The fanart of Melody was drawn by https://www.quotev.com/VestaZ :)

The distraction of Voldemort Apparating into the drawing room in a puff of smoke tore my eyes away from Draco, but not before he reached down, retrieved his mother's fallen wand, and then stormed out of the room. The Dark Lord was so preoccupied with the fact that his Death Eaters had allowed his greatest enemy to escape that, in his rage, he didn't even notice me slip out after Draco and follow the infuriated boy out into the Manor's courtyard. No light illuminated the barren gardens, but I could see snow littered along the stone paths—and, of course, the redness to Draco's skin beneath the cuts that marred his face.

"Malfoy—"

"What!" he questioned, whipping around to face me while wrenching his arm from my grasp. The puffiness of his eyes and the wildness of his hair was enough to falter my train of thought.

"I—um—"

"Are you finally going to tell me the truth, Fitzroy, or are you just going to spit out more lies?"

"You—can't listen to anything Rookwood says—"

"Really? So it's a lie, then?" he asked, but I could tell by the vindictive inflection of his voice that he didn't believe that it could have been a lie. His mother was too horrified when Rookwood exposed the truth for it to be anything but.

"It's—not... The part about the Unbreakable Vow is not. But the other stuff—that I'm only with you because I have to be—that's a lie. You-Know-Who was disappointed with your family and decided he needed to punish you all. I am that punishment. I'm going to—taint your precious pure bloodline. And he forced me to make the Vow to ensure it would happen. I'm sorry—I really am. I never wanted to subject you to marrying me—"

Draco's whole body was trembling as he shook his head at me. "You mean you didn't want to subject yourself to marrying me. I heard you that day on the train—talking to Harper and ferret-boy about how we would have children. You thought I was sleeping, but I was listening. That was when I first thought that you really wanted to be with me. But you were only saying that because you knew you'd have to be with me. You'd have to marry me and have kids with me even though you'd still rather be with Weasley—"

"That isn't true!" I exploded, my voice rising to a pitch of despair. "I don't want Fred anymore—I want you. I've always wanted you! I've wanted you longer than I'll even admit to myself—"

"Yeah, sure, you want me until I play a stupid prank on a ferret—"

"I don't care about Smellfoy!" I blurted, but as soon as the false words escaped my mouth, I amended them with, "Well, I do. But that's not why I'm angry with you. I wasn't even that angry about the prank—I was angry about the fact that I thought you murdered Smellfoy and you just let me think that instead of informing me of the joke. The fun part of pranks is doing them with someone. Don't you get that? Why do you think Fred and George love it so much? Because it bonds them. And it bonded me with them. But even that—the stupid prank—didn't make me not want to be with you. It's...this." I motioned back toward the door into the Manor, where evil resided. "It's that you let yourself be so easily manipulated by the other Death Eaters—that you helped them nearly murder my brother and my friends! Don't you see why that kind of cowardice would be unappealing to me?"

Draco's voice quivered with rage as he took a step closer and glared down at me. "It's not like Potter appeared in the room and I automatically said, 'That's him!'; they interrogated me, they demanded to know, and I was as vague as I could have been. I told them I wasn't sure if it was him. But then they recognized Weasley and Granger, and I couldn't deny it. They would have discovered the truth with or without me. I tried to help the three of them. It's not my fault that your brother and his friends were stupid enough to say the Dark Lord's name!"

An involuntary sigh escaped my lips as the truth of his words sunk in. I was relieved that Draco hadn't betrayed Harry—not as easily as I'd first assumed, anyway. I should have had more faith in him, I supposed, but given his history with Harry, I wouldn't have really been surprised if he'd sold him out to save himself.

"Well...thank you," I said calmly, sincerely. "I'm not a huge fan of Harry either, but...he's our only hope in this war, so...I'm glad he's not dead. Or...I hope he's not... What happened after that? I mean—the three of them got away. What'd you do to swing that?"

His fury subsided as awkwardness overcame his posture. His cheek twitched as his fingers tightened around his mother's wand. "I...didn't. They—Bellatrix tortured Hermione—"

"What—"

"—and I had to retrieve that goblin—"

"What?" I repeated in bafflement. "From where?"

"From the cellar."

"What about Ron and Harry? Where were they?"

He cleared his throat but it sounded more like he was choking. "In...the cellar."

My jaw dropped completely as I fumbled for words. "You—went down to the cellar when they were trapped there and you didn't free them?"

"Of course not!" he snapped defensively. "Do you know what would have happened to me?"

"Exactly what you were allowing Bellatrix to do to Hermione?" I offered with harsh sardonicism.

His nostrils flared. "Stop treating me like I'm a monster! You've succumbed to their will before—don't act like it's just me! Don't act like you're better than me! You weren't there tonight—you didn't see any of it. If you had been there, what would you have done differently?"

"I-I would have pretended to go along with it," I stammered, "and then I would have figured out a way to help them—"

"Yeah, or you'd have openly defied our authority and gotten yourself hurt, like you always do."

"My safety is not my top priority—"

"Yeah, well, have you ever thought about what would happen to me if you got hurt—or killed?" he demanded, and even though I knew his words implied how deeply he cared about me, I could only manage to see the selfishness buried beneath.

"It's always about you, Malfoy—"

"Don't play that game with me—"

"This is Harry Potter we're talking about—"

"Yeah, your lovely brother—"

"Even if he weren't my brother, he is the only one in this damn world who is actively seeking to destroy the Dark Lord. How could you just sit by while they locked him away in a cellar for You-Know-Who to kill? Do you want the Dark Lord to live?"

Snorting, he rolled his eyes. "Clearly you don't because you want to get out of this stupid Vow—"

"IT IS AN UNBREAKABLE VOW!" I yelled loud enough to scare some birds from a nearby tree. "I have to marry you no matter what!"

"Yeah? And that's the worst thing in the world, isn't it? So bad that you couldn't even tell me about it. So bad that you had to manipulate me into falling in love with you—"

"Manipulate you?"

"You've never loved me. You've just been using me—"

"How can you say that? After—after everything we've been through? How could you even think that I don't love you?"

"Because all you do is lie," he ground out through his teeth. "You knew you'd have to marry me so you've been faking it so I would think it was real. Why else wouldn't you tell me about the Vow?"

"Because of this!" I exclaimed as I motioned between the two of us with my hand. "I didn't want you to freak out like you are right now—"

"I wouldn't have freaked out if you told me instead of Rookwood!" he insisted, and though I could tell he was trying to be tough in his indignation, I could hear the tinge of pain laced in his tone. "How long has this been a thing, huh? When did you make this Vow?"

"I..." My words trailed off when I realized that I'd been about to spew another lie to defend myself. It disgusted me how naturally the dishonesties rolled off my tongue. Why he was even bothering to learn the finer details was beyond me. If the roles had been reversed, I would have fled this Manor before this fight even began. "Over the summer," I told him. "That night that you came to my room...when I was screaming...and you slept with me—It was right before that."

The horror that morphed his features was torturous to watch. "You mean after I saved your Muggle brother? After I was there for you—after everything—and you didn't even have the decency to tell me? Everyone else knows, though, huh? Does Weasley know too? Of course he does. Do you two laugh about it—about how you have to marry stupid Malfoy when you'd rather marry him?"

"It's not like that," I insisted as I reached out for him—to touch him, to console him, to assure him that everything we had was real, but he flinched away, taking a full two steps backward as he slowly raised his mother's wand to me. The black wood trembled in the air between us, and I was so bewildered by the fact that he would point it at me that I could only gape.

