"You fool! You may have ruined us!" Draco screamed, a vein visibly throbbing by his temple. "How could you have done this?"
Macnair stumbled over his words, "sir, the Ministry employees who are not under our control have started to ask questions, I had to say something."
"You told them that the dark lord has returned," Draco hissed.
"Silence! Despite Macnair's lack of judgment, which he will pay for, this has not ruined us."
"My lord?" Draco looked perplexed.
Voldemort fingered his wand, as though he was itching to see if it were still capable of dealing out pain, "the Order was already alerted of my return to power, most likely thanks to my dear meddling uncle. They were looking for a way to alert the rest of the wizarding community to my return no doubt, and now Macnair has done it for them. But on our terms. Gentlemen, the ball is still in our court. We are now free to strike wherever we please. Before we had to use caution to make sure we were not detected. But now that the world is aware of our presence..."
"We can finally strike those who have betrayed us." Draco finished for him.
"Exactly Malfoy," Voldemort clasped his hands behind his back and strode over to the fireplace, "tell me, what is it that we are in the greatest need of at the moment?"
Draco frowned, "I am not sure..."
"Think back young Malfoy, to the last time you fought for me."
He was reminded of the raid on a temple in Greece, "a legitimate seer."
"And I believe I have found one for us. She will not aid us without some persuasion of course... but I am very good at persuading people to do as I want."
"What in the world are you doing?"
"Trying to seduce you, is it working?" Morgan asked as she kissed husband from his ear to the corner of his mouth.
"Do not tempt me woman."
"I think it is working..." Morgan smiled as she began to play with the buttons of her husband's shirt.
"That's it, you are in for it now," Severus growled before grabbed her and dropped his head to kiss his wife soundly.
"Ewwww! There are impressionable eyes in the room you know."
Severus sighed, "Why is it that they act the same way at seven as they do at seventeen?"
"Because its disgusting watching you two kiss," Olivia said as she crawled up onto Severus' lap.
"I do not recall inviting you up here."
"I invited myself."
"Hmmm... you disrupt what little time I try to spend with my wife and then crawl on me without permission. What do you propose I do with you?"
"Perhaps we could hang her from the ceiling by her ankles..." Morgan suggested.
Olivia's eyes got large, "I don't like that idea."
"I'm not sure, it does have its merits," Severus mused, "it might actually keep you out of trouble for more than 24 hours."
"I'm not that much trouble!"
"That's debatable." Severus said in a dry tone, "but I am willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself. I know that Kamen has planned something for the ball, I do not know what it is, but I am sure I will not like it. You find out what it is and tell me and you will not be hung from the ceiling."
Olivia giggled, "I already know what he has planned."
"Well?"
"But I promised not to tell... and you said it was important to keep promises."
Severus groaned, "Do not throw my words back in my face like that child."
"Hey hon, how you doing?"
Dierna shrugged, "I'm fine, really. You two shouldn't stay here long, you'll get in trouble if you're caught in here at this time of night."
Nick frowned and held the back of his hand to Dierna's forehead, "you sure you're feeling alright? It's not like you to worry about getting in trouble..."
"She's probably just tired Nick, perhaps we should go," Serena gave her twin a worried look. She didn't want to leave her alone, but knew it was what she wanted.
"Yes, I'm fine, just a bit tired, so go."
Serena hovered at the door a moment while Nick went on, "you're not fine, you know. You may think that if you keep saying it it'll be true, but that's not going to happen. The sooner you realize you're not fine the better off you'll be."
"What are you doing out of bed Miss Snape?"
Nimue shifted from foot to foot nervously, "I didn't mean to be out after curfew, Professor Lupin..."
"If you didn't mean to be out after curfew then why are you wandering the halls at this time of night?" Remus' mouth twitched in amusement, although he managed to still look serious.
"It's just that..." Nimue sighed and looked down at her feet, "I had another vision," her voice got very soft, "and I didn't think I should disturb Kalliope with it now that you two... well, I decided to go for a walk and think about it instead."
