Catherine stared up at the ceiling of her room, one arm resting beneath her head. She sighed heavily as she stared upward. It was windy outside and the trees tossed and scraped her windows. But Catherine did not notice. She was concentrating on the sight above her. Christmas had come early for Catherine. Upon her arrival home, her mother had surprised her with bewitching her ceiling to look like the Andromeda galaxy. Before her, an orangish-yellowish star was at the center. Surrounded by that were swirls of orange, then pink, purple, before it gave way to a lighter and then deep blue. Comets zoomed across from one side of the room to the other.

Beneath her, Catherine's other Christmas present resided. She'd been gifted a celestial velvet quilt with a deep blue hue. While the wind outside rattled the windows, Catherine continued to stare upward at the ceiling. There was something so calming about staring into another galaxy. It helped her concentrate on the thoughts that were intruding her brain at a rapid pace.

Firstly, a few alarms had been raised as soon as Catherine had been picked up at King's Cross by her mother. Her mother seemed strangely over-joyous. She made no mention her letter on the journey home. As soon as Catherine had stepped over the threshold of the doorway, she knew something was off. She didn't need to be a Seer like Kayla or Dane to know that something was afoot and she needed to figure out what it was as soon as possible.

Having heard their entrance into the house, her father, Henry Delaney, stepped from his study and extended both of his arms. His grayish eyes had deep, dark circles beneath them. He was unshaven, and his clothes hung loosely from his frame. He must have lost weight. Catherine hugged him more tightly than she had expected herself to. Catherine had so many questions, she didn't know where to start. But something in his eyes echoed that of her mother's. It was a silent tell that meant something like, Please don't say anything. Not yet at least.

Therefore, Catherine had said nothing. Her mother had grasped her hand and taken her upstairs. Her father followed them but lagged behind. Catherine had been welcomed back into her old room. Her mother exclaiming that she'd spent months practising bewitching ceilings and had wanted to surprise Catherine. Surely, Catherine's mother, worried sick about her husband facing an inquiry with the Ministry, had spent hours poring over books of how to bewitch ceilings. When Catherine noticed the quilt, she ran her hand over the soft velvet. Something wasn't right. Money should have been tight while her father was being investigated.

The rest of the evening, Catherine had been left alone. This gave her time to sit back and think, all while staring at her new ceiling. Tonight she would investigate her father's study when he and her mother went to bed. Or at least she would attempt to. There was a chance that her father had bewitched his study against intruders, even against his own daughter. But Catherine knew she had to at least try.

What did she know about her father and his job with the Ministry? As she thought back, she realized she didn't know much. Nor had she questioned it. Why hadn't she? Was it the foolish ignorance of a teenager that had kept her from asking her father what he did for a living? Had she not cared? Was it something else? Maybe she didn't want to know. If one thing was for certain, she would need to confront one of her parents about her father's work at the Ministry, or find out for herself what he was about. Since she was a young girl, her father's position had been shrouded in secrecy. Strangers often apparated or appeared by Floo network from the fireplace in his study to discuss important topics. There had been times where Catherine had pressed her ear against the heavy wooden door to the study. Although she could hear the rapid vibrations of footsteps, she could not hear any voices. Later, she realized they'd enchanted the room to prevent their conversations from being heard.

Catherine placed her chin on the palm of her hand and rested her elbow on top of her knee as she thought. Her head was still aching slightly still from her late night drinking with Dane and Kayla in the Room of Requirement. She tried to push the pain out of the way as she thought back to more memories that didn't add up. But the memory of the night before in the Room of Requirement pushed forward.

The night before, the three of them had entered the Room of Requirement and had gotten a bit drunk off of some mead that Kayla had stolen from Slughorn's party. That night, Catherine had joked again that Kayla had been wrongly sorted. They sat in a circle around a smoldering piece of parchment to keep warm. They swapped stories and Catherine listened as Kayla and Dane joked about the most awkward things they had Seen.

