Breakfast was subdued and Ama seemed to be the most subdued of
all those bruised eyes were shuttered as she poked at the slice of
grapefruit in front of her. If he could hear the whispers then she most
certainly could.

People were wondering what she knew, what she'd do, who she
had been trained by, the entire Slytherin table was watching her. All
except one, Draco Malfoy was conspicuous by his absence again. He
muttered to Hermoine.

"If he's her friend then why isn't he here"

Hermoine looked unsure but was almost going to speak when Ama
laid her hand against his shoulder, he was short but he realised that
she was small enough to have to reach for the hold.

"Don't judge him to harshly, in this at least, he suffered for his
association with me, and suffers still"

She hadn't looked at him during that speech just continued
poking at the grapefruit, then she looked up at Hermoine.

"What next?"

For a moment he knew Hermoine wanted to ask questions, he
wanted to ask questions, but he wouldn't and by the looks of it neither
would Hermoine, it would clear up eventually.

"Harry and Ron are free, and I have rune studies"

He watched in amusement as Ama stared at Hermoine, then she
half smiled and a laugh loomed in her eyes.

"You people study the most obscure subjects, are they of any practical
use?"

Coughing to cover a laugh he watched Hermoines stunned face and
then she just became interested.

"Well what's a useful subject then?"

Ama shrugged her shoulders pushing away the mangled but uneaten
grapefruit away before speaking again.

"Combat magic's, Poisons, Control Studies, Herb magic's, Enchantment,
Communication and Bargaining with Magical Creatures, Duelling,
Dark Studies, the list is endless"

She sounded bored but he could see the wheels turning in
Hermoines brain. All of these were forbidden texts in the library or
advanced studies, the sort of things that teachers only taught to
people they thought needed to know them.

"It sounds a nasty sort of education"

Her eyes moved towards Ron who'd spoken and he saw that the
smile had gone from her eyes.

"It was, the worst kind, I would wish it on no one, not even my worst
enemy"

The bell rang and Hermoine leapt up and went for the door. He
looked at Ron and then back at Ama she was staring into space, he'd
had some Quidditch practice planned but he suspected she had some
sort of question for him, he wasn't disappointed.

"That forest, are we allowed into it?"

He watched Ron's eyes widen, and almost shook his head then
thought it through.

"Its dangerous but people go in occasionally, normally only with Hagrid
though"

She nodded, something almost frightening in her eyes, then
she turned to look straight at him,

"The tallest tower in the school has a flat roof?"

The Astronomers tower, he nodded, a series of unrelated
questions meant a plan was forming, he knew he'd used the plot himself
on several occasions.

Again she nodded and then looked straight at him.

"I'd like to get back into the dormitory, do you have a password?"

Nodding he told her, Pink Elephants, the passwords just weren't
living up to adult standards. Then she moved away from the table and he
and Ron watched her go.

"She's up to something

"I know, and I intend to find out what"

***

She didn't go to the dormitory she walked first to the office
in the basement that her Uncle had told her was his and picking the
lock retrieved several herbs from scattered bottles. Wincing at the
feeling of betrayed trust she was giving herself she stalked out
re-locking the alarms as well as the bolt behind her.

As she walked along the corridors she thought of the things
she hadn't told Harry and his friends, of the torturing she'd taken
part in of the scars on her soul that she'd branded there with her
own hand as well as those taken to save face.

Silver eyes behind her eyelids as she closed them for a moment
poised beside the main doors. He bore scars of his own now, but she was
still sunk far to low to acknowledge the bond that tugged at her soul.
The moment she did that they were both lost, her subconscious could
plead all it liked but she had had years to harden her heart. Bruised
eyes they all said, eyes that had been a light lavender when she was
a child, bruised eyes, bruised heart and soul.

Moving across the lawns now to the small cottage surrounded by
young children, no more than thirteen tending the tiny children of
unicorns.

A sudden memory assailed her herself at eleven before the joint
council. Hurt and bleeding from the tattooing process but her eyes had
still been defiant until they'd shown her the truth of her bound and
dying mother. Those final few words had been hers and they'd destroyed
her, broken her in every way possible.

Until that moment she'd believed herself worthy enough to be
saved.

She'd embraced the darkness then, made it part of herself and
willingly killed to stay alive. Embracing everything she'd been given
excelling, graduating a full year ahead of her time and taking the
head of the woman who had tortured her in every demeaning way possible.

Nightmares of rape and pain still followed her even now, and
then that night three weeks ago when he had come, to feed from her like
a leach, to rape her in ways she hadn't imagined possible, to try and
break her mind, to give her yet another mark to bear, to force her to
obey.

Her own Father.

She looked up suddenly, there was a shadow blocking the sun,
drawing back she looked up, and up. The man standing before her had
to have giant blood running in his veins but there was a soft
question in his eyes, she raised an eyebrow.

"Your not a fairy are y? cos you're glowing"

Closing her eyes for a moment she forced the grief down behind
the ice she had formed around her heart and looked back at him.

"I'm no fairy, but I do need your help"

He motioned towards the cottage

"Come on in, I'll help ya in anyway I can"

Walking in a moment later she looked at the table in the corner
and sat on it before looking at it, the pupils of her eyes distended.

"What passes between us now is secret or I swear by the Morrigans
ravens that Bhadhba will rip out your heart"

He nodded and she began to speak.

***

It must have been hours later because the lunch gong had
shimmered through the air as she spoke the final words, his eyes
were glazed but the understanding was there and he nodded.

"I'll make sure for you, but you'll have to come here"

She shook her head

"be there, it'll be safe enough, other times perhaps not, but tonight
is safe"

Then she rose from the table and walked to the door turning
silhouetted in the light to smile.

"And Hagrid, thank you"

Then she was walking back along the grass to the school,
looking forward for the first time since she'd arrived to some food.