"Psst. Al," Charlus hissed across the History of Magic classroom, leaning over his desk as he prodded Alastor Moody, who was sat in front of him, in the back which caused the boy to turn around and glare at his friend.
"What do you want?" Alastor asked as Professor Binns droned on about Goblin Wars and an assortment of many other boring things that none of the students actually had any interest in.
"Have you seen Min? She didn't turn up to Herbology and she's not here either," Charlus whispered to Alastor, gesturing to the classroom filled with Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs but there was no Minerva McGonnagal in sight.
Alastor frowned, glancing around and realising that what Charlus pointed out was true as Eugenia and Pomona sat together a few desks across from the boys but Minnie was definitely not there.
"What're we talking about?" Florean asked with a yawn, leaning back on his chair so that the chair legs tilted into the air dangerously.
He was sat next to Lyall who was one of the only ones in the entire class that was actually paying attention to what Binns was saying.
Many of the other students were having their own whispered conversations; playing games on scrap pieces of parchment or placing their heads down on their desks and sleeping through Binns' droning.
"Minnie. Have you seen her?" Alastor asked Florean, not bothering to whisper anymore as it wasn't like Professor Binns actually cared nor noticed that no one in the lesson was taking notes on what he was saying.
"Nope. It's not like Min to skip lessons though," Florean replied, furrowing his eyebrows in a thoughtful manner as Lyall span around in his seat and pressed his finger to his lips, urging them to be quiet.
The boys ignored him, continuing on with their conversation about Minerva, wondering where their friend had disappeared to.
Professor Binns carried on talking as students now either slept or began to pay slight attention to Charlus, Florean and Alastor talking in the middle of the classroom as that was more interesting than what Binns was babbling on about.
There was a sudden noise from the front of the room as the door opened, revealing a rather disheveled Minnie who looked extremely stressed out and worried about something as she arrived late to the lesson.
Professor Binns jumped for a second, his ghost eyes flicking to Minerva for a moment before he simply nodded his head wearily at her.
Minnie scrambled to her seat next to Pomona and in front of Charlus, Florean and Alastor who had now gathered around Charlus' desk instead of staying at their own individual ones.
Eugenia was next to Pomona and the two girls turned around to face the boys as Minerva sat down, looking at them strangely when they all glanced at her expectantly.
"I'm thoroughly disappointed in you, Minerva," Florean started off, raising his eyebrows in disapproval, "Turning up late to a class?" he tutted playfully as Alastor snickered.
"Absolutely disgraceful behaviour," Charlus joined in with a smirk and Minnie flushed as she glared at the two of them as they leant back in their chairs simultaneously.
"Whatever, it's not like anyone actually cares about this lesson," Minerva defended herself, crossing her arms with a scowl and Pomona laughed a little.
"Lyall does," Eugenia pointed out with a smirk and the friends all glanced in Lyall's direction as he scrawled down notes furiously, listening to Professor Binns intently which caused Charlus to snicker.
"Great, we can use his notes then," Charlus commented and Florean agreed with a chuckle before Lyall glared at them all for talking about him.
"Minerva has a point - no one does care," a girl seated in front of them said, having turned around to listen to the group's conversation as it was more interesting than the class.
"Stay out of this, Meredith. This doesn't concern you," Alastor scolded the girl playfully and she rolled her eyes before spinning back around to the front.
"Where have you been, Minerva?" Florean asked, shaking his head at Minnie who stuck her tongue out at him in response, choosing not to reply.
"We've been worried sick!" Charlus added, placing a hand on his chest dramatically as he pretended to wipe tears from his eyes whilst Alastor patted him consolingly on the back.
"How could you do this to us?" Alastor finished, holding Charlus close as he pretended to wail, Minerva looking on in exasperation and amusement.
"Stop mucking about," Pomona scolded them with a slight smile and Florean's mouth fell open in mock surprise, "We are not mucking about!" he insisted, batting his eyelashes innocently.
"I can't believe you would think that our worries are a joke!" Charlus exclaimed, widening his eyes as Eugenia giggled to herself, enjoying the scenario way too much.
"We were genuinely concerned with where our darling Minnie was!" Alastor added with a pout and Minerva threw up her hands in frustration and exasperation.
"Fine! If you must know, I was with Mia," she told them with a sigh, glaring at everyone else who was eavesdropping so that many people turned away, their curious expressions dropping.