"Nimue, I want you to know that you can feel free to still come talk to Kalliope when you have visions, even if I am married to her now. As long as you knock I promise it won't bother me. In fact, I think we should go see her now, I'm sure she'll want to hear about your vision."
"Ok," Nimue looked visibly relieved.
"However, we do have one small issue to deal with first..."
Nimue looked up at her Head of House expectantly.
"You cannot wander the hallways like this at night, it is dangerous. Hopefully a deduction of 20 points and a detention will impress the seriousness of it on you."
"But how can I..."
"I will come up with something so that if you need Kalliope for anything you can let her know without leaving the dorms at night. And then either her or I will come get you. Will that work?"
"Yes sir. Professor Lupin, can I ask you something?"
"Of course." P
"Why would Voldemort be interested in using me, what use would I be to him? I know it's a question my parents won't answer, because they think it would be protecting me. But I have to know."
"I'm rather glad you collapsed today, it saved me the trouble of having to rat you out."
"Eric! What are you doing here?" Dierna looked up, startled.
The old wizard smiled kindly, "I've been watching you for quite some time young lady and you've had me worried. I saw how you barely made it in after running that one day, and quite a few other things that I haven't liked. I was very close to telling your father what was going on."
"How do you know everything that's going on?"
"That is my secret. But, you're a bright enough girl, I don't doubt that you'll figure it out eventually."
"Well, now that you've been so insightful would you mind leaving? I'm not much in the mood for company," Dierna said, but it lacked any heat, her voice was completely devoid of emotion.
"I think you need the company, so I have every intention of staying here for awhile."
Dierna shrugged, "do as you like."
"I will thank you. And as I'm doing as I like, I'm going to offer you a bit of advice. Take this from someone who lost the love of his life many years ago. Life goes on, you may not want it to, but it does. And if you try to hide from the world it's just going to pass you by, you'll live, you'll maybe even find some semblance of happiness, but unless you throw yourself back into the world and life you'll never be able to reclaim the passion you once had."
"And what if I don't want that passion back, what if I don't want to try?"
"Then you might as well be dead yourself child, a life without passion is no life at all. Especially when one is capable of being such a little spitfire like yourself."
"Nimue... I'm not sure I'm the one to answer that question..." Remus stumbled over his words, not wanting to lie to the girl, but not wanting to be the one to tell her the truth either.
Nimue cocked her head to the side, "I know he wants a seer, and I can understand why he wants one. But why me? I'm not very good yet, and I'm no one special."
"I think that's a question your father would answer best."
"Does that mean you're not going to tell me?"
"Yes."
Nimue leveled Remus with a very Snape-ish look, "He doesn't really want me, he could find a seer anywhere. He wants me because it will be a way of hurting my father."
Remus sighed, "We don't know that for sure."
Nimue "I can't think of any other reason though. Perhaps I should leave Hogwarts... if I'm a target I don't want to put other people in danger."
"How is Ginny?" Sirius asked in the middle of the week after a staff meeting.
"Just fine. Have I told you we were looking at moving?"
"Really? And why is that?"
Harry grinned, "We're so far away right now, and with me teaching it's not very practical. But, if we bought a home in Hogsmeade..."
"You could live at home while teaching here," Sirius finished for his godson. "Sounds like a good plan to me. I might have to suggest the same thing to Elizabeth."
"How is Elizabeth doing and Willow of course?"
"Both fine, but I miss them horribly. We owl each other almost everyday, but it's just not the same." He smiled, "it's good to see Remus finally married, he always said that with his condition no one would want him. I'm glad that he was proved wrong."
"Sirius, I need to ask you something."
"Shoot kid."
"I'd be a fool if I didn't realize I'm going to be a pain target of Voldemort's now that he is back. If something should happen to me will you look after Ginny and the kids?"
"Of course, you don't even need to ask. Is there a reason why you're brining this up now?"
Harry shrugged, "things just seem a bit more ominous lately, hard to say why. Think we have anything to worry about with the ball this weekend?"
Sirius snorted, "You mean besides dragging students out of every dark corner they think is safe for snogging? Thank goodness the school has contraceptive charms all over it... beyond that I can't think of anything."
