"I'm surprised you bothered to show up."

Rook stopped short of the desk she and Stefan usually shared during their sessions. She hadn't seen Stefan since their argument during yesterday's match, due to her preoccupation with Black's second break-in attempt and her resulting anguish over the secret passageway that remained unguarded.

Of course, she had still been thinking about Stefan and all the things she might say when she did finally see him again, but she immediately realized anything she had to say would probably be as well-received as a PowerPoint presentation attempting to convince Snape to incorporate educational rap songs in his potions lessons. She withered under Stefan's harsh tone and looked at the ground, unsure how to reply.

"I wasn't avoiding you, or anything…" she said meekly.

"Oh, yeah? You didn't bother to find me after the match, did you? I haven't see you all day today, have I?"

"I wasn't sure you even wanted to see me after…" she trailed off, struggling to think of some way to explain herself. Before she could find the words, Stefan spoke again.

"I was worried about you, you know!" he said, raising his voice. As if she had been magically summoned there, Madam Pince appeared before them, scowling as she zeroed in on the source of the commotion.

"The library is not a place for shouting," she lambasted Stefan in a voice considerably louder than his had been. "Out, get out!" She hovered over him as he angrily packed his things back in his bag and stalked out of the library. Rook hurried after him, though he didn't bother to slow his pace to allow her to catch up. If anything, he took longer strides, and Rook was nearly jogging to keep up with him.

"Stefan," she said as they made their way down the corridor outside the library. "Wait—!"

"Now look what you've done!" he snapped, turning so abruptly Rook nearly ran into him. "I needed the library to study for my O.W.L.s tonight! God, you can be so selfish sometimes!"

"I didn't—"

"You can't just put off arguments 'til whenever it's convenient for you!" he said, truly shouting now. "Don't you think there are times I'd like to not have to deal with you?"

Rook was fighting back tears of frustration, embarrassment and hurt as she looked at Stefan's angry expression. "I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely, trying hard to keep her voice steady. "I'm sorry I made you feel like I just didn't want to deal with the problem, and I'm sorry about how I acted during the match, I really am."

"You know, sometimes I get the feeling you're sabotaging us just so you can go off and be with other men," said Stefan in a quieter, but colder, voice. "How else could you fuck everything up so completely?"

Rook felt frozen in place, hardly believing what she was hearing. She was so shocked by the harshness of his words, that she was unable to think of anything to say in response. Finally, she managed to say, in a strained voice, "If that's what you think of me, why do you even like me?"

"I'm beginning to wonder about that myself," he said simply before walking away again, leaving Rook alone in the corridor. She did not try to follow this time. She didn't do anything for several moments. Her mind was blank, but her heart hurt terribly as she stared at the spot where Stefan had been. He was right. She was weak and cowardly, and she was certain everyone around her was starting to see it more and more clearly. Her paranoia over Black and the passage to Hogsmeade, her reluctance to learn more about her mother's attacker, all her problems with Stefan… they were all caused by her fear, her weakness… She really was completely pathetic, and she was going to lose everything she cared about if she didn't start making better choices.

Eventually, Rook's found her feet were trudging along the now-familiar path back toward the Gryffindor common room. She felt hollow, like she wanted to cry but couldn't manage it. She couldn't seem to feel much of anything but self-loathing.

Then, as she made her way along a deserted corridor, Rook thought for a fraction of a moment that she had started to cry, for she could hear the unmistakable sounds of pained weeping. She quickly realized, however, that the small sobs emanated from beyond the tapestry that hid the staircase Fred and George had used to ambush her on her first night at Hogwarts. Rook stopped in her tracks, wondering whether she ought to double back and take a detour, but… the sobs seemed to have a worryingly familiar quality to them, and curiosity got the better of Rook. She pulled back the tapestry slowly and immediately recognized the bent head of Madeline Selwyn dabbing her face gently with the back of her hand. Rook stepped past the tapestry and let it fall shut behind her and Madeline looked up quickly. Rook suppressed a gasp, for even in the dim light she could see clearly fresh bruising around Madeline's left eye, as well as a bleeding cut along her cheek bone. They looked into one another's eyes and Rook could see flashes of surprise, recognition, and then, quite plainly, fear, in Madeline's expression before she forced a smile.

"Oh, hey Rook," she said in a light voice. "We've got to stop meeting like this."

