Muggle In Hogwarts

Chapter Seven

Cecilia remained completely still, curled up in a ball after the second dose of the Cruciatus curse, as they interrogated Neville. No curse was applied to him, though. After that, everybody left their cell as they went to plan their next move. Cecilia crawled to where Neville lay. He was shaking uncontrollably and she put his head on her lap as she tried to comfort him with soft words and warm gestures. Slowly he calmed, noticing that the Death Eaters did not return. She fed him with Ingenuita's power, ignoring the complaining voice in her head. "What do you think you're doing? That power is mine, you can't give it to that sniffling coward excuse for a boy!" Ingenuita exclaimed her voice growing softer and softer. Cecilia smiled as Neville's cheeks became rosy again and he looked practically back to normal. He looked at her amazed.

'How-how did you do that?' he asked. She grinned at him faintly.

'Gave you some power,' she answered. Neville looked at her, not understanding. 'OK, I'm being ...I'm carrying power, from a woman in my head, but I can't use it or even touch it unless it's to give it to someone else or to use while I'm her,' she said. Neville looked surprised.

'How do you know all that?' he asked. Her eyes started closing involuntarily.

'She told me,' she answered simply. 'Oh, if you think they are about to come, wake me up, OK?' she mumbled before she fell asleep.

Sirius, Remus, Mad-Eye Moody and Arthur Weasley (Ron's father) were surprised at the determined looks in Draco's and Ron's faces as they turned to face them with their wands out. Both boys took a step backwards and dropped their wand arm as they realized who it was. They sighed in relief.

'What are you three doing here?' Arthur asked them. Sirius looked from one to the other rather suspiciously as Hermsy stepped into the circle of light. Mad-Eye turned his magical eye to the back of his head.

'We better be going,' he said in his gruffy voice; his normal eye focused completely on Draco. 'I'd like to say I'm sorry about your father but regrettably I can not, though it wouldn't do much difference since it doesn't change that he is where he is.' Draco nodded, quite uneasily. He wasn't sorry about his father, but neither he nor his pride had forgotten about the white ferret incident. Of course it hadn't been Mad-Eye who had done that, but Barty Crouch Jr. (though to his ego, it was the same thing.).

'Thank you anyway,' Draco said with as much dignity as he could muster. Mad-Eye did a throaty sound that supposedly was a laugh.

'Thought I was going to transfigure you into a white ferret?' he asked, rather kindly with a mad glint in his normal eye, his blue magical eye also focusing on him for two seconds before resuming its constant pace in it's socket. Draco looked at the ground and mumbled a small "yes" barely audible.

All four adults chuckled while Ron and Hermsy bit their tongues to stop from laughing. Draco looked at them angrily.

'OK, OK It's time to head for the castle. This is no place to be, even if you are with the four of us,' said Arthur, pushing the kids along in front of them. The four adults seemed to be having a very important conversation, and since Draco, Ron and Hermsy didn't know what to talk about, well ... they eavesdropped.

'Thankfully Harry's OK said Sirius's voice. He and the others seemed quite worried.

'Well, apparently Harry wasn't the target this time. Are you sure Ingenuita is resurrected in a Muggle? It seems quite strange to me,' said Arthur.

'Dumbledore has another theory,' they heard Mad-Eye answer mysteriously.

'And Dumbledore said that Candor was also in the castle.' Lupin's voice was lower than the others were and they had to strain their ears to understand what he said.

'Who?' asked Sirius. 'I didn't see him.' Silence. And then again.

'What?' said Sirius rather defensively. More silence. 'You think I can't smell past their physical aspects when I'm transformed?' he asked defiantly.

Someone sighed.

'I never said that or even thought that,' came Mad-Eye's voice. 'But this magical eye can see past it whenever I want,' he declared. 'And I'm seeing him right now,' he commented. Silence. Hermsy hit her head with her hand as if she just remembered something. Besides a usual complaint from Hermsy, though intelligible, not another word was said until they reached the castle. As soon as they did, Hermsy grabbed both of the boys by their collars and hurried them to an empty classroom (mind you all classrooms were empty cause the search had been suspended and all were having a little snack in the Great Hall before going to bed.)

'What is it?' Ron asked Hermsy. He hated the suspense and all that secrecy was killing him. Hermsy put a finger to her mouth.

