𝕿he streets of Hogsmead were filled with droplets of white, trickling down the roads and making the scene appear like an early Christmas. Winnie had tugged the hair tie out of her hair, letting her honey locks float around her shoulders. Her cheeks rubbed raw from the wind slapping against her fair skin, making her appear with a red-tipped nose and blushed cheeks. While she desperately wished she had stayed at Hogwarts longer, Cordelia Flint was smiling at least, and that made the bitter chill all worth it.

          The cousins entered the tiny, dusty bar of Hogs Head. Their arms linked as Winnie's eyes narrowed ever so slightly, inspecting the grim piled up along the windows, blocking natural light from seeping into the darkened pub. She felt Cordelia's fingers dig further into Winnie's forearm, causing the blonde to become acutely aware that everyone had stopped talking, gawking at Cordelia Flint with mixed looks of distrust and confusion.

       Winnie scrunched up her nose, rapping her fingers around Cordelia's and squeezing reassuringly before ignoring everyone else and instead looking for the reason why she was there. She spotted Hermione sitting next to Potter and Weasley. The female waved with her free hand, watching as the curly-haired brunette returned the gesture. Potter glanced up, his eyes zoning in on Cordelia, who glared around the room with her chin raised high. Winnie's eyebrow raised slightly as his eyes turned onto her, his cheeks flushing as she inclined her head slightly towards Cordelia. She snorted, giving him a thumbs up before her eyes traced the rest of the room.

       Padma was sitting with her twin sister, Parvati, who waved slightly toward her before returning to the conversation with her sister. Cathy Chang and her girlfriend Lucy Weaver were taking a seat in the far corner. Next to them sat Luna Lovegood, who was sitting and smiling softly as if the room was locked into a soft melody. Ginny Weasley sat beside her, red hair tied into braids with a butterbeer in her hands. The rest of the room was sorted out between people of the Gryffindor quidditch team, a boy with a camera in his hands that he was holding tightly, and then an assortment of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Winnie jumped slightly as Cordelia elbowed her in the gut, whispering something along the lines of 'A few people?' which Winnie only shrugged in reply before moving to find seats.

         Winnie sighed, grateful she was out of the cold, and her cheeks could finally return to normal. Winnie eye's eyes widened slightly as she heard Cordelia tell everyone off for looking at her, which — for the record — Winnie thought that her point was, in fact, true, but she still elbowed her anyway. "Don't be so aggressive," she growled slightly, narrowing her eyes at her cousin before looking to see Zacharias Smith looking at them. The blonde narrowed her eyes further at the Hufflepuff boy.

          "They were staring at me. It's not my fault—"

            "Behave yourself," Winnie warned, looking back at Cordelia as she pursed her lips, wagging a finger in her face. "Please."

           "How do you expect me to behave myself when he's here, and all these people are staring at me!" Cordelia argues, making a face as Winnie sighs. Pinching the bridge of her nose and breathing out heavily, in hindsight, Winnie should've known this would've happened. Perhaps if her week wasn't constantly being pulled apart by a witch with a pink obsession and her head wasn't pounding from her interactions that morning, she would let Cordelia be. But right now, she needed some peace, which would give her some of it.

          "Just try, okay? Now, shut up." Winnie frowned before turning and looking ahead, sitting straight and determined to pay attention to whatever hell broke out here next. She briefly heard her cousin argue but was cut off quickly by someone clearing their throat. Hermione had gotten to her feet, her wild hair pulled into a ponytail at the top of her head as her eyes looked around the room. She shifted her feet, awkward nerves wavering off of her. Hermione's eyes met Winnie's for a split moment, and the Gryffindor girl found herself doing the same thing she did for Harry. Her thumb went up in the air slightly as she turned her lips to a smile.

              "You, erm, know why you're here... Erm, well, Harry here," she got cut off by Harry throwing her a look. Winnie grinned, hiding her lips behind her hand as she watched the two. "I mean, I had the idea that it might be good for people who wanted to study Defense Against the Dark Arts, and I mean really study it, you know, not the rubbish that Umbridge is teaching us." Hermione paused, standing straighter, her voice suddenly becoming sterner and less wavering as the moments passed. "Because nobody could call that Defence Against the Dark Arts, and I thought it might be good if we took matters into our own hands."

