Armilla II

Chapter 19

The first month of school passed and before I knew it, it was mid October. The Wizarding world continued to be a worrisome place; each day The Daily Prophet was full of bleak accounts of disappearances, threats and mysterious going-ons for the muggle population. Only a month earlier, Stan Shunpike, who worked on the Knight Bus, had been arrested under suspicious circumstances. Severus had sneered when he had read the news, saying Stan was no darker than your average First Year Hufflepuff.

Severus himself had been rather edgy for the past month. He tried not to show it too much to me, since in the last couple of months he had become conscious of not taking things out on me. I could tell though, that his mood was becoming pricklier. Ever since the night he revealed to Harry Potter that he was the owner of the book in which Lily Evans' name appeared, he had seemed out of sorts.

Harry hadn't seemed much better. Though the two had reached some sort of, well I couldn't think of a word (and tolerance seemed to be stretching it a bit), perhaps reluctant understanding over the summer, they had gone about dealing with each other in a different matter. Severus had still goaded him on purpose to test him, but Harry, to his credit, having learnt something about self-restraint, had done his best to ignore the treatment.

Now, it seemed, there was a new attitude. Over the last few weeks, I had noticed that Severus hadn't done much to goad Harry at all during class. In fact, it was like Severus didn't bother acknowledging that Harry was even in the room during Potions. I wasn't sure how Harry felt about this treatment, but from my view it could only be a positive thing.

As far as the private Occlumency classes were concerned, I wasn't sure how progress was being made there. Neither Severus nor Harry talked about it, but I knew the classes were being held as usual.

Our Defence research project for Slughorn had certainly taken a little change. Upon my next meeting with Harry to discuss where we would move on to, Harry had been decidedly less enthusiastic, seeing that he could no longer consult his beloved book. I wasn't sure I would describe his mood as entirely resentful towards me, but I was sure he felt bitter that he had told me about the book in the first place.

The offending book was now located somewhere in our quarters. It was probably stashed away somewhere in Severus' bedroom, never to see the light of day again. Not that I would ever dream of mentioning it to my brother, but I was almost certain that Severus had read it cover to cover on the evening he had confiscated it. He had been particularly irritable and tired on the following morning and I didn't think it was a direct result of his meeting with Harry.

Draco Malfoy was another person on Severus' mind; Narcissa Malfoy had actually come to the school to have a meeting with Severus, which was on official terms, a simple parent-teacher interview. Severus had later told me that Malfoy had been communicating as little as possible with his mother and had become quite aloof. Severus wasn't quite sure how much help he could be, especially considering the lack of trust Malfoy had in him. Narcissa had left, not feeling as reassured as she wished that Severus would watch over her son. Severus had promised to do what he could, but with someone like Malfoy, it seemed there was only so much he could do.

Slughorn's dinner party had certainly been a trial. I had been stuck next to Blaise Zabini at dinner, and apart from making polite conversation with him for my brother's sake, I had spent most of the evening avoiding Slughorn's conversation.

Terry had tried out for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team and had been selected for the position of Chaser. I had laughed to myself at the even prouder way Lisa now looked at him; she loved having a Chaser boyfriend.

Speaking of boyfriends, Anthony Goldstein and Mandy Brocklehurst were now regarded by most of Ravenclaw House as the most annoying couple. I generally avoided sitting anywhere near them in classes or in the Great Hall, but it was harder to avoid Mandy when I slept in the same dorm room. She spent many nights sitting up with Padma Patil and Ruby Parkes, giggling about the silliest things, which were of no importance to me. I didn't say much to Lisa, who didn't seem as bothered by Mandy as I was. It was true that some nights, particularly when the idiots were discussing the extent to which Anthony's hair glistened in the sun, all I wanted to do was go down to the dungeons to sleep there.

