"How did you lose?" he asked, his voice quiet. 
                          
	"Harry was the key. Everything changed when he killed Harry," she said. "I think the moment it happened, we all knew it was over, but none of us wanted to accept that. So, we kept fighting, and- and more of us kept dying. Hermione and I were captured then-- I don't know much of what happened after the battle. But, I know it was a mess. Death and destruction all over the castle. I couldn't say how many people we lost that day."
                          
	It was hard for him to listen to her speak of the atrocities committed under his command. She harbored such pain in her retelling that he didn't dare to even meet her eyes-- the guilt that overtook him was overwhelming. But, he listened. He listened as she told him about everything-- from her life, to her friends, to the war, to the loss. 
                          
	"How did nobody stop... him?" he finally asked. "What about Dumbledore?"
                          
	"Voldemort orchestrated Dumbledore's murder in order to take the Elder Wand from him," she said slowly, a forlorn look on her face. "Once he had the wand, he was far too powerful. We just... couldn't defeat him."
                          
	Tom furrowed his brows. "The Elder Wand? But, Grindelwald possesses it..." His eyes widened as something clicked in his mind and he said, "Earlier, we made a bet about Dumbledore defeating Grindel-"
                          
	"Yeah, you owe me five galleons," she laughed, a semblance of happiness returning to her face.
                          
 	"You're such a cheat," he grumbled, rolling his eyes as her amusement grew. Still, he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, looking at her as he thought for a moment. There was so much love in her eyes-- he didn't think he'd ever be worthy of it. Finally, he asked something that had been plaguing his mind for days, "How can you bear to look at me after what I--... what he did?"
                          
	"You look nothing like him," she said with a chuckle, earning a look of confusion from him. "He was one ugly motherfucker." 
                          
-----
                          
	The next day, Avalon sat in Herbology between Clara and Zelda. The trio was busy trimming the leaves on their pots of Venomous Tentacula. The spiky, green plant writhed beneath them as they carefully snipped off the excess branches, though its vines would sporadically shoot out every so often and try to latch onto them. 
                          
	The three girls were far too focused on their plants to attempt to upkeep any semblance of conversation, so they merely stood beside one another as they quietly attended to their work.
                          
	Every once in a while, the sound of another student's loud swearing would steal their attention. They'd look up just in time to see one of their peers wrestling with their violently thrashing plant as it latched its vine around them, trying to strangle them. 
                          
	"Bloody hell," Avalon grumbled as she watched her own plant attempt to snake around her neck, but she bolted down just in time to avoid its grasp. 
                          
	She heard Clara let out a slight huff of annoyance and turned just in time to see the plant lunge at Clara's hand, its vine narrowly missing. It did manage to wrap around her finger, though, nearly pulling her promise ring off before she pointed her wand at it and clearly stated, "Diffindo," watching the vine sever off the plant, falling onto the table with a thud.
                          
	"Nasty pieces of work these things are," Zelda muttered, glaring down at the thrashing plant in front of her. She turned to watch Clara for a moment, sighing as she watched the star Herbology student handle the plant with ease. "I don't know how you handle these so well. It's incredible, really."
                          
	A faint blush found its way onto Clara's cheeks as she shook her head, trying to be modest. "It's only because I've had quite a bit of experience with them. Professor Slughorn has had me gather their leaves for him to brew in his potions before."