Thanks again for the reviews :) Let me know if you have any critiques by the way, because I'm all about improvement.

"Hogsmeade notice is up," said Katie breathlessly as she slid into a seat across from Alicia, who was busy piling slices of steak onto a slice of bread.

"Oh, when is it?"

"Two weeks. No, wait, three weeks? Urgh, I can't count. The 30th, last Saturday of the month."

"Wicked," Alicia and Angelina chimed.

"Oh, shit, which reminds me, mum told me that we should book our Gladrags appointment as soon as possible. She's sent me a catalogue of whatever's left, but apparently we're a little behind... threatened to send a howler if I'm not booked by tomorrow."

Alicia and Angelina peered at the magazine. Indeed, half the colour images were either already black and white, signalling the fact that they were reserved, and one was even in the process of going black and white.

"Damn, mum sent me my catalogue with me before we got on the train," said Angelina. "I knew I forgot to do something."

"They're all bloody hideous!" Alicia exclaimed. "Look at this, it's a turtleneck! Who in their right mind wears a turtleneck dress?"

Katie pulled out a piece of parchment and a quill.

"Start picking, ladies - hopefully we aren't shit out of luck."

"That one looks alright," said Angelina, after they flipped through the magazine a second time. "Katie, this one's perfect." She pointed to an image of a brunette with a pointed nose in a strapless chiffon empire-waist dress. "She even kinda looks like you."

"Oh, and the bodice is really nice," said Alicia.

Katie nodded in agreement. "I might even look like I've got tits for once!"

The girls giggled, and Katie quickly copied down the reference number.

"Gloves, don't forget the gloves!" said Angelina.

"Urgh, look at this one - so slutty."

"Heehee, already reserved. Wonder by who?"

"Forget that, hurry up - I overheard a couple Ravenclaws panicking on my way down... I think a lot of people forgot until the Hogsmeade notice went up."

"Oh, this one's mad sexy," said Angelina, circling a backless dress with a long hemline that could only be pulled off by a towering amazon. "Write it down, I'm all for it. 33986B. And this one for Alicia, what do you think?" Alicia glanced it over. The model in the picture turned, showing off all the angles of the dress.

"Yeah, definitely. I like the lace-up back. Uh, where's then number - oh, 33987... wait, where are the prices?"

"Forget about the price, send it! Anyway, I thought your grandparents are covering it -

"Yeah, but -

"No buts," said Katie. "Otherwise you'll be wearing that hideous turtleneck thing! I'm gonna go send this before it's too late. I'll catch up with you guys back in the common room."

They watched as Katie sprinted away, clutching the piece of parchment like it was her life.

"Gladrags is going to make a fortune," said Alicia.

"Same shit every year. Remember when I had to go in third year for my sister's?"

Alicia giggled, remembering how Angelina had ranted and raved for a week about having to waste her first Hogsmeade trip ever on a trip to Gladrags, just to get fitted for her sister's coming-out. Alicia and Katie had stood at the window making faces while stuffing their faces with Honeydukes goodies, while Angelina stood in the jam-packed Gladrags with mostly sixth and seventh years and the handful of other unfortunate younger siblings in her position, picking out gloves and jewellery while waiting to get fitted.

"I am not looking forward to this."

"Oh get off it. Anyway, who are you going with? Mum's signed me on with some bloke from Durmstrang who's father is an unspeakable in Germany."

"How do you know he's a prick? Was he here last year?"

"Actually, yeah, he was... remember that dirty-blonde who used to hang out with Victor Krum?"

"Oh... Yeah, kind of. He was alright. Scruffy, but pretty cute."

Angelina snorted.

"Yeah, I guess. I'd still prefer it if Fred could come... who are you going with anyway?"

"Nobody."

"Don't be ridiculous, of course you have to go with somebody."

Alicia's mind unconsciously summoned a picture of Warrington in dress robes. She suddenly remembered seeing him at the Yule Ball last year with a girl from Beauxbatons, and she frowned.

"What?"

"Nothing," she said. "Just thinking. Urgh, I really don't want to go to this thing. Gran didn't really say I had to go with anybody -

"She'll rip you apart if you don't," said Angelina gravely. Alicia winced at the truthfulness behind the statement.

