Briar knew she had made a scene in the Great Hall that morning, but she didn't feel embarrassed about it. She just found the entire situation ridiculous. How could everyone just sit back and smile while they let the Ministry control them with this soulmate garbage?

She glowered through her classes that day until potions where she finally let herself relax a bit. Professor Snape stalked around the room, staring students down as they prepared their potions, but Briar was unconcerned about his hard stares because she knew she was doing it right. She was always the first to finish in potions after all.

Briar finished up her potion quickly after finding her comfortable rhythm again. She felt as if her muscles had switched into autopilot; her body just seemed to know what to do.

Professor Snape had been hovering nearby as she finished the potion, and he swiftly took it from her once she had finished. He examined it with a pleased quirk of his eyebrow before announcing to the class, "Miss Davies has successfully completed the potion first. 5 points to Slytherin."

A couple Gryffindors rolled their eyes, but Briar just ignored them and began to pack up her things. She just read out of her potions textbook for the rest of the class period before she headed onto her next class: Charms.

She didn't mind this class, although she certainly couldn't stand Herbology. She never could keep the plants alive on her own, and she often needed help from Professor Sprout or one of the Hufflepuffs. She just couldn't figure out how to care for the plants. Even at home, Briar and her father never kept plants because the two of them could never keep them alive. Her father always claimed it was just because they were Slytherins.

Briar entered the Charms classroom and took a seat near the window. Other students began to file in behind her, and she audibly groaned when Malfoy sat beside her. He glared at her and snapped, "I'm still waiting for that apology, Davies."

"Keep on dreaming, Malfoy," Briar shot back just as venomously.

She crossed her arms over her chest and just waited for class to begin. Professor Flitwick walked up to the front of the room, and she focused intently on what he was saying so that she could do well in the assignments for the day, but Malfoy kept poking and kicking at her as he gave out his instructions.

Briar shot Malfoy a nasty glare before looking to Flitwick once again. It was peaceful for a few moments until Malfoy started up again, and Briar was ready to explode.

By the time class had finished, she was furious. She flew from the classroom with a speed she had never known before since she didn't want to talk to Malfoy again for the expectation of a scuffle.

She hurried back to the Slytherin dorms, and luckily, she didn't run into Malfoy on her way. She plopped into her bed when she got back and let out a loud sigh.

Her other roommates came in shortly after. Millicent looked uncomfortable. Daphne looked bored. Pansy looked furious.

Pansy slammed her bag on her bed before marching over to Briar. She snarled, "Stay away from Draco."

Briar sat up in her bed in complete disbelief. She gaped at Pansy and retorted, "Gladly! Please do me a favor and get that slimy git to leave me alone!"

Pansy rolled her eyes and snapped, "Stop acting as if you aren't into him. It's pretty clear that you are."

She tried to draw in a deep breath, so that she wouldn't explode. She slowly explained to Pansy, "I do not like him. At all. I think he is insufferable and not even attractive. I'm not trying to steal the boy you fancy. You're being a jerk."

This change in tone of voice seemed to make Pansy stop in her tracks and actually listen. She looked up at the ceiling and pursed her lips. She sighed, "He does seem to annoy you, but I figured that was your way of flirting."

"Absolutely not," Briar retorted with a small laugh.

Daphne spoke up from behind Pansy as she examined her nails, "And what will you do if he's your soulmate?"

"I don't care. You can have him. Soulmates aren't real anyways," Briar mumbled as she began to pull out her potions textbook from her bag.

Her comment made all three other girls in the room loudly gasp. Pansy demanded, "Excuse me?"

Millicent just gaped at her while Daphne had slammed her nail file down on her dresser to better stare at Briar.

Briar looked up and met each of their eyes with a shrug. She sighed, "I mean. It's just not real. It's the Ministry's way of controlling us."

"How could you say something like that?" Millicent wondered.

At the same time, Daphne gasped, "You can't actually believe that."

Briar rolled her eyes and fired back, "I can believe it, and I do. True love doesn't exist."

"Just because it didn't work out for your parents doesn't mean it isn't real," Pansy grumbled as she took off her robes. She added carelessly, "I mean, sometimes people just butt heads, and that's natural."

"Yeah, well, my mom is dead because they butted heads," Briar retorted before she could stop herself. As soon as the words left her mouth, she bolted from the room. Her roommates all stared at her with matching expressions of confusion and horror.

Briar hadn't told them about that, and she had never planned to. She hurried to the bathroom and locked herself into a stall. She couldn't believe she just said that. She really needed to get a hold on her emotions. She couldn't just go around saying things like that.

None of her roommates came looking for her, so she waited to head back to her room until she knew everyone would be off at dinner. She slipped into bed early that night, just glad that she had survived the day.

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