Lilith sneaked into the Hospital Wing as quietly as she could. She approached the matron with sorry eyes, but Madam Pomfrey was far too happy to assist.

"Please, madam - I only need a bandage," Lilith smiled politely as Madam Pomfrey began to sift through a selection of potions.

"If you're sure, Miss Lovell, but if any complications are to occur, you are to come straight back to see me. Understood?" The matron told her as she grasped the girl's hand and wrapped it up.

"Understood. Thanks!"

Lilith ran out of the Hospital Wing and all the way to the Black Lake. She was a few minutes late and she cursed as Draco came into her vision, already waiting for her.

"You said half five sharp, Lovell."

Holding up her hand, Lilith rolled her eyes. "Trust me, I'm not late on purpose."

"What happened to your hand?" Draco asked in a demanding tone. She shook her head. 

"I let my powers get the best of me again," Lilith said as she let her body fall to the floor in front of the lake. She sat on her knees, focusing on the Giant Squid's movements rather than her words. "My father would've been so disappointed in me."

To her surprise, Draco's body appeared on the ground next to her. He responded, "That can't be true."

"Why can't it?"

"You're only eleven."

"So?"

Draco's forehead crinkled slightly. "So? So, you haven't even grown up yet."

"People change, I guess," Lilith added as the trees swayed behind them. There was a light wind accompanying the warm weather, but there was no sign of rain. The weather had been moody for a few days prior to their meeting. The girl of the pair almost wished it would rain, so she could drown in it. Of course, her thoughts were only hypothetical - but her mind took her on a tangent, making her lose track of Draco's voice. "Sorry, what did you say?"

"Ah, nothing."

"You sure?" Lilith pressed.

He nodded slowly, wordless. Lilith was unimpressed by this but Draco didn't really appear to be a liar in her eyes. He was spiteful, maybe, and incredibly mean to his enemies, but Lilith couldn't regard herself as an enemy of Draco's - he didn't really have anything against anyone unless they were annoying or anything other than a pure-blood. 

"Anyway, Lovell. I believe we had a deal."

Lilith's eyelids closed for a brief moment before Draco felt an odd pain in the back of his head. She saw an image of herself in the mind of the boy sitting next to her. It was of her moments before their miniature fight the other night. Draco, catching onto what she was doing, yelled, "Stop!"

She was immediately sucked from his mind. She sighed. "Now, now, Draco. I didn't see anything."

"You must've," he said under his breath, but nonetheless moved on. "What else can you do?"

Lilith lifted her hand up and a ball of fire sat there comfortably. Draco stood entirely still as his mouth parted slightly. He'd have never admitted it but he was impressed by how advanced some of his somewhat friend's magic had become. He shook his head slowly.

"You can't do this, can you?" he asked.

"Do what?"

"You don't want to disappoint your father, Lovell."

"He's dead anyway."

Draco was taken aback by Lilith's words. Slowly but surely, she was becoming more like him. Draco would never admit it but he was a lonely kid. He isolated himself from Crabbe and Goyle, and Pansy was far from any comfort. Deep down, he didn't want that fate for the girl standing in front of him. "I can't do it, then."

"Why not?"

"I just can't."

"Why not?" Lilith repeated.

Draco thought up a fib as quickly as possible, and although his words weren't strictly false, they definitely weren't his true reasoning. "I'm not as powerful as you."

"I can help you with that, Draco. Come on, don't back out now. We're Slytherins. This is what we do. We hurt people, we lie, we cheat. What's the harm in living up to our expectations?"

"Snap out of it, Lovell," Draco hissed before walking away. The girl in front of him almost seemed possessed. She was so incredibly unlike herself. There was surely no possible way that she could be the same quiet little child he'd seen in the Great Hall on his first day at Hogwarts. It was insane to think that that same girl was suggesting that he - Draco Malfoy - needed to be more cruel than he already was. "You're not you anymore."

Lilith went to pull out the two books buried in her skirt, but they both fell to the floor. Before they could roll into the lake, Draco picked one up. It ended up being her father's book. He felt an overwhelming burst of irritation and sadness fill him at once. He frowned, then it hit him.

As Lilith rose, Draco's hand extended out and over the Black Lake. 

"Draco, what are you doing?" Lilith questioned, her tone already much calmer than it had been. He knew.

"It's cursed," said Draco. Lilith's eyebrows inched downwards.

"What?"

"The reason why you've been so tense, it's this book."

"Don't lie to me, Draco," Lilith replied sternly. "I don't appreciate it."

"Listen to me!" He snapped at her. "When I got the book, I felt it. Look, take it, Lovell."

She did, and as she obliged, she felt exactly what Draco had felt. Tears began to stream down her cheeks like a waterfall and she shook her head.

"I can't let go of it, it's the only thing I have left."

"The necklace," he told her.

Lilith couldn't even blink before Draco had snatched the book right back out of her hands and launched it into the Black Lake. She screamed and went to jump into the lake before Draco's arm shot out and stopped her.

"Are you out of your mind? That bloody beast will kill you!" Draco shouted. He wrapped a pale arm around her to grasp her shoulder firmly. "It's gone, Lilith."

Her face softened as she heard her first name leave Draco's mouth. "I take it you won't work with me, then."

"There's no need. The book's gone - you'll be back to your normal self in a few days."

"Friends?"

Draco looked at her, confused. He repeated, "Friends?"

"Yeah. Do you want to be friends?"

"It's a rather unusual thing to ask someone."

"Well, do you?"

Draco shuffled next to her, feeling embarrassed. He scratched the back of his head as he responded, "Sure, Lovell."