LUCY:

Saturday, June 1 was the full moon. The hypothermia candies made my mind foggy and weakened my magic, so I'd opted to go without them for the month.

I missed them dearly. I woke that morning with a raging fever, so overwhelmed by my surroundings that I knew I wouldn't be able to get out of bed that day. I reached for my wand and charmed my curtains shut, careful to make sure they'd block both light and sound, and tried to gather my thoughts.

I would lose a day of studying — no, two days, I needed to sleep the whole next day — but perhaps that was for the best. Cedric had always told me never to cram studying into the day before an exam, and since I would need to sleep the entirety of Sunday, maybe that same principle would apply. Whether it would apply or not, I couldn't risk the hypothermia candies having any lingering side effects, so my decision was made.

As far as my feelings about O.W.L.s, I was prepared for the worst but hoping for the best. I'd always worked hard in school, and I'd been working harder than ever since returning from winter holiday. As terrifying as it was to know that the next two weeks would be indicative of the past five-plus years of my learning, I was trying to be optimistic the way Cedric had always tried to be.

He had much more going on than I did, being both Quidditch Captain and a prefect with a St. Mungo's internship on the horizon, and I was still amazed by the poise with which he'd always handled whatever had been thrown his way. I'd asked him how he handled it all once right before he took his own O.W.L.s, and he'd just laughed and said that appearances could be deceiving. He admitted that he was nervous, terrified even, but that he was trying to focus more on the fact that he'd done his best than whatever the results would be.

"Does that even help?" I'd asked, laughing. "I mean, I know you'll get Outstanding across the board, but if you somehow got a T, would you really be content with 'Well, I did my best' and leave it at that?"

He had grinned. "I would be upset, of course, but every failure just points out a way you can improve. You shouldn't beat yourself up for every mistake, no matter how large or small the mistake might be. If you focus on learning and growing from your mistakes, they'll start to feel more manageable and less catastrophic."

"Wouldn't it be nice to just, you know, try to avoid mistakes all together?"

"It would be nice, but unfortunately the world doesn't often work that way. Nothing can be perfect, but I want to believe that everything can be good."

That thought was the last coherent one I had as I slipped off into a feverish sleep. I was stirred from it an unknown amount of time later when the curtains parted. I was too out of it to move, too out of it to even open my eyes.

"Sweet Merlin, her enchantments are nearly impenetrable," Hermione muttered. "I can see why you and Ginny asked for my help. Her magic amazes me."

"Mhm," Harry murmured softly. It was his hand I felt on my forehead a second later. He retracted it a second later with "Yeah, Gin, you were right, she's burning up. D'you have the—"

Ginny swore under her breath. "That blanket I charmed for her birthday to adapt to her body temperature? She's already sleeping with it." I felt a gentle tug on the blanket I was practically cradling under my covers because of how nice the cold felt through the thin fabric of my pajamas. "Feel that? It's freezing. And—"

"And she's still burning up," Harry finished, sighing.

"We can't win," Ron said.

Hermione's voice was firm. "We will."

~

Sunday, June 2 was spent sleeping. After we returned from the forest, of course.

Ginny dragged me through the portrait hole and practically tossed me into Harry's waiting arms.

"She alright?" Harry's panicked voice asked as my eyes sank shut.

"I think the stress she's feeling over exams translated somehow," Ginny answered. "She's not hurt, I promise, just exhausted. She was running around like a maniac all night long, didn't even play with Grawp this time."

"Well, no offense, Lu, but that's rather dumb of you," Harry said, looping an arm under my knees and hoisting me up bridal style. "You've always been brilliant, and you've been working harder than you ever have lately. Sleep it off today. You'll wake up tomorrow and go get your first O, and the others will follow."

I groaned in protest, too tired to properly respond.

"Oh hush, you. I mean it. You're brilliant."

I would have tried to protest again, but sleep claimed me before I got the chance.

It was dark when I opened my eyes again. The dorm appeared to be empty, but something had woken me up.

I blinked, eyelids still immensely heavy. "Harry?"

