#(ochu

"But...you can't do magic at home," Draco said, "And Arden swears you did that haircut before Summer."

"I didn't," Romina said easily, propping an elbow on the table. She rested her cheek on the palm of her hand. "I waited till my aunt and uncle dropped me off at the train station and did it once we got moving."

"So you did it, for the first time, on a moving train?"

"And got it right too! Aren't I a genius? Tell me a genius." Romina's smirk only widened as she watched Draco's mouth practically fall open.

There was no denying anymore that he was, indeed, impressed. Draco couldn't help it. He looked at her with his own smirk. "Alright, you win. Gotta say, never thought I'd see you gloating about something. This is a version of you I can get on board with."

"I'm not gloating and look who's talking!" Romina rolled her eyes. "You're the king of gloating. I'm just taking credit for something absolutely fantastic and genius that I did."

"But you're not gloating, right?"

Romina deadpanned him. "Shut up."

Draco laughed lightly. "I think now I win."

"Whatever, but don't tell anyone what I did, alright? I don't feel like explaining how I did it and I just...I don't want anymore attention than the one I already have."

"You can relax, I won't say anything," Draco said just as the rest of their friends started getting to the table.

"Say anything about what?" Arden said, eyeing the two suspiciously.

"That you have the best timing ever," Draco said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

Arden raised an eyebrow at him. The others were already taking the open seats around her. "I'm sorry, did we interrupt something or...?" She looked specifically at Romina for the answer.

"What? No!" Romina exclaimed, clearing her throat afterwards. Maybe she scooted her a chair a bit away from Draco's too, who knew. "C'mon, there's so much work to do."

"I'll say," Theodore huffed as he grabbed a seat next to Angel. "Who's got the Divination notes?"

"I have some," Pansy said, "But I didn't get what she was saying towards the end."

"Or in the beginning," Blaise said and snickered with Angel. Arden joined in as well.

"That subject sucks," Romina told them all. "You should have taken something else."

"It's an easy score," Draco told her. "Just pull some crap together with some planets and stars and you're good."

"Give me your notes right now," Theodore pointed at him.

As the group got studying, they started chitchatting about just about everything and because of the buzz around the library from other students, it was inevitable talking about the upcoming quidditch game.

"They're Ravenclaws, though," Carolinha shot the group another look before pulling out a chair next to her brother Angel while Romina took the empty one beside Arden. "Isn't the first game between Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs?"

"You bet," Arden looked up from her Divination homework to smirk at Draco sitting directly across from her. "That's why his ass is over here trying to do the homework right or he won't get to play at all. Injury or no injury. I suggest you go back to the book before you turn that—" she pointed her quill to Draco's parchment, "—to Trelawny."

Because Romina could see Draco's mouth twitching into what would probably become a decent insult involving his favorite 'm' word, she purposely cleared her throat loudly. "Homework," she gave him a sharp, warning look.

Pansy dropped into the seat between Draco and Angel. "You can borrow my book if you want," she offered Draco and slid her own Divination book towards him.

"Oh please, you probably need to keep your nose buried in that book to understand one page," they heard Arden mutter from her spot, and before Pansy snapped Angel cut in.

"Please don't argue," Angel whisper-hissed. "Madam Pince already warned us that the next time you shout we all get kicked out."

"She'll have to kick out the entire library at this point," Blaise remarked. He looked up at the rest of the library. Not one table was quiet.

Before she heard any more incessant arguing, Romina announced she was going to switch books. She left the table and went towards the closest aisle, still wanting to keep an eye on Arden and Pansy. Lately, they were arguing a lot more too. Romina didn't like it. At the end of the day, they were all supposed to be friends, right?

"Woah—!" She crashed into someone and hard. Suddenly, she was on the ground and even from her spot she swore that she heard some of her friends laughing. Whipping her head at their table, she saw Blaise and Theodore outright cackling. Pansy didn't even bother hiding it.

Madame Pince more or less gave up trying to shush the whole damn library at this point.

"Romina, are you—" Angel had just started getting up from his seat when someone else spoke, saying a soft 'here' and the next thing Romina saw was a hand reaching out in front of her.

Her dark eyes met similar dark ones, and a freckled face. The boy was Gryffindor, judging by his red tie, and had a soft smile on his face. His chestnut brown hair was tousled at the tips, although a lot of it seemed like it stuck out as if he kept running his hands through it. "I'm sorry," he said, reaching his hand a little closer to Romina.

