Andromeda

I exited through the fat lady and found Alex perched on the stair railing tucking his wings back in from just flying up the stairs. When his back was to me I took out a throwing knife, balanced it, and chucked it at him hitting his wing just where I meant. Before the knife had bounced off and hit the ground Alex had turned around, with his sword out and ready.

I laughed and he sighed loudly.

"You scared the living shit out of me," he said.

"Kinda the point," I said drawing my katana. "Wanna fight?"

"Wanna lose?"

I laughed and we attacked. At first it was more of a sword fight, but then it broke out into an intense wing and weapon duel. We moved to the stairs and I jumped onto the railing to avoid his sword. I blocked another couple of attacks from his sword, but I didn't see his wing shoot out and clip my ankles. I lost balance and fell backwards over the railing. I couldn't get air under my wings to fly down, but I managed to slow down the fall before I hit the ground floor right in front of the Great Hall. I landed on my left wing and it prevented me from getting hurt...too badly. I was dazed, but aware. I slipped a dagger from my boot and listened for Alex to land. He was next to me and in a blink of an eye I was up and had the blade against his throat.

"Ten paces?" he asked. It was our little saying for, I know I lost and I want to try again.

"Ten paces," I said. I stuffed my dagger back into my boot and searched for my sword. Draco Malfoy stood there and offered me my sword hilt first. I took it and realized we had attracted a crowd. Dumbledore stood in the front smiling at us and motioned for me to continue.

I sheathed the katana and stood next to Alex and then counted off ten paces as he did. On ten I turned around sharply and watched as Alecto threw a throwing knife at me. I tilted my head to the left and felt the knife's slipstream caress the side of my face.

I grabbed the handles of my one-handed swords and pulled them out of their scabbards. I twirled them for show before crossing them in front of me, ready. Alex reached back behind his head with both arms and drew both of his one-handed swords. He twirled them and mimicked my stance.

At the same time we rushed each other and collided midway. A series of gasps echoed through the hall as the sharp clink of metal on metal reached their ears. Both of my swords locked Alex's right sword above my head. I saw his left coming out of the corner of my eye and brought my wing around to block his attack and to break the locked swords. I turned around with my wings momentum and swung my sword at chest level. They met the soft hardness of his wings.

I felt him stoop and I flapped my wings once as hard as I could to lift myself off the ground. I watched one of his swords come swinging underneath his wing. If I hadn't jumped my ankles would have been sore. As I was suspended for a second between my jump fly and gravity I turned my body and smacked him with a wing.

Alex lost his balanced and was on one knee as I landed. "No wings?" he asked smiling.

"Okay," I said.

He stood up and we engaged in a sword fight. Doing two hands isn't as easy as it sounded. Especially if your opponent had two swords too. That meant two death threats to look out for. Every one has a hand that they are good at and somewhere within the fight you become aware how your other hand is slowing you down.

Alex dropped his one-handed swords and reached for his katana as I let my left hand sword drop. I didn't have enough time to go for my two-handed sword before he attacked. It was his katana against my one-handed sword.

He advanced on me and I backed up blocking his blows. I heard a slight gasp every time he swung at me from the growing crowd. At most my sword was a better defense than offense and I couldn't win unless I did something.

As his sword came from the right I blocked it and moved past the blade into his body. I knocked him off balance again and he fell to one knee. I dropped my sword and whipped out my katana and he blocked my attack. He stood up and our sword clinked and clanked as we fought.

A couple of thrusts later I swung upward at an angle and Alex stepped away from me surprised. I twirled around as I took a step closer to build up momentum. I threw my weight behind my swing and my blade stuck into what I hit. I turned around fast and saw my sword in Alex's breastplate. He looked down surprised and said, "Thankfully I had armor on, eh?"

"Does that mean I win?" I asked pulling my sword out with a little difficulty.

Alex held his sword above his head and I froze. "Ten paces?" he asked letting his sword drop to the ground.

God he scared me. "Next time," I said.

I looked at the slice I had made in his armor and saw a little blood run down his silver breastplate. He turned around and moved his wings away from the clasp on his back. I unhooked it and it fell away. He turned back around and I saw his sliver shirt was slowly becoming red.

"I'm going to Madame Pomfrey," he said.

I nodded and turned around just in time as I was swarmed with kids. They congratulated me and my two one-handed swords surfed their way to me above the student's heads on their hands. I placed my katana away and reached for my swords. They gave it to me and I put them back too.

