Vera is on a mission to make Tom hate her again. She needs him to detest every bone in her body. She needs him to understand that there's no chance in heaven or in hell - and, let's be honest, they both know which one they are going to - that they will ever be together in any sense of the word.

She starts off with a genius idea - creating a replica of Tom's journal. Everybody recognizes the engraved black notebooks he carries with him at all times. Vera procures one that looks exactly the same, then writes some creative diary entries from the last year into it. She leaves it in the library for a curious observer to find, and soon enough the rumors she's written into it are all over the school. Including her favorite one, that Tom was having a little fun with Lucy Prewett after patrols. It really took off, with several of the prefects claiming to have seen them by the end of the week.

Tom is furious. He could have, of course, stormed over to her and cursed her right away. But he knew that was just the reaction she was looking for by doing this. Instead, he comes up with just as creative an idea as she had.

Tom feigns a blush as he walks up to the group of girls in the library late one Friday night, "Lucy, can I please speak to you?"

"Sh … sure," Lucy stutters, a blush creeping onto her face as her friends raise their eyebrows.

Tom leads the way to a semi-private nook by the window, waisting no time, "I'm sorry about those rumors. They must be very improper for a girl such as yourself. It's just that, well, I've had a crush on you for a while and what I wrote down were just a silly boy's dreams. I promise I'll straighten it out with everybody."

Lucy smiles and looks down, still blushing, "To be honest, I was flattered."

Tom forces a smile back, "I'm glad to hear that. Now I'm embarrassed I kept it to myself all these years."

"I think it would be wonderful if we got to know each other a little better," Lucy propositions.

"Of course. Why don't I meet you outside of your common room after patrols tonight so we can talk somewhere private?"

Lucy looks like a little girl who was just handed the key to a candy shop, "It's a date."

"Prewett, I think you should go back to your room. I have some things to talk to my fellow prefect about," Vera says calmly.

Lucy, obviously afraid of punishment, gets up off her knees and scuttles away. Tom smirks at Vera as he zips up his pants.

Once Lucy is out of view, Vera giggles, "Really? I make up a silly little rumor and you immediately go slumming it?"

"Ms. Prewett is a very nice person," Tom says smugly.

"Riddle, both of us know you don't like nice people."

"As I've just discovered thanks to your lovely suggestion, she has other admirable qualities as well."

"This is really pathetic," Vera says, turning to walk away. Tom grabs her wrist, trying to pull her back to tell her to stop her crusade against him, but Vera gets the first word in again, "Please don't touch me. I'm afraid I'll get flees from you two mutts."

He abandons the speech he had planned about how pathetic her attempt to push him away was as soon as he sees the look on her face when he touches her.

Tom laughs, "You are so afraid of feelings, aren't you? The second another person needs you, you're done."

"I'm not afraid," She says defiantly. "Most people are just mediocre. They get boring quickly."

He chuckles, "Then why don't you want me to touch you? I know you did not get bored of me. Would you like me to remind you why?"

He moves closer to her, sweeping her hair away from her face. Vera scowls and swats his hand away, "I would like you to jump off the astronomy tower."

Tom's mocking laugh comes out again, "See, you are scared, despite the fact that there's nothing to be scared of. If I ever wanted something real from the insufferable Vera Sinclair, I would put myself down immediately for sheer idiocy. Only a fool would find any worth in marrying a spoiled brat like you. And if I was that kind of fool, I wouldn't see much point in my own life."

Vera pulls away from him, "You are making an indecent proposal toward an engaged women. Would you like a new entry in your diary to suddenly appear?"

Tom is smirking, "And when is the last time you went to bed with your fiancé? When is the last time he really satisfied you?"

Vera returns the smirk, "You are better off asking yourself when the last time you really satisfied me was."

She turns away from him and rushes down the hall.

Tom knows the perfect way to really get her attention – using her own tricks against her. Vera stomps in to the Great Hall the next morning, walking right up to the space across from him and saying, "Riddle, I need to speak with you."

The boys in his gang all glance at him out of the corners of their eyes, clearly wondering how he's pissed Vera off so much when it's usually the other way around. Tom is exhausted. He has stayed up all night to work on this little project. But the satisfaction from the look on her face alone will be enough to keep him going throughout the day. He gets up from the table nonchalantly and slowly follows her back down to the dungeons. As soon as she finds a deserted corridor she turns back toward him, glaring as he takes his time meeting her.

