◤ ❝Somewhere along the way it caught up to us. We were able to rewrite the past with a new definition of its own. Draco Malfoy was everything light, costly in a world where darkness threatened him around every turn...but I was everything dark, sacrificed to the end when the light became scalding to the touch. The core of a person does not live around them. It is everything within them. That is where we got stuck.❞ ― Andromeda Erebus ◢

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CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:     ACHELOIS

January 5, 1997

Horace Slughorn, 10 September 1996

                  It seems that there is a wide selection of students at Hogwarts who show great potential in the coming times of the Second War. So many of them are beginning to display the charisma and intrigue that I have seen so infrequently since parting with my profession at Hogwarts. And Harry Potter! What an honor it is to be in the presence of such a legend! Already I can see that the boy displays talents in more than just the Potions classroom. M̶y̶ ̶o̶n̶l̶y̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶g̶r̶o̶w̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶i̶l̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶t̶w̶i̶n̶.̶ ̶W̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶M̶i̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶P̶o̶t̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶i̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶n̶f̶l̶u̶e̶n̶c̶e̶d̶ ̶b̶y̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶m̶a̶g̶i̶c̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶b̶e̶c̶a̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶M̶i̶s̶t̶e̶r̶ ̶R̶i̶d̶d̶l̶e̶?̶ ̶I̶ ̶f̶e̶a̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶w̶o̶r̶s̶t̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶b̶o̶y̶,̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶p̶o̶t̶e̶n̶t̶i̶a̶l̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶s̶t̶r̶a̶y̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶ ̶d̶o̶w̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶p̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶t̶i̶m̶e̶l̶y̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶h̶i̶m̶. I am excited to watch as Harry grows to be an outstanding, young wizard inside of my classroom. He is already showing himself to be perhaps one of the most talented of his peers.

Andromeda scoffed, her eyes wanting to roll further back into her head as she read the passage about Potter. What amused her even more was the constant scribbles in the leather, black book. Slughorn's thoughts were often erratic at times, but from the few (boring) excerpts that she read, she could tell that there was never a day in his life when Slughorn was not thinking about Tom Riddle and the Dark Lord. To her dismay, the book had not provided any insight into what she was looking for thus far. She had spent the last week reading through the most recent inserts of the book, realizing with great dismay that the later pages only appeared once finishing the last. 

Since the opened book was laid in her hands by the Dark Lord himself, she had kept an iron clutch on it and dared not to let anyone else see. Much had changed since that day. Theodore and Celicia came home to see her curled up in the darkest cove of the library, clutching herself and shaking desperately to rid herself off the trauma rattling in her bones. The book of Slughorn's was found in her hand, the cover of it bloodied by the deep cut that the Dark Lord inflicted upon her left hand. 

From that moment on, Mia had inverted into herself. She spoke little to either of them for the rest of the holiday, locking herself in her bedroom with Atlas and returning back to the old habits of not sleeping or eating unless Picket was forcefully making her do so. Theodore hovered, more than he usually did, because he was the only one who could see just how deeply the conversation with the Dark Lord had scarred her. She could not tell him that the Dark Lord had presented his head to her as a threat specific to her heart, and that it had traumatized her so greatly she could barely look him in the eye without drowning in guilt. 

One week of brief and distant contact with her family. All she could think about was the nightmare of a Dark Mark on his arm, and that was always enough to send her into panic again. But she was meant to return back to Hogwarts and continue the missions that she had started with Draco―Draco. The sting in her chest, a ghostly pain, stayed as a reminder of how surprised she was to miss him so much. Mia, after her meeting with the Dark Lord, recognized just how much she needed him by her side and the impact that it left when he wasn't there. So while she would never admit it aloud, she could not hide the relief in knowing she was hours away from being back with him.

"What are you reading?" 

