LUCY:

"What is it, Hermione?"

"I have a question for you, but I don't want anyone else to hear it."

"Oh. Alright." My mind raced as I wondered what could possibly be this important. We had nearly reached the courtyard when I heard a muffled "Depulso!" followed by a thud. I wrenched my arm free from Hermione's grip and drew my wand, rushing toward the source of the sound without a second thought.

"Lucy, wait!" she squawked indignantly from behind me, but I rounded the bend just in time to see Archie lifting himself onto an elbow. When he heard my footsteps, he turned around and shot me a wry grin.

"Hey, Diggory. You just missed the show."

"Are you alright?" I asked, kneeling next to him.

"Yeah, nothing new," he said, grimacing as he rubbed his shoulder. "Just landed awkwardly that time."

"Nothing new? That time? Hold still, I'll fix it while you explain."

"Draco knows I can beat him in a duel now, so he's been sending older kids after me every time I say something he doesn't like."

"So pretty often," I deduced. I pointed my wand at his shoulder. "Episkey!"

"Thanks, that helps. I'm sick of going to the Hospital Wing for everything. Fortunately, this time I didn't end up with a sea urchin growing on my hand."

"How did you end up in a house with all of those bullies?"

"They're not all bad," he said as he rose to his feet. "Just most of them."

"Sounds like you've made a friend."

He smiled, somewhat dreamily. "Something like that."

"Happy to hear it. What's she like?"

"How'd you know she's a she?"

'The look on your face."

"Her name's Cam, er, well, Cameron. Cameron Rivera. Nobody in our house really likes her either. Her mom works in the Muggle Liasion Office at the Ministry and her dad's an Auror who's busted some of the kids' parents and sent them to Azkaban."

"You sound like quite the team," I remarked wryly.

He nodded. "We got... well, adopted, for lack of a better word, by a group of Hufflepuffs. They let us hang out in their common room when things are too hostile in the dungeons. Your brother's really hard to beat at chess, by the way. He's sharp as a Knarl quill."

"Yeah, he is. I'm glad you've found a sanctuary of sorts. You know you can always come find me too, right?"

"I could, but something tells me your brethren in red wouldn't exactly want two green-clad folks in their common room."

"Well, at least with me, you're always welcome."

"Thanks, Diggory, and thanks for the help. I should probably go find Cam before I get attacked again."

"Not a problem. See you in Potions in... well, a few minutes."

He laughed as he walked away. I walked back to Hermione, who had taken in the whole interaction from a distance with her eyes wide.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Nothing," she said after a moment, shaking her head.

"Surprised to meet a nice Slytherin?"

"I guess. Has he really been being attacked by his own house?"

I nodded. "One of the very first times we talked, he told me he wanted to dismantle the system of blood purity relating to superiority. It doesn't make him very popular, and it sounds like Cam isn't terribly popular either."

Hermione bit her lip, clearly deep in thought.

"What did you want to ask me?"

She blinked and looked back at me. "What? Oh! Let's go outside."

Just as soon as we set foot on the grass, however, the bell rang for Potions. I was secretly relieved at first, but as Potions progressed, anxiety began to gnaw a hole in my stomach. What was she going to ask me?

I decided that double Potions after a transformation was a unique form of torture. I was always cold after a transformation, but in the dungeons, I was absolutely freezing. On top of that, I was half-asleep, and therefore especially clumsy.

"Are you alright, Lucy?" Neville asked after I had nearly dropped my stirrer into my potion a third time in ten minutes. After I had been such a great help to him in Charms, we became partners in Potions and Transfiguration as well. He was incredibly grateful for my help --- and my tendency to fix his mistakes before he even realized he had made them --- but I was completely dead on my feet. Healing Archie's shoulder had drained the last fragment of energy I possessed, and being in the dark dungeons listening to Professor Snape's monotone drawl nearly lulled me all the way to sleep.

"Yeah, I'm alright, Neville," I assured him. "Just a little tired. Oh, and turn it clockwise."

"Thanks," he said, immediately switching directions. "Well, if you're tired, maybe you should go take a kip after lunch. It might help."

I smiled. "That's a good idea. Thank you. I think I'll do that."

I glanced up to see Hermione's eyes boring into mine. She raised her eyebrows slightly, asking a silent question I couldn't answer. I looked away quickly, pretending to reread the directions even though I knew my potion was almost done. As soon as class ended, Hermione grabbed my wrist.

"We need to talk."

I winced, because she had grabbed the wrist with the still-healing sprain. I had fallen down the stairs and landed awkwardly, but I had managed to avoid using it in class. But she didn't see the look on my face because she was already pulling me out of the classroom and toward the courtyard.

