I woke up with a shiver, my bare body left alone to the passing breeze, stealing my warmth away from my back. My eyes still clenched shut, not wanting my rest to end yet, I held tighter the warmth I was clinging to in my sleep. A sigh escaping my lips was soon mirrored, my tired mind only realizing that it was strange after a few seconds. I squinted my eyes open, brushing aside the hay near my eyes to see shimmering light of the sunbeams piercing the rotten wooden walls, reflected by the silver hair of Chiara, groggily groaning as she leaned upwards, facing away from me.

The Thestral I had left with Hermione had come back, stretching its long black wings as it slowly raised each of its legs. ‘Did it… Keep us warm with its wings?’ I wondered, the sudden chill of morning air still forcibly creating goosebumps all over my body. I then glanced back at Chiara, only now seeing her wide eyes, quaking as she stared at me in terror. I no longer felt cold, my reddened face now boiling with embarrassment, trying to keep my eyes head level.

“Um…” Was all that I could croak out before words once again failed me. I gulped, looking high towards the cobwebbed ceiling instead, her fair skin so pale it could be confused with porcelain. Her slender neck and shoulders, all the way down her smooth back looked as delectable as white chocolate. ‘She smells just as- What am I thinking!?’ I clenched my eyes shut, placing my hand over my eyes to forcefully keep them closed, holding back a scream of shame of my still muddled thoughts. “Just get dressed, and do it quickly!”

Chiara didn’t move for a few seconds, seemingly studying whether or not I could be trusted to not peek, but finally shuffled herself away towards the door. After the Thestral slowly walked off towards the woods, I was left alone to hear the last moments of Chiara getting dressed, her clothes rustling over her body, the same body that vividly remained in my mind, no matter how much I tried to throw it out. “I’m… I’m finished…” She whispered, barely an audible tone even with only birds in the distance to compete with for volume.

My hand slowly fell down over my face as my eyes once again opened for any new stimuli to take in, hopefully to remove the last image they took in. Chiara stood a few paces away, normally dressed in her usual robes, hiding her beauty. I shook away my last thought, and motioned her out. “Great, now just…” I let out a sigh as her eyes darted every which way, sometimes looking down towards me, but lower than my eye line. “Just, get out.” Only until after I waved her off did her red face darken, before quickly tripping over herself to leave the room.

After getting my clothes on, I slammed the door open, Chiara jumping with a squeak at my sudden entrance. I glared at her, hiding the fear running through my mind at just a word of hers, or more likely Hermione to announce in her stead, ruining my reputation. I licked my dry lips, holding my breath around her, trying to remove the image of her beauty from my mind. “We will never speak of this again.” I commanded, pointing my finger right at her dainty nose.

***

Chiara nodded fervently without a word, her red face threatening to explode in shame. She had no idea what she was thinking last night. Her beast was usually non-violent, unless provoked. However she was never as assertive as when she was with Lucas, instinctively wanting to be at level with him, a partner. Watching him get hurt by Professor Lupin brought about more rage than she or her beast had ever felt in their entire life, so much so that she almost attacked Lucas for being so cavalier.

What Lucas didn’t know was that after he came back from his excursion with Hermione, and instantly fell asleep, Chiara carefully checked through his fur to see if he was still injured. In doing so, she found herself licking his body all over, eventually stopping to check his faded injuries, and instead marking him with her own scent, laying claim to him. She had only stopped when a cold wind blew in, Hermione’s scent of parchment along the breeze. She had come back, and inadvertently woke Chiara up from her beast’s desires, only to later witness in shock at Hermione’s actions.

“R-Right… Never a word.” Chiara muttered, too ashamed to look Lucas in the eyes after what she had done last night, nor after seeing his bare chest with surprising amounts of muscle. Without another word from the teenage pair, Lucas left, shaking his head silently, walking away carefully to avoid staining his high end leather shoes. "Wait! What about Professor Lupin!?" She yelled, not wanting to be the one responsible for him all alone. Try as she might, she still couldn't remove the vindictive anger she felt towards the Professor lying unconscious in a locked room behind her. She understood more than most witches and wizards, the pain and anguish that the Professor was going through, but deep down in her chest, she still held him responsible for what his rabid beast had done.

