Hermione paced the "library" where she had been for the past 4 hours. It felt like there was something missing. That there must be a loophole in the contract; some way around giving up what made her human. Without her emotions, she would become an empty shell. It seemed Gilda had managed to trick Satan, but she couldn't figure it. To Hermione, it seemed she could either pick an emotion or manage to gain control of Satan's powers. None of this made sense to Hermione. According to Dumbledore, Goldwins didn't even get their power from the devil. They got it from either love or the dark arts, which was different than the devil. The devil was an evil, powerful…thing; it wasn't evil itself. So why did Gilda raise the devil? It was obvious she had turned to the dark arts to unlock her powers.

She sighed, and sank back down to the ground. There had to be an answer. Maybe if she could have asked Gilda, but that seemed impossible. She had been dead for centuries.

"Deals with the Devil are a tricky thing."

Hermione glanced up to find the bloody baron staring at her pitifully. Suddenly it hit her.

"Baron, do you know when Gilda Goldwin died?"

"It must have been late 1700s…1786 I believe"

"How old was she?"

"I am unsure, but I remember she died not long after she left the school."

Hermione jumped up, and ran out the room. The Bloody Baron shrugged and continued to drift through the dungeons. Hermione followed her way through the maze of tunnels, up towards the main hall. Suddenly, Satan popped up her front of her.

"I know how she tricked you."

"How is that?"

"She promised loyalty as long as she lived, correct?"

When Satan answered he looked pained, as if he wasn't trying to answer. "She promised loyalty as long as she lived in exchange for an emotion, and continued access to the dark arts."

Someone's footsteps echoed down the hall. Satan quickly disappeared, before Hermione could stop him. She spun to face whoever was coming. Draco ran around the corner, but Hermione didn't lower her wand at the familiar face. He skidded to a stop in front of her, peering at her concerned.

"Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

Hermione waved off his concern, and continued the way she had been going. Draco followed her. She sped up her pace, but he easily kept up with his long strides.

"Where have you been, everyone was supposed to report to their dorms."

"I got sidetracked."

Hermione turned into a small stairwell, and made her way up, eventually reaching a balcony. Draco hung behind her a few feet, waiting for her to say where she had been. Finally, he grabbed her shoulder gently and turned her around to face him.

"What are you not telling me?"

Hermione sighed and shrugged him off, turning back towards the school grounds.

"I know what happened here in 1785, when my ancestor was Headmistress. I know why it happened. I know why she summoned Satan."

"Why?"

Hermione slid to the floor, and stared blankly at the wall. Draco moved towards her, but she held up her hand.

"When Gilda became headmistress she felt, for whatever reason, that she needed more power. She started practicing the dark arts. I'm assuming she knew, as a Goldwin, that the dark arts would give her close to unlimited powers. She didn't have anyone to warn her that the dark arts would take over her life, and that's all she would feel. When they did she searched for a solution, and she found one."

Draco stared at Hermione waiting for her to snap out of her trance, but she didn't. She continued to talk in monotone.

"Satan…he could give her what she wanted, so she raised him and he did. He gave her the strength to continue practicing the dark arts and feel an emotion, in return she promised to be loyal for life."

For the first time since she had begun talking, she moved and her eyes snapped up to his face.

"Goldwins aren't meant to be slaves of any sort. Not to a human, creature, or contract. It burned Gilda inside to be such a slave, so she found a way out. She picked love as her one emotion, and she married her true love, Cero."

Draco looked at her for a moment, taking in what she had said, "so if you marry me, Satan will have no control over you?"

"If you sleep with me actually, but I'm not done…when it came time for Gilda to leave the castle, she couldn't send Satan back like Cero wanted her too because that's dark magic and she would have become a slave to Satan again, so she sealed him in the school. Not long after she left and married Cero, he found out she hadn't sent Satan back, and he killed her. After which he returned to the magical world and was minister of magic for 24 more years."

"How do you know this?"

"It's just a hunch."

"It's a hell of a hunch." Draco smiled at her and she blush.