"Well - I dunno. It's not like anybody even knows I'm coming." Alicia hadn't attended the etiquette classes with the rest of the debutante girls, partly because she'd insisted on going back to London for the remainder of the summer, partly because she imagined her grandparents wanted to stave off the shock of her existence until as late as possible.

"I think they'll know soon enough... all the invites and whatnot are going out in a couple weeks. Anyway, it won't be that bad, I don't think... I mean, think about all the great witches and wizards who were - er -

"Bastards?" Alicia supplied helpfully. "Name one who survived a deb ball. Give me Grindelwald any day. Oh, look, they must have got the letter - our dresses are greying out."

"Nice. Okay, that's one less thing to worry about. And there's Katie. We need to find you a date."

"Well what about Katie?"

"What about me?"

"We need to find Alicia a date. And Katie doesn't need a date because she's not coming out this year."

Alicia looked at Katie suspiciously.

"And why exactly are you going then?"

Katie shrugged. "Mum and dad are very important people," she said sarcastically. "And actually, one of my cousins from WADA is coming out."

Angelina grimaced.

"Hate theatre kids. I have a cousin at WADA too, and every time she comes over it's drama. No pun intended. Anyway, Alicia, stop trying to change the subject. Katie. Society pages."

Katie obediently handed over a copy of Witch Weekly and Angelina flipped to the back of the magazine.

"Here's all the families in the Circle Society this season."

"I think she should just go with her secret boyfriend," Katie giggled.

Alicia rolled her eyes. If only. The world would stop spinning if she and Cassius - she stopped herself from finishing that thought. Warrington was not her secret boyfriend. Angelina and Katie had pestered her for the last three days about it, and today when she'd seen him in Arithmancy, he'd once again gone back to pretending that she didn't exist. Which was fine with her, because she'd spent the past three days pretending that nothing had happened. God, was a pattern beginning to emerge?

She glanced at the list, mentally crossing out names as she went along. The Circle Society comprised of families in England and on the Continent with money and status, preferably both, and all would be making an appearance at the debutante ball if they had sons or daughters coming out this year, if not at the many other winter balls, one for every night of the entire winter holidays.

"I haven't looked at these in awhile... looks like the Tivolis are out this season," Angelina commented.

"You didn't hear? They're bankrupt - lost a fortune in speculation or some other mumbo-jumbo. I don't understand half the things my dad says sometimes... but I think Ludo Tivoli just got signed with Ballycastle so I'd give them a few months... Hang on, I think I've got a copy of this week's Quidditch Quarterly."

Alicia sighed. As soon as word got out about who her mother was, the Dewitts would probably be dropped from the society pages as quickly as the Tivolis, and she certainly wasn't going to be signed with Ballycastle anytime soon.

"Thought I'd find you here. I want to get that weekly report out of the way."

Alicia looked up from her Astronomy notes and pushed her hair out of the way. Cassius stared down at her, his sleeves pushed up to his elbows, arms crossed, looking slightly annoyed.

"I'll set an alarm this time," he added, noticing the wary expression on her face. "I don't want detention anymore than you do."

She sighed, and shrugged. "Alright, give me a second. Did you get those books from Bishop by the way?"

Cassius smirked. He'd done one better - he'd sent a note off to his father on Tuesday evening, and a stack of books had arrived, shrunken into an envelope by post that very morning.

They walked silently out of the library.

"Maybe we shouldn't go back to that classroom," said Alicia, "In case Filch figures out it was us the other day."

Cassius scoffed. "The man doesn't have two brain cells to rub together to figure that one out... but if it makes you feel better... although I did want to have a look at where that passageway came from."

"I thought you wanted to get this report out of the way?"

"That too. Don't tell me you're not even curious about it."

Alicia shrugged. She had, in fact, gone over to check out the corridor, but had failed to see any miniature door.

"I've already been. There was nothing," she said.

"Me too," Cassius replied. "I thought maybe two people needed to be there or something."

Huh. Maybe... she hadn't thought of that.

"Well... maybe later," she said. "I have a lot of work to do, though, so let's just get this done first. If we have time..."

"Where do you want to go?"

