Dierna had taken the books that she needed from the restricted section and was now sitting at a table in the main part of the library. She was ready for a break; she could only read about sacrificial blood rites for so long. She turned to get up and ran right into Connor, who had obviously been standing behind her for some time.

"What do you want Connor?" Dierna glared at him.

"The same thing as always, you."

"You are so disgusting," Dierna picked up her books and tried to push her way around him, but Connor blocked her path.

"Why are you in such a hurry? I just want to talk." Connor tried to grab her.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's all you want," Dierna returned through clenched teeth as she twisted out of his way.

"Is there a problem here?"

Dierna turned at the sound of the new voice and sighed in relief, it was Kamen and Nick. She smiled at the way the two of them were glaring at Connor. She had to admit that as horrible as Kamen was to her sometimes he wouldn't let anyone else mess with her.

Kamen gently moved his sister out of his way and moved to tower over Connor, he grabbed the Slytherin by the collar and roughly pulled him up till his toes were barely touching the ground, "I suggest that you leave my sister alone in the future, or you will be paid a visit by all of the 7th year boys in Gryffindor, we look out for our own."

"Are you trying to scare me?" Connor hissed at his captor, undaunted by the fact that he was currently outnumbered.

"Just warning you, you mess with my sister, you mess with me."

"Kamen," Nick spoke quietly, "Madame Pince is coming, I think its time we made our exit, come on Dierna," he took Dierna by the arm headed out of the library.

"You have been warned," Kamen growled as he released Connor and followed Nick and Dierna out of the library. As soon as they were out in the hallway he grabbed Dierna, "what the hell was going on in there?! I want an explanation now!"

"Don't blame me for what happened in there Kamen!" Dierna narrowed her eyes at him.

"I'm not," Kamen towered over her, "but if I'm going to get myself into trouble for beating the crap out of him I want to make damn sure that it's for a good reason."

Nimue prepared herself for the next wave of visions; she realized that when she was ready for them the searing pain that she had grown to expect wasn't as bad.

This time Nimue recognized the landscape as southern Britain. The visions moved much more quickly this time and she subconsciously knew that it was because they were a part of her whereas Kalliope's history had come from the priestess. She saw a group of white robed women offering flowers to a crude statue of a woman; she recognized a peace to the land that was disrupted by the coming of foreign soldiers.

Nimue gave in to more tears as she saw the destruction that followed the legions that came upon the scene. She cursed the eagles of Rome as they brought destruction to her homeland, and she felt pride when her people fought back. She smiled through her tears when a golden haired woman wearing a heavy gold torque rode her chariot into battle against the Roman occupiers. She wept tears of joy when the queen of her people won battles, and those tears turned to sorrow when the Roman soldiers defeated her army.

She watched as the invaders from the south began to relinquish their claim to her country and the simply robed women resumed their worship of the goddess. Nimue felt her heart twist with pity for these women, she knew that hardship did not lay far off, and it entered the vision in the form of dark robbed hermits. These men desecrated the alters of the goddess in the name of their god.

"It's shameful that men always have to claim their dominance over women, even goddesses," Kalliope's soft voice cut through the scene. Nimue couldn't help but agree. The women had only been worshiping their deity peacefully...

She watched as one woman, with soft brown hair and violet eyes stepped forward. Nimue gasped as she focused on this leader whose looks were so similar to her own. She watched in awe as the woman raised her arms to the heavens, and crying out in an ancient language brought down the mists to obscure the island of the priestesses, Avalon they called it.

Nimue watched as time moved forward and one woman, also so similar to herself, left the island with a wizened old man, she traveled with him, far from her home, to a land of rocky cliffs, she was handed over to a man, Nimue watched as that man went into battle, and was killed. The conqueror returned and claimed the woman from Avalon as his own. She watched as that woman's belly swelled with child, and when the child was born the woman whispered a name, 'Arthur'.

She watched as the women of the isle of Avalon continued to worship their goddess, time occasionally interrupted by the wars of men. She watched as a woman left the misty isle, and not turning back she walked away from it.

