Hannah spent the remainder of the day in the darkened bedroom, fading in and out of sleep. Snape had knocked on her door after dinner time to bring her some food, but eating was not a task she had any desire to complete. The next day would've been the same had Snape not awoken Hannah.
"Potions class begins shortly; you must get up." He said through the cracked door. Getting out of bed took every inch of effort Hannah could muster. The notion of attending class felt inconsequential in the wake of Adrian's brutal demise and the ceaseless throb of the Dark Mark etched onto her arm. She dragged her robes on, settled into the classroom with her head resting heavily on the desk, and awaited the arrival of her classmates.

The students trickled in. The cheerful chatter around her was nothing but white noise in an empty auditorium. It felt as if an impenetrable bubble had formed around her, and nothing existed or mattered outside that bubble. She was sure Snape was giving instructions to the class, but the words were overshadowed by the loud emptiness of Adrian's chair next to hers. A flick of Snape's wand saw Hannah's potions book flip to a recipe for the Draught of Living Death. Hannah tried to read the words on the page:
'and effect if werewolf.' No.
'end effluent off warrant.' No.
'odd involved for worried.' No. She never did add the infusion of wormwood. No matter how many times she tried to read, the words remained stubbornly unreadable. By the end of the class, her cauldron remained empty, and she remained in her seat, paralysed by a haze that blanketed her sentience.

Next, she had to go to Transfiguration. She could have collided with a dozen students on her way to the class, but she wouldn't have noticed. She felt like a ghost phasing in and out of existence. Every student seemed part of the blurry scenery. Until she spotted Dani sitting in the classroom. She felt a slight jolt that brought her back to reality. Dani looked up at Hannah, then looked expectantly around her, as if waiting for Adrian to appear by her side. Hannah's heart sank and she sat down next to Dani.
"Where's Adrian? What happened?" Dani whispered to Hannah as the class started to settle into their seats. They occupied the farthest corner of the room, with only Shinayd a couple of desks to their right. Hannah's throat tightened, searching for words that felt almost impossible to say.
"He's dead." She whispered. Dani's reaction was a loud thud of her knee on the desk with a simultaneous stunned squeal.
"No. No. No no no. That can't be right." Dani protested in frantic whispers. "How? Why? Who? When?"
"Shush!" hissed Hannah.
"I don't get it." Dani persisted in a whisper, "why is this being kept a secret?"
"Because..." Hannah began, then met Dani's gaze, resorting to legilimency instead. "That person was a death eater." Hannah let the words pierce Dani's thoughts.
"Are you in my head?" Dani thought, shocked. "WAIT, that was a death eater? Why were they after Adrian?"
"They were after me."
"Why?" Hannah took a moment to prepare herself.
"It was my mother." Hannah listened to the string of thoughts that raced through Dani's mind:
"Her mother? Who is her mother? Her mums a death eater? She doesn't seem like she'd have a death eater parent. Or maybe she does? She did cast Imperio that one time. No. That doesn't mean she's a bad person. Wait. She can read my mind. Shh Dani. I can't make myself shush. I'm sorry Hannah I don't think you're a bad person because your mum is a death eater."
"It's fine." Hannah whispered, relieved that Dani wasn't resentful.
"I'm so sorry you've had to go through this," Dani whispered back. Hannah could tell Dani was resisting the urge to hug her. She was glad. Hannah planned how to broach how Suzanna is a potential threat to Dani's life.
"Listen," Hannah began, "you need to be careful."
"Why?" Hannah pinched the bridge of her nose, grappling with the weight of her revelation. How do you tell someone that their life is in danger?
"My mother saw you that night, and you saw something that nobody was supposed to see. I can't imagine she's pleased that there's a witness walking around Hogwarts." Hannah watched intently as Dani's expression went from confusion, shock, fear, and back to confusion.
"But you were there, too. How are you alive right now?" Hannah looked down at her hands as if looking for instructions on what to say.
"I can't tell you that right now. Can that be okay with you?" She said after a moment of silence. Dani studied Hannah's face as she considered this.
"Yes. Tell me when you are ready."

