.16.

After the winter break, after all the students had returned to the castle school on the train, it quickly became obvious that an obvious change had been wrought upon many of the students and staff members. All of a sudden, Headmistress McGonagall seemed like a changed person. She had abruptly and unexpectedly become much kinder and much more considerate of the students that had come from other dimensions. It was as though, despite everything she had heard about them, everything that they had ever told her about their lives, McGonagall had suddenly decided to treat them with the respect that she gave so automatically to all of her other students.

It was certainly an unexpected turn around. For days, everyone – students and staff alike were gossiping about it, about what might have caused it. When several students cornered Professor Flitwick about the Headmistress's sudden change of heart, he merely commented that he had his suspicions about what might have caused it, and left it at that.

However not everyone was so happy about the change. Especially not Draco Malfoy and his bunch of cronies, who had spent the last several months tormenting the interdimensional students mercilessly. The pampered blond idiot was not prepared to let his hard and fast convictions go. Malfoy had been raised in privilege, a fleet of servants at his command, and the prejudices that had been installed in him at an early age had not vanished with his father's incarceration in the infamous wizarding prison of Azkaban. By maintaining his ironclad convictions and prejudices, Malfoy believed that he was honouring his father and making him proud.

But what Malfoy didn't realise was that no one cared about all the dumb old pureblood prejudices anymore – not since the war had ended, at any rate. He was unable to compute the fact that no one cared about old fashioned prejudices or beliefs. Since the war, it just didn't seem to matter any more. Even the Headmistress was beginning to overcome her prejudices about all the students from other dimensions. And the school was quickly becoming a happier place for it.

On the other hand, the Headmistress was hardly the only person who had changed in the past few months. Living through such horrors, seeing their loved ones die in front of them, had changed them all. Apart from Malfoy and co. none of them were really the same people that they had been before. Getting to know the students from other dimensions had really helped as well – they weren't the only ones who had suffered because of war, and they were all still trying to piece themselves back together. They were all healing, despite what they had endured, coming to terms with what they had lost.

Headmistress McGonagall may have changed dramatically over the winter holiday break, but she wasn't the only current Hogwarts resident to have had a change of heart. A few days after classes started again, Feyre sat in the library complaining about it to Lucien.

"I don't know why you're still so busy carping about it," Lucien grumbled, barely glancing up from his homework. "Before the war, you'd have been pleased that Tamlin had started to come to his senses about how badly he treated you."

"That was before the war," Feyre said. "You know what happened as well as I do. You'll have to forgive me if I have trouble believing him after what he put me through."

At that, Lucien finally looked up. "I understand where you're coming from there. But why come to me with this, and not Rhysand or one of your other friends? Your sisters?"

"Out of everyone I know, you're the only one who understands," Feyre said, sighing. "You the only one who knows where I'm coming from, the only person who knows Tamlin the why I do. No one else understands why I can't let it go. You know how much Rhys hates Tamlin. My sisters understand, but not really. They don't understand why I can't let go."

"What you're saying is that I'm the only one who understands that part of your life," Lucien concluded quietly. "For I, too, also got sucked in by Tamlin. He played an important part in my life, as he did yours. And we are both trying to piece our lives back together after it."

"Tamlin never seemed to understand why I walked away from him," Feyre told him sadly. "And he went to such awful lengths to get me back – even if it meant ignoring my wishes and going against what I wanted for my life. After Under the Mountain, it was like we had become too different, no longer compatible. After I left, it was like he didn't care who he hurt, as though he had no regard what so ever for what I wanted. Tamlin treated me like an object, a possession … it was as though I was his belonging. He completely disregarded my thoughts and wishes every single day. I can't just ignore it. And I can't get past it."

"Nor should you," Lucien said fiercely. "Tamlin betrayed you, betrayed the both of us. Betrayed his people, sold them out to a tyrant who would have enslaved them. What he did was unforgivable. You have every right to be angry with him. My only regret is that I didn't step up and support you earlier. I did what little I could to convince Tamlin to allow you more freedom, but I never did enough. You weren't wrong when you said I was afraid of him. I was, a bit, you know. And I'm ashamed of how little I did to help you. I should have done better. Known better. Tried harder."

"But you did try, Lucien," Feyre said softly. "I still appreciate that. I'm not going to forget."

"I know that I've said this about you before, but I'll say it again," Lucien said, his real eye glistening wetly. "You have always been a better friend to me than I have been to you. Sometimes I feel like I don't deserve to have a friend like you in my life."

"Of course you deserve friends, Lucien," Feyre said kindly, "Everyone does."

"Does that everyone include Tamlin?" Lucien spat bitterly. "No one trusts him."

"I don't know," Feyre grumbled, sounding annoyed. "That's part of the reason I don't know if I can accept his apology, you know. I don't know if he was being sincere."

"That's true; everything he does is likely suspect at this point."

"But can he be trusted?" Feyre insisted.

"I don't know, Feyre, I just don't know," Lucien muttered under his breath. "I would say, give him the benefit of the doubt, but right now, I don't know if he deserves another chance. Especially after all of the shit that he's pulled. And I don't know why he would bother trying to make amends, considering that he knows that we aren't particularly likely to trust him."

"Do you think that girl Hermione has anything to do with it?" Feyre asked curiously. "Rhys said that she's been spending a lot of time with the buffoon. Don't know why she would even bother."

