When Arden returned from the library to find her friends all huddled in the common room like there was nothing to do, she was very much irritated. "Am I the only one who studies here?"

At the same time she asked, Romina, who sat cross legged on the floor in front of the table, flicked a piece of paper across the table to make a goal over Angel's fingers. Romina, gleeful, looked up at Arden. "We did our studying. Now we're relaxing. I've got 5 goals under my belt."

"That's cause you know the game," Angel reminded and lowered his palms to the table. His makeshift goal with his fingers was about the only concrete part he understood of this football game Romina talked about.

Romina shrugged at him. "Doesn't mean anything."

From the couch, Carolinha looked up from a magazine Daphne had let her borrow. "Pretty sure that means everything."

"Who's side are you on?" Romina shot the brunette a look over her shoulder. Angel, in turn, smirked proudly.

"Unfortunately, familial ties require me to be on his side," Carolinha said, and Angel's smirk dropped.

Romina let out a loud "Ha!" that cut through the room. Angel reached for one of the crumpled balls of paper they were using as footballs and flicked it towards Romina only instead of reaching her, or making a goal for that matter, he somehow got it to flick in Arden's direction and hit her nose.

Arden flinched. "Hey!"

Angel apologetically smiled. "Sorry. I've never played any form of football."

Arden shook her head. "It's actually not that hot today. Why don't you go to the lake today or something?"

"Who are you, our mother?" Carolinha raised an eyebrow at her. "And how come you're not coming?"

"I have Divination."

"I told you not to take that class," Romina said, readying herself to flick another paper football towards Angel's finger goals.

"No you didn't."

"I didn't?" Romina paused to think. "Oh, right, that was Hermione."

"A legend, by the way, and not in the best way in this class," Arden said. Everybody knew how Trewlany had publicly declared Hermione's lack of divination skills the year before and how Hermione had reacted in response.

"Still funny," Romina snickered. "Every time you remind her, she gets so mad."

"I think she's better in Ancient Runes," Carolinha said, finally giving up the magazine in her hands. "I ask her for help all the time in that class. I gotta say, she was better than any of the private tutors Mum and Dad hired for us before coming to school."

"You guys had private tutors?" Romina said, making a face and glancing over her shoulder to Arden. "They had private tutors, Ard..."

"Of course," Arden did a fake curtsy for the twins.

"What a shocker," Romina said right before flicking her paper ball. It hit Angel between the eyes.

"Hey!" He frowned.

Romina giggled. "That counts as a goal."

"I'm pretty sure it doesn't…" Angel's head turned in Arden's direction, "Does it?"

Arden rolled her eyes. "Romina, quit being mean."

"Arden's right guys, why don't we go outside?" Carolinha suggested, finally putting down her magazine. "Or we could go see if anybody else is putting their name into the Goblet?" The room of the Goblet of Fire was a hot spot and it would continue to be one until Halloween night when the champions' names were called.

"What for? I already got my fill when Fred and George did their little aging number," Romina said, resting her palms on the table. Angel called quits on their game. Ten to 2 was something to ponder for him.

"Then let's go to the lake! Oh!" Carolinha hopped off the couch with a lit up face. "You can show us that violin of yours!"

"You brought it?" Angel asked Romina, fairly curious as his sister had been when she first saw the instrument.

Romina nodded. "I thought it would be nice if it didn't collect dust this year."

"Let's do that!" Carolinha exclaimed. "Can we, Romina? Please?"

Romina shrugged. "I guess. But I stand by my warning that I only know muggle tunes. It's a muggle class."

"Something different," Angel smiled. "We'll love it, I'm sure."

Romina flushed. "Alright then. Be back in a bit." She pushed herself up from the ground and headed for the hallway.

"And I guess I'm off to Divination," Arden said, making a face. "Will you guys still be there afterwards?"

"Yeah," Angel nodded. "I want to listen to as many tunes Romina can play."

Arden smirked knowingly. "Oh, I bet you do."

"Arden," Romina's call was sharp and full of warning. Arden decided to hurry along for her Divination book in her room.

"So, Romina, are we doing it?" Carolinha eagerly asked.

"Yeah, why not," Romina started pulling herself up from the floor. "I win, Angel."

Angel sighed. "Not much of a game if one of the players doesn't know how to play."

Romina pushed her hair behind her shoulders, smiling smugly. "Doesn't mean anything." She started for the hallway.

"Pretty sure it means everything!" Angel called after her, making her laugh.

~ 0 ~

The lake wasn't that crowded given that classes had only started a couple weeks back. Students were still grappling to their new schedules. Those lucky enough to enjoy some time off, like Romina, Carolinha and Angel, had found ample space to relax in.

Romina had been shy carrying her violin all the way down to the lake. Several students had given her strange looks for owning the instrument in the first place. The Beauxbaton girls were the only students who seemed slightly impressed...as if no Hogwart student could be graceful enough to use the instrument correctly.

