Cassiopeia and Arcturus Black sat in their parlour on a Monday evening with a few glasses of wine to keep them company as they sat in relatively peaceful conditions, which was rare for the two that didn't really get along a lot of the time.

The two had been matched together in an arranged marriage, shortly after Cassiopeia's breakup with Henry Potter as it was extremely common for the Black girls to get married at a young age, usually between the ages of fifteen and nineteen.

Because of this, Arcturus and Cassiopeia had never been in love and had simply married one another for the sake of maintaining the pure blood line and upholding the traditions of the Black family line.

Cassiopeia and Arcturus often argued and only really got along when it came to the treatment of their children - when they were punishing either Marius or Mia, they had always worked together on that part.

However, a rarity had occurred that particular evening as the married couple had decided to actually sit down together and have a drink (or several).

Usually, Cassiopeia and Arcturus would only sit together for public events or family gatherings where they had to act like a couple or be great hosts if it was an event like the Winter Ball, which was always hosted at the Black Manor. So this was different, that was for sure.

"I'm glad the plan worked with Euphemia," Cassiopeia suddenly said after taking a sip of her wine in a rather eloquent and ladylike fashion, her delicate hands holding the glass perfectly.

Arcturus looked up from where he had been observing the slightly stained tablecloth with an unimpressed frown and gave a grunt of response before he sat up in his chair and paid a little more attention to his wife.

"I mean, imagine if it had had the opposite effect? If she had chosen that filth over her own family? I'm so pleased that she came to her senses, at last," Cassiopeia continued and Arcturus chuckled a little darkly with a shrug as he sipped his own wine.

"Took a bloody while, though," he commented and Cassiopeia rolled her eyes, "Tell me about it!" she exclaimed exasperatedly and the two of them smiled at each other for a little while before Arcturus cleared his throat and broke the silence by placing his wine glass down on the table with a clunk. "We need to make sure she stays in line, though," Arcturus stated and Cassiopeia nodded rather solemnly.

"Druella told me that Euphemia cursed one of her previous friends which pleased me. If she keeps going on like this, I might actually be proud of her for once, seeing as she's given us more trouble than all of her cousins all together," Cassiopeia told Arcturus and he agreed with her before ringing the bell for Tibet rather impatiently.

The house elf arrived immediately, standing to attention with her ears flapping as Arcturus thrust the empty wine bottle in her hands, "More wine, elf," he ordered gruffly and Tibet nodded frantically, disappearing with a click of her fingers and scooping up the empty wine glasses with her as she went.

Once Tibet had returned with another bottle of goblin made wine, only the best kind of course as the Blacks wouldn't have it any other way, Cassiopeia and Arcturus continued discussing their only daughter.

"There's just not much to be proud about with Euphemia - she's a complete disgrace and has been since her birth. But hopefully she has seen sense now and might actually make us proud for once," Arcturus muttered, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Well, my mother cried when I was born because she knew she would never be better than me," Cassiopeia commented and Arcturus chuckled a little before his wife carried on talking, "I have cried a lot for Euphemia, merely out of frustration because she is a constant disappointment," she sighed and Arcturus nodded absentmindedly, not really paying attention to his wife's incessant talking.

"We will have to see what she is like in the summer," Arcturus mused, swirling the wine in his glass around out of sheer boredom and tiredness.

"We'll punish her, of course, if she isn't behaving correctly," Arcturus added and Cassiopeia nodded, agreeing with her husband almost immediately.

"It's Druella's wedding this summer, hopefully that will give Euphemia a good example of what is required from her as respectable member of the Noble House of Black," Cassiopeia said with a slightly hopeful expression - she only wanted her daughter to be the very best.

Her sister, Irma, had gloated about how great Walburga was her entire life and she had informed Cassiopeia the previous week that Cygnus, her precious middle child, would be marrying Druella in the upcoming summer.

Irma had boasted to Cassiopeia about how her children weren't 'failures' and that had made Arcturus and Cassiopeia even more determined to get Euphemia back in check.

One of Cassiopeia's pet peeves and hates was to be looked down upon by her family and, seeing as she had already produced a Squib, she was already much more blacklisted than her two sisters, Irma and Melania, who had had no problems with any of their children as of yet.

