By the end of the first month of summer, Romina was happier than ever. She had continued visiting her grandparents, getting to know them and everyone else and even staying with them for a whole week! The relationship between her "new' family and her aunt and uncle was alright for the time being — she was truly just working on her relationships. She thought she deserved it and that the problems between the adults was something either they would figure out on their own or simply a bridge for her to cross later.

She found herself doing a lot more than she ever had for any summer. When she wasn't with her family, she was taking violin lessons again. Arden had managed to convince their teacher to allow Romina to continue taking classes with her. They even managed to claw their way into one little dance class here and there.

It was hard deciding when she should tell her friends about her new discovery. She was actually surprised that Draco hadn't yet said anything. She knew the moment that the truth was out, she would for sure have Daphne asking her a million questions about it.

The first people she told were Arden and Harry, obviously. They were neighbors and before magic and Hogwarts, it had always been them. So, on one fine hot day they went to their favorite place to hang out (the ice cream parlor) and she told them everything.

"Woah, talk about family secrets..." Arden leaned back in her chair, eyes slightly wide with surprise. Beside her, Harry was silently taking it in as well.

Romina sat across from them at the table, no longer interested in her dessert. She was anxious to hear their reactions. "I was going to tell you, honest," she said when a few minutes had passed by and neither one had said anything. "I just didn't know how to do it."

"It's fine, Rom," Harry said with a light shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it's nice that you found more family."

"Oh yeah, it is!" Arden agreed with him. "It's just really shocking. Definitely didn't expect Rolf to be your cousin. A couple of us honestly thought he might have a crush on your or something."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I've heard. It's ridiculous that a boy can't be nice to a girl solely for friendship, you know."

"It's so cool, though," Arden said quickly, not wanting to get stuck on that topic. It wasn't even her who thought about it in the first place. "Your grandmother's a designer and your grandfather's a magizoologist and they're both war heroes. It's so cool!"

"I honestly don't even care about that stuff. It's just nice to have grandparents," Romina said, her cheeks flushed. It was still so surreal getting to call them 'grandma' and 'grandpa'. "I have aunts and uncles and a cousin. Oh, and we're going to have another cousin soon! It's so nice!"

"If you're happy, we're happy," Harry told her. "And since you're in a way better mood these days, have you thought about Ron's invitation?"

"Ron's invitation?" Arden made a face. "To what?"

"The World Cup," said Harry eagerly. "Ron says it's the biggest event for Quidditch and he's got some extra tickets. You're both invited!"

"Oh, that," Arden remembered it well and shook her head. "Yeah, no thanks. But I'll bet happy feet over there would love to go."

Romina waved her off with a hand. "I'm not the biggest quidditch fan but if Hermione's going then sure. She'll need some girl allies. I'm sure my aunt and uncle will let me. They're kind of teetering right now on how to raise me. It's so funny."

"What?" Harry looked at her oddly. Romina chuckled.

"They're so guilty they're basically letting me do whatever I want right now. If I was evil, I could have so much fun with that. But, alas, I'm keeping my morals."

Arden snorted. "Yeah, and yet you still got them to let you go to Diagon Alley this weekend. They would never let you go on your own."

"Daphne made the invite, I just checked 'yes'. And you're going, right?"

Arden shrugged. "Yeah, it should be good since Pansy won't be coming. Thank God."

Romina agreed there. She didn't feel like dealing with Pansy these days when she was so happy with everything else. "Harry, I'd invite you but, uh..."

Harry was already shaking his head. "And see Malfoy's face? Pass. Plus, I don't even know you're other friends that much. I only like Angel, really, and his sister Carolinha."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Daphne's pretty fine too and you can't really say that Blaise and Theodore have ever done anything to you."

"Which is why I haven't," Harry said sharply. "But I don't want to risk it so I will just see you later for the World Cup. I gotta tell Ron you're coming."

Romina thanked him for that. She had a couple more things to do before the weekend arrived and it started with some letters to her other friends, sharing something important.

~ 0 ~

That weekend, Romina and Arden got ready to see their friends and left to Diagon Alley from Romina's house. Arden almost laughed at the irony between wizarding kids and muggles. Both loved ice cream.

