Just a heads up to the readers, I know I've been good with trying to get at least one chapter up a week, so I'm just letting you know that the next installment will be about four weeks from now simply because I'm doing an overseas volunteering project and will be living in the woods for three weeks with no internet or computer access - just a don't worry for those who are awaiting more of the series, it will be coming, just a little break over the holidays! I hope you're all enjoying reading, and I wish you all a good holiday season!

Also I forgot the disclaimer at the beginning of this Book, so here goes:

This book is a work of fan fiction and imagination. Resemblance to any real person, living or dead, is unintended and coincidental. This is intended for entertainment only, with no monetary gain; sharing only in the wealth of imagination and adventure. Harry Potter novel and character concepts © 2007 J.K. Rowlings, first published in Great Britain, by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. Romi Chronicles novel and character concepts © 2012 Cayte R. Black, first published in a living room in Canada, by RowanBooks Severely Ltd. All rights reserved.

– Chapter Five –

Bruises

Dinner with the young people seemed to be very light on the surface. But if anyone cared to look closer they would have seen that there was almost a silent war going on between two of the girls.

Pansy was staring very haughtily at Romi, clearly thrilled with herself and the knowledge that she had contained. Romi was both furiously angry at Pansy, and actually quite worried if she would say something.

Romi had not had a chance to talk to Draco since the incident with Pansy at the pool, so he was enjoying his dinner in ignorance. Uncle Lucius, Aunt Narcissa, Charis and Hector didn't seem to notice anything amiss with the children.

Astoria and Daphne's parents were to come and pick up the girls near eight o'clock, so there was still time after dinner to address the situation before Pansy left with such important information.

Just how Romi was going to deal with this, she had no idea. She knew though that Pansy's only desire was Draco's affections, and if Romi did as Pansy asked and unattached herself from him then there was nothing more that Romi could do for Pansy, and the secret might come out.

Romi entertained the idea that Pansy might try and get her to do other things, but Romi was certain that Pansy wasn't smart enough to think a lot about that.

Pansy was chatting with Daphne through dinner, looking very pleased with herself, and Romi was silent trying to figure out a way out of this mess. There was very little that she could think of doing, unless she managed to somehow get a memory spell on Pansy.

Romi thought that was a little excessive for the situation, though she really didn't like the possibility of Pansy telling anyone, and especially didn't like the idea of having to do what Pansy said.

"What do you think, Romi?" Pansy's snide, smug voice interrupted her thoughts. Pansy was staring at her intently.

"Sorry," Romi said finally, "I wasn't paying attention."

Pansy's eyes narrowed. "I was just saying, don't you think that now that you're here with us why would you want to be friends with Longbottom and Weasley, don't you agree?"

Romi stared at her. The parents were still talking, having little to do with the children's conversation. However, all of the kids were staring at Romi, waiting for her answer. Romi knew what Pansy was playing at, for sure. If Romi agreed, then they would think something's up, but if she didn't agree, Pansy would tell them the secret. She also knew that Pansy was doing this just for the pure pleasure of controlling Romi's words.

Romi wasn't sure how to answer; she glanced at Draco. He was looking at her peculiarly.

"Well," Romi said slowly, trying to buy herself more time. "I think I should take into account that I do have to spend time with them at school. I, at least, have to pretend to be friends with them."

Pansy's face was darkening, and Romi could tell that wasn't the answer that Pansy wanted. She opened her mouth again, but Romi cut in and continued, just filling in the silence so that Pansy didn't have a chance to talk – and somehow she had to tell Draco what was going on.

"I don't mean that'd I'd actually be friends with them," Romi said, poking at her salad. "But it would be very exhausting to consistently be fighting with them. So, some resemblance of friendship would be necessary, and continuing with that, you'd have to make it convincing – so you wouldn't get burnt."

Draco suddenly coughed into his drink, spluttering for a moment, and trying to clear his throat. He glanced at Romi and then at Pansy with wide eyes. Romi felt a little relieved, he knew exactly what was happening now.

Romi and Draco had used 'getting burnt' as an expression of someone finding out their secrets. Romi had heard the term used when she went to visit her father's offices. They sometimes used 'getting burnt' to symbolize when an undercover agent was discovered.

Pansy looked at Draco concerned, not realising what Romi had just managed to convey to him.

"Are you alright?" she asked simpering. Draco nodded, and pointed to his throat, coughing a bit more.