"And that was the last woman from your family to have the gift of visions until you Nimue," Kalliope looked into the girl's large, violet eyes as she broke off the connection, "now, what have you learned?"

Nimue looked at the priestess through her tears, "women have suffered at the hands of men for all of time, we may fight back but we seem to always be defeated."

"No! We are not always defeated, it is important that you remember that child, otherwise nothing we do here will be important!"

Dierna faced her angry brother, hands on her hips, not at all daunted by the way he was towering over her, "I'm not asking for you to do anything about Connor, I can take care of myself!"

Kamen frowned down at her, "I know you think you can take care of yourself, but when I catch some Slytherin creep trying to grope my little sister, and she does nothing to defend herself I get a little upset!"

"Do you not remember that detention I got for punching him?! I can defend myself against him!"

"You may think you can, but I'm not taking any chances!"

"What are you two arguing about now?" their father's stern voice interrupted them as he took in Dierna's pale features and Kamen's angry look he had a feeling that he wouldn't get a straight answer.

"Nothing," they mumbled together, confirming Severus' suspicions about getting a good answer out of them.

He looked between the two of them for a moment, and deciding that Dierna looked like she had definitely been getting the worst of it decided to work on her first, "Dierna, I would like to talk to you about our project, come with me." Severus led her away and took the books from her arms as he led her down to the dungeons. "Now, would you care to tell me exactly what was going on?"

"Not really..."

"Dierna, what happened?"

Dierna sighed, "Kamen just walked in on Connor giving me a hard time so he decided to yell at me about how I'm defenseless, it was nothing."

"If it was nothing then why are you so upset and why are you trying to convince me that you are not upset?"

Dierna glared at her father in response, he read her far too well sometimes.

"Well? I'm still waiting for an answer."

Kalliope cupped Nimue's jaw in her hand, "child, just because we are women does not mean we are defenseless."

Nimue's voice was choked with tears, "but if we are not defenseless then why did I see all that suffering in the visions, if we are not defenseless why did I watch you get raped twice?!"

Kalliope sighed, "Because, there is still evil in the world, and as long as there is evil in men then they will commit evil acts. Yes, some women will be hurt, and yes, we will suffer, but we grow from it. Yes, I have been raped twice, and I watched as my daughter was murdered, but I still know how to love. Child, you will face pain and suffering, as many other women have before you, but you will learn how to face life everyday, and you will thank the goddess that you are alive, no matter how much your heart is hurting, because you will still have the ability to love."

Nimue tried to blink back her tears; she wanted to prove that she could be as strong as this priestess if she needed to.

Kalliope smiled in approval as she watched Nimue try to regain control of her emotions, "now child, how much about your bloodline do you understand?"

"Not much," she thought back to what she had seen and her eyes widened as a thought struck her, "am I related to King Arthur?"

Kalliope laughed softly, "It would certainly appear that way. You come from a long line, a royal line that is not that dissimilar to my own. Now, as far as your lineage is concerned I recognized several very important women, namely, queen Boudicca, the first Lady of the Lake, Arthur's mother, and the last woman in the vision, was a descendant of Mordred of the line of Arthur and Merlin."

"Of the line of Arthur and Merlin?" Nimue asked, her brow furrowed.

Kalliope shrugged, "Arthur's mother was fathered by Merlin, but the men aren't as important as the women in this case," she frowned slightly, "the priestess of Avalon would probably love to get their hands on you with your lineage, if you had been trained there from an early age they'd probably have you set up to be the next high priestess..."

Dierna sat back in a chair in front of her father's desk and wondered when this interrogation was going to stop; she glared at him, making her displeasure at this interference into her personal life more than clear.

Severus leaned against his desk as he observed his daughter, "glaring at me is not going to end this conversation." He sighed when she only narrowed her eyes further, "I'm assuming that since Connor is involved in this he tried to do something to you, am I correct?"

