To say my life had dramatically changed in the past six months was an understatement. Last December, I was just living a relatively normal life as a research student and university teacher in London.

Now, I was apparating back to my flat with Draco, after having met my sociopath of a grandfather, and learned that I was some sort of secret weapon to the wizarding world.

We stood, facing each other in silence for what seemed like hours. Neither of us knew what to say. Neither of us knew what had just happened.

"Why did he let us go?" I looked at Draco, and did not need Legilimency to understand he was scared. He really was. I closed the gap between us and wrapped my arms around his waist, resting my head against his chest. "Lydia and Oliver will make sure I won't do anything... stupid."

I welcome Draco's voice, now gently echoing in my brain. "You need to learn Legilimency." I sighed, holding onto him even closer. "I know. I need to learn a lot of things. Legilimency, the Patronus Charm, healing charms, anything to help find us a way out of this mess. Legilimency first though. I can't keep on focusing on thoughts for you to sense them, I need to talk to you directly. Especially if they are listening to us."

I felt Draco nodding above my head, his arms wrapped so tight around me it was almost suffocating. "We're going to find a way out, I promise. I'm sorry." He took a step back, frowning at me. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You're the one who was dragged into this. If it weren't for me, you would have never found out about magic."

It took all I had in mind not to swat his arm in response, but I knew from the smile on Draco's lips he had seen me thinking about it. "Bullshit. I would have found out one way or another. I'm the one who dragged you into this family drama. If someone is at fault here, it's me."

Our silent conversation was only broken by the chuckle that escaped both our lips at the absurdity of the situation. Bickering about who was to blame for the other's pain when fate was the one at fault. An odd first fight for a relationship.

_ _ _

Legilimency was easy to learn, at least with a spell. I was yet to perform wordless, wandless magic, which was how Draco could enter my mind so easily. Occlumency was a different story. Draco believed I was a natural Occlumens, that I could close off the borders of my mind as I pleased.

The way he explained it made it sound so foreign to me. He told me Vinda had tried to penetrate my thoughts but was unable to. He had said something about it causing pain, having someone trying to dig in your brain for information. But I hadn't felt a single thing. I only felt when Draco entered my mind, which was somehow always left opened exclusively for him.

He had tried to teach me how to feel legilimency clawing at the entrance of my psyche, unsuccessfully. We had concluded to wait until we were able to get away from the flat, to have someone try in his place. Until then, I was to accumulate as much knowledge and magical practice as possible.

I was learning more rapidly now that he had accessed the memory my had kept hidden from me. It was like my abilities were suddenly unlocked. I could perform magic before that, sure. But not to the extent I was now able to.

My dreams had changed too. They were more frequent. I would remember them in more details and write them down on a piece of parchment that I would send to Vinda first thing in the morning. It was the only condition to my relative freedom.

Lydia and Oliver were watching over us, listening to our every conversation. They seemed to trust us more with each day, as Draco and I made sure never to communicate our true thoughts out loud.

We had established a strategy. We would discuss non sensitive subjects out loud. I made sure to ask orientated questions about magic, ones regarding the dark arts or blood purity. We were sticking to the image Draco already had in Grindelwald's eyes: a former Death Eater, still a firm believer in their lost cause. He would thus remain on his good side, granting him protection.

We were trying to convince them Draco was turning me into the perfect servant. A blood supremacist, loyal follower of her grandfather. Just thinking about it made me nauseous, but I kept up the façade.

It was risky. I was used to faking idiocy in the muggle world, waiting until the exact right moment to act in any complicated situation. But this was usually in a professional setting, where I would need to hide my true intentions to make the situation as harmless and easy for me to solve whenever possible.

This time it was against one of the most powerful dark wizards of all time.

I was lying on my bed, skimming through a book about him, his life story. The man seemed to be a master manipulator, the retelling of his speeches only emphasising his rhetoric skills. I had to be even warier than anticipated when conversating with him, not to fall in any traps.

Groaning loudly, I shut the book back and dropped it back on top of the others scattered on the floor next to the bed. My fingers tracing the titles of the other books on the floor, I was trying to decide what book would slightly change my mind after spending way too long learning about my ancestor. Draco's school astrology book retained my attention longer than the others did. I had never opened it, not considering astrology to be as important for my current predicament compared to other subjects but was interested to see what wizards thought of astrology.

Flicking the pages of the book, I smiled at Draco's delicate handwriting in the margins, of notes taken during classes. As I turned a page, a table caught my attention. Draco's astrological chart, gemini sun, pisces moon, scorpio rising. I triple checked it for good measure, giggling at how oddly similar our charts were, with me being a pisces sun, gemini rising and scorpio moon. I'd never given too much thought about astrology, thinking it seemed unrealistic for personalities to be determined on the time and place they were born.

But seeing the notes taken underneath the chart, I realised wizards thought it was extremely important, and that the future could be predicted by observing the movements of planets, stars and asteroids.

I bit my lip, taking another look at Draco's chart. I had the underlying feeling that we were somehow meant to be. That things were so easy, that we just clicked effortlessly. I had never felt so comfortable around anyone else, nor had I ever trusted anyone that deeply. I had the feeling I knew him, truly, even without knowing every little detail about his past. It was deeper than simply knowing facts about him.

It was knowing the way he breathed when he was asleep, sensing his thoughts before he even had them, feeling his presence before having to turn around, remembering each curve and angle of his body without tracing them over and over again. It was being so certain of who he truly was that it left no room for doubt.

"I can feel you staring, Rosier." His voice snapped me out of my trance, only to make me realise I had been staring at him all along. He was smirking, his hair falling over his forehead, a piece of parchment sitting on his lap as he eyed me curiously. "Penny for your thoughts?"

I chuckled lightly at his words, not being so used to hearing his actual voice anymore. I was flustered, and could feel myself blushing. My thoughts? That I was finally realising he had me completely wrapped around his finger, qu'il me menait par le bout du nez. That I had fallen for him, way, way harder than I had ever fallen for anybody else.

Cautiously closing the astronomy book, I licked my lips before replying. "Your birthday is coming up, isn't it?" Draco hummed lowly while rolling the parchment he was holding, getting ready to tie it up into a letter. "Do you usually celebrate it?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Mmh, there's usually a party at the Manor."

I sighed, feeling slightly defeated at the idea of having to spend his birthday there, in the company of Narcissa whom I hadn't seen since our first, and quite frankly disastrous, encounter. I had wanted to do something special for him. Take advantage of having gotten to know him for the past six months, enough to know what kind of gesture he would appreciate. "It's usually on the fourth though, so that everyone is gathered at midnight. I'm not sure why." I smiled lightly at his words, reconsidering my original plan.

"Right then, you are hereby forbidden to sneak into my brain and check up on my thoughts regarding your birthday." I sat back up, giving him the coldest stare I could muster while speaking those words soundlessly right into his brain before speaking up again. "It should be fun!"

I wasn't as much feigning enthusiasm at the idea of spending an evening surrounded by purebloods, as I was genuinely excited at the prospect of planning some sort of surprise for Draco. If anything, I could at least lighten up the mood for 24 hours on the fifth of June.

_ _ _

A.N: Aaaaand we're back! I hope you guys are ready for some action, because it definitely is coming your way!