"It's safe to say that there's nothing we can do to keep that man out of Hogwarts," Minerva said. She sat stiffly behind her desk, deeply concerned over the welfare of her students.

"He's even managed to get into our home," Hermione informed the group of Hogwarts' teachers reluctantly. Only a few had been told to prevent the public from going crazy over the thought of a young girl being possessed.

Minerva's lips pursed. "I'd rather not expose the students to anymore dangers."

"None of the children have been actually harmed as of yet," Williger spoke up.

"Well, perhaps not physically, but I'm fairly certain that a few have been through enough mental trauma, wouldn't you think?" Minerva asked him with a bit of snark. "I don't know about you, but I'd rather not risk for anything more to happen."

"I'm only suggesting that maybe he's not out to harm the students."

Minerva scoffed. "Did you have a vision about that? Have you forgotten the bomb threat?!"

"Let's not argue," Hermione cut in. "What we do know is that Riley is capable of murder, and even if he intends to harm Simon or not, his constant presence in our school and lives is not emotionally healthy. And now that he has somehow rendered our wands useless in his presence, we are practically defenseless for when he shows up again."

Minerva took off her glasses to rub at her tired eyes. "We've tried everything to protect everyone involved. More and more people—children specifically—are getting dragged into this. I just don't know what else we should try anymore, short of closing down the school."

"There is one thing we could do, but none of you are going to like it." Williger earned everyone's attention.

"So spit it out then," Minerva regrettably permitted.

"We could bait him."

"I already hate it," Minerva grumbled, dismissing his idea without even giving it a thought.

"We're not using Simon or any of the other students as bait!" Hermione concurred. "We're here to protect them, not expose them to further danger!"

"We don't need to get the children involved; we'll just use Riley's tactics against him."

"I actually quite like that idea…" Draco drawled out. He had been in a corner, quietly listening to the bantering. "One of us could send a note to the murderer, claiming to be Simon and curious about his research— my father did say that the man loves boasting about his discoveries. If he felt Simon was on his side, then maybe he'd lure who he thinks is the boy somewhere and snatch him."

"And just who's going to volunteer to take on that part?" Minerva asked, shifting her eyes from person to person.

*/*

Talli woke up with a start, bolting upright in her bed, looking around in the darkness of the room. Penny was faintly snoring in the bed across from her. Talli rolled her eyes in annoyance. Hogwarts was pretty wicked to be a part of, but one thing she missed from home was having her own room.

She swung her feet to the side of the bed, thinking over what had suddenly woke her. It hadn't been Penny's snoring, she was kind of used to that and was able to sleep through it on most nights. Since the murderer had made his latest attack that night, something had been nagging at her.

Apparition.

One couldn't apparate into and out of Hogwarts. So how had Connie been able to do it? Riley couldn't do magic yet, she assumed, else he would have been armed with a wand. No, he still had to have the house elf do his magic for him, which meant he hadn't been able to make himself a wizard.

Still, he somehow had deactivated their wands, and as of yet, no one knew how he had done it.

Talli got out of bed, shivering as her bare feet touched the icy floor beneath her. Hastily, she slipped on her socks and shoes and grabbed for her wand.

In the common room, a couple of older students were tangled in an armchair, murmuring things to each other. Talli's nose wrinkled when the girl released a flirtatious giggle.

Revolting.

"Where are you going?" Talli jumped at the sound of Lily's question; asked in a whisper as to not disturb the now-snogging-teenagers.

"Bloody hell, Lily!" Talli hissed, eyeing the teenagers across the way. They were too busy sucking each others faces to have noticed their presence. "You gave me a fright!"

"Sorry," her friend said, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "So what's on your mind?"

Talli tossed her head toward The Fat Lady's painting, indicating that she'd explain later when they were out in the corridor.

"Something came to me in my sleep: Hogwarts likely has a traitor under its roof." Talli didn't whisper, choosing to speak very soft instead.

"A traitor?" Lily's eyes grew wide, likely thinking of the time when the killer had posed as Lockberry. "What makes you think that?"

"Apparition is usually impossible to do inside the parameters of Hogwarts, and yet Connie was able to do it."

Lily gave a slow nod, contemplating Talli's thought. "Could it be a staff member?" she asked, whispering more in fear than anything.

"I think it's a house elf."

Lily let out a gasp at Talli's accusation. "House elves aren't traitors, Talli!"

"What makes you think that?"

"They can't disobey their masters!"

"What if their master is a terrible person though?" Lily's mouth clamped shut, unable to argue with that. "If the killer has one house elf, he could have two," Talli continued. "And that second elf could be right in this very castle assisting him with his magical needs."

