Amaryllis had been avoiding Corbin. She knew it was stupid and probably just her mind playing tricks on her but whenever he looked at her she felt as though he was trying to see into to her mind. Find out what she was thinking.

She knew that if she was to be alone with him he would probably start questioning how she had explained her situation to Regulus. And the lie that she had told him.

It was because of this that Amaryllis once again avoided the group of boys.

Regulus was confused at first as to why she was avoiding them again. He wondered if it was because he had gotten mad at her for following his mother's orders. After all, it wasn't like she had lied to him.

With her only other friend, Lucinda, being in the year below her, Amaryllis had to sit with either Regulus and Timothy in class and hope that Corbin wasn't able to catch her so they could sit together. She also had to walk to her classes alone or with the boys.

Walking with the boys stressed her out more than she liked to admit. She was completely terrified Corbin was going to pull her aside to talk to her. In order to prevent this she stayed as close as she could to Regulus without it seeming strange.

However one day she wasn't so lucky. On their way to the Great Hall for lunch one day Corbin managed to grab hold of Amaryllis' arm and drag her into a small alcove.

"Remember what you said to Regulus." Corbin said to her after casting a silencing charm around the area. "You said you weren't sure is He knew about the betrothal. You lied to Regulus."

"I didn't do anything." Amaryllis protested.

"You lied to Regulus." He repeated.

"I didn't exactly lie." She said.

"Then what was it?" He asked.

"I twisted the truth." She said.

"Not an outright lie?" He tried to confirm.

"Look at it this way." She said with a sigh. "I couldn't say, 'no, he doesn't know' because then he might start speculating that it might be him. Then he'd ask Walburga and my life would be over."

The two of them just stared at each other.

"It was one lie." She said after a while. "It's not going to hurt anyone."

With that she left the alcove and headed to the Great Hall. Corbin wasn't following her. She was sure of it. She couldn't hear any footsteps behind her. When she reached the table she sat down beside Timothy.

"Where have you been?" He asked her.

"Toilet." She lied smoothly.

She was glad Regulus hadn't asked. If he had she wouldn't have been able to lie as easily.

"You didn't say anything." Timothy said to her.

"I'm so sorry Timothy." She said turning to face him. "Next time I'll tell you all about my lady problems."

Regulus burst out laughing. The look on Timothy's face was one of pure terror. He did not want to hear about her 'lady problems' as she so kindly put it. Amaryllis ignored the boys and started to eat.

"I just don't see why you're not more thrilled about this?" Lucinda told Amaryllis as they sat in the corner of the common room.

Amaryllis had explained her situation to Lucinda, leaving out the fact that it was Regulus who she was being betrothed to.

She had really needed the perspective of another girl with the whole situation and Corbin could only tell her so much. The only problem was Lucinda didn't seem to share Amaryllis' views on the whole thing.

While Amaryllis was sceptical about the situation and worried if it would allow her any freedom in her life, Lucinda thought the whole situation was wonderful. She knew that she herself would never be in that position but she was over the moon that Amaryllis was going to share her experiences with the situation.

"It just makes everything easier. You don't have any pressure on you anymore."

"Oh yes, it's absolutely thrilling to be married off like I'm property." The older girl told her friend.

"It's not like that and you know that." Lucinda defended.

"Oh, it's not?" Amaryllis asked sarcastically. "Where's my choice in this? That's right, I don't get one."

Lucinda just rolled her eyes. The whole situation really showed the difference between the two girls. While Lucinda thought the position Amaryllis was in was absolutely wonderful, Amaryllis whished it was anyone but her who was there.

"It's how things are done, Mary." Lucinda said.

"Mary?" Amaryllis asked confused by the name but also wanting to shift the conversation.

"Yeah, your name is so very long." The younger girl explained. "And I don't want to call you Amy like Regulus. It seems like something that should just be between the two of you."

"And you don't even know my middle name." Amaryllis joked before shooting a glare at her friend for the comment about Regulus. "But really, don't call me Mary, it makes me think of that Gryffindor girl, you know the one."