Professor Dumbledore came up to me and thanked me for the little show. He asked if X was okay and I told him he was fine. I knew his feelings were not hurt, you know by getting beat and all, because he always made sure I could beat him. When he learned a new move he always made sure I knew how to counter it, because he was worried for his sister. Big macho bro can take care of himself, but small sis needs to learn how to take care of herself. Egotistical? Chauvinistic? Perhaps.

I stayed behind as all the students were told off to go to bed early even though tomorrow was Sunday. I saw Draco around the corner crook his finger at me and I walked toward him.

"How about a party?" he asked, smirking.

I tilted my head in mock consideration. "I could do that."

"Great. Follow me."

"What is it for?"

"You. It is for beating the Gryffindor-loving X."

"Oh," I said following Draco past the Potions classroom and into a dark hallway.

We stopped at a suit of armor and he said, "Czar Salazar." The armor came to life and pulled open a handle that appeared by its hands. A secret door opened and calls of my name reached my ears as I stepped through. I smirked.

Draco took out his wand and conjured me up one of my kind of chairs. I sat down and he placed a butterbeer in my hand.

"What's this?"

"Drink and you'll see," he replied.

I tipped it up and swallowed the warmth. It was very good.

"Hey Shade," a voice called to my left. I looked and saw a boy raising his bottle to me. "You want to help us plan for the next Slytherin prank?"

A couple of students nodded to his request and listened for my answer.

I smiled and asked, "What did you have in mind?"

A couple grinned maliciously and some nodded. I apparently was okay with them.

"Let's have a vote, shall we?" Draco said as the room went quiet. "What are our choices?"

A small girl said, "Stick them to their bench until they say 'Slytherin rules'."

Some laughed and held their bottles up to her. An older boy said, "Why don't we do something to their dorms?"

"What do you mean, Torne?" Draco asked turning to the boy.

He sat on an armchair side ways, lounging. He had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes that were hard, showing no emotion. "Well, we now have one who can access the dorms on our side," he said raising a hand in my direction.

Draco turned to me and smirked. "Yes, we do."

Everyone started nodding there heads and began whispering. Draco held up his hands to silence them.

"What should we do to their dorms?" Draco asked.

"Snakes," a girl with fake eyelashes said.

"I like," Draco said and the whole common room agreed. "Any other suggestions?" When no one spoke up Draco said, "All those in favor?"

"Aye," the common room said.

"Well that is majority. Everyone go get something useless. We'll transfigure your crap into snakes, miniaturize them, and set a timer on them to be released and return to normal size. Shade here will put them by every door tonight and by tomorrow morning we should be hearing screams. Sound good?"

The common room laughed and he clapped his hands for every one to bring something. Twenty minutes later the Slytherins had a factory line going. The elder and more powerful students transfigure the trinkets into snakes while the others made them smaller.

"What about Potter?" Torne asked Draco. He froze and then ordered the younger kids to put a silencing charm on every snake.

"Why the silencing charm?" I asked Draco.

"Because Potter can talk to snakes and we don't want them telling him who did this."

"Harry can talk to snakes?"

"Yeah," Draco said with a bit of hatred.

When all the snakes were transfigured, sized, and silenced Draco performed the timer spell. Everyone watched and he muttered a long spell and waved his wand in a complicated manner. Many small boxes about the size of my thumbnail sat in a row glowed for a second when Draco pointed his wand at them.

"There should be enough for every dorm," Draco said. "All you have to do is place it by the door."

"I can do that," I said and the Slytherins smirked.

"Now that the prank is out of the way, let's party."

Some music started to play that I had never heard. It was upbeat and I enjoyed watching all the dancing. I had myself another drink and talked to at least a dozen other Slytherins. By one in the morning the party was just getting into full swing when the music stopped. Many verbally protested, but stopped when they saw Professor Snape standing in the doorway looking pissed.

"What is going on?" he asked the students.

"We were just celebrating Shade's victory, Professor Snape," Draco said. Severus looked at me. Thanks for dragging me in Draco. Draco busied himself with conjuring a bag and placing the small boxes inside. "And we were just about to say goodnight to her."

I placed my drink down and walked to grab the bag. Professor Snape stepped aside so I could exit and I heard him barking orders. I looked in the bag to make sure the boxes were safe and I found a note that read: Good luck. I was half way down the hallway when I heard my name. I stopped and waited for the Professor to catch up.

