"How was your Spring Break?" Virginia asks me as she, Ellen and I sit around in the cafeteria, eating lunch on Monday.

"Progress," I reply firmly, and both of them look up at me.

"Progress?" Ellen repeats.

"Progress," I repeat quickly. "With um, black magic. I made some progress."

"Don't get weird on us," Virginia says. "If things happened with Grabby, you can tell us."

I bite my lip and look down. "We, uh, confessed our undying love for each other." They both burst out laughing but then stop when they see the look on my face.

"Are you serious?" Virginia asks.

"Don't tell anyone," I hiss. "I mean, I already had kind of confessed it when I was actually dying, but uh, yeah, we had a really deep conversation about the past and stuff and he, uh, told me he loved me."

"But you guys didn't-?" Virginia asks.

"No," I huff, shifting my eyes back and forth to make sure no one else was listening in to our conversation.

"Old Grabby pants," Virginia snickers. "I don't understand it, I don't want to understand it, but I am nonetheless intrigued."

"Well, are you intrigued enough to come with us on a double date on Saturday?" I ask. "Him, me, you and Ellen. The four of us. At the Glen. So you can get to know him better."

"I don't know-" Ellen stammers.

"What's this about the Glen?" Donald asks, sitting down next to Ellen.

"Double date," I say. "You're not invited."

Donald makes a face. "A date with Grabby? I'm not interested, although I did hear that he was super mean in class today."

"Was he?" I ask. I had taken green magic with Professor Potsdam today, figuring Hieronymous and I could use a short break from each other after spending the entire week together. "He was too nice this week. He needs to work it out of his system."

"They professed their undying love for each other," Virginia tells Donald. "Apparently it was all very romantic."

"Really?" Donald asks, and he looks confused for a moment. I glare at him, and he just shrugs as he chomps down on a piece of pizza. "I don't know, it's just weird to me. You don't seem like his type."

"Type?" I echo, my face flushing.

"He just likes her because she's not afraid to stand up to him," Virginia says, winking at me.

"And because I am caring," I say. "And selfless, and brave, and nice, and funny, and smart. And because he gets me. And I get him. He's interesting. He knows a lot about the world and he's smart and he's fun to talk to-"

"Okay, okay," Virginia holds up her hands. "Geez, Tori, I've never seen you all worked up like this. About anything."

"Well-" I huff, crossing my arms over my chest. "Last year it was a secret and most of this year I didn't remember any of it myself. So we are making up for lost time."

"I bet you are," Donald murmurs under his breath, and Ellen hits his arm.

"What do you think your parents would say?" Ellen asks. "About your relationship? Were you thinking about telling them? I mean, you are legally married to him, so you could probably tell them that, although I don't think you can mention how it all came about."

I flush and push the pasta around my plate with my fork. "My parents don't know who I am anymore."

"You mean-" Ellen looks up at me. "You made the choice too?"

"Yeah," I murmur. "I, uh, I'm not sure if I really made the choice, or Damien sort of tricked me into making the choice, but long story is, yeah. They don't remember me anymore."

"I'm sorry," Donald says quietly. Virginia is silent as she looks away.

"It's fine." I look up quickly. "It happened back over Christmas break, but I didn't want to bother you guys with it. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Hieronymous is my family now. He's the only person I need."

"It's still weird to hear you say his name," Ellen says.

"I still can't even pronounce it," Donald chimes in.

"So what do you say?" I ask, turning back to Virginia. "Dinner date? This Saturday? We can go to the mall and hang out beforehand, so it's a little less weird?"

"You sure this is a good idea?" Virginia asks. "Like, I don't want him to scorch my eyebrows off or anything just because I have bad table manners."

"It will be fine," I say dismissively. "Besides, Virginia, he's paying. Free food."

"You sure know how to rope me in," Virginia relents. "Fine, count me in. But you better warn him to be on his best behavior."

"He is a nice person," I state firmly. "And you, Ellen? You in?"

"Are you sure you want me to come?" she asks.

"Yes," I say firmly. "You two are both super smart. You two can debate some lofty concept while me and Virginia fling food at each other from across the table."

"That sounds like a plan to me," Virginia says through a mouthful of food.

It's a good while before Hieronymous gets back from classes and whatever else he has to do, and so I sit on his bed, transcribing what happened today in painstaking detail in my diary. At this point, I'm going to need a new diary every month instead of every year at the pace I'm writing, but I'm not too concerned about it. It gives me something to do, especially when he is gone so often.

But as I hear shuffling outside the door, I put down my pen mid-thought and rush over to the door where he is coming in. "You're home," I say excitedly, bounding over to where he's standing.

"Yes," he says, eyeing me up and down. He walks over to the desk and puts down the large tome he has been carrying around. "What's wrong?"

I frown at him and repeat his question with a different inflection. "What's wrong?"

"Well, by the way you scampered over here," he says, gesturing with his hand for me to continue.

"I was just happy to see you," I shrug. "I know you were really stressed out all day and everyone else was probably cowering in fear of you, so I just wanted to show you that there is one person on this campus who is happy to see you."

His face relaxes and I lean into him, kissing him gently on the lips. "How was your day?"

"It was fine," I say, hopping back onto the bed. "Uh, Ellen and Virginia are good for Saturday. So, whatever time you think is best. I figured I could meet them there first and then that way it's hopefully a little less weird."

He sighs. "Must we?"

"We must," I reply. "I mean, I had lunch with them today and they feel like my friends again, but I just want them to know that you're really not all bad." I see the look on his face. "Two people will not ruin your reputation as a bitter, nasty person, I promise." He chuckles and shakes his head. "I, uh, I told them about my parents today."

He looks back up at me. "You didn't before?"

There's nothing I can say to that so I just shrug, letting my shoulders rise and fall sharply. "It didn't come up."

"While I understand that you value your privacy," he clears his throat. "I would appreciate that when important matters arise-"

"I'll tell you," I say. "But I trust you. Implicitly."

"Yes, well." He looks away, but I can tell he secretly looks pleased. "Hopefully I will never be put in a position where I would violate your trust."

"You've already read my diary without me knowing," I shrug. "I don't think there's much else you could do."

He just shakes his head and walks into his closet. I can hear him fumbling with something, and he soon reemerges with a yellow manila envelope that is packed with something.

"What is that?"

"Your wedding present," he replies simply. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to have a wash-"

"Hold on," I say as I scoot off the bed and walk over to where he placed it down on his desk. "What is this?" I peek inside the envelope to see money. Bundles of money. I quickly close it and put it down on the desk. "How much is that?"

"Enough," he replies, confused by the look on my face.

"It's too much," I say. I don't know how much there is, but unless those are dollar bills, I can probably assume that there isn't anything less than a thousand in there.

"Tori," he says softly. "I do owe you a wedding present, as well as an apology for how I treated you that day. Trust me when I say that while to you that is no small sum-"

"There's plenty more where that came from?" I ask, and he nods.

"As you noted, besides my books I have nothing to spend it on," he continues. "So do with it what you wish. Go to the mall, spend some of it on your friends, but for heaven's sake, please do buy some nice clothes with it."

"I can do that," I manage turning back to the money. "Uh, thank you."

The corners of his lips pull upwards in a smile as he steps into the bathroom and shuts the door behind him. I take another peek in the envelope and then quickly shut it again, scurrying back to the bed. There's so many things I can buy: new sneakers, a new hoodie, stuff from the magic store…

…oh, and he's probably also going to want me to get a dress. Good thing I'm going to have Ellen and Virginia going to the mall with me on Saturday, because I need help in the worst way.