"Stay away from me," he snarled so viciously that my eyes began to burn. I should have expected this; this was what I deserved for keeping such a secret from him. But only yesterday we'd been laughing at Hogwarts together, and it was baffling to think that everything could change so quickly for us. Our relationship had always been volatile, but I had thought after confessing our true feelings we would be past the inconsistency. I supposed it was only logical that the crumbling of the foundation of our relationship would collapse and destroy every other aspect with it.

"Draco," I barely whispered, moving one foot forward in the most innocent manner I could. Unsurprisingly, he took it as a threat, but I hadn't expected him to throw a nonverbal spell at me—and certainly not one that would fling me across the courtyard into the exterior of the Manor. My back collided with the stone wall with such force that the pain radiated into every nerve of my body. When my blurry vision began to focus again, I found that he was still planted in the same position, his wand still pointed at me, and he was seething.

"We need...to talk about this," I managed to say as I pushed off the ground. "This is not any way to solve the problem—"

"You're the problem, Fitzroy," he spat ruthlessly. "You've always been the problem, don't you see that? I'm done talking to you. All you do is lie. You don't know how to tell the truth."

"I know that I was wrong to lie to you. I should have told you about the Vow. But it didn't change anything. Even if I'd never made it, I would still love you. I didn't want you to think otherwise—"

A jet of light whizzed by my head; whatever spell he'd fired at me had just narrowly missed. I felt as if I'd been slammed with an Unforgivable Curse, though. Perhaps this was what I deserved, but when he refocused his aim and began to mutter another hex, I couldn't stop myself from whipping out my own wand in defense. The bright lights flowing from each of our wands collided in the center of the courtyard like two bolts of lightning, illuminating the dull walls and our perplexed faces. I recognized this blinding combination of light from when we'd dueled in my second year, and as soon as I heard the light crack in the wood of my wand, I hastily withdrew, subjecting myself to the full brunt of Malfoy's magic.

I liked to think that he hadn't intended for the spell to be so brutal as I slammed into the wall and agony coursed through my veins. I liked to think that the numbness that ensued was due to his healing touch. I liked to think that, as my eyes fluttered shut, I wasn't watching him leave me in the courtyard to rot. But I saw him go. And I should have Seen it all coming.

∆

A familiar scent encased me when my senses finally regained their function. I was wrapped so tightly in blankets that I couldn't even rub my eyes open and was forced to squint through a film of blurriness at the two figures that loomed beside my bed. It took me a few moments to realize I was in my room—my room at Malfoy Manor, anyway—and that neither of the beings with me were Draco Malfoy.

"Sorry sorry sorry sorry?" the house elf asked, peering at me with his oversized eyes.

"I'm fine," I muttered, and it was mostly true until my attention fixated on the second figure: Augustus Rookwood. His dark hair was perfectly slicked back into its normal ponytail, and his pocked face was just as revolting as usual. The smugness of his expression sent me into a frenzy of thrashing and kicking as I fought to free my limbs from the constricting blankets. "What the hell, Sorry? Why would you allow this asshole in here?"

"Sorry, sorry sorry—"

"I don't care what he demanded," I snapped as I finally liberated my arms and then proceeded to fumble for my wand. "I'm going to hex you, Rookwood, if you don't flee immediately—"

"I think I've received enough physical punishment for my wrongdoings," he interjected as he motioned to his left eye, which was surrounded by a bluish bruise. "Narcissa punched my face, if that's any consolation. She didn't have her wand, and I almost wish she had. That woman's got a strong arm—"

"Good, now it's my turn," I said with malicious glee as I whipped out my wand and aimed it at him. "Any last words?"

"Wormtail is dead."

I blinked, lowering my arm slightly as my face contorted with uncertainty. "Er—cool?"

"I thought you might want to know," Rookwood said, folding his hands placidly.

"Were you hoping to make me cry with that news? I don't really care about Wormtail. What I care about is the fact that you're the world's saddest excuse for a man. I think I'll be doing everyone a service by ending your life—"

Rookwood chuckled flippantly enough to insult me. "I believe I did you a service by revealing the truth to Draco—"

"Sorry, you might want to stand back," I advised the elf as I aimed my wand directly at the man's chest.

"Were you planning to never tell him?" Rookwood challenged before I could utter a spell. "The truth is always the way, Lainey—"

"Says you, the lying, deceiving Death Eater—"

"I have learned from experience that secrets should not be kept from those who are closest to you. Lisa was always aware of my desire to become a Death Eater, as you Know, but when I first received the Mark, I was hesitant to tell her at first. I knew it would displease her, and so I hid it from her as long as I could—until Lucius told her. You can imagine it did not go well, which was why I thought it would be best for Draco to find out sooner rather than later—"

"That doesn't even make sense!" I interjected furiously. "You told Draco about the Vow, not me. It would have been best if I'd told him—"

"And when were you planning on doing that, exactly?"

"E-Eventually, probably. Once we'd been dating for more than a month, at least—"

"The best time to tell him would have been the day that it happened," Rookwood noted, tilting his head as he gazed around pensively. "The worst time would have been later in your relationship, when he believed that he already had your full trust—"

"Why was none of this discussed before you so rudely exposed my secret?" I questioned as I crossed my arms over my chest.

His haughtiness amplified with the lowering of my wand, and he shrugged noncommittally in response to my inquiry. "Perhaps this was all a twisted form of revenge on Lucius for being the one to tell Lisa about my Mark—"

"You are insufferable," I groaned as I swung my legs over the other side of the bed and forced my aching body to stand. Judging by the faint light that seeped in behind the curtains of my window, it was daytime, but I felt too stiff to have only slept one night. With pursed lips, I pivoted my gaze toward Rookwood and reluctantly asked, "How long have I been out?"

"Well, today is Tuesday—"

"Of course, almost three days," I grumbled as I rubbed my shoulders. "I'm assuming it took so long for me to recover because dear Draco didn't come sit by my bedside?"

"As far as I'm aware, he's been holed up in his bedroom since the incident," Rookwood informed me as he paced around the bed toward me. "He refused to tell anyone of what occurred between the two of you, naturally. May I ask what happened?"

"You may not," I retorted as my eyes lingered down on my ombré wand. The tip was split so slightly that no one else would notice, but I could feel the difference just holding it in my hand. "Is Lucius in the house?"

Rookwood simpered in away that made me want to blacken his other eye. "Do you have plans to conspire with him against me?"

"No. I don't need anyone else's help to come up with a list of violent acts I'd like to carry out against you."

Stepping out of the way, he motioned toward the open door of my bedroom and said, "He's home. I will warn you, however, that he is not doing well after the events of Saturday evening. You can imagine that no one escaped the Dark Lord's wrath after allowing Potter to flee."

"Did you?"

"Well, I wasn't here for any of it, was I? I'd say I am the Dark Lord's favorite at the moment. Even you might rank above the others after Saturday. You're certainly the most esteemed Malfoy—"

"I'm not a Malfoy yet," I injected grumpily as I stalked past him. "At this rate, I'll probably die before I become one."

I was out of my bedroom before Rookwood could contrive a snarky response. The hallway was desolate and silent, but Draco's door, beside my own, seemed to be shouting my name. If it had truly been three days, wouldn't that be long enough for him to have calmed down and given thought to the situation? What had he even determined in the past three days? Did he still find me a guilty liar, or, by some miracle, did he understand my situation and accept that my love was true?

