The first term of Mia's fifth year started with no actual problems, for once in Euphemia's life at school. Usually, something would go wrong but fifth year had actually gotten off to a good start.

Her old friends still hadn't decided whether their friendship was worth salvaging yet and many of them awkwardly looked away whenever they saw Mia in the corridors.

Florean and Pomona still hung out with her, of course, and Filius had also started to talk to Euphemia in the lessons that Ravenclaws and Slytherin had together, which really made Mia happy.

Her life was slowly healing, it was slowly mending and patching itself back together piece by piece and Euphemia was actually relaxed for the first time in a very long time.

Orion was still her husband to be, of course. She hadn't actually told anyone because she figured that if she could have a happy fifth year then at least she could try and think of the positive things about her marriage to Orion at the end of the year. Not that there was many.

Orion still made sure that Euphemia knew that she was his property, that she belonged to him and only him which annoyed the girl in question because she felt like she still didn't have a choice in the matter.

However, being back at Hogwarts did bring a lot of advantages to Mia because she could escape to the Slytherin girl's dormitories whenever she didn't want to see him, she wasn't forced by her parents to hang around with him.

Euphemia still didn't want her family getting suspicious though because she didn't want to suffer through Druella's beady eyes and interfering or Walburga's bullying.

Therefore, she made sure to be very discreet whenever she was talking to Florean, Pomona or Filius though she did sit with Florean and Pomona in Herbology, despite the risk.

Walburga didn't seem to care as much in Herbology though - to be honest, it was probably because the Fortescues and the Sprouts were both pure blood families.

Even if they were blood traitors, at least they weren't filthy half bloods or horrendous muggle lovers like the Weasleys or the Potters.

That was a relief to Mia because it meant that she could hang out with Florean and Pomona without Walburga glaring her down and making her regret all of her life's choices.

"You know," Florean started pointedly in the middle of one of their Herbology lessons whilst Pomona started the work in front of them, Euphemia watching her work away in slight fascination and longing.

"What?" Mia asked with a slight smile, preparing herself for one of Florean's extremely dramatic stories that came rather often whenever the lad was bored in his lessons, which was practically every lesson.

"Charlus has been drinking lately," he stated, looking at her carefully and her expression only flickered slightly as she focused on her work, scribbling away to avoid answering.

"Mia," Florean whined, poking her with the end of her quill and Euphemia looked up with a sigh, "What's that got to do with me?" she asked, completely in oblivion as per usual.

At that, even Pomona glanced up from her essay to scoff and laugh in disbelief at Mia's stupidity.

"Everything," Florean exclaimed dramatically, rather loudly actually so that some of the other students in the class looked over in their direction and Professor Beery actually told their corner to quieten down.

"Whatever," Euphemia muttered, reading over her last sentence in a whisper, trying to check that it made sense.

Florean groaned and smacked his head down on the table in despair before raising it slowly and staring at Mia.

"Can't you at least talk to him? He's truly sorry, they all are," Pomona interjected, staring imploringly at her friend across the table who looked extremely conflicted.

"He hasn't talked to me for this past year, he's always hated me for my surname. The only reason he started warming up to me before the attack was because he's a playboy and he wanted to win me over, that's all," Euphemia pointed out to them.

Pomona shared an exasperated look with the despairing Florean before turning to Mia, "No, he wanted to make it up to you for being horrible to you in the past years and now he's really sorry for not believing you," she told her.

Euphemia tightened her jaw as she clenched her fists, not really wanting to believe what her friends were saying because that would mean that she had jumped to conclusions and she hated to do that.

But what if Charlus was really sorry, truly sorry? What if Mia was being just as stubborn as he had been when he had refused to believe her word over Orion?

Euphemia knew that she would beat herself up for it if it turned out that Charlus was genuinely sorry but she couldn't get past the ever growing wall of reasons why she shouldn't forgive him.

"How do you know all of this?" Mia asked quietly, glancing down and Pomona and Florean exchanged glances again before Florean reached forward and unfurled one of Euphemia's fists, holding her hand in his across the table.

"He's told us, Mia," he said gently and Euphemia's heart stopped for a second before she shook her head again, still in quiet disbelief that Charlus could actually be forgiving her and apologising to her after all these years.

"Charlus has talked about me to you?" Mia asked in surprise and Pomona laughed again at how oblivious Euphemia was about the entire situation.

"Of course he has, he doesn't bloody shut up about you," Florean muttered with a playful eye roll and Mia bit her lip, not knowing what she was supposed to do.

Out of all of her old friends, Euphemia knew that Charlus would be one of the hardest to gain the trust of again, especially as they had struggled to get over their differences the first time around.

