Seeing as this book just hit 10K reads (!!!) I decided I would update quickly for you all! Thank you all for this, it means so much to me that so many people have read my book. Thank you, thank you, thank you - I love all of you readers xo
The Christmas holidays soon drew to a close and it was eventually time for all the students that had gone home for Christmas to return to school, which some people liked and some did not.
Mia was incredibly happy to go back to school as the last week of her Christmas holidays had comprised of her hiding up in her room, making no noise and pretending she didn't exist.
Her parents had been ever so generous (note the sarcasm) to not allow her to die and they let her eat food, with Tibet bringing her daily meals which Euphemia was eternally grateful for.
She spent the majority of her time sending letters to all of her friends and getting responses as well as using Minerva's book to keep up a contestant correspondence with her best friend.
Because of the message book, Minnie was well informed of Mia's situation and the Scottish girl had been enraged to find out that Euphemia had been hurt but Mia had assured her that she was used to it and that it didn't matter.
She also got her best friend to promise not to tell anyone as she didn't want the group feeling sorry for her - pity was something that she absolutely detested with a passion.
"How are you?" was the hesitant question that Minerva breached on the first day back to school, when Euphemia and Minnie had gone to the Hogwarts Express bathroom to get changed into the robes, ready for the new term.
"As fine as I'll ever be," Mia replied with a weak smile and Minerva gave her a tight hug before Euphemia had to gently push her away as the girl had accidentally aggravated some of her wounds and her bruises were aching now.
"Sorry!" Minnie exclaimed, her hands flying to her mouth and Mia assured her that it was okay through gritted teeth as she tried to ignore the pain surging through her body.
"Can we just not talk about it anymore? From now on?" Euphemia suggested and Minerva nodded before giving her another hug - a much more gentler one this time that almost made Mia tear up at the realisation that her best friend really did care.
And, as Minnie promised, the two did not speak of the ordeal that Euphemia had been put through during the Christmas holidays and the girls got on with their everyday lives that hadn't really changed since the previous term.
Except for Mia, there was one thing that did change. Or more specifically, one person.
Charlus had begun to become extremely pally with Euphemia and she wasn't really complaining as she was just happy that they were friends now and not fighting over the divide between their two families. But Mia had to admit that it was strange.
Mia hadn't told anyone but Minerva about Arcturus beating her up and torturing her but Charlus seemed to twig that there was something going on with her family and, though he was suspicious, he made sure to be there for Euphemia if and when she needed him.
Florean kept dropping hints whenever they were together about Charlus which always made the boy in question blush or glare at Florean, who would just smile innocently in reply.
Every single person in Mia's friendship group seemed to be waiting for something to happen between the two of them, though Lyall and Eugenia were both a little less enthusiastic than the rest of them.
January went by in a blur of assignments, lessons and pranks and Euphemia was rather surprised that neither Orion nor Druella came near her whatsoever during the entire month. Weird. Not that she was complaining.
She obviously couldn't escape Heather and Walburga as they were in her dormitory and the majority of her classes but those two didn't cause any trouble either which not only made Mia feel relieved but also extremely worried and suspicious that they were perhaps planning something. Maybe she was just paranoid?
Mary had also started hanging around with Eileen a little more which meant that Euphemia got to know the timid girl much more.
It was great because it meant that Eileen had another friend of sorts to rely on and that Mia could hang out with her other friends more without feeling guilty.
However, Mary was forced to stay with Heather and Walburga a lot of the time and Euphemia would often see an extremely miserable expression on Mary's face whenever she was with them.
"I feel bad for Mary," Eileen told her in an undertone as they headed down to the greenhouses for Herbology, the girls' eyes fixed on the three in front of them - Walburga and Heather were saying something whilst Mary looked like she wanted the ground to open up and swallow her whole.
It was nearing the end of January by now and so it was pretty chilly which meant that Eileen and Mia were walking rather fast in order to get to their Herbology lesson without freezing to death.
