Euphemia Black was definitely not well known for making the right decision when she was put under pressure, especially when she was terrified out of her mind.

One only had to look at her past of decision making and they would be able to see that the girl often made the wrong choices for herself, just to please others. Mia had always put others before herself and thought selflessly but, despite her cousin Charis' inspiring advice on New Years Eve of 1952, she never really did what she wanted. Only ever what everyone else wanted or what she felt was best for everyone else.

Orion reminded her every day - either by slipping her a terrifying note at breakfast or whispering threats in her ears upon the rare opportunity that Euphemia found herself sat in the Slytherin common room with Eileen - that her time was running out and, one particular Tuesday morning near the end of May, early June, he kindly pointed out that he had started researching the most painful ways to kill someone, namely Charlus Potter.

It was exactly the type of stress that Mia didn't want to deal with during her O.W.L.S exam season and the thought of losing Charlus was constantly on her mind, so much that she wrote 'A girl without her soulmate is a girl without a soul' in her Defence Against the Dark Arts O.W.L. on the question about Dementors before she quickly scribbled it out, causing a rather damp ink blot to spread across her parchment.

Euphemia somehow managed to keep her mind focused on the exams though - all of her friends were stressing out constantly and whenever she visited the tapestry room to chill out in, every fifth year and seventh year student in the S.S.E.A.W. were obsessively reciting information and incantations underneath their breath; burying their noses in textbooks and then smacking said textbook against their forehead with a shriek (Florean, obviously); furiously scribbling away at practice essays or sitting there and saying, "I'm going to fail. Kill me now."

Two full year groups were gripped by the fear of exams at this point but Mia was also gripped by a different type of fear...one that clutched at her heart and twisted painfully in her chest, especially whenever she was alone with Charlus. He could see right through her - he could see her fear and her stress and he just wanted to hug it all better but he knew, from their previous argument, that he couldn't just do that. Charlus had to figure out some sort of plan to save his girlfriend from marrying her goddamn cousin whilst also trying to pass his O.W.L.S at the same time.

"Will you test me on this topic?" Euphemia asked Charlus during the moment of quiet when the tapestry room was actually empty - Minerva, Lyall and Alastor were in an Arithmancy Theory exam and Filius, Pomona, Eugenia and Florean were in a Divination Practical exam whilst everyone else was either in class or revising like crazy in the library or respective common rooms.

The couple were seated on a sofa, on either ends of the sofa but with their feet propped up against each other in the middle, both of them leaning against the sofa arms lazily, textbooks in their hands. "Sure," Charlus smiled, placing his own Potions textbook down and taking Mia's Herbology one from her hand, opening it to the page that she had been studying. "What is the Mimbulus Mimbletonia's defense mechanism?" he asked, having formed the question from the information shown.

"Stinksap," Euphemia answered immediately, sighing heavily before Charlus could say the next question, causing him to pause and place a hand over hers gently, "Hey, you'll do fine. Herbology is your strongest subject, right?" he tried to encourage her and Mia sent him a modest smile, "Pomona is better at Herbology than me. I prefer Ancient Runes," she shrugged and Charlus grinned, his hazel eyes sparkling.

"Is that perhaps because you sit next to a wonderful guy in that lesson? Isn't he young, tall and dashingly handsome?" he teased her and Euphemia shot him a mockingly thoughtful gaze, stroking her chin, "The person next to me? Oh no, you must have the wrong person...he's a bit of an ugly sod actually, to tell you the truth," Mia joked, feeling happier and lighter than she had in weeks.

Charlus let out a very Florean-like gasp, dramatics flooding his expressions, "I take offence to that, Ms Black!" he declared, clutching at his chest like she had wounded him. Euphemia raised an eyebrow at him, smirking lightly, "Why? I'm only telling the truth," she retorted with a challenging look in her eyes.

"The truth hurts though," Charlus pouted before grabbing at her foot and tugging her closer to him, placing a strong kiss on her lips which Mia quickly pulled out of, appearing abashed, "Flea! Not here!" she squeaked, blushing bright red and burying her face in her Herbology textbook again, causing Charlus to grin.

