A/N: I know it's been a while, but in my defence this chapter kept getting longer and longer. So, yeah I'm posting this chapter in two halves. I couldn't justify a single chapter that was over 7000 words long to myself and I was taking way too long.

Hope you enjoy!

BB

"Did you always know?"

Lynn groaned internally and resisted the urge to bang her head against the desk, repeatedly. Hermione had convinced her to let Ron know about their relationship. And while she had never been against the idea per-se, Lynn had her reasons why she hadn't said anything until now. Though most of her fears had been proven groundless, it was also proven that some of those fears were exactly on point.

Since that fateful evening, she had been subjected to random well-meaning questions every time they were alone. She had answered the first wave of questions with good intentions, genuinely wanting her friend to understand. The questions had predictably branched out considerably since then, and Lynn was beginning to lose her famously thin patience.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, "I just want to understand."

And clearly her exasperation showed.

"Did you always know you had feet?"

He looked at her confusedly and then cast his gaze downward to study his shoes for a few seconds, but that didn't seem to provide him any answers.

"Err… yeah, I guess so."

"Really? Good for you then." Lynn said, as if that explained everything.

Ron grimaced. "Why is it that when I ask you a question, I sometimes come out knowing less than when I started?"

"Must be the nargles, I hear they are awful this time of year." Lynn replied distractedly, folding a page of the prince's book that listed instructions on how to make some kind of poultice that, apparently, cured bad headaches.

Bet it wouldn't cure red-headed ones though, she thought glumly, before spying yet another curse written in one of the margins. For enemies, worryingly.

Damn, this guy has some serious issues.

Deciding to try it later, in direct opposition to the voice in her head that sounded suspiciously like Hermione, she snapped the book shut and put it back in her bag.

"Fred and George barely even bat an eyelid when they walked in on me kissing Hermione last year, yet I get a million and one questions from you." She cast her eyes skyward and let out a long suffering sigh, "Why me?"

Ron ignored her in favour of looking pointedly at the bag she'd just slung over her shoulder. "Was that really one of Lockheart's books? You swore to me you hated the guy."

"What?!" She asked incredulously, before recognising the twins' opportunistic prank for what it was and groaned, giving the bag swinging at her side a glare as if she could see through the fabric to the offending book within.

Stupid bloody ginger toerags.

"Was it the prince's book?" Ron asked as they exited the library, the gaze of an irritated madam Pince ensuring they left her precious domain swiftly.

"Yeah, and it looks like the twins have not done exactly as I asked." Lynn replied, clearly already plotting how to get them back.

"Why did you even ask them to hide it?"

Lynn just looked back at him, unimpressed.

"Okay, Hermione then. Why didn't you ask Sirius to do it?"

"Because I'm not sure I'd get it back if I gave it to anyone halfway responsible…" Lynn trailed off and shook her head in disbelief. "I just implied that Sirius is responsible, and I actually kind of believe that." She said, looking vaguely shell-shocked.

"I suppose he would think it's dangerous, considering some of the spells you found, but it's not like it's a deatheater handbook or anything like that. It did come from Slughorn's classroom, right?" Ron reasoned, with all the authority of a drunken scholar.

"Exactly! If it starts talking about sacrificing the blood of a virgin or something I'll hand it in, but at the moment it's helping me through potions." Lynn said, with far more conviction than the Hermione in Lynn's head really believed.

"The blood of a virgin?" Ron whispered incredulously, looking quite ill at the idea.

"Well, you know how those medieval wizards were. Obsessed."

Having decided to hide the book completely from Hermione a week ago, after a rather heated argument, Lynn's conscience was bothering her a little. So these discussions were all part of the coping process, re-affirming the belief over and over that Hermione was just being Hermione, and that the book wasn't all bad.

Unfortunately, hiding it meant she couldn't use the book in classes as she had told Hermione it had been disposed of. But honestly, it was a brilliant learning tool anyway, so her grades were only slightly suffering from the sudden withdrawal of support. Hermione didn't seem suspicious and was even pleasantly surprised with her increased inexplicable understanding of potions. It didn't stop Lynn's blood pressure from skyrocketing every time Hermione came into close contact with the book though. Thankfully, Hermione had yet to scrutinise the disguised textbook properly. So the ruse had yet to be tested. But as with all things in Lynn's life, it eventually went pear-shaped.

