"A/N: @kalimagik wrote this chapter with the help and fantastic support of stufferknee  [@firewhisky-kisses] dandelionandburdock [@iliveiloveiwrite] @obsessedwithrandomthings and @heloisedaphnebrightmore (me)! This has been such an amazing experience and so much fun! This chapter has some teasing, drinking, angst, and LOTS OF FEELINGS! I hope you all enjoy." - Tumblr 

Warnings: Drinking, intoxication 

McGonagall obviously wanted to push the girls to their maximum abilities during their weeks at Hogwarts. She had the professors teaching the girls as much as possible during their crash course, especially since the Ministry had sent no word about potentially returning the five girls to their own world. However, the crash course was coming to an end and McGonagall decided that exams would be similar to the O.W.L.s for the fifth years. Fortunately, the girls all read the books, so they knew how rigorous the exams were and how much they would need to study.

Having so many Hogwarts graduates around actually came in handy for Ana. Ginny would let her practice spells on her and give her tips for her casting. Harry turned out to be a huge help with Defense Against the Dark Arts, even though it was one of her best subjects. Fred and George were more of distractions than helpers, but it gave her a good break. Ron would also stay up late with her and go through the hundreds of flashcards she had made. At one point, Fred even commented that she should have been in Ravenclaw, but she just brushed him off.

When she wasn't studying at the Weasleys house, all of the girls held themselves in the library. Ellie and Ana did their best to keep everyone on topic all the time, but various discussions often made their way to the table.

"Which plant can be used to heal most wounds?" Ellie asked, reading from a notecard.

"That's easy," Kiara waved her hand, leaning on her other one. "Dittany. Give me something a little harder."

"You only know the herbology questions because you get special attention from Professor Longbottom," Des rolled her eyes, trying to focus on the potions book in front of her.

Ana giggled before speaking. "Des, that's just an easy one in general. I think we've all written about its effects in our fics at one point or another. Ask me one, El."

"Alright, how about this DADA one. Impedimenta is an example of what kind of spell?"

"A jinx!" Ana beamed, "Ginny let me try that one out on her. She is the queen of jinxes and hexes after all!"

"Oh common!" Mel snorted. "You're only so good at this because you have a whole house full of people fighting for your attention to help you study."

"I'm surprised you can even focus in that house," Kiara wiggled her eyebrows, teasing Ana as the girl's face turned as red as the Weasleys' hair.

"She did tell me that Charlie was visiting the other day," Ellie grinned, actually joining in on the distracting conversation. "Something about him forgetting she was there and walking around shirtless?"

"Stuff it, you guys," Ana blushed, looking back down at her note cards.

"Yeah you guys, we know that she only has eyes for RONNNN," Kiara sang. "Has he made any moves yet, babes? Or is he being a slowpoke like he was with Hermione? Did they ever actually date or was that just for the book?"

Ana shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure. No one has really mentioned Hermione in the house. Now that I think about it, we haven't even met her yet. Have any of you?"

All the other girls nodded their heads. "I'm rather surprised," Ellie spoke up. "I was kind of hoping to meet her."

"I'm sure we will eventually," Des waved off the oddness of the subject, even though Hermione had been such a large part of the original story.

——-

More days passed and soon the girls were staying in the library late into the evening. Sometimes even Blaise or Neville would join them. Even though the two Professors were staying lowkey with Ellie and Kiara, the three other girls knew exactly what was going on there.

Blaise gave Ellie a LOT of one on one time and focused most of his attention on her, helping the other girls when they asked. Neville was still playing hard to get, not wanting to break Headmistress McGonagall's rules. Kiara, however, had different ideas. She was still just as forward with him as she had been and as exams grew closer, everyone could tell that she was wearing him down.

The night before exams was the worst. Ana was definitely prepared for an all-nighter. The girls said goodbye to each other at Hogwarts around 11:30, well after the normal curfew time, but Ana didn't feel like she was as ready as she should be. Luckily, everyone in the Weasley household were quite the night owls.

"Let's try it one more time, Ana," Harry instructed, watching Ana and Ginny practice. "If I could teach this to Neville during fifth year, I'm sure I can teach it to you now. It's just the stunning spell."

Ana contorted her face, thinking back to the fifth year she had read about, "OH! You mean during Dumbledore's Army. Alright, I think I got it." Before Harry could ask how she knew about the DA, Ana had already taken her stance, pointing her wand at Ginny. "Stupefy!"

A bright flash emerged from Ana's maple wand. Ginny went flying before she could throw up a protection shield. "Brilliant, Ana!" Ginny cheered as she stood up off the ground." I think you have defense against the dark arts down!"

