Star-Crossed

The next morning, many people stopped by to visit Harry. Many of them glared at Sally-Anne, but Harry started taking it upon himself to glare back at them.

"If you've got a problem with her, then you can leave."

That shut up most people. Around noon, the person with whom he wanted to speak finally showed up. To Harry's delight, he'd brought the other person he wanted to see.

"I seem to be short a TA," Remus said. "You wouldn't know where I could find one, do you?"

Sirius walked with Remus. He made a poor attempt to hide his concern for Harry.

"I'll let you know," Harry said. "Sirius, how's Taltria?"

Sirius paled, then glanced at Remus and Sally-Anne.

"I don't know what you mean. Why would I—"

"You and Taltria?" Sally-Anne asked. She looked him over. "I thought she had standards."

Harry stifled a laugh, wincing at the pain.

"I can leave," Sirius said, pointing to the door.

"I'm glad you're here," Harry said. ���Why does Snape hate my dad?"

Sirius and Remus both froze.

Sally-Anne sat up, evidently interested in the answer.

"Why would you want to know that?" Remus asked. "Why… why do you think he does?"

"After everything happening with Ginny, with Rose, now Taltria… Snape's hated me from the second he saw me, and everyone says I look like my dad. I know he hates my dad, but I don't know why."

Remus glanced at Sirius, who was trying to avoid Harry's gaze.

"We can talk about that later," Remus said. "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Why does Snape hate my dad?"

Harry looked at both of them, waiting for one of them to offer an answer.

"I've got nowhere to be," Harry said. "I can wait."

Once again, Sirius and Remus hesitated. Neither looked eager to answer.

"I'm sure Professor McGonagall can tell you," Sally-Anne said. "Of course, if they tell you, they've got a chance to make your first impression a good one. Judging by how hesitant they are, they'll need it."

Sirius shot a glare over Harry's shoulder at Sally-Anne.

"Your dad, Sirius, Pettigrew, and I bullied him," Remus said.

Harry waited for more, but no one else said anything.

"That's why he hates Gryffindor," Sally-Anne said. "But he despises Harry. What happened specifically that made him hate Harry's dad?"

Harry looked closer at them. Remus looked at a loss. He knew something else, but his face didn't suggest it would help.

Sirius knew something he didn't want to say, something he was trying not to say.

"Alavel told you, didn't he?" Harry asked. "There's two things. Something he did that he hates all of you for, Sirius in particular, judging by Remus's face, but then there's something he hates my dad for. Something you two didn't know before."

"Professor Snape was in love with Harry's mum, wasn't he?" Sally-Anne asked.

It took concentration, but Harry resisted the urge to look at Sally-Anne. Instead, he kept his focus on Sirius and Remus. Remus was surprised, but Sirius was only surprised that Sally-Anne knew.

"Rose told me Professor Snape and Harry's mum were friends," Sally-Anne said. "Him loving her, seeing a boy that looks like his enemy with his friend's eyes, it must drive him mad."

At that moment, Harry remembered why he and Sally-Anne had been friends.

Remus looked to Sirius.

"Sirius?"

"That's what Alavel told me. I always thought Snivelus was jealous of how popular James had been."

"Don't you dare call him that again," Sally-Anne said, her voice taking on a familiar edge.

Sirius took a small step back. Harry felt a little sorry for him.

"What else did you do to him?"

"Look, that's really not—"

"I'll fetch Professor McGonagall."

"She'll do it," Harry said.

Sirius looked to Remus, but Remus shook his head.

"It was bad," Remus said. "I'm not proud of what we did, Harry, but his hatred towards us is justified.�� He patted Sirius on the back. "And believe it or not, Sirius not wanting to admit it is progress. Your parents tried to teach him shame for years."

Harry smiled, trying to imitate Alavel's pride smile.

"I'm glad to hear it. Thank you for telling me."

Sirius frowned.

"What are you going to do?"

"I don't know yet. I haven't decided." Harry laid back in his bed. "Right now, rest sounds good. Then maybe lunch."

"Have either of you heard about Ron?" Sally-Anne asked.

Harry looked with just his eyes. Remus shook his head.

"We'll let you know when we know. His parents are with him, so you know St. Mungo's will give him the best of care."

Harry smiled at the thought of Mrs. Weasley telling the medics how to do their jobs. Ron had to have gotten it somewhere.