"Went down the wrong way," he croaked out finally. He glanced at Romi again, looking frightened.

Romi decided now that perhaps a memory charm wasn't as drastic as she thought it would be. In fact, it might be very satisfying.

Pansy thankfully did not ask anything of Romi again, and the dinner was over by six thirty.

Romi was just figuring out a way to place the charm on her without anyone realising it, when Charis suggested that they all go out for a sunset fly before everyone had to go home.

The girls readily agreed and Pansy began repeating over and over about how romantic a sunset flight would be. She then stared very pointedly at Romi for several seconds before going with the rest of them to grab a broom.

Draco slid up beside Romi, the last two leaving the dining room.

"What happened?" he hissed quietly in her ear.

"She overheard us in my bedroom early," Romi replied. "She's decided to use this information like blackmail."

"Why didn't she tell me too?" Draco whispered.

"Because the first thing she wants me to do is hand you over to her," Romi answered. She looked up at him and was pleased to see that he was looking disgusted at the idea of going out with Pansy.

"What are you going to do?" he asked.

"I have a plan, don't worry," said Romi.

Draco looked at her cautiously for a moment and then said, "Be careful, and don't get caught."

"That is part of the plan, thanks," answered Romi and they joined the rest of the group. Pansy was staring pointedly at Romi, and to Romi's horror, Pansy linked arms with her as they headed out the back door.

Romi could see the surprised expression of Daphne and Astoria as they made their way to the open area to take off.

"I think you should tread carefully, Romi," Pansy whispered to her. "I have you in the palm of my hand and I really don't like you talking to Draco at all, thank you. Who knows if you can contain yourself?"

"Already managed it for a year," Romi said through gritted teeth. "And I live here, you can't tell me to not talk to him when you're not around."

"Yes, I did think about that," Pansy mused. "And I'm coming up with a way to ensure that you will keep to yourself. I'm sure an anonymously written letter to your best friend Mr Longbottom will definitely keep you in check. Sorry to break his heart, of course," Pansy added viciously.

"I think you're swimming into waters more dangerous than you know," Romi replied, looking Pansy in the eye. Romi removed her arm from Pansy's iron clad grip, mounted her broom and took off into the sky.

The others were up already, and Pansy flew off to glide beside Draco. Romi flew patiently by herself. Daphne was helping Astoria keeping grips on her broom, and Crabbe and Goyle would never approached Romi first.

Without a second thought as to the morality of her actions, Romi started to form a plan of placing the memory charm on Pansy.

A second later though, Daphne and Astoria appeared beside Romi.

"Hey," Daphne said, "are you alright, you've seemed a little distant since this afternoon. Something on your mind?"

"Oh, no," Romi said, trying to look cheerful. "It's nothing really." She continued to stare at Draco and Pansy. Draco looked paler than normal, clearly trying to pretend that he didn't know Pansy's plans. Pansy was chattering away, looking up at Draco with big eyes and smiling widely showing her buckteeth.

"What has Pansy done to you now," Astoria giggled. Romi glanced to the younger girl.

"What makes you think she's done something to me?" Romi asked.

"Really? Cause the look on your face is saying you're forming an evil mastermind plan against her," answered Astoria.

Pansy interrupted their conversation, by shouting over her shoulder for Daphne. Daphne sped up to Pansy's side, leaving her sister and Romi alone.

There was silence for a moment, and then Astoria spoke.

"If you do have a plan against Pansy, please, count me in," she said. Romi looked to her startled.

"Excuse me?" Romi asked.

"Last year's was pretty good," answered Astoria, "the frog in the salad. Let me know if you need my help for another one."

Romi smiled, "why are you offering all of a sudden?"

Astoria looked over to where Pansy was flying with her sister. "I can't stand her," Astoria said finally. "I don't know why my sister likes to hang out with her, but I've seen way too much of her. It's bad enough we're in the same house at school, but she's always over during the summer and Christmas. Best Friends with Daphne," Astoria said a little viciously.

"Wow," said Romi. "I really wasn't expecting that to come out of your mouth."

"Yeah, well, it did," concluded Astoria. She looked back to Romi. "I also don't like how she's constantly, blatantly and a little inelegantly fawning over Malfoy."

"Right," Romi said, feeling her insides all wiggly-wobbly.