The girls walked into the ice cream parlor and found Daphne, Carolinha, Angel, Draco and even Blaise already there. "Seriously, all you needed was to invite Parkinson," Arden said to Daphne once they had sat at their table.

"Oh no, I wouldn't do that," Daphne said with eyes wide that lingered on Romina."

"You are free to hang out with whoever you want, Daphne," Romina raised her hands in front of her. "Setting the record straight with witnesses around."

Blaise snorted. "Yes, because we are absolutely interested in your tetchy relationship with Parkinson."

Romina turned her head in his direction, eyes narrowing slightly. "I imagine that Daphne didn't force you to come."

"I presume you weren't forced to come either," he retorted.

"Don't argue with her," Angel sighed.

"Paes to the rescue," Draco smirked. If Romina had been sitting next to him, she would've jabbed her elbow on his side. Angel was flustered and remained quiet from then on.

"Settle down boys," Romina said, placing her hands on the table. "Absolutely no one is going to ruin the incredible mood that I have been in."

"Oh, and she has been on it for a straight month," Arden told the group. "So don't touch anything."

"Well, we heard why," Angel said, shooting Romina a small smile. "You've been visiting your new family."

"They're not new, Angel, they've always been there. I just didn't know it." Romina shrugged her shoulders. "But they're great!"

"I would say—your grandmother's the head of bloody Gejel!" Daphne exclaimed. Romina had been waiting for Daphne to go down that road. "I only wear her robes. You know."

"Everybody knows," Draco rolled his eyes with heavy annoyance. This was not his type of conversation and he wouldn't stick around for it. He and Blaise decided to get a headstart and order some ice cream.

"He doesn't change," Arden muttered as the pair walked away from the table. "I see Theodore didn't make it today? Maybe it was for the best."

"He's off with his father in Greece," Angel said.

"Well he's going to miss out on some good ice cream," Romina said giddily.

"I'm a little scared of this happy face, not going to lie," Carolinha remarked, though her lips quirked into what would soon become a crooked smile. "But I'm also liking this Romina a hell of a lot more than the grumpy one."

"Carol," her brother elbowed her.

Romina once again laughed. "Don't worry about it, Angel. I'm totally good! In fact, I'm thinking triple scoop ice cream for me today!" She grabbed Arden in a big hug all of a sudden, ignoring (or most likely just not hearing) Arden's small 'oh!' as she let go. "I'm going to go annoy those two over there while I'm ordering!" Romina decided as she got up from her chair.

Daphne, Carolinha, Angel and Arden watched in awe as Romina practically skipped towards Draco and Blaise at the counter.

"I love her but she's freaking me out," Carolinha said.

"Try living next door to her," Arden said, "She's got the entire block freaked out."

"She's happy, that's all," Angel smiled. Romina had just poked Blaise in the back, something the latter wasn't quite happy with.

"Still, she might go poking the wrong bear," Daphne said because Romina was giggling after prodding Blaise on the side.

"Yeah, Blaise is quiet but he has a temper…" Carolinha said.

"I swear to God…" Blaise had to physically stop, take a step away from the glass counter, and take a deep breath because of Romina.

"She'll be fine," Arden waved it off as Romina left Blaise to pick on Draco next. "She's—oh, nope, now she's dead." For some reason, Romina had decided to slip her arms around Draco from behind. "The Oswells are no more." The girls all snickered at the joke but Angel was more quiet.

"Oswell, what the hell are you doing?" Draco had moved his arms up and would've tried shifting out of Romina's grip had that not included making him look like an outright idiot. "Get off me!"

"Not a hugger?" Romina laughed. She rested her chin just below his shoulder. "Did you get taller?"

Draco growled. "Get off me!" Blaise laughed beside them, an incorrigible mistake. "Make one comment, Zabini, I dare you!"

Blaise had the good sense not to but that didn't mean he stopped laughing. "Better you than me," he said in the end.

"Oh, I got one for you too, Blaise," Romina said with a big, teasing smile.

"Good—go get him then!" Draco exclaimed. "I think I preferred when you were all mopey and moody. Least that one didn't go touching people! OSWELL!"

Romina decided he had enough and pulled her arms away from him. She came to stand beside him and grinned at him. He looked away from her. Wasn't she tired of smiling already?