Alicia frowned. Where did she want to go? Though her friends knew that she was stuck on the project with Cassius for the rest of the term, she didn't want to work somewhere public where they'd be disturbed by chattering people or interrupted by other curious Slytherins and Gryffindors. Then again, she'd been proved on several occasions that neither of them could keep their hands off each other if they were secluded for long enough, and she wanted to avoid being in that position as much as possible. She remembered stupidly saying that she would think about it, but that had been in the heat of the moment. She couldn't think clearly when she was around him. Even when he wasn't around... she'd spent the past few days with her nose glued to her Anthology before bed, hand between her legs, remembering how good it felt to rock against him while he kissed her. Alicia shivered.

"Earth to Spinnet," said Cassius for the second time.

"Huh? Oh. Er... I dunno," she said, feeling stupid.

Cassius looked at her blankly.

"Right..."

Alicia sighed.

"Well. I dunno. Why do I have to come up with a suggestion? Why don't you come up with something."

"Somebody's PMSing," Cassius sang, ducking before Alicia could hit him.

"You prick," she muttered, "I'm not PMSing."

"Right," he said dubiously.

"Argh. Just... shut up. Let's - oh, I know, we can go to one of the music rooms."

The music rooms were soundproofed rooms, some small for individual practicing, and others larger for groups. The only problem was the lack of tables.

"We could work on the piano," Alicia suggested.

"Forget it, let's just work on the floor." He laid his robes down and transfigured them into a mat. Alicia eyed his spell work enviously.

"So why don't you just transfigure a table?"

"Harder," Cassius replied with a shrug. "A mat's just... flat. With a table, every angle needs to be dead on otherwise you get sloping... and everything needs to be tight, or else it might collapse. And it won't last as long... a mat's more similar to robes than robes are to a table. Don't you listen in class, Spinnet?"

Alicia rolled her eyes. Trust him to be a know-it-all on top of being a sexy douchebag. Hmph. Well, at least she was a better chaser.

"Whatever. Let's just get this done. Did you get Bishops books? You never said..."

Cassius grinned, and pulled an envelope out of his book bag. He poured a handful of miniatures books the size of marbles into his palm. Alicia gaped at him.

"Are you kidding?"

He tapped his wand, and a books clattered to the ground.

"You - you bought all of them?"

"My father bought all of them," said Cassius, correcting her, as he neatly spread the books out before them. "Ravenclaws are assholes... they've all took turns reserving them one after another so you can't take any out til November."

Alicia frowned. She could only imagine the trouble she would have been in had Cassius not been so... resourceful. It wasn't fair, and she felt like an overgrown infant, but she wanted to throw a tantrum. Poverty fucking sucked.

"What did I do now?" said Cassius, noticing her sour expression. She looked up at him.

"Nothing," she sighed, "Let's just get this done. I was thinking maybe we should just do the Arithmantic profiles first... at least those are always the same, and we already know how to do them. Then, when we find the spells, we can just apply them after, and we'll already have it done. I don't want to look at another bloody translation right now... although, did you find out if it was in Ancient French or whatever? Actually, never mind. I don't want to know. Let's just do the profiles. Then we can write up the report and say we've actually done something."

Cassius looked at her strangely.

"What?"

"Nothing," he said. "Okay. Who goes first?"

"How bout we shoot questions together, and one of us can write down the answers."

"You have neater writing than I do," said Cassius.

Alicia shrugged.

"Alright. Then I'll write." She took a long piece of parchment and drew four columns. She wrote down Prompts, then name at the top of the first column.

"Is Cassius your first name?" she asked him, just to make sure.

"Yeah."

"Okay." She quickly wrote Alicia Jade Spinnet at the top of the second column. "What's your full name?"

"Cassius Alexandre Warrington."

Alicia blinked. "Alexandre? R-E?"

"Yeah."

"Okay." She wrote his name down in the third column, then scrawled down calculations in the fourth column. They did the sums individually, then Alicia neatly copied down a good copy of the calculations and answer in the fourth column. "Okay. Names. Done. Birthdays." She wrote down birthday under name, then in the second column, Saturday, April 15th, 1978.

"Saturday, October 1st, 1977."

Alicia glanced at him.

"Turning eighteen, then?"

"Shall I answer that sarcastically or seriously?"

"It was rhetorical," Alicia shot back. She wrote down his birthday. Again, they each did their own calculations, compared, then Alicia copied down the good version.

"Okay, parents. Urgh. I always mix this part up. We do mums separately, I think -

"Yeah, always divide by gender."

"Okay... Now mums... and it's by maiden name. Shit."

