Everyone's euphoria at finally winning the Quidditch Cup lasted at least a week. Even the weather seemed to be celebrating; as June approached, the days became cloudless and sultry, and all anybody felt like doing was strolling onto the grounds and flopping down on the grass with several pints of iced pumpkin juice, perhaps playing a casual game of Gobstones or watching the giant squid propel itself dreamily across the surface of the lake.

But they couldn't. Exams were nearly upon them, and instead of lazing around outside, the students were forced to remain inside the castle, trying to bully their brains into concentrating while enticing wafts of summer air drifted in through the windows. Even Fred and George were working. Percy was getting ready to take his N.E.W.T.s, and as he hoped to enter the Ministry of Magic, he needed top grades. He was becoming increasingly edgy and gave everyone severe punishments when they disturbed the quiet of the common room in the evenings.

Exam week began and an unnatural hush fell over the castle. The third years emerged from Transfiguration at lunchtime on Monday, limp and ashen-faced, comparing results and bemoaning the difficulty of the tasks they had been set, which had included turning a teapot into a tortoise. Hermione irritated the rest by fussing about how her tortoise looked more like a turtle, which was the least of everyone else's worries.

"Mine still had a spout for a tail, what a nightmare…."

"Were the tortoises supposed to breathe steam?"

"It still had a willow-patterned shell, d'you think that'll count against me?"

Rose didn't mention that hers had been absolutely perfect, and she had even assigned it a gender and explained how to tell the difference to McGonagall.

After a hasty lunch, it was straight back upstairs for the Charms exam. Professor Flitwick tested them on Cheering Charms. Rose, who was working with Hermione, executed her spell perfectly, but only after insisting that Hermione do it first. Hermione didn't realize that Rose matched her spell exactly, but Professor Flitwick did. After dinner, the students hurried back to their common rooms, not to relax, but to start studying for Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and Astronomy.

Hagrid presided over the Care of Magical Creatures exam the following morning. He had given the class Hippogriffs again and in order to pass the test you had to get the Hippogriff to bow to you. The more Hippogriffs you got to bow, the better the grade.

Needless to say, Rose got the highest grade in the class.

They had Potions that afternoon. Rose's Confusing Concoction was near perfect, only half a shade lighter than it needed to be. Snape stood watch and ground his teeth as he scribbled something onto his notes before moving away.

Then came Astronomy at midnight, upon the tallest tower; History of Magic on Wednesday morning. Wednesday afternoon meant Herbology, in the greenhouses under a baking-hot sun; then back to the common room once more, with sunburnt necks, thinking longingly of this time next day, when it would all be over.

Their second to last exam, for everyone but Rose, on Thursday morning, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Remus had compiled the most unusual exam any of them had ever taken; a sort of obstacle course outside in the sun, where they had to wade across a deep paddling pool containing a grindylow, cross a series of potholes full of Red Caps, squish their way across a patch of marsh while ignoring misleading directions from a hinkypunk, then climb into an old trunk and battle with a new boggart.

"Excellent, Rose," Remus muttered as Rose climbed out of the trunk, grinning. "Full marks."

Rose wasted no time in rushing off. She had so much to do! She had to visit Ravenclaw, and find Hufflepuff's room, and she had to make sure the twins were eating! She had finished all of her exams at that point, and she just groaned as she ran around the castle, wishing she had more time to do everything.

Her meeting with Ravenclaw was brief, but she told the older witch that she was sorry for never seeing her and that it'd still be awhile longer before she could bring anyone. She told her about Godric's secret entrance ("That's cheating!" Ravenclaw sputtered) and she told her that she had to get going to take care of her boys.

Rose then hurriedly forced Fred and George to eat something before they were whisked away for another exam.

"Next stop, Hufflepuff," Rose said with a sigh. She rushed to the third floor and found the tapestry of the field of flowers. Three taps later and she was in.

The room was not like Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's. There were no house colors, it was all just homey. The potted plant was still alive, the walls somehow still gave off warmth, and the floor was a plush brown carpet. The drapes on the windows were a light brown too. There were two bookcases, two overstuffed couches, a fireplace, and a wooden portrait on the wall wasn't nearly as grand as Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's, but it gave off a friendlier vibe.