"So where are we going then?"

"The kitchens, of course, we've got some investigating to do!"

"We're going to walk down nine floors; what if we get caught? That's a long walk!"

"I know a shortcut," Talli informed smugly. "I was exploring a couple days ago, and I found a lovely room. It has tons of doors, and each one leads you to a different area of the castle!"

"No kidding?" Lily was excited over the thought of not having the usual lengthy walk down to the ground floor. "Amazing!"

"It's fairly new, I think it was built after the war. My mum didn't know about it when I mentioned it to her."

"It'll definitely be useful!"

The room was pretty neat, and it wasn't harsh on the stomach like flooing or apparition. When one stepped through a door to travel to their desired location, it was a smooth transition, making it an enjoyable way to travel.

When they appeared in the basement corridor, Talli and Lily took a moment to listen for anyone else. There was silence, so they continued their journey, passing by several paintings.

"There it is!" Lily pointed to the fruit bowl painting. She had never seen it before, only having heard stories of it, but Talli, an explorer of the castle, had already been to the kitchens. She had Lily tickle the pear where they both shared a laugh at the giggle that the action earned. The handle then appeared, and Talli opened it, leading Lily inside.

"Hello?" Talli called out after shutting the door. The last time that she had stepped foot into the kitchens, it had been busy with elves preparing for breakfast, but now it was relatively dead.

"Cans I help you misses?" a quiet, but squeaky voice spoke out. A mousy-looking house elf then came into view.

"Oh, hello!" Talli greeted, smiling down at the tiny creature. Most elves were not much smaller than Talli, but this one was exceptionally small, barely reaching up to Talli's knees. "My name is Talli, and this is my friend Lily!"

The house elf gave a quick bow. "I'm Minnie, and I was just finishing up my shift. You are heres for a snack?"

"Oh, no! Actually, I was wondering if any of you have heard about the murderer that's loose? The one who killed the Potions professor?"

"Oh, yes!" the house elf cried out. "Oh it is so dreadful about what happened!"

"Yes, well last night his own house elf apparited out of the school— do you know Connie the house elf at all?"

Minnie took the gringy tea towel that she was wearing and crumbled it up into her hands. "I know Connie…"

"Yeah?" Lily cut in, stepping forward with eagerness. "What do you know about her?"

Minnie shrunk back, hiding behind a counter. "She wasn't bad!"

"Well, she's helping Riley, but she could be forced into doing work for him," Talli explained. "I'm no stranger to how elves are treated. We're just seeking some answers, that's all."

The girls couldn't see Minnie anymore, but she was nearby, as they could hear quiet whimpers coming from her. "Just go away! I can't talk anymore!"

There was a crashing noise that followed, and the girls chased after the house elf, only to have Minnie slip into a cupboard, locking it behind her.

Lily smacked at the door of the cupboard. "You know something! Tell us what's going on!"

"Minnie is innocent! She has done nothing wrong! Go away!"

"But you know who is guilty," Talli said, speaking encouragingly. "And you could really help us, possibly even save future lives…"

"Minnie cannot say anything!"

"Do you want more people to die?" Lily asked accusingly.

"No, Minnie wants peace, that's why she can't say anything!"

"We could always tell the headmistress!" Lily threatened. "And she'll probably throw you out into the streets!"

Talli elbowed Lily, giving her a look. There was no way that she would allow a scared, little house elf be thrown out into the streets.

The cupboard door opened a crack, and all they could see was the tip of Minnie's mousy nose. "Alright, Minnie will talk, but I'll only say this one time. You listen closely, okay?"

The girls eagerly nodded, and they moved closer up to the cupboard where Minnie whispered, "Neuf is the answer to your questions," She had spoken it so softly, that the girls had struggled to hear her.

"What's that even mean?" Lily demanded of the elf, but all Minnie did was shut the cupboard door and nothing more was said.

Talli and Lily thought upon it as they made their long walk back up to their common room.

"I've heard of neuf before," Talli told Lily once they were safe inside their common room. They were alone— the snogging teenagers must have gone to bed, to Talli's relief

"I haven't."

Talli sat down at a table, searching her mind for neuf. She uprooted from her seat minutes later, shouting, "I've got it!"

"Yeah?!" Lily asked, excited to know what Talli had come up with.

"Nine," she answered with a smile that quickly was replaced with a frown. "Neuf means… nine."

"So nine is our only clue?" Lily sat down with a huff. "That's hardly anything decent."

"Wait a second…" Talli's eyes widened. "I think I've just figured out something!" She ran over to a desk, pulling out some paper and a quill. Lily hovered over her shoulder as she wrote.