'Shhh,' she said softly. She turned to Draco. 'Remember when I interrupted you and Cecilia in the bedroom?' she asked. Draco nodded blushing slightly over the Look Ron was giving him. 'OK, I had discovered something that your ... attitude made me forget. Till now,' she said as she searched her robe pockets, pulling out the oddest things. Finally she took out a neatly folded piece of pink parchment with a faint smell of jasmines. She unfolded it and read it rapidly with her eyes, folded it and turned towards the boys.

'OK, now. The fact is that Ingenuita and Candor were Salazar's and Godric's grandparents. They'll keep intercepting with you, changing from him to you, and back again and he'll talk into your thoughts until,' she checked the piece of pink parchment again. 'Until The Fusion,' she announced and turned back towards them. Draco and Ron looked at her with blank faces. She sighed.

"Why do they have to be soooo stupid!" she asked herself.

'The Fusion is when your personalities and powers transform into a single power and personality in one body.' At this both looked correctly pensive.

'Which means he and I are gonna be just me?' Draco asked, almost joyful.

Hermsy nodded and Draco sighed with relief. Hermsy rechecked the piece of parchment.

'Or you'll be just him. But The Fusion doesn't occur until there's a common agreement and acceptance by both parties and a minimum of three months of co-possession,' she said. Draco looked at her with his eyes bulging.

'You mean this guy's got three months minimum to manage me around like a puppet?' he said indignantly. Ron laughed slightly. 'Don't think it's funny, Weasley,' he said angrily, as a voice in his brain chuckled. "Don't worry, we'll have a great time together!" it said. Draco set his jaw. "That was what I was afraid of," he thought back.

She felt someone shaking her.

'OK, Laura. We can keep walking now. I'm awake,' was what she mumbled as she got up from the floor, quite groggily. She felt a sudden pain in her wrist as, without opening her eyes yet, she stretched the sleep out of her. 'Let go of my wrist, Laura,' was all she said. Her head started throbbing and she heard a high cruel cold laugh, at the back of her mind. "Voldemort," said a voice in her head. She shook her head slightly, still not opening her eyes.

"Voldemort has you. You and Neville. You must help him. Nothing can happen to him." As this grim thought settled in her head, she felt an arm wrap around her pressing something cold and steely on her neck. She lifted her hand, her eyes remained closed. "It's a knife or a dagger," she mused. As she felt more towards the handle. The steel was now wood ... then steel again! "Wormtail," came the voice again, and Cecilia was grateful for the company, though it had no body, it was quite comforting. Then out of the blue she started singing a childish song that used to make her laugh. "Annoy him!" ordered the voice in her head. So she did as best she could.

'Peter Peter don't beat her, cause rats, rats won't eat her. She will always be the beater, Peter ...' she sang softly, partially mocking him and partially warning him. She felt a grip on her shoulder and almost smiled, but decided to make him try to crush her before doing anything as she felt Ingenuita trembling.

'Voldy, Voldy so oldie, he is already gone baldly, his sack has gone so moldy. Poor Voldy,' she sang quietly, rising her voice only slightly. Peter's grip on her hardened and she almost yelled out, but repressed the thought.

She renewed her attack, always with her eyes closed.

'Taily, Taily go jaily, for friends, friends betrayed he. Oh, my, the jaily, for Taily,' she said rising her voice so that her words were easily distinguished. (A/N: Wormtail. Worm Tail. Tail. Taily. Get it?) The weapon on her throat dug in a little and a drop of blood could be felt trickling down her shirt. She lowered her head. Just a little more. Came the voice. Cecilia took a long breath and went on again.

'Lordy, Lordy's gone sporty, he's got a stupid fat shorty, for dirty work so unworthy, for shorty.' Apparently he hadn't understood very well what she had said so he didn't either lessen the grip or make it tighter, just murmured "Stop it right now." She stashed around her head for some ideas and recommenced.

'Gordy, Gordy you're shorty, real dumb, dumb and bordie, horny with the Lordy, you're Gordy!!' She was amazed at how good this was grasped in Peter's minute-brain, as he put more pressure on her throat making her bleed some more. She put her fingers on the wound, soaking her fingers with the low current; she smeared his face with it. He gasped and dropped the knife.