"Oh, don't worry about me," Astoria added quickly. "I know that he's all yours." Romi stared at her, completely unable to form sentences. "Really, it's not that hard to see how he dotes on you," Astoria replied. "It's a bit obvious how he feels about you."

"Obviously not to Pansy," Romi answered. "She seems to think it's all my fault."

Astoria laughed, "oh, she's just got her hopes up that he secretly likes her."

Romi watched Pansy, Daphne and Draco flying for a moment, and then looked to Astoria.

"Don't you think it's a bit weird?" Romi asked slowly.

"What? Why? You're not related, not really," said Astoria, looking to Romi, very innocently.

"Thanks," Romi replied, with a sigh. "Wait, how did you know we weren't related?"

"But – you're adopted," said Astoria, looking bewildered, "you told us a couple years ago… didn't you?"

Romi paused. "I don't remember," she answered. "I guess it doesn't matter that much."

"Well, what's the situation?" Astoria asked, sounding like she was getting ready for serious business.

Quietly, Romi told her what Pansy had said. Astoria nodded, listening intently all the way through.

"What's your plan?" Astoria asked.

"I think I've pretty much decided on a memory charm," said Romi, "for the actually information. Though I'm not against any sort trauma for her either. She has to be my least favourite person on the planet."

"That makes two of us," Astoria replied. "Okay, I happen to know, with quite a lot of experience, that falling off a broom is definitely traumatic, and usually painful."

"I like the way you think," Romi replied, smiling. Astoria grinned mischievously.

"I think between the two of us, we can definitely knock that witch off her broom," Astoria said.

"Wow," Romi said, "When did you start swearing?"

"That's not important right now," Astoria said. "Let's knock this girl off her broom."

Romi smiled and looked over to where Pansy was flying.

"We have to make this look like an accident, remember," Romi said.

"Absolutely," Astoria replied and she winked at Romi before flying up to where Draco, Daphne and Pansy were flying together. Smiling Romi followed her up there, and slid into a place beside Draco. She figured that would make Pansy mad enough to break away from Daphne.

"Hey," said Draco smiling at her when she flew up, looking away from Pansy. Pansy looked utterly furious, and Romi was very pleased that Draco was unknowingly helping Romi's plot.

"Hey," Romi replied. "How's it going?"

"Fine," answered Draco, looking a little suspicious. The sun was low in the horizon, but not yet sunset, casting long shadows and filling the world with a golden glow. Romi just smiled at Draco, and she could see out of the corner of her eye, the longer Romi stared at Draco, the more furious Pansy got.

Then finally;

"Romi, can I talk to you?" Pansy said, trying to keep her voice very calm, but it wavered slightly in her fury. Romi glanced to Astoria, making eye contact with her. Astoria nodded slightly, and Romi knew that she was ready when Romi gave the signal.

Pansy floated backwards, and Romi dropped back with her. Astoria steered off, and managed to fly a little behind them, a couple of feet away. Pansy let Draco and Daphne fly ahead of her.

"Romi," Pansy said very slowly. "I would advise you to think very carefully. I have a feeling that I would only have to send that one short letter to Longbottom and the whole thing would come out."

"That would be a mistake," Romi replied.

"Oh really?" Pansy said, loftily. "I think your parents wouldn't be too pleased now, would they. I mean, you're young as it is, but the – uh – unusual relationship probably wouldn't help your situation."

"You don't know anything about my parents," Romi replied.

"I think I know enough," answered Pansy. "And besides, I know that Longbottom will definitely be telling everyone in Gryffindor and then you're really in for it."

Romi smiled and laughed. Pansy looked taken aback.

"This isn't something to be laughing about, Romi," Pansy said.

"Really? Cause I think it's hilarious," replied Romi. "You're going to send a letter to Neville?"

"Yes," Pansy said angrily, "I'll be doing it as soon as I get home."

"Well, that's not going to be much of a help," answered Romi. "Neville already knows."

Pansy stared at her for a long moment, trying to regain her composure.

"Then I'll send it to Weasley," she said finally.

"Yeah, Ginny already knows too," answered Romi. "Actually, a lot more people than you expect know – Astoria even knows. It's pretty much just you."

Pansy looked furious and then settled down into a smug satisfaction.

"That may be true," she said coolly, "but I know the last person you would tell is your godfather. So I think I'll send a little letter to Professor Snape."

Romi's smile faded and she watched Pansy hard. She glanced at Astoria quickly and nodded curtly.

