The end of the next morning's session had her closing the door with her wand before I could run out as I had planned ahead of time to do to get away before I exploded.

"What do you want now?" I asked irritably.

"Just give in, where is this source of persistence coming from for the daughter of -?"

Can't stop, I'm blowing up… "Shut up!" I screamed, closing my eyes tightly and putting my hands over my ears.

"What is going on here?"

I opened my eyes in surprise to see Seraphina - well, Anastasia - in front of me, and Umbridge frozen beside her. What is this? "What - when did you - what did you -" I was at a loss for words. She was finally here… but what just happened?

"I can't even be gone for a day without something happening. Damn, I warned your father!" She walked up to me. "What did she do to you?"

"Well, I -" I hardly had the chance to respond before she already grabbed my right hand.

Her face broiled into a storm of fury. "How dare she? How did she do this? It looks like it was done with a curse, so it's irreversible… Damn. At least it didn't get to sit in too deep before I came. Gods, torturing a child!"

I pointed out the quill that fell off the table in my attempt to run out as quickly as possible. "I've.. never heard of them before… I was writing these words on that piece of paper. There was no ink for it…. I've been writing in my own blood. Whatever I write on the page gets written into my hand."

Seraphina picked up the quill and parchment to take a closer look.

"How.. did you find out I was here?… I thought you weren't coming back until about Saturday?"

"Well, I asked your friends of course. You've missed breakfast, and you might just miss your first class of the day. And then you let off a lot of magical energy, so I ran in here…. You're actually quite lucky your father decided to finish the discussions early. Really early."

"Magical -? I didn't even see or hear the door open."

"Well, you were so angry with this woman that you took control of her mind. She's frozen now because you wanted her to, as you said, shut up."

"But I didn't mean to take control of her mind."

"As it happens, this was one of the lessons that I'm supposed to teach you. As strong as your magic is, I figured you were bound to be able to do this."

"Except I didn't even use the Imperius Curse! I don't have my wand! I didn't -"

"You have your parent's learned Dark magic flowing through your blood. There's a lot you can do without a wand. Besides, most witches and wizards can't get rid of the mindless magic they have before getting a wand in the first place - you know, that show of magic before getting the wonderful invitation to Hogwarts?" She put the quill and parchment down to look at me. "Now that I'm here, what you have to do is take control of this situation with her."

"I can't," I said through gritted teeth.

"And why not? What is she holding over you? You can curse her to high hell."

"She's a teacher -"

"I'm sure that's never held you back before, especially on fake teachers." She waved her wand, "It's easy to just scare her into submission to you. Rather than the other way around." The door opened and my wand flew through into her hand. The door closed once more.

"I can't," I started to panic as she tried to hand me my wand.

"What has she done to you?" I watched her face get confused, and then suspicious all within a few seconds.

Oh, crap. Whatever, I have to let something out to someone. "I - she threatened to hurt the people I care about! There! You happy? She threatened to hurt Severus! Becky! Draco! Lissy! You! If I told anybody anything, or if I tried anything on her…. So long as I have kept on refusing to do as she asked, I have to write those stupid words into my skin until I so-called 'comply!'"

The suspicion left her face. A look of surprise, instead - or is that awe?

"Yeah, I know, I have a heart - I can't hide it when it comes to those I care about getting hurt. It hurts even more that I can't tell anyone what's been happening again. I've been patiently waiting here for you to finish whatever it was that you were doing with dad because I know you can help me. What do I do to fix this?"

She smiled again. "I already told you.. take control of this situation. Be fierce with her."

I sighed a breath of relief as I realized she was speaking the truth. I have to be heartless, one way or another, in order to make this woman the least of my problems. Maybe I can trust her more than Severus and Professor Dumbledore believe. "How do I do that?"

A short time later, Seraphina walked out the door with a wink in my direction before closing it behind her. I did as she instructed to remove the mind control off of Umbridge and relaxed my mind - sans the barriers - before reverting to what I had done when I first did the mind control, with my hands over my ears and my eyes shut tight.

"Shut up? Your family and friends' lives hang on the balance here and you tell me -"

"Yes, I do." I said sternly, raising my head up and opening my eyes to look at her. "God, you make it so hard to try playing the quiet, heroic type."

