A/n: Today I am happy for today I am finished my first round of university exams! I hope this update makes you happy too.

Mariah

Rose takes to hiding with me after the situation this past weekend. It works out great – she sneaks down to the kitchens for sandwiches and I've perfected my pillow fort making skills under the library tables. We both vent our issues with blokes and it's great fun.

After a few days of meeting during our lunches and spares, Rose has decided that she has no right to be mad at Malfoy.

'There was never any proof that he liked me – Scorpius was always difficult to read.'

I tell her my worries about Rhet and she does her best to talk me through them.

'His sudden attentions and immediate disinterest at the time of our match certainly is suspicious – but you should not think badly of someone so hastily.'

'I should have gone to Nell about this, she'd back me up on some McLaggen bashing.'

'You really think he put Rhet up to it?'

'Amelie put us up to messing with their heads, I don't doubt that either McLaggen, Potter or Malfoy have a similar plan in mind.'

A few days into our luncheons though, Amelie comes to find us, looking guilty and offering apologies. She's isn't that sympathetic though.

'I know that the plan isn't going so smoothly, but you guys can't hide here forever. Yes, blokes are prats, but the best way to get back to them is to get out there and show them that you're not affected. You need to fight back!'

Rose and I agree that we're acting silly and I allow Mallory to take me to lunch in the Great Hall.

I fidget nervously, shredding a bun before shoving the entirety of it in my mouth.

'Davies is coming this way.' Mallory says, barely glancing up from her newspaper.

I sit ramrod straight and put a lot of effort into looking natural. I must not be pulling it off because my friend rolls her eyes at me.

'He's passed by now, didn't even notice you.' She says, breaking it to me in a tone which suggests that she doesn't care. 'Oh no, here comes Ermine Macallen!'

'Ermine!' I cry, spinning and beckoning the boy to sit next to me. He ventures over, placing a small, blue flowered plant on the table between the buns and the butter dish.

'Hello Mariah, Mallory.' He says brightly as my friend glares at me.

'What have you go there?' I ask, pointing to his plant.

'Professor Longbottom is doing a study on the acer memintosis and their response to the attention of different creatures. Humans don't regularly ingest their flowers and are more inclined to nurture them – see?' He reaches out to caress the stem lovingly. The plant almost seems to lean towards his hand and a floral aroma fills the space around us.

Mallory, actually interested in what he's saying, reaches out as well. When her hand is still inches away, the stem and leaves go brown and the little blue flowers fall off. A black, tar-like substance seeps out from where the flowers had been growing.

We all stare at it, surprised.

'Interesting, very interesting.' Ermine says, pulling out a notebook. 'Mallory, would you say that you are human?'

'Yes.' She grinds out, clearly not amused by the plant's reaction to her. As she draws away, it instantly looks healthier and new flowers begin to grow.

'What's going on here?' A male asks from behind me and I turn to see Levi standing there.

'Would you mind touching this plant?' Ermine responds with a question of his own, not turning from his notebook. Levi reaches over me and when there's no decay, Mallory glares at him.

'Do you want to go to the library with me to work on that dugbog assignment?' He asks me, holding out a hand.

'Yes sir!' I say, accepting it. 'I had no idea what Hagrid was going on about this morning.'

'Using me for my notes, are we?'

'Your company is fine also.'

'But, Mariah!' Mallory whines, gesturing to lunch and Ermine. 'You promised!'

'That I did.' I nod, gathering my books. 'And I came and I ate and I socialised. See you later.'

I leave her gaping at me and follow after Levi. Nott passes through the doors into the Great Hall just as we're leaving, but he doesn't notice us.

'Did you guys work it out?' I ask, thinking back to last week when I met Levi under a table, hiding from the older boy.

'He's got a different target now.' Levi smiles a little. 'I'm off the hook.'

I look back at Nott and spot him walking towards the Ravenclaw table. I cross my fingers and hope that he's going to visit a friend of his rather than our seeker.

Rose

I'm just a little peeved with Amelie right now. Mariah was allowed to hide from her problems for weeks. I had only a few days. Our captain had no right to tell us that we've done enough hiding.

I take an angry bite from my sandwich, pretending that it's her keeping hand. That'll show her.

A shadow falls over me and I'm surprised to see Nott standing there.

'Weasley.' He grunts, ever the charmer. He takes the seat across the table without an invitation.