"What is inside the bag?"

"Party favors," I lied.

"I saw your fight." I just nodded. "Did I make you mad?"

I stopped walking and turned to him. "What?"

"Well, it's just that you left real quick and you were probably fighting to release steam or something."

I shook my head. "No, you didn't make me mad."

"Then why did you leave?"

"I...thought...it was time...to go." One-second sentence stretched to a minute. Could you lie any faster?

Uncomfortable silence fell between us and I shifted the bag to the other hand. I needed to get the snakes in place before the time ran out even though that was hours away, but seeing how the conversation was going, I doubted I would make it.

"I've got to go," I said turning to exit the dungeons.

"Do you still want to go get a drink tomorrow?"

I stopped and looked him in the eyes. "Yes, I would."

"I'll meet you in my room at noon?" he asked.

"Okay," I said.

I walked up to him and placed a hand on his chest and rose on tiptoe to quickly kiss him. The corners of his mouth lifted in a smile and I left.

I flew up the stairs with the bag of snakes clutched safely to my chest and landed next to the fat lady. I whispered the password and she sleepily opened up for me. No one was in the common room and I quietly moved toward the boy dormitory staircase. Twice I stepped on a squeaky stair and I froze waiting for someone to come out and catch me, but no one did. I slid a box under every door and went back down carefully to avoid the creaky stairs. I did the same to the girls except I skipped Hermione's door. I told her I would warn her, but she was sleeping so I figured leaving her out of the prank would be just as good. I had an extra box that I placed right behind the fat lady as I exited the Gryffindor common room.

The prank was set and I needed sleep. I woke up Godric to whisper the password and went inside to my bed. My weapons and costume were taken off and I was in my fish pajamas before I went to bed.

***

I woke up to distant screams and rolled over groaning out the cliché of "Five more minutes."

"Hey wake up, Andy," Missy said shaking my shoulder.

"Hm?"

"Don't you hear the screams?" she asked.

"So?"

"That could be our job and his friends getting hurt out there."

"It's not," I said rolling to face her.

"How do you know?"

"They're screaming because there are snakes in their dorms?"

"Snakes?"

"Yeah now let me get some more sleep." I rolled my back to her.

"How do you know?"

I just groaned my irritation.

The portrait opened and closed and I heard Alex walk into the bedroom.

"False alarm. The girls were only screaming at harmless snakes," he said, sitting down on the edge of my bed and bringing a wing to rest upon me.

"Told you," I muttered.

"Did you do it?" Missy asked, poking me.

"Duh," I said. "Now let me get some more sleep."

"Come on."

"Where are we going?" I asked pulling a pillow over my head.

Two seconds later it was snatched away. "What?" I asked sitting up.

"You know you're not going to fall back asleep," Alex said.

"Not if you won't leave me alone," I said.

"You know what I mean. You're too much awake."

I sighed and laid back down, but I was pulled back up.

"Alex, I need a little more rest today."

"But you aren't going to be able to fall back asleep," he said.

"I know, but I need to rest. I just want to relax today."

"Well, then come relax with us," Missy said pulling my legs off the bed.

She pulled me up and I stood. She walked me over to our common room and we sat down on the couch. Alex sat on one of our kind of chairs because he was the only one who had their wings out. I laid down on the couch and rested my head in Missy's lap. She played with my hair and we all just talked. And soon the conversation changed to Strat.

"I can't wait until he get here," Missy said.

"Me too," I said. Alex and Missy just looked at me smiling. "He told me before that he knew some secrets about Hogwarts, like entrances and specials rooms, and I want to see them. All four of us could check it out."

"Hm," Alex said.

"Aren't you curious, Alex? I mean when we were kids we would wait for Stratman to come back home so we could hear all about his school. Well...we're finally here. It's time for him to show us everything," I said.

"I want to see this school as much as you do, I mean really see the school, but are you sure you want to bring us along?" he said smiling.

"Huh?"

"Don't you want to spend some quality time with Strat?" Alex asked.

"Alone." Missy added.

"I spend plenty of quality time with Strat," I said.

"Oh, reeeeeeally?" Alex asked, smirking.

"Whatever," I said rolling my eyes. I knew where this was going.

"Tell me, what do you do on your quality time visits together?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

I sat up and looked his straight in the eyes. "Can't you hear us through the walls?" I asked, kidding.