The Merle side of things hadn't got any easier. The ghostly Merle had continued to turn up unexpectedly when I was alone; which generally never brought me any cheer. Even though I didn't like her showing up, a twisted part of me secretly enjoyed seeing her face. The strange thing was that the joy I felt was generally short-lived, only to be replaced with a sense of bitterness that she was there in the first place. I wanted her there and I didn't want her there. Having the same mental argument every time I saw her always left me feeling agitated.

On a Saturday halfway through October, Hogwarts castle was not as quiet as it ought to have been. Students had the opportunity to visit Hogsmeade, something which was generally viewed with much enthusiasm. Most of the students in my year had decided to go, particularly the couples who wanted to have some time alone in a restaurant.

Many students in other years had decided not to go this time, either because their parents had written expressing that they were to remain on the castle grounds, or because they were simply too nervous.

Severus had mentioned that Aurors were everywhere around Hogsmeade, but he had still been against the idea of me going. I hadn't suggested it, seeing as I didn't want to go anywhere off the castle grounds where I couldn't see my brother. Babyish, I knew, but I wasn't likely to get over that any time soon.

Severus and I sat down on the sofa in our quarters, quite exhausted after an hour of duelling. I had put my heart and soul into it; I had run into the ghostly Merle on my way down to the dungeons, which meant I had a lot of angry energy to spare. I had received the usual load of Don't you love me? and I have come all this way to see you and you won't talk to me emotional blackmail. I had done doing my best not to reply, which really hadn't been easy.

"That was no good," I said, putting my wand away. I hadn't made any progress at all. I could hold up the mental shield, but my ability to fire hexes at the same time was still much the same.

Severus shook his head, putting his wand away after conjuring two glasses of water. "Give it time," he said, passing me a glass. "We've only been doing this for a couple of months. I expect it will take a fair amount of time before you've conquered it."

I nodded, though I was still unconvinced. I should have made more progress by now. Perhaps I was just too agitated by Merle.

"Now," said Severus, placing his glass on the coffee table. "I want to talk to you about Thursday."

"What about it?"

He raised an eyebrow. "I am sure that I do not need to remind you that Thursday is the first anniversary of Merle's death."

"No, I knew," I said shortly. "What about it?"

He frowned. "I would have suggested a trip to the cemetery after classes, however, I would like to avoid a public place where certain people might expect us to be on that day."

I nodded in agreement. There was certainly a chance that Father would take advantage of the day to station either himself or an over zealous advocate at the cemetery in the hope that my brother and I would appear.

"I believe that-"

Severus was cut off as a ringing sound filled the room. I started at the sound.

"Someone wants to see me outside my office," said Severus, standing up, "rather urgently it would seem."

"How do you know it's urgent?"

"The bell only rings if it's urgent," he said simply, striding to the door. "The wards on the door can sense emergency. I developed it after having too many knocks on my office door for insignificant cases." He turned around after opening the door. "We'll continue this conversation later."

I nodded, marvelling once again at how inventive he was with magic.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

I stayed in our quarters and worked on my Potions homework for an hour. Severus had set very difficult homework, as usual. I made good use of the books I was allowed to touch in the sitting room.

When an hour and a half had gone by, I decided to go up to Ravenclaw Tower to see if Lisa and Terry had returned from Hogsmeade. I would come back down to the dungeons later to see Severus.

I walked along the dungeon corridors, thinking about what Severus had been saying before he'd been interrupted. I expected that he thought we should do something to acknowledge the day; it was nice that he had good intentions about Merle, but when I thought of Thursday, something didn't sit quite right with me. For some reason I really didn't want to do anything to mark the day? Was that wrong?

By the time I was close to the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower, I had quite thoroughly convinced myself that it was disgraceful that I was against commemorating the day. How could I be so cold?

"Why the long face, dear?"

I jumped, as Merle's ghostly form appeared suddenly at my side.

"Merle," I muttered crossly to myself, walking faster.

"Matilda owled earlier," she said, conversationally. "She's going to come for dinner tomorrow night."

I bit my lip, hearing Matilda's name. It really was like having the real Merle walking right next to me.