She took the element of surprise and turned around to face him, opening her eyes. She revealed a strange purple color instead of the normal black on her irises. She stared fixedly at the blood on his face, willing it to do what she wanted. At that very second the blood disappeared from his face. She waited some seconds, to make sure the blood had entered the pores and reached its destiny. She willed him to bow to her. He did.

'Is Voldy in?' she asked nonchalantly, whipping at the wound. He nodded.

'Yes, my mistress.' She thought for some minutes, biting her lower lip. Did she want to defeat the great and powerful You-Know-Who? Or did she just want to get away with Neville and be safe at Hogwarts? She'd go to Hogwarts as soon as she could, but in the mean time, she would have some fun! She looked at her parents' murderer with disgust.

'Can you take me to Him and take Neville back to Hogwarts?' she asked distrustfully. He nodded eagerly.

'Why, of course, Madam,' he said bowing once more. She lifted her nose in the air.

'Very well. This is how you shall proceed. You shall give no sign of you service to me, and you shall take me to your former master, for me to have some amusement of my own. Then you return here and Apparate as near to Hogwarts as you can and leave Neville at the edge of the woods, understood?' She looked at Neville, who had been sitting in a corner since Wormtail had entered. He nodded, as did Wormtail. OK Lead me.' she ordered. He grabbed her arm seemingly roughly, from the outside, obeying her first order and leading her through several passages as she questioned him under her breath.

As she gave him some last minute instructions, they reached the door to Voldemort's "room". Peter knocked and entered leading her in with him. It was a snake-formed room all in green and silver. The entrance door was at the "tail", and the throne was at its "head", more specifically, at the tongue. All through out the curves of the strange room, carved snakes with jeweled eyes stared at her and whispered and made mysterious shadows. She silenced them all with a superior look that seemed much like a warning.

Voldemort sat on a green and gold throne thinking, and was startled by the two-unexpected visitors.

'What are you doing here?' he asked menacingly. 'Leave Wormtail,' he ordered. Cecilia ordered the same thing so Voldemort wouldn't notice that anything was wrong. So, without a word, he left to fulfill the second part of the plan. Cecilia looked daintily at Voldemort that seemed too angry to even speak.

'Someone's in a bad mood,' she countered. He gave her a cold poisonous smile.

'You are going to die a very horrible and torturous and painful death,' he replied, getting up from his throne. He neared her, not noticing her eyes, since she cleverly looked down at her feet when he got closer. He saw that her throat was slightly slit and smiled. 'It seems that some one my faithful servants was trying to do that just today,' he commented as he reached out and touched a very small amount of blood with his fingertips. "Fool," the voice in her head said laughing merrily. Cecilia had to look very intently at a large dark stain on her clothes to stop herself from snorting with laughter. Voldemort was looking at the blood curiously, and for one reason or another, tasted it. She smiled, not being able to hide any longer. When he saw her gleeful expression he looked at her as if she were mad, or a masochist, in the very least. Until he saw her eyes, her purple invading eyes that seemed to reach to his soul.

'You must be kidding...' he said as he was swept away by a freeness of thought; it was delightful. It was like the Imperius Curse, but in another way, unbreakable. He couldn't not do what she asked him. It was so simple and charming and ... inviting. She didn't order, she asked. And he immediately did it, having no subconscious opinion of it either or any thought at all, that's why it was Dark Magic, and very hard to conjure. He bowed, called her his mistress, and for some reason or another, she took this moment to dance Rock & Roll with him. But she had very precious time, about ten more minutes until she lost her control over him. He was a very powerful wizard, unlike Wormtail, who with a small dosage of blood would have him for hours ... at least two. But Voldemort was fighting it, as it he was expected to do. She asked him to make her a portkey to take to the edge of the forest, and he, once again obliged. Took a small dagger from his table and put it to work with a tap or two of his wand and murmured words.

As soon as she touched it she felt something grabbing her from behind her navel and whirling her away from the serpent-formed room to at the edge of Hogwarts, where her temporarily faithful servant was awaiting her.

'All gone as you planned, Madam?' he asked politely.