Hermione met Professor Dumbledore in his office a few weeks later. In that time, Ron and Ginny had returned to class. Sally-Anne started sitting with Ron and Harry again, much to Hermione's confusion. Ginny remained in a foul mood, and no one dared to talk to her. Hermione had noticed a professor always seemed to be right around the corner from Ginny.

Hermione herself had spent most of her time on one thing.

"I've got it," she told Professor Dumbledore. "I've got dimension lock."

No matter how sceptical Dumbledore was, there was no wiping the grin off her face.

"Show me."

Hermione concentrated on a spell, but it wasn't dimension lock; it was dimension door. The spell filled her mind, and she recited the incantation. When she finished, she felt her body ripped through a hole in space, then appeared on the other side of Professor Dumbledore's office.

"That was dimension door," she explained. "Now watch what happens when I add dimension lock."

She concentrated on the spell, reciting the vastly more complicated incantation. A green shimmer fell over the room. Hermione tried dimension door again, but when the spell pulled her to her destination, the lock pushed her back.

"See? Can't dim door now."

Dumbledore eyed her, his hands folded in front of him.

"Most impressive," he said. "What else have you replicated?"

"I've only focused on those and arcane sight, but I'm sure I can do more. Oh! And true seeing, so I can spot impostors."

"Be careful, Ms. Granger. These are spells unknown to everyone else. Know the consequences of what you're doing."

Hermione nodded. Not for the first time, she wondered where the limit was. Raise dead loomed over her, tempting her to work it out. Disintegrate taunted her with its power, not to mention the ninth-level spells Rose had mentioned. Eternity of Torture, Mindrape, Time Stop, Gate, Maw of Chaos, they were all within her grasp, but she didn't want to lose herself in this.

"That said," Dumbledore said, rising from his chair, "you need to follow me. Can you enchant runes with those?"

"That's what's taken me this long. I didn't want to show up until I had it."

"Very good."

Professor Dumbledore led her out of his office and down into the Dungeons. He took twists and turns through secret passageways, taking them to a place in the Dungeons she didn't recognize.

They passed through yet another secret door, which brought them to a maze. He didn't stop walking, taking paths with practiced ease. Hermione made mental notes of their path so she could find it later.

At last, they came to a dead end. Dumbledore tapped his wand in eight different places, and the wall folded away.

"As you know, enchantments last longer attached to runes," he said. "And runes last longer etched into durable material."

Hermione nodded as she looked around at the chamber they were in.

It looked like a large tunnel that curved out of sight. Hermione had a feeling it was a large circle that spanned the entire castle. Most of the tunnel was covered in runes.

"This is where the enchantments on Hogwarts live," Dumbledore said. "At least, the ones we manage. Some of them appear and disappear almost at random."

"'Almost'?"

"I thought it was random at first. But after Rose told me about the communication ward, I began to wonder if they weren't random at all."

Hermione glanced around in case Sylvia was watching them. Knowing her, she probably was.

"Does anyone else know about this place?" Hermione asked.

"A few of the staff, but I'd rather you didn't tell anyone. Only the headmaster may open the door, of course, but I'd still like it kept a secret."

Hermione nodded, having no intention of saying anything to anyone. She started working out where the runes would need to be placed to place the enchantment with the apparition ward. Judging by Dumbledore's silence, he was waiting for her to finish.

"Ready when you are," she said.

They walked through the tunnel once so Hermione could adjust her calculations accordingly, then they did another lap to place the runes. As Dumbledore instructed, Hermione did three sets of runes, linking them together and placing each copy away from their sister runes.

"In the event someone gets in, we don't want to make it easy for them."

Hermione took comfort that Sylvia either didn't care enough about them to stop them, or didn't want to show herself. Either way, it meant they were safe for the time being.

When she finished, a green shimmer rippled through the tunnel, then faded.

Hermione grinned, and tried dimension door again. Her grin widened when the lock bounced her back.

"Very good," Dumbledore said. "I think that's enough for today. I'll take you back up, and we'll get some rest."

Hermione tried relaxing, but she kept imagining Sylvia popping down and destroying the ward. Every so often, she activated arcane sight to check on the ward. Every time she did, she found it still there.

Relax, Brain. It's fine.

That night, Draco received another message from his father by way of Dobby. As always, the house-elf looked worried about him.

"I'm fine!" Draco snapped, snatching the letter from the house-elf.