"I'm not going to serve those marshmallow cauldron cakes again," Merle said, matter-of-factly, "they made you ill last time."

"Don't they didn't," I said, turning to tell her that it was actually the cream pasties that had made me ill. I froze, realising that I had just acknowledged the ghost's presence. Merlin, I was so stupid! I had been so good at ignoring her, too.

I shook my head and continued walking, annoyed with myself. Really, I was arguing over something that had happened a few years ago.

"Perhaps it was the cream pasties," Merle said thoughtfully, as I reached the entrance.

I pursed my lips, as I turned to look at her. She stared back at me and suddenly smiled. She was so beautiful. She opened her mouth to say something else, but I didn't allow her the chance. I hastily let myself into the Tower, confident that she wasn't going to follow me.

I was immediately surrounded by noise, which was surprising considering Ravenclaws weren't usually known as a rowdy bunch.

"Armilla!" Terry called from across the room, waving me over.

I started moving through the crowd, towards where Terry and Lisa were sitting with Michael Corner and Luna Lovegood.

Padma Patil stopped me on the way. "Is she okay?"

Having Merle on my mind, I was caught off guard by such a question. "Is who okay?"

"Katie, of course," Padma said, giving me a weird look. "Katie Bell."

I shook my head. "I don't-"

"Milly!" Terry called again, beckoning me over.

I kept moving through the crowd, this time pretending not to hear people who were calling my name in the hope of getting information they presumed I had.

When I reached them, Lisa immediately grabbed my arm and pulled me down onto the seat next to her.

"Do you know about Katie Bell?" she asked.

"Er...no," I said, looking around at them. The four of them were staring back at me expectantly. Even the groups nearby weren't doing a great job of disguising the fact that they were eavesdropping.

"Something happened to her on the way back from Hogsmeade," said Terry, leaning forward. "We think she was cursed by some necklace."

I frowned. "A necklace? Where did she get it from?"

Michael shook his head. "We're not sure. We think someone gave it to her in Hogsmeade."

"Lots of different stories are going around," said Lisa, nodding. "Some are saying that she picked up the necklace and it tightened around her hand and tried to cut of the blood flow."

"Personally, I think Katie somehow got hold of the Capgras Delusion necklace," said Luna, looking around at us knowingly.

"Oh, do go on," Michael muttered, shaking his head.

"You may scoff all you like, Michael Corner." Luna looked at him solemnly. "Anyone who acquires Capgras Delusion is to be greatly pitied. If you're affected by it, you suddenly start doubting the people you're closest to and think they're actually impostors." Her eyes grew wide. "Sometimes you even start doubting your own reflection. Muggles are firm believers in the disease. Legend has it that there was a necklace in the possession of a pureblood couple. The wife was outraged when her husband befriended muggles in the neighbouring village, so she killed a few of them. The husband was so angry that he put a powerful curse into his wife's favourite necklace. When she put it on, she couldn't take it off. She slowly went mad, thinking that she was surrounded by impostors. Only upon her death could the necklace be removed." Luna lowered her voice, so we all had to lean in to hear her. "No one knows what became of the necklace."

There was silence as we all took this in.

"You're a good storyteller, Lovegood," Michael said, rolling his eyes.

"Nah, I think she's on to something," said Terry, earnestly. "Think about it. The wizarding world is at war. Maybe Katie had associated with muggles or something and someone's trying to make an example of her."

"I think that's pretty far-fetched," I commented. I would have been amused at the disappointed look on Terry's face, but I was more worried about Katie. Had someone really intended for Katie to have that necklace? "Why Katie?"

"That's just the thing," said Ruby Parkes, sitting down to join us. "Maybe the necklace fell into the wrong hands." She looked at me. "The others think you might know more details about how she is now."

I shook my head. "Why would I?"

"Apparently Filch was sent down to Snape's office with the necklace," said Lisa. "We saw him rushing up to the Hospital Wing when we came back."