"How did you know it was—" Harry's head suddenly appeared nearby. "I was just heading up to check on you before your roommates went to bed. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's alright," I replied. I dragged a hand down my face. "Merlin."

"How are you feeling?" he asked, lowering himself onto my bed.

I shrugged noncommittally. The thought of our first O.W.L. taking place in the morning made my stomach flip. The lingering fatigue made my head feel fuzzy. I was cold, too, but Harry being there was nice.

"Tomorrow's Charms, which is arguably your best subject. You have no reason to be worried about that exam, at the very least."

I shrugged again. "Anything is possible. My magic is temperamental, you know that better than anyone."

"You know what else I know better than anyone?"

"What else do you know better than anyone?"

"That you've found a way to overcome every other problem you've faced in life and you would find a way to do it again even if something incredibly unexpected happened. You're going to be alright, I know you will."

My face flamed. "If you say so."

Harry grinned. "I take it you're feeling alright if you're blushing again."

"Oh, shove off," I mumbled, swatting at him. "How are you feeling about it all?"

"I made the mistake of offering to quiz Hermione today," he replied. "She's been a proper live wire lately."

"Live wire?" I repeated.

"Oh, sorry, Muggle phrase. Er, well, with electricity, there are these wires... ah, remind me to explain it to you sometime when you're able to open your eyes more than halfway. I'm nervous, everyone is, but it'll all be over soon enough and we'll have the rest of the school year to have all the fun we can before summer."

"And then summer..." I couldn't stop myself from smiling. "Merlin, I don't remember the last time I was so excited for a summer."

Harry cocked his head. "What do you mean?"

"Oh Merlin, I forgot I never told you! Reckon I can now, though." I shot up to a sitting position. "D'you remember the day the Career Advice notices went up and I—"

"Ran off to our hill to try to hide from us all?"

I sighed. "I'm going to take that as a yes. Well, you know how the twins came to talk to me?"

"Yeah, they were oddly insistent about it once they realized why you'd run off. I never did ask you about what they said."

"I wouldn't have been able to tell you anyway," I said with a chuckle. "I was sworn to secrecy. I'm going to work for them over summer, at the joke shop."

Harry's eyes widened. "Really? That's wicked! I was just assuming you'd stay at the Burrow all summer, since — well, you know..."

I nodded. "I know. I was thinking something like that too, but the twins apparently had other plans. Merlin, they'll be the death of me."

"Well, after O.W.L.s, you can get back to your middle of the night shenanigans with Ginny, get a bit of practice for living with Fred and George Weasley for two months. I know they generally don't prank you, but something tells me that's about to change."

"Oh, I'm counting on it, and I'm counting on making it as even a fight as possible."

"You'll have to tell me all about it," he said with a grin. He reached out and felt my forehead. "Well, now that you're awake, you can put this on if you want." He grabbed one of his jumpers from the foot of my bed. "You were asleep before we even got up here this morning, so I left it here for whenever you woke up. You just, you know—"

"Slept the entire day," I finished as I tugged the jumper over my head then pulled my hair free. "Thanks, Harry, I don't know why your jumpers always feel warmer than mine."

"I'm just special, I guess," he said with a small smile.

I smiled back. "Well, of course you are."

He looked flustered for a moment, but he recovered swiftly and rose from the bed. "Well, I think I've bothered you enough for tonight. You'll need to rest up so you can go get a perfect score on the Charms O.W.L. tomorrow."

I snorted as I laid back down.

"Are you doubting me?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, just doubting myself."

He poked my forehead. "Don't do that."

"Night, Harry James," I called after him as he tossed the cloak over his head again and made his way toward the door.

"Night, Lucy Lu," he called back, amusement in his tone.

I rolled my eyes and buried my face in my pillow so he couldn't see how madly I was blushing. I liked the sound of that one.

It sounded almost like a nickname.

~

Monday, June 3 was the Charms O.W.L.

I hesitated before stepping into the Great Hall, trying to take a deep breath but failing. Harry snagged me by the elbow and pulled me off into the shadows for a moment.