"Why? No one's here," Charlus whispered and Euphemia looked up from her textbook, praying that her cheeks would cool down but also noting that they were in fact alone in the tapestry room, which she hadn't noticed previously due to her mind being overrun with various other thoughts and current problems, like what she was going to do about Orion.

"Indeed," Euphemia responded with a slightly amused smile, glancing back down at the pages and ignoring Charlus' now evident smirk. He suddenly moved over to where Mia was reading the information about Mimbulus Mimbletonia and sat next to her, crossing his legs and pouting at her, giving her pleading puppy eyes.

"What do you want?" Euphemia asked with a chuckle, ruffling his hair and his expression changed from his puppy eyes to furrowed eyebrows as he playfully glared at her. "Don't touch my hair," he told her, quickly smoothing it back into place and Mia smirked in amusement before turning back to her book which made Charlus let out a sigh, sinking down off the sofa onto the floor dramatically.

"We can do something much more interesting than reading, you know," Charlus suggested with a twinkle in his eye and Euphemia raised an eyebrow, bopping him on the head with her book. "What about an actual conversation?" she asked and Charlus scrunched up his face, "We have loads of conversations!" he protested and Mia laughed.

That was true as the majority of their time away from lessons was spent around their friends who often yelled things like, "Get a room!" or pretended to gag whenever Charlus and Euphemia started to even remotely do anything more than a simple, quick kiss. Due to this and the fact that Mia got embarrassed whenever Charlus displayed any affection upon her, they didn't really kiss that much.

But now she was teasing him, sensing how restless he was as he looked up at her with wide eyes. "Please?" Charlus begged and Mia pretended to think about it for a second before she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. Suddenly, Charlus reached up and grabbed her book from Euphemia's hands and he stood up, dangling it above her head as she gasped and glared at him.

"Give it back," she commanded and Charlus chuckled, shaking his head and Mia sighed playfully as she tried to frown at him but she was actually fighting back laughter. "You're cute when you're angry, you know," Charlus teased her, still holding her book as she glared at him, her lips twitching.

"Shut up and give me my book back," Euphemia retorted and Charlus shrugged, smirking. He threw her book up and down, making sure to catch it every time because he knew she would literally kill him if he dropped her book, it was like her soul and one didn't mess with another's soul.

"Make me," he responded with a grin and Mia raised her eyebrow, smirking a little as she stood up and pressed her lips to his, taking him by surprise as he tried to grip her by the waist and kiss her whilst also keeping a hold on her book. "Now that's what I'm talking about," Charlus murmured but Euphemia had taken the opportunity to quickly sneak the book out of his hands.

Smirking, Mia sat back down on the sofa with her book, leaving Charlus to appear speechless as he came to the conclusion that she had only kissed him in order to get her book back.

"Euphemia Black," Charlus gasped, plopping himself back down next to her as she sent him an innocent look, "Did you just distract me with a kiss so you could get that?" he pointed at her book.

Mia pretended to be insulted and she let a look of mock surprise flitter over her face, "Me? Never," she exclaimed innocently and Charlus raised his eyebrows, eyes twinkling in amusement. He moved forward so that his arms were around her waist, "Are you sure about that?" he smirked and Euphemia nodded, heart beating at the close proximity of her boyfriend.

Charlus leaned in to kiss her carefully and Mia smiled, running her hands through his hair as he playfully scowled at her. Suddenly, there was a huge bang which caused them to break apart and look around in alarm. What on earth was that?

"Ow," Florean groaned from down on the floor, having walked in and, upon seeing Charlus and Euphemia making out, had promptly closed his eyes and walked into a wall. "What're you doing down there, mate?" Charlus grinned, leaning over the back of the sofa and peering down at Florean in amusement.

"Protecting my innocent eyes," Florean muttered, his face smashed against the carpet which made his voice become muffled. "From what?" Mia piped up sweetly and Florean lifted his head slowly and dramatically, pointing his finger in Euphemia's direction, "You are like my sister," he then pointed at Charlus, "You are like my brother."

