Amanda's lungs burned from the screaming and her arms were starting to hurt from waving them around for three hours. James had played for about an hour of the game and he had made five goals. The Harpies won and Rose and Amanda were now waiting outside the locker room for James.

"Can you believe how well he played?" Amanda gripped Rose's arm.

Rose shrugged. "He did play well… when he was in."

"He is a reserve," Amanda argued. "He played more than any other reserve."

Rose gave her a disinterested look. The locker door swung open.

"You waiting for someone?" A man with a heavy Scottish accent asked, putting a duffle bag over his shoulder. He had a short dark beard that was closely shaved and his muscles bulged and Amanda recognized him as one of the beaters. His hair was pushed back with a bit of gel and he smelled like aftershave.

"Um, James." Rose said, trying to look around the man. He looked down at her with an amused look. "Is he in there?" She asked distracted.

The man chuckled, "You his bird?"

Rose scoffed and looked straight at the man for the first time. She had to crane her neck to get a good look at him. "No, his cousin." She folded her arms tightly.

He looked down at her through lidded eyes. "Interesting. He's just showering now. I didn't catch your name." He leaned against the wall and Amanda's alarms instantly went off. He looked like a sexy jungle cat stalking its prey.

"That's because she didn't throw it." Amanda snapped quickly. The man ignored her.

"I'm Chandler Sweets." He held his hand out and damn if they weren't attractive hands.

Rose looked at the hand and then hesitantly shook it. "Rose Weasley."

"Nice to meet you Rose." He flashed her a smile.

"How old are you?" Amanda blurted out.

"Twenty four." He responded and then refocused on Rose. "And you?"

"Eighteen." She tucked a red curl behind her ear and Amanda winced as she imagined Rose flirting with this man. Amanda looked impatiently at the locker room door wondering what was taking James so long.

"You still in school?"

"Yes." Rose looked at Amanda, but she just shrugged. It was weird to think of Rose as a sexy grown up woman, but she supposed that's what Rosie was now. Ron was so going to have a heart attack.

The door swung open. "Hey guys." James smiled and then looked between Chandler and Rose. "Hey Sweets, I thought you'd left." He shot Chandler a questioning look.

"I was just talking to your cousin." He chuckled.

Yea, James's eyebrows got real low. "Yea, she's going into her last year at Hogwarts." Hint, hint.

"So she was telling me." He shot Rose a coy smile and Amanda gave James a gag face.

"Weren't we leaving?" Amanda looked impatiently at Rose.

"Yes, let's go." She agreed and gave Chandler a disinterested smile.

Atria drummed her fingers against the desk and then started spinning in her chair. She took a few deep breaths and tried to sit still.

She started playing with her pencil.

Gah! She didn't know how Rose could stand it; practically doing nothing. How did anyone have the patience for this?! She looked around and all the other interns seemed to be doing fine. Maybe it was a maturity thing.

All the others were nineteen or older and Atria was only seventeen. That made her smile.

"Hey, Williams."

It took Attie a second to realize that the 'head intern' was talking to her. The idiotic prick didn't know which end of a Horntail was the front and which was the back and somehow he was elected 'head intern'. As if the position had any real power.

"What McLaggan?" Atria sighed. He dropped a stack of paper on her little desk with a thud.

"I need you to file these away." He looked down on her her and she glared up at her.

"That's not my job." Atria folded her arms indignantly.

McLaggan sneered at her. "Well, I'm going on a field expedition, so I'll hardly have time to do this." What? How the bloody hell did McLaggan get this gig? Sure, his dad was some Ministry hotshot or something, but she lived with the savior of the wizarding world. If that wasn't a connection Atria didn't know what was.

She realized he was waiting for her reaction. She took a deep breath and smiled, noticing some of the other interns looking their way.

"Of course," Atria tilted her head, giving him a condescending smile. "They did tell you about the loose Vipertooth right?" McLaggan swallowed. "Yeah, I was nicked and I barely survived. She's a little bit wild, that one. But don't worry, I'm sure you'll be fine." He swallowed again and she saw Hayes choke down a laugh. She refocused on the blonde buffoon in front of her. His mouth was working like he wanted to say something and his large shoulders were shaking with fury.

