I know, I know, it's been so very long since I've updated. There's no particular reason for me leaving you hanging for over two months. All I can say is that I've been feeling very inspired lately, unfortunately though, not for this story. I had to really squeeze this chapter out of my brain, especially the beginning. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out and I think maybe I'll be writing more for Unchosen now. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy the chapter. Especially, xXMizz Alec VolturiXx, because you are the most loyal reviewer anyone could have. You're awesome.

Chapter 36

It's been two days since I found out Kellah is the person who stole the photograph out of my trunk. And so far, I've done nothing about it. I know, that's so very unlike me. I'm all about charging in at full force, slapping sense into people, throw in a few insults that make people doubt themselves. And normally, that's exactly what I would do…. Except that this is not a normal situation. Kellah Jordan is the girl out of my dorm that I like, by far, the most. I'm not saying we're friends or that I'd tell her my most inner secrets. I just feel like I can't rain down my displeasure on her because it might upset the group dynamic in the sixth year Gryffindor girls dorm.

Group dynamic? Merlin, I'm going soft. I think I need a little more proof to be sure that she stole from me. After all, her dating Romy's ex-boyfriend who broke up with her because he miraculously got his hands on the picture missing from my belongings could just be coincidence. The world's funny like that.

So, it's been 48 hours and since then all I've come up with is that I need more proof. Thing is, how do I get that? I had been planning to trick Darren Stebbins into handing me back the picture so that Zabini could cast that spell but with Kellah always hanging around the guy, I can't really do that without looking super suspicious.

I need another way to gather enough substantial proof before I can confront Kellah. Because what if I'm wrong? That girl will hate me for even daring to make such wild accusations and I don't feel like sleeping with wand in hand for the next 18 months.

"Miss Potter?"

"Huh?"

"I doubt much progress will be made if you're having a hard time focusing on the spell."

Oh, right. I'm supposed to try and read Dumbledore's mind again. And I'm failing. Again. Does anyone else feel like that's constantly on repeat? I know I do.

"Sir, is it possible that even when you lower your mental wards, your mind is still impenetrable?"

I'm pretty sure it is.

"As I have removed my mental wards, my mind is accessible. That needn't mean it will be easy as I can only remove the mental wards I've put in place consciously."

"Huh?"

"When a mind is trained to protect itself against intruders, it puts up unconscious mental protections. Even I can't remove those but with my mental walls down, you should be able to enter my mind."

Should be able to. But haven't been so far. What was I thinking anyway? That it would be easy to enter the mind of someone as powerful as Albus Dumbledore? Even with his wards down, it's still the hardest thing I've ever tried to accomplish.

"So it would be much easier to enter the mind of someone who isn't trained in protecting their thoughts?"

"In theory," The Headmaster gives me a stern look. "Yes."

Is he thinking I'd just use this spell on random people to see if perhaps I can enter their mind? I won't. With Legilimency, it is important to know what you're looking for so it's useless to try it out on strangers.

"Perhaps I need to remove more of my own memories?" I suggest.

I haven't really stored more memories in the vials lately. Of course, I removed my break-up with Cedric as soon as I returned to the castle and some of its aftermath. But perhaps I should add sex with Zabini, Harry's fall off his broom and our most recent fight to the collection.

"You're welcome to take more vials with you." He gestures towards the cabinet which I know to contain his pensive.

I get up and open the cabinet. I grab a few vials, ignore the memory in the unlabeled vial I know I only get to see when I sense the time is right, and return to my seat in front of the Headmaster.

"Do be selective in the memories you extract. If they're not distracting, it serves no purpose to remove them. Also, remember to clear your mind occasionally."

I nod along but really, I'm thinking to myself: bullshit. I've been hearing this advice for months now and it has done absolutely nothing for me. Of course, I can't say that to Dumbledore's face, so I hum and nod and leave his office none wiser than I was six weeks ago. These lessons are weighing down on me, to the point where I'm ready to give up and admit defeat. I might simply not be made for this.