Flushed from the whole thing, Romina took his hand and with his help, got up from the ground. "It's alright," she cleared her throat. "Least I gave my friends — my alleged friends anyways — a show," she threw the group a look, not that it mattered. Now that they stood face to face, Romina saw that his dark eyes had a slight hazel shade when the light reflected in them.

"It's my fault, I should have been looking where I was going," the boy said, snapping Romina out of her thoughts. "Maybe next time I'll wait until I'm at the table to start reading."

Romina's eyes fell over the book he was holding in his other hand. The Book of Imaginary Things. She tilted her head at it. "Imaginary things? Why are you reading about imaginary things?"

The boy gave a small chuckle. "Nothing's really 'imaginary', you know."

"I think imaginary friends would count," said Romina, earning another chuckle.

"This is a book about supposed imaginary creatures," the boy explained. "But what I say is that any creature can be real. Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it's 'imaginary'."

Romina couldn't help but smile. He reminded her of someone at the moment but she couldn't place her finger on it. "I...suppose that's a fair argument to make..." she said, still half thinking.

"You know..." But suddenly, the boy trailed off. As quick as his mouth opened, he closed it, and suddenly he seemed nervous.

"Are you okay?" Romina wondered if she'd crashed into him hard to actually hurt him.

"Yeah, sorry, 'scuse me!" The boy side-stepped her and quickly took off, leaving Romina to watch after him.

She forgot all about her book and returned to the table, though she tried to find the boy in the sea of students in the library. He had disappeared amongst the other Gryffindors around.

"What the hell was that about?" Arden raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's cute," Daphne said abruptly, causing the girls to look at her and the boys to groan.

"Seriously, Daphne?" Romina's nose crinkled. "It was a literal 30 second conversation." She leaned up on her seat to once again cast a look around the library in search of the boy. "And he just sort of...disappeared now..." she mumbled.

"If it was so insignificant, why are you breaking your neck to find him again?" Daphne smirked as Romina let herself drop in her chair. "Aha. Admit it, you thought he was cute too."

"No," Romina frowned. "I thought him...interesting."

Daphne snorted. "Same thing!"

"It's really not. He was saying something about imaginary creatures not actually being imaginary..."

"Can you guys shut the fuck up already?" Draco interjected with a rather vexed tone. He looked up from his essay, eyes flickering from one girl to the other. "I'd like to finish my work."

"Anyone know his name?" came Romina's question not a second after him. His head snapped in his direction, face incredulous that she dared ignored him like that.

"You're so out of this social circle, it's actually painful," Pansy said, drawing her attention over.

"What do you mean?" Romina asked. "You know who he is?"

"He's a pureblood so of course we know him," said Pansy with a smirk. "That's—"

"Shut it, Parkinson," Draco cut her off sharply.

Romina then looked at him beside her, tilting her head. "You know who he is?"

"You heard her," he muttered and continued to write his essay.

Pansy's smirk widened.

Romina, however, waited for Draco to tell her who the boy was, but he just kept writing. "Well tell me who he is!"

"No."

Romina blinked incredulously. "No?"

"No." Draco didn't even look up when he reiterated his answer. Romina looked at the rest of their friends but before any of them could say anything, Draco did. "Nobody says a word. Well, King has no bloody idea anyways but you know what I mean."

"Excuse me but who do you think you are!?" Romina exclaimed.

"Draco Lucius Malfoy, thanks for asking."

The rest of their friends broke into snickers and laughter. Romina, however, did not laugh. No, instead, she shoved him so hard that he knocked into Theodore beside him.

"Argh, Oswell!" Draco was now covered with ink from his own quill.

"That's Romina Aline Oswell to you!" Romina snapped. "All I want to know is who that guy was! Why is it such a big deal?"

"You tell me!" Draco argued back. "It's not like he's going to have any conversation with you anyways!"

"How do you know?"

"Because he hardly talks to any of us anyways!"

Romina once again looked at the others and to her surprise, they all pretty much agreed with Draco.

"He's a pureblood but he doesn't really form part of our circle," said Blaise, making a circular motion with his quill. "I don't blame him, though. I myself can't stand Malfoy and Nott together for more than hour."

"Shut the fuck up, Blaise," went both Draco and Theodore on the spot.

"He has different interests," Angel said, trying to ease the tension by speaking calmly and without any quips. "But his family is recognized as war heroes."

