"Everything will be better the next time we see each other," Cartimandua promised. "You'll see. Come Summer, you'll be feeling more yourself again, and we can start planning for your future."

"Yes, Mum." Maddy did her best to return her mother's warm embrace, but it was harder to reflect her optimism.

Steam poured from the chimney of the waiting Hogwarts Express, and the hubbub of parents, students, luggage trolleys, and screeching owls eddied and jostled around them.

Cartimandua took a step back, but was not yet ready to let go of her daughter's shoulders. "Are you sure you won't reconsider coming home for Spring hols?"

"I have OWLs," Maddy reminded her, not quite meeting her eyes. "I'll be busy."

"Of course." Cartimandua smiled tremulously. "I'm impressed by how seriously you're taking your studies lately. You're bound to get good marks. No doubt you'll do much better than I did; I didn't get many OWLs, and I never sat my NEWTs."

Maddy bunched her hands in the pockets of her robes. "Yes, Mum," she said again. "I have to go now."

Her mother kissed her swiftly. "Be good, Maddy. I love you."

"Love you, Mum," Maddy mumbled back, already turning away.

She boarded the train, keeping a watchful eye out for anyone she knew. She was in no mood for her gossipy cousins' "we-told-you-so's". Angry as she was with Rabastan Lestrange, the thought of admitting she had been so wrong about him stung. The only thing worse would be to run into Rabastan himself. Maddy was not ready for that encounter.

Fortunately, there was a compartment toward the back of the train that had only been claimed by four Hufflepuff first years. They eyed Maddy warily, but she ignored them, taking out a book and pretending to read.

The journey seemed to take a year. It was all Maddy could do not to squirm in her seat, grinding her teeth, at the unrelenting tingle of the hex. There was little to distract her from it. The prattling of the first years was meaningless noise. As the train wound its way through Yorkshire, the sun sank below the horizon, veiling the passing scenery in darkness. Even the Freya Lovelace novel, which would once have held Maddy's full attention, now struck her as treacly romantic rubbish.

By the time the whistle signaled their arrival at Hogsmeade Station, Maddy wanted to scream. She pulled the hood of her winter cloak forward to hide her face from the lantern light, knowing she was only delaying the inevitable, as she stepped into one of the horseless carriages that transported the students from the village up to Hogwarts castle.

Maddy mounted the castle steps and entered the Great Hall as if her doom awaited her. Perhaps he would not see her in the candlelit space if she took a seat at the far end of the Slytherin table. But that was too much to hope for.

"All right, Yaxley?" Rabastan called from halfway down the long table, favouring her with a knowing grin.

She ignored him, keeping her eyes on the plate in front of her.

He turned and said something to his friends that she could not hear. They laughed. Maddy hunched her shoulders. How much had he told them?

In her dormitory after supper, Maddy barely spoke to her roommates. Usually, they were content to ignore her, and she them. But not tonight.

"I heard you and Lestrange split up," said Eudoxia Avery.

Maddy frowned, as if unpacking her traveling case took up all her concentration. "Who told you that?"

Eudoxia shrugged. "Someone mentioned something at supper. Before hols, you were acting like you were about to be betrothed. What happened?"

"Nothing," mumbled Maddy. "It just didn't work out."

Grabbing her nightgown and toothbrush, she fled to the bathroom before they could ask her anything else.

Maddy took her time with her cold water soak and numbing charm. If she managed to avoid the subject for tonight, perhaps by tomorrow, her roommates would lose interest in her again. They had never been friendly, and Maddy had never sought their friendship. She had always suspected they looked down on her, and anyway, she had her cousins. What was the point in trying to be friends with a bunch of stuck-up girls, just because they shared a room?

By the time she left the bathroom, most of the lights in the dormitory were out. Maddy quickly drew the hangings around her bed. Their heavy green velvet muffled much of the sound of her roommates settling in for the night, but not all of it.

"D'you think Yaxley and Lestrange did it?" The hushed voice sounded like Julydia Westcote.

"Probably," whispered Eudoxia. "You know what everyone says about him; he doesn't take no for an answer."

"I never understood what she saw in him in the first place. He's creepy."

Angry tears burned Maddy's cheeks. They all thought her a fool. Every last one of them. The humiliation was galling.

You should have known, silent voices whispered to her from the darkness. You should have seen. What did you expect?

What was the point in trying so hard to keep herself pure, if no one believed her? Maddy turned over, pressing her face into her pillow, and screamed as quietly as possible.