"You want to buy me some ice cream?" she asked and he immediately snapped 'No!'. This, however, still didn't take away her grin. "Please?" She cocked her head to the side, eyes blinking ever so innocently at him.

Draco released a breath. "Fine." He lied. He still preferred her this way over the moody and mopey version. Plus, maybe her rosey scent wasn't all that bad. He cleared his throat, straightening himself up and fixing the wrinkles that Romina had left on his clothes. If he focused—which he wasn't—he could smell a faint trace of the roses on him. "What are you going to want?" he asked Romina.

"I'm thinking chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate chip!"

"Are you sure that's the amount of sugar you want to take in?" This actually worried him because she practically had her face pressed against the display freezer without the heavy amount of sugar she was preparing to eat.

"Absolutely!"

Draco rolled his eyes. He wasn't going to waste his breath so he just made the orders. "So," he started as they waited, "You've decided to let others know that you've added some impressive surnames to your name."

Romina snorted. That sounded a little more like her. She threw him a look. "I mean they were going to find out anyways. It's not that big of a deal."

Draco wanted to remind her of how "big of a deal" it had been the last time they spoke about the matter, but she seemed so calm right now he didn't want to ruin it. "Well, Greengrass over there hasn't stopped babbling about your grandmother. Everybody knows the Gejels are an elite French pureblood family and the Scamanders have worked in the higher levels of the Ministry. Not to mention they are literal war heroes."

"You seem to know that off the top of your head. I had to read that to find out and then I heard some of it from the sources themselves."

Draco shook his head at her. "Leave it to you, Oswell, to not know the value of your family's legacies."

"Hey—you're the one who told me to forget about my family's legacies!"

"That was about your parents. There's no fixing the Oswell name."

Romina gasped with offence. "Well, thank you for your faith in me."

"You know what I mean!"

"You're essentially saying that I'm never going to shake off the reputation my parents left me which is a huge contradiction of what you've told me in the past."

"Why are you so stuck on what I said 'in the past'?"

"Because it was actually nice and meaningful," Romina folded her arms. "You don't have a lot of those moments."

Draco deadpanned her. "Seriously?"

Romina was very much serious with him. "Yes. So take it back or I will be hugging you again."

Draco took one step away from her, pointing a finger at her immediately. "Do that and you'll regret it."

"Good to know what I can threaten you with—never mind hexes," Romina laughed, putting her hands together. "This is even easier!"

"Go hug Angel or something." Draco fixed his collars and turned towards the display. "God knows he's probably asking himself why he didn't get one."

"Would you drop that?" Romina hissed, scooting herself closer to him so that nobody would hear. "It's not funny anymore."

"It is from where I'm standing. When are you going to let him down already?"

Romina did not hesitate to jab her elbow to his side. "Shush!"

"You can hurt me all you want but you'll eventually have to do it."

"Don't ruin my mood!"

"Oh no, I wouldn't want to do that." Draco smirked. He could see from the corner of his eye that she was glowering. He focused entirely on the ice cream coming their way. He figured it would annoy her more.

In a short minute, they were walking back to their table with their ice cream.

"Woah, Rom, that's a lot of sugar," Arden said, eyes wide at the ice cream in front of Romina.

"I know! Isn't it heavenly?" Romina beamed and happily dug in. "You guys should probably order now."

"Oh, yeah, huh?" Arden got up and left the table for a minute and returned with several spoons for those who hadn't ordered.

Romina gasped and 'awd' when they started eating out of her ice cream. "That's mine!"

"Technically, it's mine," Draco said.

"Shut up!" She snapped and proceeded to shoo the intruding spoons from her dessert. She would end up giving up once they, primarily Daphne, began asking about her family.

Romina had no problem sharing everything she'd done so far with her family. She told them about the various designs she'd helped her grandmother, and aunt for that matter, with. She was excited to talk about the more in depth lessons she was learning with her grandfather about his numerous creatures.

"I'll be getting the highest grades in our Care of Magical Creatures class from now on," she said smugly as she dipped her spoon into what remained of her chocolate ice cream. "Well, maybe right after Rolf. He's a genius with that stuff."

"Are you willing to help us out then?" Arden chuckled. "Because some of the things that Hagrid chooses are kinda scary."

"That's because he's not actually a professor, King," scoffed Draco.