Harry laughed, "I was thinking of something a bit more serious than that." He tried to pull off an innocent look, "and what makes you think any respectable Hogwarts student would ever sneak off into a dark corner for a bit of innocent snogging?"
"Because Remus loves to tell stories about all the places he caught you and the former Miss Weasley," was the dry answer, which gave both men, even in the midst of dark times, something to laugh about.
"What do you think about having children?"
Remus was taken off guard for a moment, "honestly Kalliope, I've never really considered it. With my... condition... I never thought I would find a woman who would want to be with me, let alone have a family with me. It could be dangerous, when I transform..."
"We both know very well that the Wolfsbane Severus is making for you now makes you perfectly safe. And isn't he working on something new which would mean you wouldn't transform at all?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then what is there to think about? I've always planned on giving the goddess more daughters."
"And what if I can only give you sons?"
Kalliope shrugged one shoulder as she leaned against her husband, "that's not as important here. If I were still at the temple I would be expected to have daughters, if you couldn't give them to me I would take a second consort. Actually, it's almost better this way. If I had sons at the temple I would not be allowed to keep them, they would be given to the men's tribe while still young to be fostered."
"So, if you stayed at the temple and had sons you wouldn't be able to keep them?"
"I would keep them until they were about seven years old, then they would be ready to start training with the men."
"That's horrible."
"It's a way of life, and much kinder than some others. At least at the temple we do not expose children. Even if we do not raise our own they are still cared for."
"That doesn't mean I have to like the practice," Remus frowned.
"But we're not at the temple," Kalliope gently stroked his face, "we can keep any children we have. And I would be proud to raise any children you give me, even if they are sons. Besides..." she smiled at him a bit wickedly, "think of all the fun we can have in the process."
By early Saturday afternoon the dorms, or at least the girls' half of them, were in an uproar as preparations for that evening's ball got underway.
"What are you doing up here kid?" Serena asked as Olivia stuck her head into the 6th year girls' room.
"Mum said I could come watch you get ready, if it's alright with you. And I need a favor."
"Sure thing," Serena smiled at her youngest sister, "what do you need?"
"I need you to help me get dressed up for the ball too."
"Did Mum and Dad say you could stay up for it?"
"No, but I'm going anyways."
Serena laughed, "I'm game for anything that undermines their authority. I even think we could manage to shrink down some dress robes for you."
As it started to get late Zach headed outside in search of Eva. He had seen her head towards the forest from his window and they needed to head towards the Great Hall for the start of the dance.
He couldn't help thinking about how beautiful she looked as he headed towards the tree line. Her dark blue robes were caught by the breeze, fanning the skirt out behind her, and her blond hair whipped around her face.
She turned around just as he reached her, "Zach, what are you doing out here?"
"Looking for you, it's about time to go in. And I brought you this," he handed her a white rose.
"Oh Zach, es ist sehr schön."
Zach didn't have to know the words; her tone implied how much she appreciated the small gesture of affection.
Eva ducked her head shyly as she gently wrapped her fingers around the stem, her hand barely grazing Zach's in a light caress.
"Perhaps soon I'll be able to offer you more than just a simple flower," Zach managed to get out.
Eva blushed a deep pink, "I think I would like this from you."
Zach took pity on his blushing date, "Would you like to head back up?" He asked as he offered her his arm.
"Ja," Eva took the lifeline and tucked her small hand into his elbow. But they hadn't gone three steps when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, clutching her left forearm with her right hand.
"Eva, what is it?"
Eva had turned very pale and she stumbled back several steps from Zach, "nothing, est is nothing, perhaps I just stay out here..."
Zach reached for Eva, concerned that she was hurt, "here, let me help," he pushed her sleeve out of the way and his eyes instant fell on the dark mark emblazoned on his arm. His eyes, flashing green fire, rose to meet hers, "you lied to me..."
"Zach, I can explain..." Eva stuttered.
"Fine, explain to me why you are a death eater. Why you are content to spend your life destroying innocent lives," Zach started to reach for his wand.
Eva turned and ran into the woods; it only took a few steps before she was in far enough to disparate.