Charlus' and Alastor's smirks faded for a second but Florean's smile only widened as he exchanged a joyful look with both Eugenia and Pomona.
"You're friends with her again?" Eugenia asked Minnie with a smile and the girl nodded with a matching smile in reply as Florean and Pomona high fived one another.
Charlus bit his lip as Minerva began to explain how she and Euphemia had made up, wondering whether Mia would ever willingly forgive him for his cruel ignorance and horrible treatment of her.
"I wish it could be that easy for me," Charlus muttered to Alastor who sent him a sympathetic glance in return but their small interaction was interrupted as the conversation between the rest of their friends stilted.
Minnie had stopped talking, a stricken expression on her face as Florean, Pomona and Eugenia all stared at her in curiosity.
By the looks of it, Minerva wasn't telling them something about what had happened between her and Mia and the rest of them wanted to know because Minnie was acting rather strangely.
"What is it, Min?" Florean asked persistently, growing a little anxious now due to Minerva's slightly anguished expression on her face.
"I can't tell you. Not here," Minnie mumbled as the majority of the class were listening at this point as Professor Binns rambled on in the background, forgotten.
"Oh, c'mon! It was just about to get interesting!" a Hufflepuff guy named Malcolm called from the back of the classroom.
The entire group in the middle span around to face him, narrowing their eyes and sending daggers in his direction. Malcolm looked slightly alarmed, holding up his hands in surrender.
"Just because your life isn't interesting doesn't mean you can get involved in other people's, Malcolm," Pomona said to him fiercely and the class exploded into laughter as a series of 'oohs' sounded through the room.
"That was a good one," Lyall remarked with a chuckle, having given up on actually taking notes in the class due to no one else actually paying Binns any attention whatsoever.
The bell rung then and everyone cheered, standing up and rushing out of the door as Alastor told everyone to meet at the tapestry room to continue the conversation because Minnie agreed to telling them there.
It was lunch by now but no one was interested in eating as of that moment and so everyone, with the exception of Filius and Mia herself as they hadn't been in the lesson with the others, headed towards the tapestry room.
"Am I the only one who's a little worried?" Eugenia asked Alastor, who shrugged, looking as if he was deep in thought, "I mean, it must be quite a big deal if Minnie doesn't want to tell us until we're on our own," he replied.
"Beati Pacifi," Florean told the tapestry that concealed the passageway to their hangout room, watching as the concealed door behind the curtain slid to the side, granting them all access.
Filius had set the locking charm on the entrance back in second year and it was incredibly helpful as it meant that only those who knew the password would be able to access their tapestry room.
"We ought to put a portrait there one day, like the Fat Lady," Charlus suggested as they all stepped up and walked through it, arriving in their room where they all waited for Minerva to tell them what was wrong.
Minnie wrung her hands nervously as she wasn't sure whether Euphemia actually wanted anyone else to know about her arranged marriage to Orion but Mia hadn't said specifically that she wanted Minerva to keep it a secret, had she?
Lyall and Eugenia were sat next to each other on the sofa; Pomona was cross legged on the rug; Charlus had sat himself down on one of the armchairs; Florean lounged across the other one of the armchairs, legs dangling over the side as Alastor leant on the arm of the chair.
Minerva paced up and down for a few moments, running her hands through her long brown hair before sighing and facing them all, feeling slightly taken aback by how they were all staring at expectantly.
"Take your time, Min," Pomona said reassuringly, seeing that her friend was obviously stressing out and Minnie took a few deep breaths, nodding as she prayed that Euphemia wouldn't kill her for spilling her secret.
Florean's stomach rumbled at that moment and he raised his hand, like he was in class, "Actually, could you hurry up? I'm kinda hungry," he interjected with a slight grin before Eugenia silenced him with a glare.
"Merlin, I hope Mia doesn't mind me telling you this," Minerva muttered before clearing her throat and raising her voice, "Mia is in trouble and she needs us to be there for her, to help her," she told them.
Everyone started to pay a lot more attention to the Scottish girl at that point - both Charlus and Florean sat up straighter in their seats; Eugenia and Lyall stopped whispering to each other and looked at Minnie as Pomona and Alastor exchanged alarmed looks.
