Y/Ns POV

The next morning, the four of us sat down in the Great Hall for breakfast. As we ate, Mum started to march down the rows, handing out the time tables for the new year.

Next to us, Fred, George, and Lee Jordan were discussing a plan to age themselves up so they could put their names forward into the Goblet of Fire.

Wouldn't catch me doing that.

"Today's not bad.....outside all morning." Ron said with his mouth full. "Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures....bloody hell, were still with the Slytherins."

"Double Divination this afternoon." Harry groaned.

"We'll suffer together, mate." I replied as Harry rolled his eyes.

"You know, you should have given it up, boys, just like I did." Hermione said.

"I don't have a choice." I replied. "I have to take it. Hopefully Trelawney won't think of another way Harry will die."

"That's a given at this point."

All of a sudden, hundreds of different colored owls burst in through the ceiling, all were carrying different sized objects. O/N had brought me some letters from my Dad and Uncle, but surprisingly, there were no parcels for Harry.

And it's been a few weeks.

Harry shrugged as we all made our way to the Greenhouses to begin the first lesson of the year.

Greenhouse three was pretty eventful, Professor Sprout had brought in more dangerous plants from the year before. She even brought in a plant that looked like a bunch of giant black slugs were sticking out of the soil.

"Bubotubers." Professor Sprout said. "They need squeezing. You will need to collect the pus-"

"The what, now?" Tyler Lane, a Hufflepuff, asked.

"Pus, Mr. Lane." Professor Sprout replied. "It's extremely valuable, so do not waste it. You will collect the pus, I say, in these bottles. Wear your dragon-hide gloves, it can do funny things to the skin when undiluted, Bubotuber pus."

The entire lesson was quite disgusting, the pus was oozing everywhere. It was a thick, greenish substance that smelled strongly of petrol.

By the end of the lesson, the greenhouse smelled of a mixture of petrol and pus.

"This'll keep Madam Pomfrey happy." Professor Sprout said. "An excellent remedy for the more stubborn forms of acne, Bubotuber pus. Should stop students resorting to desperate measures to rid themselves of pimples."

"Like Eloise Midgeon." Seamus snickered. "Poor girl tried to curse hers off."

As the lesson ended, we peeled away from the Hufflepuffs and made our way to Care Of Magical Creatures with Hagrid.

He was already in his front steps of his caving when we arrived. As we drew nearer, Fang, who was sitting right next to Hagrid, started barking and launched himself towards Harry, knocking him to the ground in the process.

"Hello, Fang." Harry laughed as Fang started to lick him.

Hagrid rushed over as we all laughed.

"Sorry about that, Harry." Hagrid said. Pulling Fang back so Harry could stand up. "Never seen him act like tha'."

"It's alright, Hagrid." Harry said as he dusted himself off.

We learned about Blast-Ended Skrewts this lesson, which looked like deformed lobsters. Very pale and slimy looking, with legs sticking out all over everywhere.

Despite all the sliminess, and Malfoy being a gif, it was a very enjoyable lesson.

———————————————————————————

And the next day, we had our first DATDA class with Professor Moody.

"Alastair Moody." He bellowed as he wrote his name on the blackboard. "Ex-Auror. Ministry Malcontent. And your new Defense Against The Dark Arts Teacher." He finished writing and chucked the piece of chalk at Kierans head.

"Oi!" He said.

"I'm here because Dumbledore asked me, end of story, goodbye, THE END." He said as he looked intently at us. "Any questions?"

I like this guy, gets right to the point.

"When it comes to the dark arts." He continued. "I believe in a more practical approach."

"CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He shouted, which scared mostly everyone in the class. "But first, which of you can tell me how many unforgivable curses there are?"

Hermione shook as we all watched Moody. "Three, sir."

"And they are so named?"

"Because they are unforgivable. The use of any one of them will..."

"Earn you a one way ticket to AZ-KA-BAN!" He shouted. "Correct. Now the Ministry says you're too young to see what curses do. I say different! You need to know what your up against, you need to be prepared, you need to find somewhere else to put your chewing gum other than the UNDERSIDE OF YOUR DESK, MR. FINNEGAN!"