"I don't understand…" Lily admitted when Talli was finished.

"Riley calls Simon and Scorpius nines, this is why!"

"It's just a bunch of numbers. I'm missing something."

"It's their path number! Both Simon and Scorpius are nines!"

"Ooooh!" Lily finally got what Talli was saying, but she still was confused. "Why is that important now?"

"Riley's probably a seven! Seven, eight, nine! He's basically saying that he trumps them!"

*/*

Backed up against a wall, the woman stood firm, with her chin up. "By the time you find him, it'll be too late."

The man wore an ugly scowl, he held the tip of a knife to the smooth skin of her neck. "Don't make me do this, Janis." His voice lacked any sympathy, in fact, it was quite the opposite, it almost appeared that he was growing excited over the thought of ending her life with one stroke of his wrist. "You are a smart woman; think this through."

Janis closed her eyes. Her chest slowly extended out upon taking a deep breath. "My answer remains the same, Riley. It's a shame I won't get to see the disappointed look on your face when you fail your motives."

Scorpius sat up in bed, panting. He was drenched with sweat. Running a hand through his hair, he tried to forget about the image of the killer murdering Simon's mother in cold blood.

He scrambled out of bed when he heard his friend whimpering in his sleep. "Simon!" he whispered as to not wake up the other boys. "Wake up, tough guy!"

Simon was in sobs then. "I don't understand!" he cried. "How could he?! Why did he do it?! What does he want me for?!"

Scorpius hugged him close, talking softly to him, trying to calm him down.

"Another nightmare?" Edgar was propped up onto an elbow, his hair an absolute mess.

"Go back to sleep," Scorpius told him. "He'll be fine."

"Was it about that man; Riley?" Edgar ignored Scorpius's order and sat up at the side of the bed.

Simon couldn't answer. He clung to Scorpius in absolute fear, trembling against him.

"Lily said he was quite frightening," Edgar continued when Scorpius didn't make a response. "I'd have nightmares too if I had met him."

"He killed my mum…" Simon explained, shuddering at the vivid memory.

"Oh…" Edgar didn't know what to say when he learned that.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Warren wondered. He had been laying there awake in silence until then.

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted, feeling helpless. "But I think right now, we have to keep that psycho away from Simon."

"He's coming for me!" Simon cried out. "Picket said that he was going to come after me and kill—"

"Shush," Scorpius prevented him from finishing his sentence. "We're not going to let him hurt you."

"I'm just so scared…!"

Scorpius nodded. He was too. It seemed that no matter what, the killer was always winning. He was just thankful that his father stopped the man momentarily, but Scorpius knew that they were only safe for the time being. Riley would certainly be back, and they had to be extremely vigilant. If what Picket said was true, the murderer had Simon on his list, and whatever he was going to inject him with could very well be lethal.

Scorpius pulled apart from Simon as an idea came to him right then. "I've got to talk to my father!" And he was out of the room before anyone could call out his name.

"Father!" Scorpius pounded on the door of the man's room. It was just outside the common room, easy for him to keep track of things if need to be.

Scorpius heard footsteps shuffle on the other side of the door before it opened, revealing a very sleepy-looking Draco.

"Everything alright?"

"I just got to thinking, what if we give some armour lotion to Simon?"

The man closed the door after Scorpius had stepped in and pulled out a desk chair for the boy. He yawned audibly. "What would he need that for?"

"Well, it's a great defense if the killer comes by again. With the lotion, he couldn't use needles on Simon!"

Father smiled. "That's a brilliant idea, Scorpius! I'm almost embarrassed for not thinking of it first!" He conjured up a couple of bottles and handed them to his son. "Make sure he applies it twice a day," he firmly instructed.

That morning, Talli practically pounced on the boys as they exited their common room. "Guess what I learned?!"

"Um… no idea." Simon wasn't all too great at guessing games.

"Were you spying on someone again?" Scorpius asked, disapproval hung in his voice.

"Course not!" She then lowered her voice. "So, I went down to the kitchens after curfew—"

"Are you serious?!" Scorpius shrieked. "With a killer running around who has a history of possessing you?! What were you thinking?!"

Talli rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up! It's not like you don't do dumb things— anyway, do you want to learn what we found out or not?"

"We?" Simon asked.

"Lily was with me," Talli explained.

"What did you learn?" Scorpius inquired with a sigh, knowing it was pointless to carry on with his lecturing of her.

"That your life paths are nines!"

Simon looked at her with a blank look. "And why is that so interesting?"

"Riley calls you nines because of that! Which makes me think he's a seven, and I couldn't sleep last night, cause I had this thought that he might be using a life path of eight to use against you, but I don't know any eights—"

"Hold on, Tals, you're talking too fast," Scorpius stopped her from her quick rambling. "You're telling us that the killer calls us nines because of our Arithmancy path numbers?"