She stood completely still. So still, that I was almost worried I had control of her mind again. But then she spoke. "So it was all a ruse."

I sat down on the desk, "Oh, of course it was, idiot. But, there's no keeping that up if you're going to keep pestering me -"

"Get off my desk -"

"No," I said with a big grin. "See here, you don't get to play the big, bad wolf anymore. I don't care what you do. These days, I'm considered someone to fear anyways as you like to constantly remind me. No matter what you say after I leave this room, it doesn't matter."

"Your friends are still on the line. Your sister, cousin and that professor."

"I don't care," I said plainly. "You can do whatever you want to them. They're just my coverup, and no matter what you say or do to them they still believe me over everything else. So what I suggest is that you leave me alone and there will be no issues."

She took her wand and pointed it at me. "You don't have a -"

I whistled, and her wand flew right out of her hand to mine. I chuckled, "What makes you think that I need mine in order to hurt you, let alone protect myself from you?"

Her face went white. As fun as it would've been to start a duel with her with my wand, currently located in my robes, I wanted to get out of the room as quickly as possible.

"I admit, it was very clever to hope that I'd be your weapon for you. However, life is not always that simple as to torture somebody into being what you want them to be." I threw her wand back to her. "I got to hand it to you, this will be a scar for life. But it'll only show your failure at getting what you want.

"Now… I'm going to walk out this door… and if you so much as do anything else to bother me again I can tell the Ministry and Professor Dumbledore all about that quill and your plans to enslave me."

She snorted, "Like they'd believe you."

"Perhaps not me. But dozens of students, yes. I have a lot of power now, Umbridge… and should you try anything again, I will do anything and everything I can to protect myself. I have nothing to lose. Good day." I opened the door and walked out, satisfied with her horror-stricken face.

Now to tell Becky and Draco about this… crap, Severus too.

Seraphina and I walked into the Transfiguration classroom where Professor McGonagall was finishing her talk on the O.W.L.s. She looked up at me when I came in with such a stern face.

"Sorry, professor. I went to go find my cousin, and she had left her room so she got lost in the hallways."

The sternness left her face. "Don't worry about it, Miss Riddle, that's perfectly understandable. I was just explaining to the rest of your classmates about the importance of the O.W.L.s so you don't have to worry about it."

"Actually…" I sat down next to Draco, Seraphina sitting on my other side. "I have to retake the O.W.L.s because the Ministry considered my test nulled."

Her mouth set into a thin line, but she continued with the lesson for the day. "Today we are starting Vanishing Spells. These are easier than Conjuring Spells, which you would not usually attempt until N.E.W.T. level, but they are still among the most difficult magic you will be tested on in your O.W.L."

Once everyone had begun testing their luck on the Vanishing Spells, and I pretended to whisper in Italian to Seraphina on what to do, Professor McGonagall motioned me to the front of the classroom.

"How could she be allowed to do that?" she whispered to me in horror.

"I don't know, it was just what Professor Snape explained to me," I replied in surprise. McGonagall worried about me? "He said he copied my test, though, so I wouldn't have to worry about my original scores being gone - but I have to take it all over again."

She tsked. "And I've heard she is not letting anyone use spellcasting in her classroom."

"She's really not. She expects everyone to read it in the book and not practice the spells - as if they should be able to cast them without issue during the O.W.L.s. We're not even learning Defense Against the Dark Arts… basically we're learning the underlying, unnecessary concepts of it."

She hummed to herself irritably before asking, "How many more detentions do you have with her?"

"This morning was my last… I wasn't trying to get -"

"I know, neither was Potter…" she said softly.

I looked at her in surprise, "Harry got detention with her?"

"Oh, yes. Tonight. And I will tell you as I told him: misbehaviour in Dolores Umbridge's class could cost you much more than House points and a detention."

I sighed, "I know. It's just - I mean - she insulted - ah forget it. I'll be more careful."

She nodded, believing me. "Whatever she says, you can't let it get to you. You seem to have a better control over your temper than Potter, so keep it that way."