She frowned suddenly, and Cassius quirked an eyebrow at her sudden change of mood.

"You sure you're not PMSing?" he said suspiciously.

"Oh fuck off, and even if I was, which I'm not, it isn't any of your business. It's just..." She fell silent, and sat up, resting her palms against the floor. Cassius followed suit, and stared at her.

"What, then? You look like you swallowed a lemon. Don't tell me you don't know your own mum's name -

Alicia scowled, but realized it didn't even matter if he found out who her mother was, because Warrington had been elegantly printed in the Society Pages' list of Circle Society members, and he would most certainly be at the ball. And even if he wasn't, the invites were going out in two weeks' time, including a list of all those who were coming out, which meant everybody would know regardless.

She sighed crossly, and pursed her lips. If this was the muggle world, it wouldn't even matter if she was a bastard... the wizarding world could be maddeningly old fashioned at times.

"My mum's - my mum's maiden name is Dewitt," said Alicia.

Cassius' eyebrow went up a fraction of an inch. Dewitt. He knew the family of course, partly by personal reputation and partly because Edmund Dewitt was a managing partner at AbelDewittRoy, an accounting firm that managed a good deal of Europe's biggest businesses, both magical and muggle. But Cassius knew it wasn't her grandfather that made Alicia so anxious. Everybody had heard the warning stories from their parents about good children gone astray, stories which featured people like various members of the Black family, and one Aurora Dewitt.

It wasn't often that Cassius was speechless, but he couldn't quite figure out what to say. Alicia had flopped back down onto her stomach, and ignored him as she wrote down her infamous mother's name - Aurora Felicity Dewitt.

A half-blood then, Cassius thought to himself. Well. That was better than the other option. He frowned. Better. Better for who? Why did it even matter to him what she was? Because, he mused, half-blood was acceptable. Sort of. Acceptable for what?

"What's your mum's name?" Alicia asked, pretending that nothing had happened. Cassius sprawled himself out next to her, and looked over at the parchment. There it was.

"Er, Céleste Hélène Rosier. Forward accent on - yeah, okay, I take it you've taken a bit of French."

Alicia shrugged. "In grammar school."

Cassius didn't bother to ask what grammar school was, but imagined it to be some muggle variation of charm school.

"So... er, you're not going to say anything, are you? To your friends I mean," she said suddenly. "I mean - they'll all know in a couple weeks -

"Why," Cassius interrupted, "What's going on in a couple weeks?"

Alicia flushed unhappily. "Debutante ball invites are going out -

Cassius stared at her, dumbfounded.

"Deb - you're going to that, then?" he said incredulously.

Alicia scowled, and pushed her hair out of the way so that she could see him better.

"What, I'm not good enough for it?" She laughed bitterly. "I don't want to bloody go anyway. My grandparents are making me, though. My parents aren't married, you see, so as far as they're concerned, I'm a Dewitt."

"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Cassius replied, sitting up. "It's just... you know they'll eat you alive, right?" He said it matter-of-factly, and Alicia knew that he was right. Still, it didn't lessen the sting.

"Of course I know that. It's ridiculous anyway, why the hell would I want to prance around in some stupid dress in front of people who hate me and don't even know me? Oh, right. I don't. Only gran says I have to 'redeem' the family or some bollocks. It's not my bloody fault my mum doesn't give a shit! And anyway, neither do I."

She growled in frustration and slammed down her quill.

"And I told them it's fucking stupid, and I don't know why I'm talking about this with you - I fucking hate my life. Christ, I sound like a baby."

"Who you going with, then?" Cassius asked, trying to sound indifferent.

Alicia glanced sharply at him. He looked back at her, his usual impassive mask back in place, and he blinked.

"Why do you care? Thought you said no romance."

Cassius raised an eyebrow.

"I don't care, Spinnet. And there is no romance. Like I said, I don't see a problem with us having an affair -

"I hate that word," said Alicia viciously. "Anyway, it's only an affair if one of us has somebody, isn't it?"

"I don't fucking know," said Cassius just as vehemently. "Anyhow, I was just asking. It's called being polite."

Alicia scoffed. "Yeah, right. What, you wanna go warn the poor imbecile who asked out the Dewitt bastard? I'm not going with anyone. Nobody knows I'm going yet, besides Angie and Katie. And you, now, I guess. And obviously, once word gets out..." She laughed again. "Which is fine with me. I don't want to go with anybody. I don't want to go to this stupid thing at all... Huh. Maybe if they realize I won't be coming with anybody, then they won't let me come out at all."