"And his grandmother runs the Gejél line!" Daphne said with a giddy smile that even Carolinha seemed to match.

"The Gejél line?" Romina and Arden made faces.

"The best of the best fashion!" Daphne promised. "It's a French line and basically all I wear!"

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Romina said with a small sigh. "Fine, whatever, I give up." She threw her hands in front of her. She had way too many things to deal with than to add on some strange pureblood boy to her list.

~ 0 ~

When the first Quidditch game rolled by, the weather was worst as could be. All players were soaked inside out with rain but they still zoomed on by trying to win for their House. Everything seemed to be going in Gryffindor's way until Harry disappeared too far up going after the Snitch. The audience was left wondering when Harry Potter would come zipping down holding the Snitch in hand. The Hufflepuff's seeker was also gone trying to find the Snitch but there were some people in the audience who noticed something peculiar about the current game.

"Is it me or does a bludger seem to have it in for Harry?" Romina had to practically shout in the midst of the rain.

"Nah!" Arden responded. "That's just a harsh game!"

Romina focused on the game itself and anxiously waited for Harry to come back. He did come back, alright, but...with his broom...and practically unconscious…

Dementors were swarming the skies like hungry crows, and Harry had been their choice of meal. It was all a chaotic mess but in the end, Harry had been taken to the infirmary wing. Romina didn't waste a second and the moment she got out of the bleachers, she was chasing after Hermione and Ron to join them at the infirmary wing. She didn't care about the dirty looks some of the other Gryffindor students had given her for her presence. She was going to be there when Harry woke up, and she was.

He woke up slowly, but surely, although the combined voices of his friends didn't exactly speed the process up.

"Ron, I think you're hurting his head..." Hermione had said.

"Looks a bit peaky, doesn't he?" Harry then heard Ron say.

"You would be too if you fell from the sky, Ron," he heard Romina scold.

"Harry!" Fred was the first one to see Harry awakening. Harry immediately noticed that Fred was drenched in mud and wet from the rain...as were the rest of his teammates. "How're you feeling?"

"What happened?" Harry pushed himself up to sit upright. He winced as he felt some ache in his body.

"You fell off," George reminded him. "Must've been — what — fifty feet?"

"Approximately," Romina muttered.

Harry didn't seem as fazed by the whole thing since his first thought went to Quidditch. "But the match. What happened? Are we doing a replay?" Everyone exchanged some glances Harry wasn't liking. "We didn't — lose?"

"No one blames you, Harry," Hermione said immediately, "The Dementors aren't meant to come on the grounds. Dumbledore was furious. After he saved you, he sent them straight off.

"Diggory got the Snitch," George explained. "Just after you fell. He didn't realize what had happened. When he looked back and saw you on the ground, he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch. But they won fair and square . . . even Wood admits it."

Harry remembered his enthusiastic, determined Captain at the beginning of the game and felt even worse. "Where is Wood?"

"Still in the showers," Fred answered. "We think he's trying to drown himself."

Harry felt a growing frustration against everything in his life at that moment. If those Dementors hadn't surrounded him then he would have won for sure. Why did this happen to him? Why?

"The game isn't technically over yet, is it?" Romina asked softly. Everyone now stared at her, confused by her words. She was trying to make Harry feel better. She knew how much Quidditch meant to him and he shouldn't feel bad when what happened was out of his control. "Well, I don't understand how the games work but...Arden does. She says you guys lost by a 100 points so...well, if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and you guys beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin . . ." she started to slow down when the looks became too much, "...you guys...would...win…? What?"

"You're telling us to win against your own House, Rom…" Hermione was the one to answer.

"No," she waved them all off. "I'm just pointing out facts. Do with it what you please." Romina flashed a kind smile at Harry. "It means that you get to keep practicing and we all get another game, right?"

Harry would have taken her words more into consideration had he not remembered his Nimbus 2000. "Did someone get my Nimbus?"

There were some more nervous glances from his friends, and Harry assumed the worst.

"Well...when you fell off…" Hermione bit her lip, debating how to finish it properly, "...it sort of...got blown away…"

Harry's stomach filled with dread. "Where to?"

"...the Whomping Willow."

That was all Harry needed to know. His broom was probably dust by now.

~ 0 ~

When Professor Lupin finally returned to his class a week later, he was met with outrage from his students complaining about their substitute professor - Snape. No one was quiet about the tremendous amount of work Snape had given them during his absence.