"Wait, Hermione, please," I choked out. She stopped when she heard the tone of my voice and whirled around, pulling us out of the way of the stampeding Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs pouring out of the History of Magic classroom. I could tell she was impatient, but she was really trying to not be upset. "What do you need to talk to me about?" I was near tears, both from the pain and from the sheer exhaustion I felt. I hugged my wrist to my chest. "I couldn't sleep last night and I'm really, really tired, so can it wait?"

She shook her head. "It can't. It's waited long enough, it's taken me too long. But let's go up to the dormitory instead. You look awful. And what happened to your wrist?"

"Nothing," I lied, following her through the crowded corridors all the way to the common room. We eventually made our way to the dormitory, and I gingerly settled myself on the bed. We were the only ones there, and Hermione had barely shut the door before the question she had been dying to ask left her mouth.

"Lucy, are you a werewolf?"

I froze in disbelief, my throat completely dry. "W-What?" I managed to stammer.

Hermione sat on her bed so she was facing me. "You're a werewolf, aren't you?"

I couldn't formulate a response. What did I say to that? What could I say?

When I made no reply, a torrent of rapid words poured from her mouth. "It's been bothering me for weeks now, I knew you had to be keeping a secret based on the way you got all red in the face when Hagrid slipped and told us about Nicolas Flamel. The story about meeting your parents in Hogsmeade never sat right with me, and last night, I stayed in the common room after Harry and Ron went to bed and I noticed that there was a full moon. I ran up here and dug through my Astronomy notes until I came to the day you missed, and that was a full moon too. Then I got out our Care of Magical Creatures textbook and read the werewolf section, and it all started to make sense. All of the symptoms lined up. Lucy... I know you're a werewolf."

I couldn't hold her gaze any longer. I dropped my eyes. "I'm sorry," I whispered.

"Sorry? Why would you be sorry?"

No words came, only tears. When the first fell onto my lap, Hermione came to sit next to me on my bed, putting an arm around my shoulders. I winced away.

"Sorry," I whispered, my voice tight. "It hurts being touched in general, but especially after a transformation."

"Don't apologize, I'm sorry for not thinking of that."

"Are you not afraid of me?" I asked after a moment, hazarding a shy glance at her.

"Lucy, no, of course not. Why would I be?"

"M-My own brother is," I sobbed. "That's why I was so upset yesterday. When I went to visit him, he told me it was okay and that it wasn't my fault, but Madam Pomfrey said it was time to go before I could say anything else so I had to leave him there without being able to say anything and... and..." I took a shaky breath in an attempt to steady myself. "Hermione, you don't understand. You're new to this whole world. I'm a monster. Nobody was ever supposed to find out. Not even Percy knows. Werewolves are hated by everyone. We can't get jobs. We aren't trusted. It's only because of Professor Dumbledore that I'm at Hogwarts in the first place, because everybody else seems to think I shouldn't be-"

"I'm glad you're here. You're my best friend. I'm not afraid of you."

"You should be," I whispered.

"I'm not. I never will be."

"Are you sure? Do you promise?"

"I am. I do."

I sniffled and rested my head against her shoulder, letting more tears fall soundlessly. She lightly ran her fingers across my back, shoulder blade to shoulder blade. "Does that hurt you?"

"No," I replied. "Thank you for checking. I... I don't usually like being touched in general, transformation or otherwise, but... but that feels nice."

She sat patiently with me in silence, waiting for my tears to dry. When they did, I sat up and looked her in the eyes.

"Hermione, please promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Nobody else can know. Like I said, if anybody else knows, I... I could be sent home. Nobody wants their child going to school with a werewolf."

Her face hardened in determination. "I promise that your secret is safe with me, as long as it's mine to keep."

"Thank you," I said, sighing shakily. I rubbed at my eyes with my hands. "I... I'm glad I don't have to try to keep that secret from your anymore, Hermione. It was hard lying to you. You're a good detective."

She smiled proudly. "I try to be. How about you try to get some rest? You need it."

I nodded, stifling a yawn.

"If the others ask, I'll tell them that you were awake worrying about Cedric all night so you're taking a kip. I'll come get you for dinner, if you're not already up by then."

"Thank you," I said, rising slowly from the bed and reaching for a nightgown. "You're the best, you really are."

She reached for a hug, but pulled her hands back shyly. "Sorry. Almost forgot."

"It's okay," I replied, managing a small smile. "Maybe tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow sounds good."

"Tomorrow" dawned cold and cloudy. A beautiful day for a Quidditch match.

Sure, Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw wasn't as strong a rivalry as Gryffindor-Slytherin, but the tension in the Great Hall before the match was still palpable. I made my way over to Cedric before sitting down at the Gryffindor table and rested my chin on his shoulder.

"Ready to win today, brother dearest?" I asked in my best Percy impression. "I do hope you know that your number one fan will be watching from the highest place in the stands cheering for you the entire match alongside you second and third biggest fans."