Rook smiled weakly, though she was sure her eyes betrayed her. "I swear I'm not following you," she said, equally lightly.

"I bet I look pretty scary, don't I?" she said with a laugh. "I had a mishap with a bouncing bulb earlier."

"Ah… Those things are a nuisance. I've never been much of a fighter, but I never thought I'd be overpowered by an overzealous eggplant."

Madeline's smiled widened at this, then she winced and her smile faltered. Then she said, "It's… not a very convincing story, is it?"

Rook considered her seriously. "I'm not hard to convince. If you tell me it was a bouncing bulb, I'll believe you… if you want me to."

Tears formed in Madeline's already bloodshot eyes and she said, "And if I told you someone did this to me…?"

"I would believe that too," Rook spoke quietly. Madeline hung her head and Rook felt an unanticipated flood of anger flow through her. "Did Robert do this to you?"

"Rook, I've been so stupid!" Madeline cried, her voice muffled by her hands, which now covered her face completely as she wept. "It's not him, it's me… I just get so angry, and I take it out on him!"

"You take it out on him?" Rook repeated, confused. "You mean he didn't—?"

"He did, but I pushed him first," Madeline admitted shamefully. "He had my diary, and he was tearing pages out, and I just got so angry…"

Rook waited for more. When Madeline said nothing, Rook asked, "Why did he have your diary?"

"I know he thinks I write bad stuff about him, but I think he also thought he would catch me cheating or something."

"Oh," Rook paused. "So… why was he ripping it up?"

Madeline's lip trembled. "I did write about him. Just a few things, things he had said to me… just so I'd remember."

"What kind of stuff?"

Madeline sniffed and said, "Well… he called me a fat cow once, a while back. When I mentioned it later on, he said he'd never say something like that, that I was misremembering. So I wrote down some of the other things he's said since, so I know I'm not making it up. He calls me mad and stupid quite a lot. He also called me a 'fucking whore' one time."

"Madeline…" Rook spoke tentatively, "that's not okay."

"I've said things that are just as bad," Madeline insisted, her tears falling freely. "I'm much worse than he is! And I know we shouldn't be together, but whenever I try to break it off, he says he'll kill himself!"

Madeline froze and fell silent as footsteps echoed in the corridor beyond the tapestry. Rook acted quickly, taking Madeline's hand in hers. "Come on," she whispered, leading Madeline up the stairs, then to a very large, otherwise unremarkable mirror on the fourth floor. Wordlessly, Rook tapped the mirror with her wand, causing it to swing forward, as though on hinges, to reveal a reasonably spacious staircase leading back downward. They stepped into the darkness and Rook lit her wand just before the mirror closed shut behind them.

"I didn't know this was here," Madeline said, peering down into the unlit depths of the passage. "Where does It go?"

"Nowhere. It used to go to Hogsmeade, but there's a pretty drastic cave-in somewhere along the passage, so I'm told."

"Told by whom?" Madeline asked, momentarily distracted from her plight. "The Weasleys? I don't think they'll appreciate you showing me this place."

"They never use it," Rook said dismissively. "And they say even Filch doesn't know about this place, so... I mean, if you ever need a place to go, to get away from… everything…"

Her words failed her as she watched the sorrow return to Madline's expression. "I'm completely pathetic," the latter whispered.

"You're not," Rook countered feebly. She wanted to argue with Madeline, to tell her that she didn't deserve what Robert had done to her, no matter what she thought she'd done to provoke it. But she remembered how well the Slytherin girl had reacted the last time Rook had tried to argue on her behalf, and she understood too well Madeline's reluctance to absolve herself of blame.

"Where are my manners?" Madeline said with a little smile, breaking into Rook's reverie. "How have you been, arch nemesis?"

"Arch nemesis?" Rook repeated with a snort. "That's quite an upgrade from the last time I saw you. Last time we were just not friends."

"Fate is clearly pushing us together, and since we're in rival houses that would make us either star-crossed lovers or nemeses, and, no offense, Rook, you're very pretty, but I just don't like you in that way."

"Who's asking you to?" Rook said, laughing. "As if I'd date a Slytherin, anyway! Always bragging about the size of their Basilisk."

"And what about your lot? Everyone knows Gryffindors are so self-righteous, and super into erotic roleplay."

