Joe tailed Beth for the next three days, jumping in with intentions to make Beth blurt out the truth, with various questions at unsuspecting times. It wasn't until she threatened to jam his head in a doorway then actually tried to do it to prove that she would that he left her to hers secrets. It wasn't that she wanted to protect Tom. More protect herself. Her pride.

Marcus, on the other hand, knew exactly what had happened. When he saw the state of Beth, her face white, still trembling five hours after she had walked away with such cool composure, he demanded to know what had happened. She had kept her mouth firmly shut, but from the way she twitched, the flash in her eyes at the mention of Tom's name, Marcus knew who was to blame. He reached for her to give her a quick hug and she had winced.

"What?"

Beth had shaken her head. "Nothing, you just surprised me, that's all."

Marcus swore matter-of-factly. "Stand up."

"Give me a break…"

"Beth. Stand up." His voice had been so strange, strained. She stood. Marc reached out and took hold of her shirt. Beth backed away suddenly.

"Excuse me? You have intentions that you want to share with me?" Her voice had sounded off hand, careless, even amused. But the way her arms flung themselves protectively around her belly spoke for themselves. She had watched as Marc had leant forward and slowly lifted up a corner of her shirt, revealing a red scar, right across her stomach. It had faded since that morning and it wasn't as hideous as it had been. Though the scar that was left was permanent.

Marc's face had darkened furiously as he stared at the red mark. "He did this?"

"I never said that."

"You never denied it either. Why the hell are you protecting the-?"

"Marcus! I'm not, just leave it, alright?"

"But-."

"I said leave it!" She had yanked her shirt down and glared at him, daring him to open his mouth

Ever since then, everyone had left the subject alone. Beth had changed subtly. According to Jessi, she was still the same, only harder. She helped people just as much, she loved to see things turn out well. But when someone was cruel, Beth didn't let it slide past her anymore. She would stand up and argue, shocking everyone around her.

Tom had tried to apologise, much to her amazement. A couple of times he had called out to her as she walked past, except Beth maintained what she called a 'deafness for dickheads' and would walk straight past him, not even glancing in his direction. Although, that first fight was never going to be their last.

Beth was sitting in the common room late at night, pouring through her favourite book, taking a break from studying. As shocking as it seemed. Around her, Joe and Leecie were sitting hand in hand, talking quietly, Marcus was sprawled on the couch in front of her, his hand resting lightly on her ankle and Jessi was curled up like a cat in front of the fire, Beth's usual spot. Bec had left school, giving up on the subjects. Emily, too, had left. Giving up altogether.

The common room door swung open and Tom stomped in. The atmosphere in the room changed dramatically to electric. It felt just like a storm was about to break. The hand on Beth's ankle tensed, Leecie stopped giggling and Jessi looked up. Beth didn't even glance up from her book. But she had stopped reading. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tom sneer.

"Well, all here together?"

"Looks like that, doesn't it?" Joe said quietly, one hand in his pocket. Beth knew he had his wand in his hand.

Tom glared at him but didn't speak. Marcus sighed, carelessly. "Why don't you just get lost, Riddle? Go back to you're little buddies and have fun killing innocent people. You seem to like practising on people you go to school with."

There was a rustle and the storm had hit. Tom had his wand pointed at Marcus' heart, shaking with hate. Marcus was calmly keeping his wand trained on Tom, pointing it right between the eyes. Joe had leapt to his feet and had his on Tom as well. All three glared at each other for what seemed like five minutes.

Beth dropped her book on the floor with a resounding crash and all three boys whipped around to stare at her. All three wands were now pointed at her. Not that she cared.

"Now, you all listen to me… oh, what's the point, bloody grow up!" she growled. Leecie blinked.

Tom sneered at Marcus. "You're going to let a girl tell you what to do? Again?"

"I swear, Riddle, when you're dead I'll dance on you're grave. I'll start a congo line."

"Oh, SHUT UP!" Beth shouted. "Honestly, you two are…" she trailed off into a string of explicit words, making everyone's eyes widen. "Hopeless pair of…"

"Shut up, Beth."

Beth whipped out her wand and pointed it at Tom. "I'm not scared of you anymore, so don't push your luck."

"What are you going to do, curse me?"

"That's exactly what I plan on doing to your filthy dumb ass…"

"Beth!" Marcus called. "Are you nuts?"

"Clearly."

"Don't duel him!"

Beth turned her head slowly. "Don't tell me what to do."

Marc stared at her for a moment then stood, and without a word, headed up to his dorm. Tom sneered at his back. "Worthless."

Beth's wand found Tom's heart again as Joe, Jessi and Leecie all shouted "Don't!" Tom stared back at Beth. They were standing about five feet away, wands pointing at each others heart, identical looks of fury on their faces. Beth slowly eased her wand down, then pushed past Tom, muttering as she passed him, "One day I'll teach you a lesson…"