The other conversations broke off as everyone turned to where Taylor had knelt. Next to the radio, in a space that had previously been unoccupied, lay a small, very dirty, very pale girl with golden pigtails dressed in Muggle clothing.

"Bloody hell," breathed James, blood draining from his face. "Is- that's-"

"Hospital Wing," snapped Lysander, forcing himself to his feet though Rose could only imagine how tired he must be at the moment. "We need to get out of here, and fast."

"Let me get her," said James, swooping past a sobbing Taylor to sweep Sophie into his arms. She dangled there limply, but even from a few steps away Rose could see the steady rise and fall of her chest.

"Exit's this way," said Albus. The far end of the room was still obscured from Rose's vision, but the ambient light followed the path they had taken after entering. She could see the caved-in pumpkin and just beyond it, the door back into the castle.

Rose didn't know if she had ever made it to the Hospital Wing as quickly as she did with Taylor and Sophie, including the day where Lorcan and Lysander had both gotten ill because of the castle's power drain. Unfortunately, Madam Chang was no longer in her office. Lysander left the room cussing as James lay Sophie's prone form on one of the beds, still unmade from their early departure.

Taylor climbed onto the bed with Sophie, curling around her legs and grasping desperately onto her trousers, which were frayed and soiled along the hems. She was murmuring softly to her friend, who was still unconscious. Rose didn't have the heart to pull her away.

"We need to get McGonagall," said James, his usually jovial expression absent.

"The stairs weren't moving," said Rose, reflecting on their quick trip here. "Maybe everything's going back to normal?"

She looked at Lorcan hopefully, searching for a sign that he was feeling some kind of shift, but he was sitting on another bed with his head buried in his hands.

Albus clambered on top of a table and pushed himself up on his toes to try and peer out the window.

"It looks like Hogwarts," he said nervously.

As he climbed down from the table, the doors to the Hospital Wing flew open. Rose first registered Professor McGonagall's pale face and strained features. She was accompanied by Louis, Aunt Luna, and Madam Chang, who only needed a brief glance around the room before rushing to the bed where Sophie lay.

"Students!" sputtered Professor McGonagall. "What- this is-"

"Please help Sophie," cried Taylor, looking up as Madam Chang began waving her wand over the girl's body.

"Sophie?" asked Aunt Luna curiously. "Lorcan, you found the girl from your visions?"

He nodded without looking up from his bed. Professor McGonagall whipped her head around, trying to take in the entire room at once and still looking beyond shocked.

"You all alright?" asked Louis, a rare frown on his face. "When you didn't show up for the game, I flew up to get you, but we couldn't get in the castle."

"It er- it moved," said Albus awkwardly.

Professor McGonagall stared at him blankly, but Aunt Luna nodded.

"The doors again," she said, "you couldn't leave, and we couldn't enter. Where were you?"

"The beach," said Albus, "still not sure which one. We didn't want to risk going outside. Most of the others stayed in the Great Hall. Louis, Arianna's in there with Hugo trying to keep everyone in one spot."

"Saw her on our way up," said Louis with an appreciative nod, "she said we needed to see what the lot of you were up to because Lorcan was back from St. Mungo's and screaming bloody murder over breakfast."

"Could somebody please explain from the beginning?" said Professor McGonagall, straining her voice to make it sound calm.

The students took turns, starting from their visit to Lorcan the night before. Professor McGonagall's lips were thin with displeasure, but she did not interrupt until they got to the part regarding the Room of Requirement.

"The Room of Requirement was unfortunately unable to be salvaged during our war repairs," said the Headmistress. "The cursed fire damage was too severe for even the castle's own magic to heal."

"Perhaps twenty years ago," said Rose hesitantly, "but er— we were just there, Headmistress. It's in rather poor shape, but it let us in."

Even amidst the chaos, she could have sworn the trace of a smile passed over Professor McGonagall's lips at the news.

"Go on."

"We were able to get in," continued Albus. The pause he took was only a hair too long. "Sophie was in the room, along with a bunch of other stuff the Castle had been providing for her. One of Hagrid's giant pumpkins from Halloween, pictures of her friends, books and music- anything she wanted. She was really sick from the potion Taylor got over the summer, and Hogwarts kept pulling power to try and heal her, not understanding that she's a Muggle and magic doesn't really work the same way with them."

"When we left the room with her, everything went back to normal," said Rose, resisting the urge to glance at Lysander and Scorpius, who had remained silent. "The stairs weren't moving, so we made it back down here pretty quickly. We've only been here a few minutes."