"Aw thanks, Flo," Mia beamed at the same time as Charlus said, "That's so cute of you to say, Fortescue." Florean then staggered to his feet, a slightly crazed look on his eyes which made Charlus shake with silent laughter, "Do you realise how weird that is?" he asked them exasperatedly.

When they stayed silent, Florean carried on - "I'm happy that you two are together and are going to get married and have little Potter devilish offspring but it doesn't mean I want to see you eating each other's faces off all the time!" he finished with a flourish and Mia had to suppress her giggles.

"Don't you do that with David though?" she asked innocently and Florean fixed her with a glare as Charlus tried not to laugh, the corners of his mouth twitching. "That's different. You and Charlus just....make out all the time," Florean waved his hand dismissively and Charlus and Euphemia exchanged mischievous glances.

"What, like this?" Charlus asked, pulling Mia into his arms as he kissed her passionately, causing Florean to scream and sink to the floor, his hands covering his eyes. "NO! MY EYES! FLOREAN DOES NOT NEED TO SEE THIS!" Florean screamed dramatically as both Euphemia and Charlus peered over the top of the sofa simultaneously, smirking.

"Don't worry, we've stopped now," Mia told him, watching as Florean slowly began to peel his hands away from his eyes but, just as the boy was preparing to even glance at his two friends, they were locked in another kiss - Charlus and Euphemia were enjoying this way too much.

"You two are evil. EVIL!" Florean hissed playfully and Charlus chuckled to himself, widening his eyes at his best mate innocently, "I thought you were the one who wanted us to get together the most?"

"I did! I do! And I am very happy that the two of you have finally understood the sexual chemistry between you BUT that doesn't mean I want to see you snogging everywhere I go!" Florean exclaimed dramatically and Mia had to fight back her laughter.

"I want you to get married and make little Fleamias-" Florean tried to continue but Charlus held up his hands to stop his friend from talking, a wavering expression of amusement dancing on his face as all hints of humour slid from Euphemia's face at the word 'married' - instantly being reminded of the dreaded wedding and Orion's drastic threat.

"Hold on a minute - how are we supposed to make 'little Fleamias' if I'm not allowed to even go near Mia?" Charlus asked, exchanging a puzzled look with a suddenly subdued Euphemia at Florean's choice of the word 'Fleamias.' Where had that even come from?

"I don't know!" Florean exploded, waving his hands around crazily, "Miracles happen every day, Charlus!" he pointed at Mia and Charlus, gesturing that he was keeping an eye on them before spinning around with a dramatic flourish, "If I come back and you're not studying for your exams, children, Flo-Flo will be very upset with you!" Florean declared with an air of dramatic superiority.

There was a moment of silence after Florean exited until Charlus creased into laughter, Euphemia also forcing a smile and a bit of a giggle but it was so obviously strained, leading Charlus to turn and look at his girlfriend with a varying degree of concern and worry shining in his hazel eyes.

"Wait, what's wrong? Was it something Florean said?" he asked, quickly rushing to her side and taking her hand but Mia silently pulled away, walking slowly over to the wall where the gang had stuck up photographs and notes all over it to remind them of their friendship. The most recent addition to the wall was a picture of Charlus giving Euphemia a piggy-back ride down the hill towards the greenhouses, the two of them laughing happily.

Mia traced the photograph slowly, her finger drifting over her face in the picture where a smile was shining brightly, her eyes twinkling with pure and adulterated happiness, making her feel rather melancholy due to the fact that she hadn't felt or looked that happy in a very long time, probably due to Orion's daily reminder that he would kill her boyfriend if she didn't break up with him. She had felt lighter and more at ease with Charlus today than she had in ages but she hadn't been happy for what seemed like an eternity.

Charlus' arms slowly crept around her waist so that he was hugging her from behind, placing his chin on her shoulder comfortingly and Euphemia felt a physical ache in her chest at the love that filled her body upon his touch and the actual breaking of her heart as she thought about what she was about to do...for his own good, for his own safety.

"Flea, I can't do this anymore," Mia pulled away from him and she actually felt cold, like all of the warmth had been sucked from her body as soon as she moved away from him. Charlus glanced at her questioningly and Euphemia felt a lump rise in her throat, "I-I can't....I can't be with you," she said thickly.