"Uh, a whole year says otherwise," she countered. "And the only reason you don't like it is because of what happened when you messed with the Hippogriff." At the reminder of the unfortunate incident, the group laughed.

Draco grumbled under his breath about his poor choices in deciding to even meet with them in the place.

Later on when they were done with their ice creams, they took to walking around Diagon Alley if only to kill some time. Everyone agreed being stuck at home wasn't exactly the life of the party. There were no significant events coming up in their respective homes.

"There is the World Cup this year," Angel remarked. "Anyone going?"

"Not my thing," Daphne crinkled her nose. "You can tell me all about it later on...or not…"

"I'm probably not either," Blaise admitted. "My mother already made plans to celebrate her newest engagement, so..."

"Congratulations?" Carolinha offered him a small smile.

"Eh…" Blaise waved her off. It wasn't a means of celebration after the eighth time.

"We're thinking about it," Angel said, "It's the first time it'll be held here in over 300 years. What about you two?" He asked Romina and Draco.

"Harry was talking about that and he says Ron's dad has some extra tickets so I might pop in. I'm not all about it either, like Daphne, but I do like the commotion of it."

Draco scoffed. "Don't hold your breath, Oswell. It'd be a miracle if Weasley's dad got tickets and even then, I wouldn't expect anything near the grounds."

Romina rolled her eyes. "Like I said, I'm mainly in it for the buzz of things. I don't recall hearing anything about you getting tickets, though. Not going at all?"

"My father's mentioned the possibility of an important invitation," he remarked much too smugly.

Romina wasn't at all surprised that he droned on about the supposed invitation. She purposely slowed her pace in hopes of giving her ears some rest. In her attempts to distract herself, she noticed the dark entry into another part of the alley. She recognized it straightaway.

Knockturn Alley.

She stared ahead to see if anyone liked around. Yeah, as if they would freely walk about. It didn't have the best of reputations, after all. Kind of like you.

She straightened up. The fact there were more dark objects in that part of the alley shouldn't necessarily mean that it's the "bad" part of town. She was sure that thought wouldn't be received well if anybody heard it, but she thought it was a fair statement. Nothing was bad unless you used it for bad reasons.

"Romina? What are you doing over there?" Angel's sharp call startled Romina out of her thoughts.

She hadn't realized that she'd stopped walking altogether. She was right in the face of Knockturn Alley.

"Romina, you shouldn't be close to there!" Angel was quick to lead the group back to their friend.

"I was just looking," Romina said weakly.

"What for?" Angel frowned. "You don't have any business being close to that area."

"Why not?" Her question stumped Angel.

His eyes widened. "What? What do you mean? That's Knock—"

"I know what it is," Romina gently cut him off. "But why shouldn't we know what's there?"

Angel sputtered out of shock. He looked at the others for some help. Most of them seemed as surprised as he was.

Romina playfully rolled her eyes at them. "You guys aren't understanding me. I'm not saying that we should all suddenly do dark magic with dark objects. Wouldn't it be better if we were aware of what some things were so we know how to best fight against it. How to be careful with them?"

"Isn't that what DADA class is for?" Daphne said, taking one noticeably big step back.

"Yeah, but we know they're never going to teach us about everything that's out there. Maybe we should see what is out there."

"No!" Angel was quick to say. "That's dangerous!"

"Plus, you wouldn't last in that area," Draco remarked. He met Romina's frowning face with a smirk. "What?"

"I would too last there," she said.

"No you wouldn't. It's not for the faint of heart."

"What? Like you?" Romina laughed. "Don't make me laugh. But you know what? Since we're here, why don't you put your money where your mouth is?" If she wasn't so irked with him, his reaction would've made her actually laugh.

"What?" He brought a hand near his mouth. "Wh-why would I ever do that?"

Arden snorted. "It's a muggle saying, dumbass." Draco shot her a glare. "She's calling you out, basically."

"Oh I am," Romina agreed. "How's about a wager?"

Draco's interest was piqued. "Depends," he said in his most casual tone, "What do you want?" Romina's lips lifted into a wide smirk. It was admittedly hard to stay away from whatever deal she was about to offer. "What do you want, Oswell?"

"Hmm," Romina put her hands together, fingers tapping against each other, "Well, you seem to think that I won't be able to handle taking a little trip down Knockturn Alley—"

"Oh," Draco scoffed, "I don't 'think' it, I know you can't."