'Why, how could they not?' she asked him. He smiled. She smiled back. 'Now turn yourself into a rat and come with me,' she said as she left the forest edge. She lifted the rat and put him in her pocket. And walked in a faint daze, very tired indeed, until she reached Hogwarts All was still, and quiet. It was dark out but she could see quite well. Must be because of the Sleepwalkers, she thought, thinking of the words that Ingenuita had made her repeat during her sleep. She had said she'd know what to do when the time was right, and it was true. Thanks to that she had been able to escape. Too bad the spell has too many flaws in it, she thought as she tiredly climbed the front steps and entered the castle. She wasn't sure how much time had passed since Wormtail had abducted her, but it couldn't have been more than two days. It was amazing how well she and Ingenuita were getting along. Just then she choose to show up. "Real ingenious, Ces, real ingenious." Cecilia smiled.

'Thanks,' she murmured. She felt Ingenuita laughing in her head.

'I almost died of laughter when you danced Rock & Roll with him!' Ingenuita said. Cecilia chuckled tiredly.

'I have no idea where I got that idea from,' she mumbled.

'Oh, I gave it to you. But let's talk later, you're really pooped out and I don't want to get too tired. Can I stir tomorrow? Please?' she asked pleadingly. Cecilia smiled indulgently.

'Only for a little while,' she answered.

'Yahoo! Thanks,' Ingenuita said. And disappeared from her head. Cecilia trooped some more steps as she reached finally the Great Hall and pushed the door idly. She saw a very familiar site and had an incredibly powerful déjà vu quite unsurprisingly. At about this time, on the first day of September, she appeared just as tired, having had to deal with her parents death and her sister's sickness, but now, thankfully, she was only pooped out. Everybody was silent as soon as they saw her come in. She smiled tiredly and would have fainted right there hadn't Pettigrew come out of her pocket, quickly change into human form and grab her before she fell down with weakness. There was a sudden outburst, mostly because of Wormtail's appearance, which was very mysterious.

'Take me to Dumbledore,' she murmured to him. He obeyed taking her swiftly and gently to the High table. The fact that none had cursed him away was because of two reasons. Firstly, Cecilia was on top of him, so if they tried to kill him it was very possible they killed her instead. Secondly, they were still getting over the surprise. Sirius got out of his chair at the High Table and ran towards where Wormtail stood with Cecilia and pointed his wand to Wormtail's face.

'Don't,' Cecilia said as clearly as she could. 'Dumbledore.' she knew she couldn't say more than one word or so, so she said the most important ones.

'Peter. Sleepwalkers,' and fainted.

I could hear faint indistinct voices from all around me. "Are you OK?" came Ingenuita's voice from inside my head making me even more tired. I nodded. I heard my sister talking. I couldn't understand what she was saying but just the sound of her voice was so comforting that I let myself sink back into timeless sleep.

Ron looked nervously at the still pale figure. He had thought she had nodded just a couple of minutes ago but she didn't do anything else to prove him right. Harry, Hermsy and Laura were talking animatedly to take their minds off the still form on the bed. The only sign that she was alive was the rising and falling of her chest. Ron neared her and put a hand on her forehead. He took it back startled. The others looked at him.

'Is she cold?' asked Laura, rather fidgety. Ron didn't seem to hear her. No, she wasn't cold, he thought. But he just shook his head.

'She's hot,' was the only thing he said. Hermsy smiled and rolled her eyes to the ceiling.

'Typical you to think about that kind of thing at a time like this,' she said chuckling faintly as Harry stared fixedly at the floor. Ron blushed.

'That's not what I meant,' he said. To prove himself he grabbed Hermsy's hand and put it on Cecilia's forehead. Hermsy drew her fingers away after barely brushing her skin. She looked worriedly at Harry and Ron, and then at Laura who had reached over and touched her sister's forehead, and as the others, drew it back immediately.

'She's burning hot,' she said, looking all around her desperately, with a frightened look in her face. Hermsy put her arm around her and Laura hugged her, clutching fiercely at the back of her clothes, hiding her face in Hermsy's shoulder and crying silent and desperately. Hermsy patted her head, shushing her, trying to soothe her. Harry went to get Madam Pomfrey who bustled in and checked Cecilia's forehead, throat, breathing, and the beating of her heart. When she looked up to see four pairs of eyes looking at her pleadingly, following her every movement, her face cracked into a smile.

'She'll be fine. It's just a secondary effect of one of the potions I gave her.' And with that, gave several other medicines to the sleeping girl and left, saying they only had five more minutes till she kicked them out.

