Over the next week, Lindsey really shone in every class. She was always one of the first with her hand up and generally had the correct answers to the teachers' questions. The problem was that she didn't seem to be able to make friends. Hermione always glared at her in classes, a glare that clearly displayed her distaste for the girl. Ron always seemed to be glaring at Hermione, or glaring in the direct opposite direction of Hermione and Harry seemed very stuck in the middle of the two. Lavender seemed to like to make fun of Lindsey's "American" fashion sense and looks to her friends who all giggled along and agreed whether they actually agreed or not. The only one who ever really seemed to talk to her was Malfoy but that was a far from welcome friendship. She hadn't even had a chance to talk to Uncle Severus. She would just stay after in class to say a quick hello but she didn't think that publicly associating herself with the Gryffindors' most hated professor was not a way to get out of the friendless slump. She was still having trouble figuring out the castle and had just continued to leave a good chunk of time to get to classes so she could get lost and turned around and still be on time. The time away from dance and socializing left her with nothing to do but study, something she'd never really had to do before. She was getting very restless. If she wasn't in her sixth year and a foreigner, she'd consider trying to start a dance team here. However, as much resistance she had gotten at SAA for it, she'd get ten times more at Hogwarts and she knew that. America was much more progressive in terms of integrating and acclimating the muggle lifestyle with the magical one. Still, she was bored and she missed her friends and feeling like it was her school. She used to be the big fish in a smaller pond and now she's drowning in a sea of unfamiliar unfriendliness.

As the last few brilliant rays of sunlight began disappearing over the trees of the Forbidden Forest, Lindsey began to make her way back to the castle. She had taken to running laps around the lake, sure that people were watching her from the castle but frankly she didn't care. She stopped outside the front doors to stretch before going inside. Between two songs, she swore she heard someone or something not too far from her. She turned her music off and listened for a minute. Lindsey decided it was nothing and shook her head. I'm getting paranoid, she thought to herself. She headed into the huge hallway finding it extremely ironic how much she was not looking forward to tomorrow being Saturday. Normally she'd revel in the day off from school but with no friends, she would not know what to do with herself. Not a moment later, Lindsey heard a second pair of footsteps in the eerily empty entrance way. She slowed her walk giving her time to sneakily pull her wand out of its hiding place.

"Whoa!" Harry yelled in surprise when Lindsey whipped around in front of him, pointing her wand at him defensively. There was a moment of complete stillness before Lindsey dropped her fighting stance.

"Oh gosh!" She said apologetically. "Harry! You scared me!"

"Sorry." Harry said, wondering why she was so jumpy and hoping she hadn't seen him take his invisibility cloak off.

"I just thought I heard a noise and I didn't…" she said clutching her chest to try to keep her heart from leaping out of it. "Where did you come from anyway?"

"Uh," Harry thought quickly, "I was visiting Hagrid's hut."

"Oh." Lindsey accepted this. "That's the one by the forest right? I didn't see you out there?"

"I know a shortcut." Harry lied. He definitely didn't want others knowing about his cloak. "You…uh…I saw you running out there."

"Oh, yeah." Lindsey smiled and tried to hide her music player. "I like running."

Harry nodded. They were stopped in the Entrance Hall which was surprisingly deserted. "Well, where are you headed?"

"Oh, I…" Lindsey stumbled. She'd been planning to visit Uncle Severus or at least stop by his office to see if he was around but she didn't want to say so. She decided to go back to the dormitory and shower first. "I'm going back to the tower to shower. Hey that rhymes!" She giggled quietly to herself. "Sorry, I like rhyming and alliteration."

"That's kind of strange." Harry replied. "I'll walk with you back."

"Okay. Although I think I got the hang of this place now so if you weren't going back…" Lindsey started saying although she was clearly lying. With all the changing staircases she very rarely ended up where she planned and very frequently ended up wandering the halls until she saw something she knew. The portraits hated her when they saw her coming because she inevitably had to stop and ask them for directions, multiple times.

"I was going to head back anyway. Try to get some homework done." Harry replied.

"Great!" Lindsey said. They walked a few minutes in silence, very awkward silence since Lindsey assumed Harry didn't like her but was only being kind. Lindsey began turning down a hallway only to see Harry not follow her, standing and laughing a little instead.

"You really got the hang of this place, huh?" Harry smirked.

"Uh, I thought I did….maybe I lied." Lindsey sighed.

"It's this way." Harry said pointing down another hall. Lindsey just looked down and followed. She decided it best just to stay a step behind Harry and let him make all the directional changes. After another few moments of silence, Harry broke that. "I still get lost every now and then if I'm not really paying attention." He added, his voice not actually emotive, Lindsey couldn't tell what his motives were.