"Good luck, not that you need it," he said with a smile.

"Same to you," I replied, grinning after a moment.

We moved through the familiar motions of our handshake — something we hadn't done since the last Dumbledore's Army meeting — and I headed off.

The written portion was incredibly easy. Charms had always been my favorite subject, and being able to demonstrate my love for it through my quill was somewhat rewarding. It was nice to start the exams on such a high note.

The practical portion of the exam took place in alphabetical order by last name, so I was called to the testing room with Kevin Entwhistle, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Seamus Finnigan. That went swimmingly as well, to my immense relief.

I fell asleep in one of Cedric's jumpers that night.

~

Tuesday, June 4 was the Transfiguration O.W.L.

Cedric carried me through the exam. His voice narrated every answer to the written portion, and I felt his hand guiding mine through the practical portion.

Hannah Abbott accidentally turned her ferret into a flock of flamingos at one point, and as I headed down to the Great Hall for dinner, I spotted her crying in a corridor by herself.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," I said, rushing forward and dropping to a knee in front of her. "You're alright, it's just one exam, and I'm sure you did well on the written portion."

"I let him down, Lucy," she sobbed.

"Who?"

"Cedric. He — He knew that Transfiguration was my worst subject and he would always ask me if I wanted help because he knew I'm shy and — and he — he helped me with — I let him down."

"No," I murmured, "no, no, no, you didn't let him down. He would be proud of how hard you've worked this year and how far you've come."

"You don't understand," Hannah choked out. "I want to be a healer. I need to get an O or an E in the Transfiguration N.E.W.T. but to be in the N.E.W.T. class, I need — I — I don't know if I got a high enough grade to take the N.E.W.T. class. He helped me so much, especially once I figured out I wanted to be a healer, and now I've let him down."

"You want to be a healer?" I repeated, head spinning a bit.

She nodded. "Wanted to be a healer. No chance of that happening now—"

"Hey, no, don't think that way. No need to defeat yourself before the game is even over, as Cedric always said." I reached forward and lowered her hands from her face. "You'll be alright, I promise."

"Hannah?" a soft voice behind me asked.

I whirled around to see Neville and Eloise approaching us. It was Neville who had spoken — Eloise was busy tugging a handkerchief free from her pocket and offering it to Hannah.

"We can take it from here, Lucy," Neville whispered. "We were worried something like this might happen, Hannah's been really... well, overwhelmed would be an understatement. Would you mind going to fetch Susan? The three of us had a plan."

"I — sure — I'm happy to help, though."

"Getting Susan will be helpful. You're always running around helping everyone however you can. We can take a turn, alright?"

"But I—"

"Lucy, you're pale and you don't even realize it," he said. "Go tell Susan what's going on and where we are, then take care of yourself before something happens to you too. I promise we can handle it."

"Alright," I relented, hurrying down to the Great Hall, head still spinning.

Hannah wanted to be a healer, the same way Cedric did. Cedric had helped her with Transfiguration, the same way he'd always helped me.

Maybe the world was a smaller place than I thought it was.

~

Wednesday, June 5 was the Herbology O.W.L.

Working in our family gardens had always been a release for me, and Herbology class had been the same way. I worked alongside Neville for the exam, our movements often identical as our green thumbs danced through the familiar routines.

As I left that exam, Neville fell into step alongside me.

"I felt really good about that," he said, beaming. "How about you, Lucy?"

I nodded. "Same here. How's Hannah feeling today?"

"Better than yesterday, still not quite back to herself. I reckon she'll feel more confident after the DADA exam tomorrow, since you and Harry prepared us all so well."

"I would love to see the look on Umbridge's face if all of the members of Dumbledore's Army passed and everyone else failed," I said with a huff. "That would be brilliant."

He laughed. "That would be grand."

A sudden thought occurred to me, something I hadn't considered before. "Say, Neville, I've got a Herbology question I don't know how to answer. Mind if I pick your brain a bit?"