He stalked away and Atria eyed the stack of papers.

"Damnit." She muttered. How could anyone like that git? Sure, he was muscular and good looking, but Albus was much better looking.

With his dark, unruly hair and his green eyes and bulky body… and Scorpius was nice looking too. Yeah, there was definitely so many better looking guys than McLaggan. Atria prefered dark hair… and she really needed to stop thinking about Albus Potter.

They had kissed like… twice and it had barely meant anything. Sure, she thought he hated her, apparently not true, and now he was so sweet it was almost too much. Almost. He and his mum had left two days ago and she already couldn't wait to see him again. It was stupid because it didn't mean anything and they still disliked each other.

Atria was still feeling the still of the fight they'd had right before she had left for Romania. She was so shocked to see him when she woke up, considering she thought they weren't speaking. And who know's maybe they would go back to not speaking. Maybe he just felt bad because she'd been poisoned and he thought she was going to die.

She shook her head and focused on the stack of reports that needed to be filed away.

Atria couldn't wait for the wedding. She couldn't wait to see… everyone. Cough, cough.

Hours later, her head about to explode, she collapsed in her spinny chair, her arms sore from carrying all the boxes down to the records department. All the other interns had gone to the lunch hall for dinner while she was away and she was glad.

While she had been combing through files, reading about cases of people's homes being destroyed made her think of Castel Lestrange. She convinced herself that it was okay not to tell anyone who she was based on the fact that she really couldn't give them anything useful. But she knew where Castel Lestrange was and if her mum was holed up there with a dozen Death Eaters? That was useful information.

Atria grumbled. The problem was there wasn't a good way to give that information to the Ministry without being discovered. Especially since there was a picture of every member of the Lestrange family hanging in the Hall of Echos and those pictures grew up to reflect the people depicted. Her picture would no doubt look like she did and there would be no doubt it was her because she remembered the watching her hair change from blue to purple to red in the picture.

Her head dropped to her forearms. They were going to find out - the Potter's, The Weasley's - and then what? She had lived with them for three years, but would they believe her. Her throat swelled as she thought about how Rose, James… and Albus would look at her after they found out.

Would the Malfoy's support her? Surely Mr. Malfoy would understand that everyone did things when they were young that they weren't proud of.

Atria's temple started to throb and thoughts about her mother, Albus, and Mr. Malfoy swirled in her head. And yet, one thing kept popping into her mind. She had to go back to Castel Lestrange.

She hoped it would be as easy to get in as it was before. You only needed to have relation to a Lestrange to enter. Her mother technically didn't have Lestrange blood, but since she was a Lestrange by her mother's marriage that counted. There was some magical boundary that regulated who could get in and out.

Yes, out as well. If a person was brought in you could only leave with direct permission from a member of the house. The castle was a series of winding hallways and back staircases that were riddled with magic and secrecy.

Atria had once gotten lost. She shuddered and couldn't even finish that thought.

She imagined that Malfoy Manor had once looked as threatening as Castel Lestrange. With the five towers sweeping the sky, connected by thick grey, stone walls the outer gate was a deflective shield not only from muggled but from wandering wizards as well. And if you made it past that, the Bleeding Thicket was not a garden that you wanted to mess with.

It was a gorgeous rose garden that attacked anyone not of the Lestrange family unless you had express permission to enter. It was named because most victims bled out from the numerous wounds given by the rose thorns that grew to the length of dangers when attacking.

So unpleasant. Not to mention that the foyer was actually a thinly disguised room that looked into your mind, found your darkest fears, and then used them against you, creating a horror story in the victim's mind until they either literally died from fear or they were too weak to fight.

And Atria had decided this was the place she needed to visit. Brilliant.

She packed up her things and headed to the main hall for dinner.

The next day she got a letter from Rose. The first thing Al must've done when he got home was go and talk to Rose. Her letter basically outlines all the ways in which Atria was stupid and had a death wish.

...horribly stupid…. blah blah…

Anyways, I cannot wait to see you at the wedding. I think I'm going to invite Amanda. She's been down lately and going to James's game really brightened her mood, so I think bringing her to Spain would be nice for her.