          Winnie blinked, sitting still just as Fred Weasley yelled out a 'Hear, Hear,' causing Hermione's cheeks to flush slightly as she shot a sideways glance at Harry before continuing. "And by that, I mean learning how to defend ourselves properly, not just the theory but the real spells—"

             "You want to pass your Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L too, I bet?" Terry Boot asked Winnie, snorting slightly, thinking that the answer to that was pretty damn obvious.

           "Of course I do! But I want more than that. I want to be properly trained in Defence... because," she paused, sucking in a breath, then spoke again, her voice hesitant but strong. "Because Lord Voldermort is back." The fallout of Hermione saying the name was almost instant. Winnie herself jumped and sloshed Butterbeer down over her. Causing her to curse slightly and quickly tap her hand against her dress coat, ignoring the prickling cold she felt down her back. The hairs on her neck stood up as she stood up straighter, wrapping her hands tightly around her cup and placing a sudden mask over her face, one she had learned to control quite well over the years. An act of nothing but sore eyes and a thin line of her lips.

           She felt the fear of others flood over her, making her skin erupt in goosebumps. Fingers tightened around her Butterbeer as she shifted in her chair, glancing at Cordelia, who sat with her eyes darting around the room.

            "That's the plan anyway," Hermione continued, "if you want to join us, we need to decide how we're going to—"

           "Where's the proof that You-Know-Who's back?" Zacharias Smith questioned as Winnie rolled her eyes, already sick of hearing his voice.

            "Well, Dumbledore believes it," Hermione started, only to be cut off once more.

            "You mean Dumbledore believes him," added Zach, nodding in Harry's direction as Winnie reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration.

              "Who are you?" Ron Weasley asked suddenly, his voice booming as he stared daggers at the boy. Winnie never had a conversation right out with the redhead male. He glared at her once after finding out she belonged to a family of snakes, and Winnie simply ignored him. Now, Winnie could argue that she admired him. Simply for standing up for his friend. Especially against Zacharias' bloody Smith.

             "Zacharias Smith," the blond spoke matter of factly as Winnie sipped her Butterbeer. "I think we've got the right to know exactly what makes him say You-Know-Who is back."

             Winnie suddenly had the strong urge to strangle the bloody Hufflepuff.

                 Luckily, Cordelia spoke before she could. "Zach shut up and let Granger speak! I wasn't dragged here to listen to you—"

              "You can't tell me what to do anymore!" The blond argued, flashing his blue eyes at Cordelia, "We've broken up, remember?" Winnie gripped her drink tightly, biting down sharply on her tongue; she was sure she would taste blood in a minute. But Winnie Buldstrode couldn't keep it in any longer. Snapping at Zacharias Smith was just far too tempting.

          "And you cheated on her, remember?" Winnie snapped, eyes flashing as she stared over at the blond. Her lip curled, chin raising ever so slightly as his attention drifted towards her. She felt his flash of fear prickle her skin, creating tingles across her body as her fingers flashed with electricity. "Now, do us a favour and shut your mouth before I hex you!" She seethed, eyes narrowed before she looked at the front of the room.

         "Look," Hermione cut in swiftly, clearing the awkward tension that drifted around the room. "That's not really what this is supposed to be about—"

          "It's okay, Hermione," Harry spoke, cutting off Hermione as Winnie turned her attention to the raven-haired male. Winnie noticed how his eyes fell on the girl sitting next to him. The blonde turned her head just in time to notice Cordelia's eyebrow raise questionably at him. "What makes me say, You-Know-Who is back? I saw him, but Dumbledore told the whole school what happened last year, and if you don't believe him, you don't believe me, and I'm not wasting a Saturday trying to convince anyone."

             Winnie held her breath slightly, watching the male's handshake. Her eyes moved around the room, where everyone sat unblinking or uttering a word.The thought of even seeing the man everyone feared left her feeling an emptiness in her stomach, her heart thumping loudly in her ear.

            "All Dumbledore told us last year was that Cedric's death—" Zacharias spoke again, her heart turning to stone as she narrowed her eyes again at the blond. "Were caused by You-Know-Who and that you brought him back to Hogwarts. He didn't give us any details or tell us exactly how it happened, and I think we'd all like to know—" Winnie was once again fighting the urge to not only strangle the boy but kick him out altogether. She wasn't one to believe everything she heard unless she managed to fact-check it first, but Winnie wasn't ignorant or blind. This, this was just planning stupid. Zacharias Smith was a foolish boy, and she could never figure out why he would want to know the events in the Graveyard. Only fools wanted to know everything.