They retired to their dorm late into the evening that night. Meeting behind the privacy of the hangings and spells on Lynn's bed, as they tended to do before going to sleep most nights. Lynn was laying back against the pillows with her legs in Hermione's lap, dozing as the bushy haired witch read some of her books.

Hermione finished the section in her herbology textbook she had been summarising, and began looking through her book bag for another to add to the now tottering pile to her right.

"Lynn, have you still got my astronomy book?"

"Hmm, bag." Lynn mumbled in a barely conscious slur which put a warm smile on Hermione's face, but it didn't buy her enough good graces to be allowed to fall asleep when she should have been studying herself.

Lynn let out an undignified yelp of surprise when Hermione tickled the bottom of her bare feet, successfully stopping her from snoozing on the job. For her part Lynn just let out a noise of protest once she had recovered and moved to bury her face in the pillows, feet now safely out of reach.

Mission accomplished, Hermione snagged the strap of Lynn's bag from where her girlfriend had neatly placed it beside the bed and started sifting through the contents. At this moment, an alert rang loud in the drowsy haze of Lynn's mind, but it was already too late.

"Err… Lynn, what's this?"

Lynn's head was suddenly a buzz of curses and frantic scrambling as she clawed herself back from the edge of sleep. "What's what Herm?" she asked in as neutral a tone as she could manage, sitting up to see Hermione holding the prince's book in her hand. She felt the blood drain from her face, despite her desperately trying not to react.

"The luxurious lingerie catalogue, curtesy of Madame Vivienne, with tips and tricks on how to bewitch your partner." Hermione recited, clearly very amused, and ever so slightly embarrassed.

WHAT!?

"I'm waiting for an answer Lynn…" But clearly not embarrassed enough to not recognise blackmail material when she saw it.

I am going to kill the twins. Then I'm going to take their limp, lifeless bodies to Madam Pomfrey so she can revive them. Then I'm going to kill them again and bury them under a pile of prefect badges.

"If you don't want to tell me… maybe I should take a look inside-"

"NO!" Lynn interrupted quickly, unconsciously reaching her hands out to stop her. Hermione just sat there with a sly grin on her face, holding the book out of Lynn's reach, waiting for her to continue. Lynn pulled her arms back, trying to reign in her panic and make her slip not look as desperate as it had been, her mind working frantically for a believable response. When a solution presented itself she didn't allow herself time to think before she blurted it out, a decision she quickly regretted.

"You can't look. It's a… surprise." Lynn said haltingly, a red flush creeping up her neck as the words she had just said bounced around in her head. Each silent repetition of them sounding worse than the last.

"A surprise?" Hermione asked, clearly just as startled as Lynn that those words had actually come out of her mouth.

"When were you thinking of giving me this surprise?" Hermione said slowly, as if she barely dared, while biting her bottom lip. Which caused even more distracting thoughts for Lynn to throw themselves at her while she was trying to tie together an understandable sentence.

"I… don't really… haven't… thought of a particular date." Lynn forced out, completely flustered, and trying to convince herself that she wasn't about to start hyperventilating.

"Ok, well, I think it's awfully unfair if you have a surprise for me, but I don't have one for you… so… I'll see if I can find something… interesting, that you will enjoy too." Hermione said coyly.

If she wasn't hyperventilating before, she was now.

Lynn only managed to make a strangled sound in response, heat practically radiating from her face, her arms alternating between hiding her face and wrapping protectively around her middle. Hermione, seemingly oblivious to Lynn's mortification, placed a cheerful goodnight kiss on the only part of Lynn's cheek that wasn't covered by a hand and retreated to her own bed.

It was encroaching on midnight when Lynn finally managed to drift off into an uneasy sleep.

"Two tablespoonful's taken with breakfast. One perfect day."

"Yeah, except that isn't two tablespoonful's." Interjected Ron helpfully.

Lynn slowly dragged her eyes from the carefully measured teaspoon of felix felicis to glare at the redhead.

"Don't ruin the moment, Ronald." Lynn said in a low hiss, as if he had just interrupted her favourite part in a play, before returning her reverie to the teaspoon again.

