A/N: This chapter is dedicated to reader dallas1990, who apparently reads an awful lot of my work. Cheers!

-C

Aindora and Aludra stretched out on the lawn as Linda and Vidya finally talked Orsolya into opening her exam results.

"What if I fail something?" Orsolya had been saying for almost an hour. But finally they got through to her that it wouldn't make a difference if she knew it or not. She'd still failed if she failed.

Her eyes grazed the page and she sighed, tossing down the sheet of paper in frustration.

"What's wrong?" Aludra asked in a level voice.

"I've failed Divination."

Aindora pursed her lips to keep from saying something rude, and Aludra glanced over at her with eyes that were clearly full of warning. Orsolya had so wanted to be good at Divination, and it drove her up the wall that she had no aptitude while Aindora was born a Seer.

After an uncomfortable silence punctuated only but poorly stifled sobs from Orsolya, Linda said gently, "Well, what are your options?"

"She can take it over or she can drop the course," Vidya said. "It's an elective, so she doesn't have to retake it unless she needs it for a career, and I can't think of anything that requires a N.E.W.T. or even an O.W.L. in Divination except certain positions in the Department of Mysteries."

Aindora watched Orsolya shiver at the idea of having a job that was so strenuous. If it required more than two core classes, Orsolya didn't want it. If possible, all she wanted for her future job was something that required references.

Of course, there was a great deal of resentment toward Aindora that Orsolya harbored not-so-secretly. They were friends, they would do anything for each other, but Orsolya was also immensely jealous. Orsolya was pretty, but even Aindora knew that Aindora was prettier. Orsolya wasn't stupid, but everything came easy for Aindora in class, even the one class Orsolya wanted to be good at. No matter how nice she dressed, Aindora's clothes were finer, and while Orsolya was never wanting for a date, the two most eligible boys a school were constantly fighting over Aindora.

The sticking point, the worst bit of all, was that Aindora would inherit the largest fortune in wizarding Britain upon her father's death, and Orsolya would need a job to support herself if she couldn't find a rich enough husband.

"Well, you have a choice before you, then," Aludra said softly, her eyes still on Aindora. "Do you retake Divination or do you drop it and focus on your other courses?"

Aindora knew that wasn't the real question. The question hidden in Aludra's words was how prideful Orsolya would be about the matter. Was she humble enough to really ask Aindora for help, to admit that she wasn't good enough? Or did she have too much pride to put herself through it again, to risk another year only to fail again? Aindora strongly suspected that if she chose to do it again, Orsolya would fail.

"I suppose I ought to just drop it," the Hufflepuff said sadly.

"It's not about what you ought to do," Linda said bracingly. "Do what you want to do. If you want try it again, we'll all support you."

Aindora really wished that Linda would learn to speak for herself, but the reassurances seemed to do the trick for Orsolya's confidence, because the girl shook her head much more firmly and said, "No, I really don't think I'll take it again. I need to spend more time on Charms next year if I'm going to make N.E.W.T. level."

Pursing her lips, Aindora began using her mind to trace a cloud above. Even a whisper, and Orsolya might hear it. Never mind Aludra hearing it. Orsolya would only cry, which was a temporary thing, to be forgotten and forgiven quickly, moved on from. But Aludra held Aindora to a high social standard with their friends, reminding Aindora that they not only had four more years, but that this was good practice for the social obligations Aindora would face when she stepped out into her world.

"Then we'll have to help with Charms next year," Vidya said softly. "That shouldn't be too much of a problem."

Aindora tapped her fingers on the spongey ground, glad that Aludra was good enough at Charms that this could fall mostly on others. When things were going well in Orsolya's life, she and Aindora were excellent friends. When things were going poorly, it was difficult for them to get along.

The girls sat in silence, enjoying the sun, their last few days of Hogwarts for the year seeming all too short. In moments like these, Aindora was painfully aware that there was not enough time at Hogwarts. Seven years would never be enough.

The night came slower in June, but still it came, and they went back to the castle for dinner and sleep. One more day was given for students to enjoy their time with friends, and then they would have a feast, one more night in the castle, and a long – but not long enough – train ride back to London. Aindora could not sleep that night, staring at the curtains surrounding her bed and wishing she would have found some way to help Orsolya. But how could she? Seeing was not something that could truly be taught, not in Aindora's experience.

The following day was a quiet one, consisting mostly of packing. Aludra and Aindora spent most of their day together, trying to decide who certain items originally belonged. They had been exchanging dresses, makeup, hair clips, and the like all year long, and trying to figure out what came to school with which girl was more than a miniscule task.

"Elle said she wants to sit with us at the feast," Aindora said as the girls put on their robes for their last dinner of the year in the castle.

"Not with Linn?"