"Then what do I call you?" Lucinda asked.

"What about Ma-ri, so similar to what you came up with but doesn't remind me of Gryffindors." Amaryllis explained.

"Fair enough, Mari it is then." Lucinda told her.

Amaryllis let out a sigh and closed her books. It wasn't like she was actually doing her work. She was merely staring at the pages in front of her. It was really not a very productive way to study.

"Why are you so obsessed with my betrothal?" She asked Lucinda after a short silence.

"I guess I always thought they were kind of interesting." Lucinda explained. "And seeing as I'll probably never get one I have to live vicariously through you."

"I wish I could just hand this off to you." Amaryllis said with a laugh.

"Oh you know Walburga Black would not approve of me." Lucinda said.

Amaryllis froze. Did she know? How could she know?

"What do you mean?" Amaryllis asked slowly trying to see if Lucinda had discovered anything that she wasn't supposed to.

"Only that it is all arranged and planned by her." Lucinda said beginning to grow suspicious. "She'll probably be the one to plan your wedding. Well, her and your future mother-in-law. Your whole life is all planned by her."

Amaryllis tried not to let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't worked it out. If what Lucinda had said was true then the whole wedding was going to be planned by Walburga. Amaryllis feared for how the wedding would turn out.

"Hey, Merrin, can we come to your wedding?" Corbin asked Amaryllis one night after dinner while they sat in the group sat in the common room.

"Shut it Wilkes." She told him.

Amaryllis didn't want the entire house knowing about her betrothal. She knew the only reason Corbin was saying anything was to try to get her to slip up and tell Regulus the truth.

"Who's marrying Merrin?" Severus Snape asked the group.

Two boys stood beside the group of fifth years. Amaryllis knew exactly who all of them were but she wanted to speak to none of them. Next to the small group on the couches stood Evan Rosier and Severus Snape.

"She won't tell us." Regulus told the other boys.

"I won't tell anyone." She corrected before shooting Corbin a glare to stop him from saying anything.

The five boys who were standing up decided to join the group sitting on the couches shuffling them around so they could all sit together.

"Don't think you're going to get anything out of me." Amaryllis said as she looked around at the boys who had joined them. "I'm not telling anyone anything until I've been told to."

They all just stared her.

"Amy, calm." Regulus told her.

"Shut it Reg." She responded.

"Ignore her, this whole thing has her a little grumpy." Corbin explained.

Amaryllis just glared at Corbin. He was really getting on her nerves. His antics and attempts to get her to slip up were starting to do her head in. What made it worse was that she couldn't go to anyone else as no one was supposed to know about this.

"Have you given any thought to what we discussed?" Evan said to Regulus.

Regulus looked over at Amaryllis for a second before turning to look between Evan and Snape. Amaryllis noticed the look Regulus had given her. She knew exactly what he was thinking. He wanted her opinion.

"I need more time." He said.

"You know He doesn't like to be kept waiting." Evan responded.

"If you would…" Regulus started.

"It's not me you should be thinking about." Evan cut him off. "You know what He wants."

"We want the same things." Regulus said. "Both of us do."

Evan stared at Regulus. Amaryllis was lost. She had no idea what they could possibly be talking about.

"If you really think so." Evan said as he got up.

He walked away from the group. Both Amaryllis and Timothy stared after him.

"What was that about?" Timothy asked once Evan was out of sight.

None of them knew how good his hearing was. Would he be able to hear what they were saying even if he was on the other side of the room? It wouldn't surprise them at all if he could. Evan Rosier could be quite terrifying when he wanted to be.

"Later." Regulus just muttered before turning to Amaryllis.

He stared at her. She tried not to react. She knew he was only doing it to get a rise out of her. He was doing that more and more often now.

"What do you want Black?" She snapped standing up so she was looking down on him.

He didn't respond. He just stood up, grabbed her wrist and dragged her up to his dorm.