What I am made for, and always manages to put a conceited smile on my face, is Potions. Ah, the art of bottling magic. And the following afternoon does wonders for my self-esteem because we are assigned with brewing a Wit-sharpening potion which I've actually already brewed during my extra assignments from Slughorn. This is a piece of cake.

What makes this assignment even more perfect is that it's an individual one. Sure, since me and my Potions partner started sleeping together, our teamwork has improved significantly. But that still hasn't made me a team player. I like brewing like I do most things, by myself and at my own pace. That's never stopped Zabini from getting mixed up with my potion anyway.

"Add the Armadillo Bile after the Ground Scarab Beetles," He says after leaning forward and looking into my cauldron.

"The instructions say-"

"I know better than the instructions," He simply says.

"I'm sure Arsenius Jigger," I point towards the author's name on the textbook cover. "Would disagree. Besides, you're probably just trying to mess up my potion."

Just because we're having sex with each other, doesn't mean he's suddenly a sympathetic Slytherin who'd help me out merely for being a nice guy. No one's buying that.

Zabini doesn't say anything but simply grabs his own Ground Scarab Beetles and mixes them into his potion, skipping the step himself.

"I don't think you're above ruining your own potion to get me to mess up mine," I smile. "Thanks for the most likely not well-intended advice but I'll be following Jigger. He never let me down before."

"You'll be sticking to what you know then," He says and I immediately remember when he's said that before.

"Don't do that," I refuse to let him rile me up the way I know he wants to. "Not everything has to be a risk."

"It should be," He shrugs before returning to his potion. "Makes everything more interesting."

I'm just going to ignore everything he says. I don't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he's gets to me and surprisingly, he actually doesn't. When did the bantering and threatening between the two of us go from toe-curling frustrating to simply being a daily chat?

"Talking about risky business," Zabini says when I've finally stirred my potion to a purple colour, like the textbook instructs. "how's that photograph hunt going?"

"That," I frown. "has had a surprising turn of events."

"Did you get the picture?"

"No…, I also don't think I need it anymore."

I know who took it. I mean, I'm fairly sure I know who did it. I just need to be 100% sure before I make the accusations. Maybe it's just me being afraid of clashing with Kellah but I think I need that reassurance to know I'm doing the right thing.

"So you've found out who took it?" He asks while bottling his potion.

"Sort of…"

"But not really?" He mocks.

"I'm like a 89% certain that it was her but I don't really have any solid proof. And I'm not sure there's any to find."

"If only you could read her mind."

"Yeah," I snort. "If only I cou-"

Read her mind! That's it! I don't need the proof to rub under her nose. I need it to be completely sure of my accusations. Once I have that certainty, I can call her anything I want because I'll know her to be guilty and I won't have to feel bad over some possible tears.

"If only I could read her mind!" I turn to Zabini with gleaming eyes.

Because the thing is: I can. At the very least I know the jest of it. I need to know the person I'm using it on: check. I need to know what I'm looking for: check. I need to clear my own mind thus removing those memories: check, since I did that last night. And finally, I need to know the technique of penetrating one's mind: check, that's what I've been practicing on Dumbledore these past weeks. And I could actually succeed in using Legilimency on Kellah because, unlike our Headmaster, she doesn't have any mental walls. I might just be able to read her mind and that's how I can know for sure that she's the one who stole that photograph out of my trunk.

"You're brilliant," I smile at the unknowing genius and this is the first time I've said that with a straight face. "I could just kiss you right now but you know…, Slughorn…, other students…, would be kind of weird but I am grateful none the less."

I leave the classroom quickly after handing over my vial with a potion that looks perfectly the same as Zabini's despite our different instructions, and get back to my dorm as quickly as I can to retrieve the Marauder's Map and locate Kellah.