"Actually that makes sense, with his obsession of nine," Simon said.

"He does seem rather obsessed with you," Talli added.

"But why us?"

Talli shrugged. "We'll find out eventually."

"So how'd you discover this anyway?" Scorpius wondered.

"We went down to the kitchens to ask the house elves about Connie, we met Minnie the house elf down there, and she said that neuf would answer all of our questions. Neuf is nine in French, just in case you didn't know."

"It's also the name of a house elf that resides here," Simon informed. "Minnie obviously meant for you to talk to him."

Talli's eyes widened to the size of saucers. "You're joking?"

"You know I rarely joke."

"It was a rhetorical question. Wow, am I an idiot— wait a second…!" She smacked herself in the forehead. "Holy fish tails, I was right!" she gasped. "He's the rouge!"

"Huh?" Scorpius was confused, but Talli didn't elaborate, she ran off, stating that she had to go find Neuf.

"Merlin, your sister is a bucket of energy, isn't she?"

"Particularly when she's excited."

"Has she always been that way?"

Scorpius laughed. "Since before she even took her first breath."

It had been months since Simon and Scorpius had gone to an inner eye meeting. They weren't able to go to many of them due to their school schedule, and usually the boys left the group feeling quite uncomfortable, so they often chose not to go, but when February's meeting came up, they decided to go.

And Huldah recommended that they go too. Why, Simon didn't know, and as usual, Huldah didn't clarify her reasoning.

"I really wish there was a different route to the meeting house," Simon grumbled, eyeing the narrow path between the shelves of the storage room under the kitchens.

"Just drink the potion and run through the path real fast," Scorpius suggested from his spot at the doorway that led to the secret tunnel.

Simon reluctantly did so and followed Scorpius into the tunnel where they were closed into upon entering it.

"Let's get this over with," Simon muttered as Huldah appeared at his shoulder, twittering happily.

"Picket's at the meeting!" Simon exclaimed, and he began running.

"It's a twenty minute walk!" Scorpius reminded him.

"That just means it'll be a ten minute run!"

"You think you can run for ten minutes strait?"

Simon slowed down his pace some, panting. "Fine, you win!"

When they entered the meeting house, they didn't see Picket. "Where's Picket?" Simon immediately asked, out of breath from his brisk walk.

Tilda shrieked out. "The boys are here! Dayshaun! Simon's here!"

"I'm on it!" Picket appeared at a doorway, smiling at Simon, setting his shoulder against the jam.

"Dad!" Simon gasped. He hurried to the man, stopping in front of him. "What are you doing here?"

Picket set a hand to the teenager's head. "I felt it was time for a visit." His eyes shifted from each person who was in the room; all occupants were watching their exchange closely.

"Would you mind if me and you spoke alone, mate?" Picket asked Simon.

"Of course not!" Simon ducked under an arm of Picket's, disappearing into the room that the man had emerged from moments ago.

"Oi, Scorpius, have you discovered what type of Diviner you are yet?" Jacky wondered, gesturing the boy to take a seat next to him on the sofa.

"I hardly believe he's had much time to give it a thought," Professor Williger said, half-jokingly, speaking about Scorpius's recent events.

"That surely wouldn't be a lie," Scorpius said. "I seem to channel Simon's nightmares though."

It was silent for a few moments as the adults exchanged unreadable looks.

"Just Simon's?" Hanna asked.

"Last year, I was able to see visions of people's past, but I just figured that they had to do with..." Scorpius trailed off, stopping himself from further explaining. The visions he would see always occurred during the times that he cured people. It was how he was able to determine what was wrong with them. Scorpius wasn't sure the visions were a sign of the type of Diviner he was though. When he had those visions, he always had the amulet with him. He had assumed it had been the amulets power, and not his own.

"I'm not much of a seer, am I?" Scorpius asked the group, not wanting them to know that he could heal people. "I'm honestly confused on why I'm even considered one.

"You mistake Hanna's inquiry, sweetie," Tilda said softly. "She was not implying that your channeling of Simon was a bad thing. Most people usually don't channel just one person, that's all."

"I feel more like Simon and I are bonded rather than me possessing the inner eye."

"We all know that you have the inner sight," Professor Williger stated. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here in the group."

"What type of Diviner are you anyway?" Scorpius asked, diverting the topic from himself.

Williger's top teeth sank into his bottom lip, grinning. "You tell me yours first, than I'll share mine."