"She has an incredible amount of magic in her still," said Madam Chang, still hovering her wand over Sophie. "I've never examined a Muggle with anything more than the scantest trace, but this girl is absolutely flooded with it. Her vitals are stable, which is... remarkable considering what she's been through. How long has she been unconscious?"

Rose glanced at Lysander before she was able to stop herself.

"She was really weak when we got to her," he said smoothly, "but she explained everything before we left the room. She was too weak to walk, so James carried her. Good thing too, since she passed out as soon as we left the room."

Madam Chang nodded, looking back to her patient.

"Louis," said Professor McGonagall faintly, "I need you to fetch Professor Slughorn. We should discuss the contents of the potion she drank and what it might have done to her body. And- and Professor Evariste, he should be with the other Heads in the Great Hall."

Louis nodded and hastened away. As Professor McGonagall rose and crossed to Sophie's bedside, Rose went to sit with James and Lysander. Albus joined them, and Scorpius sat on the opposite bed next to Lorcan.

"Alright," said Rose, her voice barely more than a whisper, "someone start talking."

Scorpius looked down at his hands, and Rose noticed suddenly that neither he nor Lysander were bleeding. They both had thin pink scars where they had cut themselves, but they looked to be a few weeks old. She hadn't noticed them healing the marks but were grateful that they had.

"It was going to kill Lorcan," said Lysander, not breaking eye contact with Rose.

"Maybe," offered Lorcan groggily, not opening his eyes.

"There was a good enough chance," said Lysander, still looking at Rose. "After he connected with Sophie, the biggest problem was that she wasn't actually dead."

"Of course she was," countered Rose immediately.

"She was in the room the whole time, but she was invisible still," said Lysander, shaking her head. "Lorcan wasn't doing any sort of proper seance- her spirit had taken over because Lorcan invited it in. And it's not like Taylor could have just sent it on its way-"

"Her," said Rose softly. "Her name is Sophie."

Lysander glanced at the bed and frowned.

"Yeah," he said, "sure. I couldn't take the risk that she wasn't going to leave. She could've just as easily decided that she had a fully-functional body that she liked well enough and stayed. Stayed at Hogwarts, with Taylor, kept everything."

"Lysander, she's just a kid," said Rose, "she couldn't-"

"A kid that Hogwarts Castle has been pumping power into for a year!" hissed Lysander. "You think we should've taken the risk?"

"Calm down everyone," said James quietly. "Lysander, do you want to explain… well, whatever kind of risk you did take?"

Suddenly Lysander was unable to look at Rose. He looked everywhere else- the bed, his hands, his twin. Finally, Scorpius spoke up.

"It's not a spell," he explained, "it's a blood ritual. It's designed to sever a person's soul when it's trapped somehow. Wizards used to use it when someone was only being kept alive through magic in places like St. Mungo's and didn't want to go on like that. It's not the same as killing someone, but... it's close enough to be labelled as Dark magic."

"It's not like it's the killing curse," said Lysander, his voice shaking, "it's just- it won't hurt people who are perfectly healthy, you see? But they were talking about Sophie moving on, and that was the only way she could actually do it."

"But she didn't!" hissed Rose, leaning forward. "You sent her soul back into her body! She's still alive!"

"So why are you angry?" asked Lysander. "Sophie can get patched up and go home, and Taylor won't be permanently damaged from all of this. I thought it would help Sophie pass on, but this is even better, right?"

"How did you know how to do it?" asked Albus. Rose felt a shock run through her body as she saw the distant look on his face as he regarded Lysander. It was like he was looking at a stranger.

"I've been reading," said Lysander sheepishly. "I- there's a lot of magic that's classified as Dark, and not always for good reasons. Sometimes it's all for some stupid legal nightmare that came up. Sometimes it's because of money. They're not all bad, some of them are just a bit... grey. When Lorcan started getting sick, I spent a lot of time researching different afflictions and what could be done about them. This was something I thought could be helpful in a pinch, and well, wasn't it?"

Scorpius regarded James oddly before speaking, and it seemed to be directed right to the elder Potter.

"My parents taught it to me," he said, keeping his voice calm. "They said that if anything ever happened to them, and they were being kept alive in a state where they wouldn't recover- or if things went bad and they were cursed, or Dad had an accident at work... they wanted to make sure I knew how to let them go. If the soul has been separated from the body, there are all kinds of truly Dark things a wizard could do with either one. They weren't willing to risk it."