"Do I look nice?" Olivia asked as she spun around, admiring the way the emerald green of her shrunken dress robes flared out around her.
"Beautiful," Serena assured her as she performed a spell to make sections of her hair pink to match her dress.
"Are you getting dressed too?" Olivia turned to ask Dierna.
Dierna shook her head, "no," she glanced at her gold dress laid out on her bed, "I don't think I can."
"But why..."
"Here Olivia," Nimue cut the girl off, "why don't we put these green clips in your hair, they match your dress."
"Nimue, who are you going to the ball with?" Serena asked, realizing she didn't know.
Nimue blushed a bit as she smoothed down the soft purple skirt of her robes, "Peter, he's a 4th year Ravenclaw."
"Ok, I'm ready!" Olivia announced, "I need to go meet my date now."
Serena's mouth fell open as she looked at her little sister and laughed, "you have a date?"
"Yep." Olivia spun around one more time, "I'm going now, bye!"
Serena shook her head as Olivia bounded out of the room, "she's liable to drive Dad crazy, I like that. I'm going to head down too Dierna, you sure you don't want to come?"
Dierna replied negatively and ushered her sisters and dorm mates out of the room. Leaving her alone again. As she turned to get a book she caught her reflection in the mirror.
For the first time in weeks she really looked at herself. She forced herself to see the changes her family had seen. She sighed as she looked at her reflection. She had lost weight, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She hated what she saw, but it signified what she had become. Consumed by grief she had given up.
Dierna, you are a coward. Everyone has told you to keep living, but you haven't listened. Why? Because it was easier to lose yourself to grief than to confront your problems.
For the first time since the news of Stefan had come Dierna truly opened her eyes. She listened to her own voice. She raised her chin, assuming the regal pose she had often used before. She would not allow defeat to keep her down anymore.
Sighing she reached for the dress robes, which were still laid out on her bed. But, she paused to take one last long look in the mirror, "goodbye Stefan, I love you with all my heart, but I need to keep living." She took off the necklace with the ring, and slid the engagement ring onto her left ring finger. It was time to make some changes.
Macnair stumbled over his words, "sir, the Ministry employees who are not under our control have started to ask questions, I had to say something."
"You told them that the dark lord has returned," Draco hissed.
"Silence! Despite Macnair's lack of judgment, which he will pay for, this has not ruined us."
"My lord?" Draco looked perplexed.
Voldemort fingered his wand, as though he was itching to see if it were still capable of dealing out pain, "the Order was already alerted of my return to power, most likely thanks to my dear meddling uncle. They were looking for a way to alert the rest of the wizarding community to my return no doubt, and now Macnair has done it for them. But on our terms. Gentlemen, the ball is still in our court. We are now free to strike wherever we please. Before we had to use caution to make sure we were not detected. But now that the world is aware of our presence..."
"We can finally strike those who have betrayed us." Draco finished for him.
"Exactly Malfoy," Voldemort clasped his hands behind his back and strode over to the fireplace, "tell me, what is it that we are in the greatest need of at the moment?"
Draco frowned, "I am not sure..."
"Think back young Malfoy, to the last time you fought for me."
He was reminded of the raid on a temple in Greece, "a legitimate seer."
"And I believe I have found one for us. She will not aid us without some persuasion of course... but I am very good at persuading people to do as I want."
"What in the world are you doing?"
"Trying to seduce you, is it working?" Morgan asked as she kissed husband from his ear to the corner of his mouth.
"Do not tempt me woman."
"I think it is working..." Morgan smiled as she began to play with the buttons of her husband's shirt.
"That's it, you are in for it now," Severus growled before grabbed her and dropped his head to kiss his wife soundly.
"Ewwww! There are impressionable eyes in the room you know."
Severus sighed, "Why is it that they act the same way at seven as they do at seventeen?"
"Because its disgusting watching you two kiss," Olivia said as she crawled up onto Severus' lap.
"I do not recall inviting you up here."
"I invited myself."
"Hmmm... you disrupt what little time I try to spend with my wife and then crawl on me without permission. What do you propose I do with you?"
