The sun has sunk long ago, and Dorcas shivered as she made her way across the Hogsmeade grounds towards the gigantic castle that loomed ahead. Around her were several of the Slytherins who paid no mind to her as they walked along. The lack of attention was supposed to come as a relief, but Dorcas couldn't help but be afraid. Something didn't click right. The way they completely ignored her seemed awfully ominous.

But as soon as she reached the castle and walked through the giant oak front doors, all of her worries were washed away as the bright lights shone gracefully over her. For the moment, she forgot about the Slytherins, the things they have said to her on the train on her way home, and she decided to join her friends at the Gryffindor common room. She was safe now, she didn't have to worry about what hideous plan Emma Vanity might be cooking up.

She didn't have to go the common room though, for no sooner had she stepped into the Great Hall, than she was instantly drawn into a tight hug by Maeve, whose dark hair tickled her nostrils. With a low chortle, Dorcas hugged her back. "I've missed you too, Maevey."

When they pulled away, she noticed Silver, standing a little behind Maeve. By the looks on their faces, she could instantly tell that Maeve hadn't kept her promise, and that they had fought while she was away. The idea saddened her, but she ignored the feeling and went over to hug Silver, who chuckled softly. "It's only been a week, Dorcas."

The trio started for the Gryffindor tower, and its distance from the Great Hall allowed them to talk and catch up on what they have missed. Dorcas told them about Noel, as she hadn't mentioned him in her letter.

Maeve seemed extremely pleased to hear about him. "That's wonderful, Dork! Your mother works so hard, she deserves some happiness in her life."

"What is he like?" Silver asked, twirling her silver blonde hair between her fingers.

"He's great," answered Dorcas promptly. "I like him. He seemed really good for my mum. He's a muggle though, and we had to be careful to avoid any talk of magic."

"Aren't you going to tell him about the magic?"

"He's only been with her two months. We don't want him to run away."

As they walked through the castle, there seemed to be no tension between the three of them. They talked like they always did – about their families, about their studies, about people in the castle they didn't like. Dorcas almost told them about her encounter with Emma Vanity, although she quickly bit her tongue and held herself back. With NEWTs just around the corner, she didn't want them to worry about other matters.

Dorcas, however, couldn't help but notice that something has changed between them. There was perhaps a little less life and humour in their conversations, and a little more formality. Moreover, Silver and Maeve seemed to be avoiding talking to each other, although they spoke quite normally to her.

Her suspicion was confirmed once they reached the Gryffindor tower. As Maeve uttered the password for the Fat Lady in the portrait, Silver took a few steps back. "I'll have to meet up with Benjy," she said impassively. "See you guys later." And she turned on her heels and went back the way she has come from.

Dorcas bit down on her lip, but Maeve acted like nothing has happened. She climbed in through the portrait hole and crawled through the tunnel to reach the common room. Dorcas followed her, and as the portrait swung shut behind her, she heard the Fat Lady whisper, "Ouch."

Maeve flopped down on one of the couches in one corner, crossing her arms in front of her. Sighing, Dorcas went over to join her, dropping her bag on the floor. As she opened her mouth to talk, Maeve spoke.

"Before you say anything, I didn't technically break your promise. I didn't fight with her, I just gave her a piece of my mind, and she started ignoring me after that."

Dorcas leaned over her and rested her head over her shoulder, the same way she has been doing since their first year. There was just something about Maeve that gave so much comfort, much like a mother would give. "What happened?" she asked after a few minutes of peaceful silence, save for the other people chatting in the room.

Maeve told her. Apparently, she had wanted to hang out with Silver at Hogsmeade during the weekend, but she had rejected, saying she had a date with Benjy. "That I didn't mind," explained Maeve, absently twirling Dorcas's curls in her fingers. "But when I asked her the next time if we could hang out in the grounds, she said that she didn't have time as she had some 'work' to do. She refused to tell me what work it was, so I confronted her, told her that I didn't like how she was ignoring us, how she was prioritising her new friends over us. She got furious and left."