            "If you've come to hear exactly what it looks like when Voldermort kills someone, then I can't help you," Harry spoke once more, his green eyes glittering with annoyance that Winnie couldn't fault him for having. "I don't want to talk about it, okay? So if you're here for that, you might as well clear out." Winnie sat squared on the wooden chair, half expecting a few people to get up and leave. In fact, she made a point of staring quite coldly at Zacharias, daring him to go. And yet, he didn't. Instead, he sat, shutting his mouth, and maybe Winnie thought he had some potential somewhere, deep down.

          "So," Hermione spoke finally, the confidence she once had leaking out of her. "Like I was saying ... if you want to learn some defence, then we need to work out how we're going to do it and where—"

           "Is it true," asked Susan Bones suddenly, a Hufflepuff girl in her year. Hermione shot the girl a look of dismay, probably getting annoyed with being cut off so often. "That you can produce a Patronus?"

           "He can produce a Patronus?" Cordelia whispered to Winnie, who shot a look before nodding softly.

           "Yeah," she whispered, watching Harry rub his neck sheepishly. "Hermione told me," she answered, seemingly unsurprised by the fact anymore. Hermione had told her sometime in their fourth year when the Gryffindor girl was ranting about being worried for Harry, she had let it slip out that he could. Winnie had been so surprised she had jumped and spilled ink all over her parchment.

           "A corporeal patronus?" Susan asked again, swinging her long braid over her shoulder.

               "Er— you don't know Madam Bones do you?" Harry questioned awkwardly, his finger pulling on a string from his hoodie sleeve.

           "She's my auntie," Susan confirmed with a soft smile across her face, "she told me you can make a stag patronus."

          "Yes," Harry said, looking down. Winnie thought he seemed rather bored. It was a fact that she couldn't blame him for. The fair-skinned girl looked over at her cousin, watching the Slytherin girl look like she was stuck looking at Harry as if he had all the answers. This caused the girl to smile slightly. Bringing her glass to her lips once more and looking back to the front. She had missed the conversation for a part of it, though Winnie couldn't say she missed much. She supposed it was just people being amazed at Harry.

          "Did you kill the Basilisk with that sword in Dumbledore's office?" Terry Boot questioned as Winnie raised her eyebrow, "one of the portraits on the wall told me when I was there last year."

             "Er— yeah, I did," Harry answered as a few people whistled around them. Winnie found herself slightly impressed, looking around and watching people's faces break out into both awe and wonder.

             "And in the first year," added Neville Longbottom, his blond hair falling in front of his face slightly. "He saved that Sorcerer's Stone—"

           "Sorcerer's," Hermione hissed, correcting him, just as Winnie screwed up her nose at the missed pronunciation.

             "Yes, that, from You-Know-Who!" Neville beamed, his slightly chubbier cheeks filling out into a smile. Winnie found her annoyance vanishing as she blinked. She knew Harry was brilliant. Being able to produce a patronus was evidence enough, but being eleven and doing that? Winnie felt a sudden new burst of appreciation for her new detention partner.

          There was a murmur of agreement amongst the group. Winnie found herself to be one of them. There was no use doubting it. Harry looked like he was fighting a mental battle within himself. "Look, I ... I don't want to sound like I'm being modest, but I had a lot of help with that stuff..."

            "Not with the dragon, you didn't," said Michael Corner, gripping Ginny Weasley's hand. Winnie briefly wondered when the two had gotten together. "That was a seriously cool bit of flying."

             "Yeah well—" Harry began, but Winnie had gotten suddenly sick of him pretending that he wasn't a great wizard, in fact, she believed Harry Potter was a fantastic wizard. Not just because of what the history books said but because he did all these things, he did them.

             "And nobody helped you get rid of those Dementors last summer," Winnie spoke smiling, catching the boy with the round glasses eyes, his eyes flickering to Cordelia sitting next to her as Winnie's lips titled into a smirk.

             "No, no, okay. I know I did some of those things without help, but the point I'm trying to make is—" Harry was cut off once more. Winnie wondered if anyone could get a sentence out around here.

             "Are you trying to weasel your way out of showing us any of this stuff," Zacharias asked again, his arms crossed over his chest. Winnie sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of her nose and suddenly taking back the beloved thought of him having potential anywhere deep down.