Then Scorpius looked to Lysander, glowering.

"By the way, I'm still going to kill you," he added. "You're supposed to purify the area before you start, and meditate, and fast. It needs to be a straight, unbroken line of magic without everything else getting in the way. You can't just do it solo without putting in the prep work. You had no idea what the result would be. Clearly."

Lysander looked confused, and then the confusion melted into horrified shock. Rose realized that whatever research he had been doing into Dark magic, it certainly had not been thorough or accurate, and that made her feel even worse about the whole situation. Lysander was toying with magic he didn't know how to properly utilize and could've gotten himself killed doing so.

"Sorry," said Lysander faintly.

"Damn idiot," muttered Scorpius.

James nodded, swallowing hard.

"Thanks," he said to Scorpius. "Glad you stepped in, I suppose."

"Still did it wrong," said Scorpius, a faint blush rising to his cheeks at what Rose believed to be James' most non-threatening statement to date. "But I knew he needed more power, or we'd all be in big trouble."

As Professors Slughorn and Evariste arrived, Professor McGonagall instructed the remaining students to return to their common rooms.

"Lunch will be sent there," she said when asked about food (since most of them had missed breakfast). "I don't expect to hear a word about... about this around the castle, understood? We need to make sure everything is... sorted out first."

Everyone was free to go except Lorcan, who grumpily stayed behind. Aunt Luna was not about to let him out of her sight when there was still a chance that something could be amiss with the castle, especially since she had removed him from St. Mungo's without medical clearance. Taylor was also permitted to stay, mainly because she started sobbing anytime the adults tried to get her to move from Sophie's bed. She was certainly in no proper place to keep a secret.

Thankfully, when they arrived in the Gryffindor common room, most of the students had no interest in figuring out what had happened with the castle, or why a group of students had been missing for part of the day.

"James!" shouted Cameron from the fireplace, waving frantically. "Al, Louis, c'mere! We're talking schedules."

The other members of the Gryffindor Quidditch team were huddled around a large stretch of parchment, apparently trying to coordinate when would be best to reschedule the missed game for, taking into account the upcoming O.W.L.s and N.E.W.T.s. Patricia Longgrass sprang out of her seat to make room for James, who was clearly trying to ignore her worried looks.

Professor Evariste arrived a few minutes after lunch appeared while everyone was trying to find a spot to sit and eat. After calling for silence, he began to speak.

"So," he said, swinging his arms awkwardly, "turns out we were wrong about the Centennial Portal. There was some residual damage from an old battle, and basically the castle was draining its own power trying to fix it. That's why the enchantments on the portraits were decaying, and the music was acting up, and the stairs were misbehaving. But the problem has been isolated and, er, remedied, so... nothing more to worry about."

"What about-" began Cameron excitedly.

"The final Quidditch match will be rescheduled at a date to be determined," said Professor Evariste. "We haven't gotten that far, but we won't forget about it. Now eat up!"

The following week was nearly as stressful as the one Lorcan had spent in St. Mungo's. He was finally cleared by Madam Chang and resumed his classes. Lysander spent a few hours a night with him in the library trying to fill him in on what he had missed.

Rose returned to the seventh floor during dinner one night and stared at the spot on the wall that had turned into the entrance to the Room of Requirement. Holding her breath (she didn't have a clue why), she paced in front of the spot three times, concentrating on the room where they found Sophie.

Nothing happened.

She tried again with a different thought, and then a third, but her suspicions were confirmed. The Room of Requirement may have been able to channel magic into Sophie to save her life, but it hadn't had enough time to work on itself yet. Perhaps it would only ever be found again by people in absolute dire need. Perhaps it had used the last remnants of its power on Sophie and was now lost forever. Perhaps they would never know.

Taylor was forced to leave the Hospital Wing after two days of staying by Sophie's bedside. Professor Onacles had to visit his charge himself to convince her to return to classes and life in the castle. She was assured that as soon as there was a change in Sophie's condition, she would be told. She was still one of the very few people who knew about Sophie, who was being kept in a private chamber where no one could stumble in.

Rose began to worry that even with all of the magic the castle had put into her, Sophie was too far gone for more magic to be of much help.

"It's been days," she said to Albus over dinner later that week, keeping her voice quiet. The majority of the castle had no idea that they had an extra member among them, though Rose suspected that Taylor and Hugo had filled the other first year Hufflepuffs in on some of the details. "I don't think she's going to wake up."

