The following weekend, Draco and Lyra were sprawled out on the grass near the training grounds, spent after a long session of one-on-one flying practice where they had warred over the snitch.

In the middle of lecturing Draco about how to be a better seeker, Lyra trailed off, her eyes narrowing as though she were in pain. Draco followed her line of sight to Lestrange, who in turn stared Draco down before continuing to walk along the grounds.

And in the moment, Draco knew. "That's who you're marrying."

"Yes."

Draco thought of his last encounter with Lestrange, who sneered at Draco and paralyzed him when he was entirely defenseless. "Why?"

Lyra let out a deep sigh. "It's not my decision, fake Abraxas. Let's leave it there."

"I don't want to leave it there," Draco responded in a childish tone. He didn't want to feel powerless to help someone else. Not again. "You said your plans changed. Tell me why." Draco looked into her dark blue eyes, which were searching his warily.

"I thought I could get a Ministry job and support myself, but Lestrange"—she paused, biting her lip, "found out and used his influence to block my efforts at the Ministry."

"How did he find out?" Draco asked.

"Todd, my friend, told him."

"Why?" Draco asked for what felt like the fourteenth time.

Lyra broke eye contact, looking down. "I want to trust you," she said finally. "Tell me your name and I will tell you why."

Draco paused for only a second before responding. He wanted to trust Lyra as well, and he was tired of pushing everyone away.

"It's Draco."

Lyra smiled at that, her first smile since Lestrange had walked by. "We're both named after constellations," she observed. "And we're right next to each other."

Draco mulled that over for a minute, trying to recollect the star map of his mother's but failing miserably. "I didn't know that," he admitted.

"I do." She looked around before explaining. "Todd and Lestrange have been together for years." Draco nodded for her to continue.

"I've been supporting them even though I've always hated Lestrange because Todd is my best friend," Lyra explained, her voice thick with emotion. Draco didn't miss the use of present tense. "I never thought Lestrange would change his mind on the betrothal. We're an old family and I knew he would want my blood."

Lyra looked up, no longer able to make eye contact with Draco. The phrasing struck Draco as painfully true; his family had always spoken in terms of purity, maintaining bloodlines, and smart matches. But at the end of the day, Lyra was right. It was just about blood, and the obsession over it was as violent as cutting someone open.

"I never thought Todd would tell Lestrange my plans, and I was furious with him for a while. But Todd sees a different side of Lestrange, and genuinely didn't think Lestrange would ever use the information against me."

"So the trouble is that you don't have a job to support yourself," Draco slowly recited back to her.

"Yes."

"I have the Manor to myself," Draco announced excitedly.

"That's nice for you," Lyra replied mildly.

"Lyra, stay with me. I have more than enough money if that's the issue."

"That's kind, but my parents signed a binding contract with Lestrange's family," she explained.

"Oh…" Came Draco's defeated response. "But then if you had the Ministry job, how would you have gotten out of it?"

"My parents can break it unilaterally," she explained, as though to a child. "I was confident I could convince them if I had a steady job, and an apartment, and all that. Somehow staying at my friend's house seems harder to sell." Draco had never heard so much sarcasm from Lyra over the entire course of their friendship; her voice was laced with venom, but he knew it wasn't directed at him. "Thank you, though, Draco. For trying."

She smiled slightly, and it just made Draco feel incredibly useless.

It was about the fourteenth time Hermione had read the final sentences of Dorea's diary.

I knew there was a good reason for me to bring the ingredients back with me after break. I thought it was for me, after Abraxas's revelations, but I can make it work with Charlus, and Abraxas's death changes everything. I could never willingly forget him, and I can't think of a better way to honor his memory than to make things right for his grandson.

Her hands were shaking as her mind reeled. Out of all the things that had made her cry the last few weeks, she desperately wanted to cry now over what was done to her without her consent. But the tears wouldn't come because her emotions weren't hers anymore. She was confronted with the evidence that she had been tampered with and she felt nothing but hollowness.

Unable to break down, all there was to do was fix it. Hermione had read the diary cover to cover and knew that it would only tell her how to make the potion that had got her into this mess. She would need to consult the library to work out how to get out of it.

Hermione yanked her beaded bag out from under her bed and stuffed the diary inside it, slinging it over her shoulder and heading for the library. Dorea hadn't written down the name of the potion, but its effects were unique enough that Hermione thought she could find it, especially because Dorea had written down the name: All Forty-Three Known Love Potions: Their Benefits and Drawbacks & Their Ingredients and Antidotes.

As she passed the steps leading to the dungeons, Hermione hesitated for a moment. Dorea had explained in her diary how she had procured a note from Slughorn to check out the book from the Restricted Section. The old man was likely still in his office as easy to persuade as ever.

But Hermione was done living like this. With only a cursory glance to both sides of the hallway to make sure she was alone, she disillusioned herself and kept walking, making a beeline for the Restricted Section.

Within a few minutes, Hermione had located the book. She looked up and down the shelves; it was late and there were only a few students in the main part of the library, let alone the Restricted Section.

Knowing that she was taking an unnecessary risk, Hermione whispered lumos and began to read the list of ingredients required for the antidote. Hope rose in her chest as she went through the long list. So far, everything was easily stolen from Slughorn's stores, and compared to stealing from Snape, stealing from Slughorn would be simple.

But then she got to the last ingredient. Poppy picked by the afflicted on the previous full moon.

Hermione closed the book a bit too loudly and shoved it back into the sparkling bag, letting her steps carry her to the Astronomy Tower.

The cold wind bit into Hermione as she walked out into the night, her eyes quickly finding the thin sliver of moon in the dark sky, mocking her.