Gigi had forbidden her friends to ask any further questions on the train. Instead. she insisted that the conversation should be held in the privacy and comfort of the trio's Slytherin dormitory. After several hours and one feast later, the three brunettes finally retired to their quarters.
Technically they weren't supposed to be allowed to share a room. Dani was only a 5th year, and thus should be with Slytherins her own age. However, Cerberus had refused to be separated.
It wasn't unusual for pureblood children to be close prior to attending Hogwarts. Most of them had grown up together; their families bound by ancient friendships and oaths. But Gigi, Alli and Dani had been inseparable since they were practically toddlers, and their relationship had only grown stronger with age. So when Dani came to Hogwarts for her first year, Alli asked her father, Torben Whittoy, to pull some strings.
He worked as an Unspeakable in the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic. His job was highly confidential, even Alli didn't know much about what he did. She did know however, that he was a very high-up official with a great amount of power and very little restrictions.
Torben offered the Hogwarts Board of Governors some favors and likely several threats, until the administration had no choice but to acquiesce.
Gigi remembered the day Dani moved in with them. It was the same day the students and faculty of Hogwarts learned that what the three girls wanted, they would almost certainly get.
They all finished changing into their pajamas. The dark green silk camisoles and shorts were lined with black lace, and might have been considered immodest had it not been for the thin matching silk robes tied over them.
When they were situated, the girls clambered onto Alli's bed. Dani reclined across Alli's legs and turned to face Gigi, who had taken to sitting indian-style at the end of the mattress.
A moment passed before Dani finally piped up, "Well?" she asked expectantly.
Gigi shifted nervously. She suddenly had become very interested in a loose thread on Alli's duvet.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather talk about something else?" she asked. "What about that new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Mad Eye Moody, I think they call him. He's supposed to be an incredible auror."
"He was an auror," Alli interrupted. "He's retired now, and according to my father absolutely loony."
"Hello," said Dani. "Can we focus please?" She had been waiting for what felt like ages for this piece of gossip, and she wasn't sure she could stand to wait much more.
"Ugh," Alli groaned, yawning dramatically. "What's to know, Dani? Every good pureblood knows about the Blacks. Their family is legendary in our - ."
The rest of her sentence was cut off by a large feather pillow Dani had thrown at her face. Alli glowered at her, but the other girl just shrugged.
"Of course I know about the Blacks, they're practically family. Walburga still comes for Christmas dinner and Regulus would too if he hadn't, you know..."
"Disappeared?" Alli finished. Dani nodded.
Gigi sighed. It seemed there was no escaping this conversation, and if Calico Black truly was coming to Hogwarts she would need all the back-up she could get.
"Did you guys ever meet Calico while we were growing up?" she asked. "No," both girls answered simultaneously.
"We were introduced once, and I saw glimpses of her occasionally when we visited the Black manor, but she was always being hidden away or pushed out of the room when we showed up," Alli said.
Dani's head bobbed in agreement. "I always just assumed she had a screw or two loose, and that your family didn't want to be embarrassed by her."
Gianna cackled, but there was no humor in the sound. "That's putting it mildly. We spent quite a bit of time together growing up. She was always around during the holidays and a few days each summer as well, unfortunately."
Gigi swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood.
"She was a right twat growing up. She used to put bleaching potions in my shampoo and instant-redness powders in my lotions," she said as she paced.
"Oh, I remember that summer!" Dani exclaimed. "You had that awful blonde bob."
Gigi glared. "I didn't see Cal that summer, Dani."
Dani's face turned pink. "You mean you did that to yourself?!" she asked in disbelief.
Gigi ignored her.
"She used to make me think there were rats in my room. I could hear them scampering about at night. When she was really peeved, she'd make them appear in my bed. I could see them crawling under my sheets, and I could feel their claws and teeth scratching my skin. I tried to tell my mother, but when I woke up there was nothing. No marks, no rats, no scratches... nothing," Gigi whispered. Her voice was soft, as if she was reliving those long nights so many years ago.
