"I still can't believe Dumbledore is actually teaching you how to turn into an animal, that's actually so cool," Charlus said with a little bit of jealousy in his voice one morning in early December, still not able to get over the news that Minerva had told them following her Quidditch injury in October.

Two whole months had actually passed since then and Minnie had spent the majority of them recuperating in the hospital wing as her injuries actually ended up restricting a lot of her everyday movement so she had to study from her bed, with her friends bringing her their notes from lessons for her to copy up as she wasn't able to attend them in person. It had certainly been frustrating but she had coped and now, as they approached Christmas and decorations had been put up all around the castle, Minerva was fully healed.

Obviously, she still had endometriosis but, once her actual injuries had healed, the condition didn't actually affect her day to day health all that much. With the exception of her cramps just being ten times worse when she got her period and the occasional back pain here and there, Minnie actually didn't think it was too bad. She tried not to think much about the fact that she couldn't have children because it only made her upset and her friends knew not to mention it, whereas they openly joked about her not being able to be Quidditch Captain as Minerva wasn't actually that upset over it now.

Gryffindor actually lost their first match with Charlus as Quidditch Captain so the boy had been the butt of all the group's jokes that week, that Minnie had found extremely funny because if she didn't laugh about it, she would only dwell on it and it would make her feel down so she preferred to make jokes about the entire situation. An added negative to the Scottish girl's life, however, was also that Brutus had broken up with her shortly after she got out of the hospital wing which was another huge blow to Minerva's already delicate emotions.

She soon found herself not caring about the end of their relationship, though, because, at the end of the day, she had openly admitted to Euphemia that she didn't really like her boyfriend all that much anymore so it was probably best that they broke it off before either of them got hurt. Despite Minnie being dumped, romance was still in the air as finally, after what seemed like months and months of going back and forth, Lyall and Eugenia eventually started dating.

It was a "bloody miracle" as Alastor professed when Lyall finally asked the blonde girl out on Halloween because the entire group had known that they both liked each other but it was just a matter of when they were actually going to profess their feelings for one another. Charlus had teased the new couple a lot about it in the days after they announced their relationship but Filius was quick to point out that it hadn't taken Lyall and Eugenia longer than it had taken him and Euphemia which had soon shut up the Gryffindor lad.

As for Mia and Charlus, they were still happy and content in their relationship and they were honestly just enjoying the drama free days after all of the chaos that had happened over the past few years in the journey to them dating. Euphemia was particularly happy that she could just date her boyfriend without any worries about her family, now that she had been officially disowned (she got a lovely letter from Arcturus in the mail about her being burned off the family tree which she found didn't actually bother her in the slightest).

The only problem with her being disowned was that Charis wasn't technically allowed to talk to her, though she did anyway whenever Walburga wasn't looking with those annoyingly beady eyes of hers. Charis had expressed her sadness at technically losing Mia as a cousin because she had already lost her dear sister, Cedrella, when she had eloped with that Weasley guy although Euphemia was quick to assure her that they would always be cousins and that her being disowned wouldn't make her any less grateful for all of Charis' help.

Walburga was being weirdly quiet about the whole disowning situation though and Mia couldn't help but feel uneasy, though Charlus told her to stop overthinking about everything. Euphemia had just assumed that Walburga would be more happy about Mia finally getting kicked out of the family but the girl in question actually avoided Euphemia at all costs, even going to the lengths of leaving the dormitory whenever she entered with Eileen in tow.

"It just feels like the calm before the storm," Mia had said one Wednesday afternoon in mid November when her and Charlus were taking a stroll through the ground which, admittedly, actually ending up with him pulling her into random places to snog. "I wouldn't worry about it if I was you," Charlus had said to her, gently kissing the arch of her neck as he wrapped his arms around her waist in a backwards embrace, "They're not going to hurt you anymore," he had assured her and, before Euphemia could say anything else, he brought her into a kiss.

The thing was, Mia knew that her family wouldn't hurt her. But the Noble House of Black never went down without a fight and that was the reason why Euphemia just felt incredibly off about Walburga acting funny with her - it wasn't like them at all and it just made her worried that maybe they had something planned that they were going to spring on her the minute that she let her guard down. Maybe she was just overthinking it, perhaps she was getting anxious for no reason at all but something about her being left alone didn't sit right with her at all.