Aindora shrugged. She suspected some sort of drama, as sometimes happened with Linn Selwyn, but she decided it was always better not to ask.

The Great Hall was decked in green and silver, which Aindora tried not to feel bitter about. Yes, Alphard looked smug with his friends, but the Slytherin House had earned it. Ravenclaw had made a pitiful non-run at the Cup this year, with Gryffindor and Slytherin absolutely dominating the way they did. Aindora usually managed to score more points in class, but she hadn't been as focused as usual. No, her House's capability to win wasn't all down to her, but ever little bit counted.

She barely listened as Professor Dumbledore said his speech, giving the point totals of each House, congratulated the roaring Slytherins. He said a few words of congratulation to those graduating, and released the students to eat.

"Potatoes, dear," Aindora said to Aludra, who nodded and passed a bowl of mashed potatoes across the table to the Rovigatti sisters.

"Do you have any summer plans?" Aludra asked Eoladra sweetly.

Eoladra shook her head and said, "Not until the Fête at Selwyn Manor in August. Just the usual."

Aludra nodded.

The usual was the girls reading, flying, and playing in the garden at the manor, with Aludra joining them for a week at some point, and then getting ready to go back to school after the summer event.

"We're going to Ireland for a month," Linda sighed, trying to poke a carrot slice as it rolled around her plate. "I hear it's beautiful in the summer."

"Can be," Aindora and Aludra said, and they grinned at each other at their still-perfect unison.

Eoladra turned to Vidya and said, "What about you? Will you be going anywhere?"

"Back to see my mother's family in India," Vidya said, scratching her nose.

"That must be nice."

"Ugh, no, it's beastly hot and sweaty. Thankfully it's only two weeks. Aludra, dear, pass the salad and tell us what you're up to this year?"

"Walking tours," Aludra said, wriggling her eyebrows playfully. "Apparently my mother has about a dozen of them planned. Merlin knows how many of them we'll actually do, but expect my thighs to be beautifully toned when we get back, ladies."

Aindora couldn't help but laugh at the horrified looks of Linda and Vidya at this suggestion. Keeping away fat was one thing, but building muscle was something neither girl could understand. As far as they were concerned, everything was about the fashion to be thin.

The girls ate and talked, and every once in a while Aludra would narrow her eyes thoughtfully over Aindora's shoulder.

"What?" Aindora finally asked.

"Is Black looking like he's king of the world?"

"He was earlier," Aindora said with a shrug. "More or less. He's definitely looked more that way, but you know Black. Why?"

Aludra said softly, pouring herself a glass of water, "Don't look now, but Cromwell looks like he's going to kill somebody. I think you can expect that he'll make a nuisance of himself on the train."

Aindora rolled her eyes. Of course he would make a nuisance of himself. When had he ever done otherwise?

But it did not escape her notice the thoughtful look that crossed over her sister's blue eyes at this warning, and Aindora had not forgotten the way the punch exploded all over Peter Cromwell at the Easter events, the way her father pulled her out of Fawley Manor like the world was ending. She closed her eyes, thinking of the warnings he gave her.

She had known for some time that she was special, unique, uncommonly talented. What she hadn't known was that she was in a long line of woman about whom some great prophecy was made. Somewhere in that line, perhaps her daughter, perhaps her granddaughter, perhaps her great-granddaughter, would be the most powerful witch to ever live.

Her father had never heard the exact contents of the centuries old prophecy or any of its corollaries, but Aindora had heard enough to know that her life would not be easy, and it would likely not be very long. As her mother died not too long after Eoladra was born, Aindora's father had explained in none too certain terms that if she was lucky, she would have two children and perhaps live for three or so years after the birth of the second.

If she as unlucky, she would have one and die about a year after that girl was born.

Could Peter Cromwell handle such a destiny? Could Alphard Black? At the moment, she wasn't sure she could, and she couldn't fathom sharing such a fate with either boy. To know that whoever she married would have to raise one, maybe two children alone, and then explain this same story to those girls?

The feast, which she usually enjoyed, tasted like ashes in her mouth, and she tried to focus on anything but the anxiety building in the pit of her stomach. While she usually enjoyed that last night of sleep, belly full of Hogwarts food and the anticipation of a summer with her father and sister, Aindora could not sleep that night. Instead she stayed awake, staring at the curtains surrounding her bed once more, feeling her whole body consumed with a cold that she couldn't fight off with blankets.

Fourteen was too young for these kinds of questions, these kinds of burdens. And still, she knew it would only become more difficult, more stressful, full of complicated decisions and situations. How would she tell her sister about this fate? How would she explain to her future husband what he was signing up for? What future could she have, knowing that once she started having children, she would soon after die?