Scorpius let out a sigh. He may likely never discover his true gift. Simon had been blessed with Huldah, but Scorpius was on his own— if it was truly he who possessed it and not his amulet.

"So how do you know Picket anyway?" Scorpius wondered, once again, trying to get himself off the topic.

Williger's grin grew wider, seemingly knowing Scorpius's tactics, but he obliged. "Dayshaun and I have known each other for years. His father was the one who created this group, and I was invited to join. Picket is much older, obviously I was just a wee boy— about your age— when I joined; Picket was already an adult, but we've been inseparable since."

"So that's why you showed up at the asylum that day!"

Williger nodded. He tucked his feet underneath his body. "I made to visit him almost everyday "

"Did you know that the killer was keeping him prisoner?"

Williger leaned to the side of his chair, taking a teacup from the table next to him. "Such an odd question to ask," he said, taking his time with responding. He sipped from his teacup, staring Scorpius down.

Scorpius blinked, having heavy difficulties looking away from Williger. He closed his eyes tightly, blocking the man's contact with them.

"Tilda, what do you say we have lunch?" The springs to Williger's chair squeaked, and Scorpius opened his eyes to see that the gangly man was making his way to the kitchen.

No doubt, he didn't answer Scorpius's question for a reason.

"What'd Picket want?"

The walk back to the storage room after the meeting was much slower and quieter than their earlier walk. Scorpius had been lost in his own thoughts on Williger, and it had taken him a bit to realize that Simon had also barely said anything since they had left.

"Well, first he wanted literally a handful of my hair— isn't that weird? But then… when he started speaking to me, he had trouble saying the words. He said he wanted to see me one last time before he takes a trip."

"Did he say where he was going?"

Simon shook his head. "I take it nowhere good. He was absolutely dreading it. He didn't say so, but Picket can't hide his fear well."

"And you gave him your hair?"

"Yeah."

"Hair is used in many potions and rituals," Scorpius thought aloud for Simon's benefit. "But I can't think of anything that would cause him fear— we know Picket wouldn't harm you."

"I'm worried, Scorpius. My gut feels sick over this. This is not good."

"And we know to trust our guts."

"What should we do to help him?"

"We can track your hair," Scorpius suggested.

"Track my hair?" Simon twisted his face. "That's actually a thing?"

"Underage wizards are trackable, by magic or by DNA— so long as the person searching for the child is related to them."

"You can track hair that's been removed from my head?"

Scorpius laughed. "Why do you think my family keeps jars of our hair at home?"

"Ah, right…"

"So when we get back, I'll make up the potion."

"Wait…" Simon said slowly as something came to him. "If you and I could be tracked, then how come no one tracked us to the asylum that the killer took us to?"

"There are wards that block such spells. We can hope Picket might not be going to one of them."

"And why do you say that?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Why would he need to hide?"

Simon rolled his eyes. "It's Picket, he doesn't need a reason. You've seen how he acts. He's lives in constant paranoia. You fixed a lot of his problems, but he's still a bit of a tinfoil."

"I think if I had been through half of things he has, I'd be quite paranoid too."

*/*

"You got a letter, boss?"

Riley pried his eyes from the paper that had just been delivered to him. "A reunion is about to take place," he informed, standing from his chair and arching his back into a stretch.

"With your son?"

Riley snorted. "Well, in appearance alone."

Connie shook her head in confusion. "Shall I alert Darla about your departure before we leave?" she asked, watching the man shrug into a thick, padded coat.

"We won't be gone long," he assured her. "Before the next stir is required."

Connie nodded, acknowledging his words.

"But have her prepare Picket's room, would you?"

Connie straightened up in high alert. "Shall the walls be painted over?"

Riley's lips stretched out, smirking. "We can't have it any other way."

AN: I haven't abandoned this story. I've been through a lot since January. My home burned down on the 29th, and I lost everything. All the humans and dogs got out alive (my grandma and dad came out in flames...), but we lost the cat. It's been a horrible couple of months, and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to update or write on this story (or any story, for that matter).

We're moving to our place in Oklahoma on Wednesday (the 27th of March), hopefully once we're settled in, I'll start back up on this story. This chapter I had finished right before the fire, and I'll be honest, I haven't been in the mood to update. I don't know when I'll have internet after the move though, so figured I would give you all a much needed update.

It was just really weird. All winter, I kept thinking there was going to be a house fire. Freaky, man...

I'm okay, just shaken. And I don't wanna be around any flames right now...

Review Responses:

chapou69: Aww, thank you so much! Hope you'll still be here for the rest, hehe.

tmtcltb: Haha, thank you; I love that I can switch scene moods like that. And yeah, you're right about Lucius! Wonder if he'll assist at all...