"Yes, professor… I believe in karma anyway." I will get the woman back one way or another. Oh, yes, I will, I thought, ignoring the dumfounded look on Professor McGonagall's face.

I sat back down in my seat to find that Seraphina and Becky had finished vanishing their snails. Draco's was halfway between vanished and still solid. Greg and Vincent's was not going anywhere. I was surprised to see Blaise and Pansy come up to me with bubbly excitement that they had also vanished their snails.

"Isn't it great, Melody?" Pansy asked. And in a whisper, she continued, "Is this a good skill to have to follow you?"

My eyes widened. "Well, both of you hold your horses. When I come up with my plan for being a Dark Witch, I'll let you know… then you can decide whether or not you want to still work with me."

"Is there a difference between yours and your father's?" Blaise asked curiously.

"Oh yes," I said, giving a glance to Seraphina. "A big difference. I just have to see if I can get away with it."

Double Charms came straight after double Transfiguration where Professor Flitwick also explained the importance of the O.W.L.s. After that we spent more than an hour reviewing Summoning Charms. I had no homework in Transfiguration because I already knew how to do the Vanishing Spell (Draco, Vincent and Greg had to practice it for homework), but Charms gave us the largest amount of homework yet.

I wasn't worried about it, but some people already looked like they were having heart attacks.

It was during lunch that I explained everything that happened with Professor Umbridge to Draco and Becky. They were absolutely mortified. "I know I should've told you anyway," I said, wringing my hands nervously. "But I was freaking out because I knew you would want to tell someone, and if she found out I told then she would -"

"It's okay, it's okay," Becky said, breathing in and out very deeply. "But let me ask you how you got out of it."

"It's all thanks to Seraphina, really…." I said quietly, with a small smile at Seraphina who was more interested in looking at her food. More likely deep in thought. In a smaller whisper than before, I reviewed to Becky and Draco on what I'd said to Umbridge before telling them, "I'm kind of worried that I had to pretend like I didn't care what she would do to you guys.. but Seraphina explained that if I acted like that, she wouldn't care enough to come after you."

"That would be bad, I mean we are the prefects. She even asked us and all of the other prefects to basically spy for her by coming to her if we heard any so-called lies about You-Know-Who coming back." Becky contemplated it, and then hugged me. "Oh, I'm so glad it worked out. I was starting to worry for a second that you were hiding things from us again. But this time it was to protect us."

I shook my head, "It doesn't completely work out until I get my revenge on her. But that'll wait, I suppose… I will get it, though."

"Speaking of… you really are going to become a Dark Witch?" Becky asked, having a hard time containing her excitement.

"Yeah, dad has his expectations.. while I'm not worried about the O.W.L.s, I am worried about this. I want my own beliefs in my group. Ones that I can't tell my father. Like… I don't believe in pureblood supremacy."

Draco gasped.

"Now you react?" I asked him. "In any case, you know how I -"

He pointed at Seraphina.

I grinned. "Actually, I don't believe I have much to worry about when it comes to her." I looked at her. She was still lost in thought, but I knew she was listening. "I'm sure there's a lot she does know about me already and she hasn't yet told my father."

"Important word being yet." Surprising how worried he sounds. That was when I realized he had hold of my right hand, him and Becky studying it carefully. Draco was running his thumb over the slight cut - I felt so lucky it hadn't gotten too deep before Seraphina came to help me - and it was very soothing. But I quickly withdrew my hand and cleared my throat.

"Well, I want to see what I can do to win her over. I'm sure she certainly doesn't care too much about how anyone runs things so long as she gets the power to do as she desires… or maybe there's something deeper to it, I'll have to find out. One thing's for sure, I need to get working on how I want my group to be."

After lunch was Care of Magical Creatures, and the air outside had become a cool breeze to which I placed the warmth spell on me once more. I felt an occasional drop of rain as we walked down the slope to Professor Hagrid's hut - of whom was still not here. Professor Grubbly-Plank stood a ways away from his front door in wait for our class to get down the hill.

Harry, Ron and Hermione were walking ahead of us and once they reached her, Draco said, "Look, they must be so sad that their favorite oaf of a teacher still isn't here." Everyone around me except for Becky and Seraphina laughed. Seraphina looked confused for a second before she realized what was going on. I signaled both of my hands pointing between Harry and Draco, and then used those same fingers to mimick a wand duel. She had to hold in her chuckles.