"That looks new," Carolinha remarked as they sat down on the mushy grass. She and Angel sat opposite of Romina.

"It sort of is," Romina said, placing the violin over her lap, "My aunt and uncle bought it for me last year as a Christmas present. I've only ever really played it during last summer."

"Arden said you were taking classes, right?" Angel asked. "Or that you had started it up again?"

Romina nodded. "Before coming to Hogwarts, I took violin classes after school. You could say that the violins have grown with me."

"That's cute," Carolinha giggled. "Poetic."

"Yeah, that's about the only poetic thing about me," Romina said, sharing a laugh with her afterwards. "But in all seriousness, I do love this thing so much. I may be a loud mouth, impulsive, and my character could use some more ladylike traits but when I play the violin...I feel like I'm truly elegant and graceful."

"You can be those things when you want to be," Angel said, "And even if you aren't, who cares? You're still great."

Romina smiled sweetly at him. "Thanks."

Carolina cleared her throat with purpose. She was beginning to think her brother was going a little overboard with his crush. Annoying was crossed a long time ago. "Anyways," she said, throwing her brother a look for him to calm himself, "I want to hear something."

"Well," Romina said, pausing to think for a second, "Before we came back to Hogwarts, Arden and I were practicing this cover of Halloween muggle movie we watched."

"What was it?" both Carolinha and Angel inquired, even sharing the same curiosity that only twins could.

Romina was shy when she answered in a whisper. "Hocus Pocus…"

"Hocus what?" Carolinha lifted an eyebrow at her. "That sounds weird, even for Muggles."

"It's a Halloween movie. A comedic Halloween movie," Romina reminded them, "It's about 3 witches who come back to life after being lynched in the Salem Witch Trials—"

"That's supposed to be a comedy?" Angel made a face. "The Salem Witch trials are terrible, Romina. Nothing funny can be made out of it."

Romina sighed. She supposed she shouldn't be surprised that even the twins didn't understand her muggle ways sometimes. "It's supposed to be fake, guys," she said quietly.

"But it's not," Carolinha said adamantly, "Witches and wizards used to be hunted down for real until we decided to go underground."

"I get that but this is just a movie and you know what?" Romina frowned at the pair of siblings. "If we're going to be on the honesty part—those witches deserved it. If anybody's stealing youth and killing children, then they should be killed." She opened her arms to wait for a counterargument from either sibling.

Of course, there was none.

"Thank you," Romina said, rolling her eyes, "Now then, would you like to hear the version of the song they used for the movie? It's catchy, I swear. And the title…?"

"Yeah, I guess," Angel nodded, slowly. He could see where Romina's annoyance stemmed from and over a movie. Maybe he and Carolinha were over-exaggerating a little bit. There was no way Romina would ever be okay with the Salem Witch Trials.

"The song's called 'I Put a Spell on You'," Romina said, earning a combined laugh.

"Of course it is," Carolinha shook her head. "Okay, maybe it's not that bad."

"The way Winnie sings it is hilarious," Romina continued with more giddiness now that they were focusing on the 'it's a movie' part. "She makes the humans dance. But the actual song is a little bit more...sensual, I think."

"Oooh," Carolinha's eyes widened, her lips curling into a smirk. "Now I definitely want to hear it."

"I'm not sure I want to anymore," Angel muttered. Carolinha promptly elbowed him on his side. "I'm just saying!"

Romina laughed. "You should hear Arden sing it. She's actually really good. If this whole witch thing doesn't turn out, we might go into show business. Arden sings and I play the violin."

"I'll pay for the tickets!" Carolinha quickly volunteered.

"Oh alright, can we just hear it?" Angel asked, preferring to get it out of the way before Carolinha started going on in a ramble.

Romina thought the same. "Okay." She pulled her violin over her left collarbone. It took some adjusting but she'd remembered everything Mrs. Vale had taught her. She'd only been going to Mrs. Vale's class since forever. Soon, she was delicately moving the bow over the strings to create—to the best of her ability—the melody of the song. To help the twins imagine the song better, she decided to hum along.

Whatever qualms and annoyances that had occurred were forgotten in a matter of seconds. The twins were dazzled with Romina's talent. The melody truly did sound like it was trying to tempt you into something, taunting even. Carolinha swayed her head, imagining what it would sound with even more instruments. Angel listened as well but he was more focused on Romina. It looked like she had forgotten they were even there. Her hums grew louder yet remained soft to stay between them.

"Sing," Angel suddenly requested. He had done so breathlessly that Carolinha sent him another 'calm down' glance.

Romina's eyes flickered to the twins, smiling lightly. "I'm not much of a singer," she reminded them. She continued to play without the humming. "Maybe when Arden gets out of class, she can help."

"You're playing amazingly," Angel said.

