Narcissa and Emma left Hogsmeade on Sunday after Mass via portkey. It brought them to the front steps of Madam Malkins' in Diagon Alley. Today was an important (and dreaded) day for Narcissa. Today was the final fitting for her wedding robes, and that of Emma and Bellatrix's bridesmaids robes.

Bellatrix was late, as was her way. Narcissa was grateful, after spending all night and morning crying over her fate. She and Lewis were officially lovers, and suddenly her marriage to Lucius went from a necessary evil to an unbearable death sentence. She'd spent all of Mass that morning clutching Emma's hand, praying for some miracle to change her fate. After the fitting Lucius was coming to meet them for a Sunday roast at the pub, and she was supposed to give him the diary. She wasn't sure why the book had to take such a convoluted journey from Gringotts to Hogwarts and back to Diagon Alley, but Lucius hated to be asked questions. There must have been a reason the Dark Lord had wanted the book smuggled in and out of Hogwarts Castle, but for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

She hadn't bothered Emma with it, as her friend had been so engrossed in Mary Shelley's diary for days. Anytime she saw her, the Ravenclaw had her head buried in the thick tome. For the first two months of possession, Emma had refused to read it. But once she started, she hadn't put it down. Narcissa wanted a word alone with Emma about it, but couldn't be sure that she could speak freely in front of Madam Malkin, and Bellatrix could walk in at any moment. She'd have to wait until they were back at school.

Madam Malkin finished lacing up the gown and Narcissa turned to the mirror, choking back a sob as she looked at herself. She looked lovely, to be sure. The translucent white fabric had a glint of gold in the candle light, cascading down to the floor in beautiful tufts. The long peasant sleeves were threaded with goblin gold at the wrists. Her blonde hair was swept up on top of her head, and the bottom half that was dark raven black was exposed. In her hair was a pin of the Black and Malfoy crests, entwined.

"Can you please ask Miss Howard-Shelley to come in." She whispered. Madam Malkin disappeared and in her place arrived her dark haired friend.

Narcissa let her sobs break free.

"I-, I-" She couldn't get a word out without a sob in between them. It was the kind of ugly, destroying cry that wracked the whole body.

Emma stood back, struggling to keep her own tears in. Narcissa looked lovely, and miserable.

"Andromeda." Narcissa finally croaked out.

Andromeda wouldn't be there. As Emma stepped forward to console Narcissa, they both heard the door to the shop open with a ring.

"Cissy, I'm here, let's get on with this." Bella's aristocratic voice rang out.

"Just a minute, I want us all to be wearing our new robes. You change and then we will all come out." Narcissa responded, pushing Emma out of the fitting room.

She used the next 5 minutes to calm her breathing and dry her face. She couldn't let Bellatrix see her breakdown over their estranged sister.

"All right, we're ready." Emma said outside the door.

All three women stepped into the shared space of the fitting rooms. Narcissa took in the sight of the two of them, in pale yellow gowns in a similar style to her own. Emma looked radiant, and appreciative of the gown outside her usual sphere of jewel tones and neutrals. Bella looked irate.

"Yellow, Cissy? Really? I think I'd rather shag a giant then wear yellow." Her sister said cooly.

"What's wrong with it? It's a summer wedding and Malfoy Manor's chapel has a delightful field of daisies surrounding it that I thought we could carry." Narcissa responded in a quiet voice.

"Daisies? I think I just might vomit."

"You already had your wedding, didn't you Bella?" Emma asked, appraising herself in the mirror.

"Hmph. This looks like an occasion fit for the Weasleys, not the Blacks." Bellatrix replied.

"And what, pray, is wrong with the Weasleys? Their blood is just as pure as yours." Emma remarked.

"Enough." Narcissa breathed out. "You're wearing yellow and carrying daisies. That's final."

Emma and Narcissa walked back to the castle that night rather than take one of the horseless carriages. It was a pleasant evening, no longer bitterly cold as February had been, but still chilly. She'd wanted to talk to Narcissa in private all day, she'd had no sleep the night before, she stayed up all night reading Mary Shelley's diary.

"Ciss I can't wait any longer to tell you this. Firstly, you can't marry Lucius, and second, you can't give him the diary."

Emma watched the color drain from Narcissa's face.

"Why?"

"Because I know what he is going to do with it."

"Oh Emma." Narcissa replied in the weakest voice Emma had ever heard.

"I gave it to him after supper when we said goodbye. You didn't see?"

"No. Oh no." Emma sank to the ground next to a large oak tree.

"Emma, why?"

"I, I don't know exactly why, but if it's anything like Mary Shelley's diary then it is an extremely powerful magical object. Perhaps a dangerous one, too."

"Tell me. Tell me everything." Narcissa sat down next to her. Emma's story came pouring out.

"It started with me finally reading the diary. I read it all in one night, cover to cover, engrossed. It was a tale of her final year at Hogwarts. She, like me, was a Ravenclaw, but forever bitter about her sorting, and she was obsessed with blood purity and everlasting life. Galvanism, they called it in those days. Her father and stepmother kept company with all manner of dark wizards who were obsessed with immortality."

"Hence her book of creating life? Frankenstein?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes, but there is so much more to it than that. The first time I read the diary it was absolutely disgusting, filled with hatred of the acutest sort. She was bitter over not being a Slytherin, obsessed with finding the Chamber of Secrets, and irate over her arranged marriage to Percy Shelley. Everyone assumed he was a squib, as he'd never been to Hogwarts, never been sorted. But he came from a pureblood line that was trying to keep up appearances, so they were married."