          "Here's an idea," Ron Weasley said once more, "how about you shut your mouth?"

            "Hear, Hear," Winnie spoke, not hiding her distaste as she grinned, narrowing her eyes at Zach, who flushed once more. Before she winked at the redhead, who blushed slightly before pointing his blue eyes back to Zach, narrowing them.

          "Well," Zach started again, Winnie leaning her head back and groaning. She felt his voice would become her source of nightmares in the future, "we've all turned up to learn from him, and now he's saying he really can't do any of it."

             "That's not what he said," Fred Weasley snarled.

              "Would you like us to clean out your ears for you?" George Weasley questioned, pulling a long, deadly-looking metal stick from Zonko's bag. Lee Jordan giggled beside him as Winnie's face tilted into a grin. She didn't usually agree with the twins breaking the rules for their jokes, but she figured she could laugh at this one.

                "Or any part of your body, really. We're not fussy where we stick this," added Fred as Winnie now giggled. Covering it with her hand as she looked away.

               "Yes, well," Hermione babbled, "moving on ... the point is, are we agreed we want to take lessons from Harry?" Winnie was suddenly brought back from the reality of the situation. This wasn't just a fun group of learning defence spells to cure boredom. This was learning to protect themselves from a threat that grew silently. Suddenly her throat ran dry.

              Would she need to learn this? Would her life be thrown into a world of lies, and she needs to learn how to defend herself?

                Winnie found herself thinking back to her parents, with their pure-blood mindset and the thirst to always be first and better than anyone else. Her skin ran as cold as a winter's day, her lips sucking in a breath as she realized she needed this. There will come a time when she will have to choose, though, in reality, her mind had already been set the day she joined Gryffindor's house.

             "Right," Hermione spoke after everyone nodded in agreement, relief rushing over like a wave. "The next question is how often we do it. I really don't think there's much point in meeting less than once a week—"

           "Hang on," Angelia said, "we need to ensure this doesn't clash with our Quidditch practice."

            "No," Cathy Chang agreed, twisting a lock of black hair between her fingers. "Nor with ours."

               "Or ours!" Zach agreed rather aggressively. Winnie held back a point of saying they should make it strictly on his practice days but remembered she didn't hate all Hufflepuffs, just the ones who cheat.

            "I'm sure we can find a night that suits everyone," Hermione replied, slightly impatient, as evidenced by the way she cast a rather annoyed look in the direction of the Quidditch players. "But you know, this is rather important. We're talking about learning to defend ourselves against V-Voldermort's Death Eaters!"

             Winnie shivered once more at the mention of his name and his followers. Fear picked her like a child picked candy. Uncaring and full of greed, Winnie became a victim again. "We also think that the reason Umbridge doesn't want us trained in Defence Against the Dark Arts is that she's got some ... some mad idea that Dumbledore could use the students in the school as a private army and go against the Ministry."

               Everyone around looked stunned, yet Winnie found herself grinning slightly. This didn't surprise her. The whole idea gave off a colossal clue just by the way Umbitch talked so highly about the Ministry as if she got her knickers off by it. Cordelia didn't seem surprised; apparently, neither did Luna Lovegood, who had spoken up rather brightly. "Well, that makes sense. After all, Cornelius Fudge has got some private army of Helopaths." Winnie furrowed her eyebrows, wondering what in Rowena Ravenclaw was bloody helopaths. But as Hermione and Luna argued over whether or not they were real, Winnie thought it best to just smile and nod if Luna ever brought it up to her.

             "Weren't we trying to decide how often we will meet?" Ginny Weasley spoke suddenly, cutting off the argument, as she looked rather bored with her two friends.

            "Yes," Hermione agreed, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "You're right, you're right..."

            "Once a week sounds cool," suggested Lee Jordan from beside George.

          "Great!" Hermione clapped her hands, smiling softly in excitement. "Now, the other thing to decide is where we will meet."

            Winnie chewed on the inside of her cheek, looking down at the dusty floor below her feet before she cleared her throat. "I doubt that we would be able to use an empty classroom or the library. Madam Pince wouldn't take well to us using defensive spells and ruining her precious books, would she?"

            "And us doing all that stuff in an empty classroom might be seen as a little too... rebellious for a 'study' group," Harry agreed, as Winnie snorted slightly.

