[A/N: Gah. It's been a while, and I apologize profusely for that. But you probably don't want to listen to me ramble on about why I haven't updated in an age. Instead, here is the next chapter, and hopefully it meets your approval.]

The first day of classes dawned bright and early, and Al, being a naturally late sleeper, had a hard time forcing himself to wake up. When he finally managed to drag himself out of bed, he found the dormitory was already empty (though, he wasn't exactly surprised at this). There were only three of them in his year. Besides Scorpius and himself, there was Sean Finnegan. Al and Scorpius weren't very close with him; Sean preferred to hang out with his Ravenclaw friends whenever he had the chance, which suited Al just fine. Summer wasn't very close with her roommates either. They were twins named Brandy and Gin, and Summer always said that they were nice but that she had nothing in common with them. Al really wasn't surprised.

Al did little more than brush his teeth and run a hand through his hopelessly messy hair before walking down to breakfast, where his friends were already well underway with their meal. Summer was eating what was probably her second plate of food, and Scorpius' nose was buried in a book. He quickly scanned its pages, taking a bite of toast every so often. Al sat down next to Summer and began dishing eggs and bacon on his plate.

"What's up with you?" he asked Scorpius.

Scorpius looked at Al over the top of the book. "What do you mean?"

As if reading Al's mind, Summer joined in. "You're reading."

Scorpius' brow furrowed. "What?"

"You're reading at a much slower pace than usual," said Al.

"Yes. Usually you read as fast as you can turn the pages," continued Summer.

"But right now it's actually possible to tell that you're reading-"

"-and not expeditiously searching your book for an arbitrary fact of infinitesimal importance," finished Summer.

Both of them stared at her.

"What?" she asked defensively. "I read too. My vocabulary is extensive."

They ignored her.

"I really like this book, so I decided to savor it," said Scorpius.

Summer and Al snorted. Scorpius scowled and disappeared behind the pages once again.

"Hey, where's Rose?" asked Al, suddenly noticing her absence.

"She's sitting with her Ravenclaw friends," Summer informed him. "She said that she'd sit with us at lunch."

They continued eating in silence until Neville came to hand out their schedules.

"Hello, you three," he said brightly.

"Hello, Professor Longbottom," said Scorpius.

"Hello, Uncle Neville," said Al.

"Mmmgph." Summer swallowed her food and cleared her throat sheepishly. "Sorry."

Neville shook his head in amusement. He was probably the laxest teacher on the planet and everyone knew it. He also held an especial fondness for all the members of the Weasleys, Potters, and family friends (especially if they happened to be Gryffindors).

"It's no wonder you fit in with the Weasleys and Potters. You act just like them."

"You mean like some of them," said Al, throwing Summer a look. She stuck her tongue out at him.

Neville laughed. "Alright, here you go," he said handing them three schedules.

Scorpius put his book away to look at his. "Excellent," he said. "We have Transfiguration first."

The four friends had nearly all their classes together. Scorpius, Rose, and Summer all took Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, while Al did not; and Summer had dropped History of Magic along with him. Besides that, they all took the basic five together.

"Oh, and before I forget," said Neville. He handed Al another piece of paper. "Here are the names of Quidditch hopefuls." He grinned. "Every year a Potter has captained the team, we've won the Quidditch cup." He clapped Al on the back and left.

Al looked down at the paper with a scowl. "He just had to say it, didn't he?" he muttered.

"Hey, that reminds me," said Summer, turning to Al. "You have to replace two people on the team this year. Unless, you know, you kick one of us off or something."

Al shook his head. "I'm not kicking anyone off. You're all bloody brilliant." That earned him a smack on the back of the head, but Summer grinned as she did it.

Al sighed and put the paper away. "I'll deal with it when I come to it."

Rose came over at that moment, schedule in hand.

"Looks like we're going to have most of our classes together, again," she said.

"Why wouldn't we? We're taking the same things as last year," Al pointed out.

Rose threw a glare in his direction, but it quickly turned into a grin as she sat down beside Scorpius. "This year is going to be great. I can feel it."

"It's N.E.W.T. year," said Al skeptically. "How is it going to be anything but torturous?"

"It's going to be great because I'm going to get more O's than Scorpius this year."

Scorpius choked. "What?"

