AN: Welcome back to another chapter of The Conductor. Hopefully, this chapter will clear things up a bit - certainly about the title of the story - and I would very much wish to know what you think. Enjoy!

Chapter 4

'I can't believe you managed in one try!' Harry said, incredulous as they met up at the Gryffindor table. 'Even Hermione only managed to make it silver and perhaps a bit pointier at the end of our first class.'

'She'll go bloody mad if she hears this.'

Daisy laughed, then looked around. 'Where is she anyway?'

'Library,' they answered simultaneously, as if this was some sort of custom. Daisy envied their friendship. It was so effortless, yet they were ready to die for one another if necessary. Apparently, from what she'd heard at least, this had almost been the case on more than one occasion. On her old school, she had only had one girl she hung out with regularly. Yet she was quite sure even she would not miss her very much.

'So, how did the rest of your classes go so far?'

Looking pensively, she thought back on her day. 'Well, all the practical subjects went pretty well.. very well in fact. I almost fell asleep during History of Magic and got piles of homework to work through before tomorrow. But Potions…' She shuddered involuntarily, thinking back on that particular subject.

The problems had begun as soon as Daisy had stepped foot in the dungeons. She had tried following the other Gryffindors, but somehow had found herself lost anyway. Then, when she'd finally found the classroom, she was late and tried to get to one of the empty chairs as inconspicuous as possible, but stumbled over a bag and notified everyone in the classroom of her existence. To her horror – as if things weren't bad enough – she then noticed that the professor was no other than the greasy haired, cruel looking professor Snape she'd met on her first day. 'Miss McCalman, how good of you to join us,' he'd sneered, then deducted fifteen points from Gryffindor. The rest of the class she had diligently made her notes, cowering under the professor's gaze whenever he would look at her. It had been a nightmare.

Harry patted her back compassionately. 'It's nothing personal, Daisy. Snape's just.. well,' he scratched his head 'he enjoys torturing anyone apart from the Slytherins of course, who are his own house. Really, don't worry too much about it.'

Daisy couldn't repress the shiver that went along her spine by the mere thought of the Potions Master. 'I still would rather throw myself of the highest tower of the castle than attend his class again.'

Before either Harry or Ron could respond to that, a heavy 'thud' resounded as a bag was dropped on the table. Hermione sat down on the empty seat they had saved her and sighed. 'I am sorry I am late, guys, but I was in the library and..-'

'You completely forgot about the time,' Ron finished for her monotonously. 'Yes, we know.'

The bushy haired girl reddened. 'Yes well, you won't believe what I found!' Grabbing hold of her bag, she pulled out a big, dusty looking book and ticked it with her wand, causing it to open on a page halfway through the book.

'Gee Hermione, another book, how exciting. Don't you already have like.. a thousand?'

'Oh shut up, Ronald.' Putting her index finger down, she began to read out loud. 'Here; 'The Conductor is one of the rarest of magical creatures and its existence has long been discussed. Although not much is certain about the way the Conductor obtains its magic, it's said he or she lives off the magic of other magical creatures. Not possessing magic itself, it is able to extract magic from other beings, making it a most powerful creature when in the proximity of large amounts of magic.'' She looked up, giving each of her friends a meaningful look. However, when she noticed no one had caught on like she'd hoped them to, she sighed. 'Don't you get it? This explains why you were never able to use magic before, Daisy. But when you neared Hogwarts, you must have attracted enough magic to get past the security spells.'

Daisy furrowed her brows. Was that possible? It would explain professor Dumbledore's cryptic message. 'Can't it be possible that my magic just kicked in later than normally?'

Hermione shook her head. 'I looked into that as well, but as far as I could find magic always starts showing itself in childhood. Only a really powerful spell could have restrained your magical abilities, but if that were the case I don't see why you would have been able to use your magic now all of the sudden.'

Pondering on that thought for a moment, Daisy realized that the brunette was right. It didn't make sense. But then again she wasn't quite ready to accept that she was some sort of parasite living off of other people's magic. 'There must be some other explanation. I mean, you said yourself that it's not even certain that a Conductor exists.'

'Actually, I think it makes a lot of sense. It explains how you are so good at magic, even when you have no experience with it.'

'Harry, you can't be seriously considering the idea of her living on our magic, can you?' Ron all but called out.

The raven haired boy shrugged 'As Hermione said, there really isn't any other logical explanation, is there?'

'Shouldn't we just wait with coming to conclusions until professor Dumbledore tells us what he thinks is going on?'

'Dumbledore!' Harry and Ron exclaimed simultaneously and shared a look. Then they jumped up from the bench and, both taking one of Daisy's arms, pulling her with them out of the Great Hall. Hermione rushed after them while at the same time trying to put the enormous book back in her bag.

They stopped at the gargoyle statue, marking the entrance to the Headmaster's office. Harry called out the password – which had apparently changed since the last time Daisy had been there – and they all headed up the stone staircase. Without knocking, Harry threw open the door, regretting his action as soon as the quartet took sight of Dumbledore. And his guest.

'Come in, Harry,' professor Dumbledore called out as they were about to close the door again. 'Mr. Crouch and I were just finished.'

The other wizard stood from his chair and bristled past the four teenagers, only giving a nod to Harry before he descended the stairs.

Daisy had expected professor Dumbledore to be at least a bit upset with them, but was once again surprised by the older man when he offered them a toffee as they took their seats. When they all declined, he simply popped one of the purple sweets into his own mouth and smiled at them from behind his half-moon shaped spectacles. 'I believe there is a reason you came bursting into my office?'

Growing red, the Boy-Who-Lived looked down. 'It's just something Hermione found, professor. She said.. she said Daisy might be a Conductor. Is that possible, Sir?'

Instead of answering him, the elder man turned his twinkling eyes to Hermione. 'I had no doubt you would figure it out, Miss Granger. I cannot give you certainty, but I believe in this case it would be safe to go with the most logical explanation.'

'So what does this mean for me?' Daisy said, surprised that she'd spoken her thoughts out loud.

'It means that you will have to be careful, Miss McCalman, for there will be many wizards and witches who would be interested in you – both good and bad ones. I suggest you only disclose this secret to those that you trust.'

The four students were all caught off guard by the sudden, serious tone of the conversation. None of them had thought it would have any far-reaching consequences.. Nevertheless, they all nodded. 'Yes, professor.'