Disclaimer: Check first chapter for full disclaimer and other warnings.

Chapter 17 – To Throw a Ball

"Here! Pass to me!"

"Shoot! Shoot!"

"Goooaaaal!"

The shouts were coming from an abandoned lot near the school. The five teenagers were playing a downgraded form of football, and were having fun doing so. Even with the cold weather, they were running, pushing a deflated ball around, and were globally having a good time together. As they weren't many, even the more scholarly-oriented of them were playing. Even if Gabriel hadn't known the rules at first, he had quickly adapted and stopped being distracted by every golden item on the ground. As Tamara often said, it always paid to have a body if good state. Mens sana in corporo sano, as the Romans said. They had taken the habit of running around their respective lot each morning, and were as fit as one can be.

After two hours of pushing the ball around, the state of said ball was too deteriorated for them to be able to continue playing, so they left the premises. It was Sunday afternoon, right before Halloween, and they had already finished their respective homework. So, standing aimlessly near the now empty field, they discussed about their options, the elapsed weeks, and the incoming festivities.

"So, what are we going to do, now? We have a few hours before having to return home."

"We could go to the arcades?"

"I'd rather not. Last time, the owner practically threw us out because he didn't like that we had been winning. I'm not putting money in his machines again, for a long time anyway."

"Movies?" proposed Jason.

"Nothing interesting that we didn't see already."

"Pub?" asked a mischievous Kevin.

Tamara answered with a scowl "They are not open yet, and you know we aren't allowed in anyway."

"Okay. Then, we can discuss about what to do next week end."

"Why not? But I'd rather get cleaned some."

"Me too. We can meet at my place; I know my parents aren't home tonight anyway." Jason said, quite sadly. "They are at a political meeting. Again."

"Deal?" Kevin asked.

"Deal." Everyone answered, before going home.

Half an hour afterwards, they all were in Jason's home, in the comfortable lounge.

"So, any idea for Halloween?" Joan started.

"We could sing at the church choir." Tamara, whose mother was doing exactly that, proposed.

"We can spend the night playing games." Kevin said.

"I'm not sure about playing any of Kevin's games anymore." Gabriel countered.

Sensing an argument brewing, Joan proposed the first idea out of her mind. "How about helping the local kids getting candies?"

"What do you mean? What do they do?" Gabriel was still unaware of many things running in the world, and his friends had to update him on a regular basis. That particular Halloween custom was explained to him, while Jason got them some refreshments.

After the explanation, Tamara started again "You know that we are quite old to ask candies."

"I didn't say getting candies ourselves, but helping the kids fetching them, keeping them in check in the darkened streets, and all that sort of things."

"Okay, okay, I get the picture. We'll get split, though. I was more thinking about doing things together."

"Perhaps, but we will also be able to disguise ourselves, and enjoy that. I always wanted to dress as a vampire." Kevin's eyes were shining.

Bending towards Tamara, he added something in her ear, which made her gasp, then giggle. Catching her furtive glances in his direction, Gabriel asked "What? What did he say?"

"Ahem... you see... disguise and all... you... well..." She was smiling at the same time, and Gabriel quickly caught the meaning.

"No way!"

"Come on, Gabriel, I'm sure you'd make a perfect one." Kevin pressed on.

"I'm not dressing like that; you all know I don't want it!"

"You'd make a perfect one! You never disguised yourself before, that's the occasion!"

"I already disguised myself, thank you very much. In the ghost ride, this summer!"

"That was you?" Jason looked at him with his eyes wide. Until now, he and Joan had been watching the exchange, not knowing what it was about, but suspecting that Gabriel wouldn't be happy.

"What do you mean, you were there?"

"Well, yes, once. Some friends – well, rather some kids of my parent's friends, who I got cornered with – wanted to go there because of a good monster. I accompanied them, and I admit I was scared, but I never linked you to that. You had a good disguise, though."

"See? You'd make a perfect one..." Kevin charged again.

"I had a good disguise, because of the circumstances! I don't want to do that, you know."

"Okay, okay, perhaps you'll change your mind."

"I'm sure I won't. Well... I'd like to change my mind, but not like this."

"We will see. About that, have you thought about the healing methods we spoke about, two weeks ago?"