That had been why she had been surprised that Charlus had pursued her on the train but she had been forced to push him away because of all of the conflicting feelings that had been swirling inside of her at that moment.

Charlus had always hated her, he had always kept her at arms length because he didn't trust her due to her surname.

When he had finally started to trust her and finally started to like her, everything had been ruined all thanks to the Knights of Walpurgis.

He probably just wanted to charm another girl Mia thought bitterly to herself but deep down, she knew that it couldn't possibly true but she didn't know what to think, she didn't know whether she was supposed to give him a chance or not.

After all, Charlus hadn't given her a chance when she had wanted to apologise so a part of Euphemia wanted him to get a taste of his own medicine but Mia Black wasn't petty, not one bit.

Euphemia took a deep breath, "If he talks to me directly, I'll speak to him. But I'm not guaranteeing that we're going to be friends or anything," she added quickly upon seeing Pomona and Florean's hopeful looks but they both just gave her knowing smirks.

"It's happening!" Florean squealed to Pomona, clapping his hands and Pomona laughed, patting him on the shoulder as Mia stayed oblivious, working away on her Herbology essay.

~~~

Cassiopeia Black was not a very happy woman. She didn't tend to be happy a lot of the time but now she was definitely not happy and the person that she was upset with was her daughter. Surprise, surprise.

"What do you mean she's been seen with that scum again? I thought she was back on the right path!" Cassiopeia demanded of her husband and Arcturus shrugged and wearily showed her the letter he had gotten from Orion.

"Orion says here that she was near their compartment on the train back to school and that they tried to stop her from going with him," Arcturus told his wife, pointing out on the letter where Orion had snitched on Euphemia.

Cassiopeia sighed, sinking onto her chair and burying her head in her hands out of exasperation. "Where did we go wrong, Arcturus?" she asked in despair. She just wanted the best for her daughter.

Arcturus hesitated but then placed a hand on his wife's back, trying to comfort her a little and she leaned into his grip which was quite surprising for the couple - they had never really had much physical contact.

Arcturus and Cassiopeia had married simply for the sake of sustaining the Black's pureblood line so it was very rare that they even participated in any romantic activities, although Euphemia and Marius were proof that they had done much more than hold hands once upon a time.

"I don't know, Cassie. I don't know," he muttered, glaring slightly at the letter from his future son in law which detailed all about his daughter's betrayal.

"Orion does say that she went with him immediately though - maybe she does respect him?" Cassiopeia mused and Arcturus sighed and sat down in the seat opposite her.

"I think we should send her a letter, a word of warning maybe," Arcturus suggested, clasping his hands in front of him and resting his elbows on the newly polished mahogany table in the parlour which was where they were.

"I can't send anymore Howlers, that stupid Deputy Headmaster forbade me from sending them a few years ago," Cassiopeia said a little miserably, a scowl on her face as she thought about Dumbledore.

"Well, then I suggest you just express your disappointment and disgust through the power of writing, love," Arcturus chuckled and, even though Cassiopeia was surprised at the rare use of an affectionate nickname, she smiled.

"This should be fun," she smirked maliciously and clapped her hands for the house elf, ordering Tibet to bring them some afternoon tea and some letter writing equipment.

Once Tibet had returned, the couple exchanged a slightly evil look before getting to work on their letters to their daughter.

Dear Euphemia,
I hope you know how disgusted and disappointed your father and I am in you....

~~~

Another tear slid down Mia's face as she read over the letter for the third time that day since getting it that very morning.

It had been only yesterday that Florean and Pomona had been talking to her about Charlus but now she was sat in the safety of the owlery as she read over her mother's horrible letter again and again.

Cassiopeia had made it clear just how disgusted she was with Euphemia and Arcturus had also added his thoughts. The worst part, for Mia, was that she hadn't even done anything atrociously wrong and yet they were still hating on her.

It was like they enjoyed it, it was like they enjoyed being the reason why Euphemia cried almost daily, like they gloried in the fact that their words always managed to hurt and harm Mia in some way.

Furiously wiping yet another tear away, Euphemia sat there on the windowsill as she shook slightly, partly from the cold and partly from the sadness and terror that was coursing through her body.

"Mia? Are you okay?" a familiar voice came from behind her and Euphemia turned around slowly, quickly rubbing her eyes to give the person behind her the impression that she hadn't even been crying.

Eugenia Jenkins wasn't fooled though. The blonde stood there with her hands on her hips as she saw the sniffling Mia in front of her and a pang of sympathy racked through her.

Eugenia had been conflicted about Euphemia ever since the incident with Orion on the train but had kept her mouth shut on the matter because she didn't want to upset any more of her friends.