"You really are," agreed Carolinha.

Romina was flushed with embarrassment. "Thanks guys," she said. "You want to hear more? I've got Disney classics under my belt."

"Disney?" Both twins chorused with the same confusion.

Romina laughed. "Oh dear, I've got to catch you up."

~ 0 ~

Divination could not have ended any slower. Arden was ready to leave, especially today. Trewlany had, had some crazy ideas and suggestions about rearranging seats for the class and Arden wasn't very content with her new partner. The only thing that they could agree on was that neither one wanted the other for a partner.

"Hey King!" she heard the call from the steps above.

"No," Arden said sharply when she turned to Draco coming down the stairs.

"I haven't said anything," the blonde said with a frown.

"I don't care," Arden snapped. "You saw who I got stuck with as a partner!" She flapped her arm in the direction of their class. "You really think that after sitting next to Pansy for what seemed like an eternity, that I would have the energy to handle whatever the hell you're going to send my way?"

"Kinda weak there," Draco remarked, smirking when he could practically see the fumes coming out of Arden's ears. "I was just going to ask if you had any idea where Oswell would be right now? I have something...fun to show her."

"Oh, I bet," Arden rolled her eyes. She was also in no mood to handle the petty war between the two. "She's at the lake. I sincerely hope she'll shove you into the water. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the library to get a headstart on that homework Trewlany assigned. Fancy making predictions?"

"Not unless they include me winning," Draco was quick to answer with. He moved around her and went on his way.

Arden went in the opposite way for the library.

~ 0 ~

Maybe it was a little late to enact another round of retaliation but after thinking about it during Divination class—because Draco pretty much thought about anything but the actual class—he decided that he earned some fun times. Trewlany made time go so unbearingly slow.

"Remind me again why we can't go back to the Common Room after a long day?" Blaise asked him as they trudged down towards the lake. Like Draco, and Arden for that matter, Divination had sucked the life out of him.

"Because you can never miss an opportunity to stick it to Oswell," Draco answered automatically.

"On the contrary," said Theodore, rolling his eyes, "I don't think any of us care enough like you do. Is it really that important?"

"Absolutely," Draco said confidently. He was sure that if Romina had thought of the same thing he had, she wouldn't waste a second in enacting it.

"And why are we here again?" Blaise asked with a sigh.

"Because I require an audience and you two have nothing better to do."

"...fair."

Draco thought as much. He picked up his pace, leaving Blaise and Theodore to do the same. The closer they got, the more they started hearing what sounded like music. It took them a short moment to realize it wasn't exactly music but a product of a violin. And with that violin came the giggles of familiar girls.

Draco immediately picked out Romina's from Carolinha's, the latter having a more squeakish type of giggle. He soon spotted the pair sitting on the ground and, unsurprisingly, it was Romina who had been playing the violin. Then Draco saw Angel sitting a bit too close to Romina. In fact, during her fit of giggles (apparently over something Angel was proudly saying), Romina occasionally let her head fall over his shoulder. And of course Angel lived for it. Of course he did. Draco knew he did.

"Are you going or not?" Blaise demanded beside Draco, very much tired.

"Seriously," Theodore threw his head back impatiently.

Draco continued to watch in silence for a few more minutes. He knew he got angry a lot—it was part of his personality—but he couldn't ever remember a moment where he felt this type of anger. It was an unjustified anger—he could admit that to himself and only to himself—and it consumed him in under a minute. A record time; something else he was aware of but would only admit it to himself.

"Look, she's clearly not even thinking about your stupid war—can we go now?" Blaise said, despite already turning away. Theodore was doing the same thing.

No, Romina clearly wasn't thinking about anything else that didn't have to do with that violin of hers and Angel sitting perhaps but a centimeter from her. Draco had never turned so fast, that Blaise could ascertain, considering he was shoved to the side.

"Hey!" Blaise called after him but Draco was too far ahead to notice or hear anything, not that he would even if he had been close.

"What the hell is his problem?" Theodore rolled his eyes and got started walking back to the castle.

~ 0 ~

Arden lowered her parchment to see both Harry and Ron staring at her with wide blinking eyes. They'd been working quietly in the library since they'd found each other. They were also taking Divination which led to a lot of common ground between them, mostly questions about how to do the assignment. Arden had long lost patience and when Ron suggested they just start making up their predictions for the month, Arden went right with it. Now she was done and she was ready to present her homework to them.

"Erm…Arden…" Harry said a minute later, he and Ron both looking at her chart, "You wrote down that you're going to get run over."

"Yeah," Arden shrugged. "So what?"

"Getting run over implies cars and...there's no cars at Hogwarts," Harry said, pressing his lips into a thin line.

"Huh, you're right." Arden planted her arms on the table and thought for a second. "Oh!" She snapped her fingers. "I can get trampled over! She can't question that with the Beauxbatons' horses out there."

