Armilla II

Chapter 21

"I'm hoping I'll get partnered with someone else next time," I told Severus, as we walked along a dungeons corridor, headed for the library. I was meeting Harry to work on our research project.

"Not that I was particularly pleased with the arrangement, but you could have been partnered with someone far worse," Severus replied, his voice low. "Weasley for example...perhaps Miss Brown?"

"I know, but at least either of them would actually talk to me properly." Harry was still very standoffish with me. I supposed every time he saw me or my brother he was reminded of the book he had spent very little time with.

"Potter will get over it," he said indifferently. "He had better put effort into completing the assignment with you."

"He is," I said honestly. "He's done everything required of him so far and he contributes plenty of ideas...it's just...uncomfortable I suppose."

"Well, with any luck, Slughorn won't partner you next time."

Severus was probably right, but for a reason that didn't make me happy.

It was late on a Saturday afternoon on the last day of November. Life had become both easier and harder in the past month. I couldn't quite describe the level of happiness I'd been feeling due to not seeing Merle anymore. I hadn't see her once since Severus had decided that I had to be accompanied everywhere in the castle, except our own quarters of course, which had an entirely different set of wards. It did get on my nerves a little that the only time I was completely alone was when I was in my own bedroom in our quarters, or in the bathroom.

My magic had not gotten any better, but then, it had not gotten any worse either. It frustrated me to no end that I wasn't as strong or quick with spells as I used to be. I could still do a respectable amount of magic for a Sixth Year, but it was far from the standard I had been used to after Severus' training. Severus still insisted on duelling practice; he saw no reason for me to get out of practice, but often it left me feeling depressed that he barely had to put in any effort when he was duelling with me. I could hold up a mental shield, but it was pretty easy to break, which led me back to why I had the feeling that I might not be partnered with Harry next time. Harry's defensive magic was clearly better than mine now, seeing as my magic wasn't as good.

Though Lisa and Terry had seemed more than a little spooked when I had revealed the whole Merle saga to them, they had diligently made sure I had never been alone since. The first week had been a bit uncomfortable with Lisa, seeing as she'd been a bit put off that I hadn't told her earlier, but once Mandy made it known she was in a bad mood, Lisa had been back in good spirits again.

The reason for Mandy's bad mood? Well, Anthony had finally resurfaced from the dream land he'd been living in. It was like he'd seen the light again and realised that there were plenty of other things going on in his life beside Mandy. He had spent the last few weeks trying to get back in Terry, Michael and Stephen's good books, much to Mandy's chagrin, since this meant that he spent less time with her.

The thieving in our dorm had stopped too, at least for now. Flitwick had called a House meeting in our common room the day after Mandy's charm bracelet had been found in my trunk. Flitwick, though he hadn't raised his voice even for a moment, had left the room leaving many shaking knees in his wake; he had made it abundantly clear that he did not tolerate such behaviour in The Most Noble House of Ravenclaw.

Though the thieving had stopped, that didn't mean that the problems in our dorm had stopped. Mandy, bitter from Anthony's now divided attention, had become snappy and crass. It was not unusual for her to be awake at midnight on a school night, still discussing petty (in my humble opinion anyway) details of her relationship with Anthony with Ruby. More than once, Padma, Lisa or I had told them to shut up and let us sleep. Quite frankly, I didn't care to discuss whether Anthony's tone had been disinterested, indifferent or too casual when he'd told Mandy that he had plans on Saturday. It all meant the same thing to me.

Not long after the anniversary of Merle's death, the day came that marked the first anniversary since I'd found out who my real mother had been, followed by the day when I'd found out that Severus was my brother. Severus and I hadn't really done much to mark the day; well, Severus had reminded me that I'd been rather bothersome during my stay in the Secret Wing, but other than that, we'd let the day pass like any other. I liked it that way.

Only a week earlier, Severus and I had endured a series of interviews with a couple of workers from the Department of Family Services. We had both been interviewed separately (with Professor Flitwick acting as my chaperone) and then together. It had been tedious question after tedious question which had been easy enough to answer. Finally, the two had left, assured that there was no problem with my placement with Severus.