"Sitting in the bowl of this spoon is the culmination of all my plans, and I intend to savour the moment." Lynn said in a whisper, staring at the glistening liquid. Ron and Hermione both rolled their eyes.

"Are you sure this is the only way to get Slughorn's memory? You haven't even spoken with him about it yet." Hermione asked, still not entirely convinced Lynn wasn't wasting her rare prize.

"And what, ask him if he's given any information out on incredibly dark magic to students within the last 60 years? Seems a bit risky, don't you think?" Lynn replied, with an air of impatience that could only be gained through repetition.

Hermione just held up her hands in surrender and said no more, clearly just as fed up arguing her point as Lynn was.

"Well, here's to your demise, Tom old pal." Lynn said, carefully holding the teaspoon aloft in an imitation of a toast before tipping the felix felicis down her throat. Her face remained expressionless for a moment, before a large smile started creeping across her face.

"How does it feel?" Hermione asked, a familiar glint of curiosity appearing in her eyes.

"No time to chat. Gotta run!" Lynn cried dramatically, abruptly leaping up and dashing from the hall. Hermione and Ron exchanged a look of mingled surprise and alarm before running after her, the loud rebuke of Professor McGonagall going unheard.

"How can someone so short run so fast?" Ron exclaimed as they rounded the corner to see Lynn already halfway up the staircase.

"Lots of practice." Hermione panted back, struggling to keep up with Ron's longer stride.

Lynn lead them all the way up to the seventh floor at a dead run, at which point Hermione was completely incapable of standing a moment longer, and promptly collapsed against the wall when Lynn slowed to a stop. Ron wasn't faring much better, panting heavily and resting his hands on his knees.

"Buggering hell Lynn, wh-" Lynn smacked a hand over the redhead's mouth, stopping his question mid word, and made a shushing gesture. Once he had got the message she withdrew and donned her invisibility cloak, whispering for them to stay put. Hermione and Ron waited about a minute before Lynn re-appeared with a flourish, took Hermione by the arm and began half leading, half dragging her down the corridor to their right. Immediately striking up a very one sided conversation about muggle haircare products.

The corridor was inhabited only by a tapestry showing trolls being taught ballet, and a very small girl holding a heavy set of brass scales. The girl didn't even seem to notice them. As they drew level with her, Lynn pulled Hermione to a stop.

"Are you okay?" Lynn said, addressing the dazed looking young girl, sounding and looking concerned. Though Hermione could detect excitement behind the façade, which didn't bode at all well.

The girl blinked up at her, as if only now noticing them and then examined the scales in her hands, seemingly surprised at its presence. Obviously seeing no reason to continue holding them she placed them on the floor and appeared to realise she hadn't responded.

"I feel weird." The girl said with a slight slur.

"Well, that's helpful." Ron mumbled behind them, earning a truly magnificent glare from Hermione. When it became clear that she was about to whisk the girl off to the hospital wing, Lynn came in with a timely intervention.

"I'll say. You must be starving! Having to stand in this corridor all day." Lynn said, with a dangerous amount of enthusiasm.

"Yeah, but I gotta stay here." The girl said this rather weakly and visibly wavered in her determination. One final prod had her resolve crumbling.

"Whatever the reason you can't risk your health over it! Maybe you should go have a snack. You can always come back afterwards, no one needs to know you even left."

"Yeah, I like that idea. It's boring standing here anyway." And with that the girl turned and headed in the direction of the main hall on unsteady legs.

When she was out of sight Hermione rounded on Lynn like an angry tigress.

"What did you do to that girl!? Did you drug her!? What in Merlin's sag-"

"That was Goyle wasn't it?" Ron said, mercifully cutting off Hermione's angry tirade. "I'd recognise that voice anywhere, even if it was a bit higher in pitch than I'm used to…"

"Yep." Lynn said, popping the 'p' and gleefully watched as the wind was taken out of Hermione's sails mid word.

"Were you about to swear over Merlin's Sag-"

Hermione's hand slapped over Lynn's mouth before the syllables could be uttered, blushing furiously.

"No! Of course I wasn't. Now let's get a move on and do… whatever it was you were going to do."