Ultimately, those were questions for another day, because I passed his door without a second thought and descended to the ground floor of the Manor to search for his father. None of the other Death Eaters were present today, seemingly, because Lucius was the first living being I saw after twenty minutes of searching, and he was seated alone in the library, staring out the window into the front gardens. His grey eyes were as ghostly as they had been in Azkaban, and judging by the stubble on his cheeks, he hadn't bothered with personal hygiene since Saturday. He didn't hear me approach, and when I assumed the dark armchair across from his, he jumped as if I'd hexed him.

"Good morning," I greeted as I crossed my legs and forced a smile. I noticed that I was still wearing the same sweater and jeans that I'd been sporting on Saturday and hoped that my odor wasn't too ghastly. "It is morning, isn't it?"

"Afternoon," Lucius said through a sigh as his eyes returned to the window. "Have you come to cause more devastation for this family?"

"No. And, if we're being technical, Harry was the one that caused the chaos and Rookwood was the one that caused the drama on Saturday, so I really had nothing to do with any of it." Lucius's expression remained torpid, so, with an exhale, I reached into my pocket and pulled out my wand for him to see. "I want you to explain this to me."

Tearing his eyes from the gardens, Lucius glanced down at the slight fissure in my wand. When his expression didn't change, I thought he wouldn't speak, but then he reclined in his seat again and loosed a raspy breath.

"You know the truth of your healing connection—that some of the Gaudium powers were deferred to you and Draco on...that day..." He stared down at my wand with glossy eyes before clearing his throat and continuing. "Because of this connection, you are not meant to fight one another. This was why your first wands exploded when you dueled. Unconsciously, you both used dark magic that resulted in the destruction of your wands—"

"But we both just used stupid little spells," I insisted, folding my hands over my wand. "I was only twelve—"

"Any time either of you use magic against one another in such an aggressive way, it becomes dark," Lucius explained gravely. I thought back to all of the times I'd tried to use offensive magic against Malfoy, and I did find that most of those times the spells were much more powerful than I intended—like when he'd kissed me in detention and I'd nearly murdered him. With a tentative sense of hopefulness, I realized that perhaps Draco hadn't planned to hurt me so severely on Saturday night, but his spells had simply turned dark due to our connection.

"We had hope that if we bought you twin wands, we could prevent future destruction of your wands if you ever were to duel again. We didn't tell you, of course, because we hoped that the destruction of your first wands would be enough to prevent any more magical fights between the two of you," Lucius went on with a flicker of dry amusement. "Perhaps if Draco had had his own wand on Saturday, it would not have ruined yours, but, of course, his wand was taken by your precious brother."

Pressing my lips together, I assessed the damage of my splintered wand and asked, "Is it dangerous to use?"

"Perhaps," he answered vaguely. "Ollivander could likely fix it. But, alas, he was taken by your precious brother as well."

My brow furrowed as I rested my wand in my lap. "What...do you mean?"

"Ollivander was a prisoner in the cellar—until the night your brother escaped. Somehow, he managed to free all of our prisoners. After the Dark Lord's...reaction...I reckon Draco could use your healing assistance." He shot me a knowing look, and my stomach clenched with the prospect that Draco had been tortured for the events of Saturday. That was exactly what he had been aiming to avoid in yielding to the other Death Eaters' wills. Even if he was cross with me—even if he never wanted to speak with me again and he hated me, I couldn't bear the thought that he was so badly injured, especially when I was the only being that could ensure his recovery.

With a nod at Lucius, I stood from the armchair and pocketed my wand. "I'll go see him."

∆

I did go to see Draco, but I didn't physically see him at all for the rest of the holiday. For five nights I slept on the floor in front of his door, hoping that after my incessant knocking he would finally agree to speak with me. But unless he left his room during my brief breaks for food and the bathroom, he didn't leave his room at all for the remainder of our time at Malfoy Manor. By Sunday morning, I was beginning to believe that he'd died in there, but then, just as we were leaving for King's Cross, he emerged, clean and sophisticated in his typical black suit. The only indicators that anything negative had transpired were the thin cuts slashed across his face from the glass chandelier. A few were still oozing the tiniest bits of blood, but he acted as if they didn't exist—just the same as he acted as if I didn't exist.

Not a word was exchanged between us as his parents Apparated with us to the train station. We boarded the train mutely, parting for our separate compartments. I had hope that once we were alone on the train he would want to talk, but I ended up sitting by myself, curled in a ball against a cold window. It was pathetic, I knew, but I was prepared to just quietly cry for the majority of the ride to Hogwarts when the five other members of the Slytherin Six entered the compartment.

There was an immediate aura of awkwardness upon their realization that Malfoy was not seated with me. None of them commented on it, though, and they instead told me of their exciting holiday during which the five of them lounged in Astoria's indoor pool—with Harmony too, of course. Crabbe had refused his invitation, sparking a feud between him and Ashley that had clearly not be resolved. She spent most of the train ride complaining about what an awful boyfriend he was while Astoria injected the occasional "You should have stuck with Miles." All I could think was that I wished I'd gone to the Greengrasses' rather than the Malfoys'.

When we arrived at Hogwarts, the Carrows were giddy to have their students—also known as their torture subjects—back inside the castle walls, but my hatred for their antics had been dulled in comparison to my hatred for Rookwood. It wasn't that I considered what he'd done to be completely immoral; in reality, he'd been right to tell Malfoy the truth, even if it had been in the worst way possible. What really fueled my animosity toward him was the fact that I had been actually starting to trust and almost like him that day in Diagon Alley, and then he'd turned on me without even batting an eye. More than anything, I felt betrayed, which was only fitting, since that was likely exactly how Malfoy now felt about me.

On Monday, the first day back to classes, Astoria forced me to wake up and accompany her to Muggle Studies so that she could gush about some of her new beauty products. It didn't take much convincing for her to get me to skip the rest of our classes that day in order to test those products in her bathroom-turned-business-office. I was relieved to miss an awkward hour of Dark Arts with Malfoy. If he had no interest in fixing our relationship, perhaps it wasn't worth fixing at all.

Tuesday was when I realized what had really shifted in Hogwarts. It was not that Draco Malfoy was no longer my boyfriend but that Ginny Weasley was absent. I should have noticed sooner, but I was too preoccupied in my selfish conflicts to pay any mind to the fact that she hadn't returned to Hogwarts.

"Well," Anderson said to me as I sat down at his table in Divination, "even if Weasels is my ex, I hope she's not dead."

I stared ahead at the empty table that Ginny and I had shared until today. It was only logical that she hadn't returned to Hogwarts: Ron Weasley was now a known accomplice in Harry Potter's rebellion, where before he'd simply been home "sick". The only reason I wasn't fearing for the Weasleys' lives was because I knew that the Dark Lord had yet to capture them—in the past week, anyway. Practically, I hoped that all of them had fled the country and would never return. Selfishly, I hoped that I'd get to see them all at least one more time.

"Yeah, me too," I sighed as my shoulders slumped. One of Anderson's dark eyebrows shot up beneath his shaggy hair quizzically, but I just shook my head. "You don't want to know."

"I don't want to know why you and Mal are fighting, you mean?"

"I assume that's what that look is about."

"What did happen with you and Draco?" Carl Vaisey questioned as he chugged a vial of what appeared to be Bottle of Bliss. It must have been if he was feeling decent enough to hold a civil conversation with me. "I mean, no one was expecting it to last—or even happen in the first place—so I'm not surprised—"

"You're always such an encouraging spirit, Vaisey," I injected with a snarky smile. I was considering telling at least Anderson the truth when Trelawney positioned herself at the front of the room and beckoned the class's attention. Her crazy hair was just as disarrayed as usual, and the ghostly look in her eye was just as prominent as it had been since the Death Eaters' take over of this school. She'd reacted better to their authority than Umbridge's, weirdly enough, but like the other professors, the looming presence of such evil was draining all optimism.