'Strange,' said Ron, since she had been quite reluctant to let them in, even more to let them see the patient, and even more to leave them alone with her, even for three seconds. Now she was giving them a whole five minutes.

Still, they weren't complaining. They were waiting for Draco to come, hoping Cecilia would come around. After the five minutes were well over, Madam Pomfrey entered with Dumbledore right behind her and ushered them out, saying that Dumbledore wanted to check the child. So they left with heavy hearts and went to wait outside. They found a very pensive Draco sitting on one of the benches by the door.

'Hey,' they greeted him.

'They've just kicked us out,' said Hermsy. Draco looked up and shook his head, as if he hadn't heard what they had just said.

'I overheard Madam Pomfrey talking to Dumbledore,' he said softly, never leaving his pensive manner. Laura looked at him eagerly, expecting good news. Again he shook his head.

'What did they say?' Harry asked. Draco sighed.

'They said she might not wake up.'

She was swimming in nothingness, just enjoying the bliss of being unable to think a single thing. Next to her was a woman, blond hair and probably twice her age. The woman smiled and signaled somewhere. Cecilia looked straight into the woman's eyes, and was filled with brown. Then, unexplainably she saw her own eyes, and saw them light green, as soft dry grass. She noticed all of the sudden that she was able to think, as the woman pushed her into the direction she had pointed. Wow, she thought, amazed as she floated, up and up and up, until she reached a point where she finally connected with her body and woke up.

She sat up, but she kept her eyes closed, though she didn't know why. She groaned slightly and let herself fall back into bed, smiling. Groggily she thought it must be around nine and Mom would come and tell me to get up from bed to finish packing my things. It had been a great dream, though several parts were really scary and sad. She remained in bed, without moving for a full minute, waiting for her mother. Only then did she notice the voices. It was a woman's and a man's. She smiled, 'They're here to wake me up!' she thought happily, as she waited for her mom to start singing one of her wake-up songs, and her dad to start grumbling about wanting coffee. But neither came. Nor the grumbling, nor the singing, nor the good-morning kisses. Nor the shout of her sister frantically looking for all their things in the end-of-vacations mess. 'It's almost as if they were dead.' This thought made her sit up again and open her eyes, finding herself with the presumably unreal Headmaster Dumbledore and the supposedly dreamed Madam Pomfrey. She looked from one to the other, which looked back at her in relief. A wave of horror struck her.

'Mommyyyyy!!' she called at the top of her lungs. She covered her eyes with her hands and lowered her head so that her hair would hide her face and drew up her knees. Soft tears that ran down her face as everything came rushing back to her.

All four of them stayed in stony silence after what Draco said. The first one to break out of it was Laura, who leaned on the wall and slowly lowered herself until she was slumped on the floor and she started crying. Hermsy hesitantly took some steps closer to Laura and crouched next to her. The three boys looked at them detachedly. Out of the blue a high pained familiar voice cried out.

'Mommyyyyy!!' Laura jumped up and ran into the Hospital Wing as a whirlwind trying to remember in her desperation, where her sister's bed was. She heard, rather than saw, two grown-ups, recognizing Dumbledore's grave voice and Madam Pomfrey's now shrill one, trying to soothe someone. She went over to where they were, with Harry, Ron, Draco and Hermsy right behind her.

She saw her sister's face covered by her hair, but her shoulders were shaking, so she knew she was crying. She jumped on the bed and hugged her tight and Cecilia returned the hug, their tears mingling.

'You're so stupid,' Laura reproached her sister once they pulled away. Cecilia's tearful eyes looked at her blankly, her nose all red. 'How many times do I have to tell you not to cry? You never learn,' she said. Her little baby sister smiled and they hugged again, laughing and crying at the same time.

'Seriously,' Harry cut in, grinning as Ron comforted a very starry-eyed Hermsy that was repeatedly dabbing at the corners of her eyes. 'Don't you ever dare pull a stunt like that again,' he said. Cecilia laughed, her eyes shining with all the tears left to shed.

'I'll try,' she said. Dumbledore was smiling, but Poppy told them all to leave that she needed to rest. Cecilia would have laughed at this, if it weren't for the fact that now Madam Pomfrey was making her swallow disgusting potions making her want to throw up to get them out of her system. As soon as Madam Pomfrey finished sticking things down her throat she left, so that Cecilia and Dumbledore could talk alone. Cecilia swallowed continuously, trying to get the disgusting feeling from her mouth.