To Mia's surprise, she didn't drop Slughorn's book. Instead, she casually closed it and laid it in her lap. Her instincts had gotten a lot better in the last few months, but that did not stop her muscles from freezing. She had to be careful to not hit her left palm, as the wound was only just beginning to heal. When Celicia and Theodore noticed the path of blood from her palm, they had both been eager to heal it quickly with magic. She, however, paid no attention to their pleads and simply wrapped it up with a piece of cloth. It was a wound she wanted to feel, and not one that she would have wished away so soon.

The culprit of the voice that interrupted her was none other than her cousin. Theodore stood in the frame of her bedroom doorway, his arms crossed tightly over his chest. She barely glanced at the school uniform he wore, his green tie perfect and proper while Mia's own hung loose and unkept around her neck. A perfect representation of them. 

She ignored his question, moving to stand up from her bed. "Time to leave?" 

"The Ministry's got a one-off connection to the Floo Network. They thought it would be a safe way to transport students back to Hogwarts this year," Theo explained lackadaisically, watching her with insightful eyes as she gathered a few loose items from her dresser. "Your things are already downstairs. Aunt Cece has gathered all of Atlas' belongings as well." 

She nodded silently, and with Slughorn's book tightly in her hand, she went in the direction of the door he was partially blocking. Theodore didn't move, his broad shoulders keeping her from getting out. Her teeth ground together in annoyance, brown eyes flickering to meet his questionable blue ones. He only raised his brows and kept his stare down on her, arms wound loosely around him.

"Are we doing this now?" he asked. "You expose one of the most important secrets to me over the holidays, and then you invert into your little hole of insolation once we go back at school?"

She looked at him blankly. "Sounds about right to me." 

"Mia, if you would just tell me what happened―" he tried again to get the truth out of her about what happened the night that the Dark Lord invaded their home. 

"Nothing happened, Theo. He asked me questions about the missions, and that was all." 

He scoffed, pushing off the frame to stand to his full height in front of her. "That's absolute shit, and you know it. You don't get to just reveal all of this to me, and then push me out the moment you get scared. You can't pretend nothing happened in these two weeks, Mia―that I didn't just find out my cousin sold her soul away. That isn't how this works. To be quite frank, I'm growing tired of it." 

So was she. The constant toss up and back and forth between trying to decide what she was going to do. Her mind had backtracked and fast forwarded a million times, going between whether or not to invite her cousin in or allow him to fade away. It was irritating, and mindless, and she wanted to be rid of it and just make a decision already―but Theodore did not understand because he was not being asked to let go of the only sanity he had left. She was selfish, enough that she wanted to keep him close, but not selfish enough to sacrifice his life just because she needed him to hold her together. She could not do that to him. 

"Well," she started, her mouth dry. "That makes two of us. Excuse me." 

She pushed her way passed him gently, her shoulder connecting with his left arm and making him fall away. The rest of the way down to the living room was silent, and she found that walking through the halls of the haunted Erebus manor did not hurt her anymore. She had relinquished her pain, mourned her father, and allowed herself to find some peace of mind in who she was becoming. Whether or not she enjoyed that person, it was someone she had to accept.

 Her feet stopped before her brain, taking her to the same room that she entered nearly two weeks ago and had a panic attack, as Theodore called it. She lived every day in fear of having another one. Her eyes flickered away from the spot where she laid, crippled on the floor, and moved instead to the fireplace that Celicia was already standing by alongside Picket and Atlas. Immediately upon entrance, Atlas made quick steps to ravel himself between her legs. 

"Miss Andromeda! Picket will miss you greatly, but she will see you for Easter holidays! And she will be sure to make your favorite meals!" the house-elf greeted, her eyes lighting up and ears raising high with admiration. 

Mia gave the small creature a soft smile, nodding gratefully. "Thank you, Picket. Until next time." 

She looked in the direction of her mother and pursed her lips at the sight of Celicia's painful stare. She could see that the woman was conflicted, wavering in an internal debate as her arms twitched by her sides. Then, without warning and taking the breath away from Mia, Celicia wound herself tightly around her tense frame and embraced the daughter she had forgotten for sixteen years. The stiffness of the hug showed just how little they did it, an unfamiliar feeling to the ones she would receive from Theodore. Those were comforting, safe. She felt none of that with Celicia. Her arms stayed straight down at her side, unable to bring herself to return the hold. 