"If the staircases just wouldn't change all the time, I might be able to figure it out." Lindsey vented, letting her frustration show a little.

"They don't move at your old school." Harry asked, honestly curious.

"No, they are completely stationary as stairs were meant to be." Lindsey replied. They continued, mostly in silence until they reached the Fat Lady.

"Ah Harry!" She said warmly and turned not so warmly to Lindsey, "And the yank." Harry looked at Lindsey who looked down-hearted.

"God Save the Queen" Harry responded and the portrait swung open to allow Harry into the common room and Lindsey scurried in after, afraid the Fat Lady would purposely swing shut and lock her out. Before Lindsey could say a quick thank you or goodbye, Harry had been greeted by a frazzled looking Hermione. Lindsey snuck away quickly to shower.

"Harry!" Hermione said, "Where have you been?" She accosted him.

"I went to visit Hagrid." He replied shortly. Over Hermione's shoulder, he watched the raven haired girl sneak away quickly with a look of sadness he recognized. He tried to skirt around Hermione but she was too persistent and the girl had already disappeared around the bend of the stairs, which Harry knew he would never be able to follow.

"I just can't STAND him." Hermione exploded. She dragged Harry over to two armchairs in a corner and began ranting about something stupid Ron had said or done or not done. Harry didn't really care. After about fifteen minutes, he saw Lindsey come back down from the girl's dormitory with her school bag. She crossed the common room and walked straight out of the portrait hole and all Harry could think about was where she was going, what she was doing and who she was. The most likely explanation was that she was going to the library to study. After all, she was very bright, almost brighter than Hermione but he would never say it. With all her knowledge, she must spend lots of time in the library like Hermione does. Harry couldn't help but wonder about the air of sadness and loneliness that seemed to be hiding behind her bubbly, awkward, apologetic smile. He didn't think anyone would notice it but there was just something familiar about the little glimpses he saw and he wanted to know more. Lost in his thoughts, he directed his gaze back to Hermione's face, only to find her staring at him and looking pretty angry.

"Harry, have you been listening?" Hermione asked, completely angry and a little hurt.

"Er…I…" Harry tried to think of what she had said. Something about Ron being stupid. He took too long and Hermione let out a frustrated "hmph" and stormed off muttering about insensitive boys. Harry stared after her but his mind strayed to Lindsey once again.

"Hey Harry!" Ron practically shouted across the room, having seen Hermione storm off. "A real nut job that one." He said pointing in the direction she had left in. "Whatever she said I did, or didn't do, it's not true mate. Can you believe her?" Harry just nodded, having nothing to say. "This came for you by the way." Ron handed over a small piece of parchment. "Is it a secret love note?" Ron joked. Harry opened it and immediately recognized Dumbledore's neat, loopy handwriting.

Please join me in Professor Snape's office at 8PM.

Albus

"Oh, a secret mission. Even better." Ron exclaimed having read the note over Harry's shoulder. "I wonder why it's in Snape's office." Harry looked around for a clock, only to see it was quarter to 8.

"I've gotta run." Harry said, running up to the dormitory to get his cloak. He sprinted through the castle, taking as many passageways and shortcuts as possible. He bounded down the stairs to the dungeon with a minute left and clipped so fast around a corner he had no time to prevent himself from running headfirst into two solid bodies, a certain blond-haired boy he hated and a black-haired girl with whom he was intrigued. Malfoy fell on his behind and skidded a good foot across the floor while Lindsey was able to maintain her footing and Harry stumbled backward a few steps but stayed upright.

"Watch it Potter!" Malfoy yelled from his stop on the ground and attempted to get up with dignity.

"Sorry." Harry muttered between breaths, he directed his apology to Lindsey, ignoring Malfoy completely.

"It's okay." She said, looking down. She seemed embarrassed to be caught like she was.

"I've gotta run." Harry said and continued to Snape's office door which was slightly ajar.

"That stupid mudblood lover." Malfoy said, having finally gotten to his feet, his voice full of hate.

"I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't use that word around me ever again." Lindsey snapped. It was a sore subject.

"Don't tell me you are a mudblood sympathizer too." Malfoy said, in all seriousness, as if it was the end of the world. Lindsey didn't feel like dignifying him with a response and instead turned around as fiercely as possible wishing her hair was longer so it could whip him in the face. She walked off without looking back even when Malfoy called after her. This kid just never seemed to get it that she wanted nothing to do with him. She found herself frequently in his presence, like he was following her or something.