"You heard me," said Rose with a smirk. "You got more O's than me in O.W.L. year, but his year you won't be so lucky!"

Scorpius crossed his arms. "What makes you think you can get more O's than me."

Rose cackled. "Because this year I know your secret! You only got more O's than me in O.W.L.s because you cheated!"

Scorpius gaped at her. "I did not cheat!"

"You did!"

"No I didn't!"

"You're a liar and a cheater!"

"How did I cheat?"

"You have a photographic memory!"

"That's not cheating!"

"Yes it is!"

"No it isn't!"

"Tell him, Summer!" Rose ordered.

"It's not cheating," said Summer.

"There you see? It is tota-what?" She blinked at Summer. "How can you say that?"

"Because the tests weren't all written," Summer reminded her. "There was the practical too. And we all know that bit is harder."

Rose opened and closed her mouth a few times, doing a very good impression of a fish.

Scorpius gave Summer a grateful look.

"You're only saying that," said Rose, pointing at Summer, "because you only passed your tests due to his cheating."

"Oh, come on!" protested Scorpius. "How did I help her pass her tests?"

"Well, I will give you that," Summer told Rose, and Scorpius threw up his hands in exasperation.

"How's that?" asked Al with a frown.

"Don't you remember?" Summer asked him. "Every time we tried to have a conversation with him during fifth year?"

Al thought back. "Oh yeah," he said.

"What are you on about now?" asked Scorpius, miffed.

Summer laughed. "It was a bit hard to have a conversation with you. I would be all, 'Hey, Scorpius, want to go down to the kitchens with me?' and you would be all like, 'The goblin wars started in 1438 because Gruffrut the Scourge killed the ambassador to France'."

"What?!" cried Rose and Scorpius together.

"I never said that!"

"The Goblin wars did not start in 1438-"

"And there was no goblin ever called Gruffrut-"

"The war started in-"

"Oh, shut up." Summer sighed. "You completely missed the point. Besides, I already got all that in fifth year and I don't need it now. I could care less about when the Goblin Wars started."

By this time, Al was having a very hard time keeping in his laughter. Especially considering both Rose and Scorpius were now looking at Summer like she had just killed a puppy and eaten it for dinner. Al suddenly imagined Summer offering him a bit of roast puppy and saying, "Try it. It's puppylicious." He sobered immediately and shivered in disgust. Why would he even think of such a thing? He'd obviously been around crazy people too long.

Unsurprisingly, the food didn't look quite so appetizing anymore. Al hurriedly checked his watch. "Come on, we're going to be late." With that, he jumped up and ran out of the Hall as fast as he could.

They had plenty of time to spare once they had taken their seats in the Transfiguration classroom, since Al had rushed them all out of the Great Hall. Al didn't mind, as it gave him time to think. He couldn't help but feel some sadness when he realized that this was to be their very last first Transfiguration class of the year. The class itself was taught by a short, gray-haired man named Professor Coombs. At first sight, he appeared as strict as McGonagall, but in reality he acted a lot more like Neville. Perhaps not quite so lenient, though.

Just as everyone had expected, the class started off with a lecture about N.E.W.T.s. and their importance for their futures. When he happened to ask a question, Rose's hand shot up in the air while Scorpius muttered the answer under his breath. It had always been like this. Rose got the know-it-all tendency from her mother and couldn't wait to be the one to answer a question. Scorpius however was incredibly brilliant though he never showed it. That was the reason that for years, everybody thought that Rose was the smartest in the class, including her. Scorpius had actually been scoring higher than anybody for years. Then when O.W.L. year came and Scorpius received eight O's while Rose only got received seven, Rose was furious. That was the year that Scorpius finally told her that he had a photographic memory. Rose called it cheating, but Al agreed with Summer. Doing well in school took a lot more than memorizing the material. It took a lot of practice and perseverance—something that Scorpius took very seriously.

Al received a jab in the ribs by Summer, and he realized that he had been zoned out for nearly the entire lecture. Not exactly the best way to start off the year.

He looked around. Students were waving their wands in a haphazard fashion, muttering under their breath, and some were even turning a bit purple in the face from concentration. Nothing actually seemed to be happening though, so Al was lost.

"What are we doing?" he whispered to Summer.

She sighed. "We are trying to conjure up a cup."