"I assume Miss Turpin and Mr Boot are going to be studying in the library for the duration of this session?" said Severus, as we reached the Entrance Hall.

"Yes," I answered, looking at my watch. "They should be there now." Lisa and Terry were going to accompany me to the Great Hall for dinner after Harry and I had finished. I couldn't very well tell Harry that he couldn't leave me alone.

"Very well." Severus' voice suddenly rang sharply across the hall. "Need we discuss proper decorum when using the stairs?"

The three Slytherin students, two girls and a boy froze when they heard the voice of their Head of House. They all muttered their most fervent apologies and then walked as quickly at proper etiquette would allow them until they'd disappeared into the Great Hall.

We walked along in silence until we reached the library. When we walked in, I spotted Lisa and Terry at a nearby table, clearly absorbed in some task. They had books stacked across the table. I saw Harry off in the distance, walking down an aisle with a book in his hand.

When Severus saw my friends, he nodded in satisfaction. "Tomorrow afternoon?" he said quietly, turning to take his leave. We generally duelled on a Sunday afternoon.

I nodded. "Yes, I'll come after lunch."

Severus nodded, looking distracted as he looked over the top of my head at something else. I turned to see Draco Malfoy talking to Madam Pince at the Librarian's Desk, or rather, from the looks of it, arguing with her. It seemed that Madam Pince was holding her ground, as a moment later Draco turned around in a huff and headed for the door, right where Severus and I were standing.

"I will see you tomorrow, Armilla," Severus said in a low voice, his expression clearly indicating for me to move away.

I nodded and began to walk towards Harry. I couldn't quite avoid passing Malfoy along the way. Malfoy, upon spotting Severus at the door, had slowed his pace considerably.

"Escorting you about like a child, is he?" he muttered to me as he passed.

I ignored him, hoping Severus would be able to knock some of the arrogance out of him. By the time I had reached the aisle Harry was standing in and turned back, Severus was leaving with Draco following him, looking more ill-tempered than ever.

"It's becoming habit these days to see Malfoy looking like that whenever Snape's around," Harry said, following my gaze.

I shrugged. "How often do you see Malfoy look cheerful anyway?"

"I suppose..." Harry turned back to the nearest row of books. "I've already picked some more out," he said, gesturing to the range of books on the history of defensive spells. "I know we've got our focus now, but-"

"It's good to have some more references," I murmured, scanning the titles.

"Yeah."

Harry and I never spoke of the book incident. It was like I had never seen it, which was fine except for the slightly strained working relationship we now had. We had finally found our focus a couple of weeks back; Harry had initially wanted to look at Severus' Bubble Shield charm, but instead we were now looking at strengthening the impact of hexes cast over a long distance.

"We'll have to practise the hexes we choose to experiment with," Harry said, as we sat down at the table where Harry had already placed a pile of books.

"Mm," I replied, picking up a nearby book. I didn't really want to do magic at the front of the classroom with everyone watching. At the moment, I was sure my magic could handle it, and though I hadn't seen Merle, I was worried that my magic would fail or suddenly lose strength. I didn't want the embarrassment.

Harry and I worked steadily for over an hour, strictly talking of nothing but the assignment at hand. Actually it was amazing how much work we completed as a pair whilst talking so little.

"Here's a book for you," Harry suddenly said, pushing a small, forest green book in my direction.

"Defensive spells for witches," I read quietly. "Oh, my father would love this book."

Harry frowned. "Is your..." He stopped and looked away, shaking his head.

"What?"

He shook his head again. "Forget it. It's none of my business."

"Probably not," I agreed. "But what?"

"Your dad," he whispered, barely moving his lips. "Is he...like Snape?"

"No," I said flatly.

"Oh." Harry looked back at his book, and then looked at me again.

"Anything else?" If he was talking to me off the subject of school stuff, even this less than desirable subject, it meant he was on the road to talking normally to me again.