It's been a month, and you've gotten no results. Do it now, or there will be consequences.

There was no signature, but he recognized his father's handwriting.

Dobby vanished, leaving Draco alone to contemplate his situation. He'd been avoiding this, but now he didn't have a choice.

The next night, Draco had rounds with Sally-Anne. He had to say something to her. Unfortunately, she was usually the one to start their conversations, so he didn't know what to say.

"I heard your friends tried to kill each other last month."

Sally-Anne glared at him, then returned to keeping an eye out for students.

"I can't say it surprises me. Word around school is Peta-Lorrum killed Brown."

Some instinct in him told him making her angry was the wrong approach. With every attempt to get her to talk, she shot him a glare that made him feel worse than the last one.

After an evening of no success, she spoke when they were back in the Dungeons.

"What were we doing before, Draco?" she asked. "Before the holiday, what were we doing?"

Draco frowned at her. What was that supposed to mean?

"What?"

"Was it all some game to you? Did you think you'd pull one over on the foolish mudblood? Were you going to see how much of my secrets you could get me to tell you? Or did you simply want to have a good laugh with your friends?"

Her words stung him, but he shrugged it off and shouted at her.

"What are you on about, mudblood?"

"Did you ever really care about me?"

Draco opened his mouth to shout "no", but the words stuck in his throat. He kept trying to force himself to shout at her, but she was using some sort of magic on him. What was wrong with him? It was a simple word!

"I cared about you, Draco. I thought… for a moment, I thought you were really struggling to break free from your parents and be your own person. But now I see the truth. You aren't… or you think you can't."

She broke her gaze on him and looked away. He knew the look of weakness in a person. He'd practiced spotting it. When she looked back at him, it was gone, and she'd returned to her cold glare.

"At first, I was heartbroken. You were my only friend." She wiped a tear from her eye. "But then I realized that you didn't choose this path. You let your parents choose it for you. I thought our friendship meant something to you, but I respect that your parents mean more to you."

Once again, Sally-Anne was proving to be confusing. She never wanted to admit when she was wrong, that must've been it. That was why she was always nice to him, no matter what he did.

No one else was nice to him. Fear gripped him every time he spoke to the Dark Lord. If he said something the Dark Lord didn't like, that was it. If he fell short of expectations, no one would back him up or cover for him.

His chest tightened when he realized that Sally-Anne would've. Knowing her, she'd do it at the cost of her own life. She cared about him in a way no one else did.

"I'm sorry," he said.

For possibly the first time in his life, he meant it.

Sally-Anne's glare didn't physically change, but he felt it change all the same. It ate at him, digging down into his soul and tearing him apart. He wanted to beg for her forgiveness, no matter how much of a fool it made him look. He longed to see her smile at him, to know that it was alright. Memories of her smile shone as bright as the sun. Her laughter raised his spirits, but it'd been such a long, dark time since he'd heard it.

"Apologizing doesn't mean anything," Sally-Anne said. "I'm not mad at you, I'm hurt. I… Rose was right. I wanted to kiss you. When I couldn't come to forgive myself, you didn't care. You looked past it all, past our families, past our lineage, and saw me for who I was. I was so proud of you for that, and relieved to know that there was someone who thought I wasn't a wretched traitor."

She motioned to his arm. The dark mark was covered, but he still didn't want her to know it was there. He pressed his hand over it and wished it'd never been there in the first place.

"But you joined a man who thinks I'm filth, simply because my parents can't use magic. It doesn't matter where your life starts, only where it goes. I thought you understood that."

Her cold, piercing gaze stripped away his defences, allowing her words to hit harder. Every word she spoke, every time she said something, it felt like someone drove a hot iron through his heart. The Cruciatus Curse was nothing compared to the pain Sally-Anne was causing him. He wanted her to stop, but some part of him said he deserved it.

"You broke my heart, Draco."

Tears trickled down his cheeks. Her gaze focused on his eyes, watching his show of weakness. He tried to force them back, but he couldn't stop them. He was at her mercy.

"I… I don't care!" he spat. "You're… you���re nothing but—"

"I don't need my pendant to read your mind. It's all over your face."

The chill in her voice put the Dark Lord's to shame.

"W-What?"

He spluttered when he talked. Words escaped him. His mind didn't work right.

"You do care, but you don't want to care, because it's easier if you don't."