However, they were talking about the three girls in front of them so they had to slow their pace a little so that their gossiping wasn't overheard.
"She seems like she doesn't want to be there with them," Euphemia murmured back in agreement and Eileen nodded with a grim expression plastered on her face.
They were silent for a moment as they scampered down the slightly icy path to the greenhouses and cut across the garden patch, eyes still fixed on Walburga, Heather and the miserable looking Mary in front of them.
Florean and Pomona were stood outside of the greenhouses with the rest of the Hufflepuffs as they all waited for the Slytherin students to join them for the class.
Florean opened his mouth to shout out to Mia in welcome but luckily Pomona saw that Walburga was not far from Euphemia and so the blonde shut him up with a slap to the arm.
Florean may not have been able to say anything to Mia outside of the greenhouses because of Walburga being nearby but he had the opportunity to talk to her when they were inside the classroom as Herbology was a very practical subject, meaning they could speak without fear of being overheard.
Thank Merlin for the loud class Pomona thought to herself as she tried to tune in on Florean's and Euphemia's conversation from where the three were sat in the corner of the greenhouse.
Funnily enough and quite luckily actually, their table was the farthest away from Walburga's. Coincidence much? They thought not.
"He really really likes you, Mia! Why can't you realise that? Please give him a chance....pleaseeee!" Florean was pleading with Euphemia, his eyes wide as she stared back at him with a sceptical expression.
"Look, Charlus is just my friend and I don't want to become another one of his girls that he'll just ditch after a day," Mia told Florean, crossing her arms.
This conversation carried on whilst Pomona did all the work for the group - not that she minded.
Florean got louder and louder with his pleas until one specific "PLEASE!" actually got the class to silence and for everyone to look over at the begging Florean, the annoyed looking Euphemia and the flushing Pomona as she realised all the attention was on them.
"Nothing to see here!" Pomona called with slightly red cheeks and the class eventually stopped giving the three of them weird looks and turned back to their classwork with a mixture of chatter and mild bickering over the correct handling of the asphodel that they were chopping up for that day's lesson.
Eventually, Mia gave into Florean and she agreed to give Charlus a chance and Florean beamed at her, informing her to wait by the Black Lake at eight o'clock that night for Charlus and he promised he would tell the boy that she would be waiting for him.
Euphemia didn't know why but she was feeling pretty excited and curious about what on earth Charlus would want to talk to her about at 8pm on a Thursday night at the Black Lake...
~~~
The Black Lake was rather stunning at night and this evening was no exception as Mia seated herself on the bank of the lake, swinging her legs over the edge and letting the tips of her shoes skim the surface of the water.
The moonlight was slowly peaking through the clouds as night took over the day, the sun finally setting for the day and bringing the evening of January 31st to Hogwarts. Moonlight rays rippled across the lake and Euphemia yawned a little as she tucked her legs underneath her, kneeling up on the grass.
"Careful you don't fall in there, the Giant Squid might eat you," came a joking remark from behind her and Mia turned her head to see Charlus leaning against one of the many trees that were scattered across Hogwarts grounds.
He was smirking at her in amusement and she rolled her eyes, beckoning him to come and sit down next to her with an impatient look on her face.
"I am perfectly capable of maintaining my balance, Fleamont," Euphemia told him, using his actual name to annoy him and she succeeded as he immediately scowled and glared playfully at her, "Don't call me Fleamont," Charlus reprimanded her and Mia smirked back at him.
Sure, Charlus was fine with the name and he was prepared to hex anyone who made fun of it as it had been his grandmother's maiden name that she had wanted to carry on through the family upon her death.
However, he had become known by his middle name, Charlus, practically ever since he started Hogwarts because he preferred the name Charlus over the name Fleamont. So, in hindsight, Charlus liked to be called by that name.
"Why on earth can't I call you Fleamont? It's your first name, is it not?" Euphemia teased him and Charlus playfully shoved her, making her fall over into the grass and nearly into the lake. Rude.