Helga Hufflepuff was a round, plump woman with red hair and blue eyes, and she was depicted to be wearing a brown dress. She was smiling broadly and reminded Rose very thoroughly of Mrs. Weasley.

"I see one of Godric's children found their way into my humble abode," Hufflepuff said with a wide grin.

"I guess you could say that. I only know where it is because of Ravenclaw."

"Ahh, Rowena… How she never realized the secret entrance was in here I'll never know."

"Gryffindor said it was because she never passed his test."

"Ahh, so I see you've passed it."

Rose blushed, and sat on one of the couches, facing towards the portrait, "Yeah, I did. My friend thought I was going to die, but it was fine."

"Yes, I thought I'd be injured the first time too."

Rose smiled in silence for a moment, then spoke, "Why is it so easy to get into here?"

"Oh! Well, my dear… what is your name?"

"Oh, sorry! I'm Rose Potter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose. The reason it's so easy to get into this room is because it is great cleverness to know when to conceal one's cleverness. Rowena was obvious if you knew her personality, which I daresay everyone does. Go to a library, choose a pointless book, and you've found her room. Godric's was obvious too, a disconnected part of the castle, only one point of access? It was easy to figure out that that was where you would find him. Salazar over thought his, just as he does everything else. He makes you use your powers to prove that you are worthy and that just screams Slytherin if you know what I mean. I, in my cleverness, knew that everyone would try to figure out where I would be based on my personality. Everyone knows the personalities of my three friends, but how many know of my personality?"

"Not many, you're just recognized as friendly."

"Exactly. My room fits me perfectly, it's open. Anyone could find it, but they'd have to know how to get in. I'm more protected than any of my friends while staying out in the open."

Rose's eyes were wide, "Wow…"

"Remember, Miss Potter, faith is not contrary to reason."

Rose blinked for a moment as she observed this, "I'm sorry, but you seem to be smarter than Ravenclaw!"

Hufflepuff laughed, "Oh, yes, I suppose I could come off that way. That's the thing, Miss Potter, you aren't sorted based off of who you are, but what you value."

"So I've heard," Rose said thoughtfully.

They relaxed in silence for a moment before Rose jumped up, "I'm sorry, I have to go. I really need to learn to time these visits better, but dinner is right around the corner and testing finishes today, and my boyfriends are both going to want to celebrate, and I'll have to tone their celebrations down."

Hufflepuff waved Rose away, reading something in her frame, and Rose checked her map before she slipped outside. Dinner had actually already begun, but she couldn't go down to dinner, not after what she had seen on the map.

Peter Pettigrew was in Hagrid's hut.

Rose raced through the hallways, raced out into the night air. She saw Ron, Hermione, and Harry in Hagrid's hut. Oh, Merlin, Pettigrew could get Harry! Rose burst into her animagus form and sprinted to the hut, arriving there in five seconds. She returned to human form and burst into the room.

"Where is he?!" Rose asked, gasping for breath.

"Where's who?" Ron and Harry asked in confusion, Hagrid being too flustered to say anything.

But Rose didn't answer. Soon, Remus was barging in too, with Aurors with him.

"Wha' are yeh all doin' in me house?!" Hagrid finally thundered.

"Pettigrew is here, Hagrid, I'm sorry, we need to make sure everything is okay," Remus said, his eyes glowing with how close the full moon was.

"I don't know where he is!" Rose admitted before she saw some squirming in Ron's hands.

There, in Ron's grasp, was Peter Pettigrew.

"Stupefy!" Rose yelled, the blast of red light hitting the rat and causing it to go limp.

"What are you doing to Scabbers?!" Ron yelled, distraught.

"That's Pettigrew!" Rose yelled back. The Aurors quickly moved in, took the rat from Ron, and transformed it into Pettigrew. Pettigrew was an extremely short man (no taller than Harry, and only slightly taller than Rose) with grubby skin, small, watery eyes, and a pointed nose. Rose knew that in his youth his hair was a mousy brown, but now it had thinned, lost a lot of its color, and he had acquired a large bald patch. Rose had never known she could hate someone on sight.

