A/N: Back with another one! I apologize for being gone for a while, but I was dealing with some stuff, and I am halfway through sorting it out.

But we're not here to discuss me, so let's get this show back on the road!

This was requested to me a little while back. I don't really remember if it was requested through Tumblr or through the comments, but here it is. This is what took place during the events of Something Worth Fighting for when Rin ran out of the Hospital Wing. So, yes, this is centered around Rin.

So I guess this could technically be considered a sequel to that story? I'm not really sure.

If you haven't read Something Worth Fighting For, then you probably should so you won't be confused. XD

That's enough talking from me. You can read now. :D

- 54

Rin's feet were on autopilot as she let them guide her hurriedly up the Grand Staircase. She hadn't the slightest clue as to where her feet were guiding her, but her mind was screaming at her to just get away. Get away until things calmed down for a bit.

Her first thought was to hole herself away in the girl's dormitory of Gryffindor Tower, but that was automatically shot down because she knew her fellow Gryffindors would immediately sense something was wrong and try to get her to come out with what was bothering her.

She didn't need that right now.

Then there was the thought of finding a secluded spot somewhere in the grounds to vent her frustrations there, but at the thought of the masses of students that treaded through there on their way to the Owlery and whatnot, she shot that down as well.

Her mind continued cycling through all of the places in the school she could go to be alone as she continued her hurried pace up the stairs, not even bothering to pay any attention to the concerned looks of the students she had passed on her way up.

That's when her mind came to an abrupt halt at the image of one place in particular.

The unused classroom on the fourth floor!

Of course! Ever since her first year, that particular classroom had always been her best friend in situations like this. No one, not even a professor went in there, so it provided a quiet and peaceful atmosphere. No one would bother her there.

Rin felt like a complete bonehead for not thinking of that place sooner, but quickly forgave herself in regards of the circumstances and what kind of state her mind was in.

Her slippers made an abrupt scraping noise upon the concrete of the sixth floor as she quickly proceeded to make a U-turn back down the stairs. Many of the portraits on the Grand Staircase watched as she did so, and only one managed an attempt to call her out on her hurry.

"Oi! What's got you in such a rush, young Gryffindor?" A man in a powdered wig sitting at a table surrounded by other men with powdered wigs shouted while said men turned around in their seats to see the identity of the young Gryffindor he was addressing.

He received no answer as Rin purposely ignored his question, dashing down the stairs and skipping a step here and there as a means to make a direct beeline for the fourth floor.

Along the way back down, she blew by a conversing Kotori and Umi as they were in the midst of descending the staircase, most likely on their way down to the Hospital Wing themselves. And before the Hufflepuff or the Ravenclaw could even register who had rudely bumped into them, Rin had already disappeared through the entrance of the fourth floor.

Both girls paused in their descent to glance at each other in bewilderment, and before anything was said, they were quickly met with another ginger-haired Gryffindor, who proceeded to give them a brief explanation as to what had transpired in their absence.

The door to the disused classroom all but bursted open as Rin barged her way through, slamming it shut behind her. The dam that she was struggling to hold together finally gave way as the silent tears that were streaming down her face quickly transitioned over into a shoulder tremoring sob.

And as the tears flowed, she thought back to the confrontation out in the courtyard.

She and Honoka had caught up with Eli, Nozomi, and Nico after classes were over for the day, and when the blonde-headed Gryffindor prodded Honoka about her Transfiguration homework, the sixth-year admitted sheepishly that she had no on earthly idea how to do it.

That's when Nozomi mentioned that it was a lovely day outside and that it would be a shame if it were to go to waste. So, the five girls decided on a shady spot under a tree in the courtyard. And while Eli was helping Honoka with her assignment for Professor McGonagall, Rin sat in the grass with Nozomi and Nico, listening as the two twintailed Slytherins engaged in conversation about how Nico's family was doing, which ended with Nozomi promising to pay a visit to said family over the course of their next break from school.

And just as Eli had finished helping Honoka with her Transfiguration homework, they had been approached by three Slytherin girls. Nozomi and Nico immediately stood from the grass to place themselves protectively in front of the three Gryffindors, knowing exactly what kind of turn this was going to take.

Most of the ugly things said were directed toward Nozomi and Nico, and it looked as if neither the raven-haired girl nor the purple-haired prefect were bothered by a single one. But once Nozomi warned them they had no business here, the center of the Slytherin girls made a crack about her relationship with "Ayase" in which Eli had been dubbed condescendingly by the snobby portion of Slytherin house.

This angered the blonde as she had moved to stand by Nozomi's side, her reign as the ice queen of Gryffindor coming back out as she she addressed the three Slytherin girls in her calm and cool prefect voice. What she and Miss Toujou had going on was, indeed, none of their concern and that they needed to address Miss Toujou with respect as she was their superior as the head girl of Slytherin.

That's when the girl had paused and looked over Nico's small stature at Rin, and said in a taunting voice. 'Well, Yazawa, Toujou, I knew you were Gryffindor lovers, but mudblood lovers? Salazar Slytherin is most likely rolling in his grave on account of you two.'