Cassiopeia didn't want to be seen as the black sheep of the family by not producing 'perfect' children and so she would make sure that Mia stayed in line and didn't disobey her parents anymore than she already had done.

Euphemia's friendship with the filthy half bloods, muggle lovers and blood traitors had been the gossip of 1950's Winter Ball, which Mia hadn't been at due to injuries sustained from Arcturus' brutal beating of her on Christmas Eve. Cassiopeia didn't want her daughter to be the topic of conversation in such a shameful manner...

"She better behave," Arcturus growled, clenching his fists before draining the rest of his wine and thumping it down on the table, pushing back his chair and walking off to bed as it was getting late.

He left his wife, Cassiopeia, sat at the table in the parlour, staring thoughtfully into her wine glass as she concocted a plan of what she would do with Euphemia.

~~~

Aaron and Euphemia became very close friends over a short amount of time - ever since he had listened to her problems on that stairwell, he had earned her respect and trust.

Mia often talked to Aaron whenever she needed to, instead of having a meltdown or panic attack which she would've usually done and would've continued doing if he hadn't of offered his services.

For Mia, having Aaron there to talk to whenever she required was actually incredibly helpful for her emotional state as the boy proved to be extremely compassionate and he had some sound advice which really made Euphemia feel much better about the entire situation.

Summer was approaching now and there was only about two months until the summer holidays, meaning that Mia was actually dreading going home because she knew what would be waiting for her there.

However, Euphemia had noticed that her family hadn't been treating her so badly ever since the attack in February, in all the months that followed where Mia didn't communicate with any of her previous friends.

This gave Euphemia a little bit of hope that maybe her parents would leave her alone that summer and let her just stay in her room, making no noise and pretending that she didn't exist. Because that was easier than having to live the life that Mia had at that moment.

Euphemia was sat in her Charms lesson on a Tuesday afternoon, looking out of the window at the sunny grounds from where she was seated, not actually really listening to what the Charms Professor was saying. She rested her chin in her hand, allowing her head to droop a little as she was incredibly tired.

Mia hadn't actually been getting much sleep lately as she was always up in the middle of the night, tossing and turning as her thoughts kept her awake. The girl was still trying to work out how exactly she was supposed to get her friends to forgive her and it was plaguing her sleep.

Euphemia appreciated that they thought she had been spying on them but they weren't giving her a chance to explain herself, to tell her side of the story and it was annoying her beyond belief.

It came to the point where Mia stopped trying to approach Minerva because she just got dirty looks in return or she got glared at by the likes of Alastor and Charlus.

Of course, the reason why they all hated Euphemia was because she had cursed Charlus and made him stay in the hospital wing, even though she had been under the influence of the Imperius Curse.

However, Mia didn't know that she had been the reason behind Charlus' injuries, hence why she was so confused on why she was being hated on so much by all of them.

Filius occasionally sent her sympathetic looks and Pomona and Florean both looked conflicted whenever they saw Euphemia in the corridors or in classes, like they wanted to talk to her but couldn't because of their own pride.

As for the others - Eugenia stayed away from Mia like she was some sort of plague; Alastor either glared at her or avoided her completely; Lyall muttered snarky comments underneath his breath whenever he was around Euphemia; Minerva just looked plain upset and betrayed as well as narrowing her eyes in Mia's direction and Charlus acted like he had always been around her during first year, second year and the start of third year - before he started being nice to Euphemia.

It was too much for Mia and she was just sick of them all treating her like rubbish and not giving her a chance to explain, not giving her a chance to tell her side of the story instead of believing the truth - that Orion had been holding her and forcing her to say what she said. Euphemia just didn't get why they weren't listening to her...

Yawning, Mia attempted to not fall asleep in the middle of the lesson, blinking herself out of her thoughts. Even in the day, her mind managed to disturb her and now Euphemia had no idea what was happening in the lesson.

She was completely lost as the Professor chalked something up on the board, causing her to blink a few times as she tried to process what exactly they were supposed to be writing down.

Mia was literally about to start writing, her quill at the ready and everything when something hit her in the head and she whipped around, looking for the source of the attacker and the weapon itself.

The thing that had collided with her head was in fact a ball of parchment that had been crumpled up to make it easier to throw. It was obviously a note and, judging by the cheeky smile on Aaron's face from across the room, it was from Euphemia's newly found friend.

You look a bit sleepy there. Something on your mind? - A read the note and Mia rolled her eyes before she concealed another yawn behind her hand, ignoring the little snigger from Aaron on the third row, a few seats to the left of her desk, as he saw her trying to pretend that she wasn't tired.

I was up all night thinking about everything, that's all - E Mia wrote back before requesting in a whisper to the Ravenclaw beside her if she would pass the note back to Aaron as she wasn't very apt at throwing and didn't fancy hitting someone or getting in trouble.

Out of the corner of her eye, Euphemia watched as Aaron unfolded the note and read it with a raised eyebrow before quickly scribbling down a return answer and passing it via the same Ravenclaw girl this time, instead of throwing it.

You need to sleep, Euphemia. What's the point of losing sleep over it all? Sleep is when you can escape from everything, not when you're supposed to dwell on it - A.

Mia couldn't help but smile a little to herself when she read Aaron's reply - for a bad boy, he really did give good advice and he was proving to be a very useful friend in terms of cheering her up and making her feel better about herself.

Even though Euphemia was still obviously downhearted about her friends and fed up of being ignored by them, Aaron did find a way to make her smile every day and he had been doing so ever since he had come across her crying on the staircase after Charlus had landed in the hospital wing.

When Aaron had said he would be a 'shoulder to cry on', he had really meant it and Mia really appreciated that.

From the back of the class, Filius Flitwick was watching the exchange between the two Slytherins very carefully and the small boy's eyes narrowed as he watched Euphemia shoot a sweet smile in the direction of Aaron, looking much more happier, alert and awake than she had prior to the note passing between the two of them.

Filius couldn't help but wonder whether something was going on between the two of them and he noted his theory down on a small piece of ripped parchment that he then placed in his robes pocket before he started tuning into the lesson again, taking notes as was required.

If Mia was starting to get comfortable with other Slytherins instead of moping around like she had been doing for the past few months, then Filius was pretty sure that meant that she had been lying all along and didn't give a toss about sorting it out with any of them whatsoever.

The lesson ended with a ring of the bell and Filius watched carefully as Aaron approached Euphemia's desk, leaning on it and saying something to her which made her giggle as she started to pack away her stuff into her bag.

What is going on between the two of them? Filius wondered before hopping off his seat and walking rather purposefully to his next lesson, deep in thought.