He shook his head. "No...except..." he hesitated. "Well I figured he must be pretty awful."

"You think so?" I said dryly, neither confirming nor denying this.

"Yeah, well, when you came back to..." he gave me a significant look, which I understood that he was referring to Grimmauld Place, "you certainly didn't look like you'd had a good time."

I gave a dry laugh. "Mm. Well I didn't spend a great deal of time with him anyway."

Harry paused, before realisation dawned on him. "Oh yeah," he whispered. "Hermione mentioned something about a governess. That must have been really weird."

"Yeah, Zita Rougier." I shuddered.

"A governess? Really?" Harry shook his head. "Did she actually teach you anything?"

I nodded. "To do the opposite of whatever she taught me."

Harry grinned. "The idea of having someone employed to watch you all the time and..."

"Improve me?" I offered.

He shrugged. "Well, for want of a better word, I suppose." He suddenly laughed.

"What?"

"I was just thinking," he said, closing a book a pushing it away. "It's funny how there are kids in the world who have people employed to bring them up, while there are other kids who are left to bring themselves up."

"Orphans, you mean?" I said quietly, "or kids who rarely see their parents when they're young?"

Again, he shrugged. "I don't know." He opened up a book and suddenly looked a little too interested in it.

I shook my head. "Moving on," I muttered, taking the hint and picking up a book myself. "Good to have you back."

He paused and looked over at me. "Good to have me back?"

"Talking to me properly again, I mean."

He had the grace to look guilty. "Yeah, well..."

"Forget explaining anything," I said, indifferently, "that'll just make things uncomfortable again. Let's just move on."

"Love to," he said, nodding.

We read in silence for a couple of minutes.

"So," Harry said, conversationally. "Dug up any mysterious books lately?"

I elbowed him. "Shut up."

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

By Friday of the following week I was feeling happier than I had in ages. There was no Merle, working with Harry had become far easier and I was finally able to play a song on my violin without error. True, it was a rather simple song - a wizarding nursery rhyme actually, but all the same I had finally managed it.

Severus had been really pleased that I'd mastered the song and had suggested that, as celebration, I should never play the song again. Perhaps he had heard the nursery rhyme coming from my bedroom a few too many times.

The only thing that was on my mind constantly at the moment was what to get Severus for Christmas. It was only the first week of December, but considering that I was solely reliant on owl ordered gifts at the moment, I knew I had to order the present sooner rather than later. Then, before I knew it, Severus' birthday would have arrived.

"Didn't we talk about this last year?" Lisa complained as we headed for the third floor girls' bathroom after classes on Friday. Terry had finally agreed to spend quality time with Anthony Goldstein and the other Ravenclaw boys. Apparently they were having some sort of games night. Severus had agreed to me spending the night in Ravenclaw Tower so Lisa and I could spend time together, as I normally spent Friday nights in the dungeons. Instead, I was going to stay over on Saturday night.

"Yes," I answered. "Not that the two of you were very helpful at the time."

Lisa laughed. "Then why call upon me again?"

I looked over at her. "Because I'm desperate."

"Thank you."

"Seriously," I said, as we overtook a crowd of Gryffindor first years who were giggling over some inane magazine one of them held, "He's always been spot on when it's come to selecting gifts for me...why can't I think of something for him?"

"Well," Lisa pondered, "it's either because he knows you better than you know him, or because he already has everything...or both."

"Mm, very helpful."

Lisa shook her head. "I bet he has a million books-"

"He does indeed. How did you guess?"

"-And I think buying him a really nice quill is a little too grandmotherly."

"Hold on. He bought me a Lefties quill."

Lisa rolled her eyes. "That's because you were driving him crazy with your ink splodges."

"Yeah, but-"

"And that wasn't a Christmas gift or birthday gift, remember? You got it that day when we went to Hogsmeade and you weren't allowed to go." Lisa stopped as we walked inside the deserted bathroom. "Besides, you don't really want to get him a quill, do you?"

I sighed, shaking my head, walking into the stall. "No, of course not."