We all turned to stare at Seamus, who had an uneasy look on his face. "There's no way the old codger can see out of the back of his head."

Moody turned around and chucked the piece of chalk directly at Seamus's face.

"AND HEAR ACROSS CLASSROOMS! So which curse shall we see first? WEASLEY?"

Ron shot up from his seat and looked at Moody nervously.

"Yes.." he said.

"Give us a curse."

"Well, my Dad did tell me about one...the Imperious Curse."

"Ah yes." Moody said. "Your father would know all about that one. Gave the Ministry quite a bit of grief a few years ago. Perhaps this will show you why..."

He walked back as he popped a jar open and took a spider from the jar, causing Ron to look a bit scared.

"Oh, what a little beauty." Moody said as he held the spider in his hand.

"IMPERIO!"

He flicked his wand and the spider flew towards a desk. "Don't worry. Completely harmless." He said as he lowered his wand, hovering the spider over Ron's head. "But if she bites....she's lethal!"

Wow, very reassuring.

Malfoy laughed from the corner. "What are you laughing at?" Moody shouted as he put the spider on Malfoy's face as we all bellowed with laughter.

"Talented, isn't she?" Moody laughed. "What shall I have her do next? Jump out the window?" He directed the spider towards the window.

"Drown herself?" He lowered the spider on top of a bucket of water.

The spider wriggled around, almost as if it was begging to not be drowned.

"Scores of witches and wizards have claimed they only did You-Know-Who's bidding under the influence of the Imperious Curse." Moody explained. "But how do we sort out the liars? Another, another..." He said as he scanned the room before finding Neville at the front my of the room next to us.

"Longbottom, is it? Up."

Neville stood up nervously and followed Moody to the front of the class.

"Professor Sprout tells me you have an aptitude for Herbology. Give us a curse."

"There's the um..." Neville said. "The Crutiatus Curse."

"Correct, correct!" Moody said. "Particularly nasty. The torture curse."

"CRUCIO!"

Suddenly, the spider ached with pain. Neville clearly could feel the same pain.

And surprisingly, so could I.

My head was splitting with pain, almost as if this has happening to me before. I continued to grab my head in pain as Hermione looked at me worryingly, then back towards Neville, who looked very frightened.

It felt like the pain was never going to stop, until Hermione had decided that she had enough.

"Stop it!" She yelled. "Can't you see it's bothering them? Stop it!"

As Moody stopped, the pain in my head stopped as well. He then brought the spider over to me and Hermione.

"Perhaps....you could give us the last unforgivable curse, Miss Granger."

She shook her head in discomfort as I looked at Moody. "Mr. L/N!" Moody exclaimed. "It seems Miss Granger isn't comfortable enough to give us the last curse. Would you mind answering for her?"

"I-I'd perfer not s-sir." I stuttered. I was still pretty traumatized about what had just happened.

He continued to stare angrily at me, and I knew I wasn't getting out of this one.

"Fine, it's the k-killing curse."

"Yes." Moody said as he drew the wand to the spider and shouted,

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

And just like that, the spider dropped dead as I stared at it.

As Moody killed the spider, I remembered my dream from first year on Christmas.

When I saw my Mother killed by Voldemort.

With the exact same curse.

Hermione must have noticed my tense state, because she moved closer and grabbed my hand in comfort. I gave her a small smile, but I was still very scared over what I had just saw.

"The killing curse." Moody solemnly said. "Only one person has been known to survive it, and he's sitting in this room." He said as he approached Harry.

This whole class was traumatizing for my liking.

I wonder what the hell just happened with me.

———————————————————————————

Hermione's POV

"Brilliant, isn't he?" Ron asked us as we walked out of the classroom. "Completely demented, of course. Terrifying to be in the same room with, he's been there, you know?"

We were done with the class, but Y/N looked clearly disturbed after Moody had demonstrated the killing curse. Frankly, I couldn't blame him.

