My fingers lace with Ginny's as we walk through the Transfiguration courtyard. I know I really should be a bit careful considering how everyone still thinks I'm the baby's father. However, I'm not going to let everyone win by changing my life. I'm not going to accept Lizzie into my life and shove Ginny off to the side because it's the right thing to do. But I'm not going to ignore Lizzie either. I know now that Lizzie is in terrible danger because of what Voldemort has ordered his followers to do. Okay, so I don't know if this whole plan is Voldemort's, but the wizard will kill me whichever way he can at this point. After all, his direct approach isn't going well for him. He has failed for the past six years.

In case there was any doubt, Snape somehow did manage to find out that Lizzie was telling the truth about her parents. I guess his spying duties helped him, but I'm not going to ask. So far, Lizzie has told the truth that she knows. I'm not going to count the fact that she still thinks I'm the baby's father. That lie isn't her fault. Hell, no one can blame a single part of this on her. It's more of her family's fault. Honestly, I feel sorry for her, and I think Ginny does too.

"So did you hear? Ron's coming back." Ginny then squeezes my hand as we sit on one of the marble benches. "Do you feel up to spending some time with him?"

"Not yet," I reply quietly. I then kick a rock before shaking my head. "I know it's stupid."

"No, it's not, Harry. He tried killing you."

"Yeah, but when doesn't he?" I retort. Visions of fourth year float through my head. "Snape is right, Gin. Ron wouldn't intentionally try to kill me. Even if I had knocked you up," I say quietly. "I thought he'd at least give me the benefit of the doubt first, though, before we came to that. But, I mean, we both know that he beat the crap out of Michael after he found out that the jerk was calling you all sorts of names behind your back."

"Ronald needs to understand that I'm a big girl now," Ginny responds with a soft growl. "I don't need him being an ass and nearly killing you because of what supposedly happened." She then huffs. "You don't see Fred and George sending you stink bombs or anything, do you? But could the big prat see that, no." Her fingers drum against the back of my hand soothingly. "My brother is an idiot, Harry."

"But he loves you, though, Gin. He thought that I hurt you."

"So he decides to kill you?" she replies giving me her familiar 'I don't believe you' look.

It's the same argument that we've been going around having ever since that potions class. While I know Ginny is still upset over what could have happened, I'm really not. I should be, but I have bigger things to worry about now unfortunately. Voldemort is still after me. Hermione is being very secretive in the library where she spends all her free time now. According to Draco, though, she's only studying so that's rather nice that Draco's watching her. Death Eaters currently have Lizzie's parents captured and are blackmailing her into cooperating with their every demand, which is namely smear my name in the worst possible way. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff have declared open season on me. Any time one sees me, they immediately try to corner me before shoving me around as if I'm some ragdoll.

The two good things in my life right now are Ginny and the fact that I have Gryffindor and Slytherin, strangely enough, on my side. I'm not quite sure how that happened that Slytherin has called a temporary truce with Gryffindor, but I'm not going to say anything. My guess would be Draco, and that he somehow managed to talk them into not going after me. Then again, according to the Slytherin, Snape and Sinistra have been calling for mandatory House meetings every other day to discuss the troubling issues facing Slytherin.

"Harry," Ginny softly says drawing my attention instantly. She motions with her head towards the young raven-haired girl walking by herself in the distance. "That's Lizzie."

"I'm surprised she's walking by herself," I quietly reply. There hasn't been a day yet that Lizzie hasn't had some sort of bodyguard walking with her. Drawn like magnets, I stare at Lizzie's swollen abdomen. She's about seven months along now, and we still don't have a clue who is the baby's father. Pomfrey has ruled out all of Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff so far. I'll admit that I'm still queasy that we haven't found who he was, but both Pomfrey and Snape say it takes time to find this stuff. After all, there are hundreds of male students at Hogwarts that could be possible culprits.