"Maybe you should get him to keep a wish list throughout the year."

"Good thinking. I'm not sure he'd agree though."

I'd finished washing my hands before Lisa had emerged from her stall. I stood, my arms folded, examining the cracks on the ceiling.

"Hello again, dear."

My head snapped back down to eye level as I heard that dreaded voice. Merle.

There she was again, smiling cheerfully at me. I had never hated that smile so much. I was not going to talk to her.

"I made a pie earlier," Merle said, nodding at me. "I used that recipe Shar found."

"Hurry up, Lisa," I called.

"There's no time limit, Mill," I heard her grumble.

"You're needed, Lisa."

"What? Oh." Realisation must have dawned on her from the tone of my voice. "Okay, I'm coming."

I sighed as I turned to the mirror.

What was that? The mirror was reflecting something in the place where Merle currently occupied, but it wasn't clear. There was a blurry silhouette of some kind.

"What the..." I muttered, staring from Merle to the blur in the mirror.

Lisa emerged from the stall, and, as expected, there was now no Merle or blur in sight. Lisa looked around. "She was here?" she mouthed.

I nodded absently, my mind stuck on the blur I had seen. Well, that was a development. Real ghosts didn't create blurry reflections.

Lisa suddenly put her hands over her face. "Oh, I'm going to be in so much trouble!" she wailed. "He's going to kill me."

I frowned at her. "What are you going on about?"

Lisa took her hands down. "Snape," she hissed. "I left you alone. I promised I wouldn't."

I shook my head. "It was only a few seconds. It wasn't your fault."

She didn't look convinced.

"We need to go down to the dungeons before we go up to Ravenclaw Tower," I said, as she moved forward to wash her hands.

She looked back at me, alarmed. "Uh, how about you get Terry to go with you?"

"He's not going to kill you, Lisa," I said impatiently. "This is really important."

"Fine," she huffed, turning the tap off with more force than necessary. "But I'll wait outside."

"Suit yourself."

We made our way down to the dungeons a little more slowly than I would have liked. Lisa, never one to dawdle, had suddenly found a liking for a leisurely pace.

"Wait here then," I said quietly, as the portrait that concealed our quarters swung open. I opened the door and was relieved to find Severus sitting at the table. He was absorbed in some mail, the usual frown of concentration on his face.

"Good afternoon," he said, without looking up, as I closed the door. "I thought you were spending the evening with Miss Turpin."

"I am. She's just outside."

Severus looked up, his frown deepening. "Armilla, it's not polite to leave friends outside one's front door."

I returned the frown, as I walked over to the table. "I know that. She...uh...doesn't want to come in at the moment."

"I see," he said, though the look he gave me clearly said that he didn't.

"I came to see you because something both good and bad happened at the same time."

"So a rather neutral experience then?" he said dryly. "Go on."

"I just saw Merle," I said, sitting down.

Severus' face darkened. "Shall I summon Miss Turpin now or is there more to tell me?"

"It wasn't Lisa's fault," I said hastily. "We were just in the third floor bathroom. I came out before she did and while I was waiting for her, Merle appeared."

"Did she speak to you?" Severus looked furious.

I nodded. "Yes, but I ignored her. I did see something interesting though. When I looked in the mirror, Merle's reflection wasn't there."

"I am not surprised, Armilla," he said indifferently, "if I can't find this ghostly Merle in your memories, then I would have been shocked if she'd had a reflection. There are means of trapping reflections and I'm sure the person behind Merle's appearance would not want that to happen."

"But there was a blur in her place."

Severus stared at me, a little shocked after all, it would seem.

"A blur?" he repeated. "Be a little more specific."

"It wasn't quite in the shape of Merle," I went on. "But it definitely took up the space the ghost occupied. It wasn't quite black, just very dark shades."

Severus didn't say anything for a moment. He looked very interested. "Well," he said finally. "This is a development." He took out his wand. "Do you mind if I took a look?"

I shook my head. "I'm hoping it'll be there for you to see."

"Very well. Legilimens!"