"Everyone here?" Professor Grubbly-Plank barked once we'd all gathered around her. "Let's crack on then - who can tell me what these things are called?" She indicated what would look to just about anyone like a pile of twigs.

Hermione's hand shot into the hair. We were standing behind her, so Draco thought it 'appropriate' to mimick her by using his fingers like buck teeth and hopping up and down the way she did in her eagerness to answer a question. Pansy gave a shriek - almost scream - of laughter and elbowed me in the ribs in her hysterical fit. She was so loud she caused said twigs to leap into the air and show their true form. The pixie-like bowtruckles.

"Oooooh!" I heard from Gryffindor girls, Parvati and Lavender.

Professor Grubbly-Plank scattered a handful of wood lice among the bowtruckles, who immediately dived for the food as she said, "Kindly keep your voices down, girls! So - anyone know the names of these creatures? Miss Granger?"

"Bowtruckles," Hermione responded. "They're tree-guardians, usually live in wand-trees."

"Five points for Gryffindor. Yes, these are bowtruckles and, as Miss Granger rightly says, they generally live in trees whose wood is of wand quality. Anybody know what they eat?"

"Wood lice. But fairy eggs if they can get them."

She just does not want anyone else to answer does she? I though with a small chuckle. It's such a mystery why she's in Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw.

"Good girl, take another five points. So whenever you need leaves or wood from a tree in which a bowtruckle lodges, it is wise to have a gift of wood lice ready to distract or placate it. They may not look dangerous, but if angered they will gouge out human eyes with their fingers, which, as you can see, are very sharp and not at all desirable near the eyeballs. So if you'd like to gather closer, take a few wood lice and a bowtruckle - I have enough here for one between three - you can study them more closely. I want a sketch from each one of you with all body parts labeled by the end of the lesson."

Everyone surged forward, Draco agreed to grab two since he was eager to partner up with the boys, Becky, Seraphina, and me. We sat down somewhere and took out quill, ink and parchment while we waited for him to come back. When he did, he was smirking in Harry's direction as he gave us a small bowtruckle and used the largest for him and the boys.

"Hold up, why do you get the biggest?" Becky asked.

He looked like that was an obvious answer, "Because I got the bowtruckles for all of us in the first place. It's very hard when everyone is all up there, so I deserve the best."

"Uh, no, I want to switch!"

"Hell no!"

Seraphina and I were already working on our bowtruckle pictures. I was holding it as she drew it. I told Becky, "Switch or not, you may want to start drawing yours before Anastasia finishes.

"Oh!" she said with an angry growl, leaving Draco alone to start working on her picture.

As we worked, I couldn't help noticing Draco give small glances over at Harry's group. They were closer to us than I had first realized, so it hit me that he was listening in on what they were saying. When we'd all finished with our drawings, Draco gave a smirk and looked at us.

"Yes," he said loudly, so it carried over to their group. "Father was talking to the Minister just a couple of days ago, you know, and it sounds as though the Ministry's really determined to crack down on substandard teaching in this place. So even if that overgrown moron does show up again, he'll probably be sent packing straight away."

Greg and Vincent laughed goofily, but they weren't loud enough to cover Harry's loud, "Ouch!" I looked over to see that the bowtruckle had swiped him, leaving two deep cuts, and then set off at full speed into the Forbidden Forest. I could only guess that he had accidentally squeezed it in his anger at Draco… Professor McGonagall was right about one thing. Harry's temper easily went through the roof, and it was getting him into deeper trouble than he needed to be.

I groaned, News for dad to enjoy.

The bell rang in the distance and most people stood up to quickly leave, not finished with their bowtruckle drawings. Our group handed our drawings to Professor Grubbly-Plank before setting off toward the castle… but then Anastasia and I got called back because my dear cousin had written her paper in Italian. The professor did not understand why I was laughing so hard while trying to explain that she and I basically had the same exact drawings.