"I suppose Snape knows more about dealing with curses," said Ruby.

"What makes you think that?" Terry asked, frowning at her.

Ruby shrugged. "I just think he would have a lot of knowledge in that area. I've heard Slytherins say so before." She looked at me, clearly waiting for me to either confirm or deny what she'd said. When I simply looked back at her indifferently, she got up and walked away.

"I do hope Katie will be all right," said Lisa, worriedly.

"Mm," Terry nodded. "It just shows how unexpectedly things can happen to you."

Michael stood up and stretched. "It just shows that nobody is as safe as they think they are." He grimaced. "Oh, look, here they come again."

Terry followed his line of sight and then rolled his eyes. "Ugh, lovebirds alert."

I looked over to see Anthony and Mandy making their way into the room, hand in hand.

"Time to go," Lisa announced. "Come on," she said to me, standing up. "Let's go up to our dorm and work on our Charms homework. Mandy can't come up there without Anthony."

"Excellent idea," said Terry, as I stood up. "I need to get some books from the library."

"I'll join you," Michael said to Terry. "Anything to escape them."

Terry smirked. "If we see them in the library we'll send an anonymous note to Madam Pince."

Lisa frowned as Michael and I laughed. "I thought Anthony was still your friend."

Terry shrugged. "Well he hasn't paid me much attention in the last couple of weeks."

"Wait till they break up," I said. "He'll be back."

"Wait till who break up?" came a voice from behind me.

I turned to see Anthony and Mandy right behind me. I inwardly cringed. How much had they heard?

"Uh...the Weird Sisters," Lisa said hurriedly, looking a little guilty. "Haven't you heard? They're having issues again."

Anthony stared at her for a moment and then looked back at me. "Oh."

"Well, come on Mill." Lisa grabbed my arm. "I want to finish that homework."

I followed her upstairs without a backwards glance.

"I'd say nice save," I murmured, "but I'm not sure it was a good one."

Lisa let out a disgruntled noise. "Oh, who cares what they think anyhow?"

"I suppose."

We reached our dorm and I was happy to find it empty; Lisa and I could work on our homework in peace.

"I'm surprised Terry is so dismissive of his friendship with Anthony," Lisa commented, as she rummaged in her schoolbag for her things.

"I think he's just annoyed that Anthony would brush him off so quickly," I said, opening my wardrobe door. It had a connection with my wardrobe in my bedroom in the dungeons. I could retrieve my possessions from both wardrobes. "After all, when you and Terry started going out, he didn't desert his friends." I reached in and grabbed the things I needed.

"No," Lisa agreed, sitting on her bed. "I suppose you're right." She looked up, crinkling her nose. "It smells like perfume in here."

I nodded. "I know. I think it's that stuff that Anthony bought Mandy for her birthday."

Lisa shuddered. "It's awful."

We worked on our homework for over half an hour, by which time Padma, Ruby and Mandy came up, all giggling and talking about what they'd done in Hogsmeade.

"Oh, I feel guilty looking at you two," said Padma, when she caught sight of the books on our beds. "I think I'll spend this evening doing homework."

"Oh, how terribly exciting," Ruby drawled, sitting down on her bed. "What a great way to spend a Saturday night."

"And what are you planning on doing, Ruby?" Lisa asked, a little too politely.

Ruby shrugged. "I don't know yet."

"I know what I'm doing," said Mandy, in a sickening (in my opinion) sing-song voice.

"Let me see..." Padma pretended to think hard about it. "Seeing Anthony?"

Mandy laughed. "Of course." She disappeared into the bathroom.

"You know, Ruby," said Lisa dryly, "you could always go along as Mandy's chaperone."

Ruby glared at her, before getting out her own books.

I had just started putting my things away, thinking that I would go down to the dungeons and see if Severus had returned, when there was a shriek from the bathroom.

"Look at this!" Mandy screeched. "Who did it?" She appeared in the doorway, looking outraged. She looked around at all of us. "Who did it?"