Memories suddenly flowed into the front of my mind, with memories from that day being most prominent. A second later I saw the memory of what had just happened. I saw Merle and I saw the blur. I prayed Severus had seen it too.

"Well?" I asked hopefully, a moment later when Severus had ended the spell. "What did you see?"

"I didn't see Merle," he answered, pocketing his wand, "but I did see the blur."

I smiled in relief. "What do you think about it?"

He shook his head. "It requires further investigation. It's too early to draw conclusions as to what it means."

"But how is it supposed to be investigated if I can't see Merle?" It was too much of a risk to my magic.

"Exactly," he said, nodding. He stood up. "I'm going to see the Headmaster about this."

I was suddenly glad Lisa had taken longer than me. I would never have seen this blur otherwise.

Severus opened the door and stepped back to allow me to exit first.

Lisa was leaning against the wall, looking most forlorn. She looked a little reassured when she saw me, but the trepidation returned to her face when she saw Severus come out after me.

"Miss Turpin," said Severus, nodding at her as the portrait swung closed. "Had a pleasant afternoon?"

Lisa's voice wavered as she answered. "Not...not really, sir."

We followed Severus down the corridor. Lisa looked at me, her eyes wide, clearly wanting to know if I had told Severus.

"Don't concern yourself, Miss Turpin," Severus said, looking back over his shoulder. "I think this is something you and Armilla shall have to work out between yourselves in order to avoid it in future."

Lisa looked back at him as if he had sprouted another head.

We walked in silence all the way up to the corridor where we were to go on separate paths.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Severus said to me, "unless I require your presence earlier." He gave me a significant look.

I nodded, knowing to check my chocolate frog card more than once that evening.

"He let me off," Lisa murmured, more to herself than to me as we headed towards Ravenclaw Tower. "He let me off."

I shook my head. "Well he couldn't very well berate you for taking longer in the loo than I did."

Lisa laughed. "Would have been pretty funny."

I smiled over at her. "Oh, now you're all light hearted about it."

She shrugged, as we rounded the corner. "Now that I know he's not going to kill me."

We stopped short as we nearly ran into Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Pansy had one arm linked in Malfoy's and the other hand was holding onto him as if afraid he would disappear. Crabbe and Goyle were standing behind them, looking like buffoons as usual. Malfoy and Pansy were looking at us with the sneers we were more than accustomed to.

"Kill you, Turpin?" drawled Malfoy, smirking at her. "Boot's had enough of you, has he?"

"Mind your own business, Malfoy," Lisa said coldly, trying to move past him, as Crabbe and Goyle roared with laughter. Malfoy moved to block her, clearly wanting to antagonise her.

"Perhaps he's got eyes for Armilla now," Pansy said in a sing song voice. "He wants a good Potions mark and being with Armilla is the only way to get it."

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to say anything I would no doubt mean, but regret later when Severus found out.

"Are you in Advanced Potions, Pansy?" Lisa asked her, looking truly interested. "Oh, that's right, you're not. I'm pretty sure a Troll mark denies you membership of that class."

Pansy's round face suddenly lived up to the pug-look for which she was famous outside of Slytherin House. "Careful, Turpin," she said acidly. "I wouldn't go around saying things like that in times like these."

Lisa opened her mouth to retort, but Malfoy cut her off. "You're awfully quiet," he said to me. "Nothing to say?"

"To what?" I said, sounding completely disinterested. "Are we finished here?"

He stared at me for a moment, before looking at Pansy and nodding like a true aristocrat.

The four of them pushed past us and just as Lisa and I looked at each other to share the What insufferable idiots look, we heard a screech from behind us.

We turned around in a flash to see Pansy clutching her elbow. "Ow!"

Malfoy drew his wand and pointed it at us, causing Lisa and I to whip our own wands out.

"Who hexed her?" he demanded, as Crabbe and Goyle finally fished out their own wands.

"As you just saw," I said dryly, "we just took them out."

Malfoy glared at me. "Who knows if you can do wandless magic, being Snape's sister and all."