Friday came faster than I had expected. Now that I had nothing to worrry about in accords to Professor Umbridge, everything was going a little more smoothly. Classes weren't anything new because I had already learned the O.W.L. levels for each of them. The most I had been learning that was new was everything going on in Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures.

Once the afternoon classes were over, Seraphina surprised me when she told me to promptly drop my bag off in my dorm and follow her. I followed her down the hallways in slight confusion.

"What's going on?"

"Your father wants to see you."

"Uh… well, I don't know how we're supposed to get off of Hogwarts premises without permission…."

"We have Dumbles' permission, don't worry about it. Umbitch is in the middle of her detention with Sir Potty-Mouth, so it'll be an easy trip under the radar if we leave now."

I was impressed. "Professor Dumbledore is okay with this?"

"Well, no I lied," she said. "When I brought the news to him, he blatantly refused. But he is so busy worrying about everything Harry Potter related, that I know he won't notice you've disappeared. I have permission to come and go as I please, because of my meetings with your father… just stay close."

I sped up to walk side by side with her, wondering what dad could possibly want to talk about… and silently hoping that Harry was okay, knowing the type of punishment Umbridge was giving him. It's about his third day doing it with her too, if I recall correctly, so whatever he has to write into the back of his hand is going to scar badly. "If he's expecting a status report on my followers, I haven't exacty gotten far for the first week back to school."

She waved her hand, "Nonsense, you've gotten farther than he should ever expect…You've branched out."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Right… let's see, I have Draco and Becky for sure. Probably Greg and Vincent, and only a possibility for Blaise, Millicent and Pansy."

She shook her head. "You have all of them. The key to having people say they'll follow you is that, even if they don't like where you're going, you have to blackmail them into staying loyal no matter what."

"That's what you and dad do?"

"Yup!" she was fairly eager. "Very effective to keep them. Either they stay loyal to you for life, or they die."

Figures.. "There are other ways of effectiveness, too. I could try those."

"Like what?"

"The quill."

She laughed.

We reached the other end of the gate, and I took Seraphina's arm as she Disapparated to Malfoy Manor in the gardens where dad waited for us.

"Melody," he said instantly, walking toward me with his arms outstretched. Okay… I thought as his arms went around me in a hug, last time he put an arm around my shoulder, now he's giving me an awkward hug. Is he trying to be more loving? I thought he said it was a weakness, what is he doing?

"Hi, dad. What's going on?" I asked, deciding to put my arms around him to try hugging back. He really didn't know what he was doing, the way he patted my back almost felt like someone died and he was trying very poorly to make me feel better.

When he withdrew, he instantly grabbed my right hand to look at it more closely. Oh, wow… "Explain this to me."

"Well, it didn't set in all the way, I think it's supposed to be deep enough to bleed but luckily Seraphina didn't let it go too far."

"What happened?"

I sighed and told him about the detentions, what the quill did and when Seraphina stepped in - excluding me freaking out about the safety of the people I care about, of course. "I didn't know what to do, so I set down to wait until Seraphina could come back."

"I would have thought you know what to do in that situation," he sounded irritated.

I pulled my hand out of his, trying not to get irritated with him. "Everybody has been telling me to lay low because she is a Ministry woman. In which case, I thought it best to keep down until I had further instructions. I wouldn't want to act out of turn, and ruin your glorious comeback."

He smiled, "I see. Very smart."

I should have said your attempt at a glorious comeback, I thought bitterly. "In any case, it should be good for you that I know how to deal with torture."

"Very," he agreed with a nod. "Which is why I wonder how far you've gone in what I asked of you?"

"Well, first things first, Harry Potter is getting into trouble very easily this year. That Umbridge woman has given him detention all this week, and it's because he lets his anger get the best of him - if you want to use that to your advantage in future confrontations, be my guest, for he has all of the Gryffindor qualities.

"Secondly, I have," I counted everyone off on my fingers, "seven followers already -"

He had smiled knowingly at my first point… by my second point it had dissolved into a frown. "Not all of Slytherin House?"

My mouth set in a thin line, "As much as I'd like to threaten everybody to follow or die, I'm still under Ministry supervision, which makes it especially difficult while that Umbridge woman happened to be in Slytherin when she went to Hogwarts. Not only that, but if everyone in Slytherin House disappears under strange circumstance, I would be the first person they'd look at."