"Sounds good," Harry snickered as he handed her parchment back.

"I hope she buys it though—Trewlaney," Arden said.

"She will as long as we put ruddy stuff like the 'planets aligned'," Ron mimicked their professor's tone, causing a fit of snickers amongst them.

"King!"

Arden groaned. "Not again," she whispered just as Draco strode up to the table. "I thought you were going to the la—"

"We need to talk, now," Draco declared, "Get your stuff and let's go!"

Arden raised an eyebrow at him. "Excuse me?"

"Now!"

"You can't talk to her like that," frowned Harry.

"For once in your lifetime, Potter, stay out of it," snapped Draco without so much of a glance in Harry's direction. His eyes were glued on Arden as he waited for her to pack her stuff up.

"That's rich coming from you," Harry scoffed.

Draco paid his remark no attention. "King, let's go!"

Ron looked between Arden and Harry, sharing the same surprise and genuine curiosity. It wasn't every day that Draco Malfoy ignored them. They wished that would happen more often but sadly reality wasn't that kind to them...which begged the question of what had caused such a phenomenon in the first place.

"I will get your stuff and shove into the bag," Draco warned Arden, "and whatever homework you got done—"

"I get it," Arden said, raising a hand to keep him right where he was. "Sheesh, what the hell got into you?" She started rolling up her parchment. She packed up quicker just out of sheer curiosity. "I guess I'll see you two later—ah!" Draco had yanked her away from the table before she could finish saying goodbye to Harry and Ron. "Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" Arden exclaimed against his hard grip around her arm.

Madame Pince shot them both a look for the disturbance but since they were on their way out anyways, she didn't bother with anything else.

"Would you let go of me? Since when do you touch me anyways!?" Arden wrestled out of Draco's grip. "And how can I make that never happen again!?"

"Shut it!" He snapped. "And listen!"

"Not like I have much of a choice," Arden muttered as she rubbed her arm. "What's gotten into you?"

"You...you were right," Draco said after much struggle, "I...I think I need to fix things with Romina."

Arden paused, her head turning slightly. "Oh, you're serious." He huffed. "You used her first name. How'd that happen in the course of an hour?"

"Doesn't matter," Draco said, "I just need...some...help." The struggle to admit any of that was enough to send him to the nightwing with stomach pains.

Arden's eyebrows raised. "Oh? My help?"

Draco nodded. "Unfortunately, the only people who really know Oswell are you and Potter. And I will die before I ever ask him for help."

"Yeah, yeah you would," Arden agreed. "And you're in luck, Harry lives a few houses down from Romina but I live right next door to her."

"I know, that's a torture I don't even want to imagine...for her, you know."

"You want my help or not?"

"...yes," Draco admitted.

Arden tilted her head. "Say it completely. I require a full admission before I offer my services."

"Seriously?"

"Mhm. You fucked it up, therefore you gotta work for it."

"Oh I bet," Draco grumbled. He had thought long and hard before coming to Arden and as such, he expected a couple things. "Fine," he relented, "I need your help. What's it going to cost from you?"

Arden grinned. "Two things," she said, much too quickly...almost as if she'd expected this situation to happen. "One," —she raised a finger—, "you have trade Divination partners with me."

Draco's face filled with horror. "You want me to take Parkinson!?"

Arden nodded. "Absolutely."

"No, no, anything else!"

"That's one of my prices!"

"Nott doesn't even like you!"

"Not my problem, I'd rather work with him instead."

"NO!"

Arden crossed her arms. "Why not? She's like in love with you so you could get her to do your work."

"It's not worth it!" Draco said far too quickly for Arden not to laugh on the spot. "I mean it!"

"That's part one of my deal," Arden said, "Take it."

Draco passed a hand over his face, groaning, "Fine! How will you explain that to Trewlany anyways?"

Arden cleared her throat and proceeded to answer in the voice of their professor, "Because my birth planet would be out of its orbit if I was next to Parkinson." She laughed shortly afterwards.

"What else?" demanded Draco before he truly lost it.

"I've seen you talking to Viktor Krum—I want an autograph."

"You don't even like Quidditch, why would you want an autograph from him?"

"Because then I'm going to sell that for a couple galleons," Arden answered matter-of-factly. "I can definitely start a schoolwide bidding for it," she smirked.

Draco paused and looked at her. "I am...very tempted to say I like your style."

Arden nodded. "We can work well together."

"Fine, I will switch partners with you and get the stupid autograph. Will you help me fix things with Romina?"

Arden held her hand out to shake with him. "Done deal."

Draco begrudgingly shook hands with her. "Not a word to anyone," he warned. "That's my end of the deal."

"I don't think they'd believe me anyways," Arden pointed out.

In that, Draco could relax but everything else...it seemed impossible. He had yet to flush out the anger he felt from the lake.