"Neither of us hexed her, Malfoy," said Lisa, looking furious.

The look Malfoy gave her was a sure sign that he thought her a complete idiot. "Do you see anyone else here, Turpin?"

Lisa suddenly paled.

"I think she does," came a brusque voice.

The four Slytherins whipped around. Professor McGonagall was regarding all of us with a most displeased look.

I had to admit, it didn't bode well for any of us. Five of us were standing there in the deserted corridor with our wands drawn, while the sixth was still clutching her elbow.

"My office," said McGonagall curtly. "Wands away. Follow me." She turned on her heel and began to walk.

Lisa shook her head at Malfoy as she pocketed her wand. He looked back at us, completely unconcerned, before turning and walking in front of us with Pansy and his cronies.

The walk to McGonagall's office seemed to take forever. I dreaded running into Severus along the way. Seeing Lisa and I trailing after the Head of Gryffindor with four of his Slytherins would certainly not make his day. It was nonsense, of course, to think that he would have already finished speaking with Dumbledore. He'd probably just arrived at the Headmaster's office.

"Inside, please," said McGonagall crisply, as she held open her office door for us. She closed the door with a snap once all six of us were standing in front of her desk.

Lisa looked petrified; I wasn't sure why. Yes, we'd had our wands out, but purely in self defence. Malfoy had drawn his first.

McGonagall sat down at her desk and looked at each of us in turn. "I suppose there is a good explanation for this?" she asked finally. She gazed at Pansy, looking rather unsympathetic in my opinion. "The elbow, Miss Parkinson?"

"One of them hexed me!" Pansy exclaimed, pointing at Lisa and I.

"We did not!" Lisa retorted.

"Silence, Miss Turpin!" McGonagall snapped. "You will have your turn."

Lisa closed her mouth and folded her arms, looking positively furious.

McGonagall turned back to Pansy. "Miss Parkinson? Did you see one of these young ladies hex you?"

"Yes," said Pansy at once, nodding vigorously.

McGonagall raised an eyebrow at her. "Which one?"

Pansy looked from Lisa to me. "Turpin," she said finally. "It was definitely her."

Lisa looked outraged, but a look from McGonagall prevented her from saying anything.

"Definitely Miss Turpin?" McGonagall repeated, looking most interested. "A moment ago, you pointed at the two of them and claimed that one of them had hexed you, and it seemed you weren't sure which one it was. It is rather foolish, in my opinion, to change your claim, Miss Parkinson." She regarded Pansy again with a rather foreboding expression. "I ask you again, did you see either of these young ladies hex you?"

Pansy opened her mouth and then closed it again, quite possibly, in my opinion, the only intelligent thing she had done that day.

"I'll take that as a no." McGonagall looked at Malfoy. "Well, Mr Malfoy? An explanation, if you please."

Malfoy looked back at her indifferently. "We turned around," he said lazily, "Pansy got hexed somehow. Who knows?" He nodded in our direction. "More than likely one of them did it. Can't be sure which one. I just drew my wand to defend myself."

"Mm." McGonagall gazed back at him sternly. She looked at me. "Miss Snape?"

"We ran into them on our way to Ravenclaw Tower, Professor," I told her. "We had words and then went our own ways, but somehow Pansy got hexed. It wasn't Lisa or I. We drew our wands because Malfoy drew his. We were defending ourselves."

McGonagall nodded. "Thank you." She turned to Lisa. "Anything to add to that, Miss Turpin?"

"Only that I resent being accused," Lisa said quietly. "Otherwise, no."

McGonagall stood up. "I don't suppose the two of you can offer any information of use?" she asked, addressing herself to Crabbe and Goyle.

They mumbled in reply.

McGonagall shook her head. "This is not finished," she said, more to the Slytherins than to Lisa and I. "I shall be discussing this incident with Professor Snape and we will deal with this in due course. You all know that drawing wands on each other is absolutely forbidden. You will be hearing from me shortly." She turned to Pansy. "Miss Parkinson, go to the hospital wing and see what Madam Pomfrey can do for that elbow."