"There's a reason those curses are unforgivable." I said as I grabbed Y/Ns hand. "And to perform them in a classroom. I mean, Ron, did you see Neville's, or Y/Ns face?"

I looked back at Y/N, who had not said a word since the class ended.

"Are you going to be alright?" I asked worryingly.

"I don't know, Hermione." He said. "I really don't know, I hope Neville's okay though."

Speaking of Neville, the four of us looked towards him as Professor Moody came around and patted Neville's shoulder. "Son? You alright?" Moody asked kindly.

Neville nodded a little as he got up. "Come on, we'll have a cup of tea," he said. "I want to show you something."

We were about to walk away until Moody's eye rotated to us.

"L/N." He said. "I'm sorry for doing that in front of you, must've reminded you of your Mum, yeh?"

"Just a bit sir." Y/N replied.

"You lot have a good day." Moody smiled as he walked with Neville.

"Listen, I'm going to be by myself for a bit." Y/N said. "I'll see you guys later."

"Do you want me to come with you?" I asked. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Mione." he said as he gave a soft smile. "I'll see you guys tonight."

He then took off ahead of us, walking off to Merlin knows where.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" Ron asked as i elbowed him in the stomach.

"Shut up, Billius."

———————————————————————————

It's been a few hours since our DATDA class had ended. Instead of being in the Common Room with Harry and Ron while they were playing Wizards Chess, I was in the library, doing something that I've been thinking about since Winky's incident at the World Cup.

I was going to find a way to give elf's more rights. I had a pile of books that I had been reading for the past few hours, and I was trying to create pins for a new club I was going to start.

I was having trouble coming up with a name however.

My favorite one was "Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status."

But that is quite a mouthful.

Plus it wouldn't fit on any of my pins.

Eventually, I came up with "The Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare." Or 'SPEW' for short.

As happy as I was that I finally figured out a name, I was growing really concerned for Y/N.

I had not seen him since he had left us after the lesson with Moody. When he showed us the curses, Y/N looked really scared.

Suddenly, I felt a nudge to my ankle underneath the table. It was Gracie, she must have came over to the library. She then gave a sad meow, almost as if she was also very nervous about Y/N.

"Hi, Gracie." I said as she jumped into my lap. "You wanna go find Y/N? Let's go."

I placed her onto the table as I went to go put my books away. When I came back, Gracie jumped onto my shoulder as I picked up the giant box of pins that I had organized, and left the library.

There's only one place that Y/N goes whenever he wants to be alone.

And that's the Astronomy Tower.

I carried the box all the way up to the top and sure enough, Y/N was standing near an opening around the tower.

"Y/N?" I asked softly.

"That's how she died." He said sadly. "That curse is how she died."

I placed the box onto the ground and walked towards him, wrapping my arms around him in a tight hug.

"What are you doing here, Mione." He said.

"I was worried about you." I responded. "And it seems like I wasn't the only one."

Gracie then came over and jumped onto Y/Ns shoulder, rubbing her head against his.

"Hey, girl." Y/N said as he stroked her fur. "I'm sorry for worrying you, I just needed some time alone."

"She would be proud, you know." I said. "Your Mum."

"I'm the reason she died, Mione." He said. "If she wasn't trying to protect me, she wouldn't have died."

"Y/N M/N L/N!" I scolded. "Don't you ever say that, your Mother died to ensure that you were safe! If she hadn't done that, you wouldn't be here right now, would you?"

"You're right Mione." He said softly. "I'm sorry."

"That's quite alright." I said, while continuing to hug him. "She would have been proud of the man you are becoming."

"I hope so." He said with a small smile.

I can never get enough of his smile, probably one of the biggest things I love about him.

"I'm happy you came." He said. "Thank you for doing that."

"Always."

"What's in that box by the way?" He turned his head to look at my box.

"It's something I've been working on, would you mind carrying it to the Common Room for me?" I asked.

"Could you at least tell me what it is?"

"That is something I will tell you once we are back."

"Mione, you're no fun."

"Just shut it and help me." I laughed.

Y/N carried the box to the Common Room with Gracie on his shoulder, where he continued to ask me what was in the box.