Sally-Anne shook her head.

"The problem is that I do care. But I suppose I'll get over it in time."

She was wrong. He didn't care at all. But his instructions were to gain her trust, and he'd blown his only chance to get close to her. He didn't know what to do. He wanted to ask her, but even if they were friends, she'd never help him.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but couldn't find the words. Why couldn't he find the words he needed?

Anger boiled up inside him. It was all Sally-Anne's fault for making him feel this way.

"I hate you!" he shouted. "I never want to see you again!"

He stormed off. All he wanted was to put distance between the two of them. He hated the way she made him feel, so he removed the problem.

Tears fell faster, and he let out a quick sob. He punched the wall, but the feelings kept coming. Anger and hatred weren't chasing them off. Maybe they would if he got angrier. He let out a roar that echoed through the corridors, but still the tears came. Nothing he did stopped them. All the power and influence of a Malfoy, but he was still at the mercy of a mudblood girl.

How was he supposed to get closer to her if he couldn't stand to be near her? Why did it have to be her? What about Granger? She was Dumbledore's new favorite. Draco could almost stand Potter. But no, it'd be easier to work someone during rounds, and that only left Perks. Perks had lines of communication back to Dumbledore, which meant it had to be her.

If he talked to her, the pain returned. If he went back empty-handed, he'd suffer the Dark Lord's wrath. Draco was surprised to find that he didn't know which one was worse.

Later that week, Hermione met with Dumbledore again, but not to discuss the castle's defences. It would be to review one of her favorite memories of Rose.

Hermione drew a silver strand from her mind and dropped it into the Pensieve.

They fell back inside. Hermione was almost getting used to the feeling. They landed in her parents' living room.

Rose and another Hermione were there. Rose looked older than she had before.

Dumbledore looked at her expectantly.

"This is shortly before the Third Task," Hermione explained, "so I was still stuck at home."

He nodded, then tuned in to the conversation the other Hermione was having with Rose.

"You don't need a little kid right now," Rose was saying. "You just need a friend."

"I had a great one, but she's been off trying to impress her girlfriend."

"What?"

"Isn't that why you've been working so hard on the third task? To impress Sylvia? Or can I call her Shadow?"

Rose smiled softly, and the real Hermione blushed. She missed that smile. That was the real Rose, the one she knew so well. The one that would never hurt her, or Alavel, or anyone else.

"Sylvia's not Shadow. She… it calls itself Slytherin."

Dumbledore listened intently as Rose explained everything she knew about Slytherin to another Hermione. He'd probably be taking notes if he'd been allowed.

"It tried to kill us, and you brought it as your date to the ball?"

"You make a good point," Dumbledore said.

"That was the price of this one. I… There was someone else I'd have rather asked, but I didn't want people to think she was like me. So Slytherin offered to pretend to be my date, using some sort of perception magic so no one would remember 'her'. In exchange, I tracked down the locket over the winter holiday."

Hermione gasped. Almost two years later, she finally realized who it was Rose had wanted to ask to the ball.

"Yes, Ms. Granger?"

"I… I think she wanted to��"

Hermione began to cry. She couldn't stop the tears.

"Would you like to stop?" he asked.

"No, please don't," she said, wiping the tears away. "This is one of my happiest memories, believe it or not." She pointed at Rose as she explained the protections around the Horcruxes. "That's Rose, right there. I don't know what happened to her, but that is my friend. I don't care what she says, but she hasn't always been like that."

Hermione got a hold of herself as she watched the other Hermione snap at Rose for hurting Ron.

"It wasn't her fault," Hermione whispered. "It was never her fault. She tried to help him."

Guilt ate away at her as she watched them talk, but she smiled at something she'd said.

"You might be a mad girl, but you're my mad girl."

Hermione blushed when she saw Rose blush.

You're still my mad girl.

"That all still doesn't answer my question. Why work so hard on the tasks? I know you take pride in your work, but this has been an obsession."

Rose looked down and spoke softly.

"Because I wanted to impress you. I didn't want you to hate me."

"I don't hate you," Hermione whispered.

"I don't hate you."

Rose shook her head. "Not… not yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"When I broke the time turner, I was in some weird mixture of timelines. I saw a future you, and… and she hated me. She said I'd done something to her, something that I'd always do, because it was who I was." Rose looked up at the other Hermione, and Hermione remembered seeing the tears in Rose's eyes. "I can't stand losing you."

