I AM SO SO SORRY! I'm trying to finish my semester, and that means spending most time buried in books rather than buried in fanfiction. It will soon be over, I promess! There are only three more chapters to go, anyway!

PLEASE, DO REVIEW!

If the past week had been Hell on Earth, this one was Heaven. On Tuesday morning, splattered across two pages, there was a detailed photograph of Celestina Warbeck's husband passionately kissing Rosalind Hainsworth at the door of a muggle hotel not far from the WADA. I was welcomed back at the Gryffindor table by a guilt-ridden Hermione and an embarrassed Ron. Upon seeing me holding hands with The Boy Who Lived, the rest of the school forgave me for being a Malfoy, and soon I was doing rounds across the tables, legions of fans assuring me they had never stopped being loyal to me. Inwardly, I forgave them too. And last but not least, when I tried to speak to my mother to tell her the good news, my Aunt Aricia told me she was out having dinner with a Canadian wizard; a widower who worked for the local Ministry and had a thirteen year old son.

Even my grades went up, despite having never been low at all.

I was barely mentioned on the papers and my performances were top-notch again. For the next couple of weeks, I walked through clouds. Harry and I were perfect for each other. We spent a lot of time together, inside and outside of the Room of Requirement- his training sessions were getting a lot more intense. Dumbledore also asked me to include Ron and Hermione- things were starting to get really serious, but we tried to ignore it in order to continue living the dream.

There was only one thing that almost spoiled our happiness, and as usual, it was published in the papers by mid November. There was a picture of Harry and me kissing on the courtyard and another one of us laughing to the camera, sitting at the Gryffindor table during breakfast, me sitting on Harry's lap and his arms hugging my waist. The headlines said: "HARRY POTTER AND LAVINIA MALFOY- FOUND LOVE AT LAST?"

"Oi, Colin," Harry said as soon as I passed him the paper. "Didn't you take these pictures of us?"

Colin looked at the page, perplexed.

"Yeah," he said. "But I gave the negatives to Ginny. She said she wanted to frame them and give them to Lavinia as a gift y'know, to say sorry."

The four of us looked at each other, appalled. I looked around; Ginny was nowhere to be seen.

"I can't believe this," I said, furious, as I got up from the table and run out of the Great Hall.

"Vinny, wait!" I heard Harry yell. I didn't stop. Angry, I stomped through the hallways in direction of my dormitory.

Harry followed me, and entered behind me.

"I can't believe we are not allowed to have even the slightest bit of peace," I complained, as Harry sat on one of the armchairs and eyed his surroundings curiously.

"This is where you live?" he asked.

"Yes," I answered, annoyed. "Can we go back to your best friend's sister outing us to the press, please?"

"Sorry," he said. "I can understand that you are mad at Ginny, and I am, too. But well, it's not so bad, is it? The press has said less kind things about us, hasn't it?""

I gaped, unsure of what to say.

"I just hate that my life is printed and sold like a cheap romance novel."

"Never publish a biography, then."

"Harry, I'm serious!"

"And I'm serious, too," he said calmly. "You chose acting; you knew this came with it. I, on the other hand, never made a choice."

"Right," I conceded. "I'm sorry. I didn't think of it."

"It's fine," he sighed. I sat on his lap, cuddling against him. I turned the fireplace on with a snap of my fingers; the room was considerably cold.

"Do you wish you were somebody else, sometimes?" I asked him.

"Yes. Not now, though." He played with a small curl that reached my waist today and I smiled and kissed him.

"So, are you OK with it, then?" he asked. "Everyone knowing we are together?"

"Yeah," I said timidly. "If we are that serious "

We kissed again.

"We are," he said, between kisses. "We should skip classes this morning."

"Yeah, we should," I said, and with a wave of my hand I signaled for Calliope Malfoy to stop staring and leave us alone.

"You must be furious," Hermione said that afternoon, while we were studying in the library.

"I am a bit," I recognized. "But the result of her actions is not so bad "

"It's just that she did it, right?" Hermione said, and I nodded.

"Exactly. I just can't understand why she was so mean."

"Well " Hermione shifted in her chair uncomfortably. "You know that she had a crush on Harry, don't you?"

"Yeah. I also knew that she was dating Dean Thomas."

"They broke up weeks ago, Lavinia," Hermione sighed. "Dean finally realized that Ginny liked Harry more than she ever liked him. She thinks that if you had never showed up she would be with Harry by now."

"Well, it's not my fault that Harry fell in love with me," I snapped. "I didn't even choose to come to Hogwarts in the first place."

"It's no one's fault," Hermione said. "She'll get over it."

"Talking about my psycho sister?" Ron asked. He and Harry had just walked up to our table.

"Yeah," I said.

"I'm sorry about that," he said. "It was very wrong, what she did. Really unfair."

"It's fine," I sighed, because I daren't say anything to her brother.

"No, really, you've a right to be mad," insisted Ron. "I just wanted to apologize on her behalf."

I looked curiously at Hermione, who was smiling proudly, and instantly knew that she had put him up to it.

"Thanks, Ron," I said. "That's really kind of you."

He looked satisfied with himself, and Harry smiled at me.

"See?" Hermione told him. "You shouldn't feel bad for what your sister did."

"I just think she's not all right, Hermione," Ron complained "and that we should've noticed it sooner."

"She's just a little hurt. She'll get over it," she repeated. "Don't worry," she added and then gave him a peck on the cheek. Harry and I smiled at each other again.

"Shouldn't we get going?" Harry said, looking at his watch. I looked at mine; Saturn was on the sixth house and the Sun in the ninth.

"Yeah, we shouldn't be late," I said, rising from my chair.