"Yes, Professor," said Pansy sullenly. She turned and left the room.

McGonagall turned back to us. "The rest of you shall return to your common rooms at once. Dismissed."

We all immediately headed for the door. Once we were all a couple of corridors away, a safe distance from McGonagall's hearing range, Malfoy began to laugh.

"Old cat," he sneered. "She'll get hers."

"Come on," I said to Lisa, pulling on her arm.

As we made to move past them, Crabbe, most surprisingly moved out of the way. Unsurprisingly, he lost his footing on an uneven bit of flooring and fell into Malfoy. They crashed to the floor.

"Get off me, you great goon!" came Malfoy's muffled voice.

Goyle reached down and pulled Crabbe, who was looking a little dazed, off an irate Malfoy.

Both boys got up, and as they did, something fell from within Malfoy's robes and clanged to the floor, echoing down the corridor. I looked down to see a bronze hinge, one which wouldn't have looked out of place on an old cupboard or armoire

The Slytherins froze. Crabbe and Goyle looked at Malfoy, terrified.

I frowned. Why were they so scared? It was only an old hinge.

"Building a cabinet, Malfoy?" Lisa asked.

Malfoy whipped out his wand to hex her and a split second later (well, perhaps a whole second later for Crabbe and Goyle) our wands were all drawn once more.

"Tarantallegra!"

"Expelliarmus!"

"Stupefy!"

Lisa was holding her own against Crabbe and Goyle, while I took on Malfoy. Before long, Goyle was on the floor, stupefied, while Lisa and Crabbe kept duelling.

Duelling with Malfoy was no easy task; he was pretty good at it, and considering my magic wasn't what it used to be, I was having a rather hard time of it. I was trying to use my mental shield to block his hexes, though it meant that whatever I cast back in return wasn't very strong.

"You're not very good at this," Malfoy panted, swiftly blocking my hex. He looked beyond angry. Actually, he looked like he was about to explode with rage. His pointed face was deathly pale. "You will forget you ever saw that."

I would have answered, had I not been concentrating so hard on blocking him.

"Obliviate!" he yelled.

I felt the force of the hex rock my shield, but it didn't fail. Oh Merlin, that hinge had to be important if he was trying to wipe my memory.

I cast a rather feeble hex in return, desperately trying to hang on to my shield. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lisa still battling with Crabbe. When had Crabbe become so good at duelling?

"Obliviate!" Malfoy yelled again.

Once more, my mental shield rocked, far more violently this time. Should I just take the shield down and concentrate instead on firing hexes? I knew that I was no match for Malfoy. Someone should have heard us by now. If I just kept the shield up for long enough, someone would come along and disarm Malfoy. It was clear from Lisa's bleeding nose that she had her own problems right now.

Malfoy persisted. "Obliviate!"

My mental shield shook violently and collapsed for a split second. When it came back up, almost subconsciously, I felt like I had an unfamiliar barrier in my mind. But I was holding a wand and I was facing Malfoy, who was also holding a wand. What the hell?

"Stupefy!" I yelled, pointing my wand at him.

He blocked it, but before he could fire back, I heard a familiar voice.

"Expelliarmus!"

My wand flew out of my hand and I watched as it sailed, along with three others, into the outstretched hand of Snape. He looked livid.

I turned to see Lisa clutching a bleeding nose and Crabbe fingering a swelling lip. Goyle was on the floor. What had happened here? Why was I fighting Slytherins of all people?

Snape moved over to Goyle and checked his pulse. He summoned a House Elf before conjuring a stretcher. "Take him to the hospital wing," he told the elf, before levitating Goyle onto the stretcher.

The elf bowed low and then disappeared around the corner, Goyle floating after him.

Snape stood up and turned to face the rest of us. The look on his face made me feel sick. I wanted to run in the opposite direction.

"What in the name of Merlin were you doing?" he demanded, looking around at all of us before settling his eyes on me.

Why was he focusing on me? I didn't start anything! At least...I didn't think I had...