"Yes. I bought some booklets about meditation, yoga, and martial arts, but I didn't have time to read them."

"We should try to read them together. After all, from what I read in a science magazine once, meditating can help to sort one's mind quite efficiently. They even hinted to a better efficiency in work. In our case, that would be better grades. What do you think, guys?" Kevin was, as always, over-enthusiastic on his new idea, and it was difficult not to be drawn by it.

Always the one very organized, Joan spoke at that moment. "From our schedule, I think that a weekly meeting would be good, on Wednesdays afternoon. Or the week-end, but let's try to keep that free, or else we wouldn't have anymore 'free time'."

"And we can meet here." Jason said. "Even if my parents hold one of their meetings, we can take the back door and go up my room quickly."

"Deal!" Kevin was ecstatic, and turned with Gabriel. "Have you thought about your tattoo yet?"

Disturbed by the change of topic, Gabriel stayed silent for a moment, remembering, before answering.

Flashback: a week and a half ago...

Gabriel was running. He and his friends had decided that it was worth it, and, even if they didn't live in the same neighbourhoods, each of them forced oneself to get up a little earlier than was necessary, to run around the blocks for half an hour. After two days, Gabriel and Joan had also remarked that they could meet each other, and run together for a short while, because they lived not that far from one another. To get there, though, Gabriel had to cross the public zoo, which was thankfully open, and also free of charge. He had always quickly passed in front of the cages, but never run outright so that the animals wouldn't be frightened. He had never really paid attention to them, though. He just knew that he passed in front of some tropical birds at some point, a closed house that proclaimed it contained snakes, and a large enclosed ward containing felines.

That day, though, the vision that caught his eyes made him stop.

There, on his right, in the ward, a lion was eating. Well, the great feline was trying. The zoo employees generally passed the meat through a kind of tube in the wall, and it was dropped to the ground inside the ward. Today, though, one of the lion was hungry and had decided not to wait for the meat to fall, but was searching the tube end with its maw. The fact that had caught Gabriel's attention was that, due to the height of the tube's end, the lion was practically standing, its side towards him, its paws on the wall, and its bloodied jaws opened. Recognition struck the teenager like lightning, and he stumbled back, trying to find a seat.

Soon after, he realized that the standing lion was a sign of his past, and decided to do like with the girl and the bird, and spent several days trying to draw it, several times. It was always almost perfect. Grace and Joan, who also knew the zoo, found his drawing flawless, but he couldn't refrain from feeling something missing. So, he started to experiment with his drawings. After all, he had drawn a mythical bird before, why not other legendary creatures?

He started to draw a centaur-like creature having the lion body, but quickly noticed that it was farther from his recollection than the lion alone.

He also found a book on mythical creatures in his school library, and searched the pages, quite unsuccessfully. Not that the book was incomplete, but rather that nothing really called to him. The only idea he found was a picture, from which he caught only a glimpse while browsing the book rapidly. The glimpse of feathers made his heart accelerate, so he turned the pages backwards until he stumbled on the Pegasus picture. A horse with wings! He remembered suddenly that Kevin had talked about such a horse when they had been discussing about tattoos. Of course! He could try to add wings to the lion. Reflecting upon that, he found that it was the perfect thing to do, and started to draw winged lions on the fourth sketchpad Grace had been forced to buy him because of his drawing frenzies.

End of flashback...

"Yes. I was first drawn to get myself a phoenix, but I think it would be more... appropriate? For Tamara." Seeing everyone's questioning look, he explained that, in the book he had read about mythical creatures, phoenixes were birds closely related to fire, and their legend say that they can be reborn from the flames. "And Tamara wanted something fiery, so I gave her one of my coloured drawings of the bird, because the ones in the book weren't good."

"You must either have a large ego or a good talent to criticize book drawings, Gabriel." Joan said with a smile.

"Take your pick, milady, I won't mind." Smiling, he rose, bowed to her, and went to fetch his sketchpad, which was in his satchel near the wall. Opening it to the last page, he showed it to them, saying "That's what I want for a tattoo."