I know that my indecision about how to act around Lizzie is upsetting the majority of the people. I want to be there for Lizzie, considering what she's going through alone, and claim the child is mine. I just can't, though. And as I said before, I'm not quite ignoring her or even arguing with people when they jeer at me that I'm a cheater. If she would just come over here and talk to me, I would gladly help her in any way I could secretly. I mean, why must it always be up to me to make the first move?

I then sigh. I've waited two months for Lizzie to say something to me, only to remain in the dark. My brilliant plan isn't working. Glancing around, I check the courtyard for any students. It's empty, so I gently press a kiss against Ginny's cheek before quickly catching up to Lizzie. For a pregnant girl, she certainly moves fast as I reach her at the stone bridge.

"Lizzie, can we talk?" I quietly ask jogging up next to her. When she starts instantly, I gently grab her elbow to keep her upright. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"What are you doing here, Harry?"

"I thought we could talk. I understand if you're not feeling up to it, but I...uh..." Feeling horribly awkward, I tug on my collar to release some of that tension. My eyes somehow end up staring at her swollen belly again.

"Harry, you don't have to do anything. I understand," she says with a shy smile before resting a hand against my shoulder.

"Can we please just go somewhere more private to talk?" I watch her slowly nod. Walking beside her down towards the outer edge of Black Lake, I ignore the feeling of dread. We're just walking. It doesn't mean anything. When we finally reach the outer banks, I watch her perch herself on top of one of the large rocks. Etched into her face is pure sadness, which probably is because of her parents.

"It's going to snow soon. Don't you think?" she asks staring off towards the lake. "I like snow." Her hand affectionately rubs her belly.

"It's kind of cold, though," I mutter back before walking towards her. I'm not really sure how to approach this subject. I mean, she is rather fragile I think. I draw in a breath before speaking again. "Lizzie, I've been trying to recall that night, but I can't." I then stare deeply into her blue eyes. "Do you know why I can't remember?" Within seconds, I see her turn away from me before sighing.

"Harry, you don't have to help me or anything. My family can pay for everything with the baby."

"That's not what I meant. You're fourteen, Lizzie. You shouldn't be going through this alone." I then try to calm my already frayed nerves so I don't tip my hand towards her. I mean, I don't want her to know that I know about her parents. Who knows how she'll react to that?

"Harry, I'm fine."

"Then why do you look so sad all the time?"

"Like you said, I'm fourteen. I wanted to be a Healer, but now with this, well, that's not going to happen for me. Is it, Harry?" she responds before shaking her head slowly.

"All right, fine then, but you still haven't answered my question, Lizzie. Why don't I remember that night at the party?" I watch her struggle with herself for a few moments before she finally gives in.

"Someone snuck in some Firewhiskey so they could add a little flavor to the butterbeer. I don't know who." Her blue eyes glance down at the brown grass. "You were celebrating with the other Gryffindors about your victory and mistakenly picked up the wrong drink."

"You saw this, but you didn't say anything?" I've had Firewhiskey before, so I know how much it messes me up. I'll admit freely that I probably was at the party. I do remember celebrating a win with my housemates and Ravenclaw, but I certainly don't remember sleeping with any girl.

"No. I didn't see it. Michael told the guys about it in the morning about how bad of a hangover you were going to have for drinking that much. I didn't know you were drunk at the time until afterwards." She then closes her eyes. "It's stupid. I know. You'd think I could have smelled it, but for some stupid reason I didn't." Her arms wrap around her midsection protectively. "I'm sorry, Harry. I'm sorry this happened."

"Were you sober?"

"I don't know. I mean, I think I was." Her hand then brushes through her dark hair. "That night's rather fuzzy for some reason."

"Then you could be misremembering." I nearly groan when I hear my words. I watch her head snap towards me as she stares at me with tears just starting to form in her eyes. So I'm probably not set out to be a spy then because someone would kill me right away.

"I woke up on your chest," she says glaring at me. "You think I'm lying, don't you? You probably think that I'm lying about all this, aren't you?" She then opens her robes slightly to show me her bare swollen abdomen. "Does that look like it's a part of glamour?" she snarls.

