Disclaimer: Read Prologue

A/N: Alright, so sorry that this chapter is shorter than the others but it's sort of a filler. I've got some great stuff lined up for the next chapters so keep reading! Review please!!

Part I: L'Inizio
The Beginning

Six

The Ravenclaw Common Room seemed alive as discarded rolls of parchment littered the floor, the text books of Potions, DADA, History of Magic, and Charms lay stacked in heaps, and the thumping of bare feet or tennis shoes reverberated throughout the room. Students were lounging leisurely against the plush sofas while others attempted to gain an early start on interminable essays. And still others were gathered in clusters, sitting on the navy carpet, discussing the issues of the world, or great literature, or anything else that struck their fancy on the beautiful Sunday morning in September.

Noemi crossed the room, taking care not to step on books, or parchment, or the occasional wand. She held the worn book that belonged to Ginny Weasley tightly across her chest. Her confused green eyes searched the common room until they landed upon a familiar head of long ebony hair.

Cho sat with her back to Noemi and seemed to be laughing. Left to her sat the dashingly handsome Michael Corner with his blue eyes twinkling. On her right lie Padma with her chin resting in her palms as she too laughed. And finally, across from Cho and pushed against the deep mahogany wall, sat Terry Boot in all his boyish optimism staring longingly at Padma.

They did not notice when Noemi approached the group until Terry finally tore his gaze from Padma and met Noemi's.

"Oi, Noemi! Where 'ave you been?" he said in a delicate Irish accent.

"Morning Terry, Padma, Cho—Michael," she let the last name slip ever so softly from her pursed lips.

"Morning love," cooed Michael to her, "you look quite fetching today." Noemi pulled down her t-shirt even though she knew perfectly well it was not revealing anything her uniform did not.

"Oh please Corner, it's early and it'll never work."

"What won't work?" he asked innocently with that twinkle in his eye. She rolled her eyes and almost cringed when she suddenly remembered he always had that twinkle in his eye when he was about to kiss her.

"Corner just give it up already! She's not interested!" shouted Padma between giggles. Michael glared at her but it soon faded into a smile.

"Well you can't blame me for trying."

"Noemi, what's that book?" asked Cho quickly changing the topic. Noemi sat down between Cho and Padma and lay the book gently down in the middle of the circle the five formed.

"Secrets of the Darkest Art, are you switching sides on us Noemi?" asked Padma jokingly. Noemi, however, sensed a concern behind her light demeanor and was surprised that Padma would even think up such an idea.

"Heavens no. I found Gi—it in the library. It was just lying open to this page and I thought you might know what it means." She opened the thick book and flipped the delicate pages until she came to the page she had found Ginny reading so secretively.

"Horcrux," it was almost as if they had spoken the word in unison but it seemed only Noemi felt a chill running up her spine.

"Well, it's dark magic," stated Michael.

"Thank you Michael, your keen eye for the obvious never seems to fail," snorted Padma. Cho stifled a giggle as Michael pouted.

"It doesn't say much does it?"

"There's a spell though; looks pretty complicated too."

"And dangerous. You'd have to be a very talented and experienced wizard—"

"OR witch."

"—or witch, to perform it. Just look at the incantation; it looks to be an ancient form of Arabic."

"Well, if Terry's right, what do we know about the Ancient Arabians?" asked Noemi. There was silence as the gears of each complex mind began to crank. She tried to think back to History of Magic and what she had studied on the Middle Eastern wizards. They were alchemists, she remembered that much. If they were alchemists, then they must have also been mathematicians which would mean that the majority of their spells, though limited, would most likely concentrate on the conglomeration of certain elements.

"I remember Binns dictating to us that the Middle Eastern wizards were a peaceful society until they were threatened by the raising empires of the west and the tribes of the east," spoke Cho. She had always had a passion for history. "They are one of the few societies that were forced into Dark Magic for defensive purposes."

"And we're back to square one; the spell is Dark Magic."

They all sat in silence willing them to remember anything that Binns may have taught them in the short time they had studied the Arabian societies back in second year. Noemi, however, was not thinking back to her past History lessons, but instead concentrated on the red head. Why had Ginny been looking at a dark spell?

