I woke up the next morning to the shrill ring of my alarm clock. Dora's bed was already empty. The other two girls who shared our dormitory, Katherine Vaisley and Eugenia Franklin, were still fast asleep. I didn't wake them: I knew that they'd both stayed up far later than Dora and I, chatting to some girls from the year below in the Common Room, and they rarely made it down to breakfast anyway. The absence of Dora was more worrying, but I assumed that I'd see her in the Great Hall when I went downstairs. I quickly pulled on my school robes and headed downstairs.

The hall was full of the usual early morning sounds: muted chatter and the clink of cutlery on plates. I quickly spotted Dora at the far end of table, a book propped open against a pot of tea, and sat down opposite her. "You're up early," I remarked.

She looked up from her book and smiled. "I know. I woke up early and it was such a gorgeous day that I went for a walk. Timetables are here, by the way," she said, passing me mine.

I glanced over it. Monday was a busy day, but I was pleased to see that I had plenty of free periods later in the week. "Do we have many frees together?" I asked.

"Not many, no," she said. "Probably a good thing- I might actually get some work done this year."

"Or you might just come up with even more pointless to avoid it," I suggested.

She grinned at me. "That's more likely, isn't it?"

The subject of my engagement didn't come up again until that evening. Dora and I were sat by the fire after dinner, comfortably full after a delicious dinner of chicken and ham pie, peas and mashed potato. It was so good that Dora had thirds- to Eugenia's disgust.

"Meda…" Dora began cautiously. "About your engagement…"

"What about it?" I asked sharply.

She faltered a little. "Well- you haven't mentioned it to anyone at school but me, as far as I know. And- Meda, you can't hide from it forever. People are going to find out."

I glared at her. "Maybe they will, eventually. But the wedding won't be until the summer at the earliest- surely I can have a few more months of being myself, rather than property of Lucius Malfoy?"

She shrugged. "I suppose it's up to you- but…" She bit her lip, paused, then shrugged. "Sorry. I'm just worried. Never mind."

*

The next few days passed pleasantly enough, with the beautiful weather holding and the temperatures remaining high. We slipped into a routine where Dora would rise early, go for a walk and be sitting at the breakfast table with a book by the time I got up. Eugenia and Katherine would sleep until the beginning of their first class. So I wasn't surprised when I woke one Friday morning to find Dora's bed empty, as usual. When I got down to the Great Hall, however, I realised that something was wrong.

Dora was sitting in her usual seat, but there was no heaped plate of breakfast food in front of her. She didn't appear to be eating anything at all, and there was no empty plate to indicate that she'd already eaten. I sat down in a seat next to her. "Are you alright?"

She turned to face me and I saw that her eyes were ringed with red. "I've been better."

"What's wrong?" I asked. There was a crumpled piece of parchment in her hand- presumably a letter containing bad news. "What happened?"

"It's my father…" she said. Her voice was little more than a whisper. "He's been arrested."

I put my arms around her. "He'll be ok. I'm sure it's a mistake."

She shook her head. "It's not a mistake."

I hugged her more tightly. "You don't know that."

"That's not the worst bit. He was caught-" Her voice caught in her throat. "-Caught at the scene of a murder, and the last spells his wand had done were the Unforgivables." A quiet sob escaped her. "It was a muggle family. Two parents, two children. Children. And he helped kill them."

I gave her another squeeze and then pulled away, pouring her a cup of coffee. "I'm sure there's a rational explanation." But I felt a shiver go down my spine- Dora's father was my uncle on my mother's side. "Come on. Have something to eat. It'll make you feel better."

She shook her head vehemently. "I feel sick."

I wondered if I should try and force her to eat, but decided against it. Instead, I just hugged her some more, helplessly, wishing there was something more that I could do.

She glanced around the hall. "Oh Merlin, it's going to be in the Prophet, isn't it? Can we go somewhere else before the mail arrives? Outside?"

"Yeah, of couse," I said.

Dora stood up a little shakily. "Thank you."

I grabbed a few slices of toast, quickly added a dollop of marmalade to each and followed her from the hall. She walked so quickly that I had to almost run to keep up, heading for a bench by the lake where we sometimes sat in summer. There was a chill breeze, and the early morning sunshine had little warmth in it. I shivered slightly as I sat down next to Dora, but she seemed to be immune to the cold. I gave her another quick hug before beginning to eat my toast. "Do you want to talk about it?" I asked in response to her silence.

She shook her head, staring out over the lake. "Not really."

I finished my toast silently. We sat there until the bell rang, and then went inside to our first lesson- Dora was reluctant to go, although I was relieved to get into the warmth again. In the Entrance Hall, we hugged goodbye and headed to our different classes. I noticed a gang of Gryffindors glancing at us and whispering, and thought that Dora had most likely been right about the story being in the Prophet. I gave Dora a smile. "You'll be fine, OK? Don't let anyone get to you."

She nodded, a little distractedly, and we went our separate ways.

