“Hey. You wanna talk?” Pansy asked as I walked into our room.

“So you heard?” I asked as I started disrobing.

“Honey, the whole school has heard by now. But I thought you two were happy.”

“I thought we were, too. Then all of a sudden she's yelling at me about leaving her behind and then she just ended it.” I didn't even bother putting any clothes on, I just climbed into bed and snuggled in under the covers. “If it's all the same, I don't feel like talking about it anymore.” I grabbed the pink stuffed dragon that Susan had bought for me months ago and squeezed it tight.

I woke up with someone snuggling me from behind. Her leg was draped over me and her hand was… cupping my bare breast. I lifted the offending limb off of me and let it flop down on the mattress.

“Five more minutes, mum. Then I'll be ready to go.” Pansy mumbled and then rolled over, thankfully freeing me from being pinned.

I rolled over to see her face buried in my pillow. At least she has clothes on, but why is she in my bed? I thought to myself, and then I remembered the events of yesterday evening. I wanted to cry but tears never came, I just stared at my stuffed dragon which had been ejected from the bed at some point in the night. Her lying there all alone seemed poetic.

“Hmmm. What time is it?” Pansy asked. I could feel the mattress shift as she stretched.

“I don't know.” I responded.

“Are you hungry?”

“Not really.” I felt her weight shift in the mattress again as she got up.

“Come on, let's get up. You gotta eat something. Lunch starts in less than an hour.”

I responded by pulling the covers over my head. “Uh-huh.” She said. “Accio blankets!”

“Hey!” I protested as my only barrier to the outside world was ripped away.

“Get your naked butt up and get dressed.” I was then hit in quick succession with panties, bra, socks, and a dress. “Hurry up and get dressed, I'll be back in a few minutes.”

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“To assemble reinforcements. SO GET DRESSED!”

“Okay! Fine!” Pansy waited to see me actually get up out of the bed before she left our room.

About five minutes had passed, I was dressed, but looking through my clothes to find something else. Pansy had selected the dress I bought before the school year started, the silk one that shifted color from black to purple. I do love the dress, but it's gotten very tight in the bust, and the hem barely covers my butt anymore.

“Get away from there! You are NOT changing.” Pansy said as she re-entered the room.

“But it's too tight! And way too short.”

“And that's why I'm here!” Gemma stated as she walked up to me and put her hands on my shoulders and started turning me this way and that. I haven't had much interaction with Gemma since the first week when she guided us around the castle, but I've often seen her helping other students with various issues, from schoolwork to personal problems.

She released my shoulders and pulled out her wand. “Engorgio!” I felt my dress loosen and felt the hem tickle the back of my legs as it lengthened to stop a few inches above my knees. “That should do it. Shoes?”

“Boots, actually.” Pansy said, pulling out my knee-high boots I bought over Easter break.

“Nice! From Twilfitt and Tattings?” Gemma asked.

“Yes. But isn't this a bit much? I don't even wanna go to lunch.”

“Nonsense. We are going to make sure the entire school knows what little Suzie Bones just lost.” Gemma tapped her wand to each boot. “Black with violet shimmer.”

“She hates being called Suzie. And I knew the boots changed color, but I didn't know I could add shimmer.”

Gemma smiled as she handed them to me. “If you bought them anywhere else they wouldn't. I think my work here is done. I'm not great with hair.”

“That's why we're here.” I turned to see Daphne walk in along with Tracey.

“Then I'll leave you to it. I have to make my rounds before lunch.”

Gemma left the room and I was descended on by my three classmates. Several potion vials were pulled from a rather impressive and intimidating collection belonging to Daphne and given to me to drink.

“Can I look now?” I asked after several minutes had passed and the chaos around me had settled down a bit.

“Not yet. Almost done… and… there!” Daphne exclaimed. Pansy pulled the sheet off the full length mirror and I saw for the first time the fruits of their labor. My chestnut brown hair was now an almost solid black that slowly transitioned to violet about half way down. And while my hair had been just long enough to graze my shoulders before, it now has to be at least halfway down my back. It was hard to tell the exact length due to my hair being done in loose curls.

My eyebrows were thinned just a bit and now had a soft angle to their arch. They used a dark eyeshadow and my eyelashes were more distinct which made my violet eyes stand out even more. Needless to say I barely recognized my reflection as me. In all honesty I looked like my mum at my age. My ears were also pierced now, adorned with small silver hoop earrings.

“I can't go out like this!”

“And give me one valid reason why not.” Tracey replied

“It's too fancy. People are gonna stare.”

“People are gonna stare either way.” Daphne responded. “But knowing they're gonna be staring means we can control their reaction.”

“That's right. You've already got all of Slytherin behind you. And after they see you today you should have the majority of the school behind you, too.” Pansy added. “Now it's time to go.”

“Wait, one more thing.” I ran to my vanity and grabbed my snake arm bracelet and slid it on my left arm.

I joined my friends at the door and we left the dorms area to see almost half the house gathered and waiting for us… waiting for me.

“You don't need to say anything. And if you're trying to cry right now, one of the potions we gave you won't let you cry for another six hours or so.” Pansy whispered and gave me a gentle push forward.