Focusing in lessons, or on her schoolwork, was nearly impossible. Maddy had expected as much. Until she found a solution to the locking charm, she could not afford to think about anything else. But now that Maddy was back at school, a new distraction caught at her fragmented attention: Boys. Slouching against the walls in corridors, lounging around the Slytherin common room, bent over cauldrons in Potions. They were everywhere, and every one of them holding the power to release her from her torment, if she let them.

The squeak of a chair against the library floor brought Maddy back to herself. She dragged her eyes away from the boy sitting near the library window, and back to the heavy tome that lay open in front of her. Only belatedly did she realise she had company.

"Is this where you've been hiding?" whispered Ravenna, leaning across the table. "I've barely seen you since term started."

"I've been busy," Maddy mumbled, staring pointedly at the open book.

"With what?"

"Revising. OWLs are coming up."

Ravenna frowned. "I've got NEWTs to revise for, but I still make time for my friends. What subject are you reading for?" She peered at the upside-down text.

"Runes," said Maddy irritably. "And I really need to concentrate, so if you don't mind -"

The chair beside her creaked, and Maddy's whole body tensed as Rabastan Lestrange sat down.

"Hey, Yaxley."

"Leave me alone, Lestrange," said Maddy tightly, not looking at him.

"You used to enjoy our 'study sessions'."

"She doesn't want to talk to you, Lestrange," hissed Ravenna. "Piss off."

"No need to take that tone - Corbet, isn't it?" said Rabastan with an easy smile. "I just wanted to return something Yaxley left at my house." He reached into his book bag.

Maddy's stomach turned over. All she could think of were the torn and mangled remains of her silk nightdress.

"Whatever it is, I don't want it," she whispered, trying to keep the panic from her voice.

But the object he dropped onto the open book was small and metallic: a silver brooch in the shape of a plump bird, with a long tail and a short beak. She stared at it numbly, her heart thundering in her ears.

"I know how much you hate to lose anything," Rabastan said with a smirk.

He strolled away, hands in his pockets.

"What is it?" Ravenna asked.

"Nothing." Maddy scooped it up hastily, and stuffed it into her own book bag. "Just a brooch of my father's."

Ravenna peered at her. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Maddy snapped, louder than she intended.

Madam Pince, the librarian, looked up from her desk across the room. "Keep your voices down," she warned. "This is a place of study. Be quiet or be elsewhere."

Maddy lowered her voice. "I'm fine," she repeated.

Ravenna appeared unconvinced. "We know you and Lestrange split up. It's nothing to be embarrassed about."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"We've just been worried about you. We've barely seen you since before hols."

"Well, you can stop worrying," Maddy informed her. "I'm just focusing on my studies right now."

"I got the new Freya Lovelace for Yule," said Ravenna. "I thought maybe you'd want to borrow it."

"No thanks. I'm not interested in those anymore."

"Oh." Ravenna sounded disappointed. "In that case, would you mind returning the others? I've been wanting to reread them."

"If you like." Maddy fixed her gaze pointedly on the rune text once more. "I'll bring them to you tomorrow."

"All right. Tomorrow." Ravenna rose, but hesitated before departing. "You can't avoid us forever, Maddy. Venice and I aren't just your friends; we're family. When you're ready to talk, we'll be there."

Sure you will, Maddy thought angrily. You'll be there to gossip and judge me, just like you do with everyone else.

"Close your eyes," Professor Holmes instructed. "Conjure up a dream you had in the past week. Try to recall as many details as possible. Once they are fixed in your mind, share them with your partner, then work together to interpret them. There will be a section on dream interpretation in your Divination OWL."

Maddy squeezed her eyes shut, clenching her jaw. Her recent dreams were vivid in her mind, but only the Imperius curse could have forced them out of her. She cast about frantically, trying to invent something plausible but impersonal.

Peeking beneath her lashes, she saw Peter Pettigrew's face scrunched up in concentration, as if he, too, were having difficulty thinking of a dream he was willing to share. When his pale blue eyes popped open, Maddy reluctantly opened hers as well.

"You go first," Maddy said quickly. Perhaps she could draw out the interpretation of his dream until the end of the lesson.

"Um, I was in the forest," Pettigrew began hesitantly. "P- James and Sirius and Remus were there, too. We were running."

Maddy frowned. "Was something chasing you?"

"No, we were just running. But I couldn't keep up with the others. I called out to them to wait for me, but they didn't hear. Then the moon went behind a cloud and I was all alone in the dark, and I didn't know where they were or how to get back to the school. And then I heard someone call my name."

Maddy thumbed through the dream interpretation section of her textbook, frowning, trying to look as if she cared about the assignment. "It says here that running usually has to do with fear or anxiety. Fear of being left alone maybe?"

Pettigrew hunched his shoulders, looking embarrassed. "More like fear of not being able to keep up."

