***

Diana sat frozen on the spot, staring from Evan to her parents. She could read from the angry expression on her mother's face that she wanted to say, 'I have already told you about this, so don't you dare make a scene.'

      "Well, Diana?" Mrs. Rosier called her name, catching her attention again. "Do you have any specific date in mind?"

      "I..." Diana tried to speak, opening her mouth and closing it again, but she couldn't possibly form the words, as though they were stuck in her throat. She had clenched her hands on her lap, avoiding the eyes that were watching her around the table.

      Diana had always known, ever since she was a child, that one day after coming of age her parents were going to betroth her to a boy from a Pureblood family. But she had hoped that the day would be years away from now, and she had never expected that this boy was going to be Evan Rosier. If she had known...

      "Maybe this Christmas?" Mrs. Rosier suggested. "The sooner the wedding takes place, the better. Given the... state of things."

     "I'm sure the war will not affect the marital bond between two Pureblood Wizarding families," Mrs. Greengrass said. "And, with all due respect, I'm sure Diana would want to graduate from Hogwarts before getting married."

     "If I may," Evan interjected, still seated beside Diana. He cleared his throat as he leaned back against his chair, saying, "Might I suggest the first week of July? That way, my dear Miss Greengrass would be done with school, and the weather would be neither hot, nor cold."

     "Wonderful idea!" Mrs. Greengrass smiled. "And Evan, you don't need to call her Miss. She's going to be your bride, after all. Just call her Diana."

     "Very well," Evan said politely, but Diana could still hear the arrogance dripping off his every word.

      Diana was frowning down at the table, trying to swallow up every word she wished to yell at all these people around the table. Everything had happened so fast that she still didn't know how to react. She didn't even know how to slow the frantic beating of her heart, or to control her temper.

     Just then, she felt Evan grab her hand under the table, which had been clenched on her knee. At the touch of his skin on hers, Diana abruptly pulled her hand away from him and shot to her feet like a reflex, breathing heavily through her nostrils.

      She could see from where she stood that her mother had gritted her teeth together, ordering her with her glaring eyes to sit back down. But Diana couldn't take any of this anymore.

      To avoid the later wrath of her mother, she turned to face Mrs. Rosier calmly, saying as politely as she could muster, "May I ask where the bathroom is?"

      "Oh, of course. Down the hall, first door to the left," Mrs. Rosier answered. Diana's mother looked slightly less angry now, glad that Diana hadn't made a scene.

     "Poor girl. She looked sick," Mr. Rosier said with a sigh after Diana had left the dining room. "I suppose it was ze oysters.  English people don't know how to handle our food. But she must get used to this; we're sending one of our best elves to their house after zey get married. His cooking and his French dishes are magnifique!"

     "Yes, she did look rather pale," said Mrs. Rosier, beginning to look worried.

     "May I be excused from the table? I should probably go and check on Diana and see how she's doing," said Evan, placing his napkin down on the table.

     "Very well." His father nodded, and so Evan got to his feet, leaving the dining hall after Diana.

***

Diana didn't know where she was running to, but she felt lost in the enormous manor as she tried to find the entrance doors. She wanted to leave this house behind, go back home, lock herself in her room, and never come out.

She couldn't marry Evan. She couldn't let that happen.

"Diana, wait!" She heard Evan's voice coming from far behind her, his quick steps following after her.

"Stay the hell away from me!" Diana snapped without looking back, quickening her pace. But she was forced to stop when he caught up with her and harshly grabbed her arm, holding her back. "Get your filthy hand off me, Rosier!"

"Didn't you hear your mother?" He smirked. "We're not supposed to call each other by our last names anymore, now that we're going to be man and wife."

All her anger finally catching up to her, Diana went red in the face in fury and slapped Evan across his face with her free hand.

Evan promptly let go of her arm out of shock, taking a step back. He touched the skin on his cheek where her hand had struck, breathing heavily as he remained in silence.

"Listen here, Rosier," Diana snarled, pointing a warning finger at him, "if you think for a second that I would let this wedding take place, you are wrong! I wouldn't marry you even if you were the last man on earth! Tell my parents I went back home, and tell them they can't do anything to stop me. I've had enough of this bullshit."

With one last glare at his direction, Diana turned around to leave. But she hadn't even taken more than ten steps that Evan stopped her again, saying,

"Do your parents know that you're dating Remus Lupin?"

Diana halted, her lips parting in surprise. She turned around slowly, holding his gaze. "What?"

The smirk returned to Evan's pale face, his blue eyes glimmering slyly under the dim light of the corridor as he took slow steps toward her.

"You heard me," he said. "I have my... sources."

Avery and Mulciber, Diana thought. It had to be them.

Diana knew a threat when she heard one. Her heart was pounding in her cheat, her whole body shaking in fury as she kept glaring at him.

"Now what would your parents say if they knew you were going out with a boy as poor as Lupin? What would they say if they knew the boy's father is a half-blood and his mother a lunatic Muggle?" Evan was now standing so close to her that she could hear him clearly as he whispered, "What would they do if they knew their daughter was a blood traitor?"

"Are you blackmailing me?" Diana narrowed her eyes at him dangerously. "Your threats mean nothing to me, Rosier. Go ahead and tell my parents. Do whatever petty thing you're capable of. You don't scare me."

"Don't I?" Evan grinned, and then, in a quick motion, he grabbed ahold of the hem of his sleeve, pushing it up to reveal a black tattoo on his forearm; it was the tattoo of a snake, protruding out of the mouth of a skull.

The Dark Mark...

Now it was Diana turn to take a step back and away from him in fear, her body going numb from shock. He was a Death Eater.

Satisfied at her reaction, Evan neatly pulled down his sleeve again.

"Now here's what you're going to do," he said, lacing his hands behind his back as his sharp eyes bore into hers, "you're going to go back to the dining room, and tell our parents that you agree with a beautiful wedding in the first week of July, and you're going to act like you can't wait to spend the rest of your life with me."

Diana was now listening to him with difficulty, the pounding of her heart deafening, and her ears buzzing dully. For a split second, she wondered how many people Evan had already killed. She wondered how many others he was going to kill.

"You're also going to forget about that boyfriend of yours," he said, catching Diana's full attention again. "I don't like to see my fiancé with another man, otherwise I'll get really angry. And when I get angry..." he smirked again, taking another step closer to her as he whispered darkly, "things will get messy, and people will get hurt."

Diana found herself unable to answer, the air barely reaching her lungs as she stared back at him with trembling lips.

Evan grinned, turning around to get back to the dining room. But before he left, he lingered on the spot long enough to say, "I'll give you until Christmas break to end things with Lupin, or the consequences will be on you."