~ 0 ~

"I'm so tired," Arden said as she and Romina made it into the courtyard, "And you Romina, you look so…" Arden finished her sentence cautiously when Romina threw her a glare.

They had just finished a Care of Magical Creatures class and the skrewts were getting too big for either girl's liking. They were burning more. Romina had marks on her arms to prove it. "I love Hagrid but I'm afraid he's going to kill us," she said on their way to Great Hall.

Arden laughed. "I know."

"The only good thing is that it wasn't just me who looks like this," Romina held her arms out for Arden to see. "Draco had the lovely idea to say I should connect the dots with them as if he didn't have a big mark on his neck."

Arden snorted. It was actually a fairly funny joke. "I mean…"

"Shut it!" Romina snapped. "I'm going to get him back for that one too."

"Again with that? Aren't you getting tired of that?"

"It's like you don't know me at all."

"I'm just saying…" Arden wouldn't say that she was saying it in the first place because of the deal she'd made with Draco a few days back, "Don't you think it's kinda childish?"

"Maybe," shrugged Romina, "But it's also kind of fun."

Arden took note of the smirk on her friend's face. "It's more like weird flirting, you know."

The smirk dropped right off Romina's face. "I will punch you if you ever say that again to me."

Now it was Arden who was smirking. "Why? Cause it's true?" Romina said nothing before punching Arden's arm. "OW!" Arden yelped, hand clapping over her arm.

"I warned you," Romina said, entering the Great Hall. She was extra hungry after dealing with burning Skrewts.

"I was just saying—" Arden stopped altogether when Romina's fist raised again. "I meant maybe you should call it a truce already."

"Why would I ever do that?" Romina found an empty spot at their table. "It's not like Draco will."

"You never know," Arden said, taking a seat beside her. "You could try talking to him."

"Why bother? What I really want to hear from him will not be coming out of his mouth anytime soon." Romina reached for the bowl of peas. "I think he's forgotten the reason why we're in this in the first place."

"You mean because of what he said at the World Cup?"

Romina nodded. "Yes. Until he shows me a shred of decency, I can't forgive him."

"But...even Hermione doesn't seem that mad about it anymore and it was directed at her," Arden reminded. She'd done her due diligence and fished it out of Hermione herself. If anything, Hermione was more concerned that Romina would end up pushing Draco too far and would get hurt because of it.

"It doesn't matter," Romina snapped, "It's what he implied for the rest of muggles. I have to be honest, I still think that maybe, just maybe, he didn't mean it."

A silver lining. Arden jumped on it. "So use that and go talk to him!"

Romina shook her head. "No way. He'd laugh in my face for sure. He doesn't want to talk to me."

Arden cocked her head to the side, lips pursing as she mumbled under her breath. "You'd be surprised."

"Did you say something?"

"Huh?" Arden jumped. "Nope! Well, I was just curious…"

"About what?"

"Well, look, I'm kind of tired of this bullshit so excuse my curiosity. What do you really want Draco to do?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes!"

Romina side-glanced her friend with some suspicion but given that Arden was pretty much everywhere, Romina decided not to think about it so much. "I guess...I just want him to be honest. Mainly, I'd like to know that he's not as terrible as everybody says he is. Human decency, you know? He's not willing to let somebody die." Romina stopped eating altogether. She hadn't meant to be so specific. It was almost like she'd been thinking about it nonstop—which she hadn't. "I need to go change."

"What?" Arden frowned when Romina started getting up. "But we just sat down. You said you were starving!"

"I had my fill," Romina said quickly before rushing off.

"With what?" Arden was left calling. She took a look at Romina's plate and saw it was still pretty heavy on the load.

Half an hour later, Arden was relaying the conversation with Draco. They walked alongside each other down the bridge

"So basically you have nothing for me," Draco said sourly, shooting Arden a glare. Arden rolled her eyes in return. "I've already paid you but I will take my partner back."

Arden snorted. "No way in hell I'm giving Nott back. He's actually not that bad." Somewhere in the distance, she was sure Theodore would be hexing both her and Draco for using him like that. "And calm down, drama queen, I'm doing the best I can but you sincerely fucked it up."

"Wipe that smile off your face," Draco snapped as soon as he saw Arden close to laughing. "You said you were going to help me. Deal's a deal, King."

"Yeah, yeah," Arden waved him off. "I am. I had to do some fishing before I could actually help."

"That implies you've figured it out, then?"

"Mhm." Arden came to a stop, prompting Draco to do the same. "You want to fix things? You need to man up and go talk to Romina—and listen extra close for this one—without any tricks and jokes. No more retaliations, no more tricks. You need to be serious for once in your life."

"I thought I gave the implication that I was very serious when I agreed to take Parkinson off your hands," Draco reminded her.

Arden would bobbed her head. "Yeah, okay." That was a sacrifice all on its own. "But I meant what I said. Honestly, you just need to talk. I can help arrange that."