The children were ushered back to the castle, with promises that they would be told what had happened later. The children had to rush up to the school, though because Dementors were closing in on the Aurors location. Sadly, they didn't move fast enough.

"Harry! Run! I'll hold them off!" Rose yelled as she pushed her brother forward as the Dementors started closing in.

"You can't do a Patronus that strong!" Harry yelled back.

"But I can hold them back long enough for you to run!"

Hermione was shaking, as was Ron, and Rose decided she couldn't lose any more time.

"Expecto Patronum!" she yelled, just as she was starting to hear her mother's screams.

And out of the end of her wand burst her silver Thestral. Harry, besides her, emboldened by his sister's success (not knowing that she had been able to do this for months) and his Patronus burst out beside hers. She stared at it, trying to figure out what it was, it looked like a horse. It was galloping silently with her thestral. She watched as it lowered its head and charged at the swarming dementors… Now it was galloping around and around the black shapes on the ground, Rose's matching it pace for pace, and the dementors were falling back, scattering retreating into the darkness… towards where Pettigrew was… they were gone.

The Patroni turned. They were cantering back towards Harry and Rose. Harry's wasn't a horse. It wasn't a unicorn or a thestral either. It was a stag.

"Dad," Rose and Harry breathed, just before they collapsed from magical exhaustion.

Rose groaned as light filtered in through her squinted eyes. Both of her arms were being held down, and she felt trapped. She groaned again as she fully opened her eyes and she looked around. She was in the hospital wing, and her arms were being held down by Fred and George's heads. They were leaned forward from their chairs asleep on her arms.

"Guys?" Rose whispered.

"Rose?" they both asked as their heads shot up.

"Yeah, I'm up," Rose said.

The sigh of relief left their lips at the same time their worried expressions melted, "If you were a dementor I would become a criminal just so I could get your kiss," Fred said with a large smile.

"My love for you burns like a dying Phoenix," George proclaimed.

Rose blushed and giggled, "I must have had some Felix Felicis because I'm lucky to have you two."

The twins and Rose laughed for a good thirty seconds before Madam Pomfrey walked in looking very upset, "Oh, you're awake, are you? You two were supposed to call for me when she woke up!"

"We're sorry Madam Pomphrey, we just thought she might want a laugh before she had to take some potions," George excused them.

Madam Pomphrey huffed, but didn't say anything else to the twins, "Sit up, dear, let's get you drinking some potions."

Rose slowly sat up, her arms shaking slightly, "I don't feel all that good."

"No, I don't imagine you would. Magical exhaustion is nothing to be trifled with. Drink these."

Rose made a face but drank one of the potions. She was pleasantly surprised when it tasted like Lavender tea. The next one, however, lived up to her expectations. It was foul and tasted almost as if she had liquefied Crabbe's socks and drank them. The third tasted like the twins smelled, which was amazing, and the last tasted like chocolate.

"That wasn't all that terrible," Rose said cautiously.

"No, you don't need terrible tasting things to get better from magical exhaustion. The first was to calm your magic, the second was to start building your core up again, the third was essentially something that made you happy, and the last was just to make you a bit calmer in general."

Rose nodded her understanding and blinked slowly, "When can I leave?"

"As soon as you want, I've done as much as I can do, but no spells today please, dear."

"Oh!" Fred exclaimed suddenly, "We've got a letter for you!"

"A letter for me?"

"Yeah!" said George, although the twins both looked upset now. "It's from Remus."

Rose held her hand out in confusion, "Why couldn't he give it to me?"

"You'll see," they said as the letter was placed in her hand.

Rose tore it open and started reading;

Dear Rose,

I'm sorry that you had to find out this way, but you were asleep for too long. I have resigned from Hogwarts, and I will not be returning next year. Someone let slip that I am a werewolf, and I had to leave before I discredited Hogwarts's name.

There is good news, though! I'm going to that acquaintance of yours earlier, so I'll be back sooner. Also, Pettigrew has been given the Dementor's kiss. He won't be bothering any of us ever again.

I'll see you after you get home, Rose, and I hope the rest of your school year is calm. Take care of yourself.

Love,

Remus

Rose's eyes glistened with unshed tears, and she sighed, "He's gone?"