"Excellent, maybe we could do potions now?"

"I think Fred and George would be your best bet for that, but they're at the shop tonight," Ginny apologized. "I really wasn't that great at the subject and neither was Harry."

"I could help you study," Ron spoke up from the entryway that connected the kitchen and living room. "I may not be fantastic at it, but I picked up a thing or two about studying over the years." Ana knew he was referring to studying with Hermione, but chose not to say anything.

Not having to do a practical for potions was nice, but memorizing ingredients without actually using them was more difficult than it seemed. Ana and Ron set up camp at the kitchen table. When 2 am rolled around, Harry and Ginny finally went to bed, leaving the two by themselves.

Even though she was beginning to feel tired, Ana wasn't ready for bed just yet.

"What is a possible side effect of Pepperup Potion?" Ron asked for probably the third time in the past hour.

"Why can't I ever get this one?" Ana whined, burying her face in her hands.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," Ron consoled her. In efforts to do so, he pulled one of her hands away from her face, taking it in his own. He sympathetically rubbed his thumb in circles on her hand while speaking to her. "You've got a lot of information going on in that brain of yours. It's okay to forget some things."

Ana looked into his blue eyes, happy that he was there with her and she wasn't studying by herself. Then she remembered that she didn't actually know his relationship status and pulled her hand away from his, even though she didn't want to. She swallowed loud enough that Ron turned towards her again.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I know you are just here to learn the basics, not to get caught up in anything."

"Well no, it's not that," Ana shook her head. "You've been really great, Ron, but I don't know, umm, I don't know how to say this...What about Hermione?" She spit it out. She was too curious not to. Normally, she would have held her tongue, but she couldn't tonight. Maybe it was the fact that it was after 2 AM or maybe it was the amount of time she had been spending with Ron. Whatever it was, she just had to know.

"H-How do you know about her?" Ron looked taken aback. He leaned back in his chair, putting more space between him and Ana. "Are you a seer or something?"

Ana chuckled at his theory. That could be one way to explain everything she and her friends knew. Ana would have to keep that in the back of her mind. "That's a long story, but no. I just heard about her at school a little bit, that's all."

Ron sighed, playing with the flashcards in his hands. "I figured someone would tell you about her. We were together, but her career pulled us in different directions. Somewhere over the last few years, we just fell out of love. We grew apart. She still comes around for Ginny and Harry, but there hasn't been anything between us for the last year or so."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Ana may have apologized, but she felt her heart swell in her chest. Maybe she had a chance at a great love with the redhead that she had only read about y/n having in fanfiction pieces.

"It's no big deal, I'm moving on." Ron's eyes met Ana's piercing green ones. The smile on his face said all she needed to know. "You've got exams tomorrow," Ron changed the subject. "Let's go over these one more time and then get you to bed?" Ana nodded in agreement, taking in as much information as she could next to the fantasies that were playing in her head with the boy sitting beside her.

——-

Exam week was just as strenuous as they all imagined. Honestly, it was worse than exam week at muggle university. Des repeated multiple times that her brain might explode from the amount of information that they had all crammed in their brains. Mel had to get some pepperup potion from Madame Pomphrey after Draco, being a healer and all, told her that she couldn't keep up the studying schedule she had been. He seemed to notice a lot of things about her.

Finally, Friday came around. After six exams in five days, Ana didn't think she could take anymore. They only had History of Magic that morning and would find out after lunch what their marks were, based on the O.W.L. grading scale.

"Mel, what did you get for the last question on that exam?" Kiara asked, serving some potatoes and chicken onto her plate.

"That was the Gringotts question?" Kiara nodded. "I think it was 1474!"

"Damnit! I wrote 1476. Maybe Binns will take it?" Kiara shrugged, forgetting about the test altogether when Neville walked into the Great Hall, papers in hand.

"Are those our exams?" Ellie asked excitedly.

"I have all 5 right here," Neville grinned, holding the papers up.

"Brilliant!" Ellie took her paper first, Neville handing out the rest until Kiara got hers.

"So, Professor Longbottom, I guess this means you won't be my professor anymore, huh?" Kiara winked, pulling Neville to sit next to her and not even looking at her report card yet.

"How'd everyone do?" Des asked, looking up from her grades. "My best was Defense, but I passed everything else, so no retaking."

"Dang, defense against the dark arts was my worst one. It looks like I barely passed. It was the stupid practical!" Ellie complained.

Mel leaned over the girl's shoulder, peeking at her grades. "You got 3 outstandings and 2 exceeds expectations! That's amazing, El!"