Lynn smiled brightly and merely walked over to where the room of requirement's door 'usually' appeared. And sure enough, after Lynn had performed the customary three passes, a door materialised out of the stonework.

"How did you know what to ask for?" Hermione asked, bewildered.

Lynn shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't. Draco is clearly hiding something, so I just asked for somewhere to hide stuff."

Hermione opened her mouth, preparing to say how improbably lucky Lynn was sometimes, but realised how stupid it would sound in the current situation. Choosing instead to sulkily bemoan the defeat of statistics and probability at the hands of magic in the comfort of her own head.

"Time for us to finally find out what Draco is up to." Lynn declared cheerily, oblivious to Hermione's inner thoughts. She held a hand out for the door handle, but before her slender fingers had even touched the undoubtedly cold iron, she stopped, cocking her head to one side thoughtfully.

"What are you waiting for?" Ron said confusedly.

"You know what? I'll let him keep his secrets, just this once." Lynn said breezily, as if what she had just said was not at complete odds with her character.

"What!?" Both Ron and Hermione said in unison, Ron incredulous and Hermione just plain confused.

"It just doesn't seem like the right time. You know what I mean?" Lynn said easily, without any hint of indecision.

"But you've been going on about this for months!" Ron complained in disbelief.

"I know. Weird, right? I need another hobby or something."

Hermione just closed her eyes for a moment, letting out a long calming breath, and with patience gained through great effort and experience, nodded her acceptance of this new turn of events.

"B-but, Malfoy." Ron spluttered.

Lynn just shrugged her shoulders, as if to say 'what can you do?', like these feelings were just a common occurrence for everyone. Ron still seemed mutinous, but eventually gave in with a disappointed groan when the two girls started off without him.

"Professor! Lovely day for an adventure, don't you think?"

Ron blinked in surprise as the tall form of Dumbledore made his way down the passageway, peering curiously over his spectacles at Lynn, who waved enthusiastically at him as she passed, hand unapologetically intertwined with Hermione's.

"I dare say it is." He said, with the slightest twitch of his lips the only thing showing his amusement, eyes briefly flicking down to the girls' clasped hands. If his gaze grew a little warmer and sadder at the sight, nobody noticed.

The trio turned the corner in the passage just as Dumbledore paused outside the door to the room of requirement, looking at it with faint recollection and curiosity.

They made their way down through the castle at a much more measured pace than their way up. Lynn not seeming to have a specific destination in mind, meandering from one side of the castle to another, slipping suspicious packages – that she just so happened to have on her – into students' pockets as she went. Hermione was not at all happy about this, but she didn't feel the need to stop Lynn's harmless fun this time. And just when she was beginning to realise how very lenient that was, the trio's attention was drawn to a commotion in the hall ahead.

"T wast the Weasley wench, the lady drugg'd me! Such assaults on mine own p'rson shouldst not wend unpunished!"

"…I'm sorry Mr Finnigan?"

"The lady did pour a potion into mine own goblet at breakfast."

Slughorn sighed and asked Ginny to hand over the potion, which she did without protest. He examined it by holding the small vile up to the light and after a cautious sniff, dabbed some on his finger to taste.

He hummed in evident satisfaction, his evaluation clearly confirming his suspicions.

"A curious brew Miss Weasley, and a stout one at yond." He turned what he clearly thought was a sympathetic expression to Seamus, "I dare sayeth – excuse me – you'll be speaking more… classically, for a good few hours yet Mr Finnigan."

Seamus didn't seem to find this particularly agreeable, immediately demanding that Ginny hand over the antidote. It quickly became apparent that Ginny didn't have the antidote however, which caused him further agitation, and interestingly enough made his words become even more archaic. He was almost completely impossible to understand by the time Slughorn managed to usher him away with assurances that Ginny would be serving detention. When Seamus was out of sight Slughorn didn't bother hiding his interest in the potion, asking her to accompany him to his office to tell him about it. Ginny wasn't stupid enough to refuse.

When she heard that, Lynn perked up and turned to her companions, "I'm off, see you guys in the common room later."

She had vanished under the invisibility cloak before they had a chance to object.

"I really wish she wouldn't do that." Hermione griped, already walking off in the direction of the tower.