Charlus' expression went from confused to upset and angry in a split second, his hazel eyes widening as his face literally fell, "What? What are you talking about? I thought...I thought that we were in lo—" he stammered but Mia cut him off with a dismissive swipe of her hand before he could utter the word 'love' because she knew that if Charlus said that, Euphemia would literally burst into tears.

It was taking all of her self-control not to actually start crying at that moment and she took a deep breath, fiddling with the front of his robes helplessly, unable to look him in the eye, "You don't understand....Flea....I-I do love you but I'm not allowed to, I'm putting your life at risk if I continue loving you," Mia practically whispered, her voice cracking at certain points.

The expression on Charlus' face was almost unreadable, he was extremely taken aback and hurt, that was clear, but he wasn't really showing whether he was angry, frustrated, upset or resigned and understanding exactly why she was doing what she was doing. He wasn't really showing much emotion...which was much worse than him yelling at her, Euphemia thought.

"I can protect you," Charlus finally whispered, after simply just staring at her in quiet disbelief. Without even realising what she was doing or saying, Mia scoffed, "Yeah? Like you protected me when Orion decided to slobber all over me?" she shot at him fiercely, watching as his face dropped and she immediately regretted what had slipped out of her mouth.

Charlus pressed his lips together firmly in an act of frustration before snapping out in a mixture of a broken and angry tone, "You seem to forget that, on that very day, you told me to go away and that I made everything worse! Did you seriously expect me to protect you after you just treated me like trash?" he retorted, hurt flowing through his body like a river.

"I treated you like trash? I seem to remember that you were the one snogging another girl moments after begging me to go with you!" Euphemia argued back, annoyance rippling up within her now at Charlus' accusations. It was true, she had said that but it had been to keep up a facade in front of Druella and Charlus knew that. He was just using that to hurt her because he was pained himself.

"Can we stop arguing please? Let's just work something out, Mia," Charlus pleaded with her, practically feeling his heart actually breaking every time he looked at her and how she was obviously struggling to get through this dilemma. Euphemia opened her mouth, evidently about to agree but she subdued at the last minute, a complete expression of misery flittering over her face.

"I wish I could, Flea," Mia muttered sadly, glancing down at the ground and shuffling her feet awkwardly as her thoughts whizzed around her mind rapidly, Orion's dark voice rippling in the background in a threatening manner that terrified her to the very core, even when it was only a repeat of his original threat in her brain.

"Then do it. Stay with me, it doesn't matter about Orion - we'll get through it together," Charlus grabbed Euphemia's hands, pulling her closer to him and practically into his chest but she shook her head again, tears welling up in her eyes as her breathing grew laboured. "He said he'd kill you," Mia whispered, her tone breaking on the word 'kill.'

Charlus tried to ignore the iron fist of fear which was gripping at his heart and freezing his blood to a furiously charged fright that was coursing through his entire body upon Euphemia's admittance that Orion had in fact threatened to kill him if she didn't break up with him and fully commit to their marriage that would be finalised in the summer.

"He can say whatever he wants, he'll never act on it," Charlus scoffed, trying to act like it was only words because surely, no matter how ruthless and cruel Orion Black was, he couldn't be a murderer? There was no way that he even had the guts and his skeptical expression said all of this to the nearly despairing Mia.

Euphemia gulped, barely breathing as she said the next bit, "He killed Amanda," she glanced up, seeing Charlus' puzzled but scared expression, "Amanda Green, one of the girls who died in Hogsmeade last year," Mia added, watching as realisation dawned on Charlus' face, fear creeping into his eyes before he quickly acted like he didn't care, that he was brave man and not a scared little boy.

"He won't kill me," Charlus attempted to reassure Euphemia but his tone wasn't very convincing and the both of them knew, they knew just how much danger he was in. "Has he been threatening you? Is that why you've been acting so strange? Has he actually voiced this threat or is it just a personal fear of yours?" Charlus asked his girlfriend, after a long moment of silence between the two.