Now, however, Mia was seated at the Gryffindor table in the last few minutes of breakfast as the stragglers started to make their way out of the Great Hall. There wasn't really an official rule about it but, once the hall began to clear out, students from other houses could mix and that was why the entire group were able to assemble at the Gryffindor table, despite their different coloured uniform. The friends were just having a conversation about how Minerva's Animagus lessons were going with Dumbledore.

"Yeah, I'm cooler than you, that's why," Minnie responded to Charlus' comment cheekily as she stuck her tongue out at him, only for him to flip her off which caused Euphemia to smack him around the head - it was just pure chaos honestly. Florean laughed loudly at the scene playing out in front of him as he secretly held hands with David underneath the table (even though the S.S.E.A.W. knew about their relationship, the rest of Hogwarts did not and Florean wanted to keep it that way, thank you very much).

"Have you found out what animal you're going to be yet?" Pomona asked her eagerly, finding the whole situation so interesting.....she had been the one most excited for Minnie when she had told them the news that Dumbledore was going to teach her how to become an Animagus though Eugenia was definitely a close second as the blonde girl had shrieked so loudly Lyall could've sworn she blew his eardrum off before she had thrown herself at Minerva excitedly.

"No, it's too early to find out yet. I'm still learning the theory, it's the most important part. Professor Dumbledore said that becoming an Animagus requires a lot of patience, you can't just go rushing into it like a headless chicken because it could go terribly wrong. There have been incidents where people have gotten stuck as their animals, you know, because they didn't study the theory enough to work out how to turn back," Minnie informed them as the entire group sat there and listened in awe.

"Imagine if your animal was really embarrassing, though," Alastor snickered all of a sudden, making the attention turn to him, "Like if you were a seal or something," he wheezed, bending over double as he laughed which set everyone else off into giggles because the blonde boy's chuckle was just so infectious and the idea was quite funny. "Your animal has to do with your personality, though, so it's very unlikely that someone would be a seal unless their characteristics and traits matched that animal," Minerva told them but she was smiling.

"Bloody hell, calm down. It's like you've swallowed a textbook of information ever since you started getting lessons from Dumbledore. You after his job or something?" Charlus joked with a grin and Minnie threw a cornflake at him which he caught expertly in his mouth, leading Lyall to let out a whoop as Pomona sarcastically applauded the feat. "You would make quite a good teacher, you know, Mins," Eugenia spoke up thoughtfully but the comment was soon forgotten as Alastor and Florean started giggling at some joke that one of them had just muttered.

"What are you two laughing at?" David asked with a smile in his voice as he glanced sideways at Florean who had practically fallen into Alastor as the two of them were pretty much wetting themselves. "Flo just can't get over the idea of someone being stuck as a seal," Alastor informed them in between chuckles and Florean wiped at his eyes, "It's not just that, I was imagining trying to explain to people how you ended up being a seal in the first place and I-" he cut himself off with a dramatic wave of his hands as he made everyone else laugh as well.

"We better hope that your animal isn't a seal now or else Flo and Al will never let you hear the end of it," Euphemia told Minerva teasingly and the Scottish girl held back a grin as she leaned into her best friend with a conspiratorial air, "I have an idea of what I may turn into though but I have to trust the process," she winked before tuning back into the group conversation which had now turned to Charlus and Alastor bickering playfully over what animals they would be if they were to ever choose to become Animagi.

"You would definitely be a slug," Alastor was saying as he jabbed his finger in Charlus' face, who looked rather unimpressed with his best friend's comment as he scowled, "Mate, you'd probably be an ogre or something judging by those muscles," he whacked Alastor's biceps which caused the blonde boy to send him a suggestive look. "Are you flirting with me, Potter?" Alastor teased before turning to Mia with the air of a child telling tales on someone who did something wrong, "Your boyfriend is flirting with me," he informed her with a disapproving shake of his head.

"Oh, let him," Euphemia waved her hand dismissively, acting unbothered, "It's not like I'll even miss him," she said playfully and Charlus turned away from Alastor with an outraged gasp as he stared open mouthed at his girlfriend who was smirking at his reaction. "You won't miss me, huh?" he challenged, his eyes glinting mischievously before he dove forward and started scattering butterfly kisses all over Mia's neck and face, making her squirm but then squeal in delight as she wrapped her arms around his neck. 