"Sounds like something we would do...OUCH!" Dani's words were silenced by a sharp pinch from Alli.
"I'm sorry, G. That's horrible." Alli said sympathetically. "Surely they were just childish pranks though?"
Gigi looked up and met Alli's bright blue eyes for the first time since she had started talking. "I thought so too," she said. "Until one summer when she was visiting. I was in the kitchen when I heard her screaming out in the conservatory. Before I could go and see what was wrong, she came running in. Her hair was all messed up, and she had the craziest look in her eye. Then, out of nowhere, I couldn't breathe." Gianna shuddered at the memory. "It was like I was under water, and there was no air. I just remember everything becoming so muffled, and it was like I could feel the liquid filling up my lungs."
Her voice cracked, but she refused to lose her composure. Instead, she gathered her long caramel brown waves up off her neck, took a breathe, and blinked away the tears that threatened to fall.
"I thought I was going to die that day. I was sure of it. But then my father and Uncle Regulus showed up, and they pulled her away."
Gigi snuck a peek at her friends from the corner of her eye. Their eyes were wide with shock. Both of their mouths hung open slightly, as if they had words they wanted to say but couldn't quite form.
"I haven't seen her since," Gigi continued. "That was five years ago now. Not nearly long enough."
Again, there was silence. When nobody spoke, Gigi turned and climbed back onto the bed. Her hand found the loose thread again. She pulled at it, trying to distract herself from the silence as she waited for her friends' reactions.
Alli was the first to speak.
"Is that why she was sent to St. Drausinus? Because she did...whatever it was that she did to you?" she asked.
"I presume so," Gigi responded. "I never really asked, and quite frankly I didn't care as long as I didn't have to see her again."
"How exactly did she do those things though?" interrupted Dani. "Even powerful magical children don't have that kind of control over their abilities yet."
Gigi didn't reply. If the magical pureblood community found out about Cal, they could assume there was something wrong with the rest of the family as well. After all, she was a freak. Looking at her friends though, she knew there was nobody else in the world she trusted more.
"Cal is a Dimagi," she said.
Alli and Dani gasped. Before they could interrupt, Gigi continued.
"She has the ability to create and manipulate hallucinations," she said.
"Meaning..." probed Alli.
"Meaning," sighed Gigi. "She makes you see and feel and hear things that aren't there. She gets inside your head and twists things until you can't be sure what reality is anymore."
Alli and Dani glanced at one another. It was a lot of information to process, and even though they had a thousand questions, they didn't want to overwhelm Gigi all at once.
After a moment, Dani decided on a question. "Do you know how it happened?"
Alli sat up straighter. "Yeah, is she one of the Dimagi that were born that way or...you know?"
The second Alli finished her sentence there was a roaring in Gigi's ears. The room began to spin around her. She shut her eyes tightly trying to focus through the noise. Something about Alli's question had triggered a sort of deep physical reaction in her. It was like she knew the answer was somewhere in her brain, but she couldn't quite find it.
A warm hand on her arm snapped her out of it. Gigi opened her eyes to see Dani looking at her softly, her dark eyes full of concern.
"I don't know," she said.
The girls looked at each other. Nobody seemed to know what to say. It was a moment before Alli spoke again.
"Well, shit."
The statement was so simple and nonchalant compared to the dire situation at hand, that Gigi couldn't help but giggle. Soon, Alli and Dani joined in, and the three of them roared with laughter. It took them several minutes to finally calm down, and Gigi was grateful for the comic relief.
When they could breathe again, Alli clapped her hands together to get their attention.
"Well, I don't care if your cousin was born a Chinese Fireball dragon," she said. "We're Cerberus, the three Slytherin queens of Hogwarts. No St. Drausinus freak is going to get in our way."
She smiled at her friends confidently. "Now, get off my bed."