"I should warn you, Pansy," Romi said icily. "I'm not your regular Gryffindor. I'm not all goodness and sunshine, and I definitely am not one to sit back and take blackmailing lightly."

Romi pulled out her wand. Pansy's eyes flicked to it, wide.

"No magic outside of school!" she said hurriedly, realising that she'd gotten in over her head.

"Yeah," Romi said, pointing her white wand at Pansy, keeping it low to her body. "I'm not one for rules either."

Just then, Astoria gave a very convincing yelp as she pretended to loose control of her broom and crashed into Pansy.

"Obliviate!" Romi whispered at exactly the same time, and Pansy got a dull look on her face and then slipped right off and fell twenty feet to the ground.

"Pansy!" Astoria and Romi called, pretending to be worried, as Romi stowed her wand away in her pocket.

Draco and Daphne turned around quickly and saw Romi and Astoria zooming towards the ground. They landed beside Pansy who was looking very dazed. Draco and Daphne made it to them, and Crabbe and Goyle lumbered over seconds later.

"What happened?" Draco asked quickly. Romi bent down to look at Pansy, she looked very empty for a moment, and then blinked, the life back in her eyes.

"I lost control of my broom," Astoria sobbed, very realistically. "I crashed into her! I didn't mean too!" Astoria wailed. Daphne went over to put an arm around her younger sister.

"Of course you didn't," Daphne soothed. She then looked over to her best friend. Pansy was just sitting up, putting a hand to her head.

"Oooh," Pansy said, "What happened?"

"You fell off your broom," Romi said, squatting beside Pansy. She looked deeply into Pansy's eyes, checking to see if the spell worked. Apparently it had. "I think you must have bumped your head when you hit the ground. What's the last thing you remember?"

Pansy thought for a moment. "We were talking about…"

Romi held her breath as Pansy thought for a while.

"Quidditch, I think," Pansy said finally. She looked to Romi and then scowled. "I don't need your help," Pansy added, pushing against her hands to get to her feet. She grimaced when she put pressure on her right wrist.

"Let me see," Romi said taking Pansy's hand roughly without waiting for her response.

"Stop, get off!" Pansy replied. "Why would you want to check it out anyways?"

"I guess it's my Healer instinct," Romi said, feeling Pansy's wrist. Thanks to her anatomy class last year, she could feel and name everything in the body and knew exactly where they were supposed to be.

"Ouch!" Pansy said, pushing against Romi's hand to pull her wrist free as Romi pressed hard on her bone. "Well, you could learn something more about being gentle during examinations!" she snapped at Romi.

Romi sighed, and tried not to smile. "I think your wrist is broken," she answered, and stood up. "Come on, we'd best get back."

Draco helped pull Pansy to her feet and they all made their way back to the Manor on foot.

Pansy whined and complained most of the way, leaning heavily on Draco as they walked because everything about her hurt.

Romi found she didn't mind it at all, she would gladly take all of Pansy's incessant moans and groans in exchange for her victory. Pansy had called Daphne away from her sister, and so Astoria walked with Romi. Romi put her arm around her pretending to be comforting, but it allowed Romi to talk with her quietly.

"That was beautiful flying," Romi whispered.

"Thank you," replied Astoria without the slightest hint of distress in her voice. "I thought it worked out quite nicely too."

They paused for a moment as they listened to Pansy's complaining.

"I think it was worth the noise she's making now," Astoria replied. "What do you think?"

"Yes, absolutely," answered Romi, smiling broadly.

"Did you manage it?" Astoria whispered after a moment of silence. "Did you do the spell?"

"Yup," whispered Romi back. "All clean, she won't remember a thing about it."

"Excellent," said Astoria. "Though, don't expect her to stop following him," she added.

"I know," Romi replied, "I can't erase feelings, but at least I don't have to listen to her smug 'I know everything better than you' voice and not be able to do anything about it."

Astoria smiled and giggled. Just as they reached the house, she schooled her face into tears again to fool the adults.

Charis and Aunt Narcissa were the first ones they met when they made it inside.

"Goodness, what happened?!" Charis said seeing Romi and a crying Astoria walk into the kitchen, followed by Pansy supported by Draco and Daphne and finally Crabbe and Goyle lumbering in afterwards.

"I crashed into her!" Astoria wailed loudly. "I lost control of my broom! I didn't mean too! I sw-swear!"