"Is it my birthday present?"

"No, but that will come later."

"Is it a ton of books?"

"Something like that."

"Is it a dragon? Because that would be bloody amazing if it was a dragon."

"No! How could you think of something as ridiculous as that?" I laughed.

"Well, it was just a thought...."

"We're here now, so you'll see."

Y/Ns POV

"I'm back!" Hermione said as we entered the Common Room. "And I've brought Y/N with me!"

"Hey, Y/N!" Harry said.

"You alright, mate?" Ron asked.

"I'm good, just needed some time alone." I said as they nodded.

"What's in the box?" Ron asked.

"I've been asking Hermione the entire way over here."

"Funny you should ask," Hermione said as she took the lid off the box, motioning her arms as if she was telling us to look inside.

Inside the box were dozens of badges, all with different colors, but all were bearing the same letters.

S.P.E.W

"These are nice." I said as I grabbed a blue pin.

"Yep, took an hour or so in the library but I think they're good." Hermione smiled.

"Spew?" Harry asked. "What's this about?"

"Not spew. It's S.P.E.W. It stands for the Society for the Promotion of Elvish Welfare."

"Never heard of it." Ron said.

"Well of course you haven't. I've only just started it." Hermione exclaimed.

"I like it!" I said while putting on a badge. "I'm in!"

Hermione gave me a wide smile as she continued to explain.

"I was going to put 'Stop the Outrageous Abuse of Our Fellow Magical Creatures and Campaign for a Change in Their Legal Status, but that wouldn't fit on the badge. I've been researching it in the library. Elf enslavement goes back centuries. I can't believe no ones done anything about it before now!"

"Hermione, open your ears. They. Like. It. They like being enslaved!"

"Our short term aims! Are you secure house elves fair wages as well as better working cond-"

"Hermione, I'm going to stop you right there." I said as Hermione glared at me.

"Maybe we turn that into a long term goal and start out small, like maybe we we get people to recognize what is going on with house elves currently.....informing the people what house elves go through on a daily basis."

"That's a great idea, Y/N!" Hermione smiled, allowing me to breathe properly again.

"I was thinking we start by posting notices on the school notice board. That way, people will know about our cause. Then we start by recruiting members to join." Hermione said.

"And I can hand out badges and recruit members that way." I said while putting the box of badges on a nearby chair.

"I was thinking two Sickles to join-that buys a badge-and the proceeds can fund our leaflet campaign."

Now, we're getting somewhere.

"More badges sold, more money to fund even bigger things! Like protests!"

"Ronald!" Hermione exclaimed to Ron, who was eating some chocolate frogs that were stuffed into his pocket.

I'm not even going to ask.

"Hmm?" He asked while shoving a frog in his mouth.

"Okay, first of all, ew. Second, you're treasurer, I've got a collecting pin upstairs." Hermione said.

"Harry, you're secretary, so you might want to write all of this down after everything that we've just said, as a record of our first meeting. Y/N, you are Vice President of S.P.E.W, just below me."

"Sounds good to me, Madam President." I said as Hermione beamed.

"We should get to bed." Harry said. "It's a bit late."

As we went up to the boys dorms, Hermione grabbed my shoulder.

"I have something else for you, Y/N," she said. "If you don't mind."

"Not at all." I said as she guided me to the couch.

"With all the lunacy that happened at the World Cup, I never got to properly give you your birthday present." She said as she pulled a small box out of her bag. "I really hope you like it."

She placed the box into my hand. It was small, and covered in black leather.

I opened the box, and inside was an alluring golden ring, with a green gemstone in the middle.

"It's a peridot." Hermione said. "It's the gemstone for August, I thought it would be fitting since you got me this necklace last year."

"Hermione, I don't know what to say." I said while looking at the ring in awe.

"If you don't want it, I can take it back it's really-"

I immediately hugged her to stop her from saying anything else. After a few seconds she reciprocated the hug.

"I love it, Mione." I said with a smile. "I absolutely love it. But you really didn't have to spend this much on me."