"It's not fair, he was only filling in, why should he give us homework?" went Dean Thomas who looked ready to pull out his own hair from the assignments Snape had tasked them.

"We don't know anything about werewolves —" started another student, a Hufflepuff before the student sitting beside them finished.

"—two rolls of parchment!"

Lupin motioned with his hands for the class to settle down. "Did you tell Professor Snape we haven't covered them yet?"

"Yes!" the class chorused together except for a couple of Slytherins.

Romina raised her hand, nervously glancing at the rest of the students.

"Miss Oswell?"

Romina lowered her hand and began quietly, "Well, we did try to tell Professor Snape about where we were in the class—"

"But he didn't listen!" Ron finished for her.

"That's not what happened!" the girl groaned, ignoring his face of indignation. "He merely said we were really behind so—"

"You don't need to make excuses for him just because he's your Head of House," snapped Ron.

Romina glared over her shoulder. "I'm not!"

As the two furthered their disagreement, Lupin calmed them down by simply telling them no one had to do Snape's essay. That appeased the whole class—almost everyone.

"Oh no," Hermione frowned. "I've already finished it!"

Ron and Romina settled their differences by focusing on Hermione's overachievement.

"You have got to be kidding me," Romina mumbled under her breath and settled to learn the newest lesson.

Thankfully, Lupin had come through to his class by providing them a pretty fun lesson with hinkypunks which turned out to be little, one-legged creatures that were made of wisps of smoke. Their frailness and unthreatening appearance made most girls gawk. When class was over, everyone happily gathered their belongings to head to lunch.

"Miss Oswell," Lupin stopped the girl before she could follow after the others. "May I have a word with you?"

"Uh...yes," Romina knew the question was for formal reasons but went ahead and gave the answer anyway. She left her things over the desk and watched as Lupin went back to his own desk.

"You started to turn in more assignments," he noted from the stack of piles that was behind no doubt by Snape. "Am I to assume this was because of your own motivation and not because your Head of House was teaching the subject?"

"Well...to be fair...it was a little bit of both," Romina answered truthfully, making Lupin chuckle.

"You're making jokes. That's a better side of you that I've seen so far this year," he leaned against the front of his desk.

Romina knew exactly what he meant and lowered her head. "I'm sorry I wasn't doing my assignments. If it helps, I wasn't exactly doing any assignments for any of my classes." Lupiin seemed more bemused than anything else with that confession. "But I promise that won't happen again."

"I understood your position and that is why I have been lenient so far..." Lupin's words made the girl raise her head to reveal widened eyes. "But I don't intend on letting you waste a whole year like this."

"You know…?" Romina's voice was a faint whisper. Lupin met her eyes with a serious face. Her heat began to beat rapidly. When McGonagall intervened, she had never mentioned that she knew what was the reason for her lack of attention in classes. How could Lupin — he couldn't know...could he? "You don't...you do…that the people...the-the two adults the b-boggart took shape of were…?"

"Your parents?" Lupin gave a confirming nod. "I didn't before but it really only took minimal digging to know."

"My name probably helped," Romina added on. "And...apparently, I look a lot like Elora."

"Your mother?"

"Elora," Romina reiterated, her voice hardening with the mere name. "Did you...did you know them?"

"No, they were older than me," Lupin shook his head, "But we did know of them as the war started getting closer."

"Well," Romina raised her head, swallowing hard, "Just as well because I don't want to know anything about them. To my misfortune, I am related to them but that is as far as I am willing to get. I despise them and I have no need for them in my life. They've cost me a lot even from behind their stupid cells in Azkaban."

Lupin acknowledged her words, and wishes, but cleared his throat to say something more, "I understand your feelings towards your parents might be...difficult, but you should not allow that to interfere with your studies. You're a bright student, Romina. I know you're tutoring for Professor McGonagall and I know you take pleasure in studying Muggles. If what you're worried about is being too similar to your parents, rest assured you are not."

There was a relief in Romina's eyes that practically radiated from her. "Th-thank you, Professor."

"You're 13, try to have a little bit more fun. I know the dementors make it hard but, this is Hogwarts. There's bound to be something that makes you happy." Lupin gave her a kind smile then told her to go have lunch.