Mia nodded, "Yes, just before the Transfiguration O.W.L. three weeks ago," she told him, watching as his face changed from a mixture of fear and skepticism to one of utmost fury, "You mean this has been going on for three weeks?" he asked incredulously, completely taken aback at this new revelation.

Euphemia remained quiet but the look on her face answered his question and Charlus released a long, agitated breath whilst he ran his hand through his hair in a rather stressed gesture, "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her through gritted teeth because that was the only way to stop him from going and cursing Orion into oblivion for his emotional torture of his girlfriend.

"Isn't it obvious? I was scared, Flea," Mia said, her voice breaking and she felt the sudden urge to cry and scream all at the same time, Charlus' obvious sadness and anger not making the situation any better. However, it was what she should've expected - what truly loving boyfriend would just shrug and accept it when their girlfriend told them they had to break up?

"Yeah, but I could've helped you. What's the point of suffering if you're doing it alone? You should've talked to me....especially because it involves me and my life is on the line here," Charlus' tone started off gentle but gradually faded into more anger-based as he was furious that Euphemia had kept this secret from him. His life was at stake! How could she not tell him?

"I've been suffering alone all of my life, Flea, so what's the point of stopping now?" Mia snapped, her anger finally getting the better of her and breaking through the rest of her mixed up emotions that were swirling around her body like a dangerous hurricane. Charlus' face fell upon hearing Euphemia's admittance that she had been pretty much alone, in terms of emotional help, all of her life.

He just wanted to help her but she didn't seem to realise that. Maybe it stemmed from the fact that she wasn't really used to people looking out for her, always believing that there was an ulterior motive. Mia knew she had loving friends but she'd never been told she was loved or loved someone before so that had to have been a shock, hence why she had reacted like this when her loved one's life was in danger.

"You haven't been alone...you've had me," Charlus protested but Euphemia didn't crumble and fall into his arms upon that, as he had anticipated, but simply rolled her eyes, "I have had you but what's the point of having you if I'm going to lose you?" she turned away from him, not wanting to see his face because if she did, she knew she would crack and crumble.

"You're not going to lose me, you'll never lose me," Charlus moved forward, inching closer to her and stroking her arm slowly, inhaling her scent and feeling his heart break as he realised just how much he was losing Mia. All because he hadn't managed to establish a plan to save her from her malicious and cruel fiancée who was intent on making their lives miserable.

"Don't you see?" Euphemia span around with an almighty speed that almost sent Charlus stumbling backwards in shock, "I've already lost you! And even if I haven't, Orion will bloody take you away from me, regardless!" her eyes were shining with tears and she had to dig her fingernails deep into her soft palms to prevent the sobs from escaping out of her body.

"We can work this out, Mia," Charlus said softly, trying to take her hand but, as much as it hurt her to do so, she turned away and shook her head, bringing her arms up and wrapping them around her middle. "No. We can't. What's done is done. Either I-I break...up with you or you get k-killed...there's no in between," Euphemia stammered over her words, struggling to get them out due to her heavy urge to cry.

"I would rather die than spend another minute without you," Charlus practically whispered and Mia felt her heart thud loudly, the love for her boyfriend overtaking her entire body but she couldn't allow herself to succumb to his reassuring words because that would mean allowing him to put his life at risk. If she stayed with him, he would die. It was simple. Not.

"Well, if you'd rather die then you better just go and ask Orion to get it over and done with, it'll certainly save me a lot of pain if you just willingly walk into death like some ignorant idiot," Euphemia said sharply, the bitterness about this entire situation breaking through her sadness about it all.

Charlus' mouth fell open at her harsh tone, completely taken aback, "Why are you pushing me away?" he asked in disbelief, not seeing the Mia that he had fallen in love with but rather an emotionally unstable girl who was making the worst decision of her life but didn't actually seem to care how it would affect her anymore. "Because if I push you away and we go back to how we were before, I can pretend that there was never actually anything between us," she muttered sadly, still turned away with her head bowed.

"And why would you want that to be the case?" Charlus questioned, his heart cracking into smithereens as his throat became clogged with emotion, a potato-sized lump crawling into the space where his voice was supposed to be issuing from, stealing his words from him as he was practically struck speechless.