"Still here." Came Lynn's disembodied voice.

Ron looked back at Hermione, "I think she knew that mate."

"Yeah, I got that. Thanks Ron."

"Anytime."

Ginny wasn't having a great morning.

She had woken up late, missing most of breakfast; had somehow managed to argue with Dean on the way down here, then again, that wasn't too surprising this week; then Dean's limpet of a friend Seamus had been moaning about Lynn's pick for the quidditch team, again. Prat. She had promised McGonagall not to curse her fellow pupils this year and she intended to keep that promise.

But damn was it hard sometimes.

And Ginny would have left it at that, deciding to be the better person that is, but today just seemed to insist on provoking her. Seamus eventually crossed that invisible line in Ginny's head, which meant not causing him some kind of torment for his pig-headedness was no longer an option. It hadn't taken much effort to slip one of the potions the twins had insisted she carry around this year – for 'experimental purposes' – into his drink when he wasn't paying attention.

She had eaten no more than a bite of her eggs on toast before accusations were thrown and things got out of hand. All she wanted was to eat her eggs in peace.

The likelihood of her getting her wish now firmly extinguished, she was glumly making her way to Slughorn's office, on a Saturday, while he was making meaningless conversation about some famous potion inventor he had known. Perhaps she should just crawl back into bed and sleep till lunch when Slughorn released her. If he released her.

Her musings where cut short when a hand suddenly gripped her own, making her jump out of her skin. It didn't let go when she reflexively flinched away, instead it gave her fingers a squeeze before retreating back into invisibility. There was only one person that could be, and the message was clear. She wanted in. Today was finally becoming interesting.

"And you say your brothers invented this?" the professor asked, oblivious to their tag-along.

Now she had a as of yet unknown goal to motivate her, faking the smile and enthusiasm wasn't half as hard. She told Slughorn about the twins more trivial experiments, careful not to incriminate them, not that Slughorn seemed at all interested in the dangers of what they were doing. Showing much more interest in their obvious talent for mayhem, which Ginny thought was kind of ironic, him being a teacher and all.

They got to his office and entered, Ginny careful to leave the door open long enough for a still invisible Lynn to sneak in. Once they were inside the professor quizzed her on her brothers' products, becoming more animated as the discussion went on.

It was in one of his more enthusiastic moments that Ginny noticed movement behind him, and her eyes widened in horror as a floating hand started to write on the now clear blackboard not three feet from Slughorn, who could no doubt turn around at any moment. Her focus now split between Slughorn and the blackboard, she continued to nod agreeably to whatever the Slytheryn head of house said while her eyes continued to flick anxiously to the slowly appearing writing.

"Ask about Gwenog Jones, he knows her."

He knows Gwenog Jones!?

"Sir…"

"…but of course- I'm sorry Miss Weasley did you say something?"

"Yes sir, I was just wondering that, well… One-of-my-friends-told-me-you-knew-Gwenog-Jones." Ginny said in a rush, excitement replacing the nervousness she had been feeling moments earlier.

"Ahh, indeed I do. I take it you are a fan?" Slughorn said jovially.

Ginny couldn't help herself and nodded emphatically. There was a clearly audible snort somewhere to her left, so she sent her most terrifying glare in that general direction, before turning her attention back to more important things. Like someone who knew Gwenog Jones.

"Well, this is quite the coincidence!" Slughorn exclaimed in obvious pleasure, a calculating glint in his eyes. "She sent me the broom she used before joining the Holyhead Harpies a few years back, would you like to see it?"

Ginny was unable to speak in her excitement, and when Slughorn beckoned her into his private quarters she almost skipped across the threshold, before she realised she had forgotten to hold the door for Lynn. When she turned, intending to find an excuse to go back out, the heavy wooden door jarred to a stop with a thump, leaving room for her shadow to slip through before it shut.

The redhead winced in sympathy and returned to Slughorn, who was now standing by his extensive collection of memorabilia.

Lynn clutched at her throbbing foot under the invisibility cloak, soundlessly mouthing curses that would have made Charlie Weasley proud, while half listening to the conversation now going on between Ginny and the professor.

"This reminds me…" the potions professor said in what was clearly meant to be a pensive tone, "I am having a party before the winter holidays and I'm quite certain Gwenog said that she could attend this year. I would be delighted to introduce you."

