Toujours Pur | Euphemia Black

Chapter 70 | An Important Question

"You did WHAT?" Minerva squealed out of surprise and shock, nearly falling off her chair whilst she stared, open mouthed, at a blushing Mia who was currently pressing one finger to her lips as she signalled for her best friend to stay quiet.

"Shut up," Euphemia hissed, whacking Minnie on the arm as her face turned even redder, glancing around at the other students surrounding them in the Transfiguration classroom.

Luckily, everyone was too busy frowning and trying to work out the Conjuring Spells that Professor Dumbledore had assigned them to cast so nobody appeared to be listening to the two girls conversing in hushed whispers at the front of the classroom.

"So," Minerva started in a quieter tone with an excited grin spreading across her face, "You're telling me that you snogged Charlus freaking Potter and you're only just telling me?" she appeared outraged and offended but Mia knew that she was only kidding.

"Keep your voice down," Euphemia warned her in a whisper, looking around nervously and feeling a shudder rack through her when she met Walburga's narrowed eyes from the back of the classroom.

Her experience with Orion had left Mia extremely wary of absolutely everyone and she had become even more paranoid and jumpy whilst roaming the corridors. Orion had only attacked her two days ago but she was still struggling to erase the memories from her mind.

But then, of course, there was Charlus. Though Euphemia still felt the strong urge to cry whenever she walked into the dungeons or the overcoming feeling to run away whenever she sighted Orion, Charlus had somehow made all of it better with his mere presence.

After they had kissed just the day before, they had stayed in the mystery room for a while, soaking in the other's company and relishing in the fact that they didn't have to look over their shoulders to check for eavesdroppers or spies.

When the hour had grown late, Charlus had insisted on escorting Mia back to her dormitory via the dungeons (leading her to comment jokingly on how much of a gentleman he was) and he wrapped his arm around her tightly when they passed the spot where she had been attacked as she shuddered.

Once they had reached the wall that led into the Slytherin common room where Charlus could not walk any further, he had glanced around furtively and placed a kiss on her knuckles before reluctantly letting her go, telling her to walk straight to her dormitory or seek the company of someone she could trust or rely upon.

"Be careful, love," he had whispered in her ear before Euphemia had pulled away and uttered the password to the blank wall, stepping inside once it transformed into a stone archway as Charlus watched protectively.

Even though Charlus hadn't been with her whilst she walked through the crowded common room, Mia had felt safe and she had immediately rushed to the sixth year girls' dormitory, where Charis was situated, to inform her elder cousin of what had happened and to ask for her protection whenever she was near Orion, which Charis obliged to.

The following day had still brought with it Euphemia's fears and anxieties about Orion but Charis had waited for her outside of her dormitory (which caused Walburga to send suspicious looks at her cousin) and walked with her to breakfast where Charlus had seen that Mia was smiling and safe, much to his immense relief as he had been worrying about her all night.

Charlus somehow made the entire situation better - Euphemia had felt a little tense and uncomfortably afraid during breakfast when Orion was staring at her darkly over his steaming cup of coffee but a glance in the direction of the Gryffindor table, where she received a reassuring grin from Charlus, instantly set her at ease.

Transfiguration had been the first lesson on Mia's timetable and so she had walked up with Eileen but sat with Minerva at the front once she was in the classroom, as was per usual.