"Once I heard grunting and bed springs squeaking, but I thought you were just moving furniture," Missy laughed.

"Oh, we were," I said. "Strat and I like to rearrange his bed by trying to move it from our vigorous sex. And I'll tell you, Strat sure does know how to move..." I said, running my hands down my body and looking at my brother, "...furniture."

"Ugh," my brother said.

I laughed and stood up. "You guys are so stupid." I walked back into my room to get ready for my drink date with the Professor.

***

At eleven I left my relaxation feeling rejuvenated and went to get ready for my drink with...Severus at noon. I told them I was meeting up with the Professor again to say thanks for saving my life and they just nodded. I changed back into a clean Shade and pulled my wings out. We were only going for a drink so I didn't think he would mind my costume or my weapons. I was comfy.

I walked down the stairs, which caused a few heads to turn, to the dungeons. I listened to my steps and tried to make it so no noise could be heard. I usually don't make any noise, but I was kind of getting nervous and was stepping harder to shake myself to get a grip.

I knocked twice at Severus's door and walked in when I heard his voice. I closed the door behind me. He was standing by his desk, rummaging through it. He pulled out a small, clear paperweight shaped like a dragon. It rested in his hand over a piece of cloth. I walked closer and he met me half way.

"What is that?" I asked.

"Portkey," he said.

"Dumbledore told me about those things. So where will it take you?"

"It will take us to a special spot of mine. We have to touch it at the same time."

"I've never traveled by portkey before." I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to.

"Don't worry. It won't hurt." I looked at his face and saw confidence and I held up a hand.

"On my count," he said. "One, two, three."

We both placed a finger on the dragon and I felt a tug behind my navel. I opened my eyes, which I didn't know I had closed, and saw Severus looking at me. Everything was blurred and I finally felt my feet touch ground. He immediately reached for me and I fell against him to catch my balance. I preferred flying.

I stood up on my own and his hands fell away. We were transported to a hill with a small clearing surrounded by trees. The grass was a weak green trying to stay fresh in the dying fall. Severus went to a tree and leaned against it.

"I come here once in a while to think," he said taking out his wand.

"Think about what?" I asked grabbing on of the bottles he had conjured up.

"Everything."

A breeze blew and I pushed my wings a little away from my body to feel the cool crisp air. I had just put the bottle to my lips when I saw him watching me.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me," I said.

"Nothing. It's nothing."

I looked at him and when I new he wasn't going to answer I shrugged and took a sip of my drink. He followed.

"Tell me about yourself," he said.

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"It is too dangerous," I replied.

"Then tell me something small and insignificant."

"The sky is blue."

"You really won't tell me something?" he asked.

I felt like a jerk. "It is too dangerous."

"Alright then...what is your favorite color? My knowing that can't be dangerous."

"You mock me," I said turning away from him.

"Forgive me, but I just want to know a little about you besides your job."

I looked out into the trees and squinted against the midday's sun. There was nothing interesting about this place so why does he come here? It was nice and quite, perfect get-to-know-one-another conditions. Damn.

"Black," I said. "My favorite color is black."

"Black is not a color, it is a shade," he said.

"Hence my name," I said turning around.

"Besides black, what is your favorite color?"

"I guess gray is out the question too?" I made it into a question.

"It is," he said taking another sip of his drink.

"Then blue."

"Why blue?"

"When dark enough it resembles black," I said.

"Should have guessed."

"What is yours?"

He stood there and looked aside sheepishly. "Black," he said.

I just looked at him and raised an eyebrow. I took a swig and went to the shade of the nearest tree, by Severus.

"Why don't you tell me a little about yourself," I said.

"There's nothing really to know," Severus said, taking another swig from his bottle.

"Hm. Do you have any skeletons in the closet?"

Severus raised an eyebrow. "What an odd question to ask."

I smiled. "I like to think of it as being unique."

"Unique," he repeated.

"So do you?" I asked.

"Doesn't everybody?" He smiled. "Tell me a little more about your job seeing as we can't talk about anything else."

I smiled. "What else did you want to know?"

"How many other times have people tried to kill you?"

"Well, Mr. Thrice was_"

"Mr. Thrice?" Severus asked, choking on his drink.

"You know him?"

"Uh...no, but the name sound awfully familiar," he lied. I knew he was lying, but I dismissed it. We all had something to hide.