"I'm guessing that the girl probably doesn't know of any reason not to trust him," Lucien explained. "I have a couple of classes with her, and she's a real stuck up little bitch. She thinks she's a real special little so and so just because she's smart and because she fought in the war. If you ask me, all the crap that the Headmistress gives us, probably doesn't help."

"I don't like the sound of this Hermione person," Feyre muttered. "And you're right, every time I see her, she just acts so snooty. So pretentious and condescending. It's like she thinks she's better than everyone else, but doesn't admit it to anyone."

"You know, I kind of think a snobby woman kind of suits Tamlin," Lucien said. "At least she won't let him sit on his dignity for long."

"Now that I stop and think about it, that's so totally true. She has such an overinflated ego and sense of self importance," Feyre laughed. "But can you even imagine putting up with someone like that for eternity?"

"Makes me so damn glad that I'm no longer in residence at the Spring Court," he chuckled.

Unbeknown to Feyre and Lucien, Hermione was actually listening to their conversation at that very moment. Hidden behind the next row of bookshelves, she'd been looking for a book to help with her most recent lot of Transfiguration homework. She'd been scanning the titles, when she'd heard Tamlin's name and had simply frozen, without fully knowing why. Maybe out some sort of sense of friendship, or protectiveness, as he'd been so broken and vulnerable since the end of the Christmas holidays. In that moment, Hermione didn't care about how badly Tamlin had treated the two of them – his one-time friend and his ex-fiancée, only that they were being rude about him. At that moment, Hermione truly couldn't give a stuff about what they had been through. They were the ones in the wrong; they were the ones being rude and insolent and obscene and just plain disrespectful to a good and thoughtful, decent and generous man.

In her opinion, no one, but absolutely no one, deserved to be bad mouthed behind their back. Conveniently forgetting all of the times that she, Ron and Harry had insulted Draco Malfoy and his bunch of goons and cronies behind their backs. By the time that Feyre and Lucien had started bringing up their poor opinions of her, Hermione was practically red with fury.

As Hermione stormed out from behind her hiding place, her wrath was truly a thing to behold – she hadn't even been this furious when she'd slapped Malfoy across the face back in third grade. At the sound of her stomping, Feyre and Lucien looked up in surprise – not only were they surprised to have been overheard, they were absolutely gobsmacked to hear her overly glowing description of Tamlin and how deserving he was of their respect.

At that the usually calm and collected Lucien finally lost his temper with the bushy haired snob of a girl. "What, exactly, did Tamlin tell you?" Lucien demanded irately. "Other than the fact that Feyre here turned him down at the altar on their wedding day? Other than the fact that we both walked away from him without a backward glance? Other than the fact that the pair of us are happier without him in our lives?"

"Tamlin said that he gave the pair of you a home, and he loved you, but the two of you betrayed him," Hermione said confidently.

"Of course Tamlin said that. Do you always believe everything you're told?"" Lucien grumbled, rolling his eyes, while Feyre hurriedly packed away their books. She didn't want to listen to this any longer than she had to. She didn't like Hermione and was unable to forgive Tamlin.

"Did Tamlin tell you that gave Feyre everything she needed in order to become herself, but the moment he got what he wanted, he just stopped trying? Feyre was seriously mentally ill there for quite a while there, and he just pretended that nothing was wrong. Did Tamlin ever tell you that he completely ignored all of Feyre's needs and wants, refusing to spend time with her and shoving her into the arms of the priestess that willingly betrayed and sold her sisters to the enemy? Did Tamlin tell you that he never let Feyre out of the house without twenty sentries shadowing her every step? Sentries who then reported on her movements to Tamlin? Did he tell you that he LOCKED Feyre up in the house, rather than let her outside for one hour? That's not love, Hermione, that's ownership," Lucien spat furiously. He was enraged at the assumptions and suppositions of the girl. He couldn't believe that Tamlin had sugar coated his past with Feyre to such an extent.

"Is that really the type of person you want to love, Hermione?" Lucien asked, sighing heavily. He hated having to have this conversation, but knew he had no choice. The girl had a stick so far up her arse it wasn't even funny. "Do you really want to be with a man who neither loves nor cares for you?"

"You're lying," Hermione insisted primly. "Tamlin would never do that."

"Yes, he would," Feyre whispered brokenly. It was still hard for her to remember how badly things had ended between her and Tamlin. She had been so broken, so in need of help, and he had completely ignored and disregarded her thoughts as irrelevant. "There were days when… when I was unable to get out of bed at all. Periods of time when I wouldn't eat for days. Tamlin never noticed. He didn't care about me; he refused to see me wasting away day by day. He wouldn't even tell me anything. When he locked me up, the way Amarantha had locked me up, that was the final straw. I had to get out of there, or I would surely have died."

"Come on, Feyre," Lucien said, in the wake of Hermione's shocked silence. "Neither Hermione nor Tamlin deserve a moment of our time. Let's go."

Feyre didn't notice Lucien hurrying her from the library. She didn't notice the stares and whispers following after them. Feyre didn't notice anything at all until strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her close.

"Feyre," Rhysand's voice was desperately worried. "Feyre darling, are you alright? I've been so worried…"

"No. No, I'm not alright," Feyre mumbled almost incoherently, and then she fainted.