Alicia flopped down onto her back, and she squealed in surprise when Cassius climbed over top of her. She breathed deeply, and his smell clouded her mind.

"I'd go with you," he said.

"Thought you said no romance," she said, swallowing tightly as he leaned forward to kiss her neck.

"No romance," he affirmed. Alicia shivered as she felt his warm breath snake across her skin. His low voice murmuring into her ear made her body hum with anticipation. "But I still want to shag you, and your grandparents are fucking up there as far as society goes -

Alicia stiffened.

"I said no romance, Spinnet," said Cassius, tracing her lower lip with his thumb. "Anyway, I can't." He kissed her. "My parents would kill me."

"Because I'm a half-blood."

He kissed her again.

"And you're a Gryffindor."

She kissed him back.

"And I'm a bastard."

They continued to list all the reasons why they were unsuitable for each other, as Cassius unbuttoned her shirt with one hand and stroked her hair with the other. He kissed her skin as more of it was revealed, tracing her collarbones so gently and teasingly that her back arched off the floor, pushing her into him and causing his grip on her hair to tighten almost to the point of pain.

"I've already got a date," he said, just as he reached the last button, and the shirt fell open, revealing her smooth tawny skin and soft, satiny rose-coloured bra.

Alicia didn't dare open her mouth for fear of letting out a moan when he suddenly placed a hot, open-mouthed kiss on her skin, right above the waistband of her skirt. He bit her, though, and she let out a soft yelp.

"Who's your date," she gasped, as he slid his lips slowly up to her navel, causing her back to arch once again.

"Can't remember," he said, his voice vibrating against her skin. It was true. He'd practically circled one of the names on his mother's list at random, after having eliminated all the undesirables.

"Why do we always end up like this?" she said suddenly, just as Cassius was getting to the good part.

He stared down at her incredulously. Really? She was questioning this now?

"You're a fucking tease, Spinnet," he sighed, rolling off of her and lying down on his back so that they were side to side. "You're a fucking tease, and I swear to almighty Circe, you're a fucking virgin and a half if I ever saw one."

Alicia sat up angrily.

"Even if I was a virgin, which I'm not, thought I don't know why I'm justifying myself to you, why should it matter? I thought all you wanted to do was fuck me anyway."

Cassius laughed.

"Exactly, baby, I don't want some shitty inexperienced shag."

"You're a dick. And don't call me that. And I'm not a fucking tease. Anyway, you're the one who keeps coming on to me, and pulling away."

This, Cassius couldn't deny, but he refused to admit it.

"The only reason I keep pulling away, baby, is because I'm not desperate enough to force myself on somebody who clearly doesn't know what she wants."

"I don't know what I want?" said Alicia incredulously. "And I'm not your fucking baby, so don't call me that."

"You don't know what you want," Cassius replied. "I bet you've fucking creamed yourself, but you're too much of a prude, a virgin or a goddamn tease to actually follow through with what you want. Don't deny it either, baby, you want me to fuck your brains out just as much as I want to, otherwise you would have hexed me like any other bitch in your house. You think I'm a hypocrite, don't you? What, cause I don't want to announce to the world that I want to fuck a half-blood? You're just as bad, baby - just picture it. What would you say if your friends asked you who you were off seeing every night. Just think about it - Johnson and Bell, hell, even the Weasel twins, all standing around, grilling you - you gonna say you're taking it from a big, bad Slytherin, and that you actually like it? That maybe, you're even giving as good as you get? We're all hypocrites, every last person in this entire goddamn world. You, princess, are not the fucking exception."

Alicia scrambled onto her feet and hastily buttoned up her shirt, turning her back to Cassius, who laughed angrily.

"Run away, Spinnet - you're a brave little Gryffindor, aren't you?"

"Shut up."

"You're gonna have to do better than that, sweetheart."

"Fuck off!" Alicia spat, spinning on her heel. She raised her wand, pointing it threateningly at Cassius' chest. He raise his hands in mock surrender, a sardonic grin on his face. "I hate you," she hissed, jabbing him in the chest. "You're just another fucking prick." She let out a hollow laugh. "And for a second, I thought you were actually, possibly, a decent human being."