"Where are you going?" Hermione asked.

"To a meeting with Dumbledore," Harry explained, and we left the library. "What do you think he wants?" he asked me.

"Dunno," I shrugged, as we reached the golden doors.

Dumbledore was already expecting us, sitting behind his desk. He immediately looked at our hands, which were firmly held together, and his eyes twinkled.

"It's very good to see the two of you together. Please, sit," he showed us two comfy chairs.

Harry and I looked at each other, slightly confused and very intrigued. The portraits on the wall looked anxious. I spotted Calliope Malfoy leaning against an old Headmaster's chair who bore the Malfoy family looks.

"Tea?" Dumbledore offered, as a tea-tray materialized itself in the air. We nodded, and I took a cucumber sandwich from the plate and began chewing it nervously.

"Is this about the prophecy, sir?" I blurted out, unable to contain myself. Harry looked at me with his mouth opened, Dumbledore was simply a bit surprised.

"Your mother told me you were completely unaware "

"I was, but Draco mentioned it accidently."

"What?" Harry interrupted. "There's a prophecy about her? And nobody told me?"

"I only know that it exists," I said quickly. "But Draco wouldn't tell me anything about it, he was tongue-tied. I was waiting to know something about it before telling anyone "

"Well, it is now time that you do," Dumbledore said slowly sitting straight in his chair.

I felt slightly sick, and held Harry's hand even tighter.

"While you were being born, the Healer who used to scry you while you were inside the womb went into a trance and made a prophecy. The ones who heard her were your mother, although she was somewhat distracted by the birth; your grandmother and your Aunt Narcissa, who were accompanying your mother; and the Healer who brought you into the world, Healer Marlene McKinnon, a member of the Order. Naturally, she immediately informed me of it."

"But what did the prophecy say?" Harry asked anxiously. I was unable to utter a single word.

"Would you care to see for yourselves?" Dumbledore asked, and with a movement of his wand, a Pensieve appeared on the desk.

Harry and I entered the Pensieve. It was a horrific sight; my mother was in an uncomfortable-looking bed, screaming for more anesthetic charms. She looked impossibly young, and very much like me, despite the messy hair and the sweat on her frown. She was quite obviously giving birth to me.

We moved away quickly, behind my grandmother and my Aunt Narcissa, who were holding my mother's hands. Next to them there was a young woman inclined over a scrying bowl full of water. The reflection inside was that of a baby girl inside the womb, struggling against the flesh walls.

"It looks like she is having trouble coming out," the scrier said.

"She'd better come out NOW!" my mother yelled.

"It'll be fine, Lucia, just concentrate on your breathing and I'll give her a couple more charms " the Healer said.

There was a loud crash and the scrying bowl shattered against the floor. The young woman was still, her eyes unnaturally opened, fixed to the wall. She opened her mouth, and with an ethereal voice, she chanted:

"A child is coming, born from the darkest forces, into a world of war and blood. She has been gifted with powers beyond imagination, and she shall use them to defeat her past. She will be forever joined by true love to the child that shall defeat evil five times, and together they will be the bringers of peace and stop more young blood from being spilled."

Around me there was silence, except for my mother who kept panting. A scream from her, demanding attention, snapped everyone out of their own trances of surprise. The girl finally reacted.

"Oh, look what a mess I've done! Forgive me, Healer McKinnon!" she said, rushing out the room to get another bowl.

It took us some time to react. When we finally heard the cry of a newborn child, we were pulled out of the Pensieve.

"Well?" Dumbledore said as soon as we took a sit.

"Does that mean " Harry cleared his throat, "that I don't have to face Voldemort alone? That I must face him with Lavinia?"

"Yes," Dumbledore answered. I raised my eyes, and looked at them both. Harry seemed suddenly so relieved that I had an epiphany. I had been about to complain about the unfairness of it all- that I would have liked to be a normal witch and nothing more than a good actress, but it wasn't like that. The contents of the prophecy didn't matter. I had been set to face down Voldemort at Harry's side a long time ago; to be told that it was my destiny did not affect the outcome at all. Au contraire, it said that we were to be the 'bringers of peace'. It meant we would succeed!

"Are you okay, Lavinia?" Harry asked.

"Yes," I said, optimistic, but feeling incredibly tired. "I, ehm I just need to sleep on it."

"A wise choice," Dumbledore said. "We shall discuss it in the morning."

We exited the office and Harry walked me to my dormitory. Draco was pacing the hallways, as it was his custom, waiting for me.

"She's tired, Malfoy," Harry said as soon as he saw him. "Leave her alone."

"Actually, I'd like to talk to him," I said. Harry nodded and kissed me goodnight. When I turned to Draco, he was pretending to gag.

"You are an idiot," I said, as I showed him inside.

"I can't believe Potter of all people is your destined soul-mate," he complained, and we looked at each other in surprise. "Hey! I can talk about it! They told you?"

"Just now," I said, sitting opposite him, in the same chair Harry and I had used that morning. Draco was, of course, on my favourite chair.

"Are you all right?" he asked curiously.

"Yeah," I shrugged. "I suppose it was what I was planning to do all along."

"You won't be alone," he said, serious. "I mean, obviously you'll be with Potter, and his friends will want to be there, but I will be standing by your side too, you know?"

I smiled.

"I know," I said, feeling increasingly grateful.

"We do have a plan," he confided in whispers. "My mother knows exactly when Voldemort is in the Manor and when he is alone. We can catch him by surprise and without an entourage of Death Eaters."

"It sounds like a very good plan," I said, surprised by the rapidness of it all.

"We just need to be ready on time."

"Of course," I sighed. "Then, we train."