Suddenly the image of Ginny smiling triumphantly appeared before her. She had found something useful. She had found whatever it had been she was searching for. She had found an answer to the same unanswered question Noemi now had lingering in her mind.

She quickly reread the introduction to the spell, careful to notice any key words that may help her solve the enigma of the Horcrux.

'Tis an action that will lie heavily upon the conductor with or without the consequences of failure; many a sage have failed. An extensive knowledge of—the print had worn away a bit towards the end of the page—object must be safely guarded. Death more painful than a thousand tortures awaits the one who fails to holdfast to their—another faded bit—a shattered soul.'

She tried fruitlessly to search for some key word that would solve the mystery surrounding the spell. Alchemists, elements, death, an object, the soul; the vastly different concepts wound themselves through the intricacies of Noemi's mind as she continued to stare fixedly at the worn page.

"Oi, Noemi. Did you hear me?" Noemi was ripped away from her thoughts as she glanced over to the voice calling her. Padma watched her intently as a look of confusion crossed Noemi's face.

"Pardon?"

"Do you want to go study on the grounds with Cho and me?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me just put this book away." Noemi gathered her things and left the broken circle of friends and headed towards the secret doorway to the Girls' Dorms. Their room was empty and sunlight streamed in through the cracks between the heavy, navy curtains. She placed the book carefully in her trunk and grabbed her knapsack laded with various text books. As she closed the door to her dorm, she had the sneaking suspicion the subject of a Horcrux would be on her mind until she un-riddled its secret.

It was already Monday afternoon and still Noemi had yet to discover what a Horcrux was. She had not been able to fall asleep the prior night and was now rested uncomfortably on her Potion's book. Slughorn was explaining the potion the 7th years would be concocting for the lesson but the only thought on Noemi's mind was when she would finally be able to retreat to her dorm and turn in for the night.

She heard the scratching of chalk on the blackboard and knew he was writing down directions for the class. Quickly pulling herself upright, Noemi gazed sleepily over the set of instructions and made her way over to the supplies cabinet with the rest of the class.

"Lavender, vanilla, pickled Stickleroot, three Red Gallywad tails—Merlin, how awfully horrid!" Noemi held up the Red Gallywad's tail that was still twitching with life and pulsating an eerie magenta.

"Don't be such a girl," she heard a taunting voice behind her. She glanced back nonchalantly at the voice and saw a glare of silvery, blond hair. For a moment she thought the voice had come from a glowing orb of light but then features began to take shape. A strong jaw with high cheek bones and acute angles spread about revealed his Danish ancestry. A pair of light gray eyes bore into her and she felt a sense of vertigo come about her.

She had never been this close to Draco Malfoy before. In Ancient Runes they always sat directly across from each other but never at a distance where she could reach out and touch him, like she could now. In the moment of silence that fell between them, she noticed the static lines of blue towards the center of his eyes. The hints of color were jagged and rough and yet seemed to soften his cold demeanor. She knew immediately he was not as invincible as he carried himself.

"Then don't be such an ass," she replied smiling ever so sweetly. He smirked back and reached his arm above her head to grasp a jar on the top shelf. With one last glance into her vibrant green eyes, he turned and proceeded to his caldron that awaited him on the desk situated next to Noemi's.

After she had collected the remainder of the ingredients, and most were just as disgusting as the Gallywad's tail, she began to chop, pulverize, and blend the ingredients together according to Slughorn's directions. Her eyelids drooped occasionally as she stirred 15 times to the left, eight to the right, once forward; the steps were never ending it seemed. Her mind strayed back to the enigma of the Horcrux and what it could possibly be. Just as she was about to drop in the stick of vanilla, she felt a strong grip on her wrist.

"I wouldn't drop that if I were you." She looked to her right only to find the dear Mr. Malfoy starring at her sternly.

"And why not?" Her voice was quiet, almost a whisper. He made her nervous for some reason in this proximity. She could almost feel the cool rush of breath escape his parted lips.