"Perhaps we could hang her from the ceiling by her ankles..." Morgan suggested.
Olivia's eyes got large, "I don't like that idea."
"I'm not sure, it does have its merits," Severus mused, "it might actually keep you out of trouble for more than 24 hours."
"I'm not that much trouble!"
"That's debatable." Severus said in a dry tone, "but I am willing to give you a chance to redeem yourself. I know that Kamen has planned something for the ball, I do not know what it is, but I am sure I will not like it. You find out what it is and tell me and you will not be hung from the ceiling."
Olivia giggled, "I already know what he has planned."
"Well?"
"But I promised not to tell... and you said it was important to keep promises."
Severus groaned, "Do not throw my words back in my face like that child."
"Hey hon, how you doing?"
Dierna shrugged, "I'm fine, really. You two shouldn't stay here long, you'll get in trouble if you're caught in here at this time of night."
Nick frowned and held the back of his hand to Dierna's forehead, "you sure you're feeling alright? It's not like you to worry about getting in trouble..."
"She's probably just tired Nick, perhaps we should go," Serena gave her twin a worried look. She didn't want to leave her alone, but knew it was what she wanted.
"Yes, I'm fine, just a bit tired, so go."
Serena hovered at the door a moment while Nick went on, "you're not fine, you know. You may think that if you keep saying it it'll be true, but that's not going to happen. The sooner you realize you're not fine the better off you'll be."
"What are you doing out of bed Miss Snape?"
Nimue shifted from foot to foot nervously, "I didn't mean to be out after curfew, Professor Lupin..."
"If you didn't mean to be out after curfew then why are you wandering the halls at this time of night?" Remus' mouth twitched in amusement, although he managed to still look serious.
"It's just that..." Nimue sighed and looked down at her feet, "I had another vision," her voice got very soft, "and I didn't think I should disturb Kalliope with it now that you two... well, I decided to go for a walk and think about it instead."
"Nimue, I want you to know that you can feel free to still come talk to Kalliope when you have visions, even if I am married to her now. As long as you knock I promise it won't bother me. In fact, I think we should go see her now, I'm sure she'll want to hear about your vision."
"Ok," Nimue looked visibly relieved.
"However, we do have one small issue to deal with first..."
Nimue looked up at her Head of House expectantly.
"You cannot wander the hallways like this at night, it is dangerous. Hopefully a deduction of 20 points and a detention will impress the seriousness of it on you."
"But how can I..."
"I will come up with something so that if you need Kalliope for anything you can let her know without leaving the dorms at night. And then either her or I will come get you. Will that work?"
"Yes sir. Professor Lupin, can I ask you something?"
"Of course." P
"Why would Voldemort be interested in using me, what use would I be to him? I know it's a question my parents won't answer, because they think it would be protecting me. But I have to know."
"I'm rather glad you collapsed today, it saved me the trouble of having to rat you out."
"Eric! What are you doing here?" Dierna looked up, startled.
The old wizard smiled kindly, "I've been watching you for quite some time young lady and you've had me worried. I saw how you barely made it in after running that one day, and quite a few other things that I haven't liked. I was very close to telling your father what was going on."
"How do you know everything that's going on?"
"That is my secret. But, you're a bright enough girl, I don't doubt that you'll figure it out eventually."
"Well, now that you've been so insightful would you mind leaving? I'm not much in the mood for company," Dierna said, but it lacked any heat, her voice was completely devoid of emotion.
"I think you need the company, so I have every intention of staying here for awhile."
Dierna shrugged, "do as you like."
"I will thank you. And as I'm doing as I like, I'm going to offer you a bit of advice. Take this from someone who lost the love of his life many years ago. Life goes on, you may not want it to, but it does. And if you try to hide from the world it's just going to pass you by, you'll live, you'll maybe even find some semblance of happiness, but unless you throw yourself back into the world and life you'll never be able to reclaim the passion you once had."
"And what if I don't want that passion back, what if I don't want to try?"
"Then you might as well be dead yourself child, a life without passion is no life at all. Especially when one is capable of being such a little spitfire like yourself."