She felt her mother close to her ear, and she tensed when she heard Celicia speak. "Do not make his mistakes, Andromeda. Remember, you cannot live in the past." 

"But there is always the potential to learn from it," Mia finished for her quietly, strained and uncomfortable by the blatant display of affection. Her mother released her and peered deeply in the eyes she passed down. "What does that even mean, Mother? I never asked you―why you would send that picture of Father and Black...that―that man...holding me." 

"Because there was much more history in the friendship between Alastiare and Sirius than you can imagine, Andromeda," Celicia said softly, mouth pulling down to a frown. "Because...I advise you to see that two sides of an opposite war does not always mean two sides of an opposite heart. Your father cared deeply for Sirius, and I know in my heart that Sirius once cared for him the same...do not shut out those closest to you because you believe that is the only avenue you have to take." 

Mia couldn't help it. She scoffed under her breath, something amusing about the contrast in what Celicia said and what Snape told her at Slughorn's party. It seemed like she was only ever being torn in two different sides, two different options, two different possibilities. Her mother was standing there, inadvertently advising her to stay close with Theodore (and possibly Draco), while Snape shunned the very thought. That left her with the only question: which was the right way?

"What's amusing?" she heard Celicia ask in confusion.

Mia shook her head, her lips twitching into a sarcastic smirk. "Only humored by the predicament that I have found myself in, as always. Standing in the middle, deterring blows from every side..." 

"War often forgets to mention those who stood in the middle of the battle," her mother muttered, eyes withering away as they so commonly did when she thought of her husband. "But they are usually the ones who carry the most on their shoulders, don't you think?" 

"I believe their lives would make one hell of a story." 

Mia and Celicia both glanced up at the sound of Theodore's voice. He stood off to the side, his hands stuck deeply into the pockets of his uniform trousers, the sluggishness of his posture a blatant disrespect to all of the etiquette he learned growing up. He looked unbothered by the way they left their conversation in her room, already waiting for her to meet his eyes. When she did, she couldn't help the frown that started to form deeply on her mouth as she considered his words. 

She paused. "And if it's a tragedy?" 

"Those are always the ones with the most hope that all will be well in the end, are they not?" he asked expectantly. The silent conversation between them, through their words and their expressions, did not go unnoticed by Celicia as she watched them in interest. "Besides, no one wants to read a happy story. A bit too unrealistic for my taste." 

"You've never had the best taste." 

A flash of amusement showed in his bright blue eyes, something of an inside joke with himself as he thought on her statement. "I think you'd be surprised at how similar our tastes are."

Mia quirked an eyebrow up at that in accusation, wondering what he meant by the comment, but she didn't say anything more about his little inside joke with himself. Instead, she turned to look at the fireplace before her, frowning as she realized what she would have to do. The Floo Network transportation was not her favorite, but she supposed it beat the long ride back on Hogwarts Express or another bout of Side-Along Apparition. 

As she gave her parting goodbyes to the others, not bothering to wait and watch Theodore say goodbye to her aunt, she quickly picked up Atlas with her injured hand and her luggage in the other. With a loud, pronounced shout, she said "Hogwarts!" and felt the world around her shift into motion. Her eyes caught quick glimpses of the different rooms, but none long enough for her to distinguish any of them. Then, her feet landed on solid ground and she coughed up the small ounce of soot that dusted around her. Honestly, she'd just changed into her uniform and it was already dirty. 

"Miss Erebus, careful where you step." 

Mia looked up immediately, Atlas already lunging out of her arms so that he could find solid ground. She wasn't surprised to see Professor McGonagall in front of her, the woman barely glancing up from her desk full of parchment. She pursed her lips, watching her warily before stepping out and over the small gate. Not seconds after she had finally dusted off what she could did another whirl of transportation come behind her, and Theodore stood there with a glower growing on his face. 