Rin remembered feeling as if her heart had fallen out of her chest all the way down to her feet, accompanied by an overwhelming sense of shame. She had averted her head away from the crowd that had gathered around to see what the commotion was about, fearing to see if any of them were gawking at her like some sort of circus freak.

Honoka had moved to stand in front of her, shielding her from any kind of unwanted attention all the while glaring at the three Slytherin girls that had hurt her fellow Gryffindor's feelings.

Rin also remembered looking over Honoka's shoulder in surprise at the snarl that came from Nico.

'Take that back, Adams. Right now.' Nico had pointed a finger accusingly at the Slytherin girl, eyebrows knitted down into a glare.

'Or what, Yazawa? You know that mudblood Hoshizora is as unfit to be here just as you and Toujou there are unfit to be in Slyth-'

And before Adams could even finish her sentence, Nico ended the confrontation with a swift punch to the opposing girl's nose and took it to the ground.

Rin continued sobbing at the memory of the fight, walking to the corner of the abandoned classroom to slide down the corner wall into the floor, bringing her knees up to her chin and wrapping her arms around them.

She hadn't meant for Nico to get in trouble. Fifty points were taken away from Slytherin because of the scuffle, and she was sure one of the professors would surely reprimand Nozomi for the unruly behavior her house was showing. Eli would also probably get punished for not attempting to break up the fight. Everyone was either in trouble or going to be in trouble all because of her.

As many times as she had been called a mudblood or been talked down to for her lineage, she should have been used to it by now. It was an almost everyday thing for her now. She couldn't count how many nights she had kept both Eli and Honoka up in the Gryffindor common room because she was upset about the situation of being born into a non-magical family.

She didn't like to trouble Eli and Honoka with her fears and worries. The two of them seemed like they didn't mind, but maybe they were just being nice to her. Rin felt like she didn't deserve good friends like Eli and Honoka. Even Nico and Nozomi stood up for her, and they were Slytherins.

Slytherins weren't supposed to be friends with Gryffindors. Hell, they weren't even supposed to breathe in their direction. But somehow Nozomi and Nico both didn't care, and Rin didn't know why.

The fifth-year Gryffindor was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn't even notice when Honoka quietly opened the door and silently shut it behind her, a small, melancholic grin on her face as she watched Rin weep slightly in the corner of the room.

Without a word, Honoka made her way over to her fellow Gryffindor and chose to join her in the floor, remaining silent even as Rin continued weeping weakly.

Finally, Rin felt the presence beside her and raised her head up from her arms to look over at whoever was seated next to her.

Rin didn't say anything. She had no idea what to even say in the first place. But as Honoka sat there silenty looking into her fellow Gryffindor's tired, red from crying eyes, Rin couldn't help but release another shoulder tremoring sob as she reached over to hug the older Gryffindor.

Honoka stroked her back softly as Rin sobbed even harder into her Gryffindor vest. She couldn't count how many times she and Eli had to do this this whenever Rin had barged into the common room that evening on the brink of tears after being harrassed by a Slytherin student. It didn't happen all the time, but it happened here and there. And it seemed that no matter how much time had passed between incidents, it still weighed on Rin's mind.

Whoever said time healed wounds was spouting bullshit in Honoka's mind.

After a few moments, Rin was finally able to calm down, her breathing evening out as she came down from her sobbing fit. Honoka wanted Rin to make the first move to break the hug, and when Rin slowly released Honoka, she brought a hand up to wipe at her eyes and nose.

"How did you know I was here?" Rin asked.

Honoka's hand joined Rin's in wiping the remaining tears from her cheeks. "Ever since you were a first-year, you came into this room whenever you wanted to be alone. And being the nosey second-year I was, decided to follow you here one day because I wondered why you were upset!"

That made Rin giggle. "You followed me?"

"Yep!" Honoka nodded. "When I put my ear to the door, I heard you crying, and I panicked because I didn't know what to say to make you feel better. I stayed there in that spot at the door trying to figure out something to say to you, but before I could even think of anything, you were already finished crying, and I had to cut a trail out of there before you saw me!"

Rin giggled again, smiling slightly. "You were the first friend I made in Gryffindor when I first came here, nya."

"Do you remember when we released all those chocolate frogs in the restricted section of the library a few days before Christmas break that term?" Honoka reminisced, slightly elbowing Rin, prompting a bigger smile from the younger Gryffindor.

"Watching Filch and the librarian chase them down was the best part! And you could tell Eli was trying so hard to keep it together, nya!"

Honoka laughed. "Sometimes I look back on that and think that Eli would have given up her position on the Quidditch team just so she could have gathered up all those chocolate frogs and hid with them somewhere in the dungeon!"

Both of the Gryffindors shared a bout of laughter together before Rin spoke up. "I swear we were the ones that made Filch retire that year, nya!"

"Pshh," Honoka swatted at the air with her hand. "You know we were!"

