A/N: For the Scrabble Challenge (prompt: daybreak) and the Sherlock Competition (Part 1, #16: write about Bellatrix).

They lay together, Alice's arms around Bellatrix. Here, in the safety of an abandoned classroom in the dark of night, they are free. Here, Bellatrix can be soft and human, and Alice can be bold and daring.

Both know that at daybreak everything will change. They live a secret, an impossible, beautiful secret. The pureblood and her darling traitor, caught in an endless masquerade.

By the light of day, they will part. Bellatrix will return to her role as a sneering Slytherin, and Alice will be the meek but fiery Gryffindor. Their masks will be placed upon their faces once again, and they will only communicate publicly in stolen glances and little smiles.

They are cursed to love only at night, only when their masks fall and break. In the morning, they will be enemies again, forever pawns in the endless game of House rivalry.

But, Alice thinks to herself, morning is a long way away. The night is young, and so are they, and that is enough.