When he's close enough, Vera thumps a book against his chest and hisses, "Is this your idea of a joke?"

Tom reaches up to take the green journal, made of the finest moleskin and embroidered with a large golden VS on the cover. It had taken him hours to copy that engraving correctly. His fingers brush hers and she immediately pulls back, allowing the journal to fall into his hands.

He takes his time flipping through it, as if he hadn't written all of these entries just hours ago. "How could what I am guessing is your diary be my idea of anything?"

"Riddle, you and I both know you were the one who made that and left it in the common room this morning."

Tom continues feigning innocence to annoy her, even if what he had done was unquestionably transparent, "What makes you think that it was me?"

She has to take a breath before speaking to stop herself from yelling, "Oh, come off it. Like it could be anybody else. As you obviously know, some of the things that are written in there are strictly confidential. If there are other copies, I want to know where they are right now or I might disseminate some of your private information."

"Like the fact that we fucked in just about every classroom in this castle? As you obviously know, that's already in here."

She draws her wand, pointing it at his throat, "You filthily little half-blood bastard…"

Tom doesn't even flinch. At this point, he knows Vera's bark is usually worse than her bite. And she needs something from him right now, "Oh, so that's what you mean. I'm sure after people read what's in here, they'll have a hard time believing anything you say about me isn't just a jilted lover's spite."

Vera straightens out her wand arm, "Tell me where you left the other copies or I am going to eliminate your ability to write a full sentence."

Tom still doesn't draw his wand, calling her bluff by slouching back against the wall instead, "I don't see why you are so angry, at least everything in yours really happened."

"Oh, I'm sorry your actual life is so boring that I had to make some things up to capture people's attention. If you made any other copies, I want them now."

He laughs, "What makes you think I haven't already left them all out for people to see. How else would you have found that one?"

Vera drops her wand, putting it away before falling against the other wall of the narrow corridor. She sighs, rubbing her temples, "Tom, this isn't funny. If anyone can prove any of this, I'll be disowned before nightfall."

He raises an eyebrow, "Why should I care? After all, I don't have feelings."

"Is that really what this is about? What do you want, a bloody apology?" She says the word like it is the most unimaginable thing, like it's as crazy as the idea of moving to Mars.

Tom doesn't answer. He just stares at her with those stupidly intent eyes. He wants her. He wants her to stop ignoring him, to stop trying to pretend to hate him again. There are still five weeks left to graduation. Five weeks during which he wants her to be his. He doesn't know how to express his wants in a way that doesn't repulse her, that doesn't admit he's weak, that doesn't admit he's been paying far more mind to this countdown than he should be.

A minute passes before she looks down and mutters, "I'm not going to apologize for the way that things are, and it is ridiculously desperate of you to threaten me in an attempt to get me to do so."

Tom leans in toward her, trying to grab her hand. She pushes him away, hissing, "Don't touch me, ever. You know what? You can do whatever you want with the copies. I don't have the energy for this melodrama so early in the day, and I doubt anyone would really believe I would sink so low anyway."

She starts to walk away. As she's turning, Tom says, "There's only this one."

"Then you can go drop it off in the Great Hall to ensure maximum attention. If you want to hurt me so badly, just fucking do it and get over this hangup you have with me."

He doesn't say anything as he drops the journal to the floor and spells it to flames. Vera turns back at the noise and mutters, "Thank…"

Tom walks past her on his way back to breakfast, "Don't speak to me again."

He is tired of these games. Of her driving him to rock bottom so that she could get what she wanted – or worse, so that she could have a little fun. She had pushed all the right buttons to destroy whatever resistance or leverage he had, and she had done it without ever once exhibiting an ounce of real regret. Why? So that she could keep her inheritance, of course. People were chess pieces to her, pliable enough to be moved on a whim. He was tired of being played with. He was tired of being a pawn for her amusement, a thing to be manipulated.

And what could either of them do about it? That was the way Vera was. She would always care about things more than people, and he was tired of being an afterthought to her.