They all gasped. They knew that he was drawing things, and that he was pretty good. They didn't know that, for the whole week, he had been in the zoo every evening, looking at the lions and taking them in, memorizing their habits and way of moving. The drawing they saw was Gabriel's current pride, as it showed the lion in the very position that had caught his attention, standing like one could in a coat-of-arms. And it had feathery wings, semi-opened as if about to take flight. It was so life-like that they thought it was going to roar. Their awe was sudden interrupted by Jason.

"That's not possible, that's not possible..."

Joan elbowed him, and, laughingly, said "Of course it's not possible, a winged lion, you think! But it's a drawing! Don't get your knickers in a twist."

Jason looked at her absently, and said "You don't understand. I saw... I'd better show you."

He rose and beckoned to them. They went upstairs, through multiple and large stairways. Jason's parents were very well furnished, and the house was huge. They went in the attic, which could have held a whole flat, and which wasn't even dusty like all attics use to be. Jason directed them towards a set of shelves. With books. Some seemed really old, and reminded Gabriel of those he had seen in the old man's bookstore. Jason took a large tome, and dropped it carefully on a nearby desk, before going to light the desk lamp. Apparently, the attic could be used to study the family's archives.

However, after having lit the old petrol lamp properly, he snatched at the glass tube that was to surround the flame, and missed it. It crashed on the floor, broken. They all crouched and tried to recover glass parts around the impact point. Joan found one under a chair, and cut herself while picking it up.

She stood up with a yelp, and everyone looked at her concernedly. Gabriel looked at her bleeding thumb, and asked suddenly. "Show me."

Not thinking about it, she showed him her wound, and he looked at it intently for a few seconds. Just as she was to get her hand back, possibly to heal it downstairs, he suddenly bent forwards and licked it.

Blood.

Blood!

He had forgotten, in his comfortable months, how he had lived on the streets in the beginning of the summer. He had forgotten that he had survived by eating raw animals and drinking their blood. The drop of blood he had just licked was so much more powerful than that, that he almost fainted on the spot, before shaking himself awake.

Joan jerked her hand away, and was ready to berate him for such a strange behaviour, but she looked at her hand, and the wound was closed now. Storing the episode in her memory, in the space reserved to 'strange occurrences relative to Gabriel,' she reflected that this space was going to need a sorting someday soon. She then turned towards the others, who had been finishing storing the shards away, and were waiting for the two of them.

Smiling lightly, she spoke. "You were to say, Jason?"

"This book, as almost all the ones in this shelf, is related to my family." Jason started. "Almost nobody is interested in them nowadays, but I recall browsing them when I was a kid."

Kevin mumbled something that sounded like "bookworm" but everyone followed. Jason continued.

"My father's family had its roots very deep in the country, and some of these books relate stories about my ancestors. Some are hideous, some are really beautiful, and some are just plain and boring. I particularly liked the one with..." Realizing he was babbling over his memories, he shook himself, opened the book, and started talking again.

"These books not only tell stories from direct ancestors and family lines, but also from some interesting cousins. And there is one of them who, well... you'll see." he paused, frowning, turning page after page, before landing on one.

They all gasped.

There, on half the page, was the exact same drawing that they had seen downstairs.

At Hogwarts...

There was chaos. There was pandemonium. And then, there was the Hogwarts' Great Hall after such an announcement. Most of the boys looked annoyed, and were expressing their annoyance vocally, while almost all the girls were ecstatic, and shrieked to one another. The seemingly unimportant sentence from the Headmistress had started it all.

"...and on next Saturday, there will be a Halloween Ball."

The girls were speaking about dress robes and boys, and the boys were speaking about... dress robes and girls. Neville was smiling goofily, holding Parvati's hand. Parvati was chatting excitedly with her twin, who had just switched tables after the announcement. Everybody was also happy that, for the students to be able to prepare for the Ball, Wednesday afternoon had been freed for a trip to Hogsmeade.

The only ones that weren't making too much noise were, for the most part, the already 'official' couples that had only needed a nod to each other. Still, that didn't prevent those couples to participate to the surrounding ruckus. The other uninterested persons were those for who the Ball was of little interest, mainly single students from Ravenclaw. And Hermione.

As it had been the end of the meal anyway, she just left the hall towards the Library. She had no use of a Ball, and wasn't looking forward to it. On her way, she came across a certain Potion Master, who had exited the Great Hall through the staff door, thus gaining a lead in navigating the castle. He wanted to spend the remaining of his otherwise free afternoon with a research project he had, about the Mind Restoring potion, especially on how to replace the unicorn blood. That way, he reflected, he could explain the Longbottoms revival with another explanation than that of a miracle.