"I bumped into Professor Dumbledore once when I was rushing to Herbology once," Dane said, wiping his mouth from the swig he'd just taken of mead. "I had the sneaking suspicion that he knew from my first encounter with him that I was a Seer but I bumped into him and saw him... -At least I think it was him. But he was much younger. A boy I think. He was staring at another boy who was sitting in his window. I felt... things for the boy."

Kayla and Catherine leaned in closer, "What sort of things?" Catherine asked. Dane shook his head, "At the moment I felt as if I were Dumbledore. And I remember just staring at this boy in the window with wispy, soft blond hair. I felt like I needed to be near him. Like I needed to just touch his soft hair."

Catherine shot Kayla a look but she wasn't paying attention. "Well, Dumbledore is gay, so that makes sense."

Catherine and Dane stared at Kayla incredulously. "How did you know this and never tell me?" Catherine asked.

Dane's mouth was still open for a moment before he asked, "Dumbledore is gay?"

Kayla, who had just taken a bite of chocolate frog, said with her mouth half full, "You mean you guys didn't know?"

Catherine and Dane shook their heads.

"I mean I always knew that Dumbledore was a bit, hard to understand, a bit uh..." Dane trailed off.

Kayla, who at this point was quite a bit tipsy, stared directly at Dane, "He's a bit, what?"

Catherine bit her lower lip. She'd forgotten, Dane didn't know about Kayla. He would have to choose his words very carefully if he were to develop his relationship with Kayla in any positive way.

When silence passed over them and Catherine couldn't take it anymore, she blurted, "Choose your words carefully."

Kayla took a long swig from the bottle of mead. "I've been attracted to members of the same and opposite sex. Do you have something against it?"

All of this catching up to Dane he immediately waved his hands in front of him, "NO! Not at all... I mean, I don't have a problem... I've never thought anything negative... I mean, I'm all for loving and liking whomever you desire. I just never thought Dumbledore..."

They sat in silence for a few more moments. Their thoughts seemed to chug behind them before finally catching up to their tongues.

"So does that mean you're... bise-"

"-I prefer to stay away from labels. I just like who I like. I read this Muggle book once that said, 'We cannot help where we will love' and I always thought that quote encompassed me."

Dane chewed on this for awhile. His cheeks were growing red from the mead.

"My most embarrassing moment," Kayla said, changing the subject, "Was when I saw who Snape had a crush on when he was a kid."

As soon as the words had left her mouth, Catherine noticed Kayla's face grow quite pale. She knew that Kayla knew she had misspoke. This was something she'd been holding onto. It was something delicate and sensitive.

Dane also sensed this and changed the subject, "What is it with us finding out our professors had a love life that is so embarrassing?"

They thought about this for a moment. Catherine assumed it was because professors were lumped in a category that was purely academic. Knowing that their professors had personal lives just seemed highly intrusive.

The subject turned to their parents. Dane revealed that is mother and father were writers for the Daily Prophet. Kayla revealed to Dane that her parents had been missing for nearly six years now. Catherine said that her father worked for the Ministry and her mother had been a matron at St. Mungo's but had retired early. As they told stories from their childhood, Catherine pulled the letter from her mother out of her jacket.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. Catherine sat upright, startled by the knock that broke her from her thoughts of the night before. Her head still ached.

Her mother's face was pale and Catherine leaned back as her mother crossed the room quickly. "Do you still have the letter I sent you?"

Catherine nodded and pulled it from her pocket. Her mother pulled out her wand, tore the letter away from Catherine and immediately set it aflame. It burned before it was nothing but ash that fluttered to the floor. Her mother flicked her wand again and the door shut with a loud thud. She waved a hand and flourished her wand. A silvery sheen fluttered over the room.

"I need to talk to you. We have a visitor coming and you need to be ready. We weren't expecting this so soon. I'm sorry. This was supposed to happen after the holidays."

Even though her mother had bewitched the room, she still spoke in a whisper.

