "There's a Tutshill Tornados match in a couple of weeks, and she asked if I wanted to listen to the broadcast with her."

"Ooh, that should be a great match. The Tornados dominated last autumn, I'm sure they'll be even better after the holidays. Do you know who they're planning?"

"Not sure," he replied. He cleared his throat. "Anyway, should be fun."

We all nodded and returned to our work, but Harry seemed distracted. It was no wonder, then, that he was the last one to still be working on his essay. When Ron and Hermione finally headed to bed, I summoned his quill into my hand and twirled it in my fingers.

"What's on your mind, Potter?"

He sighed and rested his chin in his hand as he looked at me. "You don't miss a thing, do you?"

"Not with you," I said, taken aback for a second by my own honesty. I recovered swiftly and pointed the quill at him. "Start talking."

He looked at me for a couple of seconds before sighing again. "What do you think about us?"

I blinked. "Er... what do you mean?"

"What do you think about Cho and me?"

"Oh, that's what you—" I laughed breathily. "I understand now. Well, what do you think about it?"

"I asked you first," Harry said with a grin.

I mirrored his posture, resting my chin in my hand. "If it makes you both happy, I say go for it. You've fancied her for years now, and clearly she fancies you too."

He nodded silently. He seemed somewhat lost in thought, so I waited a couple of moments before speaking again.

"Does it make you happy, being with her?"

"It certainly makes me nervous," Harry chuckled in reply, "I mean, I can never seem to think straight when she's around. But that's good, right?"

I hesitated. I didn't think love was supposed to make someone nervous. Giddy, maybe, give someone butterflies, but being nervous didn't sound quite the same. I pushed this thought aside, however, and nodded.

"As long as it makes you both happy, I think it's great, Harry. I'm happy for both of you."

He nodded, more to himself than to me, and a bit of tension drained from his shoulders. "Okay. Thanks, Lucy. I feel a bit better. It's just all so new, you know?"

"That's fair," I said with a nod as I slid my finished essay into my bag. As I did so, my charm bracelet slid down my wrist and peeked out from my robes. I wondered offhandedly if Harry would ever get Cho a charm bracelet too. I chased that thought away as soon as it appeared.

The fact of the matter was that I fully believed Cho would make Harry happier than I would. She was prettier and smarter and older. She was a Seeker, she was popular, she was far less shy about how she felt toward Harry. Was it odd for me to see the girl Cedric adored for years walking side-by-side with Harry? Of course it was, but I could get used to it if that was what made Harry happiest. Maybe Cho and I could even be friends, and talk about Cedric together. I could tell her about how his eyes lit up when he talked about her, and maybe she could tell me about how he looked when he was watching me play Quidditch or something like that. But I couldn't shake the feeling that Ginny was right. They wouldn't last. Harry hadn't been convinced being with her made him happy, and the epiphany I'd had on New Year's seemed more significant than just a consequence of the high of the moment. Harry and I would be together eventually, I was almost certain of it.

I rummaged around in my bag for a textbook to read while I kept Harry company, but the crinkle of newspaper caught my attention first. I slowly extracted the Tuesday paper announcing the Azkaban breakout.

An idea struck me suddenly. Even if I wasn't certain about what my future with Harry would look like, I was certain that I would find my family one day. Over a decade later, scarred beyond the realm of Muggle possibility, with a hell of a story to try to explain. An unbelievable story to try to tell. I pursed my lips and set the newspaper on the table, rummaging through my bag again in search of an envelope.

Once I found one, I pulled my wand from my pocket and whispered an "Engorgio," letting it grow until it was large enough to fit the newspaper. I grabbed my quill and dipped it into my inkwell before writing PROOF across the top in large letters across the top. Below it, in smaller letter, I wrote January 8-9, 1996 — Azkaban breakout.

Harry glanced up at me. "Proof of what?"

"I just realized that, well, when the day comes I go back to America and find whoever might still be waiting for me—" I shoved the newspaper into the envelope. "—I'm going to have a bit of explaining to do."

"That's brilliant," he said with a hint of a smile. "I mean, it's not brilliant that this is something you have to do in the first place, but, well, I'm sure when the time comes you'll be glad you thought of this now."

I nodded. "Maybe this will allow me to, ah, ease everyone into it. As opposed to, say, showing up and turning a pencil into a bowtruckle or something."

"That would be a bit jarring, yeah," Harry said, laughing. "And of course if you want someone to go with you to back you up, I'd be happy to go with you."

"You would?"

"Yeah, of course! I'd love to go to America. We could go to Lake Tahoe, or see MACUSA—"

"We could see if we could get Sorted by the Ilvermorny system! I wonder if I really am a Thunderbird."

"Which one was that?" he asked.

"It represents the soul of an adventurer," I explained. "And then Wampus represents the body of a warrior, Horned Serpent represents the mind of a scholar, and Pukwudgie represents the heart of a healer."

Harry nodded thoughtfully. "I could see you as a Thunderbird."

I studied him for a moment. "I could see you fitting in well there, too. You're definitely good at emotional magic, which I think is most closely associated with Thunderbird. But you're good at combative magic, too, which is more of a Wampus trait."

"I suppose," he said.

"But...?"

He reached up and massaged his scar. "I don't know how willing of a warrior I'd be. I haven't had much of a choice, have I?"

"I haven't had much choice in how adventurous I am either, but here I am," I replied lightheartedly, almost flippantly.

Harry looked for a minute as if he were fighting a laugh.

I laughed first. "It's okay, laugh, it's funny."

He caved and joined me in the laughter. "What a mess we are."

"What a mess indeed."

We were messy, yes, but the key term was "we." Unwilling warriors and unintentional adventurers though we were, we were together, and in that moment, that fact mattered more than anything else in the world. It meant more than the fact that Harry had a girlfriend, it meant more than the fact that Azkaban's finest had escaped, it meant more than the fact that the future looked darker and darker and darker and darker every passing day. Though all of that was true, we had each other, mess and all, and from the sounds of it, we'd have each other for a long time. Possibly even forever.

We tried to forget it, but we just couldn't
And I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put 'em
Reputation precedes me, they told you I'm crazy
I swear I don't love the drama, it loves me
And I can't let you go, your hand print's on my soul

I wanna be your end game
I wanna be your first string
I wanna be your A Team
I wanna be your end game, end game

"End Game"
Taylor Swift featuring Future and Ed Sheeran

(The Future verse is meant to be Fred and the Ed Sheeran verse is meant to be George. Everything Taylor Swift sings is Lucy's voice.)