She grabbed her belongings and wrenched open the door.

"Don't make that mistake twice," Cassius called out as she slammed the door behind him.

Cassius didn't often indulge in smoking, but every now and then the occasion called for it, and he would pull out his single pack of appropriately named Chasers from the bottom of the his trunk and seek refuge in the Slytherin bleachers by the Quidditch pitch.

He had an hour left until curfew, so he bundled up warmly, pretending that his scarf didn't smell like Alicia's hair, and he stormed out of Slytherin common room in long striding steps, anxiously stroking the pack in his pocket next to his grandfather's old flask filled with Ogden's Old Gold.

Outside, it was dark and damp, and about as foul as Cassius' mood. He cast a water-repelling charm and a warming spell on his clothing before settling down on one of the bleachers. He took a quick swig of the Ogden's Old, grimacing at the first burn, but quickly relishing it as the cold rain dripped down his unprotected face. He lit his cigarette with a match, not trusting himself to properly incendio the thing without setting the whole thing on fire, and inhaled sharply.

When had he smoked his last? A month ago, he mused, the last time he'd had a run in with his mother, the only other person in the world who could put him in such a state, with the exception of Alicia Spinnet, it seemed.

Why he was so rattled by their... argument, he didn't dare ponder. He'd had plenty of run-ins with Spinnet on the pitch in the past, full of elbows and knees and insults rude enough to make Hagrid blush. Yet it'd been different this time. It'd been personal. Cassius didn't do personal.

He could still feel her skin against his, though thankfully, the cigarette had done its job by eliminating her scent from his scarf.

He took another swig from his grandfather's flask, unable to believe that so much madness had gone on in such a short period of time.

The burn was starting to feel good now, in contrast with the cool rain on his face. He liked having damp hair. If he could have damp hair all the time, he would, he mused. He took another deep drag from his cigarette.

What a situation, he thought grimly. And of course, they just would have classes together the next day. And of course, they just would have to finish up the stupid weekly report.

A Dewitt. She was a bloody Dewitt. Sort of. A half-blood Dewitt. He scowled, wondering how it was that of all people, Alicia Spinnet was the infamous Dewitt bastard. And she would be at the debutante ball. They'd eat her alive. He hadn't been exaggerating when he'd said it, though he regretted being so... so what? Himself?

But it was true. Worse, Spinnet was sexy in her own way, but she certainly wasn't an English Rose by any standards - and her parents certainly weren't wealthy in their own rights, be it in the muggle world or the magical world, judging by her worn-out robes... in sum, she lacked any sort of redeeming quality in the eyes of society. Why didn't her grandparents support her? They were certainly more than able to... they were funding her coming-out, after all, it seemed. Why not her day-to-day life? He suddenly remembered her strange reaction when he'd shown her the books his father had sent him, and he understood then that she'd been appalled. If she were to be his mistress, he would put her up more than decently, and she could have a new outfit for every hour of the day if it was her fancy... And half-bloods were certainly more than acceptable as mistress material... Wasn't that how Theodore Nott's mother had gotten around to becoming Mrs. Nott in the first place? He remembered the rumours that had circulated, for the first Mrs. Nott had apparently been barren... Nott Jr. had made his presence known at the right time... but a little voice in his head reminded him what had (most likely) become of the second Mrs. Nott, and he shuddered, imagining the grotesque image of Alicia being hacked to death in a terribly muggle manner by his faceless, imaginary future wife in the parlour, while their imaginary child (for it was said that Nott Jr. had witnessed the entire thing) looked on in silent fear.

Madness, it was all madness of course, because Alicia Spinnet would never allow him to kiss her again, and it was more than high time that he start shifting his focus elsewhere before he fell in too deep. Two weeks was not a long time. Two weeks was a pin-drop in time, and Cassius had all intentions of living to at least a hundred in perfect health. He had his whole life ahead of him. He looked good, he was intelligent, and he was wealthy. If he played his cards right, he would have his cake and eat it too. Spinnet was nothing. She was one scraggly piece of forgotten chocolate on the side of the cake.

Cassius took another long swig of Ogden's.

Spinnet was nothing.