In her anger, Lindsey walked through the castle like she owned the place. The few people she passed moved quickly out of her way. The trouble was, she didn't own the place and she didn't have a clue where she was. Her anger subsided as she found herself in a corridor on the seventh floor. Her anger dissipated into tears, tears which had been a long time coming. She didn't know where she was, she didn't know what she was doing and to top it off, she didn't have anyone to talk to about it. She leaned her back against the stone wall and dropped her bag on the floor. With her face buried in her hands, she cried. She cried for her parents who she hadn't cried much for because she was trying to be strong like they were. She cried for the uncle who wouldn't get to know her and the fear that uncle instilled in her no matter how much she tried to pretend he didn't. She cried for her friends who were too busy at SAA to contact her and seemed to be living their lives perfectly fine without her. She cried for the attitudes of people like that Malfoy kid that tried to stop her from doing the things that she loved to do. She cried for herself, clamming up in classes because people didn't like her. She cried for the life she could be leading which was nowhere near the life she was currently leading. And she cried for the Dark One who had never haunted her life before. She slowly melted to the floor, crumpling into a ball. She had no idea how long she'd been there or when she would be getting in trouble for being out to late or why no one had passed or how she was gonna get back to the tower. Her sobs slowed, and her breath started to try to even itself out. In the quiet that came with the end of her tears, she heard footsteps coming from around the corner and heard Hermione's frenzied voice, followed by Harry's cool voice. The last thing she wanted was to be discovered with a tearstained, splotchy face on the ground, lost. She looked around and saw a door. She didn't really care where it led. She ducked into the room and got the door shut just in time for the voices to pass, however she didn't really care whether they did or not because the room she entered was too….perfect.

There was a large, beautiful chandelier hanging from the ceiling, the light from which was reflected in the wall of mirrors and really made the room simply glow. Opposite the wall of mirrors, a barre was attached to the wall, just under beautiful windows. The wooden floor was the perfect finish and from somewhere to be seen, beautiful piano music was filling the room. She slowly and cautiously stepped further into the room and discovered a wall full of any kind of dance shoe imaginable and a corner with big floor cushions and a puffy cushion meant to be a chair. The room was otherwise empty. It was heaven. She examined each shoe, only to discover that each was her exact size. She couldn't resist the pink pointe shoes and quickly laced them on her feet. As she tested them out, she realized that they were already broken into her foot. The music quickly changed to the balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet, one of Lindsey's absolute favorite not only piece of ballet choreography but also music. She let herself get carried away but music, forgetting all she'd been crying about and letting the music fill her completely. Romeo and Juliet had been the first professional ballet her parents took her to but she didn't think about that. She didn't look at herself in the mirror least she see her red, blotchy eyes and remember her sadness. She floated around the room and never wanted to the music to end. When it did, she opened her eyes to the beautiful room; half expecting someone to be angrily staring back at her but the room was still empty. The music shifted again and she continued to dance. She danced for she didn't know how many minutes, or hours. When she finally felt she should get back, the moon outside the windows seemed high. She figured it must be late. With great sadness she took off the tap shoes she'd switched to and made her way to the door, having put the pointe shoes in her bag. As the door of the room snapped shut behind her, the sadness she'd felt on the floor merely inches from her rushed back yet a bit of the serenity she'd felt while moving across the floor remained. She wouldn't try to find the room again for the rest of the weekend, for the fear that it had been a dream or that she wouldn't find it. However she did note the tapestry on the wall opposite her with dancing trolls which was too appropriate.

She returned to the tower with fewer detours than usual and walked into what she thought was an empty common room. She didn't see that Harry was still up, sitting in a chair in a distant, shadowy corner. He didn't say anything as he watched Lindsey cross the common room, humming something he didn't know. She seemed to him, more graceful and a little more at peace however her eyes still looked a little red and puffy. When Lindsey was just about to disappear up the stairs, Harry called out, "Goodnight" and Lindsey let out the smallest of shrieks and jumped from the first step to the ground.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." Harry said, having scared her now twice in the same night.

"I just, I didn't see you there, again." She said, once again clutching at her heart.

"Couldn't sleep." Harry said to explain why he was still up long after everyone – or almost everyone – had been to bed. His mind had been racing with the events of the evening.

"Got lost." Lindsey said, answering an unasked question as to why she was out so late. "Well, goodnight." She said to the Boy Who Lived, the boy who had suffered much more than she was.

"Good night." Harry repeated but he secretly wanted to hold her. He couldn't think of anything much to say so he let her go her way to bed.