Hannah spent the rest of the day just trying to cope. The classes she shared with Dani provided some semblance of comfort, but those spent alone were agonising. She'd normally find some solace around Fred and George, but their cheerfulness felt repulsive. Dani dragged Hannah to dinner that night, where Hannah managed to keep a couple of mouthfuls of food down and brought a healthy handful of meat down to the quarters for Spero.
"You're late." Snape drawled as she entered through his office.
"For what?"
"Detention." Snape shot her a look under furrowed brows.
"What detention?" Hannah paused, leftover meat in hand. Snape studied her for a moment, trying to discern if she was feigning ignorance or genuinely unaware.
"I assigned you detention today with the Weasley twins. You failed to follow instructions." Hannah stared at him, astonished. Was he really giving her a detention two days after she watched her boyfriend get murdered?
"Forgive me, I've been distracted." Hannah retorted curtly. She went into the bedroom and gave Spero the meat before returning to the office. "You're seriously giving me detention?"
"Yes." Snape responded tersely.
"Are you really that callous? What the fuck?"
"What did you expect me to do? Let you disregard my instructions in front of an entire classroom of students? What kind of questions do you think that would've raised?" Snape's voice was both sarcastic and condescending. Hannah ignored how her insides lurched. She would find a way to tolerate Fred and George's company despite her inability to muster a single cheerful thought. Besides, pretending to be someone she was not seemed to be just how her life was going to be for the foreseeable future. At that moment, Fred and George entered the room.
"What will you have us do today, my Lord?" Fred quipped, addressing Snape with exaggerated formality. Snape straightened tall and stared at Fred with such malice that he recoiled into a chair.
"Cauldrons, now." Snape drawled, gesturing to the pile of dirty cauldrons in the adjacent classroom. "And don't dawdle, I need this room cleared out by nine." Snape swept out of the room and slammed the door behind him.
"What's up with him? He's even grumpier than usual." Fred remarked, eyebrows raised. Hannah shrugged.
"So, where has your lover boy been?" George asked as he reclined on a desk chair. Hannah tried to ignore her insides squirming.
"St Mungos. He was badly splinched during the apparition lesson." She hoped the words were more convincing than they felt.
"Should've learned from us. George and I were apparating before we even had lessons." Fred bragged, his gaze drifting towards the potion ingredients on the office shelves. Hannah left the office and performed her obligatory hand-wave to clean the classroom cauldrons. She just wanted to be alone. As she re-entered the office, she spotted Fred pocketing some potion ingredients. "Can't keep stealing them from cellars in Hogsmeade, people will get suspicious." He shrugged his shoulders at Hannah.
"How are you even getting to Hogsmeade?"
"Secret passages. There's one that leads directly from Hogwarts to Honeydukes," Fred explained, "we can show you, if you like? Since you've already finished cleaning." Hannah considered this for a moment. On one hand, she really didn't want company for longer than necessary. On the other hand, it would be convenient to leave the castle whenever she wished.
"Okay."

"Dissendium." Fred murmured as he tapped the one-eyed witch. Hannah, Fred, and George slid behind the passage, and entered the vast tunnels.
"You have to be really careful nobody is following you," George cautioned, "it takes a while to close behind you, so you need a ten-second clearance."
"And we're not just telling you this for your sake. We don't want this passageway discovered by teachers or other students." Fred whispered, as he clambered over debris in the tunnel.
"And it's not just when you enter. You want to make sure nobody is around when you leave, too." George added.
"Homenum revelio should work to check for anyone nearby. You've just got to hope Filch's cat isn't lurking."
"Got it." Hannah said as they reached the trap door.
"You have two options at this point. You can either climb up through Honeydukes, or apparate out of the cellar. Most of the tunnel has an anti-disapparition jinx, so it's best not to attempt it earlier." George explained.
"Now, we're going to go and find some more potion ingredients. You're welcome to join, if you're stealthy enough." Fred and George began climbing up the ladder to the trap door.
"Got nothing better to do." Hannah whispered, as she followed behind them.