The news of Harry Potter and the Weasley siblings' sudden departure ripped through the Hogwarts gossip mills at breakneck speed over the last two days before break. Professor Umbridge was furious that they had been allowed to slip away before she had even been woken up. The reason for their departure was meant to be a secret, so, naturally, everyone knew exactly why they had left; Mr. Weasley had been attacked by something and was now in St. Mungo's ward for creature-induced injuries. The rumor had sent shivers down Evanna's spine as she remembered the large snake her father had kept with him through the summer.

Luna's father had apparently gone on some expedition to find a live Umbugubular Slashkilter in the Himalayas, so she would be staying at Hogwarts over the break. As Ginny was already home, Evanna and Bridget had their usual compartment to themselves on the Hogwarts Express. Almost as soon as the glass shut, Bridget charmed the door locked and silent.

"Should I be worried?" Evanna said.

"Your father had something to do with the attack on Ginny's father," she said without preamble.

Evanna shoved her bag the rest of the way into the overhead and flopped onto the chair before finally looking at Bridget. The other girl had her arms folded across her chest and was frowning.

"We are at war. I would think you of all people knew that," Evanna said as casually as she could muster.

"I thought you said he was alright with you being friends with us all?" Bridget said, amber eyes shining with worry.

"He is! He doesn't want to kill pureblood children-"

"Just half-bloods and muggle-borns, right?" Bridget said bluntly. "Evanna-though the Weasleys hate it, they are part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight. But Mr. Weasley wasn't safe in the heart of the Ministry of Magic."

Evanna looked away from her friend, heart beating erratically. "We don't know what happened to Mr. Weasley. We don't even know that something did happen-just that the Weasleys and Potter all left in the middle of the night."

Bridget snorted. "Hogwarts gossip can get out of hand Evanna, but I know you don't actually believe what you are saying. We don't know what or why Mr. Weasley was attacked in the Ministry, but there is no doubt that he was attacked."

"Why are you bringing this up, Bridget?" Evanna said. "There is nothing I can do about it now."

"Come to my place for the break," Bridget said in a rush. "Don't go to Malfoy Manor. Say that you are ensuring allegiance or paying a favor to a friend-just do something. Don't go into that Manor where your father is surrounded by all his most dangerous followers."

"I want to go home," Evanna said. She wasn't quite sure she believed herself. "I have to go home. Father wishes me to be reunited with my mother."

Bridget shook her head. "So it really was Bellatrix Lestrange. Papa had guessed but…" she trailed off, seeming to catch herself going off subject. "That's even more reason for you to come with me, Evanna. Bellatrix Lestrange…. She earned her reputation."

"There is no reason for me to be afraid of her." The words tasted like a lie. "Or of my father."

"Oh? Then nothing happened when Ginny left you with Harry?" Bridget said. "For that matter-you haven't secretly been training the Boy-Who-Lived all term? That would be an automatic death sentence for any of the Dark Lord's Death Eaters."

"It's a good thing I'm not a Death Eater, then."

"Damnit, Malfoy, I know you're not stupid!" Bridget hissed. "You may be all high and mighty and above us all, but you're an idiot to think the Dark Lord won't punish you-won't kill you--for falling in love with Harry Potter!"

"I'm not-"

"What in Merlin's name?"

In a few moments, Hermione Granger had broken through Bridget's charms and was standing in the compartment with her hands on her hips.

"Remind me to teach you proper ward-making techniques when we get back to school, Travers," Evanna drawled to her friend.

"Oh, shove off-"

"What were you doing warding the compartment anyway?" Granger demanded.

"Typically, when someone locks the door and places a silencing charm, it means that they wish to discuss something private," Bridget said blandly.

"Well it's against Hogwarts rules-"

"And you've never broken a rule," Evanna said. "Coughed up any hairballs lately?"

The Gryffindor prefect's eyes widened. "How did you-" she shook her head. "I'm still going to have to take points-"

"Come off it, Granger, we weren't doing anything that you and your lot haven't done," Evanna scoffed.

"Then just what were you talking about in here that was so secret?" the Gryffindor demanded.

"I don't think our private conversation is any of your business," Bridget responded.

Granger's eyes flashed. "I am looking out for a friend."

"In case you haven't noticed, I've been looking out for him nearly as long as you have," Evanna said in a low voice, glancing up and down the corridor as she did so. Granger narrowed in on that action.

"And you've been ashamed of it since day one," she hissed. "I gladly look out for Harry and all that he stands for in our world. I know you can't say the same."

Evanna frowned, but before she could open her mouth, Bridget butted in.

"You don't have a clue what you're talking about Granger," Bridget said. "Evanna has saved Harry Potter more than once at much more risk to herself than you ever did."

Granger pursed her lips and looked Evanna up and down. "Why?"

Evanna blinked. "What?"

"You are a Slytherin-a Malfoy-and your House seems to worship you, which is suspicious to say the least. You seem to fully support Pureblood ideology. But, you also appear to have saved Harry's life," Hermione said, frowning deeper. "And you're friends with others outside your house. I don't understand it."

Evanna considered the girl, who had so often been a thorn in her side throughout her years at Hogwarts. Granger seemed to be reaching out for something, some sort of understanding she was not even aware she needed and Evanna herself did not know how to answer it.