"Why don't you just let me handle this on my own?!" Dierna snapped at him. She watched as her father's mouth twitched slightly, but she couldn't tell if it was from amusement or anger at the way she had answered him.

Severus nearly smiled at her angry tone; she was most definitely his daughter. He quickly turned serious again, "has that boy done anything to you?"

"That's none of your..."

"Answer me Dierna! It is most certainly my concern, and I want to know what happened."

Dierna lowered her head, "he probably would have tried something but Kamen and Nick showed up so he didn't have a chance," she whispered in one quick breath.

Severus fought the growing rage he felt towards young Macnair. That anger would not be any help to him right now. He pushed himself away from his desk and moved to stand in front of his daughter. When she refused to lift her head to look at him he knelt in front of her and placing two long fingers under her chin he gently brought her face around so he could look in her eyes, "you are better than this Dierna. I know that you are capable of rising to any challenge set before you, but do not see Connor's advances as a challenge. You are not an object; do not let him treat you that way!"

Dierna met his gaze unflinchingly, "I won't."

"Good, you don't deserve to be treated that way, you deserve much better than that child."

Dierna jerked her head back, trying to escape her father's grasp and the concerned look in his eyes. She didn't like it when he worried about her like this; it meant he wasn't going to leave her alone.

Severus recaptured her chin in his grasp, "Dierna, do not confuse stubbornness with bravery. I don't want to see you get hurt and I can't help feeling that you are setting yourself up for destruction if you keep on like this. Please, don't wander around by yourself and don't give Connor any excuse to try something."

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, I am not a child."

"Then act like it," Severus lightly cuffed her on the back of the head, earning him another frown.

Sophia let William lead her around the maze of hallways and classrooms that was Hogwarts. She listened intently to his descriptions of the different rooms, trying to memorize every aspect of this castle. She didn't know how long she would be here, and it still felt almost like a dream being away from the temple like this. She wanted to memorize every detail.

The only major incident they had encountered was when Nearly Headless Nick had come floating through the wall and Sophia had immediately started peppering him with questions concerning the river Styx and the captive daughter of the goddess.

It had taken William quite awhile to sort out that conversation and the dialogue that had followed. Sir Nicholas had been very flattered over the interest Sophia had shown in him, and William had to work to drag the two of them apart, finally insisting that he had to finish showing Sophia around.

"I was enjoying that conversation," Sophia tossed her head as she confronted William.

William fought the strong temptation to roll his eyes at her commanding nature. He was beginning to think that this girl was more trouble than she was worth, but her regal demeanor was rather amusing. "I just thought you might like to see the Gryffindor common room and meet some of my friends."

As he had hoped that distracted Sophia from her temporary tirade and she started chattering away again. William only half listened to her, as they paused in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

"Why are we here?" Sophia interrupted her own prattling as she looked at William inquiringly.

"Just watch," William replied, and then he spoke the password, "Pemberly."

Sophia's eyes widened as the portrait swung open revealing the entrance to the Gryffindor common room. William led her in and they were immediately surrounded by Kamen, Nick, and a group of 7th year boys.

Sophia didn't catch all the boys' names but she was definitely enjoying the attention they were lavishing on her. She found herself grinning widely; she hoped the rest of the trip would be like this.

William sat back and smiled as watched Sophia interact with the boys. From what he had gathered from their conversations while he was showing her around she wasn't used to being around members of the opposite sex like this. He was very close to laughing at the way she alternated between blushing furiously and being verbally caustic when the boys went a little too far with their teasing.

William turned when someone came up behind him and wrapped their arms around his neck, "hey Dierna, how's it going?" Kamen's sisters treated him like he was their brother too, and he teased and baited them almost as much as Kamen did.

Dierna leaned over his shoulder, "I've just escaped from the most overprotective parent ever, do you know how long it took for me to sneak out of the dungeons?"

Kamen grabbed his sister from behind, "so, did Dad agree with me about the fact that you need someone else to help you deal with that sewer rat Connor?"