He growled but nodded in agreement. God, no wonder Professor Dumbledore could see right through him, he has a hard time thinking things through before acting.

"The rest of it is hard to think through. I have the people, but I don't want to copy you by tattoeing everybody. And then.. what kind of name would I choose?"

"You'll figure it out, I'm sure," he brushed it off before turning to Seraphina while pointing at my hand. "Make sure this does not happen again."

She laughed, "I'm not to blame for this one. You're the one that requested I leave the castle in the first place. Luckily you ended the meeting earlier than expected -"

He gave her a dangerous look. "I am not to blame. I put you in charge to watch her. Figure it out."

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, that only means that I must decline all orders to come meet."

His displeased hiss sounded like it packed a snake bite with it, "Fine, you child."

I raised an eyebrow between the two of them. "It will not do me well if the adults I have taking care of me are both children, then what does it make me?"

It surprised me that they both laughed at this. So, I could not help it, I laughed with. That was a pretty unique moment for me to see dad's face crinkle with laughter… normal laughter at that…. How would any of this have gone should mom have stayed with him and let him raise me, too? How would I have been?

"But…" dad continued, "to the matter at hand, Melody. If this woman is really planning on doing this to all of the students, then it would not be something Fudge would have allowed. She is doing it in secret."

"Probably. What are you thinking?"

"She was in Slytherin, as you say, so her thinking is the same… use her as your first test of being my ally."

My heart stopped in my chest. "What are you asking?"

"She's a Ministry woman, so she might not want to be a follower, but she certainly wants to rise in strength and power. Give her this option… that when I rise enough to overtake the Ministry, she can be in charge of very important affairs there." An evil smile covered his face.

My stomach felt like it wanted to burst. I kept my voice as calm as I could, "You're planning to take control of the Ministry? Is that what the meetings have been about?"

"Yes," he replied proudly.

"When?"

"That detail hasn't been worked out quite yet, but we'll see. By that time, I'm of the hopes that you will be strong enough to help infiltrate it."

"Exciting," I said with a smile. Crap. "Well, I know how to -" I was going to talk about my mind control.

But Seraphina cut me off. "She knows how to strategize very well. You're quite lucky to have her brains on your team -"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" dad looked at her dangerously. "She got her brains from me!"

"Your brains aren't good enough, it's partly Orele's too."

"No, Orele hated learning. She would only learn what would put her in control."

Are we really having an argument about whose brain I have?… I'm confused why Seraphina wouldn't let me tell dad about my mind control.

"Voldy don't push it," Seraphina suddenly said.

I looked up, and was surprised to see dad nod. "Of course."

She's so powerful that he dares not cross the line with her… that's why he was hoping for her to get caught and maybe killed by Professor Dumbledore. Unluckily for him, the headmaster is fine with her being here.

"I will call for you two another time," he said evenly. He looked at me and said, "Make better progress on your project."

"Yes, dad."

He ruffled my hair with his hand, "There's my girl."

"Yeah, yeah, enough sentiments," Seraphina said, holding her arm out to me.

"What do you mean?" dad asked her.

But at that moment, I grabbed hold of her arm and she Disapparated us back to the castle. She set off to get to the castle, the moon shone brightly on the grounds. I was surprised time had passed by like that while we were away.

"Why did you interrupt me before?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, dearie," she said with a sigh, walking so fast that I felt like I had to run. She slowly changed into the form of Anastasia as we moved. "Your father doesn't know everything there is to Dark Magic."

My eyes widened. "Are you serious? He studied the Dark Arts for years, how is it that you know more than he does?"

She grinned, "He has only travelled all over Europe."

"So… you've travelled the world?"

"I've travelled so much further than just the world… but that's a story for another time. As fun as it would be to show off your magical skills to him, I think if you want to surpass him it would be best that we keep our lessons between us."

"Why -"

She stopped in her tracks and turned to look at me. "Don't tell me you trust him?"