"Today we will practice Seeing the future through the crystal balls," she informed us in a hollow voice. Eyes flew toward me, the only person in this tower that might actually be able to procure any insight into the future, but I kept my vision focused on the murky orb on the table before me. "Remember, the way in which you stroke the crystal ball will determine how well you See..."

"Where is Ginny when you need to be told that all of this is rubbish..." I grumbled as I placed my hands lightly on the ball. The clouds continued to move and swirl, producing nothing coherent. "Anyone else want to try?"

Vaisey ignored me as he sorted through his collection of potion vials while Anderson was scrutinizing me with narrowed brown eyes.

"I don't want to See the future, Mud; I want you to tell me about the past. What's the problem with you and Mal?"

"He's a pureblood and she's not?" Vaisey suggested absently as he counted his vials.

"Essentially," I agreed as I drummed my fingers restlessly on the crystal ball. "He...found out about the Vow. Rookwood told him."

Anderson's mouth formed a black hole of disbelief while Vaisey halted his counting to glare at me.

"What Vow?" Vaisey asked as Anderson breathed a dramatic, "No."

"Yup. He didn't take it well, obviously. So I'm probably going to die, I suppose—"

"That's a little melodramatic," Vaisey commented snootily. "Just because Draco won't stoop to your level doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other males who would date you—"

"Are you speaking for yourself? Because that's a definite no—"

"I wasn't talking about myself," he sneered. "I'm dating Stephanie Wood currently—right, Steph?"

The blonde Hufflepuff girl, who was seated a few tables down from us, shot him a deadly scowl, and I snorted.

"Seems like your relationship is going as well as mine and Malfoy's."

"She didn't flip me off, so I'd say we're doing well," Vaisey reckoned as he sipped on some Bottle of Bliss. "But anyway, I'm just saying that you've never seemed like you've had a shortage of males chasing after you. Miles actually asks after you quite a bit—"

"Ew, stop—"

"Mud can't just give up on Mal now that she's finally gotten him," Anderson insisted, recovering from his initial shock. "Besides, she literally will die if he won't marry her. So...is that why Rookwood told him about the Vow? Because he wants you dead?"

"He claimed it was 'the right thing to do'," I explained with an eye roll. "Then he also claimed it was some sort of revenge on Lucius? Don't ask me to decipher Rookwood's motives. You know he's always been slimy and deceptive—"

My criticism of Rookwood came to an abrupt halt when an image suddenly began to form at the center of the cloudy orb. The details were hazy for a few moments, but as they began to sharpen, I realized I was looking at Rookwood, and he wasn't alone—

"What do you see, Mud?" Anderson prompted, leaning forward to peer into the ball. Evidently, this vision was only visible to me, because as the scene unfolded in the orb before me, Anderson grew increasingly more confused by the fact that he Saw nothing.

I was about to explain the contents of the crystal ball to him when my mind was suddenly transported into the very scene, whisking the fullness of my consciousness back to the Manor that I had left only two days ago. Clothed in his normally black attire, Rookwood was standing in my bedroom, but instead of being accompanied by Sorry and me as he had been last week, he was now with Narcissa, who was facing my bookshelf with her back to Rookwood. Her fingertips were grazing the old books that rested upon the shelves, and though she was feigning cold indifference, I could tell she was listening as Rookwood droned on in his superior tone.

"You would not be so upset if Potter had not escaped. You would see reason. You would know that I am right."

"In what way can you justify what you have done, Augustus?" she snipped, turning her head only for the briefest moment to glower at him before resuming her cool demeanor. "The situation we've been placed in has obviously not been ideal. You know we had plans to marry Draco to Astoria—a pureblood girl. Not only would it have kept our family pure, but it should have pleased the Dark Lord. Instead he chose to punish us—"

"A punishment that, as far as I've heard, you did not do much to prevent," Rookwood interjected, cocking his head as his eyebrows shot up. "You were the one to help perform the Vow's ceremony, were you not?"

Her hand stopped on one of the books as she stared intently at it. "I would have done more to prevent the making of the Vow if Draco's desires were elsewhere. Even though you cannot love, you must be able to see it when other people do."

Rookwood's expression soured at her comment, but he didn't refute it. "I'm aware of your son's sentiments for Lainey."

"Then why would you ruin it entirely? Was it asked of you by the Dark Lord to split the two of them in such a grotesque way? Was he angry that my son was actually content with marrying a half-blood—that he was not burdened by the punishment?"

"Oh, I am sure that the Dark Lord would be angered by such things if he knew of them. But, you can imagine, Narcissa, that the Dark Lord has more important things to worry about than teenage romance. His greatest enemy has evaded us once again, and you are surely aware of the Horcrux situation—"

"The walls are thin, Augustus," she said calmly as she began to search through the books again. "You know that only a select few have gained access to such knowledge. Some of us, surely, by accident. If the Dark Lord has no care for my son's happiness, what provoked you to destroy it?"

"I think it should be plain, Narcissa. What is the one thing I value most?"

"Your own life."

"Ah, yes. And what threatens my life at the moment?"

Narcissa paused, rotating her head to face him with slivered blue eyes. "You worry that the Dark Lord will choose to dispose of you. But what could that possibly have to do with Draco?"

Rookwood simpered cruelly. "You used to be so cunning, Narcissa. How motherhood has blinded you, weakened you—"

"The Gaudium ritual," she blurted, ignoring his derision. She pivoted the rest of her body toward Rookwood and stared at him with wide eyes. "You fear that the Dark Lord will choose to perform the ritual with you and Lisa—the one that will sacrifice you in order to bind him to her."

"Is it not a rational concern? The Dark Lord's need for a Gaudium grows as his collection of Horcruxes diminishes. If he cannot discover who the young Flemming girl has Latched onto, he will resort to sacrificing me and using Lisa. Your dear Draco knows who it is—"

"Then Lainey does as well. Why not suggest that the Dark Lord look into her mind? He could have while she was here—"

"You really have been kept out of the loop, haven't you?" Rookwood drawled as he examined the sleeve of his suit. "The Dark Lord's ability to utilize his slave has been considerably diminished over the past few months. Whether it is because he grows weak with the destruction of his Horcruxes or because she has gained access to some sort of combative potion, he cannot be certain, but his power with her weakens, and so he cannot simply dig through her thoughts to find the answer. So, triggering Draco's hatred for Lainey was the only logical way. It's obvious that Draco's only loyalty to the Flemming girl is through Lainey. The girl is a Gryffindor; Lainey is the only Slytherin who would willingly pledge allegiance to a Gryffindor. With Draco's newfound animosity toward Lainey, he will be itching for revenge. When I prompt him to give me the name of the one who the Flemming girl has Latched onto, he will do so readily in an attempt to hurt Lainey in the way that she hurt him. You cannot deny my cleverness, Narcissa."

"The clever thing to do would have been to take Lisa and flee from this place," Narcissa hissed as she took a few menacing steps closer to him. "Will it be any better if the Dark Lord possesses Harmony instead of Lisa?"

"Well, I'll be alive, so yes—"

"I didn't think you could sink any lower. I thought your justification for this situation might alleviate the severity of your crime, but it has only displayed your true heinousness. Did Draco tell you then? Have you already informed the Dark Lord?"