"Oh, Henry will be watching the match?" he teased. "I thought he was playing in it."

"Oh, shut up," I replied, swatting him on the back of the head and sitting next to him.

Cedric grinned. "Alright, alright. If you're my third biggest fan-" I glared at him. "Second biggest?" I stuck my tongue out. "Biggest fan. Who are the other two?"

"Archie and Cam asked me after dinner last night if I wanted to watch with them. I've heard Hufflepuff has all but adopted them, and they speak very highly of you."

"They're fun to have around," he agreed, "though Cam is nearly as clumsy as Nymphadora Tonks and Archie gets a tad heated when I beat him at wizard's chess."

"Is Tonks the one who let a bouncing bulb loose in the kitchens and nearly burned it down in the process after the bulb caught fire and kept bouncing?"

He laughed. "I forgot that I told you about that! Yes, that was Tonks. Cam reminds me of her. She spilled ink all over someone's cat a couple of days ago, and it took four of us an hour to make the cat white again. And even then," he added in a whisper, "it's still closer to grey than white, but don't tell Cam. She felt horrible enough as it was."

I smiled. "My lips are sealed. Anyway, good luck, Cedric, not that you'll need it. I'll see you after you win!"

"I wish I had your confidence," he chuckled. "Against Leo Wilde, I'll need all the luck in the world to beat him to the Snitch."

I quivered with excitement as the teams took to the skies an hour later. A small group of us first-years had managed to secure one of the highest sets of seats. I was the only Gryffindor of the group; in addition to Archie and Cam, there were the Hufflepuffs Hannah Abbott, Susan Bones, Ernie Macmillan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, and Allie Longshore. As a Diggory, I was immediately accepted into their group, and I found myself wedged between Archie and Susan.

"I don't really understand the appeal of Quidditch, personally," Archie remarked, "but I figured I might as well support my mates in yellow."

"You'll come around eventually. Quidditch is the best!" I declared, joining the joyous shouts as Hufflepuff scored the first ten points of the game. Lee Jordan's commentary was far less biased since Gryffindor wasn't playing, but it was still colorful enough to make the stadium chuckle at his witty remarks.

Ravenclaw's strategy proved to be similar to Slytherin's: they remained tightly packed wherever they went to try to intimidate whichever Hufflepuff Chaser had the ball. Unlike Gryffindor, however, the Hufflepuff team seemed quite rattled by their aggression. One of the Chasers attempted another goal, but it fell a meter short of the goal hoop and was immediately intercepted by a Ravenclaw Chaser. She fired the Quaffle to another Chaser in blue and swooped beneath everyone to open herself up for receiving the Quaffle on the other end of the field. The Hufflepuffs pursued valiantly, but they weren't fast enough to stop Ravenclaw from scoring their first ten points of the match.

I groaned along with everyone around me and directed my attention to Cedric, circling above the game, scanning diligently for any sign of the Snitch. Unlike Harry, he didn't make eye contact with me, but I smiled at him regardless, as if some sort of magical sibling bond would let him know I was proud of him.

After dinner the night prior, he had pulled me aside and assured me in his softest voice that he was truly alright and that the boggart incident wasn't what it seemed.

"I didn't get the chance to finish explaining yesterday before you had to go," he had said. "Hermione told me about the conversation you two had today, and Lucy, you are not my boggart. What scares me most is what I know you can do to yourself during a transformation, not what you can do to me."

I instinctively cradled my wrist. Cedric's ever-observant eyes didn't miss it. He gently reached forward and held it in his hand. "Like this. It hurts me to know you're in so much pain once a month, Lu. Its not your fault," he added quickly, noting the sorrow that had undoubtedly crossed my face, "but I wanted you to know that I'm not afraid of you, just the way Hermione isn't afraid of you. Alright?"

"Alright," I managed before jumping into his arms. He hugged me back tightly. "Are you sure you're feeling better, Cedric? Really, really sure?"

"Positive. I love you, Lucy."

"I love you too, Ced."

"Why don't they just release the Snitch at the beginning of the game and let the Seekers duke it out to the death?" Archie asked, snapping me from my daze. "That would be far more entertaining. And then you'd only need two players."

"That's a dumb question, Archie," Cam laughed. "What would be the point of Quidditch?"

"Exactly! It wouldn't be Quidditch, but it would sure be fun to watch, especially if they were allowed go use spells. Imagine, just two Seekers and one Snitch --- oh, good Godric, Ravenclaw scored again? --- and two wands. It would be brilliant!"

"That's just a duel on brooms at that point," Ernie retorted.

"Besides, why change Quidditch?" I added. "It's the best sport in the- HEY! THAT WAS A FOUL! THAT'S COBBING!"

It appeared that the yellow-clad students in the stadium agreed with me as I was joined by other shouts of indignance, which were eventually quelled by Hufflepuff scoring a penalty shot.