Without looking back, Lucas yelled. "Leave him! Tell Dumbledore and have him pick that lout up!" Chiara winced at Lucas' harsh words. She had never heard such rage in his voice. When he and Hermione constantly butted heads in arguments, they would both yell, but neither spoke like he just had. Even while he yelled at her, she knew that he just spoke louder to hide his embarrassment, much to the opposite of herself. Suddenly, the words he spoke last night came rushing back into her memory. Lucas had placed her above his own well being without a second thought, perhaps not even thinking about it when doing so. 'Maybe he feels the same as I do...' The thought crossed her mind, pulling at her cheeks, forcing them into a slight and stupid grin. Lucas was mad at Lupin for his rabid beast as well, the idea of her or Hermione getting hurt in Lucas' mind yanking at his primal rage. Chiara, yanked her smirk back down, the image of what Hermione did last night while thinking Chiara was asleep also ruining the moment; unsure if Lucas was mad at Lupin for her, or for Hermione. 

The last few days of school finished, and it was already time to take the train back home. Chiara alone in her compartment, silently pondering Lupin’s leaving his position at Hogwarts. The door slid open, she quickly checked to see Hermione entering inside the compartment, locking the door behind her. “You have been avoiding me all week.” She started, her eyes glaring deeply down at Chiara. Chiara avoided it as best she could but the weight of Hermione’s gaze still weighed on her.

Finally Hermione sighed, shaking her head to dissipate her overbearing gaze. “If you feel bad about Lupin leaving, he said it himself that it was his own fault for forgetting to take his medicine.” Chiara winced, remembering how Lupin spoke of too many werewolves at the school was simply asking for trouble. With already few spots for those of their kind to transform safely would lead to more incidents like that night.

However that wasn’t why she had been avoiding Hermione. They were both so close, Hermione was such a nice friend, always willing to help Chiara through thick or thin. She had even readily accepted her for a monster, willing to train in a dangerous art of Animagus for her. ‘But was that the only reason?’ She wondered, staring down at the tips of her shoes, tapping together. “I was awake… When you came back.” She finally muttered, pushing the words she had been keeping held down.

***

Hermione froze, digging her nails deep into her jeans as she studied Chiara’s nervous glances towards her. Hermione instinctively knew what Chiara was talking about. After returning to ask about how Lucas could show her a Thestral, (a question she still had yet to find an answer for, Lucas avoided her as much as he usually did) she walked into both him and Chiara cuddling with one another again. Try as she might, just looking at the both of them like that made her ill.

However, she couldn’t help but move closer to the both of them, watching each of their slow and steady breaths. She absentmindedly placed her hand near Lucas’ nose, tapping it once like she would her cat, Crookshanks. Still in his sleep, he twitched a bit, licking his nose like scratching an itch before letting out a large sigh. Hermione couldn’t help but chuckle, innocently asleep like this she could easily picture Lucas underneath his blackened fur, picture his normal self sleeping like a log in front of her. She crouched down, slowly petting his shaggy mane of fur near his cheek with her thumb.

A quick glance to her right, and the bright silver fur of her best friend reminded her again who he was sleeping beside, causing her nails to dig in slightly with reprehension. She soon caught herself, and shook away the thoughts of anger, that was her best friend. “What am I thinking?” She muttered, burying the jealousy she had for her closest friend. She focused back on Lucas, uncaring of her dug-in nails, not even stirring a reaction out of him. She scowled at him, even in his sleep he easily ignored her. 

Wanting to get even for all of the aggravation he caused her, she lowered her head, pecking the tip of his nose with a tiny kiss. She scoffed seeing him twitch with his deep sleep being stirred, any small action she could do to get back at him for his cavalier attitude toward her brought a smile to her face. One that soon faltered, realizing the action she had just taken. “Oh my god…” She mumbled under her breath, horror of her own actions. 

Strangely finding it okay to kiss him as some sort of revenge for his rage inducing personality. With no one else she would have even considered it an idea, let alone go through with it. She caressed her neck, the same was with his domineering actions, with nobody else she would find anticipation for grasping at her as violently as he did. She wanted to kiss him, part of her hoping he would wake to see what she had done, she wanted to make him think of her more than Chiara. All of these multitude of sickening and selfish feelings, all culminating within her, all surrounding the cursed boy sleeping before her, sleeping right beside her best friend. Unable to stay around with her shame any longer, she left without another word, unable to even look at Chiara as she rushed out the door. 