Amaryllis knew that Timothy and Corbin wouldn't help her. They all knew the expression in Regulus' eyes. That was not one to cross.

When they reached the dorm there was one person there. Wyatt Kohler, the final dorm mate of Regulus, Timothy and Corbin, was sitting in the room on his bed, reading.

"Kohler, out." Regulus growled.

Wyatt looked at Regulus for a moment wanting to protested but decided it would be better not to. Regulus seemed rather irritated and it was not a good idea to cross him when he was like that. Wyatt quickly got up and ducked out of the room, taking his book with him.

"Amaryllis, what is going on?" Regulus asked her once Wyatt had shut the door and he had cast silencing charms over the room.

"I don't know what you mean." She responded.

"Stop with the mind games." Regulus yelled at her. "That's all you ever do. You skirt around the truth never actually saying it. Why can't you just tell me?"

"Because I've been told not." She yelled in response. "Don't you think I would if could? If you knew me at all you would know you're the first person I come to for everything. Don't you think that if I could have told you about it I would have?"

"Mother won't know." He said. "I will make sure of it."

"You can't promise that." She said. "And on the topic of mind games what was that little conversation down there?"

"You have no right to pry." He told her.

"Oh right, sorry, I'll just go then." She said moving towards the door.

Before she could get there Regulus moved in front of her and blocked her path.

"Get out of the way." Amaryllis said sternly.

"Not until you give me something." He responded.

"Like what? His name? You know I can't do that." She shouted before calming down and saying at a better volume. "I can't give you any clues because if you figure it out then my life could once again be flipped upside down."

They both just stared at one another for a while neither of them saying anything. Amaryllis was wondering if he would ever be able to accept that there were things that she needed to keep from him. Regulus was wondering if there was anyway he could fix the rift that was being formed in their friendship.

"I'm sorry." He said finally. "I just don't like that you're keeping secrets."

"I don't like that either of us are." She told him. "I don't want to hide things from you. I don't want to ever lie to you."

The two of them moved away from the door. The sat down on his bed. All they wanted was a chance to talk. They hadn't been able to, just the two of them, for a while as things had started getting crazy after they got back from the break.

"What exactly was Rosier talking about?" She asked him.

"I'm sure, by now, that you've heard about the Dark Lord." Regulus said.

Amaryllis just nodded having heard some of the older students talking about it in the common room. She'd seen all her friends, the guys anyway, talking to the group that was discussing it. She was unsure as to wear this conversation was leading although she was mildly worried.

"Well they want me to join his cause." Regulus explained. "I said I would think about it. I wanted to talk to you but they didn't want me to."

"So that's what that was about." She said realising the way his words had been phrased. "So the whole 'We want the same things. Both of us do.' was about me."

"Yeah, they didn't think I should talk to you about it." He said. "They don't think girls are strong enough to support the cause which I find strange considering Bella's one of them."

"She is?" Amaryllis asked.

"Yeah, her and Rodolphus joined and I'm sure Rabastan has too." Regulus said. "Lucius has as well."

"Do you want to?" She asked him.

Regulus considered this for a while. He'd always wanted to join them. He knew Amaryllis had seen his support for the cause those few times she had snuck into his room to talk to him. It was obvious that she was going to follow him if he decided to join. He just worried that she didn't know the extent of what they would do after joining.

"I don't need to answer that." He eventually told her.

"I wanted to hear you say it." She said. "I've seen your room so don't try to lie to me. I know what you believe. So answer me this; do you wish to join the Dark Lord?"

"Yes." He responded.

"So tell me Regulus, based on my story how closely would what I want align with what the Dark Lord wants?" She asked him.

"Almost completely." He told her.

"Then I don't see why you were worried." She told him getting up from her spot on the bed.

Without looking back she walked towards the door and left the room leaving Regulus to sit in his thoughts. After she'd left he still stared at the door.

"I just don't want you to get hurt." He said voicing his fears for the first time even though no one could hear what he had to say.