When they met in the corridor, there was a small pause, before he they spoke at the same time, uttering the same words.

"What a useless event!"

They smiled.

"I'm going to do some potion research." He started. "Interested?"

As she had already asked information about the procedure needed for her project, he had magically expanded his office, leaving her a small place in it for her cauldron to simmer without school interference. Her eyes lit up at the prospect, and she readily agreed. They went downstairs, chatting amiably about reagents, unaware of the malicious pair of eyes following them from inside an alcove down the corridor.

Megan left the Great Hall with the other first years. As it was their first Ball in school, and as many of them were muggle-born, they didn't know how to dress and act. They were thinking about staying in their room during the ball, when an older student from Slytherin approached the group.

"Good evening, young Gryffindors. Sorry to have overheard you, but I daresay that the fabled courage of your House may not show itself if you weren't to participate in the Ball."

Such an announcement left the younger students agape, and Blaise Zabini smiled to indicate the comical nature of it, before turning to address one of them. "Megan, can I talk to you privately?"

After curious gazes from her year mates, she nodded. She then waited for the others to politely leave, something they didn't do, undoubtedly being too obtuse to understand. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Blaise took her hand and led her around the nearest corner before addressing her.

"Are there your friends?"

"No, only tag-along dogs that I transfigured into Gryffindors for my own pleasure."

Her answer left him open-mouthed. Unknown to many students, the shy girl who had been noticed as Harry Potter's younger and female version wasn't really shy. On the Sorting ceremony, she hadn't known where she was, who the people were, and why the candles were floating in the air. In her previous life, though, she was clever and quick-witted, something that had benefited her recent studies and relationships. It was now clear to the whole Gryffindor house that she wasn't said Potter's sister or look-alike or whatever. The rest of the school had to discover her mischievousness, though, like Blaise was now. He shook himself while she was smiling innocently at him.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

"Actually, yes. I wanted to ask you something, but I have to make something clear first. You are beautiful, and now I know that you are not a dim-witted bigoted Gryffindor, and..." She had started to blush at the beginning of the sentence, but quickly found her natural skin colour at its end. She prepared to answer this, but he silenced her and continued.

"...and I want you to know that it's not the main reason why I wanted to ask you to go to the ball with me."

Now she was lost. Seeing her expression, he clarified.

"I want to promote the house relationships, and, despite what you might think, most Slytherin still think of you as Potter's sister. So, as a gesture of friendship between us and Gryffindor, I wanted to invite you to the Halloween Ball."

"But... but... what if..."

"I don't pressure you into it. In fact, if someone else ask you, go ahead and go with him. Unless you don't like the person, though, then you have the perfect excuse." He added the last part with a smirk.

Seeing that she was still thoughtful, even if smiling a little at his joke, he continued. "Despite the diplomatic goal of this invitation, I suspect that I might like knowing you better, and I look forward to it, too. But I still won't force you. In any way."

"You mean it? Like you said? It's not one of the Slytherin tricks?"

"It's not. We Slytherin may have tricked people in the past, but I try to smooth them, and this is part of the plan. With benefits." He added with another smile.

She slapped at his arm playfully, but he continued nonetheless. "After all, I'm a proficient dancer, and you might even like me."

She looked at him with an inscrutable expression on her face, before smiling and answering. "I might. If you are usually this honest with people, I might."

"See you at the Ball, then?"

"Yes."

And they separated. This time, there had been no hidden eyes to spy on them.

Later, in a remote cottage...

Lord Voldemort was satisfied. True, the summer months had been hectic, with Draco's uncovering and spillings, causing his ranks to reduce drastically. But now, he was using this little cottage, its inside magically enlarged, as his base of operations, and he had mastered the Fidelius charm to hide it to enemy eyes. And his link to the students loyal to him had just told him of an interesting event.

"Jugson, I want you to round all my faithful followers, we are going to strike the old fool while he thinks that everything is in control. I want them to tremble, and to spend unnecessary time and money finding us. Give our friends appointment here on Wednesday morning."