Atria rolled her eyes. Of course going to Spain would be nice for Amanda.

You two are going to have matching scars now. What dress are you wearing? Is your scar going to show at the wedding? I spoke will Albus and he said the it was pretty bad. Does it hurt?

Atria stopped reading. She was having a difficult time following all of Rose's questions and it made her head her. She scanned the letter and looked for any mention of Scorpius. Were they still fighting?

Scorpius is going to Spain at the same time we'll be there. That was the only thing she said about him which meant they were probably still fighting. Just lovely.

Two weeks later, Atria was waiting for Lily to come out of the bathroom in her bride's maid dress. Much to the horror of everyone in Gryffindor, Victoire had chosen green and silver for her bride's maids. They had spent months going around and around trying to find a color that suited everyone. With Lily and Rose's red hair, Dom's and their other cousin Elise's silvery hair, and Roxanne's dark hair green and silver were the only colors that would complement everyone.

"Hurry up!" Atria shouted, flipping through an old copy of Witch Weekly. She was lying on her side, facing the door, on the bed with her hand propping up her head.

"How's this?" Lily stepped out in her chiffon dress that came down to the knees. Atria whistled.

"James is never going to let you speak with a boy again." Atria said up, swinging her legs to the floor.

Lily looked at herself in the mirror. "He's in Wales, what's he going to do about it?" Lily grinned at the thought.

Atria sighed, "It's going to be weird without him and Freddie."

Lily scoffed, "It's going to be better… no big brother looming over me."

"Um… Albus." Atria willed herself not to blush. They had kissed and that was that. It wasn't like they were in a relationship. No… they just had to live down the hall from each other and have family dinners together. And his parents were the forces of good who tried to stop the forces of evil and she was basically the product of those forces of evil. Snap out of it!

Lily shrugged, "Albus isn't as bad as James. I'm worried about Rose being the fun stealer this year. She's going to be Head Girl."

"Yea, but don't worry… I'll make sure she retains some of her fun side." Atria laughed and went over to Lily. They stood in front of the full length mirror. "When is everyone else coming anyways?"

"Oh, it's just me and my mum and Uncle Charlie and you here today. Aunt Gabrielle and Elise will be here tomorrow but the rest of the family won't be here until Thursday. Well, if you don't include Victoire's immediate family. Dom and Aunt Fleur and Uncle Bill will all be here later today. Everyone's working." Lily rolled her eyes at the end of her monologue.

"And Teddy?" Atria asked. She was excited to see Teddy again.

"He's not coming until Friday for the rehearsal dinner." Lily smoothed out the material of her dress. "Hair up or down?"

"Mm… up I think." Atria took Lily's hair and pinned it up. "Brilliant."

"Are you going to see Scorpius?" Lily asked. "Unzip me."

"I wanted to wait and take Rose, or rather make Rose come with me." Atria pulled down the zipper.

"Good luck. I tried to ask her once a few weeks ago and she shut me down." Lily went into the bathroom. "I say you go convince Scorpius to come to the wedding."

"Would Victoire be okay with that? Doesn't she have the seats all arranged?"

"Well, for the actual wedding the seats are outside to we can just add another chair to a row. Or we could just invite him the reception afterwards." Lily called out.

"That might be a better idea. I doubt he would want to come to the wedding anyways." Atria hollered and Lily came out in a robe. "Maybe I'll go tomorrow before everyone else gets here on Thursday."

Lily frowned. "What am I supposed to do then?"

"Help with the wedding."

Atria looked in the mirror, making sure everything was in place. Her hair was a natural dirty blonde color, her cheekbones weren't as severe as they usually were, and her eyes were a dull brown. She looked like just another face in the crowd and she was positive that with the subtle changes she had made to her facial structure Scorpius's grandparents wouldn't recognize her.

She took a handful of floo powder and stepped into the fireplace.

"Villa de Malfoy." She said and threw the green powder down.

She appeared in another fireplace that was looking out over an expensive dining room. Atria was sure why you would need an eighteen person table for a vacation villa but that's just how purebloods and rich people worked.