"True, how'd you do?"

"O in history of magic, obviously," Mel chuckled. "Then 3 E's and 2 A's. I'm happy about it."

Ana was still looking at her report card, the excitement bubbling up in her, but she had someone she wanted to tell. "Ki, what about you?" she asked before someone could ask her about her grades.

"O in defense against the dark arts, an E in potions, and then the rest A's. WAIT! I got an A in herbology? What is this, Neville?" Kiara's gaze turned to Neville, who shot his hands up defensively.

"I didn't grade the exams," he explained.

The other four girls just began laughing. "I bet if you were as interested in the subject as the professor, you would have done better," Ellie teased her, earning a playful slap on the hand from Kiara across the table.

"Mrs. Weasley said we could all go back to the Burrow to celebrate if you guys want to," Ana offered. "Neville, Blaise, and Draco can come too, I'm sure," she added, looking down at their now former herbology professor.

"That would be great!" Mel exclaimed, everyone else nodding in agreement.

"She also said that her and Mr. Weasley were going to visit Bill and Fleur, so we'll have the house. Ginny, Ron, and Harry are getting drinks after work!"

"It sounds brilliant!" Des beamed. "We can teach them some drinking games from our world!"

"Ooooo, getting Neville drunk again, huh?" Kiara spoke out loud with a devilish grin.

"If you'd like!" Ana laughed. "We can all take the floo network over whenever we're ready!"

——-

Still not used to the smoke and soot, Ana coughed as she stepped out of the fireplace, the last one to arrive from Hogwarts. Everyone was gathered in the living room and the group was larger than Ana expected, but with the number of people that already lived in the house, adding 7 more didn't seem like that many at the time.

Ana scanned the room for a specific redhead who was already making his way towards her.

"How'd you do?" he asked, holding his hands out in anticipation.

"O's and one E!" Ana beamed. She could barely smile before Ron wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her up in celebration.

"Bloody hell! You're a genius!" Ron grinned widely. The rest of the noise in the house stopped as Ana's friends watched the interaction. They were all smiling knowingly.

Ana was still in her own world when someone coughed. Hermione was standing next to Ginny. Even though she hadn't introduced herself, all the girls knew exactly who she was, hair still slightly bushy despite being in her twenties.

"Uh, everyone, this is Hermione," Harry introduced, his arm around Ginny's waist now. "I sort of invited her tonight, I hope you don't mind. I know it's your celebration, but I have told her so much about all of you."

Mel broke the silence. "Hello, I'm Melanie Hunter." She shook the witch's hand and the rest followed her. "Hi, I'm Anastasia, but you can call me Ana," the last girl introduced herself, Hermione only taking her hand for a brief moment. "Pleasure." Ana's smile faltered slightly, but she held her ground anyway. Hermione was always one of her favorite characters and this introduction did not go the way she had expected it to.

"Now that we're all acquainted, why don't we get started?" Blaise asked, moving closer to Ellie.

"Most definitely," Mel grinned, looking at Des for direction.

"Right, we are going to play some muggle drinking games tonight. Two to get us all to the appropriate level of drunk and one for us to be a little stupid and get to know each other a little better. Now, everyone, sit in a circle, drink in hand." Des explained, plopping on the ground.

Kiara explained the first game, bus driver. They used a deck of muggle cards that Fred and George kept for rigged card tricks and everyone eventually got the game down. Everyone's adrenaline was already pumping, hoping not to be the one who had to go through the pyramid. After a few rounds, the game switched to stack cup.

Draco enchanted the glass cups to keep from breaking and Ginny found a ping pong ball. Ellie turned out to be ridiculously good at the game and continuously lapping Blaise, forcing him to drink a new cup every other round. However, Kiara wound up drinking the bitch cup. The mixture of fire whiskey, butterbeer, and some other liquors lying around was enough for her to twist her face up while drinking.

"Alright, I think we're all good and buzzed," Harry laughed, pulling Ginny into his lap, "What's the third game?" Everyone else gathered back up in the living room. Des chuckled to herself as she saw Draco and Mel sit next to each other, but so stiff. They looked like they wanted to lean into each other, but were nervous.

Ellie let the silence continue for a bit to build anticipation, but then ultimately spoke the name. "Truth or Dare. Except, in this version, if someone catches you lying when you choose truth, you have to finish your drink and if you don't do your dare, you have to finish your drink. And seeing as how everyone is at wonderful levels right now, it is an incentive to do whatever you are told too."