"I don't choose friends based on the color of their robes," Evanna said, shrugging.

"Just by their blood status," Granger scowled.

"You ever think maybe the world isn't as black and white as you see it, Granger?" Bridget challenged. "It's not as if Harry is a Pureblood-or as if all of the Slytherins are either. Evanna isn't a copy of her family any more than you are."

Granger frowned. "I don't want to see Harry hurt," she finally said.

Evanna opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say.

"I think Evanna has proven that she isn't going to hurt Potter," Bridget hissed.

But her family might.

"Don't lock these again," Granger sniffed then continued along the corridor, checking all the compartments for rule-breakers. Bridget all but slammed the compartment door shut and leaned against it, waiting for Granger's footsteps to fade.

"She's gone," she said.

"Good," Evanna replied, breathing a sigh of relief as she sunk against the compartment bench, closing her eyes for a moment to refocus herself. She couldn't be doing this. She needed to recenter, to step into the Dark Princess role she had taken on this summer. Thank Merlin Harry wasn't on this train-

"Are you sure you won't just come to my house?" Bridget pressed. Evanna cracked open an eye.

"My father won't hurt me," she insisted, "but I don't know that he wouldn't hurt you."

And that was the issue, wasn't it? For once in her life, Evanna finally felt safe even while she feared for the lives of all her friends.

"I hope you're right," Bridget said hesitantly. "But, I hope you know, Evanna-my loyalty is to you."

Lucius did not retrieve Evanna and Draco from the train station. Instead, it was one of the Malfoy house-elves who waited for them at the platform. Evanna nearly breathed a sigh of relief; Lucius dropping her off at the platform this summer had been terrible. Draco, however, looked distinctly put-out at the fact that it was a house-elf picking them up.

"Father said he would be coming here," he muttered.

"And you were glad about that?" Evanna scoffed.

"No… but I don't appreciate being picked up like last week's dry cleaning," he snarled.

Evanna shook her head as they took the house-elf's hands. A moment later, they were standing in the foyer of Malfoy Manor.

"Bolbey was told to send young master to his room," the creature said nervously. "And mistress is to go to the study."

Sent away like I'm nothing in my own home.

"Guess I'll see you around," Draco muttered irritably, marching off to room. Evanna frowned, looking toward the wing where the study was. Was her mother waiting for her there?

"Tell my father I am changing out of my school robes and I will join him as soon as I am presentable," Evanna ordered. The elf seemed to quake.

"Of course, mistress."

Evanna made her way to her new room, the second largest in the manor and considered herself in the large vanity mirror. Her hair had grown a bit from the rough chop she had given it in the summer. It fell midway between her chin and shoulders-still within the almost scandalous range for an unmarried Pureblood witch. Her father had commented on it with amusement that summer; what would her birth mother think?

Guessing that Bellatrix would be more conventional as a witch of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, Evanna chose her most traditional set of robes in dark blue with constellations embroidered along the hem. She even twisted her hair into an updo to conceal its short length. Satisfied that she looked the part of a young society witch, Evanna made her way to the study and knocked on the great oak doors, fiercely clamping down on her sense of foreboding.

"You may enter."

Evanna strode into the room, head held high. As he had been that summer, her father was seated in a wing-backed chair with Nagini wrapped around his feet. Evanna had to shudder, knowing that snake was why her friend's father was currently in St. Mungo's. Behind her father was a tall, almost skeletal looking woman with wild black hair and sunken cheeks. She might have once been beautiful, but the years and prison had stripped it all away from her. Now, Bellatrix Lestrange was all hard angles and bitter lines. Evanna was startled by how much of herself she could see in that cold woman before her.

She bowed before her father-though not as low as she had over the summer-and waited for him to speak. He seemed to take a long time to consider her.

"Rise, daughter," he said after several long minutes. His voice seemed colder than it had been over the summer.

"Father," she replied, feeling unsteady. "It is good to see you again."

He continued to study her with those piercing red eyes and Evanna felt a presence brush against her mind. She did her best to focus on the times in the Slytherin Common Room, on her studying Salazar's diary, on the recent news of her mother's rescue from Azkaban. The safe parts of her semester at Hogwarts, nothing she need explain to her father.

The presence backed away. There was a touch more warmth in his voice as he said, "Your mother has been anxiously awaiting your arrival."

It was then that Bellatrix finally stepped out from behind his chair. Evanna was fairly certain that the woman could have cared less about her return from Hogwarts.

"You're quite a bit shorter than I expected," she said in a derisive tone.

"You can thank leaving me to your brother-in-law for that," Evanna snapped back. Her father lifted an eyebrow.

Bellatrix pursed her lips. "I did what any loyal follower of the Dark Lord should have done. But my brother-in-law," she spat on the floor at the words, surprising Evanna, "has always thought too highly of himself. But, he will pay."

Evanna blinked, unsure what her birth mother meant by that. Her father was strangely silent, though his red eyes had taken on a strange new gleam.

"When I was a little older than you, I learned my most important lesson," he said slowly. "Never let those who harmed you get away with it. It is time you learned that as well."