Romina happily obliged, feeling pretty content for the moment. She left the classroom and headed for the Great Hall, though a little slower as she was stuck thinking about the conversation. It felt strange having people — adults, specifically — show genuine care for her like professor McGonagall and Lupin. She was so used to depending solely on her aunt Sage and uncle Lyonel. As happy as Romina felt with the extra attention she was receiving, it also made her feel a tad bitter—resentful, perhaps—because she didn't have anyone else besides her aunt and uncle. They were always tight-lipped about any other family members they had around.

"Oswell?"

Romina abruptly stopped like she'd been caught in an act. Embarrassment is more of what she felt. What was she doing thinking about not getting attention from other adults? She was 13, she didn't need to be coddled by anyone.

"What did Lupin want to talk about with you?" Draco stopped at the bottom of the staircase. He'd taken to surveying her expressions more often since it seemed like nobody else — including her supposed best friends — was paying attention. "Seem pretty pale—again."

Romina got back to her usual self to make a comeback. "Says the one who's permanently pale." She started going down the steps. "Why are you here? You weren't spying on us, were you?"

"No, I was going over Quidditch tactics. Team's really excited now that Gryffindors are out."

"They're not technically out," Romina stopped at the last step.

"But practically. What did Lupin want?"

"Nothing. And I certainly don't see why you want to know. Nosy much?"

"Romina I know more than you think and you should be grateful that instead of snapping at you - like you've deserved for some time - I am keeping your little secret."

"Don't you come at me like you have a clue about what's going on. You could never know."

Draco raised an eyebrow at her, seeming like he was taking her words as a challenge. "I'm not an idiot—"

"Jury's still out on that one," Romina said, crossing her arms in front of her. "Besides, if you did know something, you would have said something already."

"No I wouldn't," Draco said plainly, "Because I'd wait for the perfect opportunity to use it."

Romina frowned. Unfortunately, that did sound like him. Suddenly, she wasn't as brave as before. In fact, panic washed over her. "You — please, can we go get lunch?"

"What—?"

"Please," Romina side-stepped him and hopped from the steps, "I'm super hungry."

Draco turned after her. He'd be more surprised with her quick change of topics if he didn't already know. "You can't outrun this, Oswell."

"Out run what? Hunger? Yeah, you're right about that one! C'mon!"

"Romina!" Draco went after her, unintentionally shouting. "Running doesn't get you anywhere—"

"It's literally getting me to the Great Hall, what do you mean?" Romina laughed at him.

"Stop!" Draco practically begged her to take him seriously at this point. He was so focused on that point that he didn't see her stop so suddenly and crashed into her from behind. "What the — why'd you stop!?"

Romina had stopped suddenly and was staring at something across from them. Draco moved to step beside her and followed her gaze to the group of students heading into the Great Hall. He picked out the familiar brunette Gryffindor boy.

Said brunette Gryffindor saw them as well. He met Romina's gaze for a moment then hurried in with his friends.

Draco frowned after the boy then glanced at Romina beside him. She wasn't frowning, nor appeared to be angry. It actually seemed worse, in Draco's opinion.

"I didn't even do anything..." she whispered, her voice filled with disappointment. "I don't...I don't understand."

"I wouldn't even try to understand, if I were you," Draco said, "He's weird, I already told you."

"But you know him," Romina met his gaze, "So you know if he's mean. Is he?"

"I don't think it really ma—"

"Draco," her voice hardened, "Is he? Is he mean?"

Draco had no idea when the fuck Romina got the power to demand answers from him, nor the ability to make him answer, but she did and before he knew it his mouth had opened to deliver the information she wanted. "No."

Romina looked away before tears formed in her eyes. "He seemed really nice before. And do you know, he's in our classes. I never noticed him before, but he's there. He's the one who usually answers the questions in our Care of Magical Creatures class."

"Yeah, not quite surprising there," Draco mumbled under his breath.

"All it took was a 30 second conversation with me to make him hate me," Romina nodded to herself. "That's how it's going to be for the rest of my life."

"No, it won't—"

"Yes, it will be, because I'll always be who I am and come from where I did. No one's ever going to look at me twice. I'm honestly surprised you guys are my friends."

"Well..."

Romina spared Draco a deadpanning glance. "If you joke right now, I will seriously hurt you. It's not fair. I didn't do anything except...be born."

"Then stop your whining and get over it already," Draco said bluntly. "Can't you see that you're making yourself miserable? It's annoying, really. You should stop it."

Romina scoffed. "Because it's that easy? You have no idea what it's like for me right now."