"Yeah, wouldn't want to chuck everywhere," Kiara laughed, sitting extremely close to Neville. Everyone looked wearily around, the twins already looking devious. They couldn't wait for their turn to dare people.

After going for a while, George had to turn his hair green, courtesy of Fred. Neville had to explain how and when he fell for Kiara. Ellie had to explain the 27 inches reference to Blaise - she was mortified. Ginny had to run a naked lap - all of her brothers clenched their eyes shut while Harry tried to block the view from the other boys. Hermione opted to drink when she was dared to give Fred a lap dance. And Mel had to painfully recite a Draco smut story that she had read back at home. The girl was beet red and stumbling through the entire summary, Draco laughing next to her. They did seem to be leaning into each other now, so it turned sweet.

"Des, you're turn. Truth or Dare?" Ana asked the girl across the circle.

"Pshhh, dare. Duh," Des crossed her arms, waiting to hear what she would have to do.

Her confident air was convincing until Kiara told her what she had to do. "I dare you to write a smutty love letter to Sirius." The grin she wore on her face was pure evil. Harry on the other hand looked taken aback.

"A love letter to my godfather?"

"Oh yeah! Des is IN LOVE with him!" Mel was laughing so hard that tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Keep your trap shut!" Des rose from her chair, tackling Mel. "They don't need to know about that!"

"But this is a game about getting to know each other and they won't know you if they don't know that," Ellie laughed, the sound just as loud as Mel's.

"So are you going to do it?" Ana asked, eyes wide, the grin on her face huge.

"Get me a paper and quill," Des rolled her eyes, getting off of Mel and leaning on the side table to write. "This will take a while, so go on to the next person."

"I think it's Ron's turn!" Ginny pointed out, resting her head on Harry's shoulder.

"Brilliant! Ronnikins, truth or dare?" Fred asked. He already had a mischievous look in his eye.

"Truth," Ron said confidently.

"Fine, if you could date one girl in this circle who would it be?" Fred asked immediately. Ron's ears began to turn red as he tensed up. His eyes flickered from Ana on his right to Hermione who was diagonal on the left.

"Wait, no! I meant dare!"

Fred huffed at his younger brother, pretending to decide whether he would allow the change or not. "Fine, Ronald," Fred emphasized his name. "I dare you to kiss the person whose hand you've been brushing all night." Ana and Ron turned bright red simultaneously. She definitely didn't think that anyone had noticed how Ron's fingers gently ran across hers behind their backs.

All of her friends 'oooo'd as they looked directly at her. Ana's eyes nervously ran around the circle, spotting Hermione taking a sip of her drink, looking annoyed. "You already switched once, no switching again," Fred warned, smugly drinking his own cup of fire whiskey.

Ron turned to face Ana, a shy, side smile sitting on his face. "I can drink if you want."

Ana's mind was running a million miles a minute. Of course she wanted to kiss him! But his ex-girlfriend was sitting right there! She bit her lip, a nervous habit she'd picked up. "Kiss him, kiss him!" Kiara began to chant, knowing Ana would need a slight push.

"Guess we have to give the people what they want," Ron smirked, leaning in. Ana couldn't keep herself from smiling when she met his lips for a few moments. She was trying her hardest to contain her smile when they pulled apart, fidgeting slightly as she held her hands in her lap.

Everyone was still chattering and laughing when Hermione scoffed and stood up. She briskly walked out of the room, mumbling that she needed air. Ana met Ginny's eyes almost instantly. She felt bad. She didn't mean to step on any toes. When Ginny also left the room, Des looked at Ana with a confused face. "What's that about?"

"Uhhhh," Ana didn't really know what to say. It wasn't her place to explain Hermione's feelings - and frankly, she didn't know what Hermione was saying. "I'm going to get a sip of water," Ana excused herself instead. As she left the room, she heard everyone as they bagered Ron. She heard him explain how they had broken up. Not particularly wanting to listen, Ana walked out the front door. The cool air felt good after being in the house with so many people.

She breathed in deeply, enjoying the nighttime sounds, that was until the crickets were overpowered by hushed, angry whispers. Ana flattened herself against the Burrow. She didn't intend to spy, but she didn't really want the owners of the voices to know she was out there.

"Why did Harry think this would be a good idea?"

"Just think about it, 'Mione. They're going to be here for who knows how long and they don't know anyone else. They've all fit in with everyone well so far." Ginny tried to bargain.

"What do we even know about them? It's obvious that they're all smitten with someone."

"Common, you knew he would move on at some point. It isn't Ana's fault. Did you see how bad she felt when you left?"