"Did you recognise the voice calling to you?"

"It was kind of whispery. I think it was a bloke, but I dunno who."

"Did you go toward the voice?" asked Maddy. "That might mean a new opportunity."

"No, I just woke up."

Maddy scowled. "Well, what do you think it means?"

"I dunno. I think sometimes dreams are just dreams. What about you? What did you dream?"

"That's none of your business," snapped Maddy, before she could stop herself.

Pettigrew winced. "Sorry. I know dreams can be ... personal sometimes." He hesitated, then added. "I heard you and Lestrange split up."

"Oh, yes, I know," Maddy hissed, trying to keep her voice down. "My business is all over the school, and everyone has an opinion about it."

"I-I just meant - you're probably upset," Pettigrew stammered, recoiling from her fury. "It seemed like you really liked him."

"Yes, well, things change," mumbled Maddy, embarrassed.

"Let's say you dreamt about something else," said Pettigrew, glancing around the Divination classroom for inspiration. His eyes fell on the jewel-bright book covers poking out of Maddy's bag. "Maybe something you read?"

Maddy tucked the books deeper into her bag. "I'm just returning those to my cousin."

Pettigrew peered at them with interest. "They're Freya Lovelace, aren't they?"

"What of it?" said Maddy, defensive.

"Nothing. I just - my mum reads them." Pettigrew's ears turned pink. "I may have read one or two over the summer."

"They're rubbish," said Maddy. "I only read them because I was bored."

"I sort of liked them," Pettigrew admitted sheepishly. "Don't tell my friends. They think romances are silly."

Maddy frowned. "They are. They're not realistic at all."

"Does a story have to be realistic to be good?" asked Pettigrew.

Maddy did not have an answer for that.

"Here," said Maddy, shoving the stack of books into Ravenna's hands.

She turned away and began busily enlarging cushions in her usual corner to cover the unaccustomed silence that had fallen the moment she stepped into Myrtle's toilets. From her first year at Hogwarts, Maddy had spent countless hours there, gossiping and giggling with her friends. Now, the space felt strange and uncomfortable, like a set of robes that no longer fit.

When at last she sat down, Venice gave her a hesitant smile.

"We're pleased to see you, Maddy. It's not the same without you."

Karima passed her a twist of shiny red paper, tied up with a gold ribbon. "I know it's late, but happy Yule."

Tearing open the paper, Maddy found a hair clip decorated with cheerful violets.

"I couldn't repair the other, so I made you a new one," said Karima.

Maddy clenched her teeth, remembering the flowers crushed in the mud under Rabastan's foot. "Cheers," she muttered.

Silence descended again. Maddy could feel the weight of their curiosity - a thousand unasked questions, hanging breathlessly in the air.

I shouldn't have come, thought Maddy. It was a mistake, pretending everything was normal.

Myrtle was the first to break. "You split up with that boy," she said, misty eyes large behind her translucent spectacles. "Was it awful?"

"Hush, Myrtle," said Venice. "Maddy doesn't want to talk about that. But you can if you want to," she added, giving Maddy a sideways glance.

"I split up with Xeno Lovegood," Ravenna volunteered, "but we weren't as serious as you and Lestrange were."

Maddy knew she would have to tell them something. "It's not a big deal," she said at last. "His family are just snobs, that's all. They acted like I wasn't good enough for them."

Karima nodded sagely. "Pure-blood nonsense."

"You're a pure-blood," Maddy pointed out.

"Sure, but I'm not stuck up about it," said Karima. "For some of those old families, just being pure-blood isn't enough, though, is it?"

"Was it ... to do with your mum?" Venice asked delicately.

Maddy shrugged, poking at a tile. "Maybe a little."

Ravenna made a tsking sound. "As if Auntie Manda's reputation is any worse than some of the boggarts lurking in the Lestrange family's past."

"Oh, so you think my mum's a slut, too?" Maddy snapped.

"I never said that," Ravenna replied quickly. "But there have been a lot of men in and out of your house, and you know how people talk."

"My father left us. What else was she supposed to do?" demanded Maddy. She was still angry with her mother, and it was infuriating having to defend her, using her mother's own arguments. "So what if she rented out a room now and then to put food on the table? She did what she had to, to keep us."

Venice and Ravenna exchanged a look.

"If you say so," said Venice.

Maddy scowled. "Why? What would you have done?"

Venice shrugged. "Mum always said she should have sold the house and the elf. You could've lived in a smaller flat, and Auntie Manda could've got a job."

Maddy stared, unable to imagine the life her cousin described. "What kind of job could she get?"