"What is it? What's wrong? Why does she need our help?" Lyall fired the questions at Minerva and everyone else seemed to want the answers as well, all of their gazes fixed on Minnie.
"She's....she's being forced into marrying Orion Black by the end of this year," Minerva told them slowly, feeling the panic rise up in her at just the acknowledgment of those words.
If any of them had been holding a glass at that moment, it would have shattered. Silence filled the room as Charlus' mouth dropped open in shock and Florean buried his face in his hands out of disbelief.
Alastor placed his hands over his mouth; Pomona's eyes practically bugged out of her head; Eugenia gripped Lyall's arm very tightly as Lyall himself stared in shock at Minnie.
"What?" Charlus practically growled and Minerva simply nodded sadly and slowly as everyone began to panic and talk amongst themselves, filling the room with chaotic chatter.
"I have to speak to her," Florean muttered, his heart aching for Euphemia - everything made sense now. The peculiar behaviour, the way she acted on the train, why she was always around him.
Everyone else was just shocked and also disgusted because Orion was Mia's cousin and the fact that their friend was being forced into a marriage at just age fifteen (going on sixteen) was actually horrifying.
"Does she not even have a choice in the matter?" Alastor demanded angrily, his blue eyes glinting with fury and Lyall clenched his fists, looking incredibly worried and concerned for Mia.
"Guys, guys," Minnie held up her hands to try and get the group to stop talking as she knew that Euphemia didn't want a massive drama out of it and that was what they were doing.
"Don't go and make any trouble, it'll only make things worse for Mia," she told them and they all nodded, understanding, albeit reluctantly.
"I need some air," Charlus muttered, his stomach churning and he stood up, rushing to the tapestry passageway and running out of the hidden entrance, leaning against the wall outside in the corridor, taking deep breaths.
His feelings for Euphemia were swirling around in his stomach and the rest of his body - he just wanted to help her but she didn't even like him, in fact she hated him because he hadn't believed her.
"It's not fair," he mumbled to himself, kicking the wall but immediately regretting it because a searing pain shot through his foot and he cursed.
Charlus leant his head back against the wall, clenching his fists because all he wanted to do was prevent Orion from even going near to his Mia, he couldn't allow her to get hurt or to be forced into anything that she didn't want to do.
As if by some coincidental stroke of luck (or bad luck - it depended how you looked at it), Euphemia and Orion themselves appeared at the end of the corridor, heading towards somewhere.
Charlus saw them out of the corner of his eye and he indiscreetly slid down the wall, slouching so that he wouldn't be noticed by either of them but he couldn't help but notice that Orion had some sort of tight grip on Mia and that made Charlus' blood boil as she was clearly uncomfortable.
"Get off me," he heard Euphemia say to Orion and that was enough for Charlus, he couldn't just stand there anymore and so he marched down the corridor, keeping an eye on what was going on.
Mia could feel a bruise beginning to form again on her wrist and she tried to wriggle out of Orion's grasp, feeling a little desperate as she pleaded for him to let go of her.
"Why should I?" Orion hissed down at her and Euphemia glared slightly at him, attempting to tug her wrist out of Orion's strong grip.
"She said get off her, mate," Charlus suddenly said and Mia jumped, glancing up and blinking a few times as she hadn't realised that he had been there, watching the whole thing.
Charlus and Orion glared at one another for a very long, antagonising moment and Euphemia started panicking slightly, thinking that they were going to start fighting but Orion simply scoffed, eventually removing his gaze, allowing Mia to relax.
Orion unfurled his fingers from around Euphemia's now purpling wrist and glared at Charlus once more before mouthing 'I'll deal with you later' at Mia and sauntering off.
Euphemia let out a breath that she didn't know that she had been holding as Orion walked away and she sent a grateful look towards Charlus.
Mia was getting a strange sense of deja vu because it was like they were back in third year again when Charlus kept intervening whenever she was in trouble.
"Thank you," she said quietly, rubbing her wrist where Orion had held it too hard and Charlus avoided her gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable because he wasn't sure how to act around her - were they friends? Could he actually talk to her without her hating him?
"You're welcome," he replied, addressing the floor more than her and Euphemia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before reaching forward and tilting his chin up so that he had to look her in the eyes.