Al looked at the other students again. "And how exactly are we supposed to do that?"

Summer sighed again. "Like that," she said, pointing to Scorpius.

Scorpius had conjured up a plain glass and was levitating it in the air, triumphantly. Rose, who was sitting next to him, gave his cup a dirty look and conjured a wine glass.

Al didn't see that as particularly challenging, but Scorpius obviously did, because he smirked at her and promptly conjured up a jeweled goblet. Within seconds the desk in front of them was littered with cups of all different shapes, sizes, and patterns.

Al got the feeling that they had been practicing over the summer.

When professor Coombs came over, he was beaming.

"Well done!" he cried. "Well done indeed! Twenty points to Gryffindor. I can see that you won't be having any problems with that one!"

He turned to Al and Summer. "Now, let's see you try."

Al, who didn't have the slightest idea what he was doing (trust Rose and Scorpius to do everything nonverbally just to mess him up), waved his wand in the same haphazard fashion that he had witnessed earlier, and somehow enveloped himself in a cloud of purple smoke. He coughed and spluttered, trying to wave the smoke away but seeming to just make it worse.

It suddenly vanished, and Al saw a bemused professor Coombs with his wand out. "Never mind, we can't all be as good as Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley. But I would suggest practicing that one a bit more before next lesson."

He turned to Summer. "What about you Miss-"

His sentence died. Now that the smoke was gone, everyone had a full view of Summer's desk, or more accurately, what once had been Summer's desk. Because what now stood in front of Summer was a golden Shetland pony, blinking around in confusion. Summer was staring at it open-mouthed.

"Good heavens!" cried professor Coombs excitedly, forgetting that the pony shouldn't have been there at all. "That's a marvelous bit of transfiguration, Miss Winters. How did you do it?"

"Well," said Summer slowly, "I'm not quite sure. I think I may have gotten the spell wrong, though."

Practically everyone's eyebrows shot up. Scorpius seemed to be holding in laughter.

"Gee, you think?" whispered one particularly rude Slytherin boy.

"Erm… yes… well then," said the Professor.

At that moment, the bell rang; and quick as lightning, nearly the entire class had bolted from the room. Summer lingered at the door, and the others waited for her.

Coombs sighed and shook his head. "Ah well, it won't hurt to let them have one day." He waved his wand and the pony turned back into a desk.

Summer sighed and turned away. "I wish I could have kept it."

Al raised his eyebrows. "Why? What would you do with it?"

Summer shrugged, but she still hung her head morosely.

Sometimes, Al just couldn't figure her out.

Apparently, the story of Summer's mishap with the desk was quite interesting to the general population of Hogwarts, especially the Slytherin girls, though it was less about the pony and more about making fun of Summer. Many of them snickered at her and made rude comments about her spell work. Summer bore all the taunts in good humor, but when one particularly nasty girl asked if Summer had had to sleep with the examiner to pass her Transfiguration O.W.L., Al saw red. He had to be physically restrained by Scorpius to not go for his wand. Summer looked a bit pale after that and she got unusually quiet. Al exchanged nervous glances with Scorpius and Rose. After all, Summer hardly ever let barbs like that get to her. Scorpius just shook his head slightly, and Al took it to mean that she just needed a bit of space for a while.

So they talked amongst themselves and left her to her thoughts. Eventually, she joined in and she appeared to be herself again.

Al was glad when it was time for Defense against the Dark Arts and he could forget the things the Slytherins had said for a little while.

The group made their way up to the third floor, eagerly anticipating what was sure to be a hard, yet brilliant lesson. Taught by ex-Auror Phil Waverly (who, incidentally, had been in the position for three years now), the class was one of the hardest anyone had ever taken. Waverly had been having them do everything nonverbally since the middle of fifth year.

They took their seats and waited for the remainder of the class to file in. Right as the bell rang, Professor Waverly entered the classroom from his office and went to stand behind his desk. He was tall and broad shouldered, and he had a commanding presence that demanded respect. He fixed them all with a stern stare and started his lecture.

"We are now entering our final year of study in this class. This is your final chance to prepare yourself. Your final grade in this class does not matter to me as much as your ability to defend yourself against the evil that lurks out there in the world. Voldemort may have been defeated many years ago, but do not fool yourselves into thinking that evil died with him. New evil is born every day, and old evil never truly dies. Many of Voldemort's followers evaded capture, and they are still out there today, occasionally coming out of the woodwork, like vermin, to kill and destroy."

