A sudden heaviness falters around her shoulders one evening as she sits alone in the Great Hall. It tingles down to the tips of her fingers, causing her hand to stiffen and drop the cheese toastie she was about to eat. It grows more potent, feeling like too heavy cream is sitting on her. There is a tug, her senses kicking in higher as she turns her head to the side, seeing Harry Potter rush towards her. The anxious feeling trickles out of him and into her with every step he takes closer.

Winnie shifts, wiping the crumbs off her fingers as she clears her throat, hazel eyes pierced to Harry with her concern as she swallows his feelings and pushes her own on top.

"Harry, what's the matter?" She questions, concern seeping from her tongue as he sits beside her. He runs a hand through his tangled raven hair, his body half leaning into her as he sits with his back against the table. Winnie faintly remembers all of those evenings at Grimmulad Place together, where she would be the one buzzing with anxiety and leaning on him for support. It makes her lips threaten to pull into a smile as she places her hand on his forearm reassuringly.

"Can you come to Slughorn's party with me?' Harry questions quickly, causing her hand to still and her eyebrows to knit against her forehead. Harry's emerald eyes flicker to her, cheeks flushing slightly as he clears his throat. "I - I have no one to go with, and well, you're one of my best friends, and I can't go with the person I wanna go with, so-"

"Wow, you know how to make a girl feel special, Potter," Winnie teases, pouting falsely as Harry's eyes widen two sizes too big.

"What? No, I- erm-" his rushed words cut off as Winnie snorted, shaking her head at him as her lips pulled upwards into a smile.

"You're okay, Harry. I was joking. I'll go with you, I probably will hate it, but I'll still go," she assured, taping his scarred hand two times as the male relaxed against the table. Breathing out a sigh of relief, Winnie grabbed a piece of her cheese toastie and held it out for him. "Now relax and eat; your worries are giving me a headache," she chastised, grinning as he took half her food with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, it's not my fault you have freaky emotion-sucking powers," Harry mumbled as Winnie snorted again, covering her mouth with her hand as she swallowed the food she was chewing on.

"Freaky emotion-sucking powers?" She questions, tilting her head to the side as the corner of her lips titled to a smile. Harry shrugged, taking a bite of the food in his hand as Winnie rolled her eyes, shaking her head. Harry was an odd friend sometimes, but the blonde couldn't imagine her life without him.

༺♥༻

Winnie has never enjoyed parties much; she had endured too many as a child. She was forced to wear too many dresses that were always too itchy and caused hives to break out around her skin. By the time she was six years old, she knew how to smile politely and fake it for hours on end.

When Winnie returned for her sixth year at Hogwarts, she never imagined she would need a dress, nor did she desire to wear one. So when she returned to the Common Room to prepare for Slughorns Party, she realized how royally fucked she was. She had almost torn apart her whole trunk trying to find something appropriate until she remembered that she was, in fact, a witch and could perform magic.

Winnie found her prettiest of tops, a long sleeve white top with tiny blue flowers kissing the cotton material. It only took her a few alterations before she stood with a dress upon her frame. She kept the top the same, long sleeves hugging her arms, a square neckline exposing her collarbone. The bottom flared just enough that if she were to spin, it would flutter around her. The ends rested against her knees as she strapped on shin-high black boots. Her hair laid straight against her back and framed her face.

It was the scars running along her face that she could nothing about. Winnie had pretended not to care about them since she started school, keeping her chin high and often avoiding all mirrors at any cost. But she stood facing one now, hazel eyes trapped onto the white scars that maimed her face. Winnie was never one to be very vain. She knew she was pretty; she wasn't oblivious. She enjoyed listening to Lavender and Parvati giggle about makeup and hair tricks, but it was just never something that excited her much.

Her scars, however, she wished to cover. Even magic or makeup could hide the ugly, raised lines running along her face. Winnie's fingertips reached up, gently touching the rough skin. The pad of her finger ran down the longest line, the one that curled around her temple and stopped just above her cheekbone.