I only saw Rookwood's sinister smirk before I was violently yanked from the vision and immersed again in the Divination tower. Anderson was holding my hair firmly in his hand while Vaisey was grumpily wiping his vials.

"You were drooling everywhere," Anderson said as he dropped my hair and winced at the wet spot on the tablecloth. "It was gross."

"Now I need to decontaminate all of these vials," Vaisey complained as he cleaned my saliva off of each one with his sleeve.

"What did you See?" Anderson prompted, and I immediately glanced over at Trelawney, who was helping some of the Hufflepuff girls.

"Did she see me?"

"Did she see you staring into the crystal ball like a brainless person? No, we got Carl's girlfriend to distract her for a bit—"

"And this is the thanks I get," Vaisey griped as he gestured toward his defiled potions.

"Sorry," I said as I cleared some of the remaining wetness from my chin. "I—er...well, I Saw something pretty bad," I added to Anderson as I bit my lip. "I'll tell you when we're alone later—alone with Harper."

∆

Due to classes, meals, detentions, and the general presence of other human beings, the only time the Slytherin Six could actually be together alone was the next evening, when we all gathered in the sixth year girls' dormitory to discuss what I'd Seen in the crystal ball.

"Gus is an asshole," was Harper's comment once the entire situation had been explained. He was lounging up in my bed with his hands behind his head, a position that was much too nonchalant for all that had just been revealed to him. I was seated on top of my dresser, my legs dangling over the side, while Astoria was at her vanity, Ashley was pacing around the room, Anderson was holding Astoria's makeup for her, and Melody was reading in her bed.

"I'm glad he didn't end up being your dad, Lay," Harper continued. "He just ended up being some bloke that your mum probably bonked in this castle as a teenager and is now giving you hell in his adulthood."

"He's giving you hell, Harper," I reminded him blandly. "If Rookwood convinced Malfoy to reveal the truth, that means that Rookwood knows Harmony Latched onto you, which means that You-Know-Who has the information he needs to perform the ritual that will kill you."

"And make Harmony his Dark Queen," Anderson added in an ominous voice.

"Hopefully the bastard at least gives me the opportunity to watch this all unfold," Melody droned without glancing up from her book. "If he doesn't, I have a long list of possible acts of revenge."

"Oh, so you'll enact revenge upon You-Know-Who if he doesn't let you watch him murder Harper and take your sister as his slave, but if you can watch then it's all fine?" I clarified sassily.

"Watching Harper squirm is one of my favorite pastimes. Watching my righteous sister become corrupted by darkness will probably be just as amusing."

"In all seriousness, though, how do we prevent this from happening?" Anderson questioned as he handed Astoria some magical mascara.

"Who wasn't being serious?" Melody retorted so dryly that I honestly couldn't tell if she was joking or not. My best guess was not.

"You're all worrying for no reason," Astoria insisted as the mascara brush coated her eyelashes in sparkly black without the use of her hands. "From what Lainey's told us, Augustus plans to discover who Harmony's Latched onto, but he doesn't know yet."

"How do you reckon that?" Anderson asked warily.

"Well, Harper hasn't been captured by the Carrows yet, has he? They've been trying to figure out who Harmony Latched onto since Christmas. If Augustus gave them the information, Harper would already be dead. So, logically, Augustus either does know and he's hoarding the information for a different time or he still doesn't know."

"When the hell did you become the smart one, 'Stor?" Harper mused as he hopped down from my bunk and began to pace before me. "All right, so—for now, Harm and I are safe. But what if Gus does know the truth? What's the plan then?"

"I think the first course of action should include finding out if this Gustus knows the truth," Ashley proclaimed as she and Harper passed each other in their pacing. "Lainey, do your mind magic and find the answers."

"I can't just command visions to come to me," I insisted with a sigh. "The only way to know is if I ask Rookwood, and at this point that doesn't seem like the wisest move—"

"I agree," Astoria chimed in as she began to apply magical sparkly eye shadow. "The only option is to ask Draco if he revealed the truth to Augustus."

The snort that emitted from my nostrils was loud enough to halt both Harper and Ashley's pacing. "That sounds awful. Which one of us is gonna be the unlucky person who has to have that conversation with Malfoy?"

All eyes, even Melody's, slid in my direction, and any amusement drained from my expression.

"You're joking. You all want me to ask Malfoy if he betrayed us all to Rookwood? Are none of you aware of the state in which my relationship with Malfoy is in? It's an all time low, I'll have you all know, and that's saying a lot considering we have quite an extensive history of hostility—"

"You're still the only one he'll talk to," Astoria stated as she assessed her eye makeup in the mirror. "Just because he's cross with you doesn't mean he doesn't love you—"

"Must I re-explain the scene in which Malfoy nearly murdered me and then just walked away?"

"Lover's quarrel," Anderson scoffed with a dismissive wave. "Happens all the time with you two."

"This was different—"

"I don't think Lay should ask Mal about it anyway," Harper put in as he stroked his chin. "Based on her vision, we don't even know if Gus asked Mal about it yet. What if by asking Mal if he betrayed us, we offend him and then he does tell Gus just to spite us?"

"That seems like a very Malfoy-ish thing to do," I agreed, nodding.

Astoria rolled her sparkle-encased eyes. "Please, Lainey, you're just afraid to talk to him. You really believe that Draco would risk Ryan's death and You-Know-Who's rise to power for petty revenge?"

"Is there anyone in this room that doesn't see that as a likely possibility?"

"Malfoy's a coward. He'll do whatever he can to save his own ass," Melody said, agreeing with me in the most cynical way she could.

"But he's done things to help Lainey before, even when it was dangerous," Ashley said as she resumed marching around the room.

"That was before he discovered that I'm a lying scumbag," I reminded them.

"From what you said, though, Lainey, it sounded like he attempted to save four-eyes when he showed up at the Manor," Astoria countered with knowingly raised eyebrows.

"You mean Harry?" I questioned flatly.

"She means the Chosen Prat," Anderson corrected with a crooked grin. "And she's right. Even if Mal eventually gave in to peer pressure, he claimed he tried to thwart the Death Eaters, and he doesn't even like Potter—well, that Potter. He loves you-Potter—"

"Not anymore," I interjected through gritted teeth. "I'm not confronting Malfoy about this. There's no argument to be had, so let's move on to different options, shall we?"

"Let's hide Harper in the Chamber of Secrets! It's beautiful down there," Ashley enthused, her blue eyes as bright as her smile. "The dead snake gives the place such a homey vibe—"

"What the hell is your home like?" Anderson demanded as his face contorted with disgust.

"There's no point in hiding Harper down there," I said before Ashley could open her mouth again. "You-Know-Who can get in just as easily as I can. We need to find a place that no one else knows about—"

"Or," Harper cut in emphatically, "we could do nothing."

"Sure, that's a possibility, but we could also just hand you over to the Dark Lord, and we're not doing that either—"

"No, no," Harper interrupted me, "I mean...don't you think it'll become obvious to the Carrows that I'm the one Harm's Latched onto if we go to great lengths to protect me? If Mal hasn't told Gus yet, then I'm still safe. Let's not draw attention to what I am before it becomes an issue; let's just be prepared to face the opposition when it does."

