"Why did we leave so suddenly? It was a bit on the rude side." Kalliope didn't look too pleased with her traveling companion at the moment.

"Because you were no longer safe there," Severus replied in a harsh tone, he did not like to have his actions questioned.

"Why? Eric was behaving like a gentleman; certainly better then most of the men I have come in contact with at the temple. He told me why he was exiled, and I feel sorry for him."

"Then he lied to you."

"What?"

"If he made you believe that he was a victim in what happened, then he lied to you."

"Then tell me what really happened," Kalliope stopped in the middle of the street with her hands on her hips, waiting impatiently for an explanation.

"Not here," Severus took her by the arm and propelled her towards the entrance to their hotel, once they reached their rooms he let go of her. "I will tell you why he was exiled, but you must promise me something first."

"What is it?" Kalliope asked warily.

"You must never eat or drink anything that he offers you."

"Why?"

"Just promise me that you won't!" Severus was beginning to lose his patience.

"Not until you tell me why!" Kalliope shot back, her own anger rising.

Severus glared at her, and when he realized that the priestess wasn't going to back down he sighed, relenting, "because he has a nasty habit of drugging people."

"What do you mean? Why does he drug people?"

"I'm sure he told you he has never taken a woman to bed without his consent?" Severus waited while Kalliope nodded in agreement, "well a woman will agree to just about anything after he's drugged her. I'm only looking out for your safety."

Kalliope paled a bit, "thank you, but I still don't understand something. Why would he lie to me about his exile?"

"For pity," Severus sank down into an overstuffed chair and waved Kalliope into its mate, "sit down, this takes a bit of explaining. First off, you must understand that Eric is lonely. But that is entirely his own fault."

"And would he really have drugged me to..." Kalliope didn't want to finish that thought.

"Yes," Severus replied, "he has done it before, and I don't doubt that he will continue to manipulate people as long as he can. But to get back to why he is in exile..."

Charlie Weasley waited by the gates to Hogwarts, scanning the skies as dusk settled over the castle and the surrounding forest. A grin spread across his face as several large figures appeared in the sky. Everything was running on schedule, so far.

His grin widened as the figures became discernable, five dragons and their handlers. The group drew nearer and landed clear of the gates.

Charlie rushed up to the leader of the group, "you must be Zach," he said as he offered his hand to the younger man, "I hope the trip went well for you."

"It went very smoothly, all things considered," Zach took Charlie's proffered hand as he shook his blond hair out of his eyes.

"What have you got here?" Charlie asked, as he eyed the dragons eagerly.

Zach led the way over to the dragons, his grin of delight over working with a species he loved matching Charlie's, "I've got two Hebridean Blacks to put at the main entrance gate here, and three Common Welsh Greens to be used along the border of the Forbidden Forest. And the best team of handlers I've ever worked with."

Charlie eyed the massive beasts appreciatively before turning back to Zach, "you don't look old enough to have much field experience."

Zach shrugged, "I graduated a year ago, I spent most of my time up till now in Australia working with the Antipodean Opaleyes, I got transferred to Scotland about a month ago."

"And where are you from originally? You have an accent."

Zach grinned, a smile that reached all the way to his flashing green eyes, "America, I was born and raised in the states."

Charlie clapped a hand on the younger man's shoulder, "well Zach, I think we'll get along fine here, and I'd be more than happy to have you help with some of my classes. I think between the two of us we could come up with a great unit on dragons."

"Eric was undoubtedly one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has ever seen in its more than a thousand years of existence," Severus conjured himself a drink before continuing, "he is particularly adept at making potions, and from what I understand he did a lot of experimenting while he was a student. "During his seventh year of school there was a sudden increase in student illnesses, no one could figure out what was happening, and one student died. Eric eventually told Dumbledore that he had been testing out various poisons he had created on people. He said that the loss of a life here or there in the interest of the advance in potion making didn't bother him."

"He reminds me of some of the warriors at home, they can kill innocent people without giving it a second thought," Kalliope spoke softly.

Severus nodded, "Eric kills without thought, it is simply a way of life for him. Anyways, when he got out of school he continued to test his poisons where he could, the Ministry of Magic eventually found out what he was doing and sentenced him to life in Azkaban. "However, Eric disappeared before they could take him to the prison. For several years no one heard anything from him. The Ministry hoped that he had died, or decided to stop poisoning people for his enjoyment. But Dumbledore warned them that he was still out there somewhere. Albus and Eric were in contact at that time, from what I understand, Eric was too dependent on Albus. I believe that Albus actually went to see Eric after he had a rather nasty accident while experimenting on a new potion, that accident is responsible for the damage to his face that you have seen."