"How dare you!" she gasped and she lunged at him, starting to tickle him until he creased up with laughter and the two were soon rolling in the grass, giggling like mad as both of them tried to tickle the other.
Eventually, Charlus and Mia stopped laughing and became a little more serious, sitting up and looking at each other uncertainly at the side of the lake. "So," she started casually, "What did you want to meet me for?" Euphemia asked him and he frowned a little, looking down at his feet.
"Did I really need a reason to hang out with you without the others being there?" Charlus asked her gently and Mia blushed a little before she composed herself, "No, of course not," she told him and he visibly relaxed before moving a little nearer to her which made her heart practically have palpitations.
"I did want to ask you a question though but it's totally okay if you don't want to answer it," Charlus said to her rather nervously and Euphemia nodded, tossing her hair out of her face and mesmerising Charlus for a second before he focused, flushing a little.
"Will you-" he cleared his throat awkwardly before gathering himself together and looking her straight in the eye, "Will you be my date for Valentine's Day?" Charlus asked her hesitantly and watched as her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
Euphemia was in complete and utter shock - she didn't know what she had been expecting him to ask but it certainly had not been this.
She wanted to say yes with all of her heart because she had started to realise that she did quite like Charlus once she had gotten to know him. But what if this was all a dare?
Charlus had a reputation for being a notorious playboy and Mia couldn't actually be sure whether he was being serious and he actually liked her or whether this was what he did with all the other girls.
What if he took every girl to the lake in the evening and buttered them up until he could ask them out? And then what if he repeated it with every single girl? Euphemia knew she was probably one of many....
Then again, he was looking at her rather desperately and not with the aura of an arrogant and confident player who could have any girl he wanted. Charlus was staring at her as if he genuinely liked her and the intensity of his gaze made Mia shiver and blush.
"Is this meant to take this long?" he asked nervously, his heart pounding in his chest. Charlus had taken forever to pluck up the courage to ask Euphemia out and now she just stared at him blankly in shock which sent his nerves spiralling out of control.
The thing was, he really liked her for who she was and he had been willing to look past her incriminating surname and see her for the girl that she was under that exterior.
Charlus had grown to really care for Mia and it had slowly developed into something more than a friendship feeling - or at least it was to him.
Florean had been encouraging him ever since they returned back to school after Christmas and yet now she wasn't even answering....
Florean had told him that he was pretty sure that Euphemia felt the same way but Charlus could slowly feel his hopes starting to deflate as the minutes dragged on and Mia still hadn't answered.
He was about to clear his throat and claim that it was all a dare, all a joke when she uttered the word he had been waiting to hear for absolutely ages -
"Yes."
Charlus stared at her in shock, as if he couldn't believe that Euphemia had actually said yes, that she had actually agreed to go on a date with him on the 14th of February, on Valentine's Day which was when the next Hogsmeade visit was.
"Really?" Charlus perked up eagerly and Mia chuckled a little before nodding her head, having made up her decision.
She still had a sneaking suspicion that it could all still fail and that Charlus was just being his usual playboy self but Florean's words from earlier echoed in her head about giving Charlus a chance. So she did just that.
The two stared at each other for a split second before Charlus quickly embraced her, feeling his heart burst out of his chest when he felt Euphemia hugging him back, her arms right around his chest as he wrapped his own around her waist.
I'm finally going on a date with Euphemia Black! Charlus thought to himself excitedly and he suddenly thought of Florean's reaction to this and chuckled quietly.
Scratch that, the entire group would be over the moon for them and Charlus hugged Mia even tighter as she smiled to herself, closing her eyes as she felt at peace for once in her life.
~~~
Charis Black descended down the steps to the dungeons with her fifth year friends, on the night of the 13th of February after they had just finished eating their evening meal in the Great Hall.
Her friends, Sally, Mandy and Faye were abuzz with excited chatter about the upcoming Hogsmeade visit, which was to be the day after. Charis couldn't deny that she was pretty excited about it as well - it had been a while since she had been to Hogsmeade as she had missed the last trip in October due to falling sick right before they were meant to go.