"No," Draco flatout said.

"Why not?"

"Because…" Draco struggled to come up with a decent answer and it was simply irritating Arden to no end. It was like he was purposely sabotaging his own attempts.

"I'm calling the shots now," she decided and took off for the courtyard.

"What—get the hell back here!" Draco rushed after her. Arden was surprisingly fast for someone petite like her. "That's not what we agreed on!"

"We agreed that I would help you and if I have to drag you there myself, I'll do it," Arden said, making the motion that she was more than willing to pinch him by the ear if she had to. "I have a younger sister and brother, you know. I'll do it for sure."

"Malfoy?" The pair stopped at the call. Theodore was coming up to them with a fairly confused face. "What are you doing with King of all people?"

Arden audibly groaned. "Dating—is it any of your business?"

Draco could have strangled her at that moment. He cast a deep glare in her direction but Arden was long used to the looks Pansy always sent her.

"Seriously, think about it. Talking is the way to go," she warned him before taking off.

"What the hell was that?" Theodore asked, or rather demanded, from Draco when Arden was gone. "First, you make me switch partners and now you're spending time with her? Dude, what the hell is going on?"

"None of your business," snapped Draco before he, too, took off. He had to consider his very few options before Arden decided to follow through with her threat to arrange things.

~ 0 ~

Romina felt like she was being watched in a way. She had no idea what it was, nor who it was, but she felt the presence of someone's eyes on her. She wouldn't realize it until a couple of Beauxbatons girls came up to her one day with the message that their headmistress—Madame Maxim—was waiting for her in the courtyard.

"But why is she looking for me?" Romina dumbly asked the seventh year girl who'd relayed the message. Don't be stupid, you know why, she reprimanded herself. She'd been wondering how long she could put that awkward conversation off.

The answer was a month.

So, after getting herself a little more ready for the meet—because she couldn't meet Madame Maxim without making herself a little more presentable—Romina went to go find the woman in the courtyard. Sure enough, there she was with a couple of her students.

Romina cleared her throat the closer she got. One of the girls informed Maxime about her presence and were promptly shooed as Romina arrived.

"Ah, bonjour Miss Oswell," she greeted cordially.

"Hello," Romina said, feeling like she probably should have said something else, something fancy.

"It's very nice to meet you," Madame Maxime said, smiling politely and cordially. "I believe your grandmother talked about us? The Beauxbatons Academy?"

Romina nodded. She sincerely hoped that her grandmother hadn't mentioned the big time gap since she first requested she (and Rolf for that matter) speak to her old headmistress.

"Abigail Gejél was one of my prized students back in the day," Madame Maxime remarked, her expression growing distant as she thought of the past. "I had just become the headmistress of the academy. Your grandmother, bless her heart, made my job a lot easier."

"I get the idea that she does that a lot," Romina said. It was embarrassing to admit that she didn't yet know her grandmother like a true granddaughter should.

Madame Maxime made a gesture for Romina to walk with her. "Oh yes, as a young girl, Abigail showed clear signs that she was poised and disciplined like a young lady should be."

Back in the day, Romina sourly thought. They were talking about the early 20th century of course. She, however, was not as "poised and disciplined" as her grandmother. She doubted she ever would be.

"She grew up to be a prized example of what all Beauxbatons students should be like," Madame Maxime said. She brought Romina to an empty bench where the two could sit together. "And she brought more recognition and pride after her work against Grindelwald."

"Who?" Romina asked, making a face. She regretted it the moment Madame Maxime looked at her crazily.

"You do not know of your grandmother—your grandparents'—history in the wizarding world?"

"Um...I have a complicated past myself," Romina said, biting her lip. "I only just discovered that Abigail was my grandmother. I heard a few things about a war but...I don't really know the exact details."

"This is an important history. Your grandmother fought to keep everybody safe, she helped fight one of the most powerful wizards apart from You-Know-Who."

"I didn't know," Romina admitted with shame. Maybe she should spend a little more time with history books rather than play tricks on people.

"I suppose Abigail didn't want to talk about the dark past with her grandchildren," Madame Maxime said, shrugging her shoulders.

Romina had to wonder if Rolf knew about this. Of course he has to. He's known grandma forever. Romina could feel a sting in her heart. What if her grandmother hadn't said anything because she didn't want to? Maybe she doesn't trust me enough.

"How old are you, Romina?" Madame Maxime inquired as she looked Romina over to calculate her own answer.

"Fourteen," Romina said.

"Ah, prime year to get ready for your exams the following year," nodded Madame Maxime. "As I have told Abigail time after time, the doors of the Beauxbaton academy are always open for her family."

Romina's eyes widened slightly at the idea of her actually attending Beauxbaton Academy instead of Hogwarts. It was terrifying to say the least.