Unfortunately I run into someone unexpected a few hallways away from the Gryffindor tower. I could simply get away with a friendly nod and a lame wave from the distance. Ernie McMillan doesn't expect me to have an hour-long chat with him in the corridor, I think. But the guy walking next to him, and who definitely noticed me, deserves more than that.

"Anthony. Hi," I stop in front of the Ravenclaw I haven't really spoken to since I told him that the two of us shouldn't be anything other than friends.

"Hey, Danny," The blond boy smiles warmly at me.

"Hi," I repeat, definitely out of my comfort zone here and yet Anthony doesn't seem to be as awkward about this unexpected encounter the way that I am.

"You already said that," Ernie points out, for the only possible reason that he feels the need to get punched in the gut later.

"Yes, I did," I say slowly. "How have you been?"

"Can't complain. I mean, school hasn't been too easy lately but there's this one assignment for Herbology that I totally nailed. Professor Sprout hasn't told us our grades yet but I'm pretty sure it's an Outstanding."

Why does Ernie think I was talking to him?

"That's…. great. How about you, Anthony?"

"I'm good," He simply shrugs.

"Oh, good."

Merlin, have I always been this lame when I can't think of anything to say?

"Well, we're on our way to the library. See you around," Anthony smiles at me before turning the corner.

Huh, was it just me or has Anthony forgotten that we actually went on a date once? Of course that's been weeks ago and to be honest I've been too occupied hooking up with Zabini to think much about the sweet Ravenclaw anymore but shouldn't that have been at least a little uncomfortable on both sides? This is the first time we actually spoke since the day I decided I preferred a mean snake over a nice prefect.

Or maybe, Wayne was just right. Perhaps I have been spoiled by my previous relationship, thinking every guy who kind of wants me, must be absolutely head over heels for me. It was just one date, I sure as hell wasn't crushed when Wayne and I turned out to be better as friends.

But also, it might just be incredibly arrogant of me to think that getting over me is a hard thing to do. Perhaps it was even delusional of me to think that at Oxford Street 42 in London there's a guy still missing me and thinking of me. Because why the hell would he?

"Is it Anthony Goldstein?" A voice comes from behind me and when I look at the other side of the hallway, there stands Ginny Weasley with a bit of a strange knowing expression on her face.

"What?" I frown.

"Is Goldstein the guy you're seeing but aren't really dating?" She asks.

"What? No!"

"Yeah, I already thought that didn't make a lot of sense. You wouldn't be embarrassed about hooking up with him. So I'm guessing that the one you are with is really ugly or something?"

"I thought we agreed not to speak of it again?" I glare at her.

"We did." She shrugs. "I'm just curious."

"Well, keep that curiosity from being put into words."

Thank Merlin no one was listening. Have I overestimated Ginny's ability to keep something a damn secret? How hard can that be?!

But she doesn't ask me about it anymore as we walk back together to the Gryffindor tower. Instead we discuss the upcoming match against Ravenclaw. It's a pretty important one because depending on the difference in points with which we win, we can end first, second, third, or fourth in the ranking of the houses. I'd say it's a pretty important game.

"Hi, Harry," Ginny smiles at my brother who seems to somehow have made his way to the common room faster than I did.

"Hi, Ginny," He smiles brightly at the red-haired girl standing next to me.

Why are the two of them smiling at each other like that?

"I'm here too, you know," I scoff.

"Oh, yeah. Hi, Danny," Harry glances quickly at me, not paying me real attention before looking back at Ginny.

Am I air or something?

"Well, lovely as this is," I look between the two of them. "I have stuff to do."

It's weird that Harry doesn't even get suspicious over what my vague stuff to do is. Normally he'd be asking me all about it and now he seems to prefer me leaving. What is up with that?

I'll worry about it some other time. Right now, I need to track down Kellah.

As I rush up to the dorm which is luckily abandoned, I open up my trunk to retrieve the Marauder's Map. Except that it's not there. I go through six pairs of socks, three heavy books and my secret sugar quills stash until I realise that Harry still has the map in his possession for all the Malfoy stalking he's doing and still intends to do in the foreseeable future.