"I don't like just sitting around and waiting for bad things to unfold," I insisted as I jumped down from the dresser to stand in front of him with crossed arms. "I don't want anything bad to happen to you—especially not...if it's because of me. If I had told Malfoy about the Vow to begin with, none of this would be happening—"

"Maybe it wouldn't be happening in this way, but as Harm's Latchee, I'm always going to be in danger, Lay. You-Know-Who finding out about it is inevitable, really. Since you Saw the vision, though, we have knowledge that we shouldn't. We know that it's coming, so we need to be prepared. The best we can do is ensure that me and Harmony are never alone for the Carrows to capture, and, maybe, to deter Mal from telling Gus the truth...you should try to mend your relationship."

"Mending our relationship is going to be much harder than physical healing," I responded darkly. "I can't just touch him and make everything better. I'm not really certain that there's anything I can do to make any of this better. He refuses to even look at me—"

"Then we need to force you two together again. Ash, what's the couples' challenge for this month?" Harper prompted, looking toward Ashley, who was now stalking toward the other side of the room.

"There are no more couples' competitions," Ashley answered with her nose upturned. "Crabbey and me are in a fight—"

"Still?" I inquired as my eyebrows shot up.

"Don't inspire her to rekindle the relationship, Lainey," Astoria hissed back at me. "We need to encourage her romance with someone of better appearance—or intellect, at least—"

"Hold up," Anderson said as he placed Astoria's makeup onto her vanity and spun to face Ashley. "This is an April Fool's joke, isn't it? You can't expect us to believe you'd want to cancel the competition over some dumb fight—"

"Is it April first?" I asked suddenly as my eyes flew toward my closet, where Fred's blackboard resided. We were friends now, in my mind, at least, but I still couldn't decide whether or not it was proper for me to wish him a happy birthday. I didn't want to lead him on—but then again, I supposed it didn't really matter anymore since my romantic loyalty was no longer to another...

"Yes, which means Ashley's playing a joke on us," Harper accused with a wry grin. "So, then, what's the next task?"

"I am not joking!" Ashley huffed as she stomped her foot on the ground. "Crabbey and me are fighting! I refuse to compete in anything with him, so the competition is over."

"It's fine," I muttered to Harper, putting a hand on his shoulder before he could continue to argue. "I'll...find another way to try to talk to Malfoy. For you."

"And for you," Harper insisted, placing his hand on my shoulder in the same way that mine rested on his. I forced a smile at him, but if I chose to do what I wanted to do right now, I'd be curling up in my closet with the blackboard and writing jokes back and forth with Fred until I died from not fulfilling the Vow—or starvation. Whichever came first.

∆

The only positive thing that could have been said about that April was that Harper and Harmony did not get kidnapped by Death Eaters. I supposed that was a fairly relieving fact. Everything else about our lives was miserable, though.

Harmony was concerned for Harper's wellbeing, of course, when we first told her about Rookwood's scheme. It did not, however, prompt her to reignite their previous friendship, and she went on being civil but not cordial toward him, which was the behavior she'd adopted since their week spent at the Greengrasses'.

Melody was as gloomy as usual. We spent many of our afternoons in the library together, but unlike before, she'd shifted her focus onto researching the Gaudium ritual rather than how to kill vampires. She claimed that if we knew more about the ritual, we might be able to determine if Voldemort was preparing for it, which would alert us if the truth had indeed been revealed. Despite the heartless sentiments she'd portrayed during our Slytherin Six meeting, she did care about the lives of Harper and her sister, even if I was the only person she would even vaguely admit it to.

Ashley's fight with Crabbe actually endured longer than a week, which was disconcerting for Harper, who still continued to push the couples' competition. Whether this was a ploy to get Malfoy and I back together or a way in which to force Melody to spend time with him, I wasn't quite sure, but either way his efforts were futile; Ashley had not been playing an April Fool's joke, and all of Slytherin House was aware that the competition was over. Surprisingly, most of them seemed disappointed by this fact. Except Malfoy.

Astoria and Anderson continued to pressure me to speak with him, but I refused to acquiesce. Throughout the entire month of April, Malfoy and I didn't so much as look at each other—at the same time, anyway. I caught myself staring at him during meals or classes on multiple occasions. It was pathetic, but I almost wished he would glance back, if only for a moment. He never did.

What was even left to be said between us? He had apologized for everything and then I had withheld the worst secret from him. My excuses were pitiful, and asking for forgiveness seemed foolish considering I didn't think I even deserved it—nor did I even want it. Nothing would ever be the same between us; our relationship would always be one of uncertainty and suspicion. I would prefer that he truthfully and blatantly oppose our marriage than pretend to trust me when I knew he never could.

Still, though, every time I entered the Arithmancy classroom I was reminded of our years of banter, every time I entered the Dark Arts classroom I was reminded of our years of note passing, and every time I entered the Muggle Studies classroom I was reminded of the night that had temporarily changed everything about those years. The common room reminded me of him, the Great Hall reminded me of him—even my dormitory reminded me of him, of the time he'd thrown a snake in my bed or the time we'd reclined in Astoria's bed. I missed him more than I'd ever missed Fred or my brothers or Lupin or my parents, and the loneliness was far crueler because he was right there all the time. I was granted endless opportunities to speak with him and I couldn't; our silence was killing me in a way that it never had before. I convinced myself that it was because we'd been dating, and so this time it was a break up, not just a silly fight. But deep down I knew that the real reason it was gnawing at me was because every other time before this one I'd been able to justify the problem as Malfoy's fault, but this time none of it was. He'd been right when we'd quarreled at the Manor: I was the problem. The problem that couldn't be fixed.

The decay of my relationship with Malfoy brought about only one positive consequence, and that was the strengthening of my relationship with Ashley. Though her fight with Crabbe was infinitely less severe than mine with Malfoy, we bonded over the break ups. Where I was depressed, though, Ashley seemed far more ecstatic about life than she had when bound to Crabbe. Her manic attitude was reduced to only occasional outbursts of enthusiasm, and she was laughing again, which was something she really hadn't done in quite some time. I thought that maybe her competitive nature had been deserted along with Crabbe...until the last day of April.

"For you," she said as she leaned across the Slytherin table in the Great Hall to hand me a folded piece of parchment. I received it with a furrowed brow, but I didn't get the opportunity to question her before she moved along, handing out separate notes to each Slytherin.

"Ooh, she wrote mine with pink ink," Astoria enthused beside me as she opened her paper.

"Mine too," Anderson grumbled on Astoria's other side as he read over his note. Tentatively, I unfolded my own and found the same pink ink that rather sloppily read:

HIDE AND CURSE!!!!!!!!!!

Your job is to HIDE!

If you go all night without being found, your couple gets 4 points.

If you get found, you lose too points, and for each partner that gets cursed you lose one point!

Leave your dormitory forty minutes after midnight to pick a hiding spot!

"You spelled 'two' wrong," Melody observed as she read over hers, which was written in green ink. "T-w-o, not t-o-o, you moron."

"What even is Hide and Curse?" I inquired, glancing around at my fellow sixth years since Ashley was halfway down the table with the third years. "Is it similar to Hide and Jinx?"

"It is Hide and Jinx!" Ashley proclaimed as she scurried down to join us. "But deadly!"

"So...we're going to hide and wait to be cursed? By who?" Harper asked dryly.

"Well, I'm not supposed to tell you," Ashley began, leaning over Melody to speak to Harper, "but Pansy and Greg's team are the cursers. They have the least points right now, so they don't get to be the hiders."

"Why thirty-five minutes after midnight specifically?" Astoria questioned, pointing to the time on her paper.

"Mine says forty minutes after midnight," I noted as I compared the two.

"Every couple has a different time that they leave their rooms," Ashley explained, her blue eyes trailing animatedly up and down the table as our Housemates read the instructions.

