"Not particularly," said Leo, but he knew Marisa would know that he was lying, because he was. He had missed Marisa unbearably. "I was fine without you."

"Yeah, right," scoffed Marisa, then the look in her eyes became much more intense. "Tell me everything that's happened since I was attacked. And if you miss one little detail, I'll hex you to pieces."

"We should probably go somewhere… private," replied Leo. "Can you walk?"

"Walk? I feel like I could run to the moon and back!" Marisa flung back the covers and practically leapt out of bed.

"How would you breathe?" asked Leo. "And how would you escape the Earth's gravity?"

"Learn to cast a Bubble-head Charm. And either sneak on board a rocket or invent a super-powerful Levitation Charm." Marisa jumped to her feet. "Let's go!"

True to her word, Marisa ran almost the entire way to the Room of Requirement. Leo had to sprint to keep up with her, and she managed to lose him with the help of a staircase which changed while he was still on it.

By the time Leo, panting, caught up with her, she was standing at the open door of the Room, waiting for him.

"Hello, slowcoach," she said, slipping through the door and slamming it behind her; Leo was only just able to stop it from closing fully, and followed her into the Room, which today had equipped itself with a giant beanbag, which Marisa was sprawled out on.

"Move up," said Leo, shoving her gently to one end so he could sit down too.

"Go on," said Marisa, pulling her wand from her pocket and twirling it casually. "Talk."

"I know nothing," protested Leo, deciding to play along with her interrogation, "and I wouldn't tell you if I did."

"Don't lie to me," said Marisa. "I have ways of making you talk."

"You know," said Leo, "torture is a very bad way of extracting information. People will just tell you what they want you to hear, and there's no way of telling if it's true or not."

Marisa leaned closer and whispered, "Who said anything about torture?"

Leo blinked. "I assumed that was what you were referring to."

"Anyway," said Marisa, "are you going to tell me or not?"

"Fine," said Leo, flinging up his hands in mock surrender. "I was at the Quidditch match, and Professor McGonagall came running onto the pitch with a megaphone…"

He told her everything, just like she'd asked, and did his best to answer her many questions. The only details he skipped were those about how much he'd missed her and how boring life had been without her. "And one last thing… Professor Snape told me that the rest of the House are – well, plotting to attack you. I have a plan, though, it's okay."

"What's your plan?"

"Not telling!"

"Rictumsempra!"

Leo had been completely unprepared, but just managed to roll to one side to avoid the curse and pulled out his own wand. "How dare you?" he spat. "Tarantallegra!"

"Protego!"

Marisa's shield easily absorbed the Dancing Feet Jinx.

"Fracto Strata!" cast Leo. The zapping spell was normally used to destroy weak objects, but Leo had guessed that it might also work as a shield-breaker, and he was right: Marisa's shield collapsed under the pressure. Seizing the advantage, he followed up with "Petrificus Totalus!"

Marisa was startled at this new addition to his repertoire, but not so startled that she couldn't dive out of the way of the Full Body-Bind and fire off another Tickling Curse.

Leo dodged it by a millimetre. "Truce?"

"Fine," snapped Marisa. "If you insist. By the way, has anyone caught me at Exploding Snap yet?"

"No," replied Leo, "but not for lack of trying. You're a mile ahead."

"Can you teach me that shield-breaker?"

"Why would I give my enemy an unfair advantage?"

"I'm not your enemy!" she protested. "We're…" Then she stopped, not quite knowing how to describe their relationship. "Frenemies?"

"Best frenemies," corrected Leo. "I hate you more than anyone I know, and I – " he stopped.

"You what?" asked Marisa, a malicious grin on her face.

"I – " he knew what the end of that sentence was, but nothing in the entire world could have induced him to say it. And he couldn't think of any way to distract her from it either.

She waited for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes. "Well, I certainly hate you more than anyone I know," she said bitterly. "So… yeah, best frenemies sounds good. But only if you admit you like me."

Leo hesitated. He felt like he was on the edge of a precipice, and had the strangest urge to jump. "When you say 'like'," he said slowly, "do you mean… because Daphne's been saying…"

Marisa tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. "She's saying you…?" They both knew exactly what they were implying, but neither of them could quite bring themselves to admit it.

Leo nodded. "It's kind of annoying, because I had to keep explaining I don't – "

"Liar," said Marisa. "To be honest, I'm not surprised the great Lord Asriel doesn't want anyone knowing he has a heart underneath his icy surface. Don't worry, though, your secret's safe with me – as long as you admit it."

"You – you – "

"Say it," she insisted.

He didn't say it. Instead, he leaned over and kissed her.