I was taken aback by her suddenness and stared at her in disbelief. "I -"

"As much as he may care for you, he will not let that blind him if you become a threat to his power. Any attempt at becoming more powerful than him and he will not hesitate -"

"I know!" I shouted, making it her turn to look at me in surprise. I took a deep breath before continuing in as low a tone as I could muster, "I know… I'm not oblivious. He killed my mom." My fists clenched tightly as I felt anger suddenly surge through me at the memory. "I know that being his daughter does not change his attitude toward being afraid of me becoming more powerful than him. That's why he's so scared of you, because he can't defeat you… it's why he sent you to Hogwarts with me. He expected Professor Dumbledore to somehow capture or kill you."

I looked down at the ground trying to keep my anger under control, but images of dad's wand going up with the green flash of light and mom's body lifeless on the ground popped up at the forefront of my mind. I struggled to keep the walls up but the cracks deepened through each and every single one of them, causing the images to just spring forth and give me pain both head and heart. What's going on with me? I thought in a panic. Why do I feel so angry, sad and guilty all at once?

A hand touched my shoulder and what seemed like ice swept through my body in large waves until I felt numb both body and mind. I opened my eyes to see that Seraphina's eyes had changed from an electric blue to a clear ice blue… and then turned back.

"What did you just do?"

"I might be entertaining guesswork here, but I thought you weren't ready to take down those last nine walls yet," she said with a small smile.

I chuckled softly, "Well, you did warn me that it would be only too easy to break down. I guess my mind has nearly reached its limit…." My heart dropped, "As much as I wanted to push it off, I'll have to take it down sometime soon I guess." I continued walking toward the castle, Seraphina walking beside me.

Seraphina shrugged. "If you want to keep it going, I can always use my water element."

"Your - huh?"

"That skill I just used to cool your blood is one of the lessons I'll be teaching you. You can't water bend, but what you do have is mental manipulation - what I shortened to you as mind control. It's one of the more rare elements, but you've got it."

My eyes widened, "Is it a skill everyone is born with?"

"Yes, but few can truly access it," she responded proudly. "Many never figure out how to achieve a strength in that field. So many people ended up in St. Mungo's Hospital with fire, water or air injuries because the unknowing elementals didn't properly learn how to reverse the magic they used in anger by accident - like with Umbridge. Yours had been done with concentration - lose that concentration, and the spell on them is basically broken."

"Which was why you told me to relax my brain… but if your element is water, how did it seep into my blood?"

"I have the rarest magic, and that is that water has the ability to control through blood manipulation. Did I ever mention to you that I am a skilled necromancer?" I shook my head at her question. "Well, my ability to bend water is why. It's such a Dark Art that very few people have been able to do it over thousands of years - such as Morgan LeFay."

"Wow," I said, holding my hand to my head. It hurts… "Well, I'm going to go lay down. This is a lot to take in."

"Of cour -"

"Miss Capitani! Miss Riddle!" I suddenly heard.

My head pounded even more dangerously at the sharp tone, and I looked up to see Severus coming down the stone steps. He was absolutely infuriated. Luckily, since no one else was supposed to know what really happened, his voice lowered to an angry whisper. Directed at Seraphina.

"How dare you take Melody to the Dark Lord against Dumbledore's orders! It was hard enough to even get you in to the castle, I'm not sure I even want to defend your idiocy to him for pulling such a low act even for you."

"Ooh, touchy are we?" she asked humorously.

"This is not even remotely funny! What would've happened if Umbridge found out she was missing? This is no game, Seraphina!"

"Oh, leave her alone!" I said, just as quiet and dangerous. "What was she supposed to do, tell him no? He wanted to be sure I was okay after the whole fiasco with Umbridge's detentions."

He looked at me with worry, "Are you all right, Melody? You look pale…"

"Go, dearie," Seraphina said seriously. "Go lay down; relax and sleep. Your barriers will stay up if you don't let your temperature rise. I can handle Snape."

I nodded and begun my slow trek up the stone steps, through the hallways, and down to the dungeons. At least the air in the dungeons feels cool…but now I'm freezing… I can't use the warmth spell or my body might rise to temperatures I don't want. I just need to keep these walls up a little bit longer, I swear.

I reached the entrance to the Slytherin common room, said "Amortentia," and slowly walked in. Almost there, Melody, almost there… huh?

