Disclaimer: I only own Liliana Grey and some of the plot. The rest belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am not making money off of this and have no intention of doing so. This is just for fun. :-)

*Chapter Seven*

Harry lay on his four-poster with the curtains drawn and his eyes firmly shut. "Why am I even here?" he asked himself. It was a question that he'd been exploring the answer to for quite some time. He opened his eyes and allowed himself to daydream. His mind took him back to Privet Drive where he had spent the entire summer. No visits from the Weasleys, no dementors, no invitations to the Burrow or to Grimmauld Place, nothing. He wasn't bitter though, he couldn't be. It would drive him insane. His thoughts led him into Dudley's old bedroom where Harry lay on that bed exactly as he lay his own now. In his hand he held a shining blade. It was nothing in comparison to the knife that Sirius had given him last year, the one that had melted, the one that he lost at the same time that he lost Sirius. No, it wasn't that knife, but it was beautiful, and sharp. Harry grinned vaguely as he ran his thumb up and down the blade. He remembered the look on Dudley's face when he had forced himself into the room and saw him; it was priceless. "What are you doing?" he had asked stuttering, "going to kill yourself? Go on, do it!" he provoked. "Do us all a favor!" Dudley's voice trembled as he turned and fled down the stairs. Harry of course wasn't serious about suicide then, but Dudley had started him thinking...

The creak of the dormitory door opening brought Harry back to his senses and he put the blade back under the mattress where he kept it.

"Harry," called Ron, and footsteps behind him told Harry that Ron wasn't alone. Perhaps he had dragged Herm and Liliana along. Harry didn't necessarily like the latter, but he feigned civility for Ron's sake. He was faking a lot these days. He silently rumpled his clothes and his bed sheets to make it appear that he had been sleeping. He reached up to dishevel his hair but was promptly reminded that there wasn't much hair left to unsettle. He had chopped it off over the summer in a fit of rebellion against, well, everything... his father in particular. His hair was dreadfully short now, but it was still unruly.

"In here," he responded, trying to make his voice sound sleepy.

"Some people have all the luck..." Ron sighed as he pulled open the curtains. Harry blinked furiously, it had been dark as night in his little sanctuary, but he forced a smile.

"How was Divination?" he asked, sitting up. He had been right about the girls, Herm was standing close to Ron, and Liliana was stationed by the door, looking around. Harry noticed that there was something different about her. She had freckles. Harry smiled inwardly, it gave her an earthy sort of appearance. Now in plaited pigtails, the Hogwart's school uniform, and freckles, Liliana looked sort of like a black haired Ginny. Harry wondered Ron would make of that.

"You'll never guess who she picked though!" exclaimed Ron breathlessly.

Harry hadn't noticed that Ron had been talking to him. "What are you talking about?" he asked carelessly. Ron was momentarily put off, but attributed Harry's disposition to the fact that he had just woken up.

"Lily!"

"Lily? Who, her?" Harry asked, involuntarily wincing at the sound of his mother's name.

"Trelawney's decided that she's going to die a horrid death this year!" shouted Ron.

Harry smirked slightly and spoke sarcastically, "My heart goes out to you." He diverted his attention to Liliana who was now sitting on Ron's bed, her mouth open in a yawn.

"Why?" she asked.

"Because the bat's been planning my death for about three years now. I know what it's like."

"Trelawney definitely doesn't like her..." said Ron dejectedly. He obviously hoped that everyone would like Liliana as much as he did.

"I can't imagine why," Harry muttered under his breath.

"I'm not too sure what you meant by that..." she began slowly, as Harry scolded himself, he hadn't meant to say that aloud. "But I couldn't care less what she thinks of me..."

"Yes, but tell him what started it" said Hermione. Harry's eyes brightened at the thought of someone telling Trelawney off. "Go on... tell him what happened."

Liliana sighed. "It's not that important," she looked to Harry, "and I'm sure that Harry doesn't feel like hearing about it either..."

"Would someone just tell me already?" he asked, now genuinely interested.

"Fine," she started, "I asked her why she thought it necessary to fill the classroom with cerractus leaf vapors. So she called me a 'silly little girl' and I called her fraud. Then she threatened to tell Dumbledore."

"What did you do then?" asked Harry.

"I left. I had better things to do," she responded.

"What are you talking about?" asked Hermione. "When class was over, Ron and I saw you sitting on the floor by the ladder reading. Where did you go?"

"Later..." said Lily quietly to Hermione.

"What's so special about cerractus leaves?" asked Harry.

"Fake Seers fill rooms with the vapors from the leaves to slur their victim's senses and make them believe whatever they're told... but when it's not done properly it just makes people drowsy and apathetic."

"That explains a lot," said Harry as he got off of his bed, "are you going to go back?" He glanced at Hermione. She had quit Divination in their fourth year but had returned after a one-year sabbatical, "for the pure sake of knowledge."

"Yeah, I'm going to go back. I'm really interested in that sort of stuff."

"Oh."

"How's Neville doing?" she asked, because by the time she'd gotten back to the Commons Room last night, everyone had already gone to bed.

"He got them all off after a few tries."

"That's good."

"Yeah."

Everyone stood around for a few tense moments.

"So," said Hermione, "what do we do now? We've got a few minutes until our next class." No one had the chance to respond however, because a tapping on the window interrupted them.