Tied 20-20, the game revved back to life.

30-20, Hufflepuff.

40-20, Hufflepuff.

40-30, Hufflepuff.

40-40.

40-50, Ravenclaw.

50-50.

50-60, Ravenclaw.

The scores climbed higher and higher, remaining neck-and-neck the whole way. Before I knew it, the game was tied 90-90 with no Snitch in sight.

The stands were growing restless. The amount of offense was fun, of course, but the crowd was anxious for the Snitch.

The Ravenclaw Seeker shared the crowd's agitation and began doing loop-de-loops above the game to keep himself entertained. But the always-patient Cedric didn't let his eyes stray from the game, so it was no surprise when he suddenly dove down to the ground, hand extended. Leo Wilde was hot on his tail, but Cedric was faster.

Half a second before he could close his fingers around it, though, a Bludger shot between him and Wilde and nearly knocked both of them from their brooms. I gasped in horror, but Cedric seemed unharmed. The Snitch had disappeared in the fray, it appeared, so Wilde took to the skies again. Cedric remained low, scanning all around him for the Snitch. He swerved out of the way of another Bludger, and in doing so, caught a glimpse of the Snitch again. This time, he shot straight upward, Bludger on his tail. He was faster than both the Bludger and Wilde, and the Snitch was his.

"CEDRIC DIGGORY ENDS THE MATCH FOR HUFFLEPUFF BY CATCHING THE SNITCH!" Lee Jordan howled into the microphone. "FINAL SCORE, HUFFLEPUFF 240, RAVENCLAW 90. HUFFLEPUFF WINS! HUFFLEPUFF WINS!"

I exchanged excited high-fives with everyone I could. Even the unimpressed Archie seemed excited by the Hufflepuff victory, sporting the brightest smile I had ever seen. The stands slowly began to empty, but instead of following the others to the Hufflepuff common room, I parked myself outside of the changing tent so I could pounce the second Cedric left. When he emerged, sweaty and grinning, I launched myself at him.

"You did it!" I squealed. "I knew you could, I knew you could, I knew you could!"

"You did indeed, Lu," he chuckled, spinning me in a circle. "Thank you for believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself."

"Duh, of course I would," I replied. "You've done it for me my whole life. I'm just happy to return the favor."

"Do you want to come to the party? I'm sure nobody would mind. Archie and Cam will probably be there."

"I should head to the library to study," I replied, "but go enjoy your party! I'm so proud of you!"

We went our separate ways. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were excited to hear my news, but I'll admit I was disappointed that they had made no headway on Nicolas Flamel. After an hour of fruitless searching, we gave up and headed to the common room. It was a Saturday, after all, and while Ron had warmed to the idea of spending time in the library even on weekends, he very eagerly accepted my offer when I challenged him to wizard's chess. I might have even won, too, if the twins hadn't finally made good on their promise to introduce me to their best friend, Mr. Dungbomb.

The second it landed in the middle of the board in its disgusting glory, causing all of the pieces to flee from the board in disgust, I whipped my wand out and whirled around. The twins were laughing so hard they never saw my spells coming.

"Rictumsempra! Rictumsempra!"

Before they knew what hit them, they were doubled over on the ground, shrieking with laughter. I stood in between them, hands on my hips.

"I was finally going to beat your brother!" I yelled in mock outrage. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side!"

Fred lifted his wand and attempted to cast a tickling charm of his own on me, but he was laughing too hard to form the word properly and the blast of pink died on the tip of his wand.

"You're going to have to try harder than that," I retorted. In response, George grabbed me around the legs and pulled me down to the ground right beside them.

"Undo it!" he panted.

"Take it back!" Fred screeched between bouts of laughter.

"If I must," I relented, sighing dramatically. "Finite incantantem, finite incantantem."

They propped themselves up on their elbows, coughing and chuckling and panting.

"Fair's fair," George puffed. "Well played, Cub."

"Our offer still stands, you know," Fred said with a wink. "With a tickling charm like that-"

"Learn the art of subtlety, then I'll consider," I replied. "Honestly, throwing a Dungbomb in the middle of a chess game and not even trying to run? It's like you want to get caught."

"We've got a reputation to uphold, you see." Fred wiggled his eyebrows. "We intend to make history as the greatest mischief makers in Hogwarts history."

"Can't earn that title anonymously, Cub," George added. "If you want to share in the glory, you can't be afraid to show your face."

"You make a fair point," I said with a shrug. "In the meantime, the only glory I want is finally beating Ron at chess."

"Good luck with that," Ron teased, offering me a hand up. "Rematch? Without, er, unpleasant interruptions?"

I accepted the help to my feet and smirked. "Only if you're ready to lose."

I wish my confidence in myself in chess paid off as well as my confidence in Cedric in Quidditch. I lost the first game within five minutes.