"Of course, you didn't," Aunt Narcissa said soothingly to Astoria, while Charis looked over Pansy.

"I think she hit her head, mum," Romi said. "And her right wrist is broken."

Charis nodded but didn't say anything else, and then after a moment of looking her all over, Charis nodded.

"No other serious damage," Charis said, picking up Pansy's wrist. She tapped it with her wand twice and thick white bandages wrapped around the wrist keeping it in place. "You're going to be just fine," she added, smiling kindly at Pansy.

"Thank you, Mrs Black," Pansy said with a sniff. She looked up to Astoria. "I don't blame you, at all, Astoria," she said not unkindly. "It was an accident."

Romi hugged Astoria around the shoulders a bit, smiling. She looked back towards Pansy and caught her mother's eye. Charis seemed to be looking at Romi as though she suspected foul play.

Just then, however, Uncle Lucius and Hector came into the kitchen followed by Astoria and Daphne's parents.

There was a slight uproar when they saw the situation in front of them, and it took a good ten minutes to figure out what had actually happened. Astoria had buried her face into her mother's arms and wailed loudly.

Romi took a couple of steps back to stand with Draco. He was looking at the scene as though he was a little overwhelmed.

"All taken care of," Romi whispered, leaning against him so that she didn't have to talk very loudly.

"What did you do?" Draco asked suspiciously.

"She won't remember a thing," Romi replied evenly.

"Do I want to know?" inquired Draco.

"Some things are best left silent," Romi answered. "Though I will let you in that Astoria is a fabulous actress."

Draco raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more.

It took quite a while for everyone to be sorted out and calmed down. Uncle Lucius was apologizing profusely to Mr Greengrass, who was angry that he had to take Pansy back to her parents like that. Crabbe and Goyle's parents came right in the middle of it and the entire episode had to be played out again.

Finally, after nearly half an hour of complete chaos, it was just Romi, Draco and their parents. They stood silently in the kitchen for a moment, just relishing the calm after all of that.

Uncle Lucius turned around to Romi and Draco. He looked utterly furious at having to deal with such an embarrassing situation. Aunt Narcissa excused herself a moment later, saying that she had a headache.

Romi sighed and was about to smile, when suddenly Uncle Lucius turned on both her and Draco.

"What do you think you were doing?" he demanded angrily.

Romi looked at him startled, seeing out of the corner of her eye, her mother and father watching Uncle Lucius warily.

"We were just flying," Romi said, watching her Uncle.

"It was an accident, Father," Draco insisted.

"You are the ones in charge when it's your house," Uncle Lucius said heatedly, walking behind the two of them. Neither Romi nor Draco moved. "You should have been watching out for Astoria if she could not fly well!"

"I'm sorry, Fath-" Draco started but a whiz and a sharp whack interrupted him. Romi jumped in surprise. Draco's expression turned into a painful grimace, closing his eyes and biting his lip.

Romi looked at her Uncle, and saw that his snake-headed walking stick was held up in his hand, poised for another strike.

"Lucius!" Charis scolded angrily. Uncle Lucius glanced at her, and then at his stunned niece. Uncle Lucius looked away from Romi, and then grabbed his son's arm and dragged him out of the room, leaving Romi alone with her parents.

Romi was too shocked for a moment, but then having processed what just happened, she took a step towards the door. However, her mother's gentle hand took her arm and guided her away.

Romi stared at both of her parents absolutely stunned.

"What –" Romi started and then stopped and looked back to the door that Uncle Lucius and Draco had disappeared through.

"Romi, please, sit down," Charis said, half guiding half dragging her into the parlour and to the couch. Romi pulled her arm out of her mother's grasp and stared up at her incredulously, starting to feel anger rise up.

"Sit down!" Romi said in disbelief. "What just happened!?"

Charis and Hector exchanged glances, but didn't say anything right away.

"No, don't tell me, I know what I just saw," Romi said, looking back into the kitchen. "I just saw…" Romi trailed off. She didn't want to say it out loud. She was silent for a couple of seconds. "Why don't you go after them!" she practically yelled. "You could stop it!"

"Romi, sit down," Hector said firmly.

"I don't want to sit down!" Romi shouted. "Why would I want to sit down right now?!"

"Romi, please listen," Charis said soothingly. "Some things are hard to explain–"

"Like you just letting that happen!" said Romi heatedly.

"What would you have us do?" Hector interjected.