"Don't tell Lysander that," replied Albus, glancing at Lysander walking over with James. "He's still... I don't know. It's what he did, I suppose."

There wasn't more time to discuss, since James and Lysander took their places at the Gryffindor table, but Rose knew what Albus was alluding to. Something about Lysander had changed since the day they found Sophie, and she wasn't sure how she felt about the change.

The next day, Rose was handed a note by Professor Evariste as he strolled down the length of the table. She opened it hurriedly.

She's awake. You may visit after breakfast. Tea Saturday, 2pm.

Lorcan seemed to know that something had changed. He waited for the others at the doors of the Great Hall without prompting. Rose jogged ahead to grab Scorpius, who had already started heading to his next class, and yanked him back to join them.

"Sophie's awake," she said.

His eyes widened slightly and he nodded, swallowing hard.

"Is she- is she alright?" he asked softly.

"Professor Evariste said we should go see her," said Rose, "so I guess so?"

Their walk to the Hospital Wing was tense. When they arrived, Taylor was practically bouncing on the base of Sophie's bed, chattering away at her friend, who was sitting up. Her hair had been done in two braids, and though she looked tired, she was very much alive.

Rose approached the girls hesitantly, unsure of how to speak with Sophie. However, when the younger girl saw her, she grinned and waved.

"Rose," she said, "you came!"

"I- of course," stammered Rose, taken aback by Sophie's recognition. "How are you?"

Sophie shrugged, looking unconcerned.

"Tired," she admitted, "but feeling much better than before. Bit of a headache, but Madam Chang says that's pretty normal." She lowered her voice and leaned forward conspiratorially. "I think she might be lying, but we'll see. Oh, Lysander, Scorpius, you're here too! James, Albus."

The boys waved uncomfortably- all except for James, who plopped right down on an empty bed and made himself at home.

"So how much do you remember?" asked Rose hesitantly. "From this whole year."

"Tons," said Sophie, rolling her eyes. It was then that Rose was able to place what was disconcerting about the girl: her eyes were bloodshot, and the areas around the veins were tinged pink. "Pretty much everything up to getting down here. Minnie came to ask me a bunch of stuff, so she's pretty filled in. Except, ya know... I figured I should leave out that last bit. Educated guess."

Lysander chuckled and nodded appreciatively.

"Great guess," he said. "Who's Minnie?"

Sophie stared at him blankly, then looked to Lorcan, whom she had yet to acknowledge.

"Professor McGonagall," he said softly. "Is that what Hogwarts calls her?"

"Yup," said Sophie lightly, "gonna take some getting used to, with everyone's actual names. I still don't like Lorcan's, but hey, no one's perfect."

Lorcan looked comically offended at this, and Lysander began to laugh in earnest.

"Oh?" said James, leaning back on his hands casually. "What did you call Lorcan?"

For the first time, Sophie looked sheepish and just shrugged, a faint blush tinging her cheeks pink.

"I'm gonna see if Sophie can stay with me and my host family for the summer," said Taylor excitedly, a wide grin still stretching her face. "She can't go back to Chauncery's now. They probably think she ran away-"

"I did run away," said Sophie pointedly.

"-and they can't just leave her with nowhere to go!"

"I'm sure they'll figure something out," said Rose. "Do you know who your host family is yet?"

"Nope," said Taylor, her smile dropping slightly, "but Professor Onacles said I should be hearing soon."

Sophie toyed with the ends of her braids, and Rose noticed that her nailbeds were tinged pink, much the same as her eyes. The girl didn't seem to notice a difference, however, and changed the subject to Taylor's classes and how her new friends were doing. She seemed to know a great deal about all of them already, and Rose wondered just how much ambient knowledge the castle had poured into her.

That Saturday, Rose visited Professor Evariste's office with Albus and Scorpius. She found herself unexpectedly nervous for the coming conversation. Professor Evariste had left his door ajar, so they showed themselves in and sat down.

Professor Evariste was studying a piece of parchment laid out before him, squinting slightly as his eyes slid over the text. The inscription at the head of the page looked official, but Rose was past trying to recognize the symbols of the various branches of the Ministry after seeing so many across her mother's paperwork at their home

"Be right with you," murmured Professor Evariste, tapping the tip of his quill on the desk.