After the laughter of the two girls died down, Rin's voice seemed to shrink as she spoke. "Is Nico okay?"

"She's more grumpy than she is hurt," Honoka replied. "But when is she not grumpy? Nozomi and Eli were still with her, and I had just went and gotten Maki from the Owlery. Kotori and Umi were on their way down a little while ago, and Kotori said Hanayo was going to be there soon, too. So, I'm sure she has plenty of visitors. Her nose is in pretty bad shape, and she's got a few cuts. That's pretty much it."

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble." Rin groaned out, burying her face back into her knees in order to prevent herself from bursting into tears again.

Honoka cocked an eyebrow in genuine confusion. "What are you talking about, Rin? You didn't do anything."

"If I hadn't been with all of you out there, this wouldn't have happened, nya. Nico wouldn't be in the hospital and Nozomi and Eli wouldn't be in trouble." said the saddened, fifth-year Gryffindor.

"You won't have to worry about them being in trouble over anything, Rin. Nozomi is supposed to talk to Professor Slughorn about it later. Actually, when you think about it, it's not really anyone's fault. I mean other than those three girls. They're the ones who should have stayed away. Not you." The older Gryffindor explained, placing a hand on Rin's shoulder.

"You heard them, Honoka. I'm nothing but a," Rin visibly swallowed hard before she spoke the last word in a hoarse voice. "Mudblood."

Honoka gritted her teeth at the derogatory word as she watched her fellow Gryffindor's eyes begin to slowly leak tears once more and knitted her eyebrows down into a glare.

"Don't you dare say that!" She hissed. "I hate hearing you talk so lowly about yourself like that! Being a muggle-born isn't a bad thing like some people make it out to be! There have been a ton of awesome wizards and witches that had non-magical parents! Hell, Rin, I'm not even half the witch you are!"

Rin laughed bitterly. "You're just saying that, nya."

"No, it's true! There have been so many chances for you to drop out of Hogwarts because of all of this crap, and not once did you even take any of those chances! You just keep going no matter what, and that's what bravery is, Rin! And trust me, words do hurt. They say sticks and stones may break your bones but words will never hurt you, but that's a lie! Words hurt! And it's okay to let your hurt out every once in a while! The Sorting Hat placed you in Gryffindor for a reason! We are all here for you! Me, you, and Eli are Gryffindor sisters! Remember when we made that pact? And Hanayo's here for you, too! She's your best friend! And Umi, Kotori, Maki, Nico, and Nozomi are here for you! Nico doesn't just fight for anyone, you know!"

Tears were falling from Rin's eyes for completely different reasons now, and she could also see the glistening of tears in Honoka's eyes, but they weren't falling. What the older Gryffindor just said was absolutely right.

There were so many times when Rin was so tired of Slytherin's harrassment that she had written letters to her parents about it, and they had written her back saying that it would be completely okay if she wanted to leave Hogwarts. But, she didn't want that. If she had tucked tail and ran away from the problem instead of facing it, that wouldn't have been how a true Gryffindor handled a situation. She sure wasn't going to face it alone, either. She had her Gryffindor sisters and six other friends to help her with this. Yes, she was a little insecure about the Hoshizora lineage, but in her friends' eyes that didn't matter. She was just like one of them.

But there was one thing Rin still couldn't quite comprehend.

"Nico and Nozomi are Slytherins," Rin began as she wiped the tears from her face. "They're supposed to hate Gryffindors and muggle-borns, aren't they, nya? Why do they even bother with us?"

At this question, Honoka smiled. "Slytherin does have a reputation for having a lot of jerks, but not all Slytherins are mean! There's actually quite a few of them besides Nico and Nozomi that are actually really nice! It's people like Adams and those other two girls that give Slytherin a bad name!"

Rin remembered how Nico and Nozomi both had taken those ugly remarks from the three Slytherin students in stride. She had seen how it didn't bother either of them in the slightest. They must have been so used to it that it didn't bother them anymore. Rin had no idea how they did it, but she was very thankful for the twintailed girls.

"So, feeling better?" Honoka prodded, the tears in her eyes long dried up.

Rin sniffled, but nodded with a smile. She did feel better.

"Good," Honoka patted the younger Gryffindor's head and wrapped her into a split-second, one-armed hug. "Now, if you're ready to get out of here, we can either go back to the others or we can just head on up to the common room, throw a sheet over our heads, and scare the first years! I'm leaving that up to you!"

And Rin knew exactly which one she wanted to do. The others could wait.

A/N: So, yeah, Eli, Honoka, and Rin made a pact a little while ago that they were Gryffindor sisters. Ain't it cute?

Honoka did say that not all Slytherins are mean, and coming from a true Slytherin myself, I have to agree. Slytherin needs a little more love every now and then!

So, you know about the NicoMaki and NozoEli relationships. You had a little bit of insight on the KotoUmi relationship. You've gotten a small glimpse of some of the girls and their backgrounds. There will be more to come. Trust me. :)

- 54