"Stop it!" Romi said shrilly. "Go up to Uncle Lucius and tell him off! Force him to stop!"

"Force him to stop?" Charis repeated. "You can't force him to do anything, Uncle Lucius is a grown man."

"Well, he isn't acting like it!" Romi shouted back at her.

"You're right he's not," Charis said, quickly. "But we are guests in his house. You saw what he is like when he's embarrassed, how much worse do you think it'll be if your father or I tell him off in front of Draco? He'll just be more embarrassed."

"Yeah, but he'd stop," Romi replied.

"Only for the minutes that we were in his sight," Hector jumped in. "Lucius is… a volatile, prideful man. It would only get worse for Draco or Narcissa if we intervened. We're not here all of the time."

"Why did you let your sister marry him?!" Romi asked her father incredulously. "If you knew what he was like?!"

"We didn't know," Charis said, softly. "Lucius was… charming in school. A complete gentlemen, he always treated Narcissa like she was the most precious thing in the world."

"Well, he doesn't seem to treat his son the same way," Romi muttered angrily.

"It's hard to know your place when to say something," answered Hector reasonably.

"So you just turned a blind eye," Romi said, viciously towards her father.

"Oh, no, I didn't," Hector said, evenly. "You were too young to remember, you must have been three or four years old. I did exactly what you just demanded I do. I called him out, I stopped him; I even took a swing at him myself for going after my sister."

Romi watched her father with rapt attention. Hector sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair.

"All it did was made it worse for Narcissa," Hector explained. "And Lucius refused to let us over again. It was nearly a year before Narcissa convinced him to let us back into their lives. And I had to swear to her that I would not interfere, and I did."

"Why?" Romi demanded.

"Because, I'm still hoping for the day that Narcissa will decide she doesn't want to live in this household any more, and I want to be there when she decides to leave it," Hector said, solidly. "I can't be there for her if Lucius refuses to let us come back."

Romi was quite for a long time, and then said. "Why doesn't she just leave?" Romi asked. "You have more than enough money to buy a house. Aunt Narcissa and Draco can come live with us. Uncle Lucius never has to be around, ever."

Charis and Hector looked at each other and Charis sighed.

"It's a lot more complicated than that," Charis said.

"Why?"

"Because your Aunt still loves him," Charis said. "Would you be able to just leave us without ever thinking about us, without ever wondering if what you did was right, all the while still loving us with all of your heart."

Romi was utterly silent.

"Romi, if you have a solution to this situation, I welcome it," Hector said, taking her hands. "But we've been trying for years to come up with something. The bottom line is that Narcissa doesn't want to leave and we can't do anything against her wishes."

"The most we can do is offer support whenever she needs it," Charis said softly. "And we always will, forever, and even when Draco is grown up and moved out, we'll be there for him as well."

Romi looked at both of her parents for a long while, then finally, quietly she said.

"It's not fair," she whispered.

"No, it's not," Hector said, pulling his daughter into a hug. "It's not fair at all."

"It was my fault," Romi muttered into his shoulder. Hector pulled her back and looked at her closely.

"His actions are not your fault," Hector said firmly.

"No, I mean, Pansy," Romi said quietly. "I made sure that Astoria crashed into her. I saw Astoria coming, but I didn't tell Pansy."

"Oh, Romi, why did you do that?" Charis said sighing, sounding disappointed.

"Pansy was trying to get me to do something I didn't want to, by threatening to tell Neville stuff," Romi said vaguely.

"Pansy tried to threaten you by telling Neville about your relationship with Draco?" Charis said, looking bewildered.

"What?" Hector said, looking stunned at his wife.

"What? Mum?" Romi said, feeling her face glowing red.

"Oh, please, Romi, you're my daughter, I know you better than you know yourself," Charis said with a wave of her hand. "But how did Pansy find out about you and Draco?"

"About what?" Hector said, sounding very defensive; clearly he didn't know.

"Relax, Hector," Charis said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "It's fine."

"Pansy overheard us talking," Romi said finally. "This afternoon."

"So you let her take that fall, because you were angry with her," Charis concluded. Romi nodded. Charis sighed. "That was very wrong of you, Romi."

"Pansy wasn't exactly behaving like a princess either," Romi retorted angrily.

"Pansy's behaviour does not dictate yours," Charis said firmly. "Perhaps you should not keep so many secrets, and then talk about them in unsecured places."

There was silence for a moment, as Romi didn't have anything to say. It was Hector that finally broke it.