'Nott. What are you doing here?' I grumble. I knew it was a bad idea to come to lunch without Coraline. She was supposed to meet me, but she's off somewhere with her Gryffindor boys.

'I thought I might take my chance.' He says, pushing out his chest proudly. 'Now that you and Malfoy are broken up.'

'Broken up? We were never dating. We were – are friends.'

He grins evilly. 'Well then, neither of you should have any objections to you spending a Saturday with me at Hogsmead.'

I scoff loudly, rolling my eyes. 'You're the last person I'd go out with, Nott. You're proud, conceited, rude – and might I remind you why you got kicked off the Slytherin quidditch team? You're not my type.'

'Trust me, I remember.' He says darkly, glaring over my shoulder to his house table. 'Malfoy will regret his decision to choose you over me.'

I swing my legs over the bench with a huff and grab my bag, mind set on getting out of here. I don't feel like listening to him blow hot air any longer.

'You don't want to know how I'm getting back at Malfoy?' He asks, leaning over the table.

'I could care less about what you do, Nott.'

'Really? I'd say that what I've already done has had a significant impact on you – you might want to stick around and hear me out.' He leans back as I turn to him, inspecting his nails.

'Why would you tell me of all people?'

'All relationships begin with trust.' He winks, causing a sickening churning feeling to erupt in my stomach.

'Don't bank on that.' I snarl, slamming my bag down on the table and standing over him. 'Tell me what the hell you've been up to or get out, Nott.'

Again, he's watching what's going on over my shoulder rather than me. 'You're causing quite a scene, Weasley. Put your wand away and sit down.'

I do as he says, reluctantly, glaring all the while.

'You've got Malfoy watching.' He comments with a grin, finally focusing on me. 'Perfect. Now how'd you like to hear about what I've been doing this week?'

I remain stoic and staring at him.

'I'll take that as a yes please. As I was saying, all relationships begin with trust. I got Malfoy to stop trusting you. That's why he's over there doing his best to snog Morris instead of marching over here to give me a proper hexing like he wants.' Nott laughs a little, inspecting his nails again. 'I was the one who told James Potter about Slytherin's new beater.'

'You did that!?' I cry angrily.

'Yes.' He's incredibly smug about it. 'At first I meant it only to hurt Malfoy, he was the one who kicked me off the team after all. But when I found Potter to tell him my news, he was already raging about Perry and you and quidditch and I thought to myself, here's an opportunity to take down not one, but two teams. You know, one hippogriff with two stones.'

'You little prick.' I seethe.

'Potter ate up my plan, equally eager to inflict some pain. And now the Slytherin captain is all out of sorts because he's mourning the loss of his friendship, and the Ravenclaw seeker is befuddled and angry with the loss of everyone's trust.' He sits back, seeming quite pleased with himself. 'Ta-da! And I know that Malfoy isn't going to listen to you, and I know that you don't want to talk to him. So there's no fear of this going past you and me.'

'You think you know me?'

'You're nice, Rose Weasley. Too nice. That's one of the things I like about you–'

'Nott.' I give him a warning.

'Don't worry, your swotty, prudish, stuck-upness more than makes up for it. But you're nice. And if I tell you that Malfoy is really done with you and never wants to speak with you again, you'll listen.' Nott nods, almost looking sympathetic. 'He's done. He's with Morris – and from what I've heard he's rather taken with her.'

'How would you know?'

'We may not be on the best of terms, but I'm still his dormmate and I still have ears.'

I swing my legs over the bench again, snatching up my bag.

'Where are you going?'

'To class. I'm done with him – and I'm done with you too.' I stand, strutting down the aisle with many eyes on my back. I don't turn to see if Malfoy is watching. I'd rather not see him now.

Coraline

'Fawkes!' I cry, spotting the time as Marvel and I walk down the corridor from our last class. We'd taken longer than usual as he had told me to wait for him. He was trying to give me Fred Tips, as the boys had taken to calling them. They included such things as: he likes bacon, try not to trip every second step, and avoid talking about excessively girly topics including Teenwitch Magazine, Lady Lovepotion cosmetics or the lead singer of Loud Magic, Batty Henderson. 'I was supposed to meet Rose for lunch!'

'Five minutes!' Marvel says, taking my hand pulling me down another hall to where Lorcan, Lysander and Fred are standing. 'We've got a little surprise for Julien before class.'