"Yep," the twins said sadly.

Rose nodded, "And Pettigrew is gone too."

"Uh huh."

Rose nodded, "Alright, let's go to the common room. We have a lot to talk about."

Rose, as soon as they were in the twins room, told them about everything she had done without them that year. Finding three of the founder's rooms, making Neville more confident, altering her map, her Patronus, and everything in between. In return they made her feel better about not wanting her to go to the Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw Quidditch match, and they all just cuddled for awhile as they let the uneasiness that had settled between them release itself.

Rose, thankfully, wasn't the only one who was sorry to see Remus go. The whole of Rose's Defense Against the Dark Arts class was miserable about his resignation.

"Wonder what they'll give us next year?" said Seamus Finnigan gloomily.

"Maybe a vampire," suggested Dean Thomas hopefully.

Rose couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Cian teaching anyone anything.

The exam results came out on the last day of term. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Rose had passed every subject. Rose and Hermione were top of the class, tying in almost all of their mutual classes. The difference was that Rose beat Hermione in both Charms and Care of Magical creatures, while Hermione beat Rose in Arithmancy and Herbology.

Percy had got his top-grade N.E.W.T.s; Fred and George had gotten their three O.W.L.s and more. Much to their surprise, they had gotten O.W.L.s in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy too. Gryffindor House, meanwhile, largely thanks to their spectacular performance in the Quidditch Cup, had won the House championship for the third year running. This meant that the end of term feast took place amid decorations of scarlet and gold and that the Gryffindor table was the noisiest of the lot, as everybody celebrated.

Hermione decided (thankfully) that she was going to drop Muggle Studies and Divination officially. Rose and Hermione mutually agreed that they would study both subjects in their spare time so they could compete in their O.W.L.s like they did every other exam.

In Rose's and the twins compartment on the train, there were a lot of explosions, laughter, and kisses. They were all happy to be going home, but upset that going home meant they wouldn't be allowed to see each other as often as they were used to.

Rose was leaning up against George's shoulder when the twins decided they were going to use horrible pick-up lines on her.

"I use to go to the Astronomy Tower to see stars, but now I can just look into your eyes!"

"Your smile's like expelliarmus: simple but disarming."

"Are you using the Confundus charm on me or are you just naturally mind blowing?"

Rose was laughing maniacally already, but George had to make it even before the twins gave up, "Baby, are you the Nimbus 2000 cause you're sweeping me off my feet!"

Rose was howling with laughter, partially at the twins words, but mostly at their smug expressions. She would never get over how proud of themselves they would get whenever they made her smile.

"So, Rose," Fred started after they had all calmed down.

"Hmm?" Rose asked, slightly distracted by George running his hands through her hair.

"This summer is the Quidditch World Cup-" George said.

"-And we were wondering -"

"- If you -"

"-Would do us the honor-"

"-Of actually attending this year?" they finished together.

Rose hummed thoughtfully and reached one of her hands out to grab Fred's, "Well, I don't particularly like Quidditch…"

"But you do like us," Fred pointed out.
"I do like you," Rose said with a nod. "But do you outweigh Quidditch?"

George chuckled, his hand stopping its methodical movement through her hair, "I would hope so. You don't even like the sport, it would be logical that your boyfriends are better than it."

Rose huffed, "I'll talk to Sirius and Remus. I make no promises, though."

"None needed," they assured her.

Rose just relaxed with her twins, the three talking about pranking products to each other, and Rose hummed in contentment.

Even if this upcoming summer wouldn't be perfect, which they never were, she would enjoy the time she had with her boys, and she would enjoy spending time with them. Perhaps this whole Quidditch World Cup wouldn't be such a bad idea. Maybe this would be perfect for her and the twins. It never crossed her mind that a lot could go wrong too.

Alright, guys, that's the end of Book Three! Book Four should be posted by the time you read this, and I just wanted to give out a warning; from now on my stories will be M Rated. They'll have suggestive content, but nothing explicit. If you want explicit you can ask, and I'll probably post in a separate story. I just wanted to warn you all that it gets a little steamy from the next book forward. I hope you all stay with the story, and I hope you all like where the story goes!