We made our way to the Great Hall, with me leading the way along with Pansy. Tracey, Daphne and Draco were right behind, and then a mass of Slytherins behind them. I saw several more housemates fall into line with the group as I passed them. There were even a few Ravenclaws and Gryffindors that joined our group. I felt like a princess, marching my subjects to war after issuing a call to arms. The feeling was rather euphoric.

The last person to join my temporary entourage was Hermione, who was waiting just outside the main doors.

“Wow.” Is all she said as I held out my hand to her for her to join me.

Someone behind me made the doors to the hall slam open. There weren't many people there yet, but all eyes were on me, including all of those at the head table. The heels of my boots clicking on the stone floor as I walked to my seat cut through the otherwise eerie silence.

Lunch flowed very much like normal. My friends did their best to keep my mind off of yesterday's events and it was working until Hannah came up to me.

“Holly, what in Merlin's name happened yesterday?”

“Ask your fellow Puff.” Draco responded before I could speak. I had only told Hermione and Pansy my side of things, but I can't be surprised if half the castle has heard a retelling by now.

“She won't say anything other than you two broke up. She's been in tears since last evening.” Hannah answered back with more hostility than I normally see from her.

“It's called a dry eyes potion, Hannah. And I thought you Hufflepuffs knew what it meant to support your friends. Sometimes that means a makeover and forcing them to face the world, even if that's the last thing they want to do.” Tracey shot back.

“And for the record our poor Holly had to cry herself to sleep last night since little Suzie broke her heart.” Pansy added.

“So go yell at Susan, Hannah. She's the one to blame.” Hermione added, as she squeezed my hand.

Hannah looked torn, her previous hostility gone. “I'm… I'm sorry, Holly.” It looked like she wanted to give me a hug, but she didn't. She just gave a weak smile and faded away, back through the mass of students and tables she had come from.

I was thankful to have friends, friends that support me when I need it, but it made me miss having Susan by my side even more. I wanted to cry, but my body was unable to thanks to the potion my friends sneaked into the mix of beautifying potions while getting me ready.

Minerva’s eyes were drawn to the main doors as they swung open. The sight she beheld she hadn't seen in at least twenty years. The young girl now entering the hall couldn't be the woman she remembered, but the likeness was uncanny, from her hair, shape of her face, and style of clothing, not to mention those piercing violet eyes. Her breath caught in her throat when she recognized the girl leading the mass of students as Holly. She had heard talk about her breakup with Susan and had meant to check in on her this evening, now she wasn't sure she would be able to talk to her without thinking she was talking to Bellatrix.

Her mind was drawn to a conversation much earlier in the year. Holly had asked her about Bellatrix and she had ended that conversation as quickly as she could. ”Maybe that wasn't the best way to handle things. Maybe if I had been more open with her she wouldn't be emulating that woman now.” Her thoughts were interrupted by Severus muttering something she couldn't make out.

Severus snarled as the doors to the hall slammed open. He looked over to see the guilty party only to pale at what he saw. The young girl he first saw eight months ago reminded him of Lily. Smart, charismatic, devotion to her friends, all things she shares with her mother, but her innate dueling prowess and her tenacity conjure memories of the early years of the war, and now her physical appearance only reminds him of one person, a woman who still haunts his dreams to this day, the eldest of the Black sisters, “Bellatrix.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm sure. Even if I did go back to my room it's not like I'd be able to cry, which is all I want to do right now.”

“And how much longer until your potion wears off?”

“Around curfew.”

“Perfect timing then.”

“I guess.”

We sat in silence for a bit, laying on the grass in the center of the quidditch pitch, staring up at the practice game currently happening above us. Today was a dedicated day for the Slytherin team to practice, and Draco, Pansy, Tracey, Crabbe, and Goyle were playing alongside the Slytherin house team.

“Hermione?”

“Yes, Lyra?”

“Was I a bad girlfriend?”

“No.” There was a pause before she continued. “You two always seemed happy, but…”

I turned my head to look at her, she was still staring up. “But what?”

“Ever since the day after that night in the Forbidden Forest…” She turned her head to look at me and then turned her head to look up again. “I don't know if I should say this.”

“Please?”

“Just know that I've never had any intention of trying to come between the two of you, but Susan told me that she knows you love me, and I think it scared her.”

I stared up at the sky again, and we shared another long moment of silence. “I do love you, but I don't know if I'm in love with you.”

“Same.”

We both turned to look at each other at the same time and we both smiled before we both went back to watching people fly about above us.

“So you daydream about marrying people you're not in love with a lot?”

Hermione's hands went to cover her face. “Oh my gosh, Lyra. Can you please stop bringing that up?”

“Well?”

Hermione threw her hands down by her side and I could feel her staring at me. “Like you've never daydreamed about it.”

“No comment.”

“Uh huh. That's what I thought.”

We went back to lying there in silence for several minutes, up to the point that quidditch practice ended, which was thirty minutes from dinner starting.

“You look beautiful, by the way. A girl could get used to seeing you like this everyday.”

“They did do good work, didn't they?”