Dante smiles as his owl lands next to him at breakfast again. He picks up the letter, the envelope still carrying the scent of rose soap, and tears it open carefully. He can read the loneliness in Vera's words. Where once she had written him, if he was lucky, weekly with tales of her latest parties and games, she wrote him daily now with updates on her exam studying and sketches of the flowers she saw walking the grounds. As soon as he'd received the third letter in a row, he had known something must have changed. He had known she couldn't possibly have that boy – he hated to think of his name – anymore. Dante knows it's a bit callous, but he's thrilled. Finally, her storm has calmed.

But the thing about Vera is that when she's bored, she self-destructs. So she's come up with a way not to be bored - nightly "study sessions" with her fellow seventh-years, reviewing NEWT questions. Every wrong answer led to a shot of fire whisky, a dare volleyed, or a secret shared. If there was one thing Vera knew, it was that the best way to keep your secrets safe was to know other people's.

She stumbles into the common room after midnight yet again, a stream of laughing girls following her. They drop their books onto the table loudly. Tom rolls his eyes as he turns another page. Do they even worry about being caught by one of the professors? Does Vera even care if she's expelled for the half-empty bottle of firewhisky she's carrying?

The girls titter up the stairs.

Orion sighs as he massages the shoulder he fell on earlier that night. All this practice might be a great way to avoid Vera, but it's terrible on his body. He fumbles around in his pockets for his wand as he approaches the door of his room. It's only when he looks up that he sees the letter, stuck to the door perfectly in front of his eyes. He sees her wax seal and grabs the envelope off the door, planning to throw it away until he spots the writing on the back.

Don't you dare ignore me.

Orion chuckles. He can hear her voice perfectly through her scrawled cursive. He shoves open the door and collapses on his bed, dropping his broom on the way. Laying with his head propped on all of the pillows, Orion tears open the envelope. He takes a deep breath through his nose, the smell of her perfume wafting in the air. It's good that she's not here right now, or he wouldn't be able to stop himself from doing some unspeakable things. Merlin, has he ever wished so badly for anything in his life before?

Hello dear,

So you do have some free time after all. Well, if you are avoiding me for some reason, now is about the worst time to do it.

I had a conversation with my father the other day. You might have known that already based on the fact that I came back to transfiguration shaking that day.

I'm happy to report that he's ready to disown me - not just disown, but completely ruin. Papers already written up. I'm sure there's a barrister on call too, for when he wants to strip me of my title and just about everything else, tangible or intangible, that I own.

Remember those nice early summer days in Syon Park, before my parents figured out where they'd like to ship me off to, our picnics out by the lawn? Don't they seem a lifetime ago now? It's hard to believe that we are the same people now. Perhaps we really aren't. I suppose that's for the better anyway, since we might never have those picnics again.

My father told me he was going to take Syon Park away if I didn't get married. My home, my childhood, a place I am apparently only allowed to visit again once I have the correct ring on my finger.

Oh, that brings me to the best part of all. My father loves Dante. He's the son - child really - that he never had, and he couldn't be a better father to him. Even going so far as to blackmail his own daughter. Only you would be able to sympathize with this, which is why I had to write it down and send it to you.

I'm not sure what I did to make you angry, but please get over it soon. I would say I am throughly sorry, but I don't know what to be sorry for. Come on Orion, I miss my only real friend. Making mischief isn't nearly as fun without you.

Tom rolls his eyes, jostling the bed with his knee. He gives up quickly, using his wand to levitate and shake it instead.

Orion lifts his head, rubbing his eyes, "What the bloody…"

Tom drops his wand, ignoring the loud thump that results from the bed hitting the floor again suddenly, "We have a meeting. Get up before I have to embarrass you in front of everyone else."

Orion stumbles out of bed, still fully dressed. As he's fixing his hair in the mirror, Tom lifts the note that had been in his hand up to read it. He recognized her sloppy cursive.

Orion turns and tries to snatch the paper away from him, but Tom finishes glancing over it. He drops it back on the bed.

"I'll see you in our usual meeting room after you change. Don't be late," Tom says, turning. As he's almost at the door, he adds, "Talk to her, just suggest you do so in secret in case her father interprets it incorrectly. If Dante tries anything, I'll have it out with him."

After the meeting, Orion sneaks up to the astronomy tower. He finds her there as she usually is on Friday nights, nearly teetering over the edge of the railing as she holds a flask and stares up at the stars.

"Trying to fall or thinking of jumping?" Orion calls out, spelling the door up shut behind him so that they won't be caught.