"Did you hear that David Anderson is taking me to Madam Puddifoots? He's so cute!" Faye sighed dreamily and Charis smirked as Sally turned to the naive red head and said, "You do realise that's because he wants to snog your face off, right?" in a very harsh tone that simply made Faye roll her eyes.
"David Anderson wants to snog everyone's face off, girls and boys," Mandy added in an undertone which made Charis laugh and the other two turned to look at them in curiosity at what was so funny.
"I didn't even know that was a thing," Charis suddenly said and Mandy glanced at her in disbelief, "Oh, did I not tell you? David admitted to me, when we were dating in fourth year-" she aimed this bit at Faye with a sharp, pointed look at the now scowling girl, "-that he was 'half gay' as he calls it. Like, he likes kissing boys and he likes kissing girls. Isn't that strange?" Mandy told her friends with the gleam of gossip shining in her brown eyes.
"Not really, there's probably quite a few people out there who feel the same way," Sally answered, ever the voice of reason.
By now, the four girls had reached the stone wall that guarded the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Faye muttered the password to the plain wall - which was "Pure Blood" that week - and they soon slipped into the common room, hearing the wall crunch shut behind them.
As soon as they walked into the gloomy, green room, Charis noticed with a sinking feeling in her stomach that there was a group of students in the corner discussing something in whispers, some of whom were Orion and Druella.
Orion spotted them and walked over, causing Mandy to emit a slightly dreamy sigh as it was well known that the fifteen year old had a major crush on the dashing boy.
If he wasn't her cousin, Charis would've probably considered him good looking as well but, seeing as she had seen this very bloke as a whiny kid who picked his nose, she couldn't say she was exactly attracted.
"Hello girls," he greeted with a grin and Sally and Faye, who had been deep in conversation beforehand, turned to look at him with slightly appraising looks.
"Can we help you?" Sally asked shortly and Charis had to stifle her laughter at the immediate defensiveness that her friend jumped to in situations like these.
"Not really, just thought I'd pop over and say hello," Orion smiled smoothly and Mandy practically melted under his gaze whereas Charis was looking over his shoulder and she realised that he had probably actually been sent over in order to distract them from whatever was happening in the corner. An uneasy feeling settled in her stomach...
"Well, do us a favour and pop back to wherever you came from because we're not interested," Faye retorted and Sally nodded in agreement and Charis sent him an exasperated look.
"Are we Mandy?" Faye hit Mandy on the arm to wake her up from her puppy eyed daze and the girl jumped, blinking herself into sense, "Nope. Not interested," the blonde repeated rather robotically and she allowed herself to be pulled away by her friends.
"What a git!" Sally exclaimed as soon as the four of them had entered the Slytherin fifth year girls dormitory, plopping down on her bed as Mandy trailed in after a cross looking Faye - she had had a small fling with Orion back in third year and it hadn't worked out, hence why the feisty red head had been so keen for him to go away.
"A handsome git, though," Mandy added as she seated herself on her chair that sat beside her allocated study desk that they all had, twirling a strand of her blonde locks around her finger.
"Shut up! He'll break your heart like he did mine," Faye warned her, slapping her hand away from her hair and Mandy simply shrugged at her, "Like David Anderson will do to you, you mean? He's my ex, I know what I'm talking about - I wouldn't go on a date with him if I were you."
Faye rolled her eyes but Charis could see that it was affecting her as she looked much more uncertain about the date with the "cute" David Anderson.
"Well, Orion is my ex and I know what I'm talking about: he's a sleazy git and he's only after one thing!" Faye half yelled at Mandy, who raised her eyebrows back at the red head.
"Per-lease," she scoffed, "What you had with Orion was hardly what I'd call a relationship." This comment made Faye lung at her and Sally had to spin around from where she was sat at her desk, buried in Ancient Runes revision.
"Will you two cut it out? I'm trying to study! We have OWLS this year, in case you haven't noticed!" Sally snapped at them and Charis was partly relieved that she had put a stop to the two fighting because, as entertaining as it was to watch from her bed, she didn't want two of her best mates ripping each other's eyeballs out.