"It hasn't been that long, Ginny. I thought we agreed to only separate for a while. I want to get my career on the tracks. Besides, the ministry is still looking into how to send them home. He's just going to get his heart broken, they all are."

"'Mione, it's been almost a year since you split. And I don't know. It's been pretty great having them all around. You have to admit that it's been boring around here since graduating. Just give them all a chance. Give Ana a chance. She is living here." Ginny continued to explain.

"I'm just not sure. What if their story isn't true? They could be misleading the entire ministry!"

"Come off it, Hermione. What is this actually about?" Ana inched closer to the corner of the house, peeking around to see Hermione's back.

"I think I'm still in love with him, Gin. I think I made a mistake." Ana's breath hitched upon hearing Hermione's confession. She slipped back inside, face solemn, trying to decide what her next move should be. Hermione and Ron's love had literally been written in a book. Did the book really dictate anything that happened in this world?

"George! Give it back!" Des' voice shook Ana out of her own head.

"There you are," Ron whispered, coming next to her and slipping an arm around her waist.

"We need to determine if you completed your dare! It's the only way," Fred chuckled, taking the letter from George. "Dear Sirius!" Hermione and Ginny also stepped back inside, Hermione's presence causing Ana to move a few steps away from Ron, earning a quizzical look from Ellie.

"I'm not kidding. Give it back!" Des yelled again. "I will hex you! I've passed the crash course now!"

"Ohhh, Freddie, this is some good stuff!" George laughed, letter in his hand again.

"You had to of known that this would happen, Des. It's your own damn fault for leaving it on the table," Kiara laughed, leaning against the counter.

"I was using the loo!" Des threw her arms up in the air, frustrated.

"You alright?" Ron whispered in Ana's ear so no one else could hear. She just nodded slightly, lips pressed together tightly. She couldn't see Ron looking helplessly at Harry, unsure what to do.

"Fred, I'm serious! Give it here." Des huffed.

"I'm not Fred, I'm George." the redhead argued devilishly.

"YOU ARE FRED! YOU HAVE BOTH EARS!" Des was stuck in an unwinnable game of keep away. She looked at Mel, begging for help with her eyes.

"This is madness. Just give the letter back, Fred," Hermione spoke up. Each of the girls was honestly surprised that she spoke in favor of them, well at least one of them. Fred huffed and handed a folded piece of paper to Des, who gratefully shoved it in her pants pocket.

"Now, where were we?" Neville asked. He was glad that the twins' game was over. Everyone else shrugged. Mel shook her head and leaned into Draco a bit, Ana sent her a questioning look. A comfortable silence hung in the air as everyone began to feel a bit tired. The quiet was broken by a knock on the door.

"Am I interrupting something?" Sirius smirked, leaning against the doorway.

"Ahh, Sirius," Fred grinned widely, clapping Sirius on the shoulder before walking to his brother, snickering along the way. Des sent him a nasty look before turning back to Sirius.

"Remus was getting antsy with Kiara and Desiree not being home yet, so I offered to pick them up." Kiara groaned, rolling her eyes as she pushed herself off the counter. "Looks like we'll be going now," she grumbled, pressing a quick kiss to Neville's cheek, leaving him stunned.

"We should probably get going too," Ellie spoke, looking at Mel and Draco. Everyone said their goodbyes and Ana hugged each girl before they left. The twins, Ginny, Harry, and Hermione followed everyone to the fireplace, but Ron beckoned for Ana to hang back.

"What's going on?" He tried to look in her eyes, but Ana avoided his. "Why are you pulling away all of a sudden?"

"You don't know me, Ron. Okay? Maybe you should just stay with Hermione. I understand if you haven't moved on," Ana blurted before covering her mouth with her hand. She really didn't want to get in the middle of whatever this was.

"But, I am. Ana, look at me." Ron pulled her chin up so that she had to look in his eyes. "Hermione and I are over. We just weren't meant to be. It was probably just a lot for her to see me with someone else, but she will get used to it. I don't know how long you're here for, but I want to spend as much time with you as I can."

Ana nodded, her chin still in his hand. "Don't let her get to you," Ron said. "I'll try," she whispered, Hermione's words still placing doubt in her mind. Satisfied that Ana understood, Ron led her to the living room, saying goodbye to everyone who didn't live in the Burrow one more time. When the house was finally quiet and the rest of the Weasleys, Harry, and Hermione - who was staying with Ginny - went to bed, Ana slouched on the couch; wishing she could be in a house with one of her friends at that moment; knowing as much as she loved being in the Wizarding World, she sort of missed her simple life back home. 

Notes: If you enjoyed the chapter, don't forget to like and comment. Thank you :)