"She's never taken my offer, though," Madame Maxime lamented, "She and her husband decided to send their kids to Hogwarts." She made a weak gesture towards the school. "I deeply respect Dumbledore but I must admit I have a little sore spot when it comes to my alumni."

Romina could smile at that. "I'm sure my grandmother doesn't think any less of your school. There's just something about Hogwarts, I guess. My father's family is originally from Columbia and they emigrated a long time ago to England just for the school."

Madame Maxime eyed Romina with genuine surprise. "Really?"

"Mhm," Romina nodded. ""Long time ago. Whole generation of Oswells have been coming here..."

"Well," Madame Maxime said with a huffy sigh, "I suppose I still have a chance of nabbing another Gejel when you and your cousin grow up."

Romina laughed for sheer embarrassment at the implication. "I'm fourteen, Madame!"

"Right now you are, but don't forget about Beauxbaton when you have your little ones, alright?" The woman winked at Romina and chuckled when she saw the bright blush on the girl's face.

~ 0 ~

It would be days before Romina could even glance in Madame Maxime's direction during meals in the Great Hall. Even then, Romina preferred to mostly focus on her meals. She did, however, nab the first opportunity to speak with Rolf later that week.

"She got to you too then, huh?" Rolf was shaking his head when Romina finished telling him the awkward conversation she had with the Madame. "I love grandma Abby, but that Madame is a little weird." Rolf hopped onto one of the windowsills for a seat. "And very obsessed with having more Gejéls at her school."

"Oh God, did she talk about that with you too?" Romina now felt mortified for the two.

"My future kids and whatnot! Lady, I'm 14!"

"And a guy, for that matter," Romina added, nearly snorting when Rolf went with a sharp 'yeah!'. "You're a scaredy cat."

"Oh come off it, you thinking about your future children already?" Rolf shot her a look.

"Of course not," Romina crossed her arms over her chest, "It's just not as terrifying as it probably is for you guys. Women are just inherently braver, hence the reason we're the ones who have kids."

"Whatever," Rolf said, rolling his eyes. "At least we got that stupid conversation over with. Now we can report back to grandma and that'll be that."

"Yeah, about that...Madame Maxime taoked a lot about grandma's history?" Romina decided to take a seat beside her cousin. "She was talking about these important battles that Grandma supposedly fought in the past? And I had no idea what she was talking about. Grindelwald?"

Rolf nodded. "Yeah, both grandma and grandpa had to do their share of fighting against that guy. He was almost as bad as You-know-who."

"Powerful — that's what Madame Maxime said about him," Romina remembered. "How come grandma hasn't told me about it?"

"Probably didn't want to talk about that the first time she met you," Rolf shrugged. "Not exactly the most cheery way to greet your granddaughter for the first time."

"But them afterwards? Not even grandpa said anything."

"To be fair, grandpa never likes talking about that dark period. He's more shut off about it than grandma."

"It just feels like they don't really trust me," Romina admitted.

"Don't go there, Romina," Rolf warned.

"Why not?" Romina huffed.

"Because it's not true?" Rolf said in a manner that expressed this was logical thinking. "You have no idea how much everyone lamented that they couldn't meet you, but no one more than our grandparents."

"Then why didn't they tell me any of this stuff?"

"Because it's full of darkness, of-of endless fighting. They didn't want that story to be the first thing you heard of them. Do you know how long it took me to hear the story? Ages."

"It's not like I haven't heard worse," Romina said quietly.

Rolf stayed silent. He knew exactly what she was talking about, ironically the other reason why their grandparents hadn't said anything either. They knew Romina's past already held much more darkness than any fourteen year old's past should.

"Romina," Rolf reached for his cousin's arm, gently squeezing it, "They love you. Don't you dare think otherwise. It's not fair to either side."

Romina could agree with that sentiment. Her grandparents had shown nothing but deep affection for her since the moment they met. She shouldn't start doubting them after one conversation with a woman she barely knew.

"You're right, I'm being stupid," Ronina shook her head. She felt silly now that she thought about it.

"I wouldn't go that far," Rolf said with a light chuckle and pat on her arm. He slid off the windowsill. "Now c'mon, we have Muggle Studies today."

Romina agreed and moved to slide off the windowsill as well until she heard her name. To her surprise it was Theodore approaching her.

"What's up Nott?" Romina raised an eyebrow at him.

"You tell me," he responded rather sourly, something that Romina and Rolf exchanged glances for. "Since you seem to be besties with Arden."

"I don't 'seem to be', I am," Romina corrected. "Have you not being paying attention for the past 4 years?"

Theodore rolled his eyes at her. "Where the hell is she? I can't find her."

"Why are you of all people looking for Arden?"

"Well, I've been trying to get a word with Draco but he keeps blowing me off!"