"Go for it! If you don't know the answer, I doubt I do, but maybe we can figure it out together!"

"Well... I've just realized my mum's gardens have most likely been untended for the last several months," I said slowly, "her magical gardens. And, well, I was wondering if you knew what happened to magical gardens allowed to run amok like that."

His eyes widened. "Merlin, I have no idea, but I would love to find out. If you want, I could come visit you over summer and we could take a look together!"

"Sounds like a plan," I said with a smile.

~

Thursday, June 6 was the DADA O.W.L.

My quill never stopped moving during the written portion, and the practical portion went brilliantly.

The icing on the cake, however, was getting to see Harry's Patronus run a full lap around the Great Hall near the end of the exam period.

"He offered me an extra point if I did it," he explained later, "so I looked right at Umbridge, imagined her being sacked, and cast the spell. If I get anything less than 'Outstanding' in DADA, I'll be disappointed."

"That's the confidence I love to hear," I said with a smile.

~

Friday, June 7 was the Ancient Runes O.W.L.

Harry and Ron had the day off, meaning Hermione and I had to walk down to the classroom just the two of us. The silence was heavy and somewhat awkward, since we'd generally managed to avoid being alone together for the past several weeks, but seeing as Marietta's face was still scarred, I had nothing to say to Hermione.

I felt a grim satisfaction as I left the classroom, feeling incredibly confident — Ancient Runes meant quite a bit to me. They had been my primary contribution in our quest for the Philosopher's Stone, my father had never taken it because he was afraid it would be too difficult. I wouldn't know until summer holiday how well I'd done, but the fact that I had taken the exam and found it to be easy made me hold my head a little higher.

As Hermione and I walked back to the common room, still in silence, we could hear Umbridge shrieking. Without even glancing at each other, we both took off in the direction of the sound and discovered quite an interesting scene.

"It could have bitten my leg off!" she screeched. "It certainly tried! SOMEBODY HELP, SOMEBODY GET IT OUT OF HERE!"

I thought about going in and rescuing her — I was great with nifflers, after all, I could have told her its name and birthday if she wanted to know — but I knew how suspicious it would look if I just so happened to run in seconds after she started screaming. So, instead, I sprinted down the hallway before she could see me, Hermione on my heels.

We ran the rest of the way to the Gryffindor common room, where Harry and Ron were playing wizard's chess.

Ron stretched out on the ground, yawning. "How were the runes?"

"I mistranslated 'ehwaz!' It means 'partnership,' not 'defense,'" Hermione groaned. "I mixed it up with 'eihwaz.'"

"Ah well, that's only one mistake, isn't it? You'll still get—"

"Oh shut up, it could be the one mistake that makes the difference between a pass and a fail. And what's more, someone's put another niffler in Umbridge's office, I don't know how they got it through that new door, but we just walked past there and Umbridge is shrieking her head off — by the sound of it, it tried to take a chunk out of her leg."

"Good," the boys said in unison.

Hermione shook her head back and forth violently. "It is not good! She thinks it's Hagrid doing it, remember? And we do not want Hagrid chucked out!"

"He's teaching at the moment, she can't blame him," Harry said.

"Oh, you're so naïve sometimes, Harry! You really think Umbridge will wait for proof?!"

With that, she stormed off toward our dormitory.

I lowered myself to the ground and laid on my stomach with my elbows propping me up so I could watch the chess game.

"Such a lovely, sweet-tempered girl," Ron remarked.

I snorted and buried my head in my arms. "Tell me about it."

Harry patted my shoulder sympathetically. "Did you keep 'ehwaz' and 'eihwaz' straight?"

"Of course I did," I said.

"That's my girl," Harry replied.

I kept my face buried in my arms until the flush died away.

~

Saturday, June 8 was spent preparing for the Potions O.W.L. with Neville, and Sunday, June 9 was spent preparing for the History of Magic O.W.L. by myself. I did little else other than eating and sleeping, so it passed in the blink of an eye.

~

Monday, June 10 was the Potions O.W.L.

