Author's Note: For the third round of Pole Vault, 2012 Hogwarts Games, on the HPFC forum. According to wordcounttool, this is 1000 words exactly.


Demelza idly twisted a strand of light brown hair around her finger, leaning back and propping her feet against Romilda's leg. Both girls had things that they needed to do - Romilda was supposed to be looking at a case file for her job as an Auror, and Demelza should have been practicing Quidditch in the backyard since her tryout was in a couple days. Those things were presently being ignored in favor of just relaxing together on the couch, waiting for the third member of their group to return home.

"It's been four hours," Romilda said a couple of minutes later, looking worried as she swung her legs to the floor. "I thought she was just visiting her family."

"I thought so too," Demelza replied, glancing towards the door as if Astoria would walk through it at that second. "I hope she's all right. She said that she was going to tell her family about...us." She waved a hand towards the two of them, as though that could explain the romantic relationship between the three girls. It had started almost as soon as they had moved in together, and had surprisingly managed to last. Almost nobody knew about it, as such a thing was not common in either the Muggle or the Wizarding worlds, and they didn't fancy the idea of having to tell people.

"She was?" Romilda yelped. "But her family - you know how they are, they're all prissy and uptight - why the hell would she do that?"

"Sick of keeping secrets, I guess," Demelza replied, her gaze shifting to the door again. "I'm sure they were wondering why she wasn't dating anybody. After all, she's twenty, and you know how purebloods get married early."

"True," Romilda said, sighing. "Well, I suppose half of Wizarding Britain will know now. Mrs. Greengrass can be a bit of a gossip."

"A bit?" Demelza joked, and was about to expand on that when the door opened and Astoria stumbled in.

It was obvious that she had been crying; her eyes were red and puffy. She collapsed on the couch between the other two, shaking slightly. "Are you all right?" Romilda asked hurriedly, her eyes sweeping over the other girl's body for any sign of physical damage. "Did they hurt you?" she demanded before Astoria even got a chance to respond.

"They didn't hurt me, no," Astoria answered, her voice trembling slightly. "I told them about the three of us. We've been hiding it for two years, and I'm sick of Mum, Dad, and Daphne pestering me about when I'm going to find a nice pureblood boyfriend and settle down. I wanted to explain to them - I thought it would be a good thing. But..." She took a deep breath. "They've arranged for my marriage."

Romilda's hand twitched toward her wand, as if she was going to Apparate out of their house and curse Mrs. Greengrass that very second. Demelza wouldn't have been incredibly surprised if she had. "That's absolutely absurd!" the dark-haired girl hissed, putting a comforting hand on Astoria's shoulder. "I won't let them, love, you don't have to worry."

"They can't arrange your marriage," Demelza said quietly. "It's the twenty-first century, for Merlin's sake."

"You know purebloods," Romilda muttered darkly, "they aren't very modern." It would have been funny if it weren't for the gravity of the situation, since Romilda herself was pureblood, but in this instance all three of them were completely serious. "Look, you don't have to go through with it, it's not like they can hunt you down and force you -"

"Yes, they could," Astoria corrected. "There's absolutely no way that they're going to let me get out of it. They were so forceful when they brought it up, Romilda. I half-expected them to threaten me with an Unforgivable if I didn't do what they said. I don't know what to do - Merlin, they've got connections everywhere, they could find me no matter where I go, and I don't want to lose you but I don't want to live life on the run either..." Her chin trembled, and it looked as though she was going to start crying again.

"Who's the groom?" asked Demelza, still twisting a strand of hair around her finger. It was her nervous habit, and this was certainly a nerve-wracking situation. "Is it somebody decent?"

Astoria's voice was barely a whisper as she replied, "Draco Malfoy. I don't want to marry him, I've barely even met him! I don't know him, and I certainly don't love him. I love you two."

"We love you too," Romilda replied automatically. "Look, we'll get you out of this, I promise. I'm a bloody Auror, I'll have a constant guard on you if I have to. Nobody's going to force you to marry Malfoy on my watch, that's for sure." She looked fierce in a way that Demelza hadn't seen for years.

"Would you honestly be able to do that?" Demelza wrinkled her forehead. "Just put guards on people? I mean, you just finished Auror training two months ago."

"I can explain the situation," Romilda said. "I'm sure they'll understand - you can't be the first pureblood girl who wants to escape from an arranged marriage. Besides, I've made several friends in there, and I'm sure we could all work something out if we had to. It'd only have to be while I'm away, after all - I'd be your guard while I'm at home."

"You'd actually do that for me?" Astoria had been looking at her lap, but she looked up as Romilda finished speaking. "You'd go through the trouble of putting a guard on me in case my parents try to come after me?"

"Of course I would!" Romilda replied, rolling her eyes and pulling first Astoria, then Demelza, close to her. "I don't want you to marry Malfoy any more than you do. I love you, both of you. We'll stay together as long as we can."