I guess I could just go and ask him for the map back, after all it is officially mine since he handed it over in fifth year, saying it was to be mine but then I have to get stuck between Harry and Ginny's weird staring match and maybe I shouldn't tempt my good fortune in turning its back on me by giving Harry yet another opportunity to ask me what my vague stuff entails.

I'm just about to head back down the stairs anyway when the door opens and – Oh, thank you, good fortune! – Kellah Jordan walks in. All by her lonesome self.

"Kellah!" I squeak, not prepared for things going so smoothly. Well, so far anyway.

"Danny," She smiles back softly, not even alarmed by my behaviour in the slightest.

Oh, if only she knew. Then again, she probably thought the same thing every time I greeted her after unknowingly having been robbed by her. Let's turn those tables on her, shall we?

Now that I know exactly what I want to do and Lady Fortune has granted me the perfect opportunity to do so, it is finally sinking in what I actually intend to do. Using Legilimency on someone is a massive invasion of privacy. There's a reason I was so appalled to hear of its existence in fifth year. But then again, stealing something out of someone's else trunk is quite a breach of said privacy as well. So whatever conflicting emotions I may be feeling leading up to the use of Legilimency on Kellah, I only need to remind myself that she's had it coming.

My non-suspecting victim / guinea pig walks towards her own bed and dumps her bag on it.

"How was class? You had Potions, right?"

I nod. Not doing so would have been suspicious.

"I'm so glad I'm not taking that course anymore. I want to be in politics anyway so I really wouldn't have any use for it. Darren is still taking it for his NEWTS and when he tells me all the complicated stuff he needs to brew, I'm definitely certain I made the right decision."

"Darren?" I perk up. "Darren Stebbins, right? You guys are dating now? Since how long?"

The most important rule in Legilimency besides clearing your own mind, and making the proper incantation, and focusing, is know what to look for. That piece of advice has sounded like undulated bullshit to me so far but now I think I get it. Even more so, I think I've found a way to manipulate it.

There is some similarity between Legilimency and the Fohyle Curse. Legilimency might not be considered dark magic – because if it was, there's no way Dumbledore would be teaching me this – like the Curse is, but they share the same basics. Namely, knowing what the other person is thinking of. With the Curse, you need it to be able to make your illusions believable. And with Legilimency, you need to know what memory or information it is that you are looking for exactly.

I'm not going to get too ambitious at this point. Even if I somehow, impressively, manage to penetrate Kellah's mind, I'm sure I can't sift through it, patiently waiting to find what I'm looking for. But I can bring those memories to the surface of her mind, I think. I only need her to think about what I want when I use Legilimency on her. So, here goes nothing.

"Six blissful weeks. It's been even more amazing than I could have imagined," She sighs happily.

"He's the guy you were talking about when you asked me the appropriate time to start dating again, right?" I subtly pull my wand out of my pocket, turning it around in my fingers behind my back.

"Yeah," She nods, not looking as comfortable as she did a second ago.

I don't know if she's no longer at ease because she doesn't want to remember that conversation where she basically confronted me with my own inability to move on or if it's because I'm threading closely to ground that could make her feel guilty. For, let's say, stealing from me, betraying my trust, ruining any possible friendship that might have been in our future.

"He was together with his ex-girlfriend a pretty long time, wasn't he?"

"Euhm…, I don't see how that's relevant," She frowns, clearly no longer at ease.

"Romy Courlon."

"W-what?" She stutters.

"That's who he was dating before, isn't it? The girl you worried he wasn't over? The one who cheated on him? Have you ever met her?"

She's no longer lounging on her bed, blissfully reminiscing those wonderful first few weeks in her new relationship. Instead her whole body seems to have tensed up and she looks between me and the door like a frightened animal cornered by some vicious predator, even though I don't think she realises yet just how much I know about this matter.

"No, I haven't."