"You don't know what you're missing," said Rook with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

"Seriously, though, Rook; How have you been? Spencer still pestering you to go the whole way?"

"Oh… No, not really… After that time, he did apologize for pressuring me. But… he still talks like we're going to soon, and I get the feeling he's… I don't know, impatient, maybe?"

"Hmm."

"Um… Have you and Robert…?"

"I gave up arguing with him a long time ago."

"Arguing?"

"It's not like he had to talk me into every time," Madeline clarified hurriedly. "If anything, I seduced him the first time we did it. But any time I don't feel like fucking lately, he gets sulky, or he says it's because I don't really love him. It's easier to just do it, you know?"

Surprisingly, this disturbed Rook as much as the dark bruises around Madeline's eye. She already greatly disliked Robert Hilliard, but something about this offhand remark solidified Rook's hatred of him.

There were times when Madeline didn't want to have sex with Robert, but she did it anyway. Although, from the sound of it, he didn't force her to do anything, he knew that she didn't want to. He knew, but he didn't care, and he did it anyway. And Rook did not realize this without acknowledging that Stefan had similarly disregarded her reluctance to be intimate. Rook fiddled with her wand nervously.

"Rook?"

"Shouldn't it matter?"

"What?"

"Shouldn't what you want matter? It seems like you do all this stuff to try to make him happy, but… does he even care what you want?"

Madeline frown. "He cares. It's not like he never does anything nice for me. Really he's nicer than most of the boys in this school." Rook's skepticism must have showed on her face because Madeline's frown became more pronounced and she said, "What, you think I'm just some idiot who fancies men who slap me around? You don't know Robert! He had a really rough go of it when he was younger—if you knew half the things he went through—!"

"I don't think that at all!" Rook cut her off. "You know I wouldn't!"

Madeline fell silent at this. "I'm sorry," she whispered, looking contrite.

Little else was said between them until they parted ways with no plans to meet again, as always, though it bothered Rook more than usual this time. There was no helping someone who did not want to be helped, but Madeline had inadvertently helped her, and she wanted to return the favor by at least offering solid companionship.

"It's past curfew, Miss Rook."

Rook turned sharply. She had been so lost in thought as she walked back to Gryffindor Tower that she forgot how very late it was. Thankfully the voice was attached to a certain aggressively red-headed delinquent.

"What are you doing here?" Rook asked warily, wondering if Fred was still upset with her.

"When you didn't come back to the common room, I—we—got worried."

"Oh." Rook didn't know what else to say. He had come looking for her. Suddenly paranoid about getting caught out of bed, Rook quickened her pace. Fred hurried after her.

"Rook—"

"I'm sorry."

"Er…"

"You didn't have to come looking for me. I overreacted, and I know you care about Harry. I shouldn't have—"

"I told Professor Lupin about the passage," Fred cut her off, looking highly amused for some reason.

"You… did?"

Fred's grin widened.

"What?" Rook asked, perplexed.

"I dunno. It's guess I was just pretty worried you'd still be upset with me, but it sounds like you were worried about what I was thinking too."

"Of course I was," said Rook, feeling embarrassed.

"I guess that makes me happy."

They had reached the portrait hole, which now guarded by the fully restored Fat Lady, as well as a couple of very ripe security trolls. Rook held her breath as Fred gave the Fat Lady the password, ignoring her typical admonitions for disturbing her past curfew.

There were a handful of students still up. As far as Rook could tell, they were all either fifth or seventh years: students anxiously anticipating their qualifying exams.

"Guess he's not here," muttered Fred.

The absence of George was a distinct relief to Rook. She had pushed last night's revelation to her periphery of her mind in the chaos that had ensued since. She did not know whether she would even be able to act normally around George now that she knew he had romantic feelings for her since they first met.

"Weird," Fred said, shrugging. "I figured he'd… Oh well. Goodnight, Rook."

"Hey, wait a second."

"What?"

"I didn't get a chance to thank you for telling Lupin about… you know."

"Don't be too impressed by my selflessness or anything. George had to talk me into it."

"I know it wasn't an easy choice, so really, thank you. And I'm sorry again. I know I'm always making things difficult for you."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I know I'm a downer, and it's not like I'm the easiest to get along with…"

"I don't know who you're describing, but she's definitely not Rook," said Fred, smiling. Rook smiled back.

"Goodnight, Fred."