"Be mindful of the carpet, Nott," McGonagall called out, yet she didn't even glance up that time. A likely guess considering where Mia was, Theodore was not far behind. 

Theodore gave her a dull look before easily stepping his long legs over the gate. "Of course, Professor." 

Mia turned on her heel, knowing that he would catch up with her before she even got a few feet. She had mindlessly gotten her wand out the second that she was in the hallway, the relief of being able to use her magic again surging through her as she softly murmured "Wingardium Leviosa" to ease her luggage out of her hand. Just as she suspected, the moment she began to move in the direction of the dungeons, light footsteps from Theodore followed behind. 

"You've left me behind twice," he huffed. 

Mia rolled her eyes. "Then move faster." 

"You need to liven up," Theodore said quietly, falling easily into step with her. "People will suspicious of your mood coming back...besides, you'll be seeing your boyfriend soon enough. That calls for a better mood than the foul one you're in right now."

"Yes, well, you'll be seeing your best mate Vaisey soon enough, too. I would wipe the look of death off your face. It isn't attractive." 

Theodore quieted down at her retort, and by now, she was used to it. She still hadn't figured out what was causing the reaction, but she had a feeling that whatever it was would not stay a secret much longer. His terrible lies and cover-ups were an indication of that. Just when she thought that her cousin had finally let up and she turned to face him, she was surprised to see that he had pulled out his wand and started to lift it in her direction. That shocked her, and she nearly flinched at the reminder of when it was Bellatrix holding her wand to her neck, but Theodore had no intention of harming her. 

Instead, he went for what was a frequent growing retaliation for them, and a low "Crinus Muto!" rang through the hallway on the way to the common room. Mia bristled immediately after hearing it, stopping in her place and alarming Atlas at her feet. She was not in the mood to play games, and fury danced in her eyes as she glowered darkly at her cousin. The students bustling around them to get to their common rooms barely glanced up, mostly first-years still wrapping their minds around the directions they needed to be in. None of them realized they were nearly witnesses to a murder.

"Why in the bloody hell did you do that, you git?" she snarled, glaring heavily at him. "Do I seem like I am in the mood to play jokes right now?" 

Theodore's eyes narrowed, and he glanced up briefly to look around them before his arm caught her elbow. "No, which is why it was necessary. You need to calm down. You are acting abrasive and out of character, even for yourself as of recently...don't let the others start suspecting anything just because you're pissed at the world right now." 

"And how is changing the color of my hair meant to help in any way?"

"As I said before, you need to liven up," he said without regret, his blue eyes flickering to her hair with a small smirk starting to pull on his face. "If it makes you feel any better, the color isn't green this time." 

Mia's jaw clenched. "Theodore...what color did you turn my hair?"

"You like the color blue, don't you?" 

――――――――――

The walk down to the Slytherin common room consisted of Andromeda 'accidentally' sending her luggage into the back of Theodore's knees to make him stumble every few minutes. When she had made a quick stop to one of the bathrooms on their way, glaring daggers at a third-year Hufflepuff who dared to snigger under her breath at her hair, she saw the damage that was done to her hair from Theodore. The long strands of hair that she straightened were a deep blue, and only with a turn of the head and a few seconds of focusing could anyone actually see the difference from her usual dark hair. That lifted her mood slightly, but she still felt the urge to curse Theodore in return. However, she kept the retaliation to herself just that once and decided to keep tripping him up instead. 

The closer they got the common room, the more the bubbling pit in her stomach started to die out. The separation from Draco, she realized. Not until she was under the castle roof did she notice just how grateful she was to be back and away from the Erebus manor. Her only hope was that he had had some progress in the time that she was away. Dutifully, she continued on the walk down the stairs, letting up on her cousin briefly so that he didn't break his neck going down. 