"No, no, Lizzie, I don't think you're lying," I quickly say holding up my hands in efforts to calm her before anyone stumbles upon us. "I'm sorry. I just don't remember anything about that. I don't remember us being together." I then sigh shaking my head. "A few months back, you said that you knew I loved Ginny, not you. How did you know that?"

"You cried it afterwards. You said this was a mistake, and then you left," she quietly answers. "I could see it in your eyes, and I can see it now by the way you act with her. You love her."

"Even if I do love Ginny, you shouldn't go through this alone, Lizzie." I honestly don't know why I'm pushing that issue. It's probably because of my save the world persona. "Please, let me help you. You say you don't need help. Maybe I can, I don't know, change nappies or something."

"I don't want you to help me, Harry. This wasn't your fault."

"But it was yours?" I reply staring at her in disbelief. She's confusing the hell out of me.

"No. It's just what Fate has dealt me."

"Yeah, well, in my opinion, Fate sucks. Please, Lizzie. Let me help you."

Lizzie opens her mouth to respond, but a group of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw boys interrupts. The boys encircle me glaring and jeering. Hatred is in all of their faces. Some of the boys I know wouldn't normally hurt a fly. However, in this turbulent time, I know they're all out of my blood.

"Lizzie, you should head up to the castle. We'll take care of Potter for you," a dark-haired Ravenclaw in my year gruffly says.

"It's all right, Michael. He wasn't bothering me," Lizzie quickly says.

"Please, Lizzie. Just go." As soon as she is out of sight, Michael walks closer towards me before shoving me back into Justin. "What? Ginny wasn't good enough for you so you went to Lizzie?" His eyes are black coals as he stares at me. "You know, Potter, we're getting tired of you and your Savior crap." He takes another step closer to me. "Do you know why?" He then shoves me again. "Because it's been almost four years since Cedric died, and you're still walking around free." He then scoffs. "You're supposed to be the Chosen One. Well, our great Savior, when are you finally going to defeat You-Know-Who? When he decides to attack London? When he reaches Hogsmeade? Or are you going to wait until he reaches Hogwarts and slaughters all of us?"

"Yeah," the other boys shout cheering Michael on.

"Cedric died because of you, Potter. Does that even cross your mind?"

"Of course it does," I snap.

"How many more deaths is it going to take before you realize that you're the reason we're all suffering, Potter? Is going to be Hermione's death or Ginny's? He's not going to stop until you're dead."

"So then what?" loudly I yell. "You want to kill me then, Michael? Is that going to bring back Cedric? A death for a death?" challenging him, I say. "Or is this still because Ginny dumped your ass for me last year because you wouldn't shut up about how I creamed Ravenclaw in Quidditch?"

Someday I'll learn to keep my mouth shut. However, that day isn't today. Michael's fist slams hard against my mouth. Two seconds later, I'm sprawled on the ground spitting blood. I hear the cries from the other boys to start attacking me, but strangely enough, a loud voice stops them.

"Touch him, and you'll have to deal with us!"

"You think you scare me, Ron?" Michael snarls. "You tried killing Potter a few months ago, or did you forget that when you were locked up in St. Mungo's?"

"Corner, say one more word, and my boys and I will make you into a bloody pulp."

My eyes widen instantly. That can't be... My head snaps towards the voice, which makes my mouth drop a few seconds later. Draco, Blaise, Crabbe, and Goyle are all standing a few feet from me with their wands drawn and murderous looks on their face. However, Ron, Seamus, Neville, and Lee don't look any different from the Slytherins.

"This isn't over, Potter." Michael and the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff boys then quickly leave.

"Sorry for being such a git, Harry. Still mad at me?" asks Ron as he offers his hand.

"Yes," I reply tersely glaring at him. I grab his hand, though. "You tried to kill me, Ron. What do you think?"