There was a noticeable shift in the air without Snape around. Even Neville seemed almost relaxed as we toiled away in the dungeons.

Merlin, I hated Severus Snape.

~

Tuesday, June 11 was the Care of Magical Creatures O.W.L.

I hadn't had so much fun in an exam since Professor Lupin's DADA obstacle course my third year. We first had to identify the one knarl in a crowd of hedgehogs, then properly handle a bowtruckle, then care for a fire crab without being burned, then detail the proper diet for a sick unicorn. I spotted the knarl immediately, though I did offer it milk just to make sure. The examiner happened to hand me Daffy, who I obviously handled well. So well, in fact, Daffy refused to go back to the examiner and instead decided to use my ponytail as her personal rope swing. The examiner laughed and told me I had made a friend as she went to retrieve another bowtruckle for the rest of the students. Daffy continued to keep me company as I fed and cleaned the fire crab, and she perched herself on my shoulder as I wrote out the unicorn diet recommendations.

"You ought to go now, my darling," I said apologetically after I handed my parchment to the examiner. "I'm finished now. You need to stay with your friends in the forest."

"I'll help you," the witch offered, gesturing for me to turn around. "She really enjoys your hair, it seems."

I laughed. "So it seems."

After a couple of sharp tugs, Daffy came free, bringing a small chunk of my ponytail along with her.

"Oh Merlin!" the examiner yelped. "Are you alright?"

"I'm alright, I'm alright," I said with a laugh. "Thank you for the help."

"You certainly have a knack for creatures," she commented.

I felt my face heat. "Thank you. I grew up reading Newt Scamander's every scrap of writing, so I'd hope I've retained at least parts of it."

She studied me for a moment, then her eyes widened. "You're Amos Diggory's daughter!"

"That I am," I said with a nod.

"I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Oh, you poor child. He was excellent at what he did, truly. Ran an internship program for the department, you know. Finding a replacement has been difficult."

I nodded again. "I can imagine."

"If you're ever interested, the Diggory name will get you a good position," she said. "I'm Gethsemane Prickle. It's been nice to meet you, Miss Diggory."

"Nice to meet you too," I said with a smile, turning away before she could see that smile crumble away to nothingness.

Harry had seen it, though. As I hurried away, he caught up with me and brushed the back of my hand with the back of his.

"You alright? What was that all about?"

I shook my head.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head again, crossing my arms over my chest. "Not today."

"Alright. Come and find me when you're ready though, alright?"

"Thanks, Harry."

"Of course."

~

Wednesday, June 12 was the Astronomy O.W.L.

It obviously couldn't happen until that night, so I had the whole day to myself while Hermione was in her Arithmancy exam and every other Gryffindor in our year was in Divination. I had planned to spend the day studying for History of Magic, contrary to Cedric's advice, but the weather was simply too nice out. I made my way to the Quidditch Pitch and remained there until the day's exams were over.

"You look like you've had a fun day," Harry commented when I entered the Great Hall, windswept and a bit sunburnt and glistening with sweat.

"More fun than yours, I'm assuming," I replied. "Who is going to meet a tragic demise tomorrow?"

"It might be me," Ron said, chuckling even as his face began to turn red. "I described in great detail the ugly man with a wart on his nose I was seeing in my crystal ball. Lucy, have you ever looked into a crystal ball? Do you have any idea who I was describing?"

My hands flew to my mouth, torn between amusement and horror. "You described your examiner, didn't you?"

He nodded, and Harry and I immediately began cracking up. Even Hermione's mouth twitched as she studied her notes.

The exam began a few hours later. We all assembled our own telescopes then filled out blank star charts. I finished mine in what I assumed was record time, but I was a bit embarrassed about being the first one done so I merely pressed my eye to my telescope and roamed over the grounds.

That's why I noticed the castle doors opening below. That's why I saw a group emerge, Umbridge at the front of it. That's why I followed the group all the way to Hagrid's hut. That's why I saw her rap on his door angrily.

My heart jumped to my throat.

Two dogs immediately began barking.

Tuck. Fang.