"Because I don't want to be splattered with your disgrace of a potion when it blows up." He glared at her and plucked the stick of vanilla out of her hand. She watched as he picked up her small silver dagger and slit the stick in half. He began to dig the dagger in the crevasse of the half and extricate a pulpy substance. Bringing the dagger to the edge of the caldron, he dragged it across the edge so that the pulp fell into the bubbling concoction.

"Oh," was all Noemi was able to muster when her once clear potion suddenly turned a deep red. She glanced back up at Malfoy to see his gaze still on the caldron.

"Naturally you didn't know to do that," he said harshly. "You were practically asleep while you were stirring the potion."

"Well…urmmm, how did you know to do that?" He glanced up at her nonchalantly and she felt her muscles tighten at his arrogant demeanor.

"It doesn't take that many brains, even for the likes of you; Slughorn wrote the directions on the board." She knew her face had turned a soft shade of pink when he cocked his eyebrow and smirked.

"Oh, right." How pathetic was she? One minute she could easily retort back an equally snide comment to his and the next she seemed at a loss for words. She wanted to scold him for acting like such a brat and yet she could not think of one insult to throw in his face.

"Look," he began, leaning against the edge of her table, "the potion won't blend correctly if you don't split the vanilla. Most would assume the combination of the two halves would do the trick, but any wizard with half a mind would understand that by splitting the two halves you're making the potion more potent."

Suddenly it hit her. Splitting. That was it.

She looked up at Draco who seemed to be fighting the urge to roll his eyes.

"You're a genius," she said excitedly. She quickly began shoving her Potion's book back in her pack and gathering her quills and loose rolls of parchment. He looked at her with a dull expression.

"Yes I know, but what made you suddenly realize that obvious fact?"

"Oh, no reason," she chose to ignore his condescending tone. "You just…urmmm, helped me solve something I've been trying to solve for a while now." She was speaking hurriedly and stumbling over her words. She doubted he even understood what she had said.

Slughorn had dismissed the class and she darted to the door. Just as she was about to yank open the heavy double doors, she turned and made her way back to where Malfoy stood, a bit dumbstruck. Noemi stood before him shining with a renewed sense of confidence and smiled.

"I'm Noemi by the way."

"Draco," he replied in a whisper. He did not smile back but continued to look quizzically at her.

"Thanks again for your help with the potion."

"Please don't mention it. I'd rather not have the belief that I willing help Hufflepuffs circulate the school." He looked rather disgusted when the word 'Hufflepuff' escaped his lips.

"Oh, I'm not in Hufflepuff." His eyebrows raised in realization. "I'm a Ravenclaw." She smiled again at him and noticed him shift his weight from the table so that he stood at full height.

"Oh. Well…don't expect me to help you again, got it?"

"Alright alright, no need to get angry," she stifled a giggle and he glared back at her. "Anyway, see you 'round!"


Back in her dorm, Noemi hid behind the dark curtains that encompassed her four-poster bed. She sat cross-legged in the darkness with only the small glow produced from the candle standing at the top of a rather large book. She was rereading the same section over and over again double checking if her conjecture was indeed true—or at least plausible.

'…a shattered soul.'

She had to be right. The passage finally seemed to make sense; but this only brought a renewed sense of fear into her heart. She slowly closed her book and placed it under her bed. The flame of the candle danced seductively in the darkness almost begging Noemi not to extinguish it. She held it close to her body and blew it out slowly. Ruing her decision, she climbed under her covers and tried to settle her beating heart. The sudden realization of what a Horcrux could be had excited her at first, but now she was beginning to realize the consequences of her actions.

She shouldn't have gone to the library.

She shouldn't have seen Ginny reading that book.

She shouldn't have ever seen that bold word scribbled at the top of the page.

Alchemist weren't only famous for combining the elements; no, they were equally gifted at separating them. Now that she had solved one mystery, a hundred more had suddenly become apparent. But the one that was plaguing her thoughts at the very moment was the darkest of them all.

Why did Ginny Weasley want to know the incantation for splitting her soul?

A/N: REVIEWS PLEASE :D