After a few more moments of silence, he let out a long sigh, dipped his quill in an open inkwell, and signed the bottom of the form. Professor Evariste waved his wand over the parchment, which wrapped itself neatly into a scroll and rolled to the side of his desk.

"Sorry about that," he said, rolling his neck, "too much end-of-term paperwork for my liking. Never was fond of that sort of thing. So, are you all eagerly awaiting your final exams?"

Rose thought for a moment he was serious until Albus began to chuckle.

"We've been a bit distracted recently," Rose pointed out. "Just a few other things on our plate."

"Ah, young Sophie," said Professor Evariste, nodding. "The house heads have all been made aware of her, but I believe Professor McGonagall is still holding off on informing the entire staff until things are more, well, settled. We can't just let everyone know that a Muggleborn orphan wandered into Hogwarts and was left unattended and undetected all year, now can we?"

"She seems to be recovering well," said Albus.

Professor Evariste rose and busied himself with making tea. Rose wondered why he didn't just magic himself a pot of hot water like he usually did, but it seemed impolite to ask.

"Well enough," said the professor. "You three are equally lucky, of course."

"Oh?" said Scorpius, a practiced polite turn to his voice that Rose was unaccustomed to hearing, particularly around someone they had come to count as a friend.

"Yes, yes- that's the nasty thing about blood magic," said Professor Evariste with a sigh, "it always seems to leave its marks."

Rose's stomach plummeted and she began picking at her nail beds. Beside her, Albus looked at his lap, and Scorpius became dangerously still.

"Does it?" asked Rose, hating how her voice squeaked a bit at the question. She had never been a particularly skilled liar, and she thought that perhaps feigning innocence should best be left to Scorpius.

"The blood in her eyes and her fingernails," explained Professor Evariste, taking a wooden box from a drawer in his desk. Rose felt a pang of worry for a moment, but it was just his selection of teas. "What do we think- some oolong for today?"

Rose nodded mutely, and Professor Evariste continued his tea-making.

"Madam Chang is attributing it to the strain of the magic on her body," continued Professor Evariste, "which is understandable. Muggles aren't supposed to be able to come in contact with that much magic and come away unscathed. However, you don't get to be Defense Against the Dark Arts professor without knowing your way around a certain amount of Dark Magic. I actually did a rather extended project about blood magic and its various forms. It doesn't seem that any of the others are quite as keen on it- even Slughorn, whom I imagine has encountered his fair bit of Dark spells."

He produced tea cups for each of the students, setting aside one for himself, and watched the steaming kettle for a moment in silence.

"Now Scorpius," he said at last, shoulders sagging a bit, not seeming to notice how the boy stiffened a bit, "I am not your house head, but I hope that you feel comfortable coming to me before you consider doing something so incredibly daft again- not to mention dangerous," he added as an afterthought.

"Of course, sir," said Scorpius flatly. His hands were resting below the edge of the desk, where Professor Evariste could not see how they curled into fists.

"Good," said Professor Evariste curtly. "You're lucky not to have been seriously injured with that sort of thing. Under proper supervision, there are some types of magic that, while frowned-upon, can actually have great benefits. But not as a third year running around with his friends."

"Of course," repeated Scorpius.

Professor Evariste levitated the whistling kettle and began to serve each of the students. Rose shot a furtive look at Scorpius. His face was bland, almost disinterested, but his hands continued to flex beneath the lip of the desk.

They moved back to safer topics, like the House Cup and upcoming Quidditch match. It had been rescheduled for the weekend before exams, which had Albus bouncing with both excitement and nerves. It was a lot of pressure all in one week.

Before they departed, Rose worked up the courage to ask Professor Evariste about Sophie's fate.

"We're still working out the details," said Professor Evariste, sighing heavily. "She obviously can't go back to that group home after everything she's been through. Moreover, she's begun to show signs of accidental magic."

Rose's eyes widened and it took her a moment to figure out how to respond.

"As in, she's actually doing magic herself?" she asked carefully.

"So it seems," said Professor Evariste. "Madam Chang doesn't know if the magic will leach back out of her over time. She is measuring at the same power level as when she was recovered last week. I think it best if she stays with a wizarding family for the summer holiday. They can monitor her behavior and keep in touch with the new headmistress about her progress."

"Headmistress?" said Albus at once, leaning forward. "So McGonagall finally chose someone?"

Professor Evariste froze, then began to chuckle.

"I cannot believe I just said that," he said, shaking his head. "It's been a long week, I suppose. Yes, the replacement Headmistress has been selected and approved by the Board of Governors. I believe she will be attending the Leaving Feast to be formally introduced."