Ginny didn't seem to notice the professor's rather bad acting skills, by now already imagining what Slughorn was proposing and very much liking the idea.

"I wonder if you could do me a small favour in return my dear?" The professor said hopefully.

The redhead, far too happy at the proposed meeting with her idol to care, told him to continue.

"I would very much appreciate it if you put in a good word with your brothers. I may be able to help them with their research, I am a potions master after all! And I know several former students of mine who have similar talents…"

Lynn didn't listen to the rest of Soughorn's sales pitch, but by the look on Ginny's face it was going to be successful no matter what he said. Instead, her attention was caught by another door going into what looked like a private study, felix felicis tugging her towards it incessantly.

She slipped in with minimal effort and came face to face with a large ancient writing desk, stacked with papers. Taking off the cloak and moving around the desk to sit on the over-stuffed armchair behind it, she started examining the papers in interest. Some were letters from former students; Lynn recognised a few names here and there. The rest were clearly administrative and rather benign. She sat back in disappointment, unsure what to do now or even what she was looking for.

Noticing a small bookshelf in the corner of the room she made to move around the desk again to check it, but became snagged on something. A previously obscured draw on the desk had opened slightly, revealing several thin books. Runes lined the wood which had not been present mere moments ago, Lynn's rudimentary understanding only gleaning the meaning of two. One to 'hide or obscure', obviously, and the other to 'protect', ish… It had a far more complex meaning than Lynn could comfortably understand. Her only solace was in the fact that half of the runes did not appear to be active, but what that meant was a mystery to her. Hermione could have told her if it was safe to be sure.

Lynn bit her lip in momentary nervousness.

This could be a really bad idea…

Before she could talk herself out of it, she grabbed the handle and yanked the draw open fully, before fishing out three leather bound books, the two oldest looking bound with twine. Luckily, nothing happened, all the runes now appearing deactivated as the draw's contents was removed.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Lynn muttered, opening the unbound book and finding detailed accounts of Slughorn's innermost thoughts on several events. It was a diary.

Excitement bubbled up in Lynn as she contemplated just how far back these accounts could go. After discarding the middle diary, it starting its account in 1966, she finally found the entry she had been hoping to find in the diary that had been on the very bottom of the draw. Slughorn's account of his conversation with Riddle, concerning horcruxes.

The year was 1943.

The page in question had many annotations and sections that had clearly been removed and later replaced, but what was written depicted a very different conversation to the fake memory in the pensive. Lynn was convinced of its truth the moment she read through the passage. It was too horrifying not to be.

Seven. Seven pieces of soul bound to the earth, preventing Voldemort from dying. For there was little doubt in Lynn's mind that the madman would have gone ahead with that ambition. The man who wanted to kill her was, for all intents and purposes, immortal.

A feeling of dread pooled in her gut. Suddenly, the morning's antics no longer made her feel so free.

She retained enough presence of mind to quickly duplicate the diary, slipping the originals back in their rightful place as if untouched, before exciting the private study. Ginny and Slughorn were still talking over by his collection of photographs, but Lynn paid them no mind, wanting to get away as quick as possible. They did not notice her leave.

A/N: So it's Lynn's turn to make a 'mistake' and Hermione will need to figure out how she is going to deal with it.

Conflict in relationships is needed. No two people agree on everything and it's healthy to get those issues out in the open. So long as both parties make the effort to listen and empathise, not necessarily agree but come to an understanding, then the relationship will have the opportunity to grow stronger. The same can be said for the mistakes we all make. The ability to accept and forgive someone's faults is essential to a strong relationship. You can't just have the good parts of a person's character, it's a package deal. And if you don't accept all of it, the depth of that friendship cannot develop. These two characters have learned their morals in vastly different home environments, so misunderstandings are inevitable even after years of friendship. Truly and completely understanding another is something you can spend a lifetime working towards and still not achieve. Don't worry about our favourite pair though, they work it out in the next chapter.

One last thing. You may have noticed – and hopefully it's not too obvious – that I don't tend to beta my chapters. If you do spot anything you think I should revise then please let me know. I always appreciate feedback.

Until next time.

BB