Snape was still looking expectantly at me. When I didn't answer, he looked at Malfoy. "Explain yourself at once, Mr Malfoy.

Malfoy shrugged. "We were duelling, sir, as you saw."

Snape pursed his lips. Since when had Malfoy started showing disrespect to his favourite teacher?

Snape turned to Lisa and Crabbe. "I am by no means finished with the two of you. Go the hospital wing at once and wait for me there."

They both turned and fled, probably grateful to be rid of his attention for the time being.

"You two, follow me," Snape ordered. He turned, his robes billowing out behind him in his favourite intimidating fashion and began to walk quickly.

Where were we going? Did he think I was to blame for all this? It made no sense.

We followed Snape all the way down to the dungeons, by which point I had drawn the conclusion that we were either going to his office for a lecture or his classroom for a detention.

We passed Snape's classroom, but we got to his office, he turned around. "You will wait here, Draco," he said coldly. "Defy me and you will be more than sorry."

This time, Malfoy actually looked a little scared.

Snape looked at me as he turned around. "Come."

I followed, feeling a little confused. Was he going to find some other room for me to do a detention in?

Things got weirder when we stopped at a portrait of a woman and a serpent. In my anxiety I didn't quite pay attention to what Snape was doing, but a moment later he was standing back to allow me to enter before him.

Not feeling right about this at all, but not wanting to bear the wrath of my teacher, I walked in. I was in a sitting room. There was a sofa, armchairs, a dining table and many, many bookshelves. A corridor on the opposite side of the room showed three doors.

I clenched my shaking hands into fists as I realised where I was. I was in Snape's private quarters! This was most improper! Why on earth had he brought me here?

Snape closed the door behind him. "Sit," he snapped, pointing to the sofa.

I edged over to the sofa and sat down, avoiding eye contact.

"Look at me at once!"

I looked up, his voice echoing in my head, to see a very angry face looking back at me.

"There had better be a plausible explanation for this, Armilla," he said dangerously.

Armilla? Why was he calling me by my first name?

When I didn't answer, he took a step forward. "Well?"

"I-I don't know," I answered honestly, my voice shaking.

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Armilla, do you realise what sort of danger you were just in?"

I nodded. "A lot." Did he realise that he was calling me by my first name?

His eyes flashed at my answer, which he clearly didn't like. He took another step forward, which made me shrink back on the sofa. I had to get out of there!

Suddenly, he stopped and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, he looked back at me, black eyes narrowed.

"I am going to go and deal with Draco," his said, his voice full of forced calm. "When I return, you shall endeavour to give me a proper explanation for this. But firstly, are you all right?"

I was stunned. Had Snape just asked me if I was okay? I nodded, and opened my mouth to reply, but nothing came out.

Satisfied, he walked to the door and then turned around. "And since you know better than to be part of such a thing, I am sure the explanation will be a good one." He opened the door. "You won't be going to Ravenclaw Tower tonight. I fear Miss Turpin will have other things to do." With that, he left, closing the door behind him.

I wouldn't be going to Ravenclaw Tower? Where would I be going? This wasn't right. I couldn't stay in Snape's private quarters! What would Merle say?

I had to get out of here. I would go to Flitwick...or Dumbledore. I was sure both of them would see that it wasn't right that Snape took me to his quarters. I wasn't sure I would owl Merle about this one. She would probably want to come to the school and give Snape a piece of her mind. But then, she was probably too unwell these days to do that anyway.

I turned my mind away from my sick guardian to the task at hand. How long should I wait before fleeing? I hoped I knew the way out of the dungeons from here.

I waited for five minutes, most of it spent with my eyes closed so I wouldn't have to look at Snape's stuff, trying to ignore the soft hooting I could hear from one of the rooms behind me.

As I stood up, it felt like my whole body was shaking. What if I ran into him on the way back? I couldn't stay here!

I opened the door and peeped out. The draughty corridor was deserted. Throwing caution to the wind, I closed the door quietly behind me and then ran for my life.

o o o o o o o o o o