She shakes faintly, controlling it as quickly as she can. She pretends not to be surprised by his appearance, "Merlin, either one sounds fantastic right now. Too bad I can bloody apparate, the instinct would probably kick in before I even got close to the ground."

"Things are really that bad?" Orion asks, sliding up beside her.

She hands him the flask without looking over at him, "My father is an unbearable prick who thinks he can still scold me like a naughty child. And my fiancé is in league with him, probably because the coward would never dare scold me himself."

Coward. Orion is sure he would not use that word to describe Dante. He takes a long swig, "Do you sometimes think there's no point being sad about it because we couldn't have hoped for anything better in our lives anyway?"

"The problem is that I already did. Hope, that is. Silly, silly children and their daydreams," Vera mumbles, head falling against his shoulder.

Orion puts an arm around her, not saying a word for a few minutes. Just after she finally looks up and meets his eyes, he mutters, "The miserable have no other medicine but only hope."

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man," she fires back, standing upright again. She's suddenly pulled out a second flask from the band around her thigh and is already drinking from it.

"Responding to Shakespeare with Nietzsche. Interesting choice," Orion uses his free hand to grab the other flask from her. She looks at him with disapproving eyes and he explains while twisting both flasks closed and tucking them into his blazer, "If you are quoting Nietzsche, you've definitely had enough."

"Give that back to me, Orion Black. I don't know about the other miserable chaps out there, but my medicine is gin," she responds with a determined look.

He smirks, "Now, don't get rowdy or I'll need to use my prefect privileges to detain the head girl."

She bursts into a full out smile, "I'll be the one detaining you, Mr. Black."

Vera reaches up to his pocket to fetch the flasks. He grabs her hand to stop her. She turns, using her movements to push him back toward the large stargazing cushions spread across the floor near the telescopes. He trips on one and falls backwards onto a pile of them, pulling her down with him with his grip on her hand. She rolls over onto him and, laughing loudly, asks "Now that you are in my custody, may I have my gin back?"

"Fine, I concede, your highness," Orion reaches for the flask with his left hand, gesturing his arm up towards her. He finds himself staring up into her eyes, mesmerized. Before he can register what he's doing, he's dropped the flask and is reaching up toward her with his right hand, pulling her face down to his to kiss her. In the moment, he rolls them over, laying on top of her now as he crushes his lips against her.

When he finally has to separate from her to breathe, she whispers, "Orion, you know I can't…"

He knows what she's going to say. He knows there's no point to this. She can't love him and she can't be with him, because she's already engaged to someone else she doesn't love and so is he. He stares down at her, a hand drifting up to touch her porcelain cheek and catch in her silken hair, "I know."

"I don't want to get your hopes up. You are my best and only real friend, Orion. I don't want that to change," she whispers while looking away.

"Hope in reality is the worst of all evils, remember? I know what the expectations are."

"It's too risky. For both of us."

"While it's good that we are excellent at keeping secrets," he whispers, leaning down to kiss her again.

She breaks away from him after a few minutes, "Orion, am I awful?"

"I am not going to answer that."

"Why not?"

"You are either searching for an excuse or a way to blame yourself, and I am not about to give you either. Vera, you are not broken."

"Yes, I am. I can't feel anything."

"You can. You've just been trained not to."

"I can't do this with you Orion."

"Why not?"

"Because I'll break you too."

"Darling, there isn't anything else you can do to me. For Merlin's sake, I am marrying my cousin in a few months."

"And I'm marrying someone who bores me half to death. What perfect lives we have," she laughs and reaches up, grabbing his shirt and pulling him down into a kiss. "One night Orion. Nothing changes between us."

Is one night better than nothing? Or is knowing what he can't have worse than not having it? He doesn't have the luxury of contemplating those questions tonight. Or what Tom or Dante would do to him if they knew.

A/N: Shoutout to my first reviewer since I started updating again, longlongnights. Thank you so much :) I was really about to give up on this story today, until I got that notification. I know everybody says to write for yourself, but with all of the other personal/school things I "should" be doing with my time it is nice to know this isn't just going out in to the void and is actually appreciated by other humans. I cannot say how much every single review really warms my heart.

To answer a question in a review: This story will remain canon-compliant. It will actually go up all the way to the end of the original Harry Potter series, and will not directly change that ending, but will add a few of my own explanations and surprises along the way.