"Anyways, Mr. Thrice was the first customer who tried to kill me. Usually the people are just thugs trying to get past us for the good were protecting."

Severus just nodded and looked a little pale. He shook his head and changed the subject. "What is your favorite animal? Please don't say a bird of any kind," he said.

"Then I have none," I replied.

He sighed and I smiled. "What is your favorite bird?"

"Hawk."

"Why?"

"Dunno. Just is. What's yours?"

"My favorite bird or animal?"

"Your favorite animal," I clarified.

"A snake."

"I think that was to be expected."

"As was your bird," he replied.

"What is your favorite," I began, but stopped mid-sentence when a loud crack issued from above.

I looked up and saw a knife in the middle of a branch that had snapped in two and was hanging by its bark. I saw a fast shadow out of the corner of my eyes and looked up to see three Celaenos fly over us. With out any hesitance I drew my sword and went after them.

I heard Severus shout my name, but I ignored it. Two things happened at once. I just reached the top of the trees when I saw Hogwarts castle. The Celaenos were heading to the castle. The second thing came crashing into me from above. A fourth Celaeno rode me to the ground. We brushed the trees on the way down and came down hard into a not so soft pile of mud. I got it in my eyes, mouth, and up my nose. The Celaeno flipped me over and I kicked out blindly. My booted foot came into contact with something and I heard a loud snap. I quickly racked the mud out of one eye to see the Celaeno falling down to the side. I had kicked his face so hard that I had pushed his head to such an extreme angle it broke his neck. Well, that was easy. I wiped my face off and stood

I heard footsteps coming from behind some trees I and searched for my sword. I found it buried in the mud. The blade matched my mud ensemble. I held it up and I saw Severus come from behind the trees panting.

"They're headed for Hogwarts," I said quickly. "Go to them and warn Dumbledore and tell X and Mono to be ready." He nodded, held up his wand, and vanished.

I got up into the air slowly as the mud weighed me down, but after a few flaps of my wings I had shaken off most of the mud and I started to fly toward the Celaenos. I flew with all my energy to catch up and I was just about even with them when we were at Hogwarts. Where were Missy and Alex? Had Severus gotten to them in time?

As if on cue I saw a blur of white and I blur of silver come from the ground to tackle two of the Celaenos. I was still trying to catch up to the third. The dark creature started to freak out and flew faster with all his might. I saw him heading toward the Quidditch Pitch and noticed that the Gryffindor team was practicing. He was going to try and get Harry.

The Gryffindor team saw us coming a scattered. The Celaeno spotted Harry and went after him. Harry laid himself flat against his broom and tried to out fly the Celaeno. Harry saw me catching up and nose-dived to the ground. The Celaeno and I followed by tucking our wings in and letting gravity do what it did best. Harry went toward the ground at neck breaking speed and the Celaeno pulled out his wings to avoid hitting the ground, which slowed him down just enough for me to catch him. About an inch from the ground Harry pulled up and flew level with it. I held my sword steady and watched as the blade went through the Celaeno's back. I quickly let go and leveled with the ground.

There are two things bad with what I just did, but mind you I had no choice. The first bad thing was when you were this close to the ground you couldn't do anything, but glide. Flapping your wings was out of the question unless you wanted to plant your face into the ground when your wings caught themselves on the ground. The other bad thing was wind. There is barely any wind near the ground to angle your wings slightly to catch a draft to fly up. Damn.

I didn't have a chance to try and angle my wings because when the Celaeno hit the ground on of his wings came up and the hook at the end of his wing bone caught me in the face and then clipped my wing. It sent me into a spin and I crashed through the stadium supports. I guess it was lucky I didn't crash head first.

My wing curled around my body as I went through many pieces of thick wood. I came to an abrupt stop when the beam I hit didn't break completely. It just bent and shattered on the other side. I felt to the ground on my face and felt the earth on my forehead, revealing my mask was gone. I was really woozy, but I managed to sit up and shake off the feeling.

"Shade?" Harry's voice called. "Shade?"

"Over here," I said coughing on the dust I had lifted.

"You okay?" he called making his way toward me through the debris.

"Can you get my mask?" I asked squinting through the settling dust.

"Accio mask," I heard Harry say.

He made his way to me and I held up a hand for my mask. He handed it to me and I pushed my mud-caked hair from my face. I went to put it on and saw it was broken where the Celaeno had ripped it off.