~~~

The next day, on a fine Wednesday morning, Mia was heading to breakfast with Eileen in tow as they headed up the stairs from the dungeons to the Great Hall when she saw some people that she didn't really want to bump into at that moment.

Some of her old friends were gathered in the Entrance Hall, waiting for a few of the Gryffindor people of the group to arrive so that they could all go to breakfast together.

Florean was joking about with Pomona, making her laugh and chase him as he held something above her head, teasing her and waving it in the air.

Filius was leaning against the wall, chatting with Lyall who had walked down with Eugenia due to the two of them always being on time and completely ready and organised, unlike the other three. Alastor, Minerva and Charlus were the ones they were all waiting on, it seemed.

"Let's work out how to get past them without them noticing me," Euphemia whispered to Eileen, a pleading look in her eyes and her friend nodded willingly, grabbing Mia's hand and tugging her behind a group of chattering Hufflepuff girls ascending from their basement common room.

Their plan was to blend into the crowd and sneak into the Great Hall without being seen by any of the people that hated Euphemia with a passion for reasons that the girl didn't even understand.

However, this plan didn't work as the Hufflepuff girls were incredibly fast walkers and soon stopped blocking Mia and Eileen from Florean, Pomona, Eugenia, Lyall and Filius' vision.

Florean saw Euphemia first and he froze, allowing Pomona to grab whatever he had nicked from her (Mia couldn't see exactly what it was from the distance that she was stood at) out of his hand as he stopped.

That led Pomona to notice Euphemia also and she coughed awkwardly before narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms, fierce badger style.

Filius glanced up at the sudden silence that had blanketed the group once Florean and Pomona stopped mucking around due to Mia's presence and the small boy observed the situation quietly.