The blonde''s fingers fell away quickly as she heard footsteps coming up the stairs; blinking, she tore her gaze away from the mirror as she grasped her wand from her bed. Tucking it in the wand strap against her upper thigh, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before she hurried out of the sixth-year girls' dormitory. Winnie paused as a group of third-years ran past her down the stairs giggling among themselves. A small smile kissed her lips at sight, her hand closing the door behind her before she made her way down the steps.

Harry stood near the couches, dressed in an all-black wizarding suit. Hair sticking up every which way, as usual, making her hold back a smile. Harry Potter's hair will never corporate, no matter how finely dressed he was. He must have heard her coming, for he looked up with a small smile as she neared.

"You clean up nice Potter," she grinned, locking her arm with his as they turned to leave the standard room. The halls flickered with lampposts, causing an orange hue to glisten against the beige stone walls of the castle. "Did Hermione already leave?" Winnie questioned, having not seen the other Slughorn member as she got ready.

"She left with Ron earlier, always on time," Harry snorted as Winnie grinned, humming in agreement. They padded for a few moments, making their way down towards the dungeons before Winnie broke the silence surrounding them.

"So what important people am I going to see tonight, Potter? Since we all know Sluggie loves famous people," she joked, their footsteps clicking behind them as they walked down a set of stairs.

"Erm," Harry paused, eyebrows pinched together. "There's supposed to be a vampire coming," Harry shrugged as Winnie froze in her steps, eyes wide as she looked over at the male. "What?"

"Ru­fus Scrim­geour?" asked Winnie, feeling her hands tighten on Harry's arm.

"I - what?" said Har­ry, dis­con­cert­ed. "You mean the Min­is­ter of Mag­ic?"

"Yes, the Minister of Magic!" Winnie exclaimed, shaking her head. This boy knew nothing about the Wizarding World. "He's a vampire, and you couldn't have told me this earlier? In case you forgot Potter, I'm a," she paused, looking around her as Harry frowned.

"Why does that matter?" Harry questioned as Winnie sighed, withholding the urge to slap her forehead.

"Have you never heard of the fact that vampires and," she paused, lowering her voice before she continued? "Werewolves are century-old enemies?" To her disbelief, Harry laughed, his hand coming up to pat her hand as Winnie stared bewildered at him.

"That's just what they say in Muggle stories to create drama or whatever; it's all fake," Harry snorted as Winnie sighed, shaking her head.

"Harry, if everything in Muggle literature were fake, we wouldn't exist either!" She explained, staring at him with narrowed eyes as Harry made an 'o' shape with his mouth. The boy who was supposed to save the wizarding world hadn't quite thought about that.

"Well..." Harry paused, avoiding her eyes as his cheeks flushed a bright pink; Winnie's eyes narrowed towards him before she sighed. They were dragging him forwards towards Slughorn's office once again.

"I handled a werewolf attack that was supposed to kill me; I'm sure I can handle a vampire; let's go." She mumbled, stepping into the office with Harry behind her. The sound of music and loud conversation hit her ears when she entered. As if Slughorn had bewitched it, no noise filtered through the halls of Hogwarts. A wise choice, but still disorienting to first step into. Winnie blinked, her ears adjusting to the sounds as she looked around the office, which appeared quite the opposite.

The ceiling above them, along with the walls, was draped with emerald, crimson and gold hangings. She appeared as if they had stepped into a time rather than an office. People crowded around the room in groups, making the air thin and stuffy with each breath she took. They were bathed in a bright red light by an ornate golden lamp that dangled from the centre of the ceiling. As Winnie gazed at it, she saw real fairies fly around the lamp, flicking a different colour. A haze of smoke circled a group of elderly warlocks in the back of the room, the smell of tobacco greeting her nostrils due to her heightened senses. A sneeze grew its way up her nose as she bit her tongue to stop it.

"Har­ry, m'boy!" boomed Slughorn, al­most as soon as Har­ry and Winnie had squeezed in. He came from their side, appearing out of thin air as both Gryffindors jumped. "Come in, come in, so many peo­ple I'd like you to meet!"

Slughorn was wear­ing a tas­seled vel­vet hat to match his smok­ing jack­et. Winnie watched as he gripped tightly onto Harry, eyes wide and beady with wonder as he gazed upon him. Making Winnie's lips twist into a line, she was about to excuse herself just as Harry seized her hand, dragging her forcefully along with him.