Unsurprisingly, they ended up running into one of their housemates on the way. Mia resisted the urge to groan at the sight of blonde hair, not in any particular mood to deal with the enthusiastic babbling of Daphne as she spouted on and on about her Christmas gifts. Theodore didn't seem much more excited to see the girl he supposedly fancied either, and they let up their irritation toward one another long enough to share a look. 

"Mia! Theodore!" much too soon for either of their liking, they turned their eyes away from each other and both put on false expressions for their housemate. Daphne smiled as she caught up with them, her hooded eyes focusing more on Theo than Mia. "How was your break? Wasn't the weather just awful? It was dreadful out any time Father attempted to show Astoria and me the new broom he just purchased...oh, Mia―your hair...Theodore?"

The way Daphne's eyes immediately darted to Theodore after witnessing the blue hair spoke matters of its own, and she smiled with flushed cheeks over at him. Theo shuffled beside her, and she noticed curiously that he had glanced over at Mia with some expectation that she would dig him out of the hole being buried by Daphne. She shrugged at him, her lips twisting up wickedly as she realized the perfect torture was leaving him with the blonde girl―besides, he fancied her, didn't he? Might as well give them some alone time. 

"Theodore can tell you all about it," Mia said shortly, giving her a quick and false smile before she turned on her heel in the direction of the common room. 

However, she was stubbed of her eagerness halfway there. In the small alcove in the wall, just under one of the windows glimmering the Black Sea's colors and the glint of a torch, was the one person that she had been elated to see. Draco had someone pinned underneath his arms as he kissed them, pressed tightly against the stone wall so that they couldn't escape. His hands were wrapped messily into brown hair, and when the light flickered, she saw a glimpse of Parkinson's face. She ignored the feeling in her gut, disgust curling her lips up as she tried to move her feet in order to leave the scene in front of her. 

Draco's lips had only just begun traveling down Parkinson's neck when she glanced up to see Mia there. "Oh, Draco, look. Andromeda's back." 

Like a fire scorching down his spine, Draco shot up and his lips pulled away from Parkinson's skin. His uniform polo was wrinkled, and the green tie around his neck was loose in comparison to usual. He backed away instantly, his feet taking him out of her reach from his girlfriend. Then, his hazy grey eyes met with brown ones, and there was a storm brewing in them deeper than the sea outside of the window. Mia could see a small crease growing between his brows as he stared at her, his mouth open like he was trying to form any degree of words to explain himself―but why would he have to?

Mia pursed her lips, finally darting her eyes away from Draco to give Parkinson a sour look. "Could the two of you try to restrain yourselves from defiling the entire castle? I'd like to know there are still some places here that haven't been contaminated by your escapades." 

Draco swallowed hard. "Mia―" 

"Looks like the few minutes of peace we had are gone," Parkinson said dejectedly, sighing as she pushed herself off the wall. Mia glowered at her, barely conscious of the other two bodies coming up behind her until Parkinson's attention fell elsewhere. "Daphne! I have to show you my Christmas presents. You'll never believe what Daddy got for me―" 

Parkinson easily slid out of the small alcove to go in the direction of Daphne, but not before turning around and pressing another deep and messy kiss on Draco's lips. When she pulled back, there was a satisfactory grin on Parkinson's face as she sent a meaningful look her way. Mia glanced away, feeling someone grasp her left arm softly. She peered up to see Theodore standing next to her, glaring straight ahead instead of looking at her. Much like all the other times they had found themselves in a predicament like this, his eyes shadowed in a protective gauze that he tried to wrap Mia in when around Draco. 

As the sounds of Daphne and Parkinson walking away grew more distant, and she heard the faint sound of their common room door closing, she finally looked back in the direction of Draco. His eyes were not focused for one moment on Theodore's sharp gaze or even the fact that her hair was an outrageous color like blue.Instead, he only met with her own stare and took a step forward.

"Romy―" 

"Mia," Theodore interrupted him at her side. "Do you want to go put our things up?" 