"What is going on between you and Draco," he asked Romi very firmly. Romi suddenly felt all the blood rising in her cheeks, and she could not look her father in the face, nor could she manage to find any words.

Charis filled her husband in, "Romi is seeing Draco, I suspect for quite some time now."

Hector looked flustered, "he's your cousin!"

"Not really," Romi muttered softly. Hector and Charis stared at her for a stunned moment.

"What?" Hector said finally.

"When did you figure that out?" Charis asked, curiously.

"Six years ago, I overheard you talking," Romi replied. "Besides, it's not that hard to figure out. I look nothing like you, I'm fourteen years old, and you haven't even had your thirteen wedding anniversary."

Hector and Charis looked at each other.

"We were going to tell you," Charis started, "I just didn't know how to bring it up."

"It's okay," Romi said quickly. "Really, because you're still my mum and dad."

Charis smiled, and embraced her daughter tightly.

"I sorry," she whispered. Romi just hugged a bit tighter. Finally her mother let her go, smiling, her eyes a little wet.

"Okay, young lady," Hector said, running his fingers through his beard. "Serious question. How long have you been dating Draco, and how can you be sure he has good intentions?" Hector demanded.

"Dad, do we really have to have this conversation?" Romi said, so embarrassed she felt like her face was the same colour as her hair.

"Yes, we really do," Hector said. "How long?"

"A year," Romi muttered.

"Okay, and has he–" started Hector.

"No, dad, okay, no – nothing," Romi interrupted quickly, still unable to look her father in the eye, "he's been a perfect gentlemen, I swear."

Hector watched her for a long moment and then said, "Okay."

"Really?" Romi said, brightly, "You're okay with it?"

"No, I'm not," Hector replied. "I think it's a terrible idea. But I won't interfere." He said the last bit to his wife as Charis eyed him down. Romi smiled at her mother.

"Alright," Charis said standing up. She went to the cabinet that was closest, opened it and rustled around for a moment. Seconds later she pulled out a small earthenware jar and turned around. "Here," she said, handing it to Romi.

"What's this?" Romi asked, unscrewing the lid to see a pale paste inside.

"Bruise salve," replied Charis softly; Romi look back to her mother. "Go take it to Draco."

Romi stood in front of Draco's bedroom door for a very long time. She held the medicine in her hands, and tried to calm her fluttering heart. She was almost too nervous to knock on the door, but finally she did.

There was silence for a moment, then a very weary-sounding "come in."

Romi opened the door and peaked into his room. It was a complete mess, with books, parchment, and quills strewn out over his desk and chair, carrying to his bookcase and dresser. Draco was lying face down on his bed, clearly trying not to move very much.

He looked over his shoulder when he heard the door click shut. He scrambled into a sitting position, though it probably hurt a lot, looking embarrassed.

"Romi," he stuttered, "I-I didn't expect…"

He stopped, clearly out of words to say. He looked away from her. Romi didn't know exactly what to say either. There was a moment, and then Romi tried to sound cheerful.

"I brought some bruise salve," she said quietly. Draco looked back her, his cheeks still pink.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Romi went and sat next to him. "Take your shirt off," she said, sounding very business-like. Draco did what he was told, revealing four long welts across his pale shoulders. Large black, blue and purple bruises were forming, covering most of his back.

"I'm sorry!" Romi said immediately, feeling extremely guilty. "It's my fault!"

Draco shook his head, "it's not your fault. You didn't push Pansy off her broom."

"I planned it to happen though," Romi said miserably and told him what she and Astoria had cooked up. Draco smiled at the end of it.

"You didn't know what would happen," Draco replied. "It'll be fine."

Romi unscrewed the lid of the jar and carefully spread it over his shoulders. They were silent for a moment and then Draco spoke.

"He's not like that normally, you know," he said earnestly. "Really, he was just having a bad day, I think."

"How many bad days does he have?" Romi asked quietly. Draco turned to look at her, taking her hands.

"Not many, very few," he said, staring at her. "I swear, this almost never happens. He's a good guy really, he just has a lot of stress, and I don't help with that at all."

Romi was quiet; it hurt her heart listening to him talk about his father like that, but she suddenly felt like she understood her father's position. Romi couldn't change Draco's mind about his father, even though she could see that it was wrong. There was nothing she could do except try and help heal the bruises Uncle Lucius left behind.