Romina wanted to smack the smirk off his face. "I can," she insisted. "In fact, I bet that I can last there, say...half an hour?"

"One hour," Draco corrected, "And I'm not saying more just because I actually kinda like you."

"Ooh," Romina put a hand over her chest. "Don't I feel special? I'll take your hour and when I come back, you're going to owe me."

"Rom, maybe we should take it a step back," Arden said, biting on her bottom lip.

Romina looked past Draco to see the equally troubled faces of the group, all except Blaise who seemed more amused than anything else.

"Yeah, that's not a place you want to get caught in by yourself," Carolinha said. Daphne could only squeak in agreement. She was scared most of all.

"Draco, don't make her do that." Angel was practically glaring at the blonde.

Draco, however, snorted. "I'm not making her do anything. She's just stubborn."

"And she is right here, ready to smack you if you act like I'm not here!" Romina huffed. "Are you going to accept or not?"

"Depends, what do I get if you don't make it the entire hour?"

"What do you want?"

Draco thought for a moment, making a show out of it all while ignoring the heavy glare that Angel was sending him. "Well, I could always use a favor," Draco ultimately decided on. "Yeah," he smiled to himself like he'd just done something amazing. "I want one moment in which you have to do something I want or need, no questions asked."

Romina evaluated the idea with a tapping finger against her chin. "Okay, but—" she pointed that same finger at him, "it cannot involve hurting anyone physically nor something that'll get me or someone else into trouble. Got it?"

Draco nodded. "Done. Oh, and there is no expiration date on this. I'm going to hold out on it until I see fit."

"Fine, whatever, but when I win…" Romina's eyes flickered to Arden for some reason, the brunette wearily sighing in return, "You have to spend the same hour in the muggle world."

A round of gasps erupted from their friends.

Draco's face fell in horror. "Absolutely not!"

Blaise finally made a noise and it was just to laugh. "Now it's interesting," he said to the others.

"This is beyond daft," Angel groaned. "Malfoy, just tell her no and we can move on."

"Yeah, tell me no," Romina taunted Draco in front of her.

And admit defeat? Draco literally felt his insides burn at the idea. Romina was challenging him and with a stupid pretty—not pretty, very not pretty—smirk. "You're on, Oswell. Don't worry, I'll come get you when we hear your inevitable screams."

Romina snorted and stepped back from him. "You wish!"

"Romina, this is a really bad idea!" Angel shouted, if only to claim some of the attention before disaster struck.

"It'll be fine, Angel," Romina said, already turning for the small steps leading into the darker alley.

"Sage and Lyonel won't like this," Arden warned her. "Now matter how guilty they are for keeping your family a secret, if they find out about this, they will kill you."

"So we don't tell them!" Romina hopped down the three steps. "I'll be back before you know it!" She spun around, eyes meeting Draco's. He was full of mirth even if he didn't want to admit it. "Better clear your calendar cos you're coming to my neighborhood soon."

"Keep dreaming, Oswell. I'll keep an ear out for your screams," he promptly retorted.

Romina turned away and strode for the infamous alley. There was no way in hell she was going to give him the satisfaction. Arden was right, though, if either of her aunt or uncle found out she was in Knockturn Alley, she was dead.

"I can't believe you just made her do that!" Angel practically exploded after Romina was out of hearing shot. He turned to Draco, absolutely livid with him. "Do you have any idea what's in there?" Angel scoffed and answered before Draco even had the chance. "Of course you do! You're—"

"Watch your tongue, Paes," Draco finally snapped and turned to meet Angel's glare, "I did not make her do anything. Did you see me push her? Walk her down the steps myself? No!"

"I mean, to his credit, this is by far the least amount of effort he's put into anything," Arden remarked and just as Draco was about to gesture at her in gratitude for making the point, he did a double-take at her. He was surprised they'd just agreed on something. Arden shrugged in return.

Angel was not on the same page. "Arden!"

"I'm sorry," Arden said, "But I've known Romina far longer than all of you. She was going in there no matter what. She's very competitive."

"Still, it's dangerous!" Angel exclaimed.

"She'll be fine," Draco waved him off. "She has one trick that, if she's smart enough, she'll use."

"What's the trick?" demanded Angel.