"Ew, romance," Filius pulled a face from where he had been observing the scene play out and Pomona seemed to agree next to him as she also looked on with a disgusted expression, "I agree. It's disgusting," she commented and the two fist-bumped at their shared opinions, laughing a little amongst themselves. Lyall was also hugging Eugenia and David and Florean were muttering sweet nothings to one another, oblivious to anything around them as they were just caught up in their own little world. Romance was everywhere, it seemed. 

"Speaking of which animal Flea would be though...." Minnie suddenly piped up, regaining the attention of the group as they all turned away from their individual conversations and interactions to look over at the Scottish girl. "Wouldn't he be better off as a billy goat?" she said teasingly and there was an uproar of laughter that rippled through the group as Charlus glared ferociously at his friend before starting to pelt cornflakes at her, which Minerva easily dodged.

The reason why Minnie's comment was so hilarious and had been met with much amusement was because of an incident that had taken place just a few weeks prior. It had been after an  S.S.E.A.W. meeting and the entire group had been walking down the corridor after emerging from the tapestry room that was most definitely solely their hangout space now, no one else knew about it. And, of course, Charlus was known to be quite loud at times and had let his mouth run away with him as he commented to Florean about how quiet one of the members, Frek Tyr, had been during that particular meeting and he joked that it had been quite 'suspicious behaviour.'

Now, Frek's cousin, Garm, was extremely defensive of the Hufflepuff who didn't really like to stand up for himself or face any confrontation, the poor boy just liked to keep himself to himself. Garm knew that Charlus had only been joking but it hadn't stopped him from spinning around (he had been walking in front of Charlus and Florean) and waving his wand so fast that it didn't even give Charlus anytime to blink before he was transformed into a rather cute billy goat. 

This had obviously caused massive hilarity and the entire group had wet themselves laughing as Charlus simply bleated furiously whilst a triumphant Garm looked on with a smug smile. Charlus had remained a billy goat for a few more hours after that seeing as Garm refused to change him back immediately until he had 'learnt his lesson' for insulting Frek and, as a result, Euphemia had had to deal with an exceedingly grumpy goat for the rest of the day. "It's your own fault, you know, Flea," she had said to him but Charlus had only bleated in response. 

What was known as the 'billy goat incident' was sure to go down in history and it was certainly the source of many inside jokes that rippled through the group, to the annoyance of Charlus who always got irritated whenever that memory was brought up for him as his hours as a billy goat had not been the most pleasant though they had certainly provided plenty of amusement for the remainder of the group, including his own Mia who had found it hilarious. 

"Why do you guys always have to bring that up?" Charlus groaned as all of his friends continued to laugh at his expense whilst he buried his head in his hands, flopping his forehead down onto the Gryffindor table. "Because it's funny," Euphemia chuckled, letting her eyes drift around the Great Hall slightly as the rest of the group started making more billy goat jokes, much to the annoyance of Charlus who was only giving them the entertaining reaction that they wanted so wasn't really helping his case much there. 

Mia's gaze soon caught striking grey eyes that were not unlike her own, with the exception of the dash of blue that her own irises possessed, and she was briefly startled when she realised that Walburga, of all people, was staring at her from the Slytherin table, where she was sat alone. Something about her cousin being lonely whilst she herself was surrounded by loving and laughing friends did make Euphemia feel pretty guilty but she figured that the contrasting images most definitely symbolised the two alternate paths the two cousins had taken. 

Walburga's pitiful stance at the Slytherin table as a heavy unsaid emotion weighed down her shoulders spoke volumes about the type of journey she had chosen whereas Mia's happiness as she was sat with her group also represented her path. Euphemia's current situation was proof of the fact that sometimes, the bad things that happen in your life can put you directly on the path to the best things that will ever happen to you. She had been through a lot to get to where she was today - happy - but it didn't mean that she would ever forget everything that had happened to her. 

To her, Walburga was a representation of the type of person that Mia would've turned into if she had not, for example, met her friends or been given the opportunities that no other brainwashed pureblood child had been given before - Euphemia Black had been given a chance to be different, to stand out from the crowd and she had taken that opportunity with both hands. Walburga, however, hadn't had a choice and that was the reason why Mia couldn't find herself looking at her cousin with any animosity whatsoever. 