"How was he able to hide from your Ministry for so long? I thought your government was better organized than that."

"Well, this is where Eric's creative side comes through; this was only a few years after Leroux published a fanciful muggle book about an opera ghost in Paris. Eric was always a bit on the eccentric side, and he decided that with his deformed face he was very similar to this opera ghost. He somehow managed to set up a home below the Paris opera house, with Albus' help of course. Albus always believed that if given the chance Eric's good side might come through, unfortunately the Ministry got word of his whereabouts and decided to step in."

"What happened?" Kalliope noticed the strained expression on her companion's face.

Severus sighed, "You have to understand that Eric will only kill people who he thinks are a threat to him or who have offended him. I have no reason to believe that either of us is in any real danger. "The Ministry sent twenty-five of their best aurors into Paris to bring Eric back, none of them made it back. According to Eric, four of them died in the various traps he has set up in the opera house, he sent their bodies back. Nine of them died in that enchanted forest that you saw, their bodies were never recovered." Severus paused for a moment, "Six of them he hung from trees around the border of the forest, I believe that Albus actually saw their bodies."

"And the other six?" Kalliope asked quietly.

"He tortured them to death, that's all you need to know, their bodies were returned, and the state that they were in is nothing that a lady such as yourself should ever know. Ever since then the Ministry has let him be. In return he has played both sides, when Voldemort was in power he supplied both the dark lord and our side with information."

Kalliope closed her eyes for a moment, "and yet this... monster... of a person has been so hospitable to us..."

Severus took a long drink from the glass clutched in his hand, "yes, because above all Eric is a gentleman, I have seen him kill a man for not standing when a lady entered the room. No matter how many people he kills or tortures, he will always act like a perfect gentleman."

Remus sat as the desk in his office as he finished grading papers before classes started for the day. He smiled slightly as he looked over at Sophia who had dragged a chair directly in front of the fireplace. He had spent most of the morning so far listening to the girl complain about the cold or answering the numerous questions she kept throwing at him. For the moment, however, she was silent, as she huddled close to the fire, shivering occasionally.

"Are you still cold?" Remus asked, smiling slightly.

"Freezing, I don't know how you can stand this cold," Sophia whined.

Remus hid his smile as he organized a stack of papers on his desk, he really didn't think it was at all cold in his office, but then again the girl was only wearing the thin robes that she had brought with her from Greece. "How would you like to go shopping this afternoon?"

"What for?" Sophia looked up, obviously interested.

"Some new clothes for you, you need something a bit warmer."

"Are we going to go to a real store? Like the ones Kalliope has told me about, like the ones they have in the wizarding communities in Greece?" there was an edge of excitement to Sophia's voice.

"Of course, it will be something like that, where else would we go?"

"I don't know," Sophia shrugged, "everything that we use at the temple comes to us from offerings that people leave for the Goddess, or we barter with the tribes that come through. Kalliope makes a trip to one of the magical settlements in Greece every year, but I've never been allowed to go with her."

Remus smiled a bit, Kalliope's ward continued to amaze him. She was such an outspoken feminist, and yet she knew so little of the world. The only life experience she had came from the temple where she had spent her entire life. "Well then, this will be quite the learning experience for you."

Sophia frowned a bit as she chewed on her bottom lip, "Remus, you wizards use money don't you? You don't barter for things, right?"

Remus instantly caught on to where this conversation was going, "don't worry about it Sophia, I'll take care of everything."

Sophia look hardened, "Kalliope has told me that I must never become indebted to a man."

Remus had all he could do not to laugh, it took a great deal of work for him to keep a serious expression on his face, "Kalliope also told me to look after you, I would be going against her orders if I did not see to your comfort." He hoped that this would be the right tactic to get Sophia to agree.

Sophia thought for a moment before she finally nodded slowly, "alright, as long as you think that it's what Kalliope would want."

"Well, now that we have that settled, what are you going to do today?"

Sophia shrugged, "I don't know, would it be alright if I explored the castle a bit on my own?"

Remus absently tapped his fingers on his desk top, "that might not be the best idea, I have a feeling that Mr. Filch would not be happy if he found you wandering around the halls, and the last thing you need is to have a run in with Argus Filch."

Sophia's eyes lit up, "is he like the real..."

Remus smiled as he gathered up the papers he had finished grading and slipped them into his tattered briefcase and answered Sophia's question for her before she finished asking it, "No he's not like the Argus from your mythology, at least as far as having a hundred eyes. Although the students will tell you that he has a habit of finding out exactly when they're going to cause trouble in the halls."