"It's broken," I said.

"Reparo," Harry said point his wand at it. In a second it was fixed. I heard Harry suck in air and I looked up. He pointed to my face and I touched it. I huge gash graced the left side of my face from hairline to jaw line. I pulled my finger away smeared with blood and mud.

Harry finally snapped out of gawking at my wound to memorize my face. His savior was unmasked. I quickly placed my mask back on and ignored the intense sting my wound made.

"Did I kill it?" I asked.

He was still looking at my face trying to remembered what I looked like when he said, "Yeah, you did. Thanks for saving me."

"No problem. What are you doing under hear?" I asked, my protection duty coming to my senses again. "This place could collapse any second."

He looked at the poles I had crashed through and then at the pole I had only bent. "That's why I came to help you out."

I motioned him closer and held up a hand and he took it to help me up.

"Anything broken?" Harry asked leading me out.

"I don't feel anything wrong," I said.

"Impressive considering what you crashed through."

"I'm just glad I got to you in time."

"What was that thing?"

"A Celaeno. They are the dark side of my kind."

"I think I remember Hermione mentioning something about them."

We stepped into daylight and I saw the Gryffindor team huddled around the body. I went over and they parted for me. I had to step in his blood to reach my sword. I pulled it out and sheathed it still dripping with blood. I would clean everything later.

X came to a landing beside me and he looked at the damage I did to the stadium and the dead body.

"Monochrome was hurt and wants to see you. Someone will come here later." He turned to Harry. "Fly with us."

Harry mounted his broom and followed us over the stadium to near the lake. Monochrome was lying near a dead female Celaeno. She was covered in blood and Madame Pomfrey was preparing to place her on a stretcher.

"Mono?" I asked.

"Shade."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. It's just a stab wound. Give me a week and I'll be in tip top shape."

"You better," I said.

"Shade?"

"Yeah?"

"Why were Celaenos over here? I thought it was only Voldemort we had to worry about."

"So did I, Mono, so did I."

Madame Pomfrey placed her on the stretcher and walked off toward the castle.

"Anyone else hurt?" a voice asked from behind me.

I turned to see Dumbledore and Severus.

"Nope," I said. "But your stadium may need some more support beams."

"Why?" Dumbledore asked.

"Because I crashed into a few and broke them."

"That's my little sister," Alex said knocking on my head. "Thickest skull this side of the world."

"Sister?" I heard Severus whisper.

"Also the dirtiest," Alex continued bringing back his knuckles with mud.

"It looks like you cut you face, dear child," Dumbledore said pointing. "You'll need to get that fixed."

"Along with a bath," my brother commented. "Your wings are going to be hell to clean."

"I can assist you in that," Dumbledore said waving his wand with some words. Nothing happened. He tried again, but got the same results. "Hm...that is odd. Your wings absorb our magic," he said sounding perplexed.

"That is how I almost won against Voldemort," I said.

"The prefect's bathroom has a fairly large tub, but it is not big enough for your wings. I don't think we have a big enough space for you," the old wizard said.

"Sure you do," Alex said pointing.

I looked where he was pointing and nearly wet my pants. "The lake?! Are you crazy?" I asked frightened.

"I'll be there with you," he said.

"But it's...um...cold."

"I'll warm off a section of the water for you," Severus said.

I glared at him and he looked confused.

"Come on, while it's still light out," Alex said grabbing my hand and pulling me.

"When you are done see Madame Pomfrey about your cut," Dumbledore said steering Harry toward the castle.

At the lake's edge Alex took off my vest, weapons, and shoes while Severus performed his spells. He took off all of his weapons, armor, shoes, and shirt. Alex called his wings back into himself and walked into the water.

"Come on, Shade. The water is warm."

I glanced at Severus and then back to Alex. My heart started to race. He came out of the water and grabbed my hand. He pulled me and I dug my heels into the sand.

"Come on, Shade."

"Don't make me do this," I said, voice shaking.

"I'll be with you."

"Don't make me do this," I repeated.

"Don't make me make you," Alex said.

I started to pull away and his grip tightened. I tried to pull away again, but he grabbed just above my elbow with his other hand and pulled me towards the lake. I started to freak out. I extended my wings and Alex's eyes widened.

"Oh no you don't," he said. Before I could get a single flap of my wings out I was tackled to the ground. Alex laid on top of me and held my hands up by my head. "Oh no you don't."