"Mum offered to help her find one, after your father left," said Ravenna. "She told Auntie Manda the two of you could stay with us until she figured something out."

"Mum never mentioned anything about that," said Maddy.

"Our mum says she likes the appearance of a grand life too much," said Venice with a shrug. "She can't bear to give up her big house and fancy clothes."

Angry tears sprang to Maddy's eyes, and she blinked them back furiously. "That's not fair! She did her best for us!"

"Maybe," said Ravenna, looking doubtful. "Maybe she was just afraid to make anymore big changes."

Maddy looked back and forth between her cousins in disbelief. "That's really what you think of her? Of us?"

"We think you're our friend and our cousin," said Venice firmly. "And we love Auntie Manda, but you have to admit she hasn't set a very good example."

"Oh, I have to admit that, do I?" Maddy demanded. "I have to admit that I'm in danger of becoming a slut like my mother?"

"She didn't say that," said Karima. "No one called anyone that."

But Maddy was beyond listening. "You want to know why Rab and I broke up?" she yelled. "Because I wouldn't fuck him! He thought I was a slut, too. Just like everyone else does, apparently."

They were all gaping at her now. Myrtle, floating above the sinks, was practically vibrating with excitement.

"There's no need to be vulgar about it, Maddy," said Ravenna faintly.

"Why not? That's what you wanted to know, isn't it? If I did it with him? Only you're all too fucking childish and prissy to come right out and ask."

Venice frowned. "We believe you, Maddy. But if you're going to be a bitch about it, you don't have to be here."

"Oh, now I'm a bitch, am I?" Maddy snapped.

"We know you're upset," said Karima kindly. "It sounds like Lestrange and his family were awful to you. No one deserves that. It's no wonder if you're not feeling like yourself right now."

Maddy scowled. "I don't need you to make excuses for me."

"Venice is right," said Ravenna. "If you don't want to be here, you shouldn't be here. Sorry if I made you feel like you had to come today. You can come back when you're ready."

"Fine," said Maddy, standing up.

"Fine," she said again, shrinking her cushions and stuffing them into her book bag.

"FINE," she yelled, slamming the door to the toilets behind her.

She fled down the corridor, dashing tears from her eyes with the back of her hand.

Myrtle caught up with her around the next corner.

"Are you here to call me a bitch, too?" asked Maddy.

"No," said Myrtle. "I just wanted to know if that's really why you and that boy split up. Because I know about all those things you did with him -"

"Hush!" Maddy hissed, glancing about frantically, but there was no one else in sight.

Myrtle consented to lower her voice to a raspy whisper. "- and I overheard him telling his friends that you dumped him."

Maddy stared at her. "What else did he tell them?"

"Not much," said Myrtle. "Just that he thought you were being silly, and that you'd probably change your mind."

"Small chance of that," Maddy scoffed.

"So what really happened?"

Maddy closed her eyes. The truth was that she was desperate to talk to someone, and Myrtle already knew more of it than anyone else outside Rabastan's family. Besides, Myrtle had been haunting Hogwarts for decades. Perhaps she would know of a solution that Maddy had not already thought of or tried.

"All right," said Maddy. "I'll tell you. But somewhere more private, and you have to promise not to tell anyone."

At the dead end of a disused corridor on the fifth floor, Maddy confessed everything that had happened with the Lestranges. Myrtle's eyes grew bigger and bigger as Maddy spoke, her translucent hands pressed over her mouth.

"Oh, that's awful," she said rapturously, when Maddy had finished.

"I don't know what to do," said Maddy. "I can't sleep. I can't concentrate. There's no one I can talk to. I think I might be going mad."

"You should take revenge on him," Myrtle suggested. "He deserves it. I haunted all the girls who were nasty to me when I was alive. Especially Olive Hornby. She was the worst."

"I need to break this hex first, before I can think about doing anything else," Maddy reminded her.

"That means you have to do it with someone, right?" said Myrtle eagerly. "Who are you going to do it with? Can I watch?"

"Could you at least try not to sound so pleased about my misfortune?" snapped Maddy. "I'm still looking for other ways of breaking the charm."

"I can't help being excited when there's something actually interesting going on for once," said Myrtle. "What other ways?"

"I don't know," Maddy repeated. "I've tried looking up answers in books, but I can't concentrate. I can't ask a professor, because what if they tell my mother? And if I ask anyone else, they'll probably spread it all over the school."

"It sounds like you might have to do it with someone," said Myrtle.

"I didn't go to all the trouble of keeping myself pure just to let some boy stick his prick in me!" Maddy wailed. "There has to be another answer!"

Myrtle looked thoughtful for a moment, then said, "What if you did it with someone who wasn't a boy?"