Draco would have said he had a fairly good idea of what it felt like given that she made it pretty obvious. She'd been in foul moods ever since school started and it was only getting worse, not to mention really irritating. He himself couldn't open his mouth without further agitating her. He looked at her, though, and noticed that right now she wasn't angry. She was still more or less miserable. He rolled his eyes, sighing to himself. "Let's go get lunch already." He didn't exactly give Romina the opportunity to agree when he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the Great Hall.

"What are you doing?" she immediately went to take his hand off her.

"Having lunch, isn't that what you wanted?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll skip—"

"Fat chance! You're going!"

~ 0 ~

With only days left of the first term, the hot topic of the students was the next Hogsmeade trip. Most of them were planning for their Christmas shopping but others...perhaps one...was dreading more. Snow had covered the courtyard and it looked like it was far from being over.

"So Ron and I are going to be staying over the vacation," Hermione was telling Romina on their way into the castle. "Are you?"

"Probably not," Romina answered quietly.

"Mm, that's too bad. You probably could have stayed over in the tower since most of the beds would be empty!"

"Yeah, but my aunt and uncle usually want me home for the holidays. Plus, this time I've got no excuse to stay over," Romina gave a casual shrug of her shoulders. Maybe it was a good thing they didn't have to discover the heir of an ancient guy. Those things tend to add extra stress.

"Thank God," Hermione laughed.

They found Ron and Harry coming out of the Great Hall when they entered the castle. Hermione was giddy to go to Hogsmeade already. It was a mighty disappointment to find out Romina wasn't planning on going on the trip either.

"But you didn't go to the last one!" Hermione exclaimed, outraged. "Don't you have Christmas shopping to do?"

"I gave Arden my list," Romina said.

"Don't you want to see what it's like?" Ron even joined in with Hermione. "You need to see Honeydukes! It's the best! It's the…" he trailed off when he saw Harry's disappointed face. "Er...I mean...it's alright…"

"You haven't found a way to sneak out already?" Romina asked Harry. She honestly thought it was weird that nobody had bothered to help Harry sneak out by now.

"Unfortunately, Dementors are actually quite powerful," Harry said sourly.

"So the Invisibility cloak is definitely out?"

"Romina!" Hermione exclaimed. "Don't you give him the idea!"

But Romina seemed anything but guilty. She was actually rather surprised Harry hadn't tried it yet. "You mean you hadn't thought about it yet?"

"Er...no..." Harry momentarily flushed.

"Don't even try it!" Hermione warned him, citing that the Dementors were more than likely to sense his presence. "It would only get you in trouble. Again."

Harry didn't say he would try it, but he didn't say that he wouldn't try it either. He even thought that maybe he could convince Romina to come along with him. The cloak was big enough to sneak both of them out, not that Romina needed to sneak out anyways. As far as he knew, she had her permission slip signed. He just didn't understand why she was being so stubborn lately.

So, when it came time for everyone to regather in the front of the castle to sign out, Harry stayed behind, lurking, until he could take his chance and use the cloak to escape. He already had it over him and kept to the walls so that no one would bump into him and discover him. To his luck, he saw that Arden had seemed to convince Romina to walk out with them. The girls were walking with Carolinha.

"Arden, I'm not going," Romina was saying as she, Arden, and Carolinha headed for the front door of the castle. "I already told Daphne earlier and Pansy too!"

"Well then I am not taking your list with me," Arden threatened.

Romina pulled out another piece of parchment and gave it to Carolinha. She thought Arden might use that threat and had written her Christmas shopping list twice just for the occasion. Carolinha sheepishly took it and avoided Arden's glare.

"I'll bring you back some candy," Carolinha promised and took Arden with her.

"Nothing with raspberry, please," Romina said, "But you don't have to bring me anything, you know."

"Are you kidding? Honeydukes is a dream!" Carolinha said. "Angel's already gone with Theodore and Blaise. They get piles of candy from there!"

"Which is why you should come because you love all the sweets!" Arden insisted one more time.

"I'm good right here," Romina reiterated and shooed them away.

Harry waited until Arden and Carolinha were a good distance out of the castle before he began to approach Romina underneath the cloak. He thought it would be funny to sneak up on her and tap her shoulder while he was invisible. Maybe a fright was what she needed to do a restart!

Romina remained in her spot with a nice, overly polite, smile until her friends disappeared from sight. She had only come out to somewhat appease Arden. Then, with a light sigh, she turned to head back to the dungeons.

"Oswell, not going again?" Draco had stopped Romina midway in the hallway.