There was a furious outburst that didn't belong to either dog.

Hagrid.

"Try and concentrate, now, boys and girls," one of the examiners said.

Since I was done, I kept my eye pressed to my telescope.

Hagrid's door opened with a loud bang, and he emerged, swinging his fist at the group of people surrounding him and pelting him with jets of red light.

Hermione gasped. "No!"

"My dear, this is an examination!" the same examiner exclaimed, but nobody seemed to be heeding him. I was no longer the only person watching the chaos unfold.

Their attempts to Stun Hagrid were failing, thankfully, but he didn't appear to be winning the fight, either.

"Be reasonable, Hagrid!" someone in the group yelled.

Hagrid roared and swung his fist at the man who had spoken. "Reasonable be damned, yeh won' take me like this, Dawlish!"

At Hagrid's outburst, Fang and Tuck rushed out to his defense, howling and yipping and barking and attempting to bite anyone they could reach.

"Oh no!" I whispered as one of the Stunning Spells hit Fang.

Hagrid roared and launched the man ten feet through the air in retribution. Hermione gasped beside me, but I couldn't bring myself to look at her or anyone else. Tuck was still trying to defend Hagrid. He was smaller than Fang, so he was darting between the legs of anyone and everyone he could reach, nipping at their heels and ankles.

A sharp crack split the night, followed by a high-pitched whine that made my blood run cold. One of the wizards tripped and fell backwards, and a sob caught in my throat when I saw that it was Tuck that had tripped him. With a flick of the wizard's wand, Tuck sailed through the air and landed hard in the grass. He howled piercingly, his pain apparent even from how far away I was.

I whirled around, tears in my eyes, and handed my paper to the nearest examiner.

"Please, sir, that's my dog that was just attacked down there, the small one, I've finished my exam, can I please go make sure he's okay?"

I said this all in one breath, a couple of tears escaping down my cheeks.

He blinked, then checked his watch. "Er, I—"

"Look!" Parvati shouted suddenly.

"Now, really! Only sixteen minutes left, you know!" the other examiner said, but he too was ignored.

I rushed to the railing and squeezed myself between Harry and Ron.

Professor McGonagall had arrived, and she was hurtling toward Hagrid's hut. "How dare you! How dare you! Leave him alone! Alone, I say! On what grounds are you attacking him? He has done nothing, nothing to warrant such—"

Before she could finish her sentence, four Stunning Spells struck her. She soared through the air, motionless as soon as she hit the ground.

"Galloping gargoyles! Not so much as a warning! Outrageous behavior!" the first examiner exclaimed. I turned around and rushed over to him, but before I could get a word out, he was shoving me toward the door. "Go, go, it's alright, go fetch the Matron on your way!"

I raced through the corridors all the way to the Hospital Wing, opening the door with a loud bang.

Madam Pomfrey appeared instantly. "Lucy? What's—"

"Professor McGonagall, outside, Hagrid's hut!" I cried, panting. "Hurry!"

I started running again, as fast as my legs could carry me. When I reached the scene, Hagrid was still fighting, fists swinging, Fang's unconscious form draped across his shoulders.

Hagrid looked up as I approached, and his eyes met mine.

I mouthed one word. "Run."

And he did. He sprinted away with surprising speed. Those who were still standing sent more Stunning Spells his direction, but none hit. Nobody noticed me as I raced over to Tuck, who was still whimpering weakly.

"I'm so sorry," I said hoarsely. "I'm so sorry, buddy, I'm here, I'm here, we need to move, though."

I scooped him up and cradled him to my chest, ducking out of view of Umbridge and the others.

Whispered magic poured from my lips as I carried him to the middle of Hagrid's garden, enlarging the pumpkins to hide us as I went, sending what healing I could into his little body, wiping out my footprints behind me, putting up silencing charms to protect us.

"You'll be alright," I choked out as I lowered him into the dirt, "I promise."