"To settle this," Charis called to Mandy and Faye, who were both scowling like sulking children after being told off by their parents, "Orion is engaged and arranged to be married as soon as he leaves school anyway so neither of you can have him unless you want an angry Aunt Melania on your hands and, trust me, you don't want that happening," Charis told them, a faint memory of her experiencing Melania Black's rage when she had eaten all the jam tarts as a little girl at one of the annual Winter Balls. That punishment had hurt her and put her off eating jam tarts for the rest of her life.
"Who's he marrying? I'll kill her," Mandy joked and Charis shrugged, telling them that she didn't know which was true - it was common for all the Black cousins not to find out who they were to marry until about a year before the wedding took place.
Charis knew it was all to keep the pure blood legacy intact and she did believe in keeping muggles and magical folk separate for the safety of both worlds - she just didn't believe that it took violence and hate to achieve this.
She also believed in love and she didn't think that forcing people to be married for the sake of reproduction was acceptable as it often ended up being disastrous with the couples being unhappy in their marriages.
"Will you have to be arrange married one day, Charis?" Faye questioned lightly and Sally sighed loudly, stuffing her fingers in her ears as she tried to focus on reading her Ancient Runes extract that she was meant to be translating for an assignment.
"I guess, yeah. All of my cousins will be, as well," Charis replied, the thought of it only just dawning on her. She knew it was expected in her family and that it was also sometimes common that she would get paired with a cousin but she had never really thought about it until now.
"I'm going to go to bed now," Mandy finally announced after about a few minutes of them sitting in silence (much to Sally's profound relief) and Faye and Charis made noises of agreement so the three girls readied themselves for bed.
Faye was still excited for her 'date' with David Anderson, regardless of what Mandy said about him being 'half-gay' and Mandy, Sally and Charis had plans to go around Hogsmeade: to catch a Butterbeer and a gossip in the Three Broomsticks; to pig out on an array of candy from Honeydukes and to squeal over the new clothing line in Gladrags - basically a normal but glorious trip to Hogsmeade that Charis couldn't wait for.
However, her good mood was ruined instantly when she tucked herself under her covers and drew her green curtains around her bed, settling down in her bed with a contented sigh.
She might not have found it if she had been satisfied with the shape her pillow was in but she grabbed it to plump it up before she went to sleep which caused a piece of torn parchment to flutter out from underneath her pillow.
Her heart sinking as she realised what it was, Charis reached out a hand to grab the note and she held it in her hand for a second, closing her eyes and willing it to be something else....anything else....nope.
Charis uncurled her fist that had closed around the note and she peered down at it in the darkness of the dormitory - the only light coming from Sally's desk where a candle was burning so that the studious girl could do her work.
Sally's desk was on the right side of Sally's own bed so that meant it was to the left of Charis' own bed, allowing the candle to illuminate the writing on the note.
If you get a note under your pillow saying 'Walpurgis' one night then that means the attack will take place the very next day Druella's voice echoed in her head from when her cousin had pulled her aside all the way back in October 1950.
Sure enough, when Charis squinted at the note in the dim candlelight emanating from Sally's desk, the word Walpurgis was written in very fancy cursive and Charis stifled a terrified sob as she crushed the note in her fist.
"Charis? You alright?" Sally's concerned voice came from through the dense dark green curtain and Charis wanted with all her heart to scream and shout that no, she was not. She wanted to jump right out of bed and tell Sally everything and then her smart friend could figure out something to stop this whole fiasco. Because someone could get hurt.
But then Charis remembered Druella's cold blooded threat that she would kill Cellidora if she was to tell anyone and she knew she couldn't, she knew that she had to keep it to herself or else her beloved sister (who had already been through so much) would pay the price and that was the last thing that Charis wanted.
There was only one thing she could do to help ease some of the terror that had filled her body upon reading that note.
She had to warn Mia.