A pair of rings that revealed the status and location of their wearer to the other.
She had bought them on the first Hogsmeade visit, on a day when she'd been slightly more giddy than usual. She'd wandered into Zonko's Joke Shop with her friends, felt too embarrassed to leave empty-handed, grabbed the first thing that caught her eye, tucked them in among the armful of Honeydukes sweets she'd bought, and sent them off by owl post. Without any particular meaning behind it.
But as with all impulse purchases, she'd had no use for them and left them to gather dust in a drawer.
Then Crabbe had taken them, claiming she'd handle it, and handed them over to Harry entirely on her own initiative.
So even if Harry Potter was wearing that ring, it was nothing more than coincidence stacked upon coincidence. Carina had nothing to feel guilty about.
'The only reason I didn't tell him about the rings was because I was worried he'd get the wrong idea! That's all!'
Carina told herself this, pulling the Invisibility Cloak over her head as she made her way toward the Slytherin girls' dormitory.
She moved separately from Harry Potter. There was no need for them to move together, and besides, the girls' dormitory had a charm on it to prevent boys from entering. Harry had been reluctant, but had no choice but to leave it to Carina.
Carina spoke the password and slipped into the dormitory common room. No one noticed she had entered at all.
Naturally. She was wearing the Invisibility Cloak.
Tucked deep within the dungeons, in a hidden place one had to descend to reach. The Slytherin dormitory, built in the lowest part of Hogwarts.
Rumour had it that the location meant mould crept across the walls year-round and the eye of the Giant Squid peered through the windows—a ghastly place. There was even a joke that Voldemort had fallen into the Dark Arts because he'd spent seven years living there.
But unlike the prejudices of those who didn't know better, the Slytherin dormitory was an extraordinarily refined and tranquil place.
The whole room lay still as if submerged in water, and beyond the windows stretched the forest at the bottom of the lake—a view that held its own against the Forbidden Forest without any contest.
The warmth from the fireplace lingered inside the dormitory without escaping, circling the room for a long while. The sofas and carpets were so plush that lying down on them made you want to fall asleep at once.
Silver lamps that glowed like full moons and dignified green hangings created an atmosphere that was dim but composed, enough to calm even the most agitated person.
The Slytherin dormitory—luxurious and beautiful—was perfectly suited to those who disliked unnecessary brightness and noise.
Carina Malfoy, for instance.
Carina had never once felt a single complaint about where the dormitory was situated, and she was certain that would never change.
Feeling a fresh swell of pride, she descended further still, toward the girls' dormitory that could only be reached by going even lower.
A place with no light source, pitch-dark the moment the lamps went out, where you couldn't tell if anyone was there. The deep, muffled sound of the lake pressing against the walls soothed the mind and body.
There, Malfoy lay face-down on her bed. Entirely unlike a Slytherin.
Without any apparent reason, she was touching her own lips—then suddenly pounding the mattress with her fists—then pressing her face into the pillow and shaking her head back and forth. Then she lifted her head abruptly and muttered to herself.
"No. Why should I be flustered?"
Carina could not bring herself to look up; the spectacle her past self was making was too mortifying. When she watched past-Carina declare she wouldn't be flustered and then immediately bury her face in the pillow again, Carina nearly ignored Harry's warning and fired a Stunning Spell at her own past self.
But that would make it impossible to change the future. Carina held herself back with every ounce of willpower she had.
It was nearly time for the embarrassing display to end and for past-Carina to set off—but that insufferable Malfoy showed no sign of getting up. If anything, she was more restless than before, alternating between lifting her head and slamming her fist into the mattress.
Unable to watch any longer, Carina raised her wand and cast a spell.
"*Diffindo.*"
A drawer rattled softly. The Malfoy on the bed startled and scanned her surroundings, then slowly reached toward the drawer. She took out the ring—and then, for reasons Carina couldn't fathom, abruptly drew the bed curtains closed.
That was enough. Carina fled the Slytherin dormitory as though running for her life.
Once outside, she waited, and soon Harry appeared, Marauder's Map in hand, searching for her. Carina lifted the cloak, and Harry slipped naturally beneath it.
"Did you finish what you needed to do?"
"Yes. I left the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's Map from this time period spread open on Professor Lupin's desk. Laundered them while I was at it."
"Laundered?"
"Sirius had been using them, so the smell was dreadful. I couldn't have you using something like that. I cleaned them with a freshening charm, folded them neatly, and left them there. They'll be fine."
So that was why—when he'd first pulled the Invisibility Cloak over himself, it had smelled warm and pleasant. Because it had just been laundered.
The smell. Like some kind of deviant.
Carina shook her head vigorously.
She did not press her nose to other people's belongings and sniff them like an animal. That was entirely Malfoy's fault.
"Why?"
"N—no, nothing. Don't worry about it."
"All right. Did you finish your... 'personal errand'?"
Harry still didn't know about the rings.
Carina, composure restored, narrowed her eyes and replied.
"Of course. What do you take me for?"
"I don't know how personal it was, but either way—well done. Now, let's go. We need to get to where Potter is. It's time to settle this."
As Harry turned, Carina caught sight of his ring glinting. A flickering light, as though issuing a warning.
That meant the other ring was currently tracking its owner.
Carina thought back to when she had first put on her ring. It had definitely been shifting between red and pink.
If red meant critical danger, then pink meant together with a lover.
If that was the case—if, like the Marauder's Map, two copies existed in the same time period and that was causing it—then the reason the pink had appeared was, perhaps...
"W—wait!"