"Well, why'd you write mine in pink?" Anderson demanded. "Pink looks good on Astoria, but not on a letter addressed to me."

"Well, Vince, how can you expect a measly piece of parchment to even compare to my beauty?" Astoria scoffed as she flipped her sparkly hair over her shoulder.

"The notes are color-coded by team," Ashley informed him as she opened her own and displayed it to him. "Our team gets pink."

"Our team?" Anderson repeated in bafflement. "You're not on our team, Pucey—"

"I am, actually," Ashley interrupted in a way that was eerily calm. "I decided that I wouldn't let Crabbey's awfulness ruin this fun competition. So Crabbe's not my partner anymore. Lainey is."

I blinked, glancing between my parchment and Ashley a few times before saying, "I...am?"

"Pucey!" Malfoy barked from the very end of the table, where he sat next to Pansy and across from Crabbe and Goyle. "What's this rubbish about? I told you at the Prefect meeting that we aren't playing these stupid games anymore—"

"Relax, Draco," Ashley droned, waving him off as if he were a petulant child. "Your partner isn't even Lainey anymore—"

"Oh thank God you finally changed up the partners," Pansy said, but her relief was short lived when Ashley continued with, "Crabbe's your partner now."

"I am not going to be a couple with Crabbe," Malfoy sneered at her, but then when his eyes fluttered toward me, he quickly recomposed himself and said, "Fine, but if Snape catches onto this madness, I tried to stop it. I won't lose my Head Boy badge for this—"

"Of course you're not willing to lose your Head Boy badge but you are willing to get cursed," Harper interjected as he waved his parchment around. "This game sounds dangerous, Ash. What if Melody gets hurt?"

Snorting, Melody ripped up her note and flicked the shreds at Harper's face. "I would say you're cute, Harper, but you're really just ignorant. I'll kill anyone who tries to curse me. You should rename the game to Hide and Kill, Pucey—"

"You are not a curser!" Ashley insisted as her usual shrillness returned to her tone. "You are a hider! You will hide! Just like Lainey and me will hide!" Puffing out a breath, she directed some of her negative energy into a scowl at Crabbe and then turned to me. "I'll see you forty minutes after midnight, Lainey. And we will hide the shit out of everyone."

∆

"Are you ready to hide the shit out of everyone?" I asked with a giggle as Ashley peeked her head out of our dormitory. Astoria had departed five minutes prior and Melody had left with Harper almost twenty minutes ago, leaving us alone to sneak out into the empty corridor. I wondered if Crabbe and Malfoy had gone already, but I wasn't pathetic enough to actually ask Ashley about it. Instead, I was enjoying myself by mocking her.

"Shh, Lainey!" she hissed, oblivious to my teasing. "People will hear you!"

"Almost everyone in this dungeon is participating in this game, Ash," I reminded her as I opened the door completely and gestured for her to step through the threshold. "Let's just go before it's the next couple's turn."

"The next couple is Travis and Lorene, and I'm not really worried about them. They're on our team, and they're third years."

"Lorene's pretty badass," I commented as we emerged in the common room. A few of the lanterns were lit, but other than that it was completely desolate. "But Travis is just a plain ass."

Ashley didn't even crack a smile; her face was completely stony as we entered the dungeon corridor. "We need to get to our hiding place quickly. We only have twenty minutes until the cursers are unleashed."

I bit my lip as we began our ascent up the stairs. "Um, all right... Well, do you know where we'll hide?"

Her laugh was humorless as we landed in the empty entrance hall. "Don't insult me, Lainey. I have had the hiding spot planned since I planned this event."

"Okay...so...where is it?"

"The Room of Requirement, obviously. No one will find us there. Even if they check, they might end up in a different Room of Requirement than ours."

"Is that even how it works?" I questioned as we climbed another staircase.

"Don't get technical with me, Lainey—"

"I don't really want to get cursed—"

"Don't question me! Just follow!"

"You sound just like the Dark Lord..." I grumbled, but I followed her anyway—if only to evade torture from the Carrows. It was probable that they were lurking in the halls tonight, and I doubted they'd be lenient even for two Slytherins.

With the moving staircases, it took us twenty minutes just to get to the seventh floor, and Ashley was mumbling frantically about how the cursers were being "unleashed" from the dungeons and would find us any second. Luckily, it didn't take us long to find the door to the Room of Requirement, and she shoved me in without warning.

The Room had taken a form that I'd never seen before. There wasn't junk piled meters high or water slides and stripper poles, but instead, in the unusually dim lighting, I could discern about fifty rows of towering, circular objects. As I took a few ginger steps closer, and my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I was dumbfounded to realize that these circular objects were oversized donuts. There had to be thousands of them, all propped upright and aligned perfectly. Each was frosted and decorated differently, and when I approached the closest one, I found that the center hole was large enough for me to fit my body through with ease.

"Are you...hungry?" I asked Ashley after slipping through the donut hole. She was staring at the giant pastries with horror, as if we'd been greeted by a horde of zombies rather than rows of sweet treats.

"I...hate donuts!" she moaned as her knees gave out. Rather dramatically, she collapsed onto the side of one of the donuts and then squealed as if it had burned her. "Crabbey loves donuts, and I hate Crabbey!"

"Were you...thinking about Crabbe, maybe, while searching for this room?" I suggested carefully as I approached her. She was just beginning to whine an incoherent response when another voice boomed throughout the donut room.

"Who's there! Show yourselves!"

My stomach dropped as I peered down the aisle of donuts and saw that a figure in a dark suit was standing about twenty paces away, his wand pointed directly at us. Well, his mother's wand, to be accurate.

"No!" Ashley screamed, scrambling to her feet as her eyes locked onto the two figures. While Malfoy was threatening us, Crabbe was munching on one of the donuts without the use of his hands. From what I could see, he'd made a considerable dent in it.

"You cannot be here! This is my hiding spot!" she wailed as she marched down the aisle toward them. Reluctantly, I hurried after her, my heart rate increasing with every step. Yes, I'd been this close to Malfoy since our fight, but not in such a small group of people, and certainly not in this room. Even if its appearance was completely altered, this was still the Room of Requirement, where we'd bonded as fledgling Death Eaters, where he'd almost kissed me against a stripper pole in front of the entire school.

"We were here first," Malfoy retorted huffily. Over the past month, the scars on his cheeks from the fallen chandelier hadn't faded, and they were nearly just as raw and red as they had been the night of the incident, clearly visible even in this poorly lit room. Also like the night of the incident, the threat of his wand was unremitting, and though he was speaking to Ashley and glaring at Ashley, I took note that the tip of Narcissa's wand was aimed carefully at me. "Leave, or I'll give you both detention—"

"You can't give me detention! I am a Prefect! CRABBE, STOP LOVING DONUTS MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!"

Malfoy's hostility evaporated, and we both blinked in astonishment as Crabbe, with a mouthful of frosting, slowly stepped away from the donut. Ashley was seething so ferociously that Malfoy actually lowered his wand in surrender, and I was beginning to think that my new partner was more terrifying than all of the cursers that were searching for us.

"I can't decide," Ashley started through panting breaths, "if I want to kill you or kiss you!"

Some of Crabbe's donut dropped from his mouth as he tried to comprehend her statement. I chose to raise my eyebrows at Malfoy and say, "Hm, I know the feeling."

Not even a twinkle of amusement entered Malfoy's grey eyes at my flirtation; my comment only seemed to reignite his agitation.