"We're going to be entertaining a guest over the next week. His name is Mr. Saul Croaker. He works with your father at the Ministry. He's going to be staying with us while your father and him discuss certain important matters. I need you to promise me to not go meddling into things that ought not to be meddled in. This is important."

Catherine nodded, shaken by the whole thing.

"Mum, what does father do exactly?"

Her mother sighed, "I can't get into this now, Catherine. Mr. Croaker is going to be here any minute." Catherine's mom stood to leave but Catherine caught her by the wrist.

"Can you at least tell me his position at the Ministry? I won't meddle in anything. I just want to know."

Catherine's mother swallowed as she waved her wand and released the spell concealing their conversation. She sighed before saying, "Some things Catherine, you have to understand, are just unspeakable. I'm sorry." She gave her daughter a half-hearted smile before she left the room.

The door shut behind her with an even louder thud, which made Catherine wince.

She stared at the floor beneath her, where just specks of ash remained. The remnants of her mother's letter. Then, as if lightning had suddenly flashed through her brain, it came to her.

There was a reason her mother had taught her to write encrypted letters from a young age. Why they often communicated in code. Why her father had secret meetings in his study. Why her mother had been afforded the luxury to retire early while her father worked. There was a reason why her father's job was shrouded in secrecy and her mother had warned her.

Thunder rumbled outside.

Her father was an Unspeakable.


The mysterious Mr. Croaker hadn't appeared by dinnertime. Catherine had asked if she could take her dinner in her room. Her parents had obliged. They were much too concerned about their late guest than whether their daughter spent dinner with them. Catherine sat at her desk and mused over her new realization.

Her father was an Unspeakable at the Ministry. What did she know about Unspeakables? Well, as the name implied, not many knew what Unspeakables did. There was a high level of secrecy that surrounded the Department of Mysteries, which had to be the department her father worked for. But what did their work consist of?

Perhaps Kayla would know.

She immediately began penning a letter to Kayla. She was careful with her words. With a heightened state of security, she would also have to write in code. But she knew that no matter what Kayla would be able to decipher it.

Moments after she'd given the letter to her owl and watched him take off toward the horizon, she heard the door shut downstairs and the muffle of pleasantries being exchanged.

Mr. Saul Croaker had arrived. And if Catherine's assumptions were correct, Mr. Croaker was an Unspeakable as well. Two Unspeakables in one house at one time.

Catherine mused over her current situation. She wasn't quite sure if her chances at understanding what was going on had increased or decreased.

"Catherine! Please come down and meet our guest!" Her mother shouted in a tone that meant, Come down here now. You have no choice.

As Catherine walked down the stairs she thought of her mother's concerned voice earlier that day. Surely, Mr. Croaker's presence was something that not exactly welcomed, but rather, tolerated. Catherine sighed as she came to the bottom of the stairs. Hopefully, Kayla would respond soon.


So far, Dane's plan on getting closer to Kayla was not working out. He'd risen early, dressed and entered the common room, his hair still damp, only to hear from a half-awake Ravenclaw girl that Kayla was not in the dormitory. This meant that she'd be in the library of course.

When Dane entered the library, he felt himself shiver. It was storming outside. Madam Pince was not at her usual post. The library was empty. -This was familiar.

This was exactly like the dream he'd had months before.

As he approached the windows, he stared at his reflection. He looked a mess. His damp hair was strewn this way and that way. His eyes were red. His cheeks still slightly tinged red from drinking too much alcohol. He felt something tug at him, just as it had done during his dream. He wandered the isles of books until he found Kayla, dressed in jeans and a white blouse that reminded him of the white nightgown from his dream. She had a book in her hand. As Dane approached her, she still did not notice him. She was staring down at a book, a quill in her hand, her fingers already stained with ink. She bit on her lower lip. Was he still asleep? Was this another dream?

The recollection of his dream made him warm all over as if he'd taken another long swig of mead. The dream he'd experienced months before had ended quite steamy. He remembered kissing her, wrapping himself around her and feeling her chest against his.