When I had first found Tuck, he had been similarly bloodied because of the way he'd been pressing himself up against the dead body of his mother. The sight of blood had sickened me at the time, but so many years later, I found that my head was clear as I examined his broken leg and whispered the spell to fix it. My hands were still as I used a steady stream of water from my wand to clean his open wounds before sealing the skin. We were in our own little world, the two of us together in that pumpkin patch. The last two Diggorys, adopted though we both were. Slowly, his whimpers faded to silence, and his big brown eyes glinted up at me with no small amount of gratitude once the last of his wounds had been healed.

"I know it stills hurts a bit, buddy, I'm sorry," I whispered, planting kisses on his head as I stroked his ears. "Time will heal it all, though. You'll be alright, I promise. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you."

I remained there a while longer with him, offering what comfort I could as I tried to slow my own racing heart.

What will we do without Professor McGonagall? Without Hagrid?

Once I figured enough time had passed to allow everyone to return to the castle, I gathered Tuck into my chest, wrapping my outermost robe around him to keep him warm, and made my way up to the common room.

Nearly everyone in Gryffindor was still awake, and everyone's eyes found me when I walked in.

"How is he?" Harry asked anxiously, gesturing for me to sit next to him on the couch.

"He'll be alright," I said as I obliged. I didn't want to let go of Tuck, though, and kept him cradled against me. Parvati and Lavender and Ginny and Ron and Hermione hurried over to see for themselves, a couple hands reaching out to stroke his head. "Any word on McGonagall?"

Colin Creevey shook his head. "They carried her back up to the castle, we watched through the dormitory window. She didn't look very well."

"Madam Pomfrey will sort her out, she's never failed yet," Alicia piped up. "If she could regrow Harry's arm and bring back Lucy's vision and restore everyone who was petrified and Merlin knows what else, she can sort this too."

I tried to take a deep breath, but I couldn't. It caught in my throat in the form of a sob, which I forced away with a hard swallow.

"I'm going to go make sure Tuck has a comfortable place to sleep for the night," I said softly, holding him tighter against me as I rose to my feet. "Good night."

I felt everyone's stares on me as I made my way to the dormitory, but I didn't let a single tear fall. I immediately laid Tuck on my bed and started duplicating everything I could.

"Geminio." Another pillow.

"Geminio." Another blanket.

"Geminio. Reducio." Another mattress, just perfectly his size.

The door creaked open, and my three roommates entered.

"Is he alright? Really?" Lavender asked.

I nodded. "Nothing I couldn't heal. You don't mind if he stays up here for now, do you?"

"No, no, of course not," Parvati said.

Hermione was silent, looking at me for a long moment. She glanced away and pointed her wand at her own bed.

"Geminio." Her blanket, too, was duplicated, and she summoned it into her hand and knelt down to add it to the pile I was arranging on the mattress.

"Thanks," I whispered, a surge of emotions threatening to overwhelm me yet again.

She nodded, not offering a verbal reply, but the small gesture was enough for that night.

The door creaked open again as soon as I'd managed to get Tuck situated on his own makeshift bed, revealing Harry and Ron and Neville and Ginny.

"They wanted to see you before going to bed," Ginny explained. "How's Tuck?"

"He'll be alright, really. I think I'm more rattled than he is."

"He's got a great owner," Harry said. He crossed the room and knelt down beside me, resting one hand on my shoulder and the other on Tuck's head. "He knew you'd come for him. He'll be okay."

Tears burned my throat, making it impossible to speak. I sent one more healing charm in Tuck's direction before my wand clattered to the floor and the emotions crashed over me. I buried my face in my hands as my chest caved in with silent sobs, and it was there that we remained in a silent vigil until Tuck finally fell asleep.

"Well," I said softly, still choking on my tears. "One more O.W.L., then we're done."

"Then we're done," Harry repeated, rubbing his thumb against my shoulder. "One more O.W.L. That's all."

~

A/N: I'm sorry. For the ending of the chapter, for how long it's been since I've updated, all of that. That being said, thank you for being patient with me, and I hope you've all been doing well lately! See you soon (I hope) with Chapter 183! Buckle up, folks!