Eugenia was openly glaring at Euphemia, almost daring her to step any closer and Lyall just looked plain uncomfortable, attempting to glare but he just ended up looking dejectedly at the marble floor, not meeting Mia's eyes.

"Well, this is awkward," Eileen whispered to Euphemia, who laughed a little nervously, her erratic heartbeat sounding in her ears as she tried to calm down, not wanting to get upset over yet another situation where her friends made it clear how much they hated her.

Mia was about to give up, her building anxiety and knot of panic in her stomach not allowing her to walk past them when a hand tapped her shoulder, turning her around.

Aaron was stood there, actually in the correct uniform for once and he looked slightly concerned and worried, having seen the signs of Euphemia panicking from afar. He quickly came to a conclusion of what was going on by glancing briefly in the direction of Mia's previous friends.

"It's okay, just walk past them. You can do it, I'm here," he whispered to her and Eileen cleared her throat pointedly and Aaron quickly added, "Eileen's here too. You can do it."

Euphemia shook her head at his statement, clenching her fists and digging her fingernails into her clammy palms to try and stop her hands from shaking.

Aaron was making her feel much more confident and he gave her a quick hug to try and calm her down, which worked and also succeeded in giving her a rather blushed composure which made the bad boy chuckle.

"Flustered, Black?" Aaron smirked and Mia rolled her eyes, whacking him playfully and ordering him to shut up.

"Bossy, I like it," Aaron muttered to himself, the smirk still noticeable and Euphemia giggled before she summoned up the courage to walk past her friends without a) panicking or b) bursting into tears because she couldn't cope with the fact that they hated her. That was until Charlus walked down the stairs.

Charlus, Alastor and Minnie were heading down to their group of friends, to meet up for breakfast like they did every single morning but this morning was already different as their friends seemed to be staring and glaring at Mia, who was on the other side of the Entrance Hall with Aaron Simons and Eileen Prince.

"Is she blushing?" Charlus asked the others incredulously as they hurried down the marble staircase towards their friends and Alastor raised an eyebrow, "Why do you care?" he asked and Charlus scowled, mumbling that he didn't care one bit whether Euphemia was blushing because of the school's bad boy, Aaron Simons.

"Come on, let's go. I'm hungry!" Aaron whined, grabbing Mia's hand to try and pull her towards the Great Hall and causing Charlus, who was still on the other side of the Entrnace Hall, to take a sharp intake of breath as his stomach whirled uncomfortably.

"I can't," Euphemia protested, digging her heels into the floor as she desperately didn't want to walk past her old friends.

Mia didn't know why but she always panicked when she saw them all together and it also made her extremely upset because seeing them all together was a constant and daily reminder that they wanted nothing to do with her anymore and that she was no longer part of that group anymore.

Suddenly, just as Minnie, Charlus and Alastor reached the rest of group, breaking the stare-down as everyone greeted the remaining three, Aaron grabbed Euphemia's face and pulled her close to him, kissing her long and hard, making her go slightly weak at the knees.

Her eyes widened as Aaron kissed her in front of all her ex friends and rather sullen looking, third wheeling Eileen as well as an array of jealous Slytherin girls.

But Mia couldn't help but kiss him back, her cheeks flaming bright pink as he ran his hands through her hair before pulling away, leaving her breathless. "Now will you come to breakfast?" Aaron smirked at her flustered state.

Suddenly feeling much more confident at the dumbstruck looks spreading across all of her ex friends' faces, Euphemia nodded and hooked her arm through his, the two of them walking past Mia's old friends who all looked completely gobsmacked.

Charlus, for one, looked rather pale and sickly and he had gone strangely quiet as he watched Euphemia and Aaron walk into the Great Hall with Eileen tagging behind them as a reluctant third wheel.

Mia was still blushing and had a stupid grin on her face as they sat down and his friends, having gotten over their initial shock of what had just happened, started to head in after them.

"Coming, Charlus?" Lyall asked, hanging back at the end of the group and cocking his head to one side as he looked back at Charlus, who was staring down at his shoes rather sullenly.

"I'm not hungry anymore," he mumbled before walking off, his hands in his pockets and his head down, shoulders hunched whilst Lyall watched him go with a curious expression.

heheheheh :)