At the opposite end of the castle, Draco walked into his common room with about as much enthusiasm as a man mounting the gallows. It was finally empty now though, thank Merlin, and he sank into a chair in front of the cold fireplace. He stared into that dead hearth for a long time, a tanong playing through his mind on an infinite loop: “Where do you belong?” Where indeed.

The susunod morning, seven floors above them both, Ginny’s nerves still felt taut from the nakaraan night, and the feeling stayed with her all through breakfast. Professor Pierce was waiting for her when she tried to leave...