"Who did what?" Padma asked, looking startled. "What happened?"

"Come and see." With that she turned and disappeared into the bathroom again.

Curious, we all jumped up to see what all the fuss was about. We all crowded into the bathroom and were immediately confronted with a strong, flowery smell, the same smell that had made its way into the dorm.

"Here!" Mandy said harshly. "Look at this!"

She gestured to the top shelf in the bathroom cupboard. There, in many, many pieces were the remains of a perfume bottle. The perfume itself was all over the shelf and had leaked over the edge onto the things below.

"Oh, yuck!" exclaimed Ruby, reaching for a couple of things on the bottom shelf. "It's leaked onto my stuff."

"It sure does stink in here," Lisa said, waving her hand. "I'd been wondering where that smell came from."

Mandy put her hands on her hips. "Well, it's nice to know that you all care. That was my birthday present from Anthony."

"Of course we care," said Padma, patting her on the shoulder. "I'm sure it was just an accident."

"You think so?" I said, staring at the bottle. "Wouldn't you think the person who did it would notice and tell Mandy that it happened?" It sure didn't look like an accident to me.

Mandy looked around at all of us, her eyes probing as if trying to find hidden information. "I've no doubt that it was done deliberately."

I had to agree. Someone had come in and done this and left it for Mandy to find.

"The question," Mandy narrowed her eyes at us, "is who?"

There was silence. The stench in the room was starting to give me a headache.

Mandy folded her arms. "Well?"

Lisa glared at her. "You think it was one of us?"

Mandy returned the glare. "Well, who else could it have been?"

"Oh, I don't know," I said sarcastically, "any of the girls in Ravenclaw?"

"There's quite a few of us, you know," Lisa added.

Mandy shook her head. "You girls are the only ones who knew Anthony gave me that perfume. I didn't show it to anyone else."

"But you've been wearing it every day since your birthday," I pointed out. "I think people would figure out pretty quickly that someone gave you perfume."

"And only the best Auror would be able to figure out that you keep it in the bathroom," said Padma, scathingly.

Ruby nodded. "I wouldn't be too quick to judge, Mandy. It really could have been someone who isn't in our year."

Mandy didn't look convinced. "But why my perfume? Is someone out there really that jealous of my relationship with Anthony?" This time she looked directly at me.

Me? Jealous of her? How utterly offensive! I was insulted! I stared back at her indifferently. "Maybe," I said slowly, "the person who did it just doesn't appreciate the scent of your perfume and wanted to put a stop to you wearing it."

Lisa smirked. "You never know. Perhaps there's been a common room petition to put an end to the smell and a candidate was nominated to do it."

Mandy broke her suspicious gaze away from me to glower at Lisa.

"Look," said Padma, looking uncomfortable. "This isn't going to solve anything." She looked at Mandy. "Perhaps you can get another bottle."

Mandy shook her head. "Do you even realise how expensive it was?"

Padma looked surprised for a moment. "Oh...was it?" She shrugged. "Well, it wasn't me and I don't appreciate being held under suspicion like this, so I'm going to go and work on my homework." She turned and went back into the dorm.

"It wasn't me either," I said, as Mandy's distrustful face focused on me again, "and you can stop giving me that look."

I turned and left as well, feeling terribly annoyed at the silent accusation. Anthony had asked me out a while ago now, so why did it automatically mean that I was guilty?

The girls came back into the dorm whilst I was packing the last of my things back into the wardrobe. I ignored Mandy's eyes burning into me. Ruby was trying to convince Mandy to go for a walk to clear the air, but Mandy would have none of it.

I was relieved that I was going down to the dungeons. Lisa noticed that I was about to leave and decided to join me for part of the walk. She was going to head to the library to see if Terry was still there.

"Perhaps we should steer clear of Mandy for a little while," she muttered, as we left the common room.