Carina snatched Harry's hand and tried to pull the ring off. But whether due to the sizing charm or something else, she kept failing.
Harry watched in silence, then let out a quiet sound of realisation, as though something had just clicked into place.
"Ah. So that's how it was."
Seeming to have worked it out, Harry slowly and deliberately removed the ring himself. Then he held it up directly in front of Carina's eyes and gave it a leisurely little wave.
Carina's expression went rigid. Caught out, she turned her gaze away.
But Harry's eyes followed her with quiet persistence.
"So this was the reason?"
"Wh—what, what reason?"
"I thought it was odd—Crabbe handed it to me and said, 'If you want to make up with her, keep this on.'"
Harry took a step closer. Carina let out a small, involuntary sound. In one swift motion, Harry reached into her pocket and, before she could react, drew out the other ring.
He held the two rings together. Remarkably—and inevitably—when the pair touched, they formed the shape of a heart.
"You were wearing this. So you had no choice but to come find me."
She had bought those rings on the first Hogsmeade visit, on a day when she'd been slightly more giddy than usual. She had wandered into Zonko's Joke Shop with Crabbe and Goyle, felt too embarrassed to leave empty-handed, and happened to pick up those rings.
But since they were a toy she'd never planned on buying, she'd had no use for them and left them sitting in a drawer.
Then Crabbe had taken them and handed them to Harry entirely on her own initiative.
So even if Harry Potter happened to be wearing that ring, it was nothing more than coincidence stacked upon coincidence. It had absolutely not been Carina's true intention.
Malfoy condensed the entire history of the matter into a single word.
"Coincidence."
In truth, it wouldn't have mattered how many words she used to explain it, or how she tried to wriggle out of it. The outcome would have been the same.
Because neither Harry Potter nor Carina herself believed it.
Harry walked ahead. Carina followed. They walked in awkward silence for a moment.
The instant they stepped through the front doors, Harry spoke.
"Carina. There's something I need to say."
The sky had already grown dark without her noticing. Hogwarts, with its curfew, had never bothered to install lampposts. Now, even without the Invisibility Cloak, the curtain of darkness would conceal them well enough.
Harry and Carina shed the cloak and moved by the light leaking from the castle windows. The scattered patches of light were like sunlight filtering through a torn umbrella. They navigated by those thin beams while taking care not to step into them.
Harry led Carina to the broomshed. The shared brooms were nearly all decrepit Shooting Stars, but they were lucky enough to find two battered Cleansweeps among them.
"Pettigrew was cunning about it—he sent a forged letter to lure Dumbledore and Snape to the Ministry. Then he switched out the Wolfsbane Potion so that Professor Lupin would attack us. We barely managed to shake the Professor off, and when we did, what was waiting for us was Peter Pettigrew and... over a hundred Dementors. They came gliding across the ground toward Sirius, ready to administer the Kiss."
Cloak drawn tight, wand in hand, Harry mounted his broomstick. Carina did the same. Side by side, they began to fly toward the Forbidden Forest.
In truth, she had no reason to follow Harry there. That place held a treacherous wizard, a werewolf, and a hundred Dementors.
It was hardly somewhere a young lady of Carina Malfoy's standing ought to set foot.
"I should have cast a Patronus, but I couldn't. The me of that time found it too difficult to summon a happy memory. So, Carina—"
But she could not stay behind. Because it was none other than Harry Potter asking this of her.
He was admitting to a permanent defeat, and doing so with a confession that made her face burn.
Harry called out to Carina from his broomstick.
"May I smile in front of you?"
Those words she had said at the Shrieking Shack.
Her command that he not smile in front of her—Harry Potter had been carrying it with him all this time. And honouring it.
Only now did Carina realise that since that day, Harry had not once shown her a smile.
She had tossed those words out carelessly, like a pebble thrown without thought, and he had taken them as something weighty enough to carry for months.
Feeling a little guilty, Carina answered him curtly.
"You idiot. You've been keeping to that all this time?"
"I suppose when someone keeps calling you an idiot, you can't help but become one."
The fact that he had taken her words so seriously made her glad—and at the same time, sorry. And, to some degree, even a little resentful.
Even so, not a single smile for all that time. He could have pretended not to hear and smiled anyway.
Her feelings had thawed long ago. No—she shouldn't feel this way, but the truth was she was even a little pleased.
Carina let out something close to a laugh through her nose and replied.
"Hmph. Aren't you a proper fool? If being with me makes you that happy, then smile as much as you like. I'll overlook that much impertinence."
From now on, Harry would smile freely again—in the Great Hall, in class, in front of Carina and everyone else...
In front of everyone, Carina included.
Having thought that far, Carina found herself saying something she hadn't intended to say at all.
"...Only in front of me, I mean."
The one most startled by those words was Carina herself. Caught off guard by the jealousy and possessiveness she hadn't known she was harbouring, she began to flounder on her broomstick, desperately trying to piece together some excuse—when Harry answered with easy, uncomplicated warmth.
"Ha. That's a bit much to ask."
Of course it was. Telling him to smile only in front of her was essentially telling him to abandon all social existence.
She could have bluffed, said something bold to escape the moment, but Harry wasn't the type to bluff. He was the sort of stubborn fool who, because someone had told him not to smile, had kept his expression perfectly still in front of her for months without fail.
Instead, Harry Potter smiled—a full, open smile—and made her a promise.
"From now on, whenever I smile, I'll be thinking of you."
Carina was grateful she was on a broomstick.
Because she was flying ahead of him, he couldn't see that her face had gone completely red.