Dumbledore opened his mouth to ask about them, but Rose soon explained that it was disguise self, that they weren't real.

"I might never go home. I might've already lost my family. I can't lose you."

Hermione's heart sank, and the pain returned to her chest. She wanted to reach out and take Rose's hand, to give her the hug for which she must've longed. She watched Rose recount her attack from Valignatiejir, saw her withdraw inward.

Then she relaxed as they spoke, and took the other Hermione's hand. Hermione felt the sensation of Rose's glove on her hand, and wished for a moment she'd held on tighter.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

"Then be here now. We can face our demons together."

"I'd like nothing more, Brain."

The memory faded to blue, and they fell through the Pensieve again.

When they landed, they were back in Professor Dumbledore's office. Hermione wiped more tears from her eyes. Professor Dumbledore offered her a handkerchief.

"Thank you," she said, blowing her nose.

"It can be difficult to walk through one's own memories. To see those you've lost."

"I'm glad we didn't see much with Alavel or Atrien," Hermione said. "Following Rose's path through our world was bad enough."

"What was it you were trying to say earlier?"

"I… I realized… I think Rose wanted to ask… me to the ball."

She made a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob.

"After that, she helped me adjust to Hogsmeade. Every time we went out, she'd call it a date."

She smiled at the memories, but cried when she realized they were all gone. Something had happened to her friend.

"How do you manage it?" she asked. "Looking through memories like this?"

"It isn't easy," he replied. "Especially when one realizes something new about a loved one."

Hermione nodded in agreement and wiped more tears from her eyes.

"But a reminder, Ms. Granger, that—"

"The old Rose is gone, I know."

"She killed one of your classmates," Dumbledore said. "A girl with whom you two shared a room for four years. Do not make excuses for her."

"I know, but… why her? Of all the people she could've killed, why her?"

Dumbledore closed his eyes for a moment and breathed.

"It's entirely possible that Ms. Peta-Lorrum has lost her mind, or she's under someone's control, or under duress. In all likelihood, we will never know the answers. I understand that you want to believe she's innocent, or that it's some sort of trick, but it isn't. Ms. Brown is dead. I urge you to separate your image of Rose from who she's become."

Hermione was trying, but she also recognized the feelings she had. She'd felt them before, even if it hadn't been for a few years.

She was falling for Rose.

"I… I will."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes.

"Do not lie to me, Ms. Granger. I can see the conflict in you. I realize that you think you love her, but you're feeling grief. You miss the person she was."

"You can't know what I feel!"

Dumbledore stopped again and closed his eyes.

"There are two scenarios before us. The first is that you're right. Ms. Peta-Lorrum is tricking us, coerced by someone in some way. If that is the case, she still killed Alavel and Ms. Brown. If you're wrong, she will likely keep killing. We don't know where it will stop. You understand her magic in a way no one else does, allowing you to bring her to our level. This is your choice. If there is a way to neutralize her without killing her, I'm all for it. You've got information about her and her magic. I urge you to share as much of it as possible with me. That is what we'll be doing over the next few months."

Hermione nodded.

"I know exactly how you feel, Ms. Granger. Exactly. I lost someone dear to me because I refused to give up on a loved one. I made the wrong choice. I urge you to make the right one."

That night, Hermione sat in the common room alone. She wanted to work on adopting Rose's magic, but it all kept dragging up feelings about Rose. She lost herself in the bright days with Rose. It all seemed like another lifetime.

A sound startled her out of her daydreams. She found Sally-Anne standing in the entrance to their rooms.

"Sorry," she said. "I'll come back."

"You're fine," Hermione said, motioning for Sally-Anne to come in.

Sally-Anne stared at her as if she were no longer human.

Hermione patted herself down, in case she had accidentally transformed.

"What is it?" she asked. "Is there something growing out of me?"

Sally-Anne straightened up and stopped staring.

"You're fine, but… are you sure you want me here?"

Hermione thought of everything Sally-Anne had done in the past year. Then she remembered how she'd been this one.

"Yeah, I am. I'm… I'm sorry for not considering what you said last year. I was upset about Rose and couldn't think straight."

Sally-Anne smiled a genuine smile for the first time Hermione had seen in months.

"I'm sorry I believed Umbridge over you."

Hermione smiled back and nodded.