"I'll castrate him," Angelina snarled as soon as she caught sight of Alicia, who tried to slip into the common room unnoticed. Alicia flinched, startled at having been seen so quickly and in such a state. She'd never been the crying sort, but she'd fled the music room with unshed tears stinging her eyes, tears that threatened to fall until they burst like a dam as soon as she stepped into the first girl's bathroom in her path. She'd cleaned herself up as well as she could, but no glamour could hide the tell-tale shine in her eyes, or the smallness she seemed to exude in her anger and - dare she think it - hurt.

"I'm fine," Alicia muttered. "Nothing happened -

"Then why's your shirt buttoned wrong?" Angelina demanded. Was it? Damn. Think, Alicia, think.

"Spilled crumbs down my shirt and I got bits of icing stuck to my skin," she lied. "Don't worry, he didn't try anything funny."

"Then why were you crying?"

"No reason, I'm an idiot," Alicia mumbled. "Warrington didn't do anything... you know how he is, bit boring really, as far as Slytherins go. He had to leave early cause he forgot to finish his Theory of Magic paper, and I just got really frustrated and you know... had a stupid meltdown."

Angelina quirked an eyebrow.

"You had a meltdown," she repeated suspiciously.

"It's just - it's just so annoying, having to work with him is all. You know how I am about deadlines... we barely got through the weekly report so now we have to meet up again, which means I waste more time, and I have other shit to hand in and it just drives me absolutely fucking bonkers!"

Alicia felt a fresh wave of tears come on, and Angelina looked alarmed.

"... merlin, you weren't kidding, were you?"

"No!" Alicia exclaimed hysterically, lying through her teeth. "I fucking hate group projects!" She ignored the looks from the other students in the common room. Angelina shot them dirty looks and led Alicia up the stairs to their dorm while making soothing statements.

"You're just having one of those NEWT breakdowns... just - just try to breathe. There should be a medical name for it, I'm telling you, you're like the third breakdown this week...Anyway, you're alright... you could have done loads worse than Warrington, right? I mean, thank god those idiots... what are their names again? Crabbe and Goyle. Merlin, just thank god those two geniuses aren't in our year! Here, have a chocolate frog - don't worry, I didn't get it from the twins. And at least you haven't got Snape breathing down your back every two seconds! Honestly, I thought I was going to pass out in my cauldron at some point."

Alicia forced herself to laugh, and Angelina gave her an awkward, sympathetic pat on the back... dealing with an emotionally unstable Alicia was a rare and uncomfortable task, for out of the three of them, Katie was the softer one, the one who sniffled at the sad parts in books, and Angelina was the mood-swinging psychopath. Alicia was... Alicia, the one you could always count on to be... sane? No, that wasn't it... the one you could always count on to be... to be just right. Mellow. Only now, well, now it was Alicia's turn to be comforted.

Except Alicia didn't dare speak the truth. She lied as well as though she were telling the truth, and to be honest, she found it frighteningly easy. Angelina bought her meltdown story because it was always the seemingly stable ones who seemed to have giant meltdowns when you least expected it, and over the silliest things. Alicia fit easily into this little profile.

But if there was one person Alicia couldn't lie to, it was herself. Somehow, in the span of two weeks, Cassius Warrington had snaked his way into her head like the serpentine Slytherin that he was, and Alicia feared the worst: she fancied him. He was a spineless, emotionless shit under her shoe, and she fancied him. She'd felt the tightness in her heart in the music room when he'd flipped out at her, an unfamiliar choking sensation, as though he'd wrapped his large callused hands around her throat, and she'd all but bolted in fear. He'd been right when he said whatever it was between them was a mess. Mess. It was too simple a word. It was... it was vicious. It was one vicious fucking mess.

She felt strangely calm all of a sudden, though her stomach was in coils. She felt like she did when she was taking a penalty shot, dead to the world but ready for action, with the same slightly sweaty palms, cold feet and elevated heartbeat, the same tunnel vision and the same tightness in her stomach, as though she were a bow, pulled taut by an invisible cord.

Angelina had a worried expression on her face, but Alicia gave her a grim smile.

"I'm fine, Angie. Really. Just nerves, is all. I think... I think I just need to be alone for a bit, though, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't," Angelina replied, sounding flustered. "Are you - are you sure?"

"Yeah... yeah, I think I'm just going to go to bed a little early..."

"O-kay... well... you'll let me know if you need anything, won't you?"

Alicia nodded.

"G'night."

"G'night Alicia... I hope you feel better..."