Leo woke up to the entirely unpleasant sound of Snape's voice.

"I understand, Poppy, but I spent years working with Lucius on this. I can assure you that everything that can be done has been done."

"Well I simply don't agree, Severus," Madam Pomfrey said impatiently. "The girl is like ice. And these past few nights? Poor thing sometimes screams as much as she sleeps."

"Nevertheless, there is nothing you can do for her," he said firmly. "Malfoy has classes that she is more than well enough to attend."

"Surely—"

"She's here for an education, isn't she? The years spent trying to fix what is wrong with her have long passed."

Madam Pomfrey was silent for a long time, and Leo finally sat up. The walls around her bed were drawn, but she could see Madam Pomfrey's shoes just below the curtains at the foot of her bed. She looked up at Regulus. "How long?" she asked.

Regulus looked annoyed, and the conversation died. "Ten minutes, now."

The curtains were moved aside. "Malfoy," Snape said tersely. "You are to join the other students in the Great Hall for breakfast. It starts in just a few minutes, so I would suggest you hurry to your dormitory to make yourself presentable for your classes."

Madam Pomfrey looked distinctly unhappy, but Leo immediately got up and pulled on her shoes. "Thank you, Professor Snape." She bowed her head to them both. "Thank you, Madam Pomfrey." And then she took off before she could be forced back into bed to try more warming potions.

But once she actually made it to breakfast, she wondered if staying in the hospital wing might have been less annoying.

"Stop. I know how to feed myself."

"Sure you do," Draco said, sounding unconvinced. But at least it got him to stop piling food on her plate.

"Don't you have people to talk to?" she asked when he then returned to staring at her.

"Are you sure you're all put back together?"

"I was put back together on Sunday," she groused. "Madam Pomfrey just didn't want to let me go yet."

"Eat your food."

She squinted at him. "Stop that. I am."

He looked doubtfully at her still full plate.

"Stop," she said again. She picked up an apple and shoved it in her pocket. Then she stood, snatching up two pieces of toast. "See you in class." She left the Great Hall.

Draco caught up with her close to Charms. Then he took the seat next to her in the empty room. "Don't forget the apple," he said once she'd finished the toast.

She glared at him and pulled out her wand. For a moment, she considered hexing him. Instead, she pointed it at a desk across the room and continued to practice her Protego.

"You shouldn't be on a broom. You'll do something stupid again and break your neck this time."

"Are you sure you aren't talking about yourself?" she muttered, speeding up to try to put some distance between her and Draco. It didn't work. He started on about talking to Madam Hooch to get her an exception or even just skipping the class altogether, and she glanced at Regulus. "He's being ridiculous."

That shut Draco up, and he yanked his gaze away from her. But he still stayed near, even choosing the broom next to her once they reached the Flying class. He got told off several times by Madam Hooch for flying too close during practice. It was during the speed drills at the end of class when she finally managed to separate from him, just fast enough to take Seamus's place in the second to last group and leaving Draco to go next.

It was after the drill that she landed beside where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were gathered. "You're okay," she concluded, studying Harry as she dismounted.

Harry stepped back. "No thanks to you, Malfoy."

She blinked and cocked her head. Regulus sighed and reminded her that she'd had her wand out. "Oh, I wasn't the one jinxing your broom. I was wondering if you had an idea of who the culprit might be." She thought of Quirrell and his two voices. Then she thought of Snape and how he'd snuck away while a troll terrorized the school.

"Yeah, you," Ron said, shifting to stand in front of Harry. Hermione did similarly. "What did Harry ever do to you, huh?"

"Nothing," she said patiently, as if she was explaining basic math to a very small child. "If it wasn't for the bludger—"

"Fred should have hit it harder." Ron's grip tightened on his broom. "Maybe then you wouldn't be confident enough to come lie to Harry's face. I mean, you pulled your wand out—"

"Not to jinx his broom."

Madam Hooch called the class to an end, and the three of them turned away to return the school brooms. Leo hurried to walk beside them.

"Listen, jinxing someone's broom like that isn't easy," she said. "It requires concentration and skill, especially with the speed and distance of a quidditch game."

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Hermione asked.

"What's with that tone, Granger?" Draco asked as he returned to his spot at Leo's side. "Haven't you ever been told to respect your betters?"

Ron growled and stepped forward, but Harry grabbed his arm. Leo shot Draco a glare. "Stop that," she snapped for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She then pinned Harry with a stare, lifting her chin. "It wasn't me." She turned on her heel, dropping the broom she'd used with all the others, and headed back inside.

Draco was right behind her.

Going to bed just traded Draco's overbearing attention for Millicent's yelling. Millicent, as it turned out, was not just Slytherin proud but also quidditch obsessed, as long as she could do her obsessing from the stands. And that combination meant she'd prepared a tongue lashing for Leo about watching for bludgers and not losing the game for them. Along with a sneer that she could at least be more subtle while casting hexes on the opposing team.

Pansy joined in on the screaming after Leo pointed out that she'd been trying to save Harry, not hex him.

"That was idiotic of you," Regulus informed her as she pulled her curtains closed and cast her imperturbable charm.

"Shut up," she muttered, opening the Prince's textbook. She paged over to the entry on Levicorpus.

"The corridor—"

"I'll get to the corridor," she snapped. "I don't know if you've noticed, by Draco's practically glued himself to me all day. After a few days, I'll be able to shake him."

Regulus looked doubtful.

When Leo pulled back her curtains, the first thing she noticed was that her trunk was open. The second thing she noticed was that it was empty.

Leo gave a cry as she sprung up from bed and fell to her knees in front of her trunk. A glance around the room revealed that some of her things—but far from all of them—were scattered about the dormitory. The glance also revealed that Daphne was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, door open as she did her hair. Leo turned back to her trunk and felt at the secret compartment at the bottom. A light tug at the hidden panel made her breathe a sigh of relief. It was still locked. Secrets of the Darkest Art and the other things that couldn't—shouldn't—be seen by anyone but her and Regulus were still safe.

"It was Millicent."

Leo looked up. Daphne had paused at the door out to the hallway.

"It was Millicent," Daphne repeated. "Pansy gave some suggestions, but Millicent is the one that broke the lock." She opened the door. "Make sure you check under the chess table when you're collecting everything. Millicent was proud of that particular sticking charm." And then she stepped out the door and left.

Leo gathered up everything of hers from the room: several of her textbooks, some clothes, her muggle yo-yo. Then she moved out to the Common Room and found, to her surprise, that her things weren't just strewn about. Instead, everything was hidden away. A library book under a couch cushion. A jumper tied up in one of the curtains. The hiding place Daphne had mentioned turned out to belong to Leo's combined bag of sweets. While she collected her things, Regulus threw in a few suggestions for how to sneak an alihotsy draught into Millicent's breakfast.

Once everything was back in its place, Leo magically locked her trunk for anyone but herself. Then she put several hexes on it, just to be safe.