"IT SAVES ME FROM ETERNAL PAIN, CHARLUS! THAT'S WHY!" Euphemia suddenly yelled, spinning around with tears spilling down her cheeks furiously, taking a deep breath before continuing, "If I just pretend that I was never desperately in love with you, that we were never blissfully happy together, then it's easier to let go. To let go of...everything. Because that's what I have to do. I'm getting married, I can't be with you! Don't you understand?" a sob ripped from her throat as she snapped that last bit.

Charlus found his own tears choking him now, due to the actual situation and the fact that Mia was in so much pain and there was nothing, absolutely nothing that he could do about it. Their relationship was officially over, he knew that, but he didn't want to believe it, it didn't seem to register within his brain, his brain that was whirring madly and refusing to let him even think for a single moment.

"I have to go my own way, okay?" Euphemia said through ragged breaths, wiping her tears away but they just kept flowing like a continuous river. Charlus longed to reach up and wipe her tears away but he couldn't, he was completely frozen to the spot because of the shock and hurt he was feeling as well as the bubbling anger deep inside him because of how they had been forced to separate.

"What about us, though? What about everything we've been through?" Charlus attempted one more time to get through to her but Mia shook her head firmly, "Just forget it. Forget me. Move on, you'll find somebody else to love, you don't need me," she told him earnestly, though it physically caused her pain to think of him with anyone but her.

"Are you delusional? I could never forget you, I could never love anyone the way that I have loved you," Charlus said brokenly as he grabbed her hands, this time with her not pulling away as if she was almost holding onto him like he was a lifeline. "Stop talking, Flea," Euphemia sobbed, "Or else you'll break my heart even more than it already is."

Charlus pulled her in, tears trickling down his face, and Mia held onto his shirt, sobbing furiously and he buried his head in her shoulder, gripping her tightly as their hearts beat against one another, united as one before Charlus tipped her chin up and placed a shaky kiss on her dry and cracked lips, trying to make it last a lifetime because he knew it would probably be their last ever kiss, as much it pained him to admit that to himself.

"I will always love you," Charlus whispered against Euphemia's mouth and, though she didn't say it back, her tear-filled eyes expressed her utmost love for him in response before she pressed her lips to his again, muffling her own heartbroken sob as she did so.

They kissed for another solid moment, cherishing one another's presence and not wanting to pull away, not wanting to let go. Suddenly, there was a massive bang which was followed by a dramatic groan of, "For Merlin's sake, put her down, Potter! I'm sick of seeing you two snogging," Florean exclaimed and Charlus and Mia pulled away from each other, both feeling the invisible barrier move between them as they did so.

Gulping her tears back down her throat, Euphemia stared wordlessly at Charlus before running away, clapping her hand to her mouth as she rushed past a baffled Florean to prevent her agonised cries from escaping through her lips. Charlus watched her go desperately, longing to sprint after her but he had to respect her choice, no matter how much it crushed his heart.

"What in the name of Merlin's left saggy underpants just happened?" Florean asked slowly, his joking demeanour diminishing as soon as he saw Charlus tear-streaked face and matched up the missing jigsaw pieces in his confused brain, glancing in the direction where Euphemia had ran and deducing what had happened, his eyes widening upon realising.

And although Florean Fortescue, the world's biggest drama queen, wanted to cry out dramatically in response, he knew it wasn't the moment to dwell on his own feelings about this unexpected turn of events. Charlus needed him and Florean was going to be a bloody good mate for as long as he needed to be.

Charlus let out a despairing noise that was halfway between a shout of anger and a helpless sob and Florean was at his side within an instant, tugging Charlus into a tight hug and just holding him close as the boy cried his heart out, his entire body shaking with sobs as he muttered, "I've lost her, I've lost her," over and over again.

It was for his own safety, after all. But Charlus Potter didn't feel very safe at that moment. In fact, he felt the most vulnerable and heartbroken that he had ever felt in his sixteen years on the planet.

I have no words. I'm...sorry? If it makes any of you feel any better, my own heart broke along with Charlus' and Mia's whilst writing this chapter.