"I still want to explore this castle," Sophia pouted.

"Well, you have been spending a bit of time with Nimue; she could give you a pretty basic tour, although if you want to see more of the secret passageways I would suggest that you ask her brother or sisters to give you a tour."

Sophia sighed, "So what am I supposed to do today? 'Cause I'm not just going to sit in my room all day" she finished defiantly.

"You could sit in on my classes today if you want, it might not be the most entertaining way to spend a day, but it'll keep you out of trouble."

Sophia frowned, "I won't get into trouble if you let me explore on my own."

Remus shook his head, "it's either class with me or you can sit here in my office, those are your two options."

"Why should I listen to a man?" Sophia shook back her long red hair and crossed her arms over her chest.

Remus found that he was very glad he was a patient man, he had thought that looking after a teenage girl for a few days would be no problem, but Sophia's instilled feminist values and the sense of female superiority that she had learned at the temple were making this more difficult, "Because Miss Sophia, whether you like it or not Kalliope left you in my care, that means you will do what I tell you to. And if I'm not mistaken, no matter how much Kalliope has taught you to hate men she trusts me, and I don't think she will be very happy if I have to tell her that you caused trouble for me while she was gone. Now what will it be, the office or the classroom with me?"

"I'll go to class with you," Sophia finally mumbled, after realizing there was no chance of her getting her own way.

"We're still not any closer to bring the dark lord back to power sir; Eric isn't helping us like we thought he would." Walden Macnair spoke hesitantly; Draco's temper was becoming worse the longer they were delayed.

"I'll deal with Eric later. For now we should move on to the other part of our plan."

"And what exactly is that?"

Draco grinned menacingly, "We strike the traitors where it will hurt them the most," he pulled out a small vile containing a dark red liquid, "We've had this in our possession for quite some time now, I think it's time to see how well it works. Give this to our spy, he should be able to make good use of it."

"I think Care of Magical Creatures is possibly the worst class ever," Dierna mumbled, "after Divination of course."

"You complain too much, I think it's our best class" Nick pinched her as they made their way outside towards where the rest of the class was gathering.

"That's only because you've never been bitten by anything," Dierna glared at him as she rubbed her arm where he had pinched her, silently vowing to get revenge later.

"Well, girl, I for one am definitely going to enjoy this class," one of the twin's roommates, Kandi, joined them, "check out those fine pieces of work," she pointed across the lawn where two men, one with shining blond hair and one with curly black hair and an eye-patch were standing with Charlie Weasley, "I can't say that I'd mind being bitten by one of them," she added with a wink.

"Yep, we've definitely hit the jack-pot this time; did you see the rest of them out here earlier? Who cares about magical creatures, I want to study Professor Weasley's friends," Dinah, another of their roommates, added as she joined them, along with the rest of the sixth year girls from Gryffindor, Emily, who was muggle born, and Andromache Weasley.

"Yeah, it's too bad you girls are already taken," Kandi said to Serena and Dierna, "all you can do is look. I, on the other hand... I can do all the touching I want."

All of the girls dissolved into a fit of giggles that caused Nick to give them a look of disgust and move away to find some more masculine company while muttering something about girls with dirty minds.

"I think I might actually pay attention in class today," Dierna said as she quickly ran a hand over her hair, hoping that her normally wild curls would behave for this one class.

"Definitely," her twin agreed, "it's a good thing Mark doesn't have this class with us, otherwise I'd be in trouble," she smiled, "I have every intention of enjoying this view without having to worry about what my boyfriend thinks."

"Alright everyone, settle down." Charlie waited till his class was silent, "We have a couple of guests with us today, this is Zach and Alberto. As many of you have noticed we have dragons guarding the entrances to the school now. Zach is in charge of this new security measure and Alberto is one of the handlers, they have very kindly agreed to help me with a special unit on dragons. We're going to spend the next few weeks studying on of the Common Welsh Greens that they brought with them."

Charlie led the class over to a pen close to the Forbidden Forest, which contained one large, and very agitated dragon. "This is a young female, she'll be about twice this size by the time she's full grown. I'm going to let Zach take over for now, as this type of dragon is what he specializes in."

"Thanks Charlie," Zach stepped in front of the class, feeling a bit nervous, the students were only two or three years younger than he was, "now, does anyone know what the preferred prey of this type of dragon is?"

Most of the girls in the class had congregated to one side where whispered conversations could be carried on without attracting too much attention. There was general agreement among them that they were definitely going to be looking forward to this class from now on, as long as Zach and Alberto were present.