"Who do you think did it?" I asked. I would have loved to hex whoever did it because I didn't like Mandy secretly blaming me.

Lisa shook her head. "No idea." She giggled. "I'm kind of glad though. I wasn't a huge fan of that exotic aroma."

"No, nor I," I agreed. As annoyed as I was at Mandy, I couldn't bring myself to laugh. I would have been upset too if it had been something that had meant a lot to me.

We parted ways soon after and I headed down to the dungeons, Mandy's accusing face on my mind. I felt uneasy and angry at the same time. It must have been someone who didn't sleep in our dorm. I could think of no reason why Lisa, Padma or Ruby would do it.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you!"

I groaned as Merle once again appeared by my side for the third time that day. "Shar is coming for tea later on."

I groaned again, though there was no chance of having tea with Shar. I shuddered at the thought. It had been almost a year since he had confronted me in the kitchen of my old house.

Merle clapped her hands together as I quickened my pace. "What do you think of making those jam tartlets Shar adores?"

I didn't answer; to be honest, I would have preferred to hurl jam tartlets at Shar...or perhaps something a little more dangerous. I didn't think even the ghostly Merle would appreciate my reply.

"Armilla?" Out of the corner of my eye I could tell that Merle was frowning at me. "I asked you a question."

I continued to ignore her, focusing instead on estimating how many more steps it would take to reach the portrait that concealed our quarters. Forty? Perhaps Thirty?

"Well, now!" Merle sounded rather angry. "I never brought you up to be this ill-mannered!"

Maybe twenty steps to go...

"Armilla! Armilla? Can you even hear me?"

Ah, there was the portrait. Ten steps...

"Armilla! Answer me right now!"

Five...

"I am very displeased! Armilla? Armilla!"

I let myself in and closed the door quickly. I leant back against it and heaved a sigh of relief.

Armilla! Armilla! Merle's voice seemed to echo in my head. For once, I didn't like the sound of it. I wished she would just go away and leave me in peace. Maybe she could go and bother Mandy instead.

Severus came down the corridor. He took a look at me leaning against the door and gave me a grim smile. "Making a nuisance of herself again, is she?"

I nodded. I hadn't felt so...angry for such a long time.

Armilla! Armilla!

"Armilla? Are you going to answer me?"

I hastily looked over at Severus, startled. He was standing in front of the sofa, giving me a strange look.

"Sorry," I mumbled, moving away from the door. I walked forward a couple of steps.

Armilla! Armilla! Her voice seemed stuck in my head.

"Armilla," said Severus, a little more sharply. "What did she do?"

"Nothing different to usual," I said, distractedly, "I saw her twice more. She keeps getting angry at me. I hear her in my head...calling my name."

Severus looked more furious than concerned. "I cannot wait to set my wand upon Father," he said through gritted teeth. He seemed to have made his mind up for sure that Father was behind it all.

He sighed and sat down on the sofa. I moved forward and sat down beside him. I felt like punching something, and I wasn't sure if it was due to Merle or Mandy.

"This may not be an opportune time to bring this up," Severus said, watching as I fidgeted with a cushion, "but I believe we need to continue the conversation we had before."

I nodded, though I was really in no mood to discuss anything in relation to Merle.

"As I said earlier, making a visit to the cemetery on Thursday is out of the question."

I nodded again. "That's fine." I didn't really want to go.

"That said," he went on, "that doesn't mean the day has to pass without any form of recognition. Is there anything you would like to do to acknowledge the day?"

"No," I said bluntly.

Severus paused, watching me with the cushion. "It's quite a few days away. You don't need to answer right away. Why don't you think about it?"

I shook my head. "I don't need to think about it. I'd rather treat it as any other day."

"Armilla."

I broke my attention away from the cushion to meet my brother's gaze.

He was wearing a calculating expression. "Would the ghostly Merle's appearances have something to do with your indifference to the real Merle?"