'Is it going to be dangerous?' I ask him, a little nervous. These boys are notorious for their pranks but they aren't always playful.

'Just a minor explosion of Lorcan's botched hiccupping solution from this morning's potion class.' Marvel shrugs.

'What about lunch?'

'It'll take five minutes.' He promises. 'We'll go after.'

I pout, thinking of my poor, lonely friend and yummy food, but let him lead me to the other boys.

'Hey Marvel, Coraline.' Fred says, kneeling and searching in his bag. He pulls out a handful of little black capsules and passes them around.

'Don't squeeze them!' Lorcan cries when I press one between my fingers. 'You don't want faulty potion all over you, do you?'

'Good point.' I say, holding them out and away from me.

'Don't worry her,' Fred laughs, stepping towards me and taking one of the capsules. 'They're fine.' He turns away to the sixth year Defense room and holds the potion-filled pill up against the door frame. 'We just need to stick them along here. I've found a spell that will release when Julien is within five feet of them so when he comes to class he'll get a surprise.'

Fred turns and grins at me, dimple popping out adorably. I can't help but grin back. Though it's a terrible thing to do to a friend.

The boys go about fixing the capsules to the door with magic and I try not to imagine how much trouble they'll get into for this. We'll get into, I realise with a start. I'm an accessory to their prank! I can't decide if I should be worried or proud that these boys have let me join them. This could be the changing point in our relationship, or the slippery slope that I've begun down towards a cell in Azkaban.

'Stop worrying.' Fred says when he spots my face. 'Julien'll have a laugh, clean himself off and go to Defense. It's not a big deal, we do this all the time.'

Moments later they stand back to admire their handiwork and I shift from foot to foot, still nervous.

'Lunch? Please?' I whine.

'Yes – that's where every other student is.' A girl calls from the entrance of the corridor. I turn to see Head Girl Dominique Weasley there, arms crossed and tapping her foot. Julien, a prefect, is with her. 'What are you all up to?'

I look to the others for guidance. I get nervous around authority figures and lying is not my strong suit. They're dashing down the hall laughing, making us look extremely suspicious. Except for Lysander, who is standing next to me, lost in a trance. I grab his arm and drag him towards the pair, determined not to run away.

'We're just on our way.' I squeak as we shuffle past them. 'Yum, lunch time!'

Dominique rolls her eyes and turns back to Julien. They're talking about patrolling schedules.

'Lysander!' I hiss, giving him a shove when we're well out of range of them. 'What's with you?'

'Merlin – she's an angel, isn't she.'

'What?'

'Not what, who.' He says dreamily. 'Dominique Weasley. If only she wasn't Fred's cousin and if only I wasn't so much out of her league. I'd give it a try.'

'Well, I guess I'll just give up on Fred then.' I say with a frown.

'What do you mean?' He finally registers that I'm there, turning to look at me with a quizzical expression.

'He's Roses' cousin, and he's way out of my league. If that's what's keeping you from Dominique, then I'm on the same broom.' I sigh.

'No – you actually have a shot.'

'Only because you're helping me.' I say, stopping him. 'If you had someone helping you, you'd have the same shot. And don't say you wouldn't because otherwise I'm giving up on Fred.'

'It's different. She's beautiful and wonderful and funny and smart and I'm just… Lysander Scamander.'

'That's how I feel about Fred!' I cry, then stop to look around us. We're alone. 'Stop with all this nonsense. As a gift, because you're helping me with my problems, I'll help you with yours.'

'And what do you know about romancing, Coraline Darcy?' He says, putting his arm around me and starting off down the corridor. He's laughing a little though, and I take it as a good sign.

That's a good point. 'Not much. But I'm still open to helping.' I shrug before looking up at him. 'Just don't put yourself down.'

'Don't put myself down.' Lysander nods, smiling.

'Step one of Coraline Darcy's Woo Your Woman program.' I smile back, thinking of how witty I'm managing to be.

'Lunch first though.'

'Lunch first. Oh, I hope that Rose didn't have a lonely lunch.'

She's not in the Great Hall when we get there and when I find her later in the common room I apologise profusely for not showing up. She shrugs and smiles and tells me that it was good for her to get out.

I just hope that she's alright after everything that's happened over the past few weeks.

She seems happy though, and that's all I can ask for as a best friend. She'll talk when she wants to.

A/n: And there you are! Rhet doesn't care, Nott is a mastermind, and Lysander is in love.