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On the last meeting before they broke up for Christmas, a few days after Lori turned seventeen, Hermione handed an enchanted galleon to each member, saying that they could be used to send messages to each other over the holidays, as well as setting the next meeting time.
It was amazing for the five leaders to watch as people, with absolutely no duelling experience, were disarming and stunning and levitating their friends.
The greatest accomplishment of the term was when Neville successfully disarmed Parvati in the last meeting, everyone gathering around him and cheering.
"Fantastic, Neville!" Harry said, "Well done!" The group all stood in front of the five leaders, listening to him, "Well, that's it for this lesson and we're not going to be meeting again until after the holidays, so just keep practicing on your own as best you can. And, well done, everyone. Great, great work!"
Clapping, most of them started to file back to their dormitories, leaving just the Weasleys, Hermione, Harry and Cedric, who all sat down in a circle on the floor.
"How are we getting back to Grimmauld Place?" George asked, looking to Lori and Cedric.
"McGonagall said to take the train," Lori explained, "the less obvious we are, the better."
Her siblings and friends all quietly agreed, before leaving the Room of Requirement, Lori and Cedric alone. The Hufflepuff was by the mirror, smiling at a picture of the four champions, and the treasures they had to recover after the second task, all soaked and draped in dressing gowns and blue towels.
"It's never going to be the same, is it?" he asked, wrapping his arm around her waist as Lori walked over.
She smiled at him, turning her attention to the moving photograph. All of them were laughing, despite being terribly cold, Cedric in the process of wrapping his towel around Lori.
"That was our first kiss." he smiled fondly, "Right after I pulled you up from the Black Lake."
She laughed, "I must have looked like a drowned rat, or something."
Cedric shook his head, "Actually, I think you looked quite beautiful. Maybe even more so than at the Ball."
"I had been underwater for five hours, how could I have possibly looked better than at the Ball?" she chuckled.
He turned them so they were standing in front of each other, "Maybe because you look even more beautiful to me every single day."
*
Ginny and Hermione pulled Lori from her bed that very same evening, not explaining anything to her as they dragged her all the way to Dumbledore's office.
The rest of her siblings were already inside, along with Cedric and Harry, while Dumbledore and McGonagall, the latter still wearing her night clothes, were waiting for them all to arrive.