As he didn't want his followers to be discovered easily anymore, he had stopped marking them. So, to call for them, he had to rely on external help. That's why Jugson had to travel to each of the involved persons to deliver his message, thus taking much more time to bring them all.

After the man left, though, another person entered the room, although that one wasn't wearing the usual black robe that his followers usually wore, only black baggy pants and sweatshirt, and black trainers as well. He couldn't even say if that person was male or female, as the person's face was smooth without being feminine. He or she had jet black hair cut short, and black eyes.

"Who are you, and how did you enter?"

Voldemort wasn't afraid. After all, he wasn't the current Dark Lord without a reason, and could hold his own against almost everyone, the only notable exception being Albus Dumbledore. But he was wary of the intruder nonetheless, because the person obviously sneaked in his cottage without activating his traps and detection spells. The voice that answered him was in between a regular man's voice and a woman's.

"Who I am is of no importance, as how I entered. What is important is how you are coping with our little game."

Voldemort didn't understand, and it unnerved him greatly. The person opposite him looked around the room with distaste showing. "For the moment, you may refer to me as Thirteen."

"Why would I..."

Thirteen didn't let him finish his sentence, and, looking him in the eye, said "We'll meet again."

The intruder disappeared, without the usual sound or magic residue indicating a magical travelling mean. At the same time, a book materialized itself at Voldemort's feet. Picking it up and browsing through it, he saw numerous potion recipes and spells directions. From their descriptions, these were of the darkest sort, but he didn't know them. Any of them.

The concept was new to him, and it added to his reaction. Voldemort was fearing someone now, for the first time of his life.

In a large attic, full of books...

"Jason, what does it mean?"

"I don't know, Gabriel. Perhaps you knew about him. Or it may be a coincidence..."

"I don't believe in coincidences anymore." Kevin interrupted. "What does the book say about this?"

"There, it says that said cousin, Godfroy Frederick As a' Loch, chose this... 'animal' as his personal crest." Jason stopped reading, and browsed the text rapidly, commenting on it as he went. "The author hadn't known him personally, and he wrote only what people said about him. Something weird is that, contrarily to most of the family members, his date and place of death is not indicated. See? Born in 920 at the hamlet of Hog's Meade, he practically disappeared without a trace at the age of 20, and nobody knew where he went. As if... by magic." Jason had been reading, and the last two words, while taken from the book, were said while he was looking at Gabriel.

After an uneasy pause, Gabriel shrugged, and motioned Jason to continue reading.

"There are also unverifiable facts about Goderick, as he liked to be called, some of them bordering on the legend. Some of the people interviewed said that he was unnaturally good with swords, but, them being peasants, it could be possible that he merely impressed them with a trick or two. Some said that he was nosy and asked questions about everything. Some others, although not sober enough to truly be believable, said that he could change form, transforming into strange beasts, and a few even muttered that he fought a dragon. It ends there. You see, there's no need to be worried, it's all a bunch of... Gabriel?"

Jason had raised his head towards his friend when he finished reading, and the others in the room, intent on listening, hadn't noticed the teen's expression. Gabriel's face was a mix of sadness, pain, and concentration. He was holding his head in his left hand, visibly suffering, while looking intently at his right. When his friends called to him a second time, he raised his head, and released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"What?"

"You were... preoccupied?"

"Honestly... yes." Gabriel looked like he was searching for words, before launching himself. "I don't remember it all, but I know I knew something about this Godric..."

"Goderick." Kevin corrected absently.

"Yeah, whatever. And Hog's Meade. But I can't remember. His family name doesn't ring a bell, though. It's the same as yours, Jason?"

"Yes. As it is written today, Asaloch doesn't mean anything, but you saw how it was written a millennium ago? It's Gaelic, and it means 'of the lake'. And don't start me up on legends about the Knights of the Round Table, and Merlin. God knows I've been subjected to them each time I told this."

"Really, Jason? Once more shouldn't disturb you, then? Is it true, anyway?" Kevin was half-laughing, half-curious.

Jason sighed before answering. "Truthfully, I don't know. I explored all our family records and, as far as I can go, nothing is said about that topic."

"Too bad, that. We could have played the knights, and Gabriel would play Merlin, of course." Kevin was laughing outright, now, but Joan was looking at Gabriel intently.