Emma paused and took in a deep breath.

"The last page was the night before her wedding. She seemed to commit herself to the task of immortality. She vowed to make a horcrux of the diary by killing Percy."

Narcissa gasped. Emma continued.

"But then the oddest thing happened. I closed it, and the next morning when I went to re-read it, it was a whole new diary. It was as though the book had transformed and went forward in time. I read it again, and this time it was all about her marriage with Percy. About how he wasn't a squib, but a seer. He'd been sheltered to protect his powers from the greedy. And he'd been forced to marry Emma like you're being forced to marry Lucius; he hated the pureblood supremacists and tried to rebel. They silenced him with marriage, and he'd responded by living a public life as a muggle poet."

"So? What does this have to do with Voldemort and the other diary?"

"This is only my conjecture, but I think Voldemort was partly inspired by her. I think the diary you gave Lucius is a horcrux too. But here's the catch: I read Mary's diary three times. Each time was further along in her marriage, and each time she shed more and more of her old beliefs. She fell in love with Percy during their trip to Geneva with Lord Byron. Eventually, she wrote Frankenstein after fully rejecting wizard life, and the desire to deter wizards from trying to unnaturally extend life. She wanted to throw dark wizards off of their plans, so she wrote a novel about it. She told the muggles what wizards were doing, to protect them. And last night, during my last reading, I noticed she wrote in the introduction that whoever read her diary three full times was a "Ravenclaw maid of my matrimonial age, blood of my blood, bone of my bone." Cissa- I'm the only descendent of hers to ever be sorted in Ravenclaw. The only person who could read it the full three times was me. The Dark Lord read it once but couldn't get beyond her first story, they wanted me to find out the rest for them."

"I'm afraid I don't completely understand." Narcissa replied.

"I don't either, and the diary's magic prevents me from revealing it all. But I know that Percy had a vision, a vision of Lord Voldemort, his diary, and the Chamber of Secrets. And in order to fight him, they left her diary for me."

"And I gave Lucius the horcrux. I wish I knew what it would do."

"Mary didn't say. But whatever it is, we must keep that book away from Hogwarts for as long as we can. That's all I know. It's power is most potent at Hogwarts."

"Can I ask you something, Emma?"

"Yes, of course."

"How do I leave him?"

"Leave that to me."

The next day in Defense Against the Dark Arts was a dueling practical. And Lily had been paired with James. Because after all, before Hogwarts professors were educators, they were first and foremost meddlers.

"Potter."

"Evans."

The witch and wizard swished their wands and bowed.

"How's the little wife?" Lily sniffed, then shot a jelly legs jinx at him.

As he parried, James groaned.

"For the last time, we were broken, we ARE broken up."

"Hmph." Lily muttered.

"Evans, when are you going to forgive me for something that isn't my fault?" James asked, throwing a curse her way.

"I don't know what you mean. If you insist that nothing wrong happened, then surely I have no need to bestow forgiveness upon you." Lily's northern voice intoned.

"It's been a month, can we at least speak plainly about it?"

"Why?"

"I need someone cheering me on for the Quidditch final." He smirked and then realized it was the wrong thing to say. Lily practically snarled in response.

"Maybe Severus has been right about you all this time."

"You'd really defend the weasel who called you a slur rather than believe me?"

"No," Lily admitted, "No I wouldn't."

"Can I explain myself please?" James asked, disarming her and catching her wand, so she had to walk up close to him to retrieve it.

"I think I've heard it all before Potter." She said, reaching for her wand. He held it over his head so she could not grab it.

"No, you really haven't. I broke up with Gen that morning, and I told her it was because of you. I said I couldn't deny my real feelings any longer, and we parted ways. What she said at the party in the common room was a lie."

"I've heard this before, Potter. It doesn't seem any better to be second skimmings now than it was a month ago." Lily started jumping to try and get her wand, getting annoyed.

"I am a lot of insufferable things, Lily. I will grant you that. But a liar I am not." He stared down into her green eyes with an almost dramatic earnestness. Lily laughed in response, she couldn't help it. Whenever he tried to be serious, he just looked goofy.

Lily thought to herself for a moment, as she recovered from her giggles. She knew within her that he was telling the truth, that he wasn't with Genevieve Belcour anymore when he kissed her by the fireplace at the Gryffindor victory party. But her pride had been wounded in the humiliating scene that followed, and she was most ashamed of how she'd reacted, like a pigeon over breadcrumbs fighting with a dove. It had ended with Gen slapping James across the face, accusing him of being a cheater. She'd been so embarrassed by the situation, she'd held a grudge against James for putting her into it.

"I'm not ready to be a couple yet James. I need you to prove that I'm not a consolation prize." She blurted out.

James laughed and ran his fingers through his hair, finally giving her wand back. Lily looked down so he couldn't see how much the action drove her wild.

"I heartily accept the challenge." He smiled and playfully pushed her shoulder back, and they resumed their duel.

Though they weren't together yet, Lily and James's relationship would be filled with moments like this. Dueling, laughing, wands at the ready, them against the world. Emma watched them across the room, and couldn't understand the pang of pain her heart felt at watching them duel. She'd taken the memory away, but the feeling of foreboding over Lily and James would never leave her.