"You're finally back," I heard the familiar drawl.

"Draco? What are you doing up?"

He stood from his favorite armchair to walk toward me, "I was waiting for you… what happened?"

"Just a.. visit to dad…" I replied uncomfortably as he drew nearer. Damnit, this is not the time, I already feel hotter! He stood in front of me, his gray eyes curious. "I have a splitting headache now, too, so I'm just going to go to bed. Good -"

I tried to walk past him, but he grabbed my arm before I could. "Oh, no you don't," he whispered. "I've been trying to talk to you, you know. Now that we're alone, I can do whatever necessary to keep you in the same room with me until we get this situation figured out."

I growled, "What situation, there's no -" I gasped as he pushed me in front of him. I tried to push forward, but he slowly kept on pushing me back. My legs kept backing up with no way to move anywhere else. "Draco, where the hell is this strength coming from?"

He sighed, "Becky knew you would do anything and everything you could to get out of this, so she swiped a strength potion from Snape's shop."

And my friend is supposed to be on my side! "There's nothing to talk about," I said as my back touched the wall. Suddenly I felt as though I were suffocating - what is he doing?

"Let go of me or I'll - I'll - I'll hex you!" I said irritably, my body heat rising significantly. I inwardly freaked out at the instability of my barriers.

"No, you won't," he said, stroking my cheek softly with his thumb.

Ugh, such a naive boy!

"Why do you keep on pushing us away - me away?"

"It's the way things have to be - now, let me go!"

"No."

"Then I will hex you."

His hands were at my wrists before I could grab my wand, both were brought above my head. As much as I stuggled, I couldn't break free. "Now what?"

"I still know some wandless magic, I'll only hex you using that if you don't let me go."

"I don't believe you."

"Urgh, why not?"

"If you wanted to do it, why haven't you already done so?"

"I'm trying to give you a chance here!"

"Melody talk to me."

"No! Let me go, Draco!"

"You can't hurt me."

"Oh, how naive are you? I could bring you down with one spell, now let me go before I'm forced to -"

"Then do it."

"Don't tempt me!"

"Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it…" He repeated this sentence constantly.

My head pounded dangerously, but as much as I tried to summon up a spell in my mind I couldn't bring anything together to pose any harm to him. My attempts were such horrible failures, and his constant persistance, finally caused me to explode.

"Fine!… I can't bear to hurt you. Now what point are you trying to make?"

"I wanted to see if what Snape said was true. That you were scared you would harm me the same way…" he trailed off, but I knew what he meant. Why did Severus tell him that?

"The way you looked at me that day, though…. Your fear of me."

"You idiot, I could never be afraid of you the way everyone's afraid of your father. I love you!"

My heart fluttered painfully against my chest and stomach. I struggled both to keep my barriers up and to get out of his strong grip. I felt tears fall slowly down my face in my efforts. "Let me go.. please, let me go," I practically sobbed. My emotions were skyrocketing through my brain in such loops that it scared me.

"No," he said calmly, leaning towards me so his forehead rested against mine. When was the last time he and I got this close? I feel like all the air around me has been sucked away.

He leaned yet further and gently placed his lips against my own… but yet, as gently as it was, every single one of my barriers came crashing down. One after the other. 9.. 8.. 7.. 6.. 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1… Nothing. Draco let go of my wrists and pulled away just in time for me to burst into heavy tears and bury my face in his chest. He put his arms around me.

"How do you feel about me now, Mel?"

"I - I - I l-love you t-t-too," I mumbled almost incoherently.

He chuckled, "I knew it," and pulled me closer.

So many different emotions confused my mind at once - all of the ones I had felt while talking to Seraphina except in bigger, more painful waves. "I'm - I'm - I'm sorry f-for ass-ss-ssuming you w-wouldn't want m-me."

"That's okay, Quirrell."

"Oh, sh-shut up," I couldn't help my small laugh. I wiped my tears off my face.

He rested his chin on top of my head, "Are you feeling better?"

"Yes…" I responded. "But… can I stay with you tonight? I… don't want to be alone anymore."

"Yes, Mel, of course you can."