It was a peculiar thing how Theodore and Mia worked. They could go from fighting one instant to immediately curling in the other's way as a bodyguard. The question her cousin asked had a hidden meaning she caught, obviously giving her the out if she decided she wanted to evade a conversation with Draco. She paused, genuinely contemplating walking away from the pale-haired boy, but she thought better of it. The entire break she had missed him, and she was going to shove all of that away simply because she had to go through the disgust of watching him kiss Parkinson? 

She flickered her eyes up to her cousin, shaking her head. "I'll meet you in there. Could you take Atlas with you?" 

At the mention of the cat, she felt a weight push on the side of her leg and knew it was Atlas reminding her he was still there. She glanced down only briefly before Theodore had moved to pick him up, only getting a soft paw to his cheek before the animal accepted the embrace. He sent a brief look at Mia again, then a hardened glower in Draco's expression, before he was taking both of their luggage with him to go into the common room. Mia watched him leave through the door, waiting until there was soft silence in the hall, before she turned back around. 

Draco had shoved his hands into his pockets, his eyes racking in all of the features that he had not seen for two weeks. When they landed on her hair, his forehead creased in confusion. "Is your hair―" 

"Blue," she finished with a sigh. "Yes. Theodore's doing. He thought I needed to liven up."

"Why is that?" he asked conversationally, moving so that he was leaning up against one side of the alcove in front of her. "I would have expected you to have a nice holiday away from here." 

"You've met my grandmother. Would you label her as nice?" 

"Ah..." he winced, remembering his past experiences with Eleanor. "I suppose you're right...but you got to see your mother. Is Celicia well? I know Mother talked about her in one of the letters she sent me over the break, saying she was happy to see you." 

"She's...different, but better than I expected," she said slowly, and she could not ignore how the entire conversation felt wrong for some reason. Like they were filling the air with bland words, and it had never felt like that before with him. Mia paused, then she shook her head. "What are we doing?" 

Draco looked at her in confusion. "I think talking is the proper word―" 

"You know what I mean," she interrupted. "What is this? Small talk?"

"Well, we very well can't talk about what we want to right now." 

"And? Is it good news or bad news?" 

"It's...news..." he pulled his hands out of his pockets and began playing with his gaudy ring, an anxious tick of his that he did. Mia sighed, her arms tightening around her body as she realized the news was not good news. He glanced up at her once again with drawn lips. "We can talk more about it tonigh―" 

Draco stopped. His grey eyes had unconsciously found themselves wandering to her arms as she moved them. When they caught one particular thing, he pushed off the wall in an instant and made the few steps that were keeping them away from one another. His pale, thin fingers were reaching for her left hand before she could even protest, flipping it around palm-up so that he could see it fully. The gauze that was wrapped around it had been changed before she left the manor, the wound now a week hold and beginning its long recovery to a scar. 

"What is this?" when she said nothing, his stormy eyes flickered darkly down to hers. "Romy, what is this?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat, pulling her hand out of his reach before he could inspect it any further. Already, there were a million questions blazing in his frustrated eyes as he watched her. She couldn't understand for the life of her why he looked so upset, not when he had no knowledge of what even caused the injury in the first place. Once he discovered the truth of what happened, then she would expect to see the alarm on his face, but not now. 

"We can't talk about what we want to right now," she said lowly. His gaze narrowed as she repeated his words back to him, going to interject or even pull her away to get answers, but she shook her head. "We'll meet tonight. There's a lot that has happened." 

Draco reluctantly nodded after a few moments, and he stiffly moved away from her so that they could make their way to the common room entrance. He muttered the password, "Medusa," so quietly that she had barely heard it in the first place. He waited for her to go in first, and the stone steps leading down into the common room struck up a faint relief to be back home. When she got into the common room, she was not surprised to see luggage and students all over the place. Along with various Christmas packages, there were the older students too lazy to put their stuff up just yet as they conversed with their friends. 