Draco smirked. "Guess you're not smart enough."

Carolinha genuinely thought she would have to go pull her brother away before he lunged on Draco. She really hoped Romina would come out soon.

~ 0 ~

It was shady, that Romina would immediately admit. It was a stark difference from Diagon Alley. She walked with her shoulders straightened, her head held high, like she knew exactly what she was doing. But of course, a fourteen year old girl walking by herself in one of the shadiest parts of the wizarding world was bound to draw some attention.

Ten minutes in and she had already been stopped by a couple wizards asking her what she was up to. Apparently, fourteen year old girls also entered this part of town with the intentions of pulling tricks. If only they knew.

Romina stopped by the only store that she recognized. Borgin and Burkes. Her eyes raked over the display windows. She lost count on the dark objects that were sprawled on not-so-clean pedestals. With no idea why, she pulled the door open and walked inside. The shop was dimly lit and absolutely cluttered. She abruptly stopped when she caught sight of human bones lying under a display. Her eyebrows knitted together. How horrible.

"What are you doing here?" A man's voice made her jump in place. She spun around to come face to face with an older man she would definitely not like to meet anywhere. His eyes bore down on her, demanding to hear her explanations.

Romina swallowed hard. "Umm...just...looking?" Well, that was a terrible excuse.

"Get out!" The man barked.

"No!" Romina snapped. You have got to get ahold of your temper! One day it was sure to get her in trouble...and that might be today.

The man was furious with her. "Now who the hell do you think you are?"

Romina's eyes raked over the shop and all its countless objects. She couldn't imagine any wizards with good intentions coming in here. Wizards without good intentions. Her eyes widened. The idea was set and now she would execute it.

"My name—" she started, loud and clear for a fourteen year old, "—is Romina Oswell, daughter of Elora and Caplan Oswell." She started to relax when the man leaned away from her. Her trick was working. "And who do you think you are talking to me like that?"

"I-I'm...you're an Oswell?" He took a full step back, his hands coming to press down the wrinkles in his robes.

Romina gave an affirmative nod. "Do you know my parents?"

"W-well, of course! Of course I do!" The man turned away from her, missing the big breath of relief that Romina took as soon as he turned. "Your parents were in here all the time."

Of course they were. Romina shook her head. She hated mentioning her parents to anybody but it was about damn time they did something for her that was useful.

"I'm Mr. Borgin," the man introduced himself, though he didn't look back at the girl. He started walking for the counter instead. "What can I do for you, Miss Oswell?"

"I…" That was the question, wasn't it? What did she even want? To waste time. Romina looked around the store again. "Like I said, I was just...perusing around."

Mr. Borgin gave a gruff nod. "Anything in particular catch your eye?"

"Not...yet…" Romina said slowly, She noticed spikey instruments were hanging from the ceiling. Nice, their own version of a chandeliers.

"I must say, it is strange to see an Oswell here all alone, especially you." Mr. Borgin eyed Romina carefully. "I have never seen you here."

"Wasn't old enough to understand," Romina said with a careless shrug of her shoulders. She didn't know whether it was good or bad that Borgin was smiling at her.

"Ah, and now that you do, does anything catch your eye? I'm sure we can put your money to good use."

Romina had the inkling suspicion that the man was aware of the Oswell vault in Gringotts.

"Your family typically indulges in poisons and potions," Mr. Borgin remarked.

"Indulges?" Romina lifted an eyebrow at him. "Present tense. Has...has anyone else from my family been here recently?"

Mr. Borgin's lips pulled into a wide smile, possibly menacingly. "You're living with the only Oswell who didn't join You Know Who, right?" Romina nodded silently. "You wouldn't know, then. I don't know either, of course."

Romina suspected that was not quite true. Her eyes narrowed. "You better not mention that I was in here," she warned. "I did inherit my father's temper and I have a reputation for my inability to control it."

Mr. Borgin laughed. "I have no interest in spiting the youngest Oswell. My only business is to sell, after all. If you have inherited your parents—your family's—gift for the Dark Arts, you know where to find us."

Romina swallowed hard, drawing a step back as if Borgin would come after her. "Yeah, I'll let you know if I find a use for those human bones over there." She turned away fast, though perhaps not fast enough in her opinion, and hurried out.