Was he asleep?

He waved a hand in front of Kayla's face, which sent her reeling backward, as if she'd just been catapulted from a trance.

"What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?!" She shouted. Dane flushed. No. No. Definitely not dreaming!

He felt his body flood with heat. He perched himself on desk beneath the bookshelf. "Sorry, sorry!" He exclaimed.

Kayla sighed and scrunched her curly hair. She continued writing as if he'd never interrupted her.

"What's going on? Has something happened?"

"Catherine sent me a letter this morning. It's written in code, but she thinks, well, she's almost certain her father is an Unspeakable."

"An Unspeakable?"

Kayla nodded. "She wants to know as much as I know about Unspeakables. So I had to do a little digging myself and now I have to convert what I know back into code and send it back to her immediately."

Dane nodded as he watched Kayla write. He felt his mind drifting. How could he get Kayla away from the books for awhile? Her mind always seemed to be going, and when she became overwhelmed, she would isolate herself. Perhaps, he could think of something...

"So far I've come across some interesting things about Unspeakables. Some of it is hearsay. But a lot of it adds up. For example, there are different chambers in the Department of Mysteries where they work."

"Chambers?" Dane asked, his mind fluttering to Hogsmeade and the idea of a date at Madame Puddifoot's. But perhaps that would be too cheesy.

"Yes. There's a Time Chamber where the Ministry's stock of Time-Turners were stored, prior to last year's possible events."

"What happened last-"

"There's a Death Chamber, a Thought Chamber, and a..." Kayla wrinkled her nose. "...A Love Chamber. Kinda gross."

Something fell in Dane. He was correct, Kayla was not into cheesy.

"But it's locked at all times apparently."

Dane searched his mind for other possibilities. He could of course take her to Tomes and Scrolls, but that would distract Kayla from them. Maybe tea was the right way to go. They could just concentrate on each other and not conspiracies or mysteries. At least for an hour or so.

"They're also not permitted to talk about the work they do as an Unspeakable. There are strict laws pertaining to their work."

He reached for Kayla's hand, but she was so wrapped up in her explanation and research, that she didn't even notice his touch. He watched as visions danced before his eyes. Her mind was flitting through thoughts as one does by flipping through pages of a book at a fast rate. He could barely keep up with her. Her mind was filled with thought after thought after thought. In just the few moments he'd entered her mind, he felt as if he'd been pushed into a race and he already could barely keep up.

In her mind, she flipped through book after book before she took out a copy of the Daily Prophet. When she slammed it down on the desk, he let go of her hand and stared down at it. "A known Unspeakable, Broderick Bode, was rumoured to be Imperiused into attempting to steal a prophecy regarding Harry Potter and You-Know-Who. Or at least that's what's speculated."

She shuffled some papers together and began to place the books back into their shelves. "I need to get this information to Catherine right away. If her father is an Unspeakable, it's possible the guest that's staying with her is one too. And he's possibly checking up on him. I need to get this letter out now..."

Dane caught Kayla by her wrist. He felt himself thrust into her thoughts. They were in the library still, but it seemed different. The space around them was tinged purple, books floated all around them and countess pieces of parchment. Finally realizing that he was in her head, Kayla turned.

"What?"

"Just, can we stop for a second?"

Kayla furrowed her brow, "No, I need to get this to Catherine. It's important."

She pulled away from him but he pulled her back and held her steadfast. "I understand it's important. I'll go with you to the Owlry. Just after..."

Was this what her mind was really like? File after file, book and parchment fluttering around her constantly.

"Will you go out with me? On a date?"

He could see her chest heaving up and down. She hadn't expected this.

A beat between them. "I know that-"

"-Yes." Kayla answered.

He looked up to meet her eyes. She nodded, a small smile spreading across her face, "Yes. I'll go on date with you."

She lifted the letter up, "After I send this off to Catherine."

Kayla pulled herself free from his grasp and took off, out of the library. Dane ran after her.