He had been looking at Jason with that faraway look in his eyes again. And muttering. Approaching him, she could only hear something in the like of "Merlin... knows... Merlin knows..." before he was startled awake again, and smiled faintly at her.

"You must think I'm a loona... errm... a loony?" Not even registering her denial, he lowered his head and muttered again. "Where did that come from?"

When he looked up again, seeing her sympathetic eyes, he said "I'm sorry; my memories are turning up and down around my head. I can't make head or tails from them."

She held his gaze, and spoke in a soft voice. "You know, Gabriel, I think that speaking about that Goderick..."

"Godric." He corrected. "His name's Godric. Godric Grif..." He shut his eyes, and held his head in his hands for a few seconds, while she and the others looked at him in wonder. But he raised his head again, shaking it. "I'm sorry, you were saying?"

"Even if you won't like the idea, you'll admit that speaking about God... ric, and about magic in general, helps your memory."

He reluctantly nodded, fearing the next sentence.

"I really think you should do like Kevin proposed downstairs. You know? About your disguise for Halloween?"

He sighed, defeated. Perhaps something good could come out of it? He had a bad feeling about it, though.

"Okay, you win. I'll dress as a wizard."

Hogsmeade, Wednesday afternoon...

The flow of students was continuous, but, unlike the usual Hogsmeade visits, the main target wasn't Honeyduke, the candy shop, nor The Three Broomsticks, the pub, nor even Zonko's, the joke shop. Today, the main attraction was Gladrag's, the robes shop. It wasn't as furnished as Madam Malkin's, but the students were literally swarming the place, to the point of the shop having an entry queue. The day was a success for the shop, as even the first years have been allowed to be present at the Ball.

Suddenly, many popping sounds could be heard around Hogsmeade centre. Several shapes in black robes and white masks had apparated, and their sight caused a moment of uncertainty in the student body. How could that be?

When spells began to fly in the area, though, the students quickly understood what was underway, and scattered with the cries of "Death Eaters! Death Eaters!"

The Death Eaters, being younger and less 'experienced' than the old ones, didn't use Unforgivables, but other painful curses. Several students fell on the floor, bleeding because of the Cutting curse. Others were thrown by strong explosions, either directly and indirectly, and laid unconscious near fallen constructions.

Something that the Death Eaters hadn't foreseen, though, because of their lack of spies in the higher Ministry spheres, was that Albus Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley had seen that the visit wasn't to be interrupted by external elements, whichever they were. As soon as the black-robed wizard had started to cast offensive spells, a warning sound had been heard in Dumbledore's office, as well as in a room in the Ministry, where several Aurors were on remote guard duty. The target already in mind, they all apparated in the area and entered the fray.

In the indescribable free-for-all that ensued, some Aurors fell, victims of the Reducto spell and Cutting curse, but not without taking some Death Eaters out also, through a good use of the Stupefy spell. The remaining Death Eaters, not used to direct confrontations and seeing that they were losing, fled the premises by quickly apparating away. Dumbledore could have prevented their retreat, but the students were still there and a cornered enemy is always more dangerous, so he allowed most of the Death Eaters to leave.

Afterwards, the injured were sent to the hospital wing, the worst cases by portkey, and two Aurors who had field healing skills were sent to help Madam Pomfrey with the sudden influx of people. As the Aurors mostly used spells that didn't wound, the fallen Death Eaters weren't to be sent to the infirmary, and they were quickly sorted, searched, their wand and other paraphernalia removed. The four people that lied on the floor then, unmasked, unrobed, and tied with magically-conjured ropes, weren't fearful at all anymore. Although they were frightened.

On the spot, they asked for the prisoners' names and station. Two refused to answer, but, as an Auror told them that they would be given Veritaserum later at the Ministry anyway, they started to cooperate.

In a dark alleyway on the side of the battlefield, a fifth Death Eater had been made prisoner by Severus Snape, who had been alerted by Dumbledore and had joined the battle quickly. The prisoner wasn't just any Death Eater. As both were members of the 'old crew' of the Death Eaters, Albert Jugson and Severus Snape knew each other. So, when the Potion Master started to question the Death Eater, said Death Eater couldn't refrain from spitting in his face, to the shouts of "Traitor! We all know everything about you now, and you'll die if you set a step out of your precious castle!"