~ 0 ~

It had been an hour and a half since Romina had disappeared in Knockturn Alley. The concern and tension were palpable in the air amongst the group who had been doing nothing but waiting. Angel was pacing back and forth, mumbling things about how they had made the biggest mistake of their lives.

"Maybe we should tell someone," Daphne whispered to Arden. The two girls were sitting together on the ground.

"Are you mad?" Arden hissed in the same hushed tone. "We'll be in so much trouble. Romina's aunt and uncle will kill her."

"But it's been more than an hour," Daphne said, not that either of them needed the reminder. "At this point, wouldn't it be better if she just got in trouble with her family instead of getting in trouble in that alley?"

Arden started biting on her bottom lip. That would be the more reasonable option between the two. She glanced at the others. Carolinha was following Angel in his pacing, trying to calm him down and no doubt stop him from telling any of the adults. Angel had already made the threat several times since the time passed. Draco and Blaise were leaning against a wall, mumbling things to each other. Neither of them seemed all that concerned. Arden wondered if it was an unusual amount of faith they had in Romina or if it was their typical carelessness.

"Okay, that's it!" Angel exclaimed, stopping abruptly. Carolinha crashed into his back. "We need to do something! It's been a whole hour!"

"She probably got lost; should've given her a map or something," Draco remarked, earning a full glare from Angel in return.

"This isn't funny!" Angel snapped. "It's your fault!"

"I thought we had already discussed this. On the matter of things being my fault, this one's pretty low. Romina does whatever the hell she wants—did you even see her hair last year?"

"You know what, Malfoy? I am sick of you!" Angel started for him, leaving Carolinha to scramble and try to pull him back.

"There's a surprise," Draco rolled his eyes, infuriatingly calm. "It's not like you've been sending me death glares for the past hour."

"Angel, c'mon!" Carolinha held onto her brother's arm tightly. "It's not his fault. Nobody forced Romina to go in there!"

"You should listen to your sister," Draco told the frantic twin brother.

"Not an invitation for you to keep talking!" Carolinha snapped. She looked at Blaise for some help but he was beyond attempting to hold either side back.

"What is going on?" Everybody froze in their tracks at the sound of Romina's voice. She was both horrified and confused at the sight of the near standoff between Draco and Angel.

"Oh thank God!" Daphne zoomed past them all to attack Romina in a big hug. "You're alright!"

"Well of course I am!" Romina laughed and patted Daphne's back. "What'd you think was going to happen to me?"

"Bad things!" Angel exclaimed, pushing Carolinha off him and hurrying up to Romina. Daphne had just managed to let go when Angel took his turn and hugged Romina. "You're never going back in there again, do you understand? You were gone for more than an hour!"

"Oh yeah," Romina said, shrugging carelessly. "I kinda lost track of time."

"What were you doing?" Arden curiously asked.

"Well, I went into Borgin and Burks—fair notice, giving them the Oswell name is like a free pass into anything in that part of town."

"So, you figured out the trick," Draco walked over, never minding the glare Angel still had on him.

Romina, however, was smirking proudly. "I'm not an idiot. It was the first thing that came out of my mouth. For once, Elora and Caplan actually helped."

"Why were you there for so long?"

"There's a lot of things to see…" Romina waved the matter off in favor of a much better matter, "And so, it seems like I win, and you know what that means?" For a moment, Draco had forgotten the deal. The horror that crossed his face was much too funny not to laugh at. Romina clapped her hands together. "This is going to be amazing!"

"I'm not—I can't, Oswell!" He said, almost frantically. "My parents would never let me go near your...your neighborhood!"

"Please, I'm sure that brain of yours—" she managed to tap his forehead before he smacked her finger away, "—will come up with a decent lie."

"I'm not doing it," Draco declared.

"I think you have to," Blaise said, snickering on the side.

"Shut it, Zabini!"

"Nice doing business with you," Romina said with her own giggle.

"You shut it too, Oswell!"

A/N:

I think it's important to remember that at the end of the day, all these characters are dumbass teenagers and it shows XD

For the review: I agree, I don't think Newt was very fleshed out in his own movies and it's such a damn shame. I hope to change that when I get to writing him more. And yes, I am a huge sailor moon nerd so that's where my username comes from! Thanks for reading :)

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