"I'm not indifferent to Merle," I said at once, feeling uncomfortable. I must have sounded so cold...I hadn't meant it that way at all. "How could I be?" I shifted on the sofa. "I just...won't need to be reminded to think of her next Thursday because I think of her all the time anyway." I looked away. "At the moment I'm constantly reminded of her and I don't need any more reminders than I already have."

Severus inclined his head. "That's fair." He was silent for a moment. "I hope this fake Merle doesn't do anything to influence your feelings about the real Merle."

I nodded. "It's starting to," I murmured. "Because I'm not supposed to talk to her, she gets angry. Then I hate being anywhere near her..."

"It," Severus corrected. "It may help to refer to this thing as an it."

"It," I repeated. "It's hard to think of her...it that way. She's so real - and I know that's what I'm supposed to think..." I shrugged. "I guess it's just getting to me. I know it shouldn't."

"We've talked about removing all emotion associated with this thing," Severus said, leaning forward as a tray with a steaming teapot and cups appeared on the table. He began to make the tea. "I appreciate that it is very difficult, but it is something you must conquer. You are feeling too much when it appears."

I didn't answer. I knew he was right, I did feel too much.

Severus handed me a cup. "I want you to start reciting things in your head from now on whenever Merle appears."

"Like what?"

"Steps for brewing Potions, listing ingredients, wand movements required...anything it takes, as long as you keep your mind focused on anything instead of the thing that is determined to plague you."

I nodded. "I'll try." I put my tea back down. I didn't feel like tea.

Severus also put his cup down. "I'll be back in a moment." He got up and disappeared into his bedroom. When he returned a moment later, he dropped something in my lap.

It was a bar of orange flavoured chocolate. My favourite.

"I wouldn't normally encourage it," Severus said, eyeing it as I picked it up, "but eat at least half of it before dinner."

"Thank you." As Severus continued to drink his tea, I ate a couple of pieces and immediately felt better, until I remembered something.

"How's Katie?" I asked. How on earth had I forgotten about Katie?

Severus looked grim as he put his cup down. "Stable, for now. She is to be transferred to St Mungo's in the morning. How did you know of it?"

"I went up to Ravenclaw Tower while you were gone," I answered, breaking off more chocolate. "Everyone up there was talking about it. I'm not sure I have the correct story." I told him what I'd heard.

Severus shook his head when I told him of Luna's Capgras Delusion theory. "It's only natural at Hogwarts that there will be at least a dozen varying versions of today's events."

He filled me in on what had really happened. It was close enough to what I'd heard. Luckily, only Katie's skin had brushed against the necklace, which had left a small hole in her glove. Severus had been called upon to stop the curse spreading. I felt pride swell up inside me that Severus could be relied upon in these sorts of situations.

"She will be quite unwell for some time, I expect," Severus finished, draining the last of his tea. "I expect more parents to withdraw their children from the school after this incident...or at least forbid them from visiting Hogsmeade."

"Do you know how Katie ended up with that necklace?" I asked.

"I have my suspicions," he acknowledged, "but until I investigate further I shall make no comment." He looked over at me. "I'm going to be utterly parent-ish for a moment for my own peace of mind. You know never to take presents from strangers...or even suspicious looking parcels from people you know?"

I frowned. "Of course I know that. I do those spells on my mail all the time - the ones you taught me."

He nodded. "I know." He gave a dry laugh. "Of course you know. It's just that it was terribly unnerving when I was in the Hospital Wing earlier. We're still trying to establish the details of exactly how Miss Bell came to be with that necklace...she may have been bewitched or she may have been confident in accepting it from someone." He sighed, looking weary. "All things aside, she might have lost her life today."

I started fidgeting with the cushion again, trying not to imagine how horrible it would have been if Katie had died; probably similar to the feeling that had been in the school after Cedric Diggory had died.

We sat in silence for a little while. I thought about Katie for ages. I couldn't understand how I had managed to forget about her. It should have been the first thing I asked Severus when I saw him. I didn't think Merle was much of an excuse. At that, my thoughts headed in Merle's direction. Pushing Merle, no it away, my mind wandered back to Mandy and I began to feel agitated once more.