Charlus tried to ignore the butterflies in his stomach as she touched his chin and he found himself become slightly lost in her grey-blue eyes as she stared at him questioningly, moving her mouth and saying something that he couldn't hear because his brain was exploding.
"Oi! Are you listening?" Mia snapped her fingers in front of his face, confused as to why he had suddenly appeared rather dazed and Charlus jumped, blinking furiously, "Sorry," he mumbled.
"Why did you intervene?" Euphemia asked him quietly, repeating the question from before that Charlus hadn't heard because he had zoned out and Charlus sighed, the unfamiliar feelings swirling inside of him again.
"Because I didn't want to see you get hurt," Charlus told her honestly, seeing this as an opportunity to possibly apologise to Mia and make things right between the two of them. They had managed to reach civil terms in Ancient Runes but Charlus wanted it to be more than that.
"Well, thank you for doing that but I don't need your help," Euphemia said to him, feeling conflicted but she didn't know that Charlus was aware of the arranged marriage and so she wanted to keep her abusive relationship with Orion pretty secret, especially from the likes of Charlus Potter.
Charlus couldn't help but feel slightly annoyed and frustrated, this was typical behaviour of Mia - to keep refusing people's help because she didn't want them to get hurt or she didn't want them to get involved because she thought she could deal with it on her own.
"So you're going to deny everyone's help and go ahead and marry that guy?" Charlus challenged her and Euphemia's face paled as it dawned on her that Minerva had told Charlus and probably the others.
She wasn't upset with Minnie - if it was the other way around and Mia had found out that her best friend was being forced into an unwanted marriage then she probably would've panicked and told other people as well.
No, she was just taken aback and Euphemia also felt pretty foolish in front of Charlus as well as humiliated that he knew such a dark secret about her because she didn't want to seem like some damsel in distress again.
Charlus waited for Mia's response, beating himself up internally for being so blunt and forward but wanting to hear what she was going to say. Euphemia bit her lip for a second before sighing and staring at him in resignation.
"I don't have a choice," she said blankly, feeling slight tears come to her eyes but she blinked them away, not wanting to cry in front of Charlus Potter. "You will if we help you, Mia. You don't have to suffer alone," he told her softly, his heart aching for the girl.
"I've had to suffer alone for the majority of my life so I'm pretty sure I can cope with it, thanks," Euphemia responded fiercely before storming away from him, leading him to curse and run after her as she strode down the corridor.
It was at that moment that Florean appeared at the end of the corridor, having come out of the tapestry room to look for Charlus, and he took one look at the upset Mia storming down the corridor with an anxious Charlus in pursuit and let out a huge sigh.
"These two will be the death of me," Florean mumbled to himself before standing in front of Euphemia's path so that she nearly walked into him, only stopping to glance up in surprise and annoyance that he had prevented her from going any further.
"What are you doing, Flo? Get out of the way!" Mia threw her hands up in the air, looking even more annoyed when she saw that Charlus had caught up by now, panting a little as he had practically ran after her.
"We," Florean indicated himself and Euphemia, "Need to talk. And you," he pointed at Charlus, "Need to let her have time to cool off," he told his best mate and Charlus opened his mouth to protest but was soon silenced by Florean's glare.
"Yes, mother," Charlus grumbled sarcastically before sending one last fleeting, longing look in Mia's direction that she missed because she was scowling at the floor, her brown hair covering her face as she kept her arms crossed tightly.
"Trust me, mate," Florean whispered to Charlus as the boy turned to leave and Charlus gave him a weak smile before sighing heavily and heading away from Florean and Euphemia.
Florean watched him go with a sympathetic expression on his face - it was obvious that Charlus was head over heels for Mia and the fact that she couldn't see it or even give him a chance was breaking his heart slowly and was also hurting Florean.
"What do you want?" Euphemia asked sullenly and Florean grabbed her arm gently, pulling her over to the side of the hallway where there was a small wooden bench that students could sit on between lessons.
"I need to tell you something that I should've told you ages ago, Mia," Florean sat himself down on the bench and gestured for Euphemia to sit beside him, which she did so, her frustrated expression slipping slightly in spite of herself.
"Story time with Florean, yippee," Mia responded sarcastically before her hardened expression softened a little and she tucked her legs underneath her as she looked at Florean expectantly, sensing that it was quite a big deal to him and she could see that he was nervous due to him wringing his hands.
"Once upon a time...."