And the one thing that chilled her slightly, the one thing her father knew without a shadow of a doubt was that no matter what, no matter how her fate played out, the father of her child would be a pureblood. Which meant Black and Cromwell were vying for widowhood they weren't yet aware of.

The train ride was mostly uneventful, but after an hour and a half of gossiping, Aindora wanted a bit of air. She said she was going to the toilet and walked to an empty compartment at the back of the train, sitting alone, pulling her knees to her chest and watching the wild countryside turning to fields as it rushed by out the window. The rhythm and rocking of the train was soothing, but not quite enough to calm her frayed nerves. Perhaps the holiday, the time mostly alone at the Manor, would do her a bit of good, some time to sort out her head.

"Rovigatti?"

She could have screamed with frustration at the sound of Peter Cromwell's voice, but she said nothing as he entered her solitude, her lonely compartment where she could focus on stillness. When she realized he wouldn't leave if she simply ignored him she said, "I've not done anything wrong, Cromwell, so why don't you go back you your patrol? No doubt there are first years dropping the last of their dungbombs before we get back to London."

"No doubt," he said, but instead of leaving he sat down across from her, watching her with his thoughtful eyes, his dark hair. He didn't have the easy arrogance of an Alphard Black, but he had so much natural dignity. Aindora hated that dignity the way she hated Alphard's arrogance. What gave them the right to be born looking superior?

But then, she knew she was the same. She knew she was uncommonly pretty, and Linda would say "posh," someone who was clearly born to a well-bred lifestyle, with fine features and excellent grooming. Did boys ever look at her and wonder what right she had to look the way she did?

She could have laughed at the thought, if she were alone. Boys didn't think such things. They saw an attractive girl and thought of what they wanted to do with her. Pure and simple.

"Why aren't you with your friends?" he asked, his voice kinder than she ever recalled it being before.

"I wanted to be alone," she said harshly. "It's been known to happen."

He didn't take the hint, still watching her watch the landscape rushing by. Wouldn't it be nice to fly on the wind at this speed? Not with a broom, but on her own power, to experience the rush of adrenaline that came from the unnatural.

"Rovigatti, there's some things I want to talk with you about."

"Well, I don't want to talk with you," she said coolly, finally looking him in the eye. "I'll have to see you soon enough at Selwyn Manor, and I'm not particularly keen on that thought. Now kindly leave me alone, or do Gryffindors not value chivalry as much as you always claim to do?"

He looked stunned, and a bit hurt. Not that Aindora particularly cared. All he had done all year was make her miserable.

After a long, tense, pained silence, Cromwell stood and said good day to her before leaving with a small bow of his head. She held her breath until he left, exhaling the breath in hopes of expelling the tension that came over her when he interrupted her solitude.

No avail.

Instead, she felt all the more frustrated, all the more furious at him. She could smell his attraction when they sat alone together, just as she had been able to smell it that morning when he charmed their lips together. What bothered her was how much she enjoyed that smell, that knowledge that he was so attracted to her even when she treated him coldly. Perhaps Orsolya was right, she thought, drawing her knees to her chest again, resting her chin on them. Perhaps she too much enjoyed having these two boys so eager to please her.

The countryside was melting to small towns, now, and she let her eyes follow the blur again, wondering why she almost wished that he was still with her, desperately trying to speak with her, maybe even to apologize – not that Cromwell ever apologized.

As the towns became suburbs, Aindora stretched and began her walk back to where her friend sat, pulling on jackets to Muggle outfits in order to blend into the train station and not draw attention to the fact that they were appearing out of a brick wall. If her friends were concerned that she had been gone for so long, they said nothing. Vidya passed her the sweater she had left out in case it was chilly when they got in to London, and Aindora pulled it on, thanking her friend before sitting down in her seat by the window.

She tuned out the gossip, the chatter, the promises to write that were unnecessary. The whole group always wrote to each other without any need for promises.

"Train's slowing," Aludra said, sitting forward as the suburbs became city, and Aindora nodded, watching London outside the window.

As the girls scrambled to get their things, the train coming to a stop, Aludra leaned in and whispered to Aindora, "Take care of yourself, miss. Try to enjoy the time with your sister. Without the boys. You know, while you can."

Aindora gave her friend a wry smile, but she nodded. As usual, Aludra made the point that mattered. Aindora's social obligations required all kinds of things she didn't enjoy, and being around all the people she least wanted to waste her free time on, but rather than pouting about how frustrating it all was now, she could at least properly enjoy the time she had without them. She would study, pester her father, read old family records and journals if she could find them, and then she would put on a smile and fulfill her obligations as a Rovigatti, because that was her job.

"Smile," Aludra said with a wink, and the two girls walked arm-in-arm into the main part of the station, feeling untouchable for a few minutes.

A/N: Review Prompt: What do you think Peter wanted to say to her? Do you think it was really an apology?

-C