*

By lunchtime, it was obvious to me that the story of Elladora's brother had spread, whether it was in the Prophet or not. Everywhere I went, I could feel eyes on me and hear the whispers ("That's the best friend, isn't it?" "Yeah, that murdering scum for a dad…" "Her uncle, I heard…") I tried my best to ignore the gossip, but I couldn't help but worry about how Dora would take it.

I poured myself a glass of pumpkin juice and glanced around the hall again, hoping that Dora would arrive soon so that I could be certain she wasn't locked in one of the toilets crying. A group of fifth years passing by gave me dirty looks, as though I could in some way be responsible for the actions of my uncle and my best friend's father. I was glaring back at them venomously when a paper slammed down on the table in front of me.

"Look at that," Dora said flatly. "He made the front page, and the Gryffindor's couldn't wait to let me know about it."

I scanned the article briefly, feeling a shiver run down my spine as I read the description of the crime. Dora hadn't filled me in on the details: the muggle family had apparently been tortured for hours before they had been killed. I couldn't help but remember all the times I'd slept over at Dora's house: her father had always seemed normal enough, and it was terrifying to think of what he was really capable of. It was equally horrifying to realise that I was related to someone who could do such things. I pushed these thoughts aside and gave her a tight hug.

"The Gryffindors are idiots," I told her as I pulled away. "We knew that already."
"Ignoring them is easier said then done." She began to pile mashed potatoes and sausages onto her plate, and smothered them in gravy. She stabbed at a sausage furiously, as if imagining it to be a Gryffindor's face. "Don't they realise that this is horrible enough without having to deal with their idiocy as well?"

Once again, I found myself unsure what to say to that. Instead, I helped myself to lunch and began to eat, glaring at another group of girls as they whispered on their way past us. Luckily, Dora was too busy attacking he food to notice this time.

The whispers and the glances remained the same for the rest of the week, although both Katherine and Eugenia (the other two girls in our dorm) expressed insincerely melodramatic sympathy. It was exhausting not to be able to eat a meal without being looked at like something horrible on the bottom of a Gryffindor's shoe, and I hated to see what it was doing to Dora. The weather remained perfect, though- sunny and unseasonably warm- and when I had a free period by myself on Friday afternoon, I took the chance to escape to the grounds with a book.

I walked to Dora and my bench and sat down, glancing around to check that I was alone. I was- despite the fine weather, the grounds were deserted. Most people were still in lessons, I supposed. Furtively, I opened my bag and pulled out my (by now rather battered and well read) copy of Pride and Prejudice, thinking to lose myself in it just one more time. I hadn't dared so much as look at it since getting to school.

I glanced around to check that no-one was coming out of the castle, and then began to read. Soon I was deeply absorbed in the book- so deeply absorbed that when a voice spoke from behind me, I almost jumped out of my skin.

"I don't mean to be creepy, but I couldn't help noticing that you're reading Pride and Prejudice."

I spun around quickly, to see a boy standing behind me. I had been so engrossed in my book that I hadn't heard him coming up behind me at all. I recognised him as Ted Tonks, a Ravenclaw prefect in my year. He was stocky and not particularly tall, with fair hair spilling messily into his face and a smile that was rather more friendly than I liked to receive from a mudblood. I didn't return his smile.

"It's not really any of your business," I said coldly, despite the blush spreading across my face. How could I have been so stupid as to read such a book in a public place? I stood up and shoved the book into my bag so violently that the front cover ripped halfway off. I began to stalk away across the grounds, heading back to the castle- but to my horror, Tonks followed me. "Hey, don't be embarrassed about it- I love Austen and I'm a boy."

"How enthralling," I said icily. "Could you stop following me please?"

He refused to take the hint, though, walking with me towards the castle. "Sorry, have I upset you?"

"Not at all," I said sarcastically. "There's nothing I like better than being interrupted by freaks while I'm reading."

His friendly smile slipped. "Ok, sorry. I'll let you get on with… Going wherever you're going." He stopped, and to my horror I found that I was almost disappointed. A part of me, a hatefully traitorous part, would have liked nothing better than to sit with him by the lake and talk about Pride and Prejudice. Maybe he could even suggest other, similar books that I could read… Much as I loved it, I was beginning to feel that I probably knew Pride and Prejudice a little too well- I hardly had to read the words anymore- just remembering them and repeating them to myself as my eyes skimmed the page. But a moment later, I was horrified with myself for even thinking such thoughts: he was a muggle, and the book was a muggle book. I was a witch, a Black no less.

I walked quickly up to the castle and headed straight to the library, thinking that I might expunge some of my guilt by starting on my Ancient Runes essay. At the same time, though, I couldn't get rid of the part of me which whispered that I would have been far happier discussing books with the mudblood boy. The thought disgusted me. What on earth would my family say?

A/N: Thanks for reading, and if you have another few moments, please leave a review. I really appreciate them all.