Eugenia was still trying to get over Charlus and the fact that he hadn't forgave Mia had made her slightly want to stay in his good books.

Also the fact that her closest friend, Minnie, wasn't friends with Euphemia as well had made it hard for Eugenia to come to terms with the drama.

But, now, Eugenia couldn't care less what her friends thought. Mia was upset and, no matter what hard feelings had been felt beforehand, Eugenia pushed aside everything because she was too much of a nice person not to do so.

"I'm fine,' Mia mumbled, crumpling up her mother's hateful letter in her fist but Eugenia didn't miss a trick, she simply raised an eyebrow and stared at Euphemia with a no nonsense expression on her face.

"So why were you crying?" Eugenia challenged her, feeling bad for the girl but also feeling irritated slightly that Mia wasn't willing to admit her weaknesses.

Why did she have to be so damn strong all the time? Sometimes it was good to let it all out and not keep it bottled up, you never knew.

"I wasn't-" Euphemia started to protest but Eugenia held up her hand to cut Mia off from talking as she seated herself down next to her old friend, a melancholy smile twisting her expression.

"You don't have to pretend, you know. It's okay to not be okay, it's okay to admit that you're struggling," Eugenia said to the Slytherin girl softly and Euphemia's eyes filled with tears again at Eugenia's unexpected kindness.

She didn't know why Eugenia was being so nice all of a sudden after all of the drama but she was glad that the blonde was reaching out because otherwise she would've still been wallowing in her own self pity and despair if Eugenia hadn't've intervened.

"What's that there?" Eugenia asked gently when Mia didn't say anything, simply tightening her grip on the crumpled up ball of parchment which didn't escape Eugenia's ever noticing eyes.

"Just a letter," Euphemia muttered, averting her watering eyes from Eugenia's strong gaze because she knew she would break down if she looked Eugenia in the eyes.

"Oh, just a letter? If it's just a letter then you won't mind if I look at it then, will you?" Eugenia made to snatch the parchment from Mia's hand which made her move her hand quickly, alarm and panic shooting through her eyes. She didn't want Eugenia to see how much her own mother hated her!

Eugenia wasn't actually going to invade Euphemia's personal mail but she knew that would be a way to get the truth out of Mia and that was all she wanted - she wanted to know what the girl was suffering through so that she could bloody help her.

"No! Please don't!" Euphemia begged, her grey blue eyes wide with heightened panic and Eugenia placed her hand gently on Mia's shaking one.

"Calm down, it's okay," she told her quietly and Euphemia took a deep breath, feeling the tears build up again.

"It's my mother. She's being horrible to me and I'm scared, I don't know what she's going to do next! She keeps sending me these awful letters and they're making me feel terrible inside and out. I....I don't know what to do..." Mia finally said all of this to Eugenia in a panicked gabble.

It felt...good...to get it off her chest because the turmoil of the hate mail had been eating her up for a while and she hadn't told anyone for fear of being seen as weak. Euphemia knew she was weak but she didn't want anyone else to know that.

Eugenia shifted her hand so that she was holding onto Mia's, squeezing it comfortably, "I don't know what I can do to help but I'll be here for you if you ever need to talk, if you ever need a hug or some advice. I'm right here," Eugenia told Euphemia earnestly.

"Does....does this mean we're friends again?" Mia asked hesitantly and Eugenia laughed, flicking her blonde hair back.

"Duh! Of course!" she grinned and Euphemia felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off her chest.

Mia smiled at her, wiping her eyes quickly as she wrapped her arms around Eugenia, just glad that she and the blonde were back on good terms because Eugenia was a hard one to not be friends with, she held grudges rather fiercely.

"Now," Eugenia pulled away, holding Euphemia at arms length as she peered at her friend's tear ridden face, "As much as I would love to continue hugging you right now, we have to go to Ancient Runes," she told Mia, who pulled a face at the mention of lessons.

Euphemia had come up to the owlery at lunch time because she hadn't been feeling very hungry due to Cassiopeia's letter but had gotten so lost in the moment that she forgot that there were still lessons to be endured.

And now that half of her worry had decreased thanks to Eugenia, Mia found herself rather hungry but she and Eugenia had to go to their Ancient Runes lesson so Euphemia decided she would just have to stay hungry.

As Eugenia and Mia stood up from their place in the windowsill, the pretty blonde let out a horrified squeal as she realised that she had been sat on top of a bit of owl dung and it was now on her grey skirt which made Euphemia start laughing.