"Nimue... I'm not sure I'm the one to answer that question..." Remus stumbled over his words, not wanting to lie to the girl, but not wanting to be the one to tell her the truth either.
Nimue cocked her head to the side, "I know he wants a seer, and I can understand why he wants one. But why me? I'm not very good yet, and I'm no one special."
"I think that's a question your father would answer best."
"Does that mean you're not going to tell me?"
"Yes."
Nimue leveled Remus with a very Snape-ish look, "He doesn't really want me, he could find a seer anywhere. He wants me because it will be a way of hurting my father."
Remus sighed, "We don't know that for sure."
Nimue "I can't think of any other reason though. Perhaps I should leave Hogwarts... if I'm a target I don't want to put other people in danger."
"How is Ginny?" Sirius asked in the middle of the week after a staff meeting.
"Just fine. Have I told you we were looking at moving?"
"Really? And why is that?"
Harry grinned, "We're so far away right now, and with me teaching it's not very practical. But, if we bought a home in Hogsmeade..."
"You could live at home while teaching here," Sirius finished for his godson. "Sounds like a good plan to me. I might have to suggest the same thing to Elizabeth."
"How is Elizabeth doing and Willow of course?"
"Both fine, but I miss them horribly. We owl each other almost everyday, but it's just not the same." He smiled, "it's good to see Remus finally married, he always said that with his condition no one would want him. I'm glad that he was proved wrong."
"Sirius, I need to ask you something."
"Shoot kid."
"I'd be a fool if I didn't realize I'm going to be a pain target of Voldemort's now that he is back. If something should happen to me will you look after Ginny and the kids?"
"Of course, you don't even need to ask. Is there a reason why you're brining this up now?"
Harry shrugged, "things just seem a bit more ominous lately, hard to say why. Think we have anything to worry about with the ball this weekend?"
Sirius snorted, "You mean besides dragging students out of every dark corner they think is safe for snogging? Thank goodness the school has contraceptive charms all over it... beyond that I can't think of anything."
Harry laughed, "I was thinking of something a bit more serious than that." He tried to pull off an innocent look, "and what makes you think any respectable Hogwarts student would ever sneak off into a dark corner for a bit of innocent snogging?"
"Because Remus loves to tell stories about all the places he caught you and the former Miss Weasley," was the dry answer, which gave both men, even in the midst of dark times, something to laugh about.
"What do you think about having children?"
Remus was taken off guard for a moment, "honestly Kalliope, I've never really considered it. With my... condition... I never thought I would find a woman who would want to be with me, let alone have a family with me. It could be dangerous, when I transform..."
"We both know very well that the Wolfsbane Severus is making for you now makes you perfectly safe. And isn't he working on something new which would mean you wouldn't transform at all?"
"Yes, but..."
"Then what is there to think about? I've always planned on giving the goddess more daughters."
"And what if I can only give you sons?"
Kalliope shrugged one shoulder as she leaned against her husband, "that's not as important here. If I were still at the temple I would be expected to have daughters, if you couldn't give them to me I would take a second consort. Actually, it's almost better this way. If I had sons at the temple I would not be allowed to keep them, they would be given to the men's tribe while still young to be fostered."
"So, if you stayed at the temple and had sons you wouldn't be able to keep them?"
"I would keep them until they were about seven years old, then they would be ready to start training with the men."
"That's horrible."
"It's a way of life, and much kinder than some others. At least at the temple we do not expose children. Even if we do not raise our own they are still cared for."
"That doesn't mean I have to like the practice," Remus frowned.
"But we're not at the temple," Kalliope gently stroked his face, "we can keep any children we have. And I would be proud to raise any children you give me, even if they are sons. Besides..." she smiled at him a bit wickedly, "think of all the fun we can have in the process."
By early Saturday afternoon the dorms, or at least the girls' half of them, were in an uproar as preparations for that evening's ball got underway.
"What are you doing up here kid?" Serena asked as Olivia stuck her head into the 6th year girls' room.
"Mum said I could come watch you get ready, if it's alright with you. And I need a favor."
"Sure thing," Serena smiled at her youngest sister, "what do you need?"