Dumbledore chuckled.

'Yes, I must say that those potions taste disgusting. Would you like some of this?' he asked offering her a flask. She shrugged. It couldn't taste worse then the other potions she'd been forced to drink. So she took it and took a sip. Strange warmth spread from her heads to her toes. A softly sweet taste replaced the bad taste in her mouth.

'Hmm. Delicious. What is it?' she asked holding out the flask to return it.

Dumbledore didn't take it.

'It's Butterbeer,' he said. Cecilia remembered Ron talking about Butterbeer once, about it's spreading warmth but she had thought he had been exaggerating. She nodded.

'Drink it all if you want,' he said smiling, though his eyes showed that he was worried. She titled her head.

'Is something the matter?' she asked. Dumbledore sighed, making Cecilia pity him. Always worried of having his students killed or the school attacked. He must ask himself how a non-dangerous year looks like.

'It amazing how you escaped, and I'd like you to tell me about it. I only feel quite guilty that I didn't listen to you when you came to me. Maybe I could have helped. I'd like you to know that I'm very sorry, about all this.' He shook his head sadly. 'I was just so worried of Harry being taken that for a moment I forgot about all the others.' He sighed deeply. Then he looked at Cecilia sadly, and she smiled at him.

'It's OK,' she said reassuringly. 'I had the time of my life,' she said to cheer him up, to that Dumbledore looked up alarmed. 'Up till now...' she added as an afterthought. Sadness flickered and died in her eyes as she brushed the thought away. She smiled wickedly at him. 'Wanna know what I did?' Dumbledore's blue eyes twinkled.

'By the sound of your voice, I believe you've put the Weasleys' to shame.'

Cecilia laughed.

'Not really, but I'm getting there, don't worry. Next time they kidnap me I'm gonna blow the place to little bits.' Dumbledore looked at her trying to understand this girl. She reminded him of himself at her age. Ruthless, and unafraid. It was quite a mistake to be fearless so young. He sighed.

'Promise me you won't get yourself taken on purpose,' he said seriously.

'OK, OK Now can I tell you?' she asked eagerly. Dumbledore laughed, and nodded indulgently. She told him of everything that happened from the time she left his office until the time she entered the Great Hall followed by Peter Pettigrew, her family's murderer. When she finished though, she seemed quite worried.

'Is Neville all right?' she asked fearfully. Dumbledore, surprised, nodded.

'As soon as Pettigrew brought him to the edge of the forest he walked a little and fainted, thankfully we were all on search, so he was seen leaving the forest and fainting by a large group of students who took him to Madam Pomfrey. He got well almost immediately and asked calmly if you had arrived yet.' She bit her lip.

'He got well right away?' she asked as if she hadn't heard well. Dumbledore nodded. She sighed relieved. 'I-I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't,' she said, mussing to herself.

'Ms. Politi? Are you OK?' Dumbledore asked worried. Cecilia turned light brown eyes on him.

'Sorry, Headmaster. Cecilia's sleeping. She let me wheel for a while,' she said smiling. Dumbledore looked mildly impressed.

'Why don't you sleep too? From what I've heard you've had a busy night yourself. I'd like to thank you from saving them.' She laughed softly.

'But, I didn't save them. She asked me to stay awake and tell you what else you want to know,' she said in an equally soft voice. Dumbledore looked surprised.

'Then who did?' he asked perplexed. She bit her bottom lip, nervously.

'Well, it was her,' she said. 'She seemed to already now how to use my powers,' she said thinking hard.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, after asking what she could do with my power and gave some of it to Neville, though I strongly refused, and Cecilia went to sleep. And then She blocked me out and told Cecilia to use the... She told her to use sleepwalkers,' she said a bit worried.

'Who is "She"?' Dumbledore asked.

'I-I don't know,' she said looking guiltily. Dumbledore nodded pensively, letting the fact that she obviously knew who it was pass.

'Was she hit with any curse?' he asked concernedly. Ingenuita blinked a little at the question.

'Yes, she was hit with "Crucio" a fair couple of times,' she said in a low voice. Then she locked her brown eyes with Dumbledore's blue ones. She looked a little worried. 'Don't tell her I told you, OK? She'll literally have my head if she finds out,' she pleaded. Dumbledore smiled benevolently.