"Let me go," I said struggling to get my hands free.

"Listen to me," he said. "Listen to me!" I stopped struggling. "Look at me."

I opened my eyes and his fake gold eyes behind his mask stared me down.

"You aren't going to drown. I'll be with you. I won't let anything happen to you."

I looked away and Alex moved my face back towards his. "I won't let anything happen to you," he said. I felt his breath on my face and he leaned in to kiss my forehead. "I won't let anything happen to you," he repeated, whispering.

"Promise?" I asked. My voice was shakier than the San Andreas Fault. A tear slipped from my watery eyes and slipped under me mask into my wound. It stung, but I ignored it and tried to slow down my heart.

"Promise," he said. He got up and the shade his head had provided against the harsh midday's sun was gone. I was left momentarily blinded, squinting as I was picked up. Alex picked me up like a child and I wrapped my legs around his waist and buried my face into the crook of his neck.

Alex started to walk and I concentrated on breathing. I wanted to grab Alex's shirt so my hands could have something to do, but he had no shirt. My hands grabbed my arms, which were around his neck and I concentrated on the pain my nails brought as my wings touch the water. I started to whimper as more and more of me was becoming submerged.

"It's alright," Alex said over and over again.

"Get me out," I whispered.

"No worries, Andy," Alex whispered. "But do you really want to act like this in front of the Professor?"

Severus? He was still here? Embarrassment, major.

When I was up to my shoulders in warm lake water Alex moved back to more shallow water. He placed me down and I felt my toes squish in the sandy bottom. I hugged myself as Alex worked the mud off my feathers one by one.

"Explanation?" the Professor asked.

"We can't put our wings back in if they have water on them or anything that was made with water, like mud," Alex said from behind my wing. I stood there and shivered.

"I know that, but why are you afraid of the water, Shade?" he asked.

I snapped out of my comfort world. I looked up and blinked. "I'm not afraid of the water," I managed to say.

"Then why did you refuse to go into the lake?"

Refuse. That was a nice word for hysterics.

"Deep water with my wings out is what scares me."

"Why?"

Alex stepped in for me and I tried not to think of what was happening. I'm not in the lake. I'm in a bathtub...with a sandy bottom. I'm in a bathtub.

"Our wings weigh us down and it is impossible to swim no matter how good you are. Her mother died that way."

Bathtub. Bathtub. Bathtub.

"Oh," Professor Snape said. "Is the water cold?"

Alex looked up and saw me shivering. "No, the water is fine." He turned back to my wings and cursed under his breath. "How in the hell did you get mud on you?"

"There was a fourth Celaeno she fought outside of Hogwarts. He rode her down into a pile of mud," Severus said.

Bathtub. Bathtub.

"How did you kill the spare, Shade?" Alex asked.

"K-kicked his f-face until neck b-broke," I said shivering. Bathtub.

"Could you give me a hand, Professor?" Alex asked pulling his fingers through my feathers. My eyes shot open.

Severus just stood there on dry land and stared at me, unsure.

"I could really use your help. With two hands we could be done faster and Shade could get out of the lake sooner.

I shivered and blinked. It is not a lake. It is a bathtub. Bathtub.

The Professor agreed and slipped out of his shoes and walked to me. I just watched him come as I repeated the word bathtub in my head. Alex was halfway done with my left wing and Severus started on my right. I closed my eyes as I felt his long fingers wash the mud off my feathers.

Around four o'clock my wings were clean and so was my face and hair. The bathtub water stung my gash down the side of my face and I welcomed the pain. Anything to keep my mind off the bathtub. Once Alex had announced that I was done I walked to dry land and took off into the sky. It took awhile to climb altitude because of my wet wings, but once most of the water fell off I flew up. I landed on my highest tower and laid my wings down, out stretched, for the sun to dry them.

I left all my stuff with Alex back by the shore and I knew he would take care of them. Perhaps even clean them for me. I kept my wings out even after they were dry and waited until I figured it was dinnertime. I had phantom feelings of lake--bathtub water rinsing my wings off.

I jumped off the tower and glided to the Hogwarts entrance. Some of the students making their way to get ready for dinner stared. I didn't blame them. I was out of costume, so to speak. I only had my mask, cotton tee, and jeans on. No shoes, no weapons, no vest. The Quintescease was slacking.

