Episode Twenty Nine
Part One
Anyone else might have felt that being alone in a huge castle with no one other than ghosts and teachers would have been creepy and weird. To Gwen, this was heaven. All of Hogwarts was open for her to explore and no one was going to yell at her for being late to class or taking points off her house for being out of bed.
She spent the first week exploring a new floor everyday. By the end of the week she still hadn't discovered the entire layout of the castle, but she had a much better idea of its shape and some of its functions. She ate most of her meals with Aunt Minerva in the Gryffindor common room, for only the two of them there wasn't much point in going all the way down to the great hall.
She had already sent Harry two notes by owl and was finishing writing the third when Lucille bounded into her lap, demanding her attention. "All right, all right." Gwen said to the cat. "Let me put down my quill."
Lucille rolled over and let Gwen scratch her belly, stroke her ears and tease her with a piece of string she dangled from her sore fist. Finally the cat tired of their games and stalked away. Gwen laughed. "You interrupted me for that?"
She turned to finish her note.
"Dear Harry,
How are things? I told you I was going to write as often as I could, and since I don't really have anything to do except wander around the castle and study for next year (Hermione would be proud) I guess you'll be getting a whole lot more mail this summer. Lucille says hi. As a matter of fact she interrupted me just to make sure I'd tell you. I do hope you get to come back early. It's so lonely here sometimes.
Cheers,
Gwen"
She wandered up to the Owlery and borrowed one of the school owls to deliver her letter. Harry hadn't yet replied, but she understood that it was difficult for him. The muggles he lived with were simply atrocious.
She had been writing to Graves as well. He had responded to every owl immediately, eating up anything she had to say to him. She wrote to him mostly about her dreams, since Graves was very good at interpreting them.
Her dreams were bordering on the strange again. Sometimes she was the swan, flying away from the dark hand. Sometimes she was running to Gemma's mound in the Forbidden Forest. Mostly she was gazing at herself in the mirror.
This dream was by far the strangest, because she just stood there, staring herself down. She didn't know what she was looking for or why she just stood there for hours. Every dream the same, looking deep into her own eyes, searching for truth.
Graves didn't know what to make of this dream either. He was just happy that she was safe and protected within the enchanted walls of Hogwarts.
Part Two
Professor Snape was staring sidelong at Gwen, taking her first meal in the great hall since the term had ended. Minerva couldn't meet her for lunch, so she ambled down by herself to see if any of the other professors were eating. It was only Snape at the head table. She didn't dare return his gaze. She couldn't understand that he was simply amazed at her. The only other person to avoid death at the hands of the death eaters had been Harry Potter. Once it was ordered, you were as good as buried. It was not to be so in the case of these two extraordinary children.
Snape understood why Harry had been ordered to death. He was forbidden by Dumbledore to reveal that secret. He also understood why he had survived. The love of his mother had protected him from the Avada Kedavra curse, which when uttered would terminate your life instantly.
As for Gwen, it was a mystery. Her death had been ordered after he left the death eaters, so he didn't know the reason. And somehow the death eaters had never found her, something else he didn't understand. Her she was, alive and confused looking. Her death had been avoided for the time being and Snape was certain the death eaters had given up trying to find her. Of course, he also knew that they would try again. He knew certain things about her past and he understood it was only a matter of time before she was back on the top of their hit list.
There was something about this girl that put him on his guard. If she could hide herself so well from the death eaters then she was very powerful, or had very powerful connections. He remembered her mother very well, a Slytherin who turned her back on Lord Voldemort at the height of his power.
There was more to Guenivere LeFey than she even knew herself.
