"Oh my, Miss Black, I am ever so sorry."

In her slightly dazed and confused state she could not quite work out who that voice belonged to, but whoever it was they were being very apologetic.

She felt a fat hand reach down towards her own and as Andromeda was slowly helped to her feet she realised that it was not a mountain troll that she had bumped into at all, for it was in-fact the very podgy, overweight potions Professor, Horace Slughorn.

"You really must accept my profound apologies, Miss Black," he said slightly nervously, perhaps worried she would write to her Father to complain about his role in this incident, which was of course ludicrous as at the very least she had broken curfew by being out of bed this late. She very much doubted he would have been so apologetic had he bumped into a student not from his own house, or even one from Slytherin without the highly respectable family name that she held.

"I am afraid to say that I was not particularly looking where I was going, Andromeda. You must forgive me, but on one's way to the kitchens at this time of the evening one does not often encounter many members of the faculty or student body," he added, perhaps politely suggesting she should not have been wandering the corridors at this time of the evening.

"Think nothing of it, sir," she said, forcing a smile and praying that he did notice the tears she could still feel on her damp face from her argument with Ted. "It was my own fault… it is I who should apologise to you… I should not have been running… I… I just picked up a few snacks from the kitchen for my sister and I whilst we study this evening… in all of the excitement of the food I was just-

Horace Slughorn laughed merrily, loud enough that his ruckus chuckling stopped her mid-sentence.

"Nonsense, Miss Black! Dare I say, it would be just a tad hypocritical of me to chastise anybody else for getting a bit too excited about food, would it not? Especially at this time of year?" he joked.

Andromeda laughed heartily.

If there was one really positive thing you could say about Horace Slughorn, it was that he did enjoy a bit of self-depreciating humour every now and then, especially with students from his own house.

"If you must know," he whispered in a hushed-tone. "I am sampling some dishes for my Christmas party tonight. I am awfully excited. It is quite naughty of me really, as I have given one of the Elves the night off work just to cook for myself…but, well, it is all for a good cause, is it not? I expect at my little shin-dig I shall be blessed by the company of you and your sweet sister, Narcissa? I am sure you both have lots of studying to do, but I can assure you, if you really are that excited about food you will be absolutely blown away by what I have planned!"

As he talked of his party all that she could think of was Ted and his awful ultimatum.

It was not fair.

What was she to do?

"Miss Black?" Slughorn asked, interrupting her little day-dream. "Are you sure you do not require a trip to the Hospital Wing, I could have the Matron check that you did not bang your head with that fall?"

"No… no really I am fine, I was just… I was just thinking about the lovely pudding that we had at your last Christmas party. The… the Cherry Pie, do you remember?" she managed to muster out.

"Oh yes, yes Miss Black that really was rather lovely, wasn't it? Well if you've got a sweet tooth let me assure you that you will not be disappointed this year! I believe I am trying out a Tiramisu dish tonight that sounds like it will blow that Cherry Pie right out of the water!" Slughorn announced excitedly. Andromeda wished she could tell him just how right he was.

"That sounds splendid!" she replied enthusiastically. "And of course Narcissa and I will most certainly be attending. I shall not keep you any longer tonight though… I am sorry again for bumping into you," she added, before quickly excusing herself, as her Head of House laughed off her attempt to apologise to him once more, then politely reminded her she was more than welcome to bring along a guest to his party before bidding her good-night.

Andromeda slowly made her way back to the Slytherin Common Room, carefully checking her appearance in a suit of armour to ensure there were no remnants of any tears left on her face. She was relieved to see that it did not look like there was and besides, at this time of night it would be highly unlikely she would cross paths with another soul before she reached the four-poster bed in her dormitory anyway.

As she quietly sneaked back into their Dungeon after whispering the password, she slowly made her way down the passage and in through the ancient black door.

She scoured the empty common room and as she had expected it was all but deserted, except for a handful of people sitting on the-

"Ah, Andromeda, what a pleasant surprise."

It was just her luck.

Lucius sat comfortably on a black leather sofa with a satisfied grin on his face, as he watched her sneak back into the common room after breaking curfew.

Malfoy was not alone. He was flanked on his left side by Corban Yaxley and Algernon Avery, both grinning evilly, whilst Thorfinn Rowle sat in an armchair opposite them, reading from a dark red tattered old book.

There was a fifth member of Malfoy's posse tonight though, sat next to him, holding his hand, wearing a dark black corset and a very satisfied smile on her face, was none other than Olivia Burke.

"Lucius," Andromeda grumbled in acknowledgement, as she walked quite quickly, looking to get away from them to the safety of the girl's dormitory as fast as possible.

"And where exactly is it that you have been tonight?" Malfoy asked in an arrogant tone.

"That is none of your business," Andromeda replied through clenched teeth.

"Ah, but I am afraid, as I am sure you are no doubt aware, Miss Burke here is a prefect," he said smugly. "If a student has breached their curfew without prior permission from a teacher, it is very much her business."

Andromeda frowned at Olivia Burke, who looked very satisfied with herself indeed.

"Lucius is… unfortunately… quite correct, Andromeda, although I am sure you can offer us a reasonable explanation?" Burke asked in a very patronising tone.

"Well, if you must know," Andromeda began. "I was at the library…reading," she lied. It was not too fanciful a tale, as she did spend many of her evenings snowed under in books in the school's library. She was very much known as a bookworm by her peers, some even commenting that she read so much it was a surprise she had not been housed in Ravenclaw instead.

"Interesting," Lucius smiled. "As luck would have it, our friend Mr Rowle here has only just returned from the library himself. Thorfinn, dear friend, do you recall seeing Miss Black in the library at all on this fine evening?"

Rowle looked up from his book momentarily.

"No," he replied moodily, barely even bothering to look at her, before shaking his head and returning to whatever it was that he was reading.

"Well," Lucius began, but Andromeda had anticipated this answer and thought quickly on her feet to continue her lie.

"I expect he did not see me because I was in the restricted section," she added confidently, but Rowle's chuckle under his breath in response caught her off guard.

"You really think Rowle would be wasting his time in the library not in the restricted section?" Algernon Avery asked in an incredulous tone. "What do you think he's been reading all night, Hogwarts, A History?"

Yaxley and Burke both laughed at Avery's quip, whilst Malfoy merely smiled triumphantly.

"You may wish to borrow that book on Necromancy that Thorfinn is reading, Black, as you are dead," Lucius added evilly, causing even greater laughter from Yaxley and Burke, with Avery himself joining the chorus of jeers in mocking her.

"You are hiding something, Black," Lucius hissed. "I do not know what it is yet… but I will find out… and when I do, I can promise you that you will forever rue the day that you said no to a Malfoy."