She was surprised to see that Theo was among the crowd, having expected him to go directly toward his dormitory the moment that he had the opportunity. Then, she caught sight of who he was talking to. Andrew Vaisey looked somehow different than the last time she saw him. His black hair was still messy as ever, untamed and wildly sprawled across his face, but it was the smile on his face that made her quirk her head in brief question. He looked happy standing there talking to her cousin, Theo only an inch or two taller than him but somehow complimenting one another well

"Missing your boyfriend?" Draco asked from behind her, a conviction in his tone that made her lips purse tightly. She could feel him close by her shoulder, his body radiating heat all the way down her spine as he spoke over her head. "I didn't realize him and Nott were so close." 

"Yeah..." Mia said softly, still watching them curiously. There were lines of happiness on her cousin's face that she had not seen ever, and certainly not in the last few months. Vaisey's grin was not much different. "Neither did I."

When she finally found the strength to pull her attention away from the boys, her heart suddenly soaring at the notion of them being happy, she turned to glance over her shoulder at Draco. Like she figured, he was hovering close behind her and looked expectantly down. His height seemed to have changed, and she felt dwarfed as he towered over her. She realized it was just because they had never stood so close before. As she inspected him, down to his ruffled hair and the looming circles underneath his eyes, he did similarly. He sucked in a deep breath, his irises flickering dangerously low on her face, before they finally broke off and looked away. She noticed him take a step away from her, the heat of his silhouette disappearing. 

She bit back on her lip, frowning sideways. "You and Parkinson seemed to be having fun back there. I didn't think the two of you were still together after whatever fight the two of you had the night of the Christmas party." 

"She realized she was being brainless and apologized to me earlier this evening when she returned," Draco said casually, sidestepping when the same first-year, Chace, that dangled the mistletoe in their face ran past them. 

"Brainless over what?" 

"Another one of her insane theories that you and I have feelings for one another," he explained cooly. When she looked at him in surprise, he only shrugged. "Apparently when you decided not to talk to me for two days, I talked about it one too many times to her." 

Mia snorted, amused at how many people were convinced she and Draco actually fancied one another. "Well, if she hears word from Grandmother's blabbering mouth, both of us might be bludgeoned in our sleep one night." 

"Why is that?" 

"Oh, she's planning our wedding as we speak," Mia replied with a casualness to her tone that did not agree with the statement. Draco turned to look at her in alarm, and she continued. "Or my funeral, the lines became blurry by the end of the night...Theodore brought it up at dinner. He and Mother thought it would be a good way to keep her from asking the wrong questions...would you prefer a black and white wedding or a green and silver?" 

The normalcy to their banter had returned as they stood watching those around them. She turned to glance at the chaos in the common room as it splurged into full-on madness of Slytherins. When she saw Blaise talking to Tracey, and Daphne and Parkinson sprawl themselves out on the rug to gush over their Christmas presents, she couldn't help but feel so separate from everyone in that moment. Everyone except the boy looming over her shoulder, who she had the vividest of ideas that he was thinking along the same lines as her.

"Green and silver sounds nice." 

"Green and silver it is, then." 

The emptiness from earlier that day, the need to be back by his side, was filled just like that.

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Author's Note: 

I am dead. First chapter of THE AFTER! Are you all excited? Do you feel the change in atmosphere of the story, because I DO, and I really hope that it carries through the words. I wanted to show that this is a transition in the story into something more. 

Let me just say, it's like a breath of fresh air to be writing Draco and Romy again. I MISSED THEM SO MUCH. Anybody else feel like something between them has changed since coming back? Anyone? No? Just me? I'M DYING. 

I'm literally the biggest fan of my own book. 

Theo and Andrew have taken my soul and departed it like the sea into the depths of my grave. I can't wait to start writing more of them (when Mia finally gets her head out of her ass and realizes what is going on, because everyone else has!)

Let me know what you think of this chapter! 

What are you excited to see in the second half of the Half-Blood Prince? Any scenes? I know the Sectumsempra scene is a fan favorite, and the one I've been waiting for since I started writing this. 

ACHELOIS:  "SHE WHO WASHES AWAY PAIN" GODDESS OF COMFORT AND HEALING