"Oh, good for you. She's a real piece of work, kind of psychotic. I would not want to make her my enemy. She used to be close friends with Wayne. Did you know that? I think I might have a picture of her in my trunk, if you're wondering what she looks li-"

"No!" She yells, looking absolutely terrified as I approach my own trunk.

Well, I'm sure that's pretty solid proof as well. What else could be the reason she doesn't want me to retrieve the missing photograph from my trunk? I guess I could just confront her now, I don't really think she'd put much effort into denying it. But now that we're here and I think I can actually do it, get inside her head that is, I want to go through with it. When am I ever going to get an opportunity like this again? And one where I don't have to feel guilty about entering something as private as one's thoughts and memories? I need to do it now, or else I never will.

"I know what she looks like," Kellah feebly says.

"Okay," I quickly nod.

The two of us stare at each other in silence. I'm wondering if she's wondering if I know.

"Did he ever tell you why they broke up?" I ask carefully.

"She cheated on him!"

And it's the sheer look of disgust and incomprehension that makes me think on the reason why she would have done it. I guess it must have been incredibly frustrating to see the guy you like with someone else. Especially if the girl who is at his side doesn't deserve your dream guy's love and affection and would actually do something as disrespectful as sleeping with someone else behind his back. And then, when she saw the opportunity to make him aware of her cheating behaviour, she couldn't let the opportunity slide. Perhaps she did Darren Stebbins a favour. But she put me in the middle of it, and made me the subject of Romy Courlon's ire. I mean, the girl hired a Slytherin to mess with my head!

"Yes, but I'm sure she didn't tell him that. How did he find out?"

This is it; the golden opportunity. Because since I brought it up now, she'll be thinking on how exactly he found out. If she really took the picture, and I know she did, right now she'll be thinking of the moment where she stole the photograph out of my trunk.

I pull my wand from behind my back and keep it close to my body, subtly twisting it in her direction. She's so busy staring at me in shock and indignation that she's not paying attention to my hands.

"Legilimens," I whisper under my breath because even if I manage to pull this off, there's no way I can do it non-verbally.

A sensation I have never felt before during the lessons with Dumbledore overwhelms me. It is as though I had been trying to burst a balloon with my blunt finger, continuously failing to succeed, until someone handed me a sharp needle. I feel a glorious pride flood me until other things follow. Because the balloon does not contain a simple answer to my question. Now that it popped, all sort of things come flooding out. Smiles, tears, joy, fear, guilt, Fay Dunbar, Darren Stebbins, Transfiguration essays, owl-delivered letters, my trunk, frustration, relief, Harry Potter, love, hate, Romy Courlon, the dorm, Charms assignments, Quidditch, childhood bedroom, Danny Potter, worry, photo's, Kellah Jordan, fear, cries, the library, Cedric Diggory, pain, elation, the Great Hall, Darren Stebbins.

The small victory is gone as soon as everything that lives inside Kellah's head mingles with mine in one giant mess. It is impossible to distinguish my own feelings, memories and thoughts from hers and the needle that I was so grateful to for popping the mental balloon, has turned it's sharpness on me now. It has multiplied by a hundred and all those needles poke painfully into my own head. It hurts unbearably but I am helpless in trying to stop it.

It is only through the thoughts in Kellah's mind that I see my wand slip through my fingers. I watch myself drop to the floor, clutch my explosive head and let out a blood-curling agonising scream.

I don't recall when the whole world turned black but as I slowly re-open and blink my eyes, I wonder when I closed them.

"Danny? Oh my God, Danny! Are you okay? Say something!"

The voice comes from my right, I think. It's kind of hard to tell which side is up and which one is down, let alone left from right. The person sounds like they're screaming into my ear and the ringing it leaves behind does nothing to ease my massive head ache. The metaphorical needles are still very present and poking around in my head but at the very least I am no longer torn into pieces by the onslaught of memories and feelings coming from two people at once.

"Danny? What happened?"