"That's my owl," said Liliana, as she rushed over to the window. She kneeled to open it and Vodka flew around the room, taking in his surroundings. He hooted a few times before landing on Liliana's outstretched arm.

"Thanks," she said, as she relieved him of his load. "I don't have anything to give you now, sorry." The owl nipped her finger hungrily before flying off.

"What's that?" asked Hermione.

"It's a part of the paper," she said, sitting back down on Ron's bed. "My grandmother sent it," she added, noting writing on the page scribbled in her grandmother's signature yellow ink.

"What's it about?" asked Hermione, as she went to sit next to her.

"It's the missing persons section. We've been following it for a while now, since July or something. We thought this had all stopped in late August, but more girls have gone missing and this time they were all pure bloods. This one is here is my cousin..." she said, pointing to one of the glum looking girls in the pictures.

"Thought what had all stopped?" asked Harry.

"It's just that we think that there might be something organized to it all... I don't know. Maybe it's because we had nothing to do all summer, and looking through the paper was about the only time my grandmother and I really spent together," she said, the last part more to herself than to the others.

"Oh."

"Yeah. But I mean... it could be totally random," she shrugged, "what do I know?"

"You know," ventured Ron, "I heard my Mum and my brother Charlie talking about it once or twice. Didn't they all turn up dead?"

Liliana nodded. "Not of all them, but a few did show up dead on their parent's doorsteps. The Ministry thought that it would be over when school started but," she trailed off, looking back to the paper.

"There's a letter," said Hermione, picking up another piece of parchment from the floor.

Liliana rolled her eyes and sighed deeply after reading the letter. "My grandmother wants me to be careful, she says not to leave Hogwarts for any reason. Yeah, right."

"Why would you leave Hogwarts?" asked Ron.

"Later. But this is ridiculous. She wants me to fast for my cousin to come home safely."

"Fast?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Yeah."

"It's a gypsy tradition isn't it?" asked Hermione.

"Yeah, but is it honestly that obvious that I'm a gypsy?

"To me anyway," said Hermione.

"Books?"

"Yeah, I read a lot."

"I figured that. Yeah, well it's a tradition, you fast from food and magic for a while. But how does she expect me to do that here, at school?"

"You could talk to Dumbledore, if you really wanted to do it," suggested Hermione.

"But I don't want to. It's not going to help any. Besides, I hate that girl, she's a, well a, hussy, to put it lightly."

"Oh," said Harry, Hermione, and Ron in perfect unison.

"Yeah, but we've got class now."

"And your owl is back," said Harry.

"From your grandmother?" asked Hermione, as Liliana's face fell.

She put the parchment down and shook her head in disbelief. "It's from Professor Snape! I've got another detention!"

"For what?"

"I don't know. It doesn't say. This is just perfect."

*~*~*

Draco Malfoy sat in the conveniently empty Slytherin Commons room, writing a letter.

"Father, I received your latest letter, and if the task is ready, I am. Let me know at your earliest convenience what it is so that I can get started on it. Christmas break would probably be the best opportunity for me to do what we've previously discussed, and I want to make sure that I'm ready. - Draco"

"It doesn't sound too desperate does it?" he asked, reading his writing to Blaise, who stood watch in front of the portrait hole.

"No. But why did you take out the part about me getting it in December?" he asked, smirking.

"I don't want it to sound too whiny. I want him to take it seriously," responded Draco, missing the playful nature of the question. He sealed the letter with a wax seal and several charms before carefully putting it in his pocket. "Ready?" he asked, standing up to leave.

"Don't bother," said Blaise. "Your owl is here."

Draco strode lazily over to magically placed window and let the owl in. It landed obediently on Draco's arm and failed to hoot at all, not in affection or disdain. Draco took the parchment off of its leg and attached the letter that he had just written. "Take this to my mother."

"Haven't named it yet?" asked Blaise.

"No."

"Who's the letter from?"

"I don't know. It's got the Hogwarts seal on it though."

"Open it then."

Draco shrugged before opening and reading his mail. "Did we do anything that we weren't supposed to do recently?" he asked.

"Besides the letter that you just sent, I could list quite a few," answered Blaise devilishly, "Why?"

"I've got another detention tonight."

"I should be getting my invitation anytime then."

"Yeah."

"How was it with that Grey girl last night?"

"It was detention. I told you how Snape had us doing slave labor didn't I?"

"Yes you did, but what do you think of the girl?"

"I think she's a pain in the arse."

"Why's that?"

He shrugged again.

"Think she'll choose Slytherin?"

"I don't care. It'd be a waste if she didn't though."

"Why's that?" asked Blaise, lowering his voice as someone came into the room.

"Her family is gypsy."

"So?"

"Do you read anything but Quidditch Weekly?" asked Draco, looking at the Slytherin girl slyly as she sat down and opened one of her books.

"What about it?"

"Gypsies are the purest of the pure bloods. You should know that," he answered, now making eye contact with the girl as she smiled coyly at him. "Save a seat for me in class would you, I've got something to do," he added, walking over to the girl.

A/N: I personally liked this chapter, I may be a little biased though. It's EXTREMELY useful to the plot, so I hope you read it carefully... Oh well. You know what's funny though, I wrote the beginning of this chapter a LOOOONG time ago, and in the PoA trailer, Daniel has a new haircut... SPOOKY! Hope you liked it. And I hope you find the time to review too *hint hint*