The Hogwarts Express was quieter than it had ever been as Daphne and Astoria dragged their trunks across the platform to find a compartment. It was unsurprising, really: with the Muggle-borns gone and many students from dissident families leaving too, there were far fewer students than normal.

Daphne opened one of the doors and climbed into an empty compartment. She knew she should be sitting with the rest of the older Slytherins (if only to keep up appearances) but couldn't face it. Not yet. She'd find them later, but for now she would just share a compartment with her sister.

"Actually," said Astoria, "I promised Elsie I'd sit with her for a while. If you don't mind."

Daphne shrugged. "It's fine." She would miss the company, but it was nice to know Astoria could still enjoy herself with her friends: she wasn't yet old enough to be of interest to the Dark Lord, to be forcibly married off to some Death Eater.

No-one had suggested this for Daphne, either, but she knew it wouldn't be long. As the daughter of one of the most influential non-Death Eater families they'd want to secure her family's loyalty to the cause.

Astoria opened the door between the compartments and left, her trunk staying where it was. Daphne reached into hers and pulled out an old book on pure-blood etiquette. She knew all of the rules it described by heart, but it was her most precious possession for what it meant as much as what was in it.

"Hey, Daphne. Mind if I join you?"

She looked up to see Theo standing in the doorway. "Sure," she said. Theo was one of the few older Slytherins who weren't committed to the cause, and as such someone she could stand to talk to. They had, after all, been friends ever since their first year.

Theo sat down opposite her, and she noticed for the first time that something looked different about him: he seemed almost to have shrunk into herself over the Christmas holidays. Everything in his body language expressed guilt to an experienced reader of people. It was obvious that he was troubled.

"What's wrong?"

Theo smiled grimly and rolled back the sleeve of his left arm to reveal a familiar sight, worn now openly and without fear: the mark of skull with serpent's tongue, branded into his skin.

Theo was a Death Eater.

"I'm sorry, Daphne," he said. "I know you didn't want me – I don't want it either, I don't want any part of it. They – they made me torture a Muggle to death to earn the Mark, and the screaming… it was… sorry. I shouldn't talk to you about it. You don't want to know."

Daphne cringed. Out of habit, she glanced out of the window, making sure no-one was listening. "No," she agreed. "I don't. But you need to talk about it. Tell me. I can cope."

"Thank you," replied Theo. "It was… just… so awful. He was Terry's dad. I used to be Terry's friend – before – you know, all this, and to have to do that to your best friend's dad is…" He let out a deep, shuddering sigh. "I feel like I've become… something unbearable. Something I promised myself I'd never become."

"It's not your fault," said Daphne instinctively. "Really. It isn't. You didn't have a choice, they would have done worse things if… refusing wouldn't have helped anything. It would have just been throwing your life away for nothing."

"I know. But I… maybe that would be better than becoming a monster."

"No!" said Daphne instantly. "You're not a monster, Theo. You're just… a victim of circumstance. You can't take all this guilt on yourself. Just… just do only as much as you have to, prove you're loyal to the, and then just try to – to go on. I know it's not easy, but it's all we can do, isn't it?" It was the best advice she could find.

He nodded.

"So let's talk about something else. Just… ordinary day-to-day life." She cast around for something normal and ordinary to say, but all she could find was "Are Draco and Pansy still together?"

"Oh, not gossip," said Theo with a mock groan. "I don't care who fancies who!"

"Liar," said Daphne. "When I was dating Blaise last year you were pretty curious about it."

"That's different, you two are my best friends."

"Sure," said Daphne, smiling inwardly. She'd succeeded in cheering up the conversation, and just for once they could enjoy a few minutes of normal, Death-Eater-free life.