"You two aren't allowed to be a couple again," he barked at Crabbe and Ashley. "Crabbe is with me now, Pucey—"

"I don't want Crabbey," she spluttered, flabbergasted. "I want you both to leave so that Lainey and me can use this as our hiding spot! I told you, Crabbey, that this was my hiding spot. You knew—"

"You told him where you were planning to hide?" I blurted. "No wonder he's in here! You should have told me, Ash, and we could have avoided this—"

"Yeah, because the thought of talking to me is so revolting to you," Malfoy snapped as his wand twitched at his side.

"You are the one that's been telling us to leave since we got here!" I fumed as anger surged through me. "And the last time I tried to talk to you, you nearly murdered me—"

"That was—an accident," he countered as if his words were an argument rather than an excuse. "And you should have tried to talk to me sooner—"

"Yeah, just like Crabbey should have tried to come to Astoria's to spend a week of fun with me!" Ashley chimed in.

"Are you siding with him?" I asked her as I pointed my finger in Malfoy's direction.

"No, I'm just using his argument to make my opinions seem valid—"

"Your opinions aren't valid, and neither are Fitzroy's," Malfoy injected harshly. "Both of you girls are idiots who are unworthy of our time. Isn't that right, Crabbe?"

Crabbe blinked, glancing warily between Malfoy and the donut. "I just...want to finish eating this donut..."

"Yeah, he just wants to finish eating this donut, but then you two are here ruining everything. Because that's what you do, you ruin things—"

"I don't ruin things!" Ashley shrilled, but I just shook my head.

"He's talking about me, Ash. And he's right. I do ruin things—"

"Don't try to act like the righteous one, Fitzroy," Malfoy spat, taking a step toward us as he fixed his wand on me. "Don't act apologetic when we all know you'll lie again, and again, and again—"

"Yeah, just like Crabbe will eat donuts again, and again, and again—"

"Ashley!" I groaned, rubbing my forehead as I expelled a sigh. "Our relationship problems really don't equate—"

"No, they don't," Malfoy agreed, but his tone was too aggressive for any sense of relief. "The biggest problem you two have is that Crabbe likes donuts too much. Our problems begin with the fact that Fitzroy was born into this world and end with the fact that I'm being forced to marry a creature as wretched as her—"

"I got the door to open!" a female's voice suddenly echoed through the room. Ashley and I spun around to find that there was a light at the end of the aisle through which a horde of people was now flooding in.

"The cursers found us!" Ashley exclaimed in a whisper. "Crabbey, RUN!"

"What about me?" I hissed as Ashley sprinted toward the back of the room and hauled Crabbe along with her.

"You're not my partner anymore!" she yelled back as she and Crabbe disappeared into a different aisle.

Exhaling a breath, I peeked toward the oncoming attackers and then pivoted to speak to Malfoy—only to find that he, too, had vanished.

"I see the ex-Mudblood!" a voice yelled, and I quickly dove through a donut hole to avoid being pelted by a curse. When I scrambled out into the adjacent aisle, I found that Goyle was charging toward me at his fastest speed, so I hopped into another hole, which was too narrow for him to follow me through. He did attempt to hurl a curse at me, but I dodged it and then dashed toward the rear of the room too rapidly for him to pursue.

I was devising a plan to weave my way out of the room when Noah Palmer plunged through one of the donut holes and blocked my path. A curse I didn't recognize spewed from his mouth and his wand, but before the jet of purple could impact me, an invisible shield was suddenly thrust before me, deflecting the curse and saving me from destruction. For some reason, I was unsurprised to find that it was Malfoy pointing his wand through the donut hole to my right.

Shock had momentarily stunned Palmer, but he recovered quickly and was readying himself to dish out another curse. I reached for my wand just as Malfoy reached for my arm and pulled me through the donut hole into the safety of a new aisle. We weren't alone long, though, before a third year boy popped out of one of the donuts and threw a few fairly advanced curses at us.

"They're everywhere," I panted after we both dove through different donuts to escape the third year's curses. "The whole team of cursers found us—"

"Probably because you and Pucey are so bloody noisy—"

"Do you have to hate every little thing about me?"

"I don't have to, but I do," he retorted as a fifth year girl materialized ahead. Without hesitation, we both lurched through donut holes and continued our run down a different aisle.

"Okay, well, can you set all of the hate aside for a few minutes so we can get the hell out of here?" I suggested as a curse flew between our heads. Whipping my head around, I found that Noah Palmer was on our trail again, and a few profanities escaped my lips. "There're too many. We need to try the spell."

"Don't be foolish, Fitzroy," he scoffed as another curse just narrowly missed our shoulders. "We've never done it before—"

"Why does that mean that we shouldn't attempt it?"

With an irritable groan, Malfoy halted his strides and spun toward Noah, who was jogging in our direction. "If you get me killed, Mudblood—"

"I'll die if you die, don't worry," I assured him as I drew my wand and aimed it at nothing in particular. "Ready?"

There was no confirmation from him, though, before he began to utter, "Petrificus Totalus Omnis!"

Unprepared, I'd jumped in at the last word, and so our wands only sputtered pathetic, sparkly light, but no one fell into what was meant to be a mass Full-Body Bind. Palmer continued to charge at us, but, aggravated, Malfoy attacked him with a spell that rendered the boy completely unconscious. As Noah's body hit the floor, I twirled toward Malfoy with a poisonous scowl.

"You didn't give me any warning! The spell didn't work because we didn't do it together—"

"The spell didn't work because you broke my mum's wand!" he insisted, shoving his mother's wand into my face. Just like mine, there was the faintest fracture that split the fine wood. "I've barely been able to perform magic properly since that night—"

"Since the night that you attacked me, you mean? It's your fault that the wands split—"

A jet of green light flew between our faces, and when we turned, we both saw that Goyle was bumbling down the aisle toward us. Malfoy looked peeved, but he didn't get to bark at his minion before Goyle suddenly disappeared just as quickly as he'd come, as if he'd Disapparated. Nonplussed, we exchanged a glance that was interrupted when a voice drawled, "Can you two cut the drama long enough to keep yourselves alive?"

Alarmed, we both whipped our heads to the side to see that Melody was strolling down the aisle, twirling her wand in her hand.

"Goyle isn't skilled enough to kill either of us," Malfoy said, eyeing the purple-haired witch uneasily. "Why'd you save us?"

"Because we have more important things to worry about than this juvenile game," she responded grimly. "C'mon—unless you two would rather bonk amongst this sea of donuts."

"I reckon Crabbe and Ashley would," I muttered as we started toward the exit. The room had grown strangely quiet, and we didn't encounter another soul during our entire trek to the door. "What happened to everyone?"

"I got rid of them," Melody stated simply as we reached the end of the donut rows. The open doorway was in sight, and I could see figures looming out in the corridor.

"Got rid of them in the same way you got rid of Goyle?" I clarified dubiously. "Where did he go, anyway?"

Melody shrugged as we passed through the threshold. "He'll show up somewhere eventually."

"Lainey!" Harper exclaimed before I could question Melody any further. Along with Ashley, Astoria, and Anderson, he stood in the hallway with an expression of panic on his face. Only when I noticed that Harmony was among them, appearing worried and grave, did I register that something was truly wrong.

"What's...going on?" I asked, glancing around at my friends. Judging by the somberness of their postures, they all knew.

"It's my mum, Lay," Harper said, staring at me with his glistening blue eyes. "The Ministry found out she's Muggle-born. They've taken her as a prisoner, and...and Rachel's already left the castle to try to save her."