"I know." She said. "I wanted to though."

"Thank you so much, Mione." I said while slipping the ring onto my finger.

"Perfect fit." I smirked. "And speaking of birthdays, I'll give you your present right now."

"You really don't have to." Hermione said. "I can wait."

"I insist."

"I raced up to my dorm room to grab Ron's present. Ron was still eating. Arcturian Ren and Cody Greyback were talking, and the others were sleeping.

Cody was a werewolf that didn't have a whole lot of friends when he first started at Hogwarts because of his condition, but eventually, we realized he's pretty cool, he insured he was taking his potion every month, but we were still cautious around him.

I grabbed a parcel from my trunk, and before Ron could question anything, I walked out of the room and made my way back downstairs, where Hermione was petting Crookshanks and Gracie, who were sitting on the couch next to her.

"Happy early birthday, Hermione." I said while handing her the parcel. "It's not as extravert as years past, but I think you'll like this one."

She smiled as she opened the parcel, which revealed itself to be Hogwarts a History.

"Y/N." She asked, looking very confused. "I already have two copies of Hogwarts a History."

"Go ahead an open it." I said as she opened to the front page, where it was revealed to have been signed by Bathilda Bagshot herself.

"Had to go through quite a bit to get that." I laughed.

She smiled widely at me, before wrapping her arms around me.

"Thank you so much, Y/N." She said.

"Oh that's not all." I said to her confusion as I turned a few pages, until I reached today's date.

"On September 2nd of 1994, Hermione Granger revived Hogwarts a History."

"It's charmed to keep up with recent history." I said as she looked at the page with awe. "And if you go back a bit farther, it shows when we all met at Hogwarts."

She turned a few pages back, where it showed me and Harry in the Chamber with the Basilisk.

"On May 29th of 1993, Y/N L/N slayed the Monster inside the Chamber of Secrets, sacrificing himself in the process."

"I'm still mad at you for that." Hermione said in a stern tone.

"You can thank Fawkes for saving me." I laughed as Hermione continued to glare at me, before hugging me tightly once again.

"Thank you so much, Y/N." She said. "You are undoubtedly, the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, I'm so thankful to have met you in Diagon Alley years ago."

Now was the time, I had to tell her how I felt. This was the perfect time to do so.

"Hermione, i have to tell you something." I said.

"I—"

"MEOW!"

Before I could say anything else, we turned our heads to see Crookshanks looking towards us.

Damn it cat.

"Bad Crookshanks." Hermione scolded. "You do no interrupt others when they are trying to speak."

Gracie even smacked Crookshanks with her paw as if she was trying to tell him the same thing.

I've taught her well.

"What did you want to tell me, Y/N?" Hermione asked.

I really wanted to tell her my feelings for her, but Crookshanks kind of ruined the moment.

"Another time, Mione." I said. "I promise."

And hopefully, nothing screws this up.

"Okay." Hermione smiled before resting her head on my shoulder.

"Does that mean you're going to get rid of the issue Terry gave you?"

"Most likely."

"Splendid." I said as she smiled.

"Thank you, Y/N." She said. "Happy late birthday."

"Always." I said. "And thank you for the ring."

"Your welcome." She smiled. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mione."

We then drifted off to sleep on the couch, with the cats coming to join us as well.

———————————————————————————

Triwizard Tournament

The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at six o'clock on Friday the thirtieth of October. Lessons will end half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and assemble in front of the castle to greet our guests before the Welcoming Feast.

"This is brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "It's Potions last thing Friday!"

"Thank Merlin."

"I've heard Cedric wants to enter the tournament." Kieran said. "I hope it's him, or a Gryffindor."

"A Gryffindor would be better." Ron said.

"Who do you think is going to put their name forward?" I asked Ron.

"Angelina said she'd have a go," Harry said. "Fred and George will probably find some way to get in..."

"Fred and George will do what?" The twins appeared out of nowhere.

"You're going to try and get into the tournament, aren't you?" Ron asked.

"Do you expect anything else?" Fred said.

"Are you going to little Ronnikins?" George asked.