The blonde had stood for the next thirty minutes, hand wrapped in Harry's hand. She half hid behind him, and half judged almost every one they had spoken to. These people seemed obsessed with what Harry could and would offer one day; none of them seemed to care about the person he was now, which only deepened Winnie's disgust. One person even dared to ask Harry when his biography was coming out, as if!

Somehow, though she isn't quite sure how she managed it with Harry's tight grip on her hand, she had managed to slip away. Her writing was sore and tingling as she rubbed her knuckles with her other hand. Winnie hoped Harry would forgive her eventually for her running away from him, but she knew if she stayed a moment longer listening to people pretend they knew Harry, she would perhaps stun them all.

Besides, Slughorn had been dragging them towards Rufus, and Winnie would instead not go down that road. The brunette pushes her way out of the crowd, rolling her eyes as wizards and witches stick up their noses in disapproval towards her. Finally, she stumbled out of the group, finding herself near the back of the room where the snack table sat, only her eyes snagged on a familiar head of short red hair.

"Cordelia!" Winnie sighed, speaking her name like prayer as Winnie walked toward her cousin. Cordelia, whispering to the people around her, had turned her head to look at her cousin, eyes widening.

"What the bloody hell are you doing here?" Cordelia questioned as she pulled her cousin closer; Winnie sniffed, glowering at her slightly.

"Well, hello to you too," Winnie grumbled as Cordelia rolled her eyes. "I'm here with Harry, though he's being passed around like a rare jewel right now," Winnie finished, glancing back at the crowd before looking around. She was finding herself squat between her cousin, Theo and Blaise. Her cheeks flushed, having interrupted whatever they were talking about. "Oh uh, hi," Winnie greeted awkwardly, watching as Theo's lips titled halfway into a grin while Blaise peered at her with deep brown eyes.

"Harry's here?" Cordelia questioned, appearing out into the crowd like a wounded puppy. Winnie frowned, watching the hollow emptiness of Cordelia's cerulean eyes. Almost as if she snapped back into herself, Cordelia straightened, tucking her tiny wisps of red hair behind her ear. "I didn't think you'd come," she directed her voice towards Winnie as the blonde shrugged.

"Didn't plan to, but you know me, the life of the party," she joked as Blaise snorted, causing her eyes to sharpen into slits as she looked at the dark-skinned male. "Something funny, Blaise? Or did you see your reflection?" She watched as the male rolled her eyes.

"Relaxed, Buldstrode, not trying to start another one of your silly fights," the male muttered carelessly, looking at Winnie for a split second like she was a spec of dust he'd instead flick away than engage with. Winnie's mouth opened, ready to spout any words she could think of, just as she felt a hand slip into her own, pulling her away.

"I wanna dance, let's dance," Theo spoke, voice chipper as Winnie watched Cordelia swat Blaise, softly on the shoulder before the pair disappeared behind the crowd. Theo turned them, his hand resting on her hip as he kept holding her hand. "Relax, heathen, he meant no harm," Theo mumbled in her ear, lips pressed to the side of her head as Winnie sighed. Her hand came up to rest against his shoulder.

"Don't tell me to relax," she hissed, though her bones loosened, the ridges of her body fading away as she let Theo lead her in a dance. Other couples danced around them, talking and laughing amongst themselves as Winnie glanced around them. A few elderly members of the Wizarding World watched them closely, eyes narrowed and whispering as they watched the two dance. "We shouldn't be doing this," Winnie whispered, about to pull away when Theo held her tighter to him.

"I don't care, quite frankly," he argued, grinning as he turned his head to look at her, directing her eyes towards his instead of everyone else. The female sighed, feeling her heart tighten painfully.

"People are watching," she counterattacked as Theo scuffed, rolling his jade tinted eyes. His fingers intertwining with hers as her stomach deepened with heat. Winnie knew she ought to pull away for many reasons that could save them both, yet she couldn't find the strength to do so.

"Let them watch," he shrugged, twirling her around in a circle before placing his hand on her hips again. "They can't do anything to me, my father's in Azkaban, and I'm not married."

