Barnaby Lee x Reader - Year 6

Another Year Ends

Broken. That's all Lana felt, was broken. Despite all the positives she'd achieved, like sealing the final vault, saving the school, and getting rid of Rakepick forever, Lana couldn't believe what she'd witnessed in Knockturn Alley.

Merula was 'R''s secret agent at Hogwarts. The whole time they'd been working together, supposedly avenging Rowan together, Merula had other plans. She'd been reporting back to 'R' whenever they discovered a new piece of information about the vaults. It was her all along.

Lana spent the last day of school with a heavy heart, knowing for a fact what she wanted to do to Merula after finding out the truth. Merula was lucky she wasn't in school that day, or Lana would have done something she'd never forget.

Barnaby had noticed Lana's mood significantly drop, and he was concerned about her. She was now sat on the lakeshore by herself, knees hugged to her chest as she looked out at the glistening water.

"Hey, you." he said softly, coming up behind her.

"Hey." she croaked.

"Lana, what's wrong? Talk to me, love, you know you can." Barnaby said, sitting next to her and placing his strong arm around her.

She looked at him sadly and shook her head, not feeling confident in telling anybody about what she'd discovered yet. "I can't tell you. As much as I want to...I-I can't."

"Ok...that's fine." the boy said, "If you don't want to tell me, I don't mind. I just wanna know that you'e ok, is all."

"I...I guess I'm ok. I mean, after everything we've done in this past week, I'd say we should feel pretty great about ourselves." Lana said, smiling slightly, "But I don't know...maybe it's the thought that next year is our last year at Hogwarts that's got me so down." she said, trying to come up with a cover story.

"Shit, yeah. You're right. Wow, that's gone by fast..." Barnaby said, eyes widening in realisation, "We'll be alright though, love. Seeing as you don't need to worry about 'R' or the vaults anymore, we'll hopefully have more time to spend together." he smiled.

Lana smiled and leant into him, resting her head on his shoulder as she sighed. "We will, don't worry. I'm not spending anymore time away from you than I already have to." she said, making him chuckle.

"That's sweet of you." he said, kissing her head.

"I mean, it's true. I love you, and I wanna be with you as much as possible." she told him sweetly, sitting back up.

"I love you too." Barnaby grinned, planting a kiss on her lips, "Man, I'm so glad all this dodgy business is over." he sighed, placing his arms behind his head and laying on the ground.

"Yeah, me too..." Lana said quietly, bringing her knees back to her chest as she stared at the ground. Barnaby began talking again, but she was too disturbed by what she knew about 'R' to listen.

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The last day of term finally rolled around, and summer was just around the corner. Lana and the Circle members (minus Merula) had all said goodbye to each other before boarding the Hogwarts Express back to King's Cross.

The train finally arrived in London, all the students were chatting loudly with one another as they gathered their luggage. Everyone began filling out of the train onto the bustling platform, the smell of fuel heavy in the air.

Lana felt a familiar hand slip into hers, she turned around and saw Barnaby's lopsided grin and her heart lifted at the sight of him. She squeezed his hand with a smile and led him to a less busy area of the platform as she waited for her parents to find her.

"You'll be ok, won't you?" Lana asked him, referring to him staying with his grandmother.

"I'll be fine, love. I've dealt with her before." Barnaby reassured her, placing his hands on either side of her face snd kissing her forehead. She leant into his touch and smiled, but was snapped out of it when she heard her name.

"Lana?" a woman called.

The young girl whipped her head around at the sound of the familiar voice and saw her mother approaching her, her father holding her hand.

"Mum! Dad!" Lana grinned, running up and hugging them both.

"He seems familiar..." Lana's mum said, nodding over at Barnaby, who was still standing by Lana's luggage, giving the older woman a quick smile when she looked at him.

"Yeah, um..." Lana mumbled, taking Barnaby's hand. "This is my boyfriend, Barnaby." she told her parents.

"Boyfriend?" Lana's dad repeated.

"It's ok, dad. He's harmless." Lana chuckled.

"I see!" Lana's mum said, eyes fixed on the boy next to her daughter, "It's a pleasure to officially meet you, Barnaby."

"You too." Barnaby smiled.

"Sorry to cut this short - Lana, we should really get going if we want to beat the traffic back home." Lana's dad said

"Got it."

"We'll leave you two alone for a minute." Lana's mum winked, and took her husband's hand.

"Meet us back at the car, princess." Lana's dad told her with a smile, "See you, Barnaby!" he waved as he and his wife walked away.

"Sorry about that." Lana laughed, turning to Barnaby, "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" he chuckled.

"It's just I know that can be pretty scary. You know...the whole 'meeting the parents' thing."

"It was fine, love." he said, kissing her cheek, "You gotta stop worrying about me so much."

"I can't help being protective over you." she shrugged, "You of all people should understand that!"

"I know, I know." Barnaby laughed, "It's cute." he smirked, and she leant up to kiss him.

"I'm gonna miss you." Lana pouted, going on her tiptoes and circling her arms around his neck.

"I'm gonna miss you too." he sighed, his arms securing her waist.

"Write to me at least every few days. And don't let that woman get to you...and remember I love you." she smiled.

"You know I'll write to you." he chuckled, "And I love you too." he smiled, kissing her. She pulled him closer to her, deepening the kiss as he lifted her up, hearing her let out a muffled giggle as he did so.

Lana pulled away and sighed. "I'd best get going, then..." she said, smiling sadly up at him.

"Yeah. See you in six weeks?" Barnaby asked, taking her hands in his.

"See you in six weeks." she repeated. Barnaby kissed each of her hands and let her go. She collected her luggage and gave him one last kiss before walking off to find her parents. She looked back and smiled, him giving her a wave.

Lana took a deep breath as she continued pushing through the crowds, hoping to have a normal, relaxing summer before the events of her last year at Hogwarts unfolded.

hi friends!!
omg, we're finished! thank you so much for reading, i really love and appreciate every one of you :) (
hope u enjoyed this mini chapter btw, it was conjured up in my mind last minute so i hope it's decent haha)
stay tuned, because the next book is in the works and i'm hoping to get the first few chapters up in the next few weeks! see you then!
byeee <3