After she revised her repressed memories, Hermione was struck dumb, unable to say a word to her friend, the crackling of her vocal chords being the only sound in the compartment. “I- I wasn’t…” She croaked out, time ticking away for the train to depart and for Harry accompanied by Ron to appear at the last second to join them both, forcing her to iron out this situation before they came. 

“I could smell you all over him when he came back.” Chiara finally spoke again, licking her dry lips after she was done, glancing up at Hermione to her hollowed out expression, like the world was falling around her ears. Chiara couldn’t help but smile at how highly Hermione deemed her to make a face like that. She quickly grabbed Hermione’s hand, squeezing it full of reassurance as she spoke. “I like Lucas.” She said, looking directly into Hermione’s eyes, confident in her words, only able to truly speak her mind to Hermione. 

Before Hermione could utter a word, Chiara squeezed her hand again, not letting her run or hide from what was happening. “And I know you do too.”  “Wha- N- I-” Hermione stammered, trying to find any words to push away such an accusation, but Chiara cut her off. “Just let me finish… Please.” Hermione quieted down, gulping to help remove the lump in her throat, watching as Chiara glanced away, placing her multitude of thoughts into words like she always used to do, only speaking after a few seconds of pondering silence.

“I spent the last week thinking about giving you my blessing. As my best friend, I want you to be happy more than anything.” Chiara shook her head with a scoff, already seeing Hermione’s silent glare. “But I knew you would never accept that, you are too nice to selfishly just think you are taking him from me.” She glanced up at the ceiling, thinking more of her words before continuing. “I want us to remain friends more than anything.” Chiara smiled, taking Hermione’s hand now with both of hers. “That’s why I won't stop you from trying… We can both try, right?”

Hermione stared deeply into Chiara’s understanding eyes, filled so deeply with compassion, so much so that she couldn’t utter anything but the truth. Finally admitting to both Chiara as well as herself, to her true feelings. Hanging her head, gently bumping her forehead into Chiara’s as she spoke. “Right… I… I hate that I like him.” Hidden behind her bangs, she could only hear Chiara chuckle, nodding her head in agreement. 

“He truly is such an infuriating character.” She said in between snickers, finally pulling her head away to meet Hermione’s gaze once again. “Friends?” She asked, tilting her head, Hermione letting out a single laugh, gasping for air afterward from her unintentional held breath. “Best friends.” She replied back, both girls hugging one another, each girl hoping that this friendship would last forever.

The door suddenly sliding open, made both girls jump in fright, looking over to see Luna tilting her head while looking each of them up and down, closing the door behind her. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you…” She said, her uncaring tone un-matching her earnest words and feelings. Hermione sighed, shaking her head, patting her still beating heart. “It’s alright, where is Ginny, Harry, and Ron?” Luna’s gaze centered between Hermione and Chiara, her mind floating all about while Hermione waited for her response. 

“Were you two just talking about Lucas?” She suddenly asked matter-of-factly, uncaring of Hermione and Chiara’s blushing shock at the sudden question. Chiara’s hands waving all about, trying to dispel her own obvious embarrassment. “Wh-What makes you say that?” Luna blinked a few times, finally tilting her head back again, looking out the window as she spoke. “You both like him… I think I do too…” Both Hermione and Chiara froze in shock, Luna’s personality being so straightforward and open for them to even comment on.

Luna looked back at both of them, glancing at each one for a second before playing with her clattering bracelets. “You both seemed to have just admitted it to each other… so I thought now would be the best time to make my stance clear as well…” Hermione just cradled her shaking head in her hands. “I hate him so much…” She muttered, hating how he had seduced all of her friends. Chiara silently frowning with a nod, seemingly expecting Luna to feel the same way, just caught off guard with her sudden admission.

“I would still like us to remain friends… But I understand if you can’t accept that…” She stated, without a hint of sadness in her voice. She was immediately shot down by Hermione and Chiara, each yelling that nothing like that would happen. “No!No!No!” “It’s just how you feel about… I can’t hate you for that.” Hermione started to comfort her, but paused at admitting her feelings once again. After some awkward silence, Luna nodded with a tiny, almost invisible smile. “Thank you…”