I went to my room and changed into clean clothes. Alex had cleaned everything and I smiled, which made my face hurt. I had forgotten about my wound. After I was changed I walked to the infirmary and ignored Madame Pomfrey's scolding. "I should have come to her first."

Since Madame Pomfrey had already seen me with out my mask and no one else was in the room I didn't fight her when she took off my mask. I was cared for and she taped a skinny piece of gauze over the wound where my mask touched. She tried to do the rest, but when ever I opened my mouth the gauze would move and I would wince as it rubbed against the tender skin. She told me I was lucky the Celaeno didn't get me in the eye. The cut was close though and extremely deep. The hook had almost gone all the way through when it came to my cheek. I was going to have to eat on the other side of my mouth for a while.

Missy was sleeping and I left a little note on her table for when she woke up. I thanked Madame Pomfrey again promised to take better care of myself. When I placed the mask back on I slightly sucked in breath as pressure was placed on the side of my face. It hurt, but I could live with it.

I left the infirmary and walked to dinner. I went in with the other late stragglers and sat down at my usual seat. Alex examined my wound and said I would be fine. I knew I was going to be. He commented on how it looked and said that I could gross out a few kids if I wanted to. I would test his theory later on the first years.

Dumbeldore commented on the most current events and Alex and I were looked at. No one stared, but just continued on eating as if what we did was normal. And to tell you the truth it kind of was. Fighting left and right was expected.

When dinner was over I sent Alex with the trio and headed off toward the dungeons. When I reached Severus's door I knocked twice before entering. He was sitting behind his desk and when he saw me he came from behind it. I walked up to him and stood two feet back.

"I want to thank you for helping me with my wings," I said.

"You are welcome."

"And I want to apologize for cutting our drink together short."

"You don't have to apologize. Truthfully I was kind of glad."

A million emotions crashed inside of me.

Anger because he was glad I had gone. If he doesn't like my presence why did he ask me for a drink?

Worry because he was glad it was cut short. Did he not like our conversation?

Fear because he might not like me. What was wrong with me?

Sadness because I had gotten feelings hurt again. Why do I always fall into the same trap?

"Why?" I whispered trying to hide any emotion.

"Because I got to learn things about you. Things that weren't insignificant," he said smiling.

"What things?" I asked confused.

"Well, for one X is your brother. Two, you hate deep water with your wings out. And three, your mother died from drowning."

I felt like a hypocrite. I had told him that I wasn't going to tell him anything personal, but I showed him part of my life right after.

"Why did X say 'your' mother drowned? I thought you two were siblings. Was only your father the same or something?" he asked.

I looked at him and shook my head. "My mother and I kind of adopted him," I said. Since he knows this much might as well make sure he knows the whole truth.

"I found him the park alone and I brought him home with me. My mom welcomed him with open arms. He took our last name and I had a brother," I said.

"What's your last name?" he asked.

"Shade."

"I thought I had you there," he said, smirking.

"Nice try."

"How's the scratch?" he said reaching for my face and turning it.

"Deeper than expected, but fine."

"How's Monochrome?" he asked.

"She's fine. She's a tough girl."

He still had his hand on my face and turned it for me to look at him. "As are you," he said.

I pulled out of his grasp. "Was that before or after I cowered like an abused puppy dog at the bathtub--I mean lake?" I asked correcting myself. It still was a bathtub.

"You faced a fear today, Shade. You should be proud."

"I was forced to face a fear. If it was my choice I would have walked around caked in mud," I said, crossing my arms.

"But it was your choice, Shade. No one, but yourself could have gotten you into the lake. So what if you couldn't go in alone? You should be proud."

I stood there and locked eyes with his. I looked away first. I didn't feel proud.

I held out a hand for a handshake. "Thank you for helping me today," I said.

He looked at my right hand then at me and raised an eyebrow. Instead of bringing his right hand to mine to shake hands he brought up his left and interlaced our fingers. He took a step closer and pulled our bodies together. His right hand went on my neck as he leaned in and kissed me. I kissed back.

I took my hand away from him and wrapped both arms around his neck bringing me on tiptoe, pressing my body the length of his. Both his hands went to my waist and pressed us closer.

I felt his tongue run across my bottom lip and I parted my lips, granting him entrance. I let him explore my mouth while I ran my fingernails up his neck into his black hair. I felt him shiver and he broke the kiss to smile.

I untangled myself from him and stepped back. "Good night, Severus."

"Good night, Shade."