"No, just engaged to my sister," she argued, voice bitterly sombre as Theo's eyes glistened. She didn't have the heart to argue with or fight him off. Winnie didn't honestly want to either, even if she knew this was wrong, That their dance would eventually get out, his dance with the banished sister to the woman he was to marry.

"I don't have to marry her," he whispered, causing her bones to stiffen as she widened her eyes.

"No, you can't. I won't allow you; you have to," she quickly shook her head, words coming out in a rushed stream as Theo snorted.

"If you think that you could stop me, you wrongly mistaken, love," Theo opposed, their voices hushed and close together as they argued. Her eyes were full of heartache as she stared up at him. He stared back at hers, and their hands gripped each other like a lifeline. Neither one is willing to let go first or to fall away.

"You'd ruin yourself; you'd have nothing," she whispered, frowning as Theo's eyes flicked down to her lips, green eyes dancing as Winnie gripped his hand tighter instead of letting go.

"I'd have you," he answered quicker than she could blink; her heart stuttered as she stared up at him. Her eyes fell to her lips, and just as she leaned forward, they were surged apart by the sudden halt of music. People bumped into them as they were pushed forward. Her hand stayed clasped in Theo's as they glanced to the front of the room where Winnie spotted Dra­co Malfoy be­ing dragged by the ear to­ward Slughorn by Ar­gus Filch.

"Pro­fes­sor Slughorn," wheezed Filch, his jowls aquiver and the ma­ni­acal light of mis­chief de­tec­tion in his bulging eyes, "I dis­cov­ered this boy lurk­ing in an up­stairs cor­ri­dor. He claims to have been in­vit­ed to your par­ty and to have been de­layed in set­ting out. Did you is­sue him with an in­vi­ta­tion?"

Winnie eyed Mal­foy, he was dressed in an all black suit, platinum hair greased back on his head as pulled him­self free of Filchs grip, look­ing fu­ri­ous. His hand smoothing down the front of his suit. "All right, I wasn't in­vit­ed!" he said an­gri­ly. "I was try­ing to gate crash, hap­py?"

"No, I'm not!" said Filch, a state­ment at com­plete odds with the glee on his face. "You're in trou­ble, you are! Didn't the head­master say that night­time prowl­ing's out, un­less you've got per­mis­sion, didn't he, eh?"

"That's all right, Ar­gus, that's all right," said Slughorn, wav­ing. "It's Christ­mas, and it's not a crime to want to come to a par­ty. Just this once, we'll for­get any pun­ish­ment; you may stay, Dra­co." Filich's ex­pres­sion of out­raged dis­ap­point­ment was per­fect­ly predictable; but Winnie watched intrigued as Draco's nose twitched. Looking almost as unhappy as Filch at the moment, she narrowed her eyes just as Draco composed his face. Placing an all too happy smile on his features as he started thanking Slughorn.

Suspicion curled in her gut as Winnie subtle breathed out deeply, her fingers tingling as she let her magic core reach Draco. Only to come up empty handed as she felt nothing but a deep coldness that raked her to her core. Goosebumps grew against her skin, gritting her teeth as she tried proding against his walls harder. Only for Draco to snap his attention towards her, the pair making eye contact, causing Winnie to retreat her magic as Draco's grey eyes stared at her with an narrowed gaze.

Theo pulled her away then, breaking their pairs hardened gaze as Winnie disappeared among the crowd again.

"Wonder what that was about," Theo wondered, talks of their past conversation long gone as Winnie's mind stayed glued to Malfoy's hardened gaze snapping towards her. Almost as if he could feel her prodding around in his mind, trying to feel his emotions. Which she knew was impossible, or at least, she thought it was.

The pair made their way back to the snack table, finding Cordelia long gone and Blaise standing by himself. Her hand got caught in anothers, as they neared Blaise, Winnie's eyes turning to find Hermione standing behind her with her wide bushy hair. The fawn haired girl glanced at the Slytherin's around Winnie, eyes sharpening slightly as Winnie felt Theo's hold on her fall away.

Winnie glanced back, frowning slightly before she pitifully waved bye to the male, before letting herself get pulled away once more that night.

"I can't find Harry," Hermione whispered, their heads close together as they made their way through the crowd, hands intertwined. "He was beside me when Draco came in, and then suddenly he just disappeared."