"I need you to help me get dressed up for the ball too."
"Did Mum and Dad say you could stay up for it?"
"No, but I'm going anyways."
Serena laughed, "I'm game for anything that undermines their authority. I even think we could manage to shrink down some dress robes for you."
As it started to get late Zach headed outside in search of Eva. He had seen her head towards the forest from his window and they needed to head towards the Great Hall for the start of the dance.
He couldn't help thinking about how beautiful she looked as he headed towards the tree line. Her dark blue robes were caught by the breeze, fanning the skirt out behind her, and her blond hair whipped around her face.
She turned around just as he reached her, "Zach, what are you doing out here?"
"Looking for you, it's about time to go in. And I brought you this," he handed her a white rose.
"Oh Zach, es ist sehr schön."
Zach didn't have to know the words; her tone implied how much she appreciated the small gesture of affection.
Eva ducked her head shyly as she gently wrapped her fingers around the stem, her hand barely grazing Zach's in a light caress.
"Perhaps soon I'll be able to offer you more than just a simple flower," Zach managed to get out.
Eva blushed a deep pink, "I think I would like this from you."
Zach took pity on his blushing date, "Would you like to head back up?" He asked as he offered her his arm.
"Ja," Eva took the lifeline and tucked her small hand into his elbow. But they hadn't gone three steps when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, clutching her left forearm with her right hand.
"Eva, what is it?"
Eva had turned very pale and she stumbled back several steps from Zach, "nothing, est is nothing, perhaps I just stay out here..."
Zach reached for Eva, concerned that she was hurt, "here, let me help," he pushed her sleeve out of the way and his eyes instant fell on the dark mark emblazoned on his arm. His eyes, flashing green fire, rose to meet hers, "you lied to me..."
"Zach, I can explain..." Eva stuttered.
"Fine, explain to me why you are a death eater. Why you are content to spend your life destroying innocent lives," Zach started to reach for his wand.
Eva turned and ran into the woods; it only took a few steps before she was in far enough to disparate.
"Do I look nice?" Olivia asked as she spun around, admiring the way the emerald green of her shrunken dress robes flared out around her.
"Beautiful," Serena assured her as she performed a spell to make sections of her hair pink to match her dress.
"Are you getting dressed too?" Olivia turned to ask Dierna.
Dierna shook her head, "no," she glanced at her gold dress laid out on her bed, "I don't think I can."
"But why..."
"Here Olivia," Nimue cut the girl off, "why don't we put these green clips in your hair, they match your dress."
"Nimue, who are you going to the ball with?" Serena asked, realizing she didn't know.
Nimue blushed a bit as she smoothed down the soft purple skirt of her robes, "Peter, he's a 4th year Ravenclaw."
"Ok, I'm ready!" Olivia announced, "I need to go meet my date now."
Serena's mouth fell open as she looked at her little sister and laughed, "you have a date?"
"Yep." Olivia spun around one more time, "I'm going now, bye!"
Serena shook her head as Olivia bounded out of the room, "she's liable to drive Dad crazy, I like that. I'm going to head down too Dierna, you sure you don't want to come?"
Dierna replied negatively and ushered her sisters and dorm mates out of the room. Leaving her alone again. As she turned to get a book she caught her reflection in the mirror.
For the first time in weeks she really looked at herself. She forced herself to see the changes her family had seen. She sighed as she looked at her reflection. She had lost weight, and she had dark circles under her eyes. She hated what she saw, but it signified what she had become. Consumed by grief she had given up.
Dierna, you are a coward. Everyone has told you to keep living, but you haven't listened. Why? Because it was easier to lose yourself to grief than to confront your problems.
For the first time since the news of Stefan had come Dierna truly opened her eyes. She listened to her own voice. She raised her chin, assuming the regal pose she had often used before. She would not allow defeat to keep her down anymore.
Sighing she reached for the dress robes, which were still laid out on her bed. But, she paused to take one last long look in the mirror, "goodbye Stefan, I love you with all my heart, but I need to keep living." She took off the necklace with the ring, and slid the engagement ring onto her left ring finger. It was time to make some changes.