Thanks to the chocolate, I wasn't feeling as lowly as I had before, but I had enough irritation inside to want to throw jam tarts at Mandy.

I moved over and made my way into Severus' arms, something I rarely initiated.

He made no objection; he shifted slightly so I could lay my head against his chest.

He stroked my hair. "Nothing else is wrong?"

"No."

"Mm." He didn't sound convinced.

"Nothing important anyway."

"Indeed."

We were silent for a moment.

"Armilla?"

"Yes?"

"Are you wearing perfume?"

"No," I said, perhaps a little more harshly than I should have. Maybe it was embarrassment.

"I see." Severus' tone implied that he didn't in fact see at all and was less than pleased with my reply. "It was merely an enquiry, Armilla."

"Someone broke Mandy's perfume in our bathroom," I explained, a little more calmly. "Our dorm stinks of it now."

"Oh."

I moved to get up. "I'll go and shower." I wasn't confident any spell would properly rid me of the smell.

Severus pulled me back towards him. "No, don't worry about it now."

"But I don't like the smell."

"It seems you hadn't noticed it until I said something," he said, as I leaned against his chest again. "I didn't say it to make you self-conscious; I was merely curious. I just don't normally associate that...scent with you."

I smiled to myself, thinking for the first time about my brother's familiar scent. I always recognised it, but had never stopped to think about it before. I remembered subconsciously being more aware of it when I had been reunited with him last New Year's Day after staying with Father, and then again when he had sought me out in the Forbidden Forest after I had escaped Father. I associated so much comfort with Severus' scent. What was it exactly? It seemed to be a combination or whatever very mild cologne he wore and some potions ingredients...maybe cinnamon...or ginger...

Severus gave a dry laugh. "And here I was struggling with myself on how to break it to you that you really don't need perfume."

I smiled again. "Especially not that one."

"I presume Miss Brocklehurst received it from Mr Goldstein?"

I nodded grimly. "For her birthday."

I'd thought that Severus had been secretly pleased when he'd found out about the two of them. It meant, in his view, that Anthony would stop pursuing me.

"It seems an odd thing for someone to deliberately break."

I nodded again. "Mandy thinks that someone who's jealous of her and Anthony is behind it."

"Ah." He paused for a moment. "And so she's disposed to hold you accountable, then?"

I was surprised. "How did you know that?"

"My brilliant skills of deduction, Armilla."

"Oh." I sat up so I could look at him. "I'm not jealous though."

He looked back at me. "I know that," he said indifferently. "We both know that. Miss Brocklehurst's small mind doesn't though." He looked seriously at me. "An incident like that would have filled her with paranoia, causing her to appoint blame in any direction she saw fit. Unfortunately, it was in your direction, hence your lovely mood when you arrived, Merle aside."

I gave him a guilty smile.

"You have every right to be annoyed," he said. "I would be too."

"What should I do?"

"Nothing really," he replied, shaking his head. "Carry on as normal, though keep an eye out for people loitering in the hall outside your dormitory. If you act too differently, Miss Brocklehurst may feel she has cause for suspicion."

"Okay."

He got up. "Come. I've got some potions to brew and I'd be appreciative of your assistance."

I followed him into the lab.

"Do keep an eye on Miss Turpin, though, won't you?" he said, as he began selecting ingredients.

"Lisa? Why?" Why was he suspicious of Lisa?

He sneered. "I don't suspect her of any malicious wrongdoing, but I have no doubt she would seek revenge on your part if she decided it was required. The girl has that sort of temper."

I smiled. He was perfectly right.

Severus opened a jar with a floating insect in it and smelt it. He pulled a face. "The juices have gone off," he said, wincing as he placed the lid back on.

He slid the jar towards me. "Here. Offer that to Miss Brocklehurst as a replacement."

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