Dorcas didn't say anything for a while, but when she heard a soft sniffle beside her, she straightened herself and hugged her best friend. "It's alright, Maeve. Please don't cry."

Maeve wasn't the kind of person to cry easily – indeed, she had once burned her hand badly in a Potions class, and had sat through it with a smile, refusing to let Professor Slughorn know because she didn't want to miss the important lecture. But when it came to her friends, the people she cared for so much, the people she had practically raised and loved since she was eleven, Maeve could get quite emotional and irrational.

Dorcas couldn't quite blame her, although she couldn't blame Silver either.

"Maeve, you have to understand. Silver has new friends. We have to respect that. If she doesn't like hanging out with us, there's nothing we can do about it."

Maeve sniffed. "She keeps receiving some letters every few days, and they have these strange brown stamps on them. She doesn't tell me what they are when I ask, and it drives me mad." She paused for a while, collecting her thoughts. Then she sighed and covered her face with her hands. "Oh, Merlin. I sound like a possessive boyfriend. No wonder she doesn't want to hang out with me."

"Come on now," Dorcas reassured her, rubbing her arm gently. "It's not your fault. None of this is. People change. Silver changed. We have to accept it."

Maeve was crying properly now, and she repeatedly rubbed her face with the sleeve of her shirt to wipe away her tears. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm a horrible person, I shouldn't have treated her that way."

"You're not a horrible person. It's natural to feel what you feel." Dorcas stood up and grabbed her hand, tugging her gently. "Come on, let's go for a walk."

She went up to the seventh year girls' dormitories, where she changed into fresher clothes and readied herself for a walk. Down in the common room, she met with Maeve who looked quite miserable with her mascara running down her cheeks, though she didn't seem to quite notice it. Smiling fondly, Dorcas used the sleeve of her shirt to wipe the stains off, gently brushed her hair with her fingers to tame them, and linked their arms together, before leading her friend out of the common room.

They walked quietly for a while, exiting the Gryffindor tower. Once they had reached the fourth floor, Maeve looked at her.

"You didn't tell Juliet you were leaving?"

Dorcas pressed her lips in embarrassment. "I was – I had a lot on my plate, it skipped my mind."

"She seemed quite upset," said Maeve, frowning.

"Upset?"

"Yes. When I told her that you went home for Easter, she asked, 'Why didn't she tell me?' You should go and talk to her."

Dorcas didn't say anything. After that little experience in the library a week before Easter, she had been avoiding Juliet, despite knowing how selfish she was being. She had had the opportunity to have a glimpse of the real Juliet Dearborn, the part of her that wasn't covered by a veil of Dorcas's feelings for her. It wasn't that Dorcas was so hurt by her comment about Professor McGonagall that she would stop talking to her; it was just that she had had a completely different picture of the Ravenclaw girl painted in her mind. Seeing that picture slashed like that in front of her eyes hurt her more than she would care to admit.

"Mm, she is probably worried about scoring low in Potions," she said, not quite kindly, as she herself registered.

Maeve, unsurprisingly, noticed that something was wrong. She held up a hand to stop her. "What's going on, Dorcas?"

"Nothing," she replied nonchalantly, stashing her hands in her pockets.

"You have been avoiding her since before Easter," she said. "And you don't talk about her anymore like you used to. Is it me? Is it because what I said to you about Juliet? If so, then I apologise. It's not my place to decide what goes on between you two. I trust you completely to make a decision that's good for you."

Dorcas couldn't help but laugh. Maeve sounded, quite uncannily, like a mother, even more so than her own mum did. She placed her hands over her shoulders gently.

"It's not you, Maeve," she said reassuringly. "Trust me. I'm just trying to figure a few things out. I'll talk to her after dinner. If she doesn't disappear with her boyfriend, that is."

A smile broke into Maeve's face. "There she is."