"I swear that boy can never just stay in one spot," Winnie grumbled as they neared the door to leave. The brunette looked around, having found most of the original party guests gone from the party. Leaving just a few left over, doing a quick scan of the room, she found that both Cordelia and Draco have also disappeared. "Cordelia and Draco are gone," she shared, causing Hermione's eyebrows to crease against her head.

"Weird," the curly haired brunette mumbled, biting her lip as she got lost in thought. Winnie thought the same, though she didn't voice her thought. Her stomach shrinking and twisting, somewhere, deep down, she couldn't shake the thought that all of this was connected somehow. She tried to think further, to let that itch grow, only for her head to quake with a sharp pain running along her skull.

Something wasn't right, and the answers were right in front of her. Winnie just couldn't see them.

༺♥༻

About an hour after the girls returned to the common room, Harry Potter snuck inside. Hermione had gone to bed not long after they returned, feeling safe knowing that Winnie was staying up to wait. Wait she did, with a pillow against her chest and an itching feeling in her gut that wouldn't leave.

Once Harry entered, the brunette sat up like a spring, her eyes wide with relief at seeing him, only for her to throw the pillow directly against the side of his face.

"Where were you?" She questioned sharply, getting up from the coach and walking over towards him as he muttered an ow, she leaned down to pick up the pillow. Winnie hugged it closely to her chest, watching him with narrowed eyes as he rubbed the side of his head.

"What was that for?" He grumbled moving past her and towards the coach as the girl scuffed, following after him.

"What was that for? You've got to be kidding!" She exclaimed, sitting next to him as he raised an eyebrow. Winnie sighed, suddenly feeling exhausted as she leaned back against the couch. "Just tell me what happened," she mumbled, putting the pillow over her face as she closed her eyes. Her head still panged with a dull ache, making her fingers tingle to itch her temple,

"I followed Draco and Snape out into the hall," he admitted, causing the blondee to sit up, eyes narrowed as the pillow fell to the floor.

"Why the bloody hell would you do that?" She questioned, alarmed as Harry glanced at her like she had two heads.

"Why would I not?" He asked, eyebrows narrowed as the female sighed. There were many reasons why, one of them being that both of them seemed to want to make Harry's life hell in many ways. So I'm sure them finding out that Harry followed them would've been just perfect. "Look it's a good thing that I did, because I got some information to proof my point."

Harry's eyes moved towards her as he nodded.

"Yeah, why?" Harry questioned slowly as Winnie swallowed thickly, her eyes turning towards the fire as her mind begun to race.

"You can't break an Unbreakable Vow, if you do you-" she paused, licking her lips as she chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment. "You die," she finished, the last word leaving her lips like a whisper. If Snape made an Unbreakable Vow for Draco, then whatever the blond made had to do was severely important, enough for a mother to wish to protect her son enough for someone to die.

The thought made Winnie's stomach twist painfully, there was a much frightening story happening in the halls of Hogwarts. Winnie wondered how much time would be left before the walls came crashing down around them with the truth. "Which is what?" Winnie questioned, eyebrow raised a Harry shifted back against his seat.

"Snape offered to help Draco with something, I can't be sure what it is but he made it sound like it was important. He kept saying you two can't do it alone but I have no idea who the other person is," Harry shared as Winnie frowned, staring into the flames. "He made an oath to Draco's mother to protect him, the Unbreakable-"

"The Unbreakable Vow?" Winnie question, feeling herself grow cold as every part of her freeze, Harry's eyes turned towards her questionably as he nodded. "That can't be right, you must have misheard."

"I didn't misshear anything, he made an Unbreakable Vow," Harry confirmed, sitting up closer as Winnie's lips pulled into a line. "Why? What does that mean?"

"It means Harry, that if Snape doesn't protect Draco from whatever they were talking about, Snape will die," she whispers, the words leaving her body filling with dread as the duo stare at each other. The heavy weight of the truth hitting them each square in the chest.

There is a far greater threat happening within the halls of Hogwarts, enough to make a mom potentially let someone die. Winnie wonders just how long it is before the walls come crashing down around them with the truth.

C