"No."

"Harry and Y/N will, won't you?" Fred asked us.

"I've had my fair share of near death experience's." Harry said. "I'm sitting out this one."

"No chance in hell I'm going to." I said. "Like Harry said, I've had enough near death experiences."

———————————————————————————

The day was October 30th, and after lessons that day, we all rushed to our dormitories to drop off our belongings before racing back down to the Entrance Hall and out the front doors. The Heads of Houses ordered their students in line.

"Weasley, straighten your hat." Mum ordered. "Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair....Follow me, please. First years in front...no pushing..."

"It's nearly six." Ron said as we waited by the fron gates. "How d'you reckon their coming? The train?"

"Doubt it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Doesn't seem likely they will show up without making an entrance."

"Broomsticks?" Harry suggested.

"From that far away?" I asked. "Would be quite impressive though."

"Maybe they'll Apparate in." Ron said. "You might be allowed to do it under seventeen where they come from,"

"How many times do we have to say it." I said while rubbing my forehead.

"You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds." Me and Hermione said simultaneously.

"It was just a suggestion..."

Eventually, Dumbledore had spotted the Beaubaxtons approaching.

"Where?" Many student said eagerly.

"There!" Yelled Koen Moore, a Slytherin student. He pointed towards the Forbidden Forest. Where something large was flying over at fast speeds over the Forest and towards the castle.

"It's a dragon!" Elijah Farrell called out.

"Don't be silly....it's a flying house!" Thea shouted.

And she was right, a giant flying carriage being drawn by a dozen winged horses had flown down. The creatures were about the size of elephants. Some students in the front had to back up to avoid not being trampled by the winged horses.

A boy jumped out of the carriage and pulled out a large set of golden stairs, before stepping out of the way to allow someone else out. This person looked nothing like anyone else who followed after her.

To put it lightly, she was a giant.

Dumbledore started to clap, and we followed shortly after. The woman approached Dumbledore and extended a hand towards him.

"My dear Madame Maxine," Dumbledore said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."

"Dumbly-dorr," The woman said. "I 'ope I find you well?"

"On excellent form, I thank you."

"My pupils," Madame Maxine waved a gigantic hand forward behind her at all of her students. Which were a mixture of both males and females in the group. A majority of them in their late teens.

Everyone was dressed in pale, blue robes as the girls bowed and let out a "Ah..."

Nearly every boy was staring at them, especially at a blonde girl that stood out amongst the rest.

She was quite pretty, but I know a certain someone who's prettier.

Following after her, were two redheads that were very familiar.

Heather, and Natasha, the girl we met at the World Cup. Heather noticed us and gave us a small smile before continuing to follow her fellow students.

Following behind, were three other students, one of them had looked over at us to see what Heather was looking at, until she laid her eyes on me, before giving a small smirk, and continuing on her way.

Weird.

"Can you hear something?" Ron suddenly said.

It was a weird, rumbling noise, and it was coming from the lake.

The surface of the Lake began to ripple, and then in the center, a whirlpool appeared.

"It's a mast!" Hermione yelled. "There's a ship rising from the Black Lake."

There was a great splashing sound, that's when the ship erupted from the Lake and steadied itself onto the shoreline. A group of men walked off the boat and made their way across the grounds.

The men were wearing shaggy cloaks. All except one who was wearing sleek and silver fur.

"Dumbledore!" The man cried out. "My dear fellow, how are you?"

"Blooming, thank you, Professor Kakaroff," Dumbledore replied.

"Dear old Hogwarts. How good it is to be here, how good.....Viktor, come along into the warmth...you dont mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."

"Oh bloody fucking hell." I heard Sam mutter from next to me.

"Y/N! Harry! It's Krum!" Ron exclaimed. "I don't believe it! It's bloody Krum! Viktor Bloody Krum!"

"Goodness, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player." Hermione said.

"Right?" I said. "He's not that great."

However, as Krum passed us, he looked over towards our group, Hermione especially.

And for whatever reason, when he looked at her for a few seconds, I started to get really pissed off.

Jealous even.