"Excuse me just for a moment," Euphemia mumbled to her group politely before detaching herself from Charlus' hold and starting to walk over to where Walburga was sat on the other side of the practically deserted Great Hall (people had mostly started heading to their lessons now, something that Minnie and Co needed to do). She could feel her boyfriend's concerned eyes burning into her back but Charlus didn't try to stop her by any means, allowing her to go over to her cousin who was now regarding her approach with wide eyes. 

"Hey, Wally," Mia greeted kindly, using the girl's childhood nickname as she sat herself down opposite Walburga, who was looking extremely confused and a little disgusted as to why Euphemia was even in her general area, let alone actually talking to her. "Hello," Walburga still responded though, albeit reluctantly, before blurting out rather rudely, "Why are you here?"

Stay calm, Mia told herself, Just say your peace and then leave.

"I wanted to see how you were, you looked a little lonely here by yourself," Euphemia informed her, folding her hands on top of each other daintily as Walburga's face scrunched up, "I don't need your pity. You're not even my cousin anymore," she spat, starting to stand up to walk away but Mia grabbed at her wrist, tugging her back down into her seat, "Which is exactly what I want to talk about," she said firmly. 

Walburga fell silent at Euphemia's serious look, her gaze flickering anywhere but at her disowned cousin's face until the girl gave up trying for eye contact. "Well, go on then," Walburga muttered sulkily, crossing her arms as she still refused to look Mia in the eye, "I haven't got all day, I have Potions first," she snapped at Euphemia and the latter was tempted to remind her that she knew that already due to them being in the same class but she bit her tongue, not wanting to add fuel to the fire. 

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how things have ended up," Mia started and Walburga's eyes finally snapped up to meet Euphemia's so that their gazes burned into one another. "What do you mean?" Walburga practically whispered, looking frightened for some reason and Mia did have to wonder why but she decided not to question it, passing it off as irrelevant to the matter at hand. 

"Well, it wasn't exactly our fault that we were born into this family," Euphemia continued speaking, "If you'd made the same friends that I did, been a little more open-minded, you could've ended up like me. Happy. But instead you're still trapped in the Noble House of Black and I'm sorry that your path turned out that way but you can still change, Wally. You still have a chance, you could come with me right now and-" 

"Stop talking."

Walburga's voice cut through Mia's little speech and the latter trailed off, looking at her cousin with a hurt expression as a scoff escaped from Walburga's mouth whilst she leaned forward, "I don't need your pity, Euphemia. I don't need your help. I don't want your help. I know what I want and it is certainly not to take after you and the way that you have disgraced the name of Black. You're a disappointment to this family, Euphemia, and you may be happy right now but I can guarantee that it won't last for long. Traitors never win, mark my words," she hissed coldly. 

"Win what?" Mia asked, curling her hands into fists to stop them from shaking as she tried not to let Walburga's words get to her - it was nothing that she hadn't heard before, of course, but the difference was that she hadn't heard them for a while so it only re-opened wounds that Euphemia had thought would've healed by now. It just proved that, no matter how much brighter her future was going to be, the scars of her past would forever haunt her. 

"That's none of your business," Walburga sneered, standing up from her seat, "But I'd watch your back if I was you, Euphemia Black. This is far from over," she threatened, every syllable of her words dripping with that icy cold tone that Mia was fairly certain she had adopted from her mother, Irma Black. Euphemia watched her cousin walk away, out of the Great Hall, but something about the way Walburga held herself didn't add up to the weight of what she was saying. 

If she had just viciously threatened Mia and taken pleasure in causing her pain like she always had done in the past, then Walburga should've been walking away with a swagger in her step, a casual flick of the hair. But instead, her posture was slumped and she seemed defeated as a shaky hand rose to wipe something off her face, like she was distressed about something and Euphemia couldn't figure out why Walburga was acting like that when she had just been so cruel.

It just didn't add up. Not in the slightest. And for the first time in months, Mia was once again scared of what her family was planning. Would she ever be able to truly escape them?

This was a bit of a filler chapter before all of the interesting stuff happens but the scene between Euphemia and Walburga is still very important! Hope you enjoyed x

Also, Happy Valentines Day!