Another voice. Why is everyone yelling? I can even hear some people shuffling around the room and with my hyper-sensitive brain right now, it sounds as though they're banging on cymbals.

I blink a couple more times until my eyes are as used to this blinding light as they'll ever be – I don't remember the dorm having such bright spots on the ceiling – I try getting up from the floor I'm apparently lying on.

A pair of hands try to support me as I sit upright, which is the worst idea in the world because now a hammer has joined the needles. The sudden pain flare makes me dizzy and I slump back against the person who was trying to get me up in the first place.

"Can you hear me, Danny?"

I think I know that voice. I'm pretty sure I should be able to recognise it but my brain feels like it's being fried and it's impossible to think right now.

"Y-yeah," I croak.

Merlin, my throat feels sore. Exactly how long have I been out? Or how long have I lied on the floor screaming?

"Thank goodness!" First voice again. "You really scared me there. What the hell was that!?"

I don't know. Dumbledore never said anything about it being painfully. Or did he? I can't remember.

"Don't know," I mutter, trying to move my hand to my head to see if maybe there really aren't any needles sticking out of it.

But my hand trembles so much and feels so heavy, it doesn't even get past my shoulders when someone grabs it and gives it a comforting squeeze.

"We should get you to madam Pomfrey. Do you think you can stand?"

I look down at the hand holding mine and follow it up to the kind and comforting face of Ginny Weasley. She's not in my dorm, is she? Wasn't she a year younger?

"Perhaps we should just get madam Pomfrey ourselves and bring her here. I don't know if Danny can get up."

Now I know who that voice belongs to. How could I have forgotten the annoying sound of Hermione Granger telling people what to do?

"I'm fine," I pull my hand away from Ginny's to push off the ground and get up on my wobbly knees. See, I can stand. Don't know why Granger insist on keeping a hold on me. "Just a headache, that's all."

Worst headache in the existence of headaches but still, just a headache.

"You screamed out bloody murder, Danny," An extremely pale Kellah enters my vision. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Whatever it was, we should let madam Pomfrey figure it out," Granger starts steering me to the door, Ginny Weasley following closely behind. "You should come with, Kellah. Maybe you can give her some idea as to what happened."

I want to resist because there's no way I can tell the matron what caused this. But the pain that originated in my head seems to have now settled into my limbs as well and I am surrendered to Granger's steering abilities. Besides, perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to get some pain-relieving potions from madam Pomfrey.

I vaguely register some people looking our way as I am guided through the common room and hear Granger snap 'Not now, Ron!' but somehow we go from the portrait hole to the Hospital Wing in the blink of an eye. Did they move it closer to the Gryffindor Tower?

Madam Pomfrey fusses over me as though I just died, asking me all kinds of questions I can't answer truthfully.

"What were you doing right before it happened?"

"On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?"

"Has this happened before?"

"Have you undertaken anything that takes a big toll on magic? Very complicated spells of some sort?"

"Had you been feeling some kind of exhaustion throughout the day?"

I can only answer all of them with 'I don't know' or 'I don't remember'.

Eventually she comes to the conclusion that I am simply magically exhausted from overuse of my magic. She gives me a potion for the aching limbs, one for the pounding headache and one for a dreamless sleep, hoping I will feel better in the morning.

When I've taken all the liquids without complain and actually feel them starting to kick in, I crawl under the covers and close my eyes. As I hear the Hogwarts Matron usher Granger, Ginny and Kellah out of the Hospital Wing and back to the Tower, I let a small smile graze my lips. Because yes, I'm in pain and yes, I'm not looking forward to inventing some kind of bullshit story to explain why my head felt like exploding and yes, this is not the smashing hit I had hoped it would be, at least not in the way I had intended, but I was still in Kellah's head. It was painful and overwhelming and so very chaotic but I still did it. I've successfully – term is open for debate – navigated through someone else's mind. I'm a fucking mind-read. And that's pretty awesome.