"and till the end
you're my very best friend."

Callista dropped her books onto an empty table in the Ancient Runes classroom. Pulling out the chair, she sat down, not at all prepared for the last class of the day. Everyone sat alone due to the fact that there were only 8 seventh years taking Ancient Runes. The class consisted of herself, Severus, Lily Evans, Sidney Hearst, Emmeline Vance, Kai Sun, and two other Ravenclaws that she did not know the names of.

Sidney Hearst was the girlfriend of Anya Chang. She was always in a good mood, and more often than not her hands were covered in paint.

Emmeline Vance, however, was an avid lover of Astronomy, which was emphasised by the star themed necklaces she wore and the constellation chart poking out of her school books. She was a good friend of Dorcas Meadowes, meaning she was friends with Lily too.

Kai Sun was the only Hufflepuff who took Ancient Runes. He sat on her right and had already occupied himself with a book while they waited for the class to begin.

Callista thought back on the night before while they waited. She was grateful for Rabastan's presence and it left her more certain of the path that lay ahead of her regarding her family.

She wanted to believe it would all be okay in the end but that was a foolish hope. With the war brewing outside of Hogwarts' walls, safety was a far away once she graduated. Her parents want someone to be apart of the Dark Lords circle, most likely Stellan. She could not let him take it, but she doubted how much control she would have even if she tried to oppose her parents.

Professor Avis walked in and set her things down on the table in the front of the class. Her dark blonde hair was drawn up into a slick bun, giving Callista a clear view of the glasses she wore.

"Alright class. Group project," she announced, resting her hands on her desk. "I've split the class in two groups and I will assign you to a group in a moment." She moved to the front of her desk, picking up two of the books she had brought with her.

"It's your Seventh Year and time to test your skills. You will have 3 weeks to translate a short book written in a runic alphabet to modern English. This will prepare you for your NEWTs as well as teaching you to work together as some of your translations may differ."

Lily raised her hand. Professor Avis nodded to her. She sat up straighter. "Are we allowed to work on translations in our own time and then fit them in together?"

"Yes, having each person do some pages and then meeting and consulting together is fine. Remember though, this is a group project so most of the work should be done together."

Lily nodded.

"Now for groups. Group 1: Lily Evans, Kai Sun, Emmeline Vance, and Callista Greengrass. That means the rest of you are in Group 2."

Callista felt bad for Severus, he was surrounded by Ravenclaws he did not know. It was better than being in her group, seeing as Lily no longer spoke to him. Her own group was not bad, she enjoyed working with Lily and she knew Emmeline to be focused on her work. Kai was often quite, she had only ever seen him at Slug Club meetings, so she assumed he would not be too hard to work with.

"Bring your tables together and start working. Here are your books." She handed Callista a book, one that looked to be an old folktale as she tried to read the first page. She flipped through it. There were no dates, numbers, lists, or drawings, so she felt confident in her assumption that it was a folktale.

Kai pulled his table and chair closer to hers and sat down. She passed the book to him and let him look through it. "A folklore?"

She nodded. "Looks like it."

The other two members of their group brought their tables over and each of them took turns looking at the book.

Lily received it last and once she was finished she looked up and said, "So, any ideas about how we should do this?"

"You're the best planner, Evans," Callista remarked. "But we could meet up everyday to work on translations."

Emmeline nodded. "We could do some pages on our own and then consult each other afterwards."

"Would it not be more efficient if we knew the context of the story while translating? If I do 5 pages and then Evans does 5 pages, it might be more difficult to if she doesn't know what happened in the previous 5."

Lily agreed, "Good point. We could each do the same pages in our free time and then check over them whenever we meet?"

"Sounds good."

"Fine for me."

Kai nodded in reply.

Callista looked around at the group. They were smart and did well in Ancient Runes. They would finish this project with good marks and then she could focus on preparing for NEWTs and finishing all the work her teachers kept piling on them. She was thankful they never received any other homework for Ancient Runes. Last year, Professor Avis gave them so much work that she often spent her nights in the common room finishing the work. Severus joined her on the days when they were given plenty of other homework.

~~~

After an hours work, the class was dismissed and Callista walked down the hallways to the Slytherin common room. Severus had barely let her speak before he left the classroom, muttering that he was headed to the Potions classroom.

A set of footsteps echoed in the hallway behind her. They quickened as she continued to walk. A hand grabbed her shoulder and she turned, ready to reprimand whoever dared to bother her but the words fell back into her mouth when she saw James.

"You could have called out." She looked at him as he stood before her.

He looked behind him before turning to her. "Professor Avis has it out for me for causing her fifth years to stop working and mess around in the hallways."

She shook her head. "You're Head Boy, you should be preventing stuff like that from happening."

He shrugged. "Anyway, I wanted to say sorry for reacting so badly to the news of you and Lestrange. It wasn't your choice." He grabbed her arms, his face turning serious. "Callista," he swallowed. "You don't have to marry him. You can come stay with me. My parents, I, will protect you."

She sighed, shrugging his arms off. He wanted to protect her but he was defenceless against her parents. "James." She begged. "You don't understand."

His eyes moved frantically across her face and the hallway surrounding them. They were alone. "I don't. I don't understand how you can think of marrying a Lestrange."

"Every choice I make has consequences." Her voice was heavy with emotion. "If I refuse to marry him, it'll effect my entire family. My dads work, their reputation amongst the pure-blood families—"

He scoffed. "Does their reputation really matter?"

"Yes! It's what protects them. Freya might have to marry Rabastan if I refuse." She almost choked on her words, the thought of Freya being forced into a marriage she was too much of a coward to accept was unbearable.

He closed his eyes, taking a step back. He opened them again and began to speak. "Callista, if he's a death eater...I, I don't want you to get hurt because of him."

"He might not. He might not be one of his brother is already one." It was wishful thinking, but it held some truth. Bellatrix was the only death eater in her family, Narcissa choosing to sit on the sidelines. She hoped Rabastan would do the same.

"What it he wants to become one?"

"I- I don't know."

He sighed, but nodded. "If you need an out my parents will take you in. And if you need an out when you're already married to him, you will always have me to help you."

She bit the inside of her lip, trying not to cry. "I know, James, and I love you for it."

He opens his arms and she fell forwards letting them engulf her in the only embrace she has ever felt safe in.

"I love you too, Cal."