"A quick siphoning charm will get it right off, don't worry," Mia giggled and, no matter how disgusted Eugenia was by the incident, she was just happy to see Euphemia laughing and smiling again, even though her eyes were still red.

"Well, do it quickly then!" Eugenia practically cried out, her hands covering her face in despair as Mia quickly waved her wand and siphoned off the bird excretion from her friend's skirt.

Just as they were descending from the owlery, arm in arm and still laughing about the dung incident, Euphemia's stomach let out a huge grumble.

The two girls descended into giggles again before Eugenia rooted in her bag and tossed an apple at Mia, who caught it with a smile of gratitude.

"Will you be alright in this lesson?" Eugenia asked Euphemia carefully as they arrived at the classroom and Mia knew that she was indirectly talking about the fact that she had to sit next to Charlus in this class.

"I think so," Euphemia said with a shrug, taking another bite of the apple as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, feeling more contented than she had in a very long time.

Eugenia waited until Mia finished the apple and vanished the core before they walked into the classroom, noting both Charlus' and Lyall's looks of surprise at their company of one another.

Lyall approached Eugenia as she sat down, asking her something quietly and looking over in Euphemia's direction as he did so, causing Mia to feel a little self conscious but she was reassured when Eugenia sent her a smile and a thumbs up.

"Settle down, class!" Professor Kensington called and the chatter was immediately ceased as everyone stopped talking and turned their attention to the teacher at the front of the classroom, standing next to the chalkboard.

Charlus was discreetly sneaking looks at Euphemia beside him, wondering sadly whether she was ever going to actually give him a chance to explain how truly sorry he was that he hadn't believed her and that he had jumped to conclusions.

He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that Professor Kensington had given out work and that Mia had started to complete the translations on the sheet, her dark hair falling and covering her face which made Charlus gulp as a funny feeling shuddered through him.

"Are you struggling?" Euphemia's voice broke him out of his thoughts and he jumped a little, noticing that she was staring at him and his blank parchment expectantly.

Charlus was so surprised that she was actually talking to him that he didn't answer for a second which made Mia's heart sink, believing that he still hated her.

However, just as she turned back to her work, Charlus had an ingenious idea of how to get the girl to talk to him.

"Uh, yeah. I don't get any of this. Could you help me?" he asked, pretending to look confused when actually he did understand a lot of the Ancient Runes translations in front of them.

Euphemia's face lit up and she slid her completed worksheet to the other side of the table as she leaned a little closer to Charlus eagerly, feeling glad that they were on speaking terms even if they weren't necessarily friends yet.

Mia started to point at certain parts of the translation text, explaining it all out in a quiet voice as Charlus stared at her a little longingly, her scent of strawberries so intoxicating that he felt like he couldn't breathe.

"Do you understand it now?" Euphemia asked him and Charlus smirked, not really wanting to hear her stop talking as he just enjoyed that she was actually talking to him now.

"No, I think you'll have to go over it one more time," he told her and she stared at him exasperatedly.

"You're either really dumb or you're just not paying attention," Mia told him playfully, treading carefully though because she wasn't sure whether she was forgiven as of yet and she wasn't sure whether she forgave Charlus himself yet for how he had treated her.

"I just keep getting distracted," Charlus said to her and Euphemia raised an eyebrow before tossing her hair back which only made Charlus' breathing quicken slightly as his heartbeat sped up.

"Then focus!" Mia snapped her fingers in his face and Charlus grinned as he thought Stop distracting me with your beauty, then.

"You'd make a good teacher," he commented and a look of surprise flicked over Euphemia's face as that had never been something she had heard before and she hadn't been expecting to hear it, least of all from Charlus Potter.

"Evidently not because you're still not understanding," Mia retorted and Charlus chuckled, leaning back in his chair before staring at her expectantly and watching with a slight smile as she explained the difference between Ancient Runes and English again.

"Here, you have a go," Euphemia said suddenly, handing the quill over to him and their hands brushed slightly which made Charlus smile a little whilst Mia tried not to flush as goosebumps rose on her arms.

As she watched Charlus write down some of the answers, a thoughtful expression on his face as he bit his lip, Mia couldn't help but feel relieved that she was at least civil with him, that they were at least healing their friendship and were on the right track.

She would still of course appreciate an apology from him but being civil with Charlus was enough for her at that moment.

Despite the hate mail that she had gotten that day, Euphemia couldn't help but feel happy in that moment and it was probably doubled by the fact that Charlus Potter was actually talking to her properly since February.

My mock exams are coming to an end, I only have Maths, Drama and Physics and then I'll be done and able to get back to my normal updating schedule! Ugh, it's been a long two weeks :(

Also thank you so much for 15k reads! It means so much to me <3