'My lips are sealed,' he said. She smiled gratefully.

'Thank you.'

'You're welcome.'

'Would you mind if I slept a little now?' she asked. Dumbledore chuckled.

'Not at all, please do,' he said getting up from the chair next to the bed.

And with that left the room, where Ingenuita fell asleep immediately, not noticing the owl on the window sill that left hurriedly out as Dumbledore left, making a small gold carved nametag on her foot catch the light of the moon showing off the name of 'Grace'.

Draco repeated to his friends everything that Grace had said Ingenuita had said. They stood silent some moments.

'She's mad,' said Ron fervently. 'To say she had fun when she was hit by the Cruciatus curse more than once.' Harry nodded knowingly. He knew how the curse felt, because Voldemort had hit him a fair couple of times with it the year before. He shuddered at the memory.

'Well,' said Hermsy in her typically pensive tone. 'I've been in the library, investigating, but ...' she paused, taking a deep breath. 'There isn't a single book about Ingenuita and Candor besides the one I've already found. I've even asked Madam Pince, but she said she didn't know what I was talking about. I mean, it's the most complete library in existence. It's nearly impossible to find a subject it doesn't have.' She looked quite lost, as if someone had taken her safety blanket. "She looks so pretty." Draco couldn't help thinking. "Even when she's sad." It hurt to see her feeling so down, so confused at not being able to understand, and it was hard to try and repress the urge to walk to her and hug her tight until she felt better.

He lost the battle and sat next to her and put his arms around her shoulders, holding her tight. She was pretty surprised but didn't pull away.

To everybody's surprise, after a couple of seconds without reacting, she wrapped her arms around his waist and laid her head on his shoulder. She breathed in his scent. He smelled like eucalyptus aftershave and a strange perfume, probably his deodorant, and ... and like Draco. He had a smell that could only come from him. It was a dangerously inviting dazzling smell so sharp it seem to cut her in two.

'OK,' came Ron's voice. Both jumped a mile, letting each other go. 'Why don't you two get a room?' he asked jokingly. Harry was hiding his mouth in his hands to stop his laughter, but it became so hard at the embarrassed looks on their faces that he had to hold his stomach, laughter pouring from his lips. Draco mumbled something about going to the bathroom and left the room. Hermsy looked at her hands so that they wouldn't be able to see her confused happy and hurt face. She hadn't understood very well what had happened, but it had been nice. Very nice. Her friends didn't notice her sudden change since they were to busy cracking Hermsy/Draco jokes and cracking up like lunatics. She sighed and tried to think rationally of Draco and what had just happened. "Draco is a jerk. That is totally clear. But lately he's changed and isn't the complete jerk I suspected him to be. He saw that I felt bad and hugged me ... and I liked it." She shook her head in exasperation. "I'm really loosing it" she got up and left the room, but Ron and Harry were too busy laughing to notice.

Draco walked around the castle, completely confused. "She didn't turn away. I hugged her and she hugged me back." He looked at his hands. He could still feel the fabric of her robes, still feel her skin, her head on his shoulder, still smell her rose perfume and her soft jasmine shampoo. He tried to stop it but it filled his senses in a way impossible to forget. He longed to hold her again, longed to feel the softness of her cheek, the curves of her waist, the fullness of her lips against his own. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to shake the memory away. But he couldn't stop thinking about it. She hadn't pulled away. That was something that only happened in his wildest dreams, impossible in real life. "Maybe it was only because she felt down. Maybe she just wanted comfort, and when she closed her eyes she imagined that not you but Potter or Weasley were holding her tight, trying to calm her down." He immediately felt like kicking himself. How could he feel like that? How could he do that without thinking that he'd be hurt, terribly? What had made all rational and logical thought from his mind fly out the window? Probably her sad face, her pretty watery eyes, or her trembling lips that showed well enough that she was worried. He sighed kicking the wall, cursing himself, both because only a stupid person would take that kind of risk and also because only a stupid person would kick a wall hard and not think they wouldn't get hurt. He smiled ironically.

Hermione was his wall, and he'd keep on hitting himself with it, knowingly or not. Slowly he walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room for some rest and another pair of pants...