            "Well, we'll find somewhere," Hermione said, pulling her bag into her lap, rummaging through it, and pulling out a piece of parchment and a quill. "Everyone should write their name down to know who was here. But I also think," she sighed as she looked down at the parchment. "We all should agree not to shout about what we're doing. So if you're signing, you agree to not tell Umbridge, anyone, what we're up to."

             Fred Weasley enthusiastically placed his name down on the parchment, followed by George, who followed suit. Before Winnie could register what she was doing, she was up, taking the pen from the Weasley boy and writing her name down neatly. Winnie Buldstrode, she smiled, twirling the pen and handing it to the next person in line. Standing, she shifted beside the three Gryffindors, her eyes on Hermione first. "You did so well, taking that Gryffindor bravery and all," Winnie grinned as the shorter brunette smiled, wringing her hands together.

         "Oh! I was so worried people would disagree, but thank you for coming," Hermione sighed, offering her a smile as Winnie nodded. Her eyes turned to Harry, who was watching someone over her shoulder. Winnie looked to his line of sight, noticing him watching Cordelia standing rather anxiously beside Cedric Diggory.

             "Potter," the girl spoke, smirking as she raised an eyebrow, his face flushing bright red. "You did well as well, don't be so modest, Potter. You're a brilliant wizard," she nodded, watching him look down. The girl rolled her eyes, sighing as she reached over to nudge him with her fist. "You're a great bloody wanker, though. I'll give you that."

              "Says the one who likes peanut butter sandwiches," he grinned, the flush going away from his face, which made Winnie feel incredibly thankful for it.

              "How dare you? It's the meal made by the heavens," she gasped, placing her hand on her chest before laughing slightly. Her eyes moved to Ron, who was standing looking between the two with narrowed eyes. 

            "Weasley, we should plan to take down Smith over there. You, with your bloody temper and me, with my irrational brains, could be fun," she shrugged, smirking as the boy blinked at her once, his eyes moving to Harry and Hermione, who watched the two interact for the first time.

              "I think Bulstrode, we might just have a deal," Winnie breathed. She didn't realize she was holding at his words. She didn't care if people liked her much — liar — but after liking Hermione and Harry, she felt the need to gain the approval of the redhead boy as well.

             Winnie glanced over her shoulder at her cousin, seeing her talking to Zacharias. She sighed, looking back at the trio, "speak of the devil," she muttered before offering the three a smile. "Gotta go see if I need to slay a beast, I'm afraid, see you around," she smiled, waving her hand before walking towards her cousin. Her smile faded as she noticed Cordelia quickly leave and slam the door behind her. The blonde stopped, throwing a sharp glare at Zach, who instantly turned and vanished away in a group of Hufflepuffs.

               "Bloody coward," the girl hissed, shaking her head. She quickly opened the door. Instantly, she was hit with a wave of fresh air. Taking in a sharp breath full of bitter, fresh air, she suddenly wished to never step inside the dusty pub ever again.

          "What was that about?" Winnie questioned as she fixed her gloves, taking out her wand and applying a weightless charm along her bags to carry them without causing her arms to weigh down like boulders.

           "He wanted to talk," Cordelia replied as Winnie furrowed her eyebrows, her head nodding as she started to walk through the snow.

           "Do you know why?" Winnie questioned slowly, her eyes watching as the new-fallen snow started covering the older footprints.

          "No, and I don't care to find out, either. It's a waste of my time," Cordelia replied thickly, sticking her chin in the air as Winnie glanced at her from the corner of her eye.

          "You're right," the girl spoke, deciding a change in subject was in order, especially after noticing Harry leave HogsHead somewhere behind them. "But I did notice something while we were inside," Winnie smirked, throwing her hair over her shoulder as she looked at Cordelia.

             "What?"

               "Harry Potter couldn't keep his eyes off you, could he?" Winnie teased, nudging her cousin with her shoulder slightly, her dark eyes sparkling as Cordelia turned to look at her. Winnie noticed the slight flush of Cordelia's cheeks even as she scowled. The eldest Bulstrode grinned, her eyes looking ahead in the snow as they walked back towards Hogwarts.

             She already knew Potter had a crush on Cordelia Flint. Having them together wouldn't be so horrid.

           That is, if they don't kill each other beforehand.

EDITED APRIL 8TH / unforunatley most of the conversations in this chapter belongs to the toad who wrote this series. ( daniel radcliffe actually wrote the series guys).