As she stepped out of the fireplace, Scorpius rushed into the room. He did a double take when he saw her. "What-"

"I thought it would be best." Atria said, her tone saying not to question it. Scorpius nodded nervously.

"My grandparents want to meet you, but if you don't want to I understand. We'll just leave before they even know you're here. I don't want you to feel like you have to meet them-"

"Scorpius," Atria snapped and took a breath, "it's fine. I should meet them… for a second." She mumbled and gave him a reassuring smile that was totally fake. He nodded curtly and then turned to leave the way he came in.

She followed.

"They're just in the salon." He mumbled and Atria noted that they traveled through a few more rooms before they reached the salon. The salon was tastefully decorated in dark greens and maroons. Heavy drapes covered the windows and it was a dark and somewhat gloomy room. A man with whitish blonde hair sat next to a woman with greyish black hair, both falling to their backs.

The couple didn't turn around as Scorpius and Atria entered the room, they only stopped speaking in hushed tones. The room went silent.

Scorpius led her around the front, shooting her anxious looks like asking her you want to back out? She gave him a reassuring smile as she followed him to stand in front of his grandparents. Cool, judging eyes met hers with the same gunmetal grey Scorpius's eyes had.

"Scorpius, who is this?" Narcissa Malfoy asked, giving Atria a once over.

Atria looked back dully at the old woman.

"This is the friend that I was telling you about." He responded vaguely.

Lucius tilted his head. "All you told us was that you had a friend. You never mentioned who they were or any manner of particulars." Scorpius swallowed.

Atria stepped forward quickly, deflecting Lucius's hard glare from Scorpius. "I'm Attie Williams. I go to Hogwarts and I'm with Scorpius in Slytherin." Atria stared them down. She had learned not to show these types of people fear. They respected you if you looked them in the eyes.

Lucius's eyes slid to her's. "Williams? I've never heard that name before."

Atria shrugged. "My family is mostly magical but I think we had a muggleborn somewhere along the line."

Narcissa examined her. "So you're a…"

"Mostly a pureblood, but I'm not into that stuff." Atria clarified and she saw Scorpius shoot her a cautious look.

"No?" Lucius smiled cooly.

"Don't get me wrong," Now Scorpius was shooting her a panicked look, "I'm a Slytherin, I like power and I like outsmarting people. I just don't think that has anything to do with blood." Scorpius looked ready to drop dead. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy were looking at her like they were stalking prey.

"Interesting." Lucius's lips curled up further.

"Blood is just an excuse to get power," Atria stared at him, "for example, Tom Riddle-"

"Attie!" Scorpius shouted.

Atria didn't look away from Lucius. "Well, he was a half-blood and you all followed him to promote the agenda of purebloods... or was it that you just liked the power he offered?" She asked innocently and Narcissa gasped. Lucius stopped seeing her as prey and started looking at her like she was a predator.

"How dare you-"

"Sorry." Atria looked disinterestedly at her nails, her heart leaping in her chest. When she started speaking she had felt bold and angry and now she felt like she had just done something unnecessarily stupid. But she had learned to never show these people fear. If they smelled blood, they would attack. "Something I say too much. Scorpius we should go." And then she took his hand and marched out of the room leaving the Malfoy's standing there with their jaws hanging and their mouths foaming in anger.

"You have a death wish." Scorpius said simply once they were out of the house. He stared blankly ahead. Atria took a deep shaky breath.

"I got a little worked up." She admitted and noted her hair that was fading from red to purple.

"So you decide suicide is a good option." He hissed, finally looking at her. "You just got out of the hospital-"

"That was two weeks ago."

He ignored her. "- And now you threaten Death Eaters." He finished.

"It seemed like a good idea." She mumbled. Scorpius glared at her.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you do these dangerous things?"

Atria let out a frustrated groan. "I already had this lecture from Albus."

"And what did he say?" Scorpius ran his hands through his hair.

"He said he didn't get it either."

Scorpius looked at her. "The next time you jump off a broom, fight a dragon, or piss of a killer remember that there are people who care about you." He took a deep breath. "And you're hurting them."

Sorry this took so long! I have had a major case of writers block. This isn't the best chapter it hops back and forth a lot, but let me know what you think and if you liked it. - Alex.