Scorpius stiffened.

Waverly gazed over all of them. "This year, I shall teach you the most advanced magic that I am allowed to. For those of you who wish to seek a higher knowledge of Defensive magic, those of you who wish to devote your lives to the purge of Dark Magic, you shall need to put everything into passing this class and mastering what I teach you. The work of Aurors and Hit Wizards is not for the faint of heart.

"But for each and every one of you sitting before me, I shall teach you everything you need to know to pass your N.E.W.T.s, whether you want to be an Auror or not. Defensive magic is, in my opinion, the most important magic you can ever learn, and by the end of the year, you shall know everything you need to protect yourselves. We shall learn Patronuses and other advanced defenses to combat the most abhorrent, vile creatures that exist. And at the very end of this year, once you have strengthened yourselves, we shall learn about the Unforgivable Curses."

The students glanced at each other nervously.

"After the War ended," continued Waverly, "The curriculum of Defense against the Dark Arts was changed. We teachers were finally allowed to properly prepare students for the real world. Not only shall I show you all of the Unforgivable Curses, but you shall experience the Imperious Curse firsthand so that you can properly know what you will be up against. We may not be in a time of war, but we should never let our guard down, lest we make the mistakes of our ancestors."

The silence was so strong it was nearly oppressive. The atmosphere in the room was somber and thoughtful, as the students all reflected on his words. Scorpius in particular seemed to be hanging on his every word.

Waverly walked around to the front of his desk and crossed his arms. "Take out your parchment and quills," he said. "Today, we shall discuss the dangers of Dark Magic and the consequences of it on modern society. Next week, we shall prepare for it."

"I guess it was too much to hope that we wouldn't get any homework today," lamented Al as they left the classroom an hour later. They had received an especially long essay (describe a specific event from the past one hundred years, where a dark wizard or dark magic affected society. Include specific details of lasting effects and include possible ways to fix the damage caused) due next Monday. And Al had the distinct feeling that it wouldn't be the last.

"But that was a really excellent lecture," said Rose. "He made so many good points"

"That he did," agreed Scorpius. "Just think of all the Dark Wizards and Death Eaters that are still roaming free." He growled. "The first chance they get, they'll kill and destroy."

Rose and Al exchanged glances; Summer stared straight ahead, lost in thought.

Scorpius blinked and looked at his friends. He smiled. "Sorry 'bout that. Just thinking." He paused. "I need to pass the class if I want to be an Auror."

Rose smiled back. "Don't worry. You'll be a shoe-in."

Scorpius shook his head. "Most people don't make it through Auror training even if they do pass their Defense N.E.W.T.s."

"Oh, you'll make it through," assured Rose. "You know the Head Auror after all."

"I don't want to get in because I'm friends with Harry Potter's son," he snapped. "I want to get in because I have what it takes to take down the murderers out there that are still killing people."

"I didn't mean…"

"I know," Scorpius sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Rose looked close to tears. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I just get really… passionate about these things."

Rose gave him a sad smile and then turned away, staring at the floor.

Scorpius shot her one last regretful look before speeding up and walking ahead of them.

Summer sighed. "I better go talk to him." She jogged up the corridor and fell into step beside Scorpius.

Rose and Al watched the two retreating figures.

"Do you ever get the feeling that they're just bottling up their emotions?" asked Rose. Al looked at her, confused, and she continued. "Scorpius watched his mother die right in front of him. Summer's whole family is dead. They act so happy and… normal, but I know they can't be."

"You don't know that," said Al. "I mean, look at Summer. She's always happy."

Rose shook her head. "No, she's not. Sometimes during the summer, when I would walk by her room at night, I could hear her crying."

Al stared at her in shock. "Why?"

Irritation flashed across Rose's face. "Think of everything she's been through. She lost her family when she was twelve and then she had to go through losing Scorpius' mum as well. No one can go through all that and come out unscathed. Summer just does a really good job of hiding how much she hurts."

Al stared straight ahead, unwilling to accept that the girl he loved was as emotionally damaged as Rose claimed. She couldn't be sad. She would have told him if she was.

Right?