"You put it right. That's all that matters now."

Sally-Anne motioned to the chair beside Hermione.

"May I join you?"

"Of course."

Sally-Anne walked carefully over and sat down beside her.

"Have…" Hermione began, but thought it best she not involve anyone else in her problems.

"Have you been alright?" Sally-Anne asked. "You've had a look about you lately."

Hermione considered for a moment with whom she was speaking. Not only did Sally-Anne have a way of understanding people when she tried, but she'd been friends with Malfoy for a while. She of all people might've been able to understand how Hermione felt.

"I realized that Rose wanted to ask me to the ball," she said, "and now… I wish she had."

Tears returned to Hermione's eyes. She wiped them away, but not before Sally-Anne saw.

Sally-Anne took out a handkerchief and passed it to Hermione.

"Dumbledore keeps telling me it's wrong, that I've got to remember how much older she is, and that she's gone, but I can't. She's still my friend."

She blew her nose before continuing. When she did, she noticed the handkerchief cleaned itself.

"I don't care that she was older than us. She still looks the same, still acts the same. She was still my friend."

"Hermione, she killed Lavender."

"I know, but… why? What happened to her? What happened to my friend?"

"Sometimes… the people you care about let you down."

"Is that what Malfoy did to you?"

All joy vanished from Sally-Anne's face.

"Sort of. He… he can't ignore his parents."

Hermione frowned for a minute, eyeing Sally-Anne. Gears turned in her head. What could Rose have done to show her that?

"He's a Death Eater, isn't he?" Hermione asked. "Rose showed you the dark mark on his arm."

Sally-Anne looked away, then nodded.

"Please don't tell anyone!" she said quickly. "I know he's not on our side, but—"

"There are no sides," Hermione said. "People keep saying that Rose is against us, and maybe she did kill Lavender, but I won't accept that she'd go against us. If you think there's a chance you can change his mind, go for it."

Sally-Anne nodded. A smile spread across her face, and pulled Hermione into a hug.

"Thanks, Brain."

"You're welcome, Princess."

Later that week, Draco and Sally-Anne had rounds together again. Sally-Anne met him with that same cold stare. He met her with his practiced sneer.

"Mudblood."

"Coward."

Draco snarled at her.

"What did you call me?"

She folded her arms, making it easier to hate her.

"You heard me quite clearly. When someone bends to another person's will out of fear, they're a coward. That's what you did."

His sneer returned. He knew right where to poke the stick to make her bleed too.

"Just like when someone sells out their friends, they're a traitor."

Sally-Anne closed her eyes and took a few breaths. She didn't shed a single tear. When she opened her eyes, she didn't look any different. His words hadn't even scathed her. Or if they had, it hadn't been for long.

"Is this what you want?" Sally-Anne asked. "To join the Death Eaters, to look down upon me with scorn, to live your entire life obeying your parents. Is that really what you wanted?"

Draco hesitated.

"Think about last year. They weren't happy that you'd dumped Parkinson, but you did it anyway, and it felt so good, didn't it? I know you can break free of them… now I only want to know that you don't want this life."

"What if I do?"

"Is Voldemort really any better than Umbridge? Will he decide you're expendable?"

Draco knew the answer to that. Everyone was expendable in the eyes of the Dark Lord.

"Judging by the look on your face, you already know you are."

"I don't care what you think!" Draco shouted.

Maybe if he shouted it loud enough, he'd finally believe it.

Sally-Anne shook her head.

"That's the problem, isn't it? You do care what I think. I still care about you, Draco, but so long as you're loyal to Voldemort… I can't see myself ever loving you."

Draco's emotions bubbled over, and he screamed again.

Sally-Anne stood unphased by his outburst.

"I hate you! I hate everyone! All everyone does is tell me what to do, or how to think, or how to feel! I'm so sick of it!"

He fell to his knees. Sobs escaped him. He couldn't hold them back.

"I wish I hadn't," he said. "I wish he'd never come back. I want him to leave me alone."

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He looked up and saw Sally-Anne smiling at him.

"It's alright, Draco. I'll never tell you what to do. Only show you a better way to live."

She stared into his eyes. It felt as though she could see inside him, his secrets laid bare for her. For once, that was okay; he wanted to share them with her. He wanted her to know everything there was to know about him.

She leaned in and kissed him. He held her and kissed her back. It was the happiest moment of his life.