Harry stopped in his tracks. Draco had come with both Crabbe and Goyle flanking him and the last thing Harry wanted was for any one of them to bump into him.

Romina merely shook her head. "Didn't feel like it. But please, don't let me stop you from going and having fun."

Crabbe and Goyle took that as a sign to keep on going and so were mighty confused when they noticed Draco didn't moved. The blonde crossed gazed with them and ordered them to leave first. Even Romina was surprised.

Harry immediately pressed himself against the wall to avoid the two bulky boys.

"I'm giving you leniency, Oswell," Draco began as soon as Crabbe and Goyle were gone. "But enough is enough, you know."

Romina scoffed. "Sorry, what? 'Leniency'? Who are you? My aunt and uncle?"

"No, but I'd be happy to send a letter telling them about that new hair of yours," Draco said, and just as Romina opened her mouth to argue, he kept going, "Clearly, the whole 'try to be nice to you' thing doesn't work when you're in a mood."

"In a mood?" Romina went straight into a frown. "These aren't 'moods', you idiot. I already told you—"

"Yeah, yeah," Draco rolled his eyes, "'I have no idea what it's like. I guess you're right, I don't know what it's like to have both of my parents in Azkaban—"

"They are not my parents!"

"YES THEY ARE!" Draco yelled at her, and forced her into silence.

From his hiding spot, Harry was belling his fists angrily. He always knew that Draco would inevitably treat Romina the way he treated the rest of them.

"They're not," Romina found her voice to argue that point. "And I don't know how you know any of this, but you need to keep your mouth shut. This is none of your business and I don't know why you insist on sticking your abnormally pale nose into it!"

"Because you're driving me — us — insane!" Draco exclaimed. "And I've had enough!"

"Oh, you've had enough!" Romina mimicked his face then crossed her arms. "And so what do you want? I expect you're telling me this to blackmail me or something. So, what does the little rich boy want, hm?"

"Don't use that on me," Draco wagged a finger at her. "Because we both know that you've got your load of galleons as well."

Romina scoffed. "I live in a Muggle—"

"You deciding a poor place to live in doesn't mean your vault isn't still there."

"What do you want!?"

"You know what I want? I want you to go to Hogsmeade," Draco supremely surprised Romina and he knew it judging by the amused grin on his face. "I want you to drop the act already and just go back to your regular - albeit annoying - self. Also, I'd like my tolerable potions partner and not the completely detached one I've been sitting next to so far."

Romina blinked for several seconds, her face devoid of emotion for the moment. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, and honestly she thought there had to be a joke behind it. There wasn't. Draco was absolutely serious.

"And if you don't do that, then I'll start to talk," Draco finished with a mild form of a threat. "I'll tell them who the boggart was. I know the names of your parents. My parents crossed paths with them once upon a time. My father told me, after I mentioned your name."

"So I...I have to go to Hogsmeade...and basically...have fun?" Romina said slowly, her nose scrunching as she made the connections of this deal. "And if I don't...you'll tell my aunt and uncle what I did to my hair...and you'll tell the school about the boggart...?"

Draco nodded at her. "You're a genius, after all," he smirked. "Able to figure it out then?"

"Draco, I…" Romina's lips twitched into a smile, "I don't understand…"

Draco rolled his eyes, although Romina (and even Harry for that matter) could see he was clearly bothered by his humble act. "Just hurry up, Oswell. I'll walk you myself but that's it."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Romina's smile grew and grew.

In turn, Harry's scowl deepened and deepened. He did not like the interaction at all, but that wasn't the only thing. The things that Draco claimed he knew about weren't things that Romina had told him...or Arden...and yet Draco knew about them. Even if it was through his parents, why wasn't Romina more upset about it?

"Yeah, yeah, go!" Draco motioned. "You're going to freeze if you don't get changed! And I'm not going to wait forever, you know!"

Romina tore her gaze from him and slowly headed for the dungeons. She stopped at the head of the staircase leading down and turned around. "Why do you care about this?" she called.

"Because I know about parents. They're the ones who teach you and leave a legacy for you to take on. And yours have left a legacy even I wouldn't want."

Romina tilted her head with a knowing look. "Ooor...maybe underneath there's a little Grinch heart growing four times the size."

The look on Draco's face was absolutely hilarious for Romina. "What the hell does that even mean?" he demanded to know.

"I'll explain on the way!" She promised and ran off with a giggle.