"And the connection between that and Arden would be…?" Romina made a gesture with her hand for Theodore to get on with it. Beside her, Rolf wanted to laugh at how his cousin was handling things. She just had a way, didn't she?

"I was partners with Draco in Divination and then suddenly he says he's taking Parkinson instead and that I have to be Arden's partner now."

Romina paused just to replay Theodore's words in her head and make sure she heard right. "Sorry, you said…"

"No explanation whatsoever and whenever I try to ask about it, turns out neither Draco more Arden can be found!" Theodore scowled. "And the moments that I've caught them, they're always together."

At that, Romina had to laugh. "Yeah right!" Theodore wasn't laughing. He stared at Romina long and hard until she got the message. "Oh, you weren't kidding…" She blinked. "That makes zero sense. They couldn't stop complaining last year that they were stuck as each other's partners for Divination. In fact, the only thing they could both agree on is that this year it would be better because they wouldn't be partners anymore. Why would they be doing favors for each other?"

"Really Oswell? You can't figure it out?" Theodore snapped.

"Figure what out?" Romina made a face. She glanced at Rolf and saw that he was more or less agreeing with Theodore. "What? What am I missing?"

"They're either together or nowhere to be found, which is really just the former," Theodore said, "They're seeing each other in secret. They're dating — which is disgusting!"

"They so gotta be," Rolf agreed, crossing his arms and nodding his head.

Theodore gave him a grateful gesture for seeing it his way. "Right? Thanks, Gyrffindor."

"My name is Rolf."

Theodore ignored him in favor of Romina who had yet to say anything. "Well, Oswell, Arden's your friend. Get her to leave my things alone and by that, I mean keep her paws off—"

"No," Romina spat, her nose crinkling.

"Romina, just use your connections—"

"No!" Romina yelled with a sudden rush of anger. "You're mad if you think you're right!"

"No I'm not," frowned Theodore, "I've been chasing them down for a whole week. I have eyes, Romina. They're always together!"

"NO!" Romina's anger kept rising like bile in her throat. "That's not true! They're not dating!"

"Romina," Rolf gently called to calm her down. He didn't think she'd want the attention from others in the hallway.

Romina drew her arm away when Rolf attempted to touch her. "He's being stupid, Rolf," she said in reference to Theodore, "The last people who would ever date each other in this world are Draco and Arden!"

"Then how do you explain the switcheroo Draco pulled on me?" Theodore challenged her. "Unless he did it to spend time with Pansy—"

"NO!" Romina said just as loudly as before. Neither option settled well in her stomach.

"God, Romina, why are you so mad with me?" Theodore made a face, genuinely insulted that somehow he was on the receiving end of her wrath. "I'm just as lost. If you see either of them, send 'em my way will you?"

Romina's entire face scrunched with anger. With no words to describe her emotions, she settled for attempting to shove Theodore.

"Woah!" Rolf quickly reached out for his cousin and grabbed her arms.

"Dammit Romina, you're mad!" Theodore took several cautious steps back from her.

"And you're a liar!" Romina snapped. She wanted to free herself of Rolf's grip but he was surprisingly strong.

"I will leave her with you," Theodore said to Rolf. His eyes flickered back to Romina. "Talk to me when you don't have flames bursting from your head."

Romina glared daggers after him. "He's lying, he's got to be," she said. "Arden would never!"

"Romina, calm down," Rolf urged her. "Why are you so mad?"

"Because Theodore's making up lies about my best friend, Arden!" Romina wrestled free from his grip even when it ended up hurting her elbow a bit.

"That's it?" Rolf asked cautiously but still ended up getting a crazed look from Romina anyways.

"What do you mean 'that's it?'?" She frowned. "Of course it is! What else is there?"

Rolf seemed like he wanted to answer that but for safety reasons, he decided to hold his tongue. "You know we're family right?"

"Obviously!" Romina exclaimed, exasperated.

"So you know I'd never say anything, right?"

"The hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing," Rolf said, shrugging his shoulders. "Just a reminder. Let's go to Muggle Studies, yeah? Calm down a bit?"

Romina nodded slowly. Her heart was beating too fast like it would implode any moment. That wasn't healthy.

"You want to come into the Gryffindor common room?" Rolf asked, grinning.

"I can't do that, Rolf…"

"Yes you can. There's no rules about it in any of the books."

For the first time since Theodore had shown up, Romina managed to smile. "Who are you, Hermione Granger?"

Rolf laughed. "That's my cousin. C'mon." He came up beside her and slung his arm around her shoulders.

Romina walked with him, slowly but surely. She couldn't help scan the corridors for Draco or Arden no matter how much Rolf tried distracting her. Theodore had gotten into her head and worst of all, Romina didn't understand why.

A/N:

And the plot thickens, as they say ;)

P.S. As always, I have AO3/Wattpad accounts under "noblecrescent" and a tumblr account under "saiilorstars" if you'd like to follow :)