"Is she-"

"No more," said Professor Evariste, "absolutely not. McGonagall will have my head as it is if she finds out I've been telling students before her big announcement."

"We won't tell anyone," promised Albus. Rose could think of a few people with whom she'd like to discuss the upcoming staffing changes, but she nodded her agreement. It could wait.

As they left Professor Evariste's office, Rose noticed that Scorpius's face had slipped from the mask of polite indifference to frustration.

"What's wrong?" she asked, stopping before they reached the stairs.

"He just- just assumed that it was me," said Scorpius, his voice tight, "because of course I'd be the one messing around with Dark Magic, right? Not any of his Gryffindors, it had to be me."

"Oh," said Rose softly, thinking back on the conversation. She hadn't even realized how quick Professor Evariste's assumption had been. "Maybe he just meant-"

"Save it," said Scorpius crossly. "Better me than your boyfriend, right?"

It took Rose's mind, normally so quick to conclusions, a moment to catch up with what Scorpius had said. It was as if time slowed down just for a moment so she could process.

"What?" she said, squeaking uncomfortably again. "He's not- why on earth would you-"

"Don't bother," snapped Scorpius, heading past her for the stairs. "It's fine."

Rose couldn't find it in her to follow him and fight the accusation, which had taken her so much by surprise. She could only stand there and watch him walk away as Albus looked between the two of them, mouth agape.

"Well," said Albus at last, "I understand why he-"

"What?" said Rose, wheeling on Albus. "You've all been thinking the same thing?"

"Why he was upset with Professor Evariste," finished Albus with a glare. "Don't get angry with me, now. I'm trying to help."

"Why would he think that?" asked Rose softly. Why, she wondered to herself, would he actually say it, and in such an accusatory way?

"You and Lysander are close,' said Albus with a shrug, "and things have been a bit tense with Lorcan in the hospital. You've been spending a lot of time with him recently. I'm sure he's just mad because of what Professor Evariste said. Give him a day and he'll apologize."

She felt like Albus was missing the root of the problem but didn't want to discuss it with him any further. Instead, she sought out someone who might be able to give some more constructive advice. Luckily when she arrived in her dormitory, she and Tia had the space to herself.

"What's wrong?" asked Tia, setting down the book she had been reading. "You look pretty angry."

"I'm not angry," said Rose automatically, "I-"

She didn't know how to adequately explain the situation without giving the entire story away. As much as she trusted Tia (and goodness was it nice to have a female friend in this world of male cousins!), she knew there were some things she just couldn't share with her. Not right now, at least.

"Scorpius and I had a bit of a fight," said Rose, "and at one point, he called Lysander my boyfriend. Then he stormed off."

Tia whistled, her brows near her hairline.

"Yikes," she said, patting a spot on her bed. "C'mere, let's talk through it."

And that's exactly what they did. Rose tried to ignore it when Tia said that Scorpius was just acting out of jealousy, because that was a ridiculous idea. She tried to ignore Tia's insistence that there was no platonic way to give someone a gift on Valentine's Day, and that clearly Lysander had some level of interest in her. She tried to ignore the logical arguments that Tia made because they just didn't fit in the world as she saw it, where she and Scorpius and Lysander were simply friends.

But there was the way her stomach twisted when Lysander grabbed her hand, which he had been doing more and more over the past few weeks. It was simply because she was by his side, she reasoned with herself, and he needed to be supported. But the way her body reacted was not unpleasant, much the same way her heart had sped up when he approached her with the book on Valentine's Day.

"I don't know what to do," Rose lamented, tugging at the ends of her hair. "How do I convince Scorpius that he's wrong?"

Tia gave her a look, clearly accusing Rose of being in denial.

"Al thinks it'll just blow over," said Rose hopefully. "We can all just move on."

"And in a few weeks we'll all go home for the summer," said Tia with a half-smile. "Scorpius will return to his freaky old family, and you and Lysander will go back to sharing a backyard, and sleeping at each others' houses, and your big family parties."

Rose didn't know what to say to that. It wasn't her fault that she'd be spending so much time with Lysander over the next few months. Their parents had decided to stay close, she reasoned, and they had grown up together. He was like family.

Like family, she reminded herself as she sat down across from him at dinner that night. But he looked up and smiled, and suddenly Rose could not ignore the truth any longer.

Definitely not like family.