~0~

Hogsmeade was beautiful.

Romina was taken away by the Winter Wonderland aura the pretty little site had. There was a deep regret in her for waiting so long to meet it. Hogwarts students were easily picked out by their outright excitement (and some by their House scarves).

"Well, there's King over there," Draco's voice pulled Romina from her awe.

He was pointing at Arden who'd come out of a candy shop with a bright red lollipop in hand. She seemed ready to go but was ultimately pulled back to the shop's window display by something new.

"Thank you…" Romina awkwardly said, unsure of where they stood at the moment. "Are you...are you going to keep quiet?"

"I said I would," Draco reminded, shrugging his shoulders. He seemed to be more interested in the streets than their conversation, but Romina guessed it was an attempt to continue with that cool facade of his. "Under the condition you get back to normal by tomorrow."

"Well... thank you for caring—"

That was like a red alarm for Draco. His eyes widened and he immediately set out to correct her. "I did not care—"

Romina placed a hand on his shoulder and urged him to just take her words and leave. "Thank you," she said meaningfully. "In your own way...you cared enough. I won't tell."

Her little smile made the boy shift on his feet. "Whatever," he muttered and quickly got out of there.

Romina managed a little laugh before deciding to go meet Arden. "Hey!"

Arden spun away from the shop's display window. She gasped at the sight of Romina coming towards her. "Romina!" Romina chuckled when Arden gave her a huge hug like they hadn't seen each other in ages. "You changed your mind and you came!"

"Yeah, I guess I did…" Romina ran a hand through her hair, nervously thinking about that reason that brought her to Hogsmeade.

"I don't know what changed but you're going to love this place!" Arden grabbed Romina's arm and yanked her for the candy shop, Honeydukes. As soon as she opened the door, however, Arden felt her lollipop being snatched by thin air. "What?" Arden momentarily paused to watch her lollipop float away in midair. Romina stared at it too, wondering what was going on, but Arden got over it quickly and pulled her into the shop.

Romina was instantly blown away by such a sweet smell of candy. Every candy imaginable had to be up on one of the shelves! It was like a wonderland, alright, candy style! Romina felt the scent of coconut drawing her towards a table, and she almost knocked into levitating sherbet balls!

"Watch out!" Arden laughed and took her by another corner of sweets. "You're gonna wanna try every sample they have, trust me!"

Romina sure enough tried everything Arden held out for her. Whether it was sweet, sour, or chocolatey, it went into her mouth. When she was close to having a stomach ache, she finally set out to do her Christmas shopping. Between her and Arden, she was able to find sets of gifts for everyone she'd originally planned on.

"Why are you getting Pansy something?" frowned Arden after checking off Pansy's name from Romina's list.

"To hopefully get back on her better side," Romina shrugged. She thought perhaps if she offered Pansy a gift of truce the girl would back off on her rudeness a bit. Romina believed the nice emerald scarf she'd found would be in Pansy's likes.

"That girl has no better sides," Arden mumbled before speaking up for the next names. "You've got Angel and Draco here. Are you sure you want to delve into that side too?"

Romina playfully rolled her eyes. "Yes." Perhaps now she definitely wanted to give something nice to Draco for helping her come to Hogsmeade, but no one would know that ever.

"So just group them with Harry and Ron in the department of chocolates," Arden shrugged.

The two girls exited the book shop where they'd bought Hermione her present. It was always a safe bet going with books when it came to her.

"Yeah, though their favorite flavors might make them better," Romina resolved and started for Honeydukes again.

"Carolinha also likes chocolates!" Arden rushed to keep up with the girl.

"Oh, that's right! You know what," Romina paused all of a sudden when she got a new idea. "Everyone but Harry probably knows what every flavor of chocolates from Honeydukes tastes like. Why don't I get them muggle chocolates instead?"

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Rom?" Arden asked slowly, hoping Romina would seriously think this through. "I mean, Carolinha and Angel aren't pureblood supremacists but who knows about their parents. Same with Daphne. And shall I even touch upon Draco's parents?"

Romina considered that part all too well but found a quick solution to it. "Then I just won't tell them until we come back. None of them have allergies so it should be fine."

Arden liked seeing Romina finally come out of her depressive funk so she decided to let the idea be and just help in whatever she could. "Well, you could probably tell Ron about it. But maybe you should consider buying chocolates from Honeydukes for Harry."

"Definitely," Romina gave a nod and opened the door for Honeydukes.