After that incident, witnessed by Dumbledore, the old man took Snape out of the alley after silencing the prisoner, and they discussed about an idea he just got, while Jugson was struggling against the magical ropes that were tying him. Unsuccessfully.

"Severus?"

"Yes, Albus?"

"I have been thinking, recently, and the way we are dealing with Voldemort doesn't seem sufficient to finish him."

"What do you mean? We have him cornered, and just got some more of his troops."

"I know, but as long as we can't get to him directly, he will always regroup and be a danger to the population, whether wizarding or muggles."

"What do you suggest, then?"

"Well, you see, our liberties are too restricted in that endeavour. Officially and legally, we won't be able to kill him in the end. I remember..." he shook his head, trying to force himself to continue "...when I defeated Grindewald, we both used the Unforgivables."

"And that implies..."

"Yes, old friend. Without going as low as to go to our enemy's level, it is time we turn a little of his strategy and ideas against him."

"What do you propose?"

Albus Dumbledore, turning towards the distant form of Jugson, addressed his Potion Master. "Do you remember being a spy?"

Catching the hidden meaning, Severus stood in front of his former Headmaster. "Albus, he is unreliable, and fanatically loyal to him. You can't suggest him being our spy."

"On the contrary, I can. The only drawback is that he mustn't have his own mind."

Severus Snape couldn't believe what he heard. Albus Dumbledore, the great wizard, champion of the light side, was suggesting altering one of his enemies' mind? As he wasn't as narrow-minded as some people he knew, he suddenly understood why the old man said all this to him. He smiled.

"And who do you want to manage the puppet?"

"I was hoping... you."

Snape was mildly shocked, now. It was one thing to speak about someone taking another's free will, but it was another thing altogether to be asked to do so.

"I will have to think about it, Albus. If that comes to the Ministry, we could be in a bad position."

"Yes, I know. Even with a friend at the position, the general public's reaction could be disastrous if a leak was to be found. So I hope this will have no witness. Still, as Potion Master, I also have a request. If you accept, you will have to prepare a potion so that the possession will be undetected. You know which charm I'm talking about?"

"Yes, and I understand, Albus. I'll give both my replies tomorrow."

"Thank you. I will move him through the nearest hidden passage, to Hogwarts' hidden cells."

"I think it would be wise, yes."

"As one of my teacher said once, Severus: I'm old, therefore I'm wise."

"Very funny, Albus. Have fun."

"Mobilicorpus."

Northern London, at the same time...

Gabriel woke up. He and his friends were in Jason's attic once more, and they had been trying to practise the meditation techniques found in the booklets. Quite unsuccessfully. Not only weren't they supple enough to position themselves in the miscellaneous positions, they also couldn't concentrate to forget their surroundings. Especially with the pain in their joints. At some point, though, Gabriel had suddenly caught his head, and, with a pained grimace, passed out. Now, five minutes and a glass of water thrown in his face later, he woke up.

"What happened?" Joan was as anxious as the others, but, knowing him a little better than the others, she felt somewhat responsible when something occurred to him. Which was quite often, she noticed.

"Unnnngh... I don't remember." Gabriel answered. "I was there, thinking how stupid it was to stay on our knees, and I suddenly felt pain in my forehead. But it is gone now." He didn't add that he had felt a strange feeling of anger while he was out.

"Good. Now, we can perhaps try something else? What about martial arts?" Tamara was partial about the sport version of meditating.

"I don't know, Tam. I was well relaxed just now." Jason countered.

Gabriel looked at him, and spoke. "You have found your method then. Congratulations, but I'd like something else, because I almost have strained ankles now."

Tamara laughed, and spoke again. "Okay, now. Gabriel, pass me the book about that. Now, now... what do they suggest?"

They spent the remaining of the hours of sunlight going into the different positions of the kata. However, as the book indicated, they couldn't meditate at the same point, because they had to practise the movements. Meditation was to come naturally after they mastered the sequence of moves, something they promised to do in each other's free time, after running in the morning, for instance.

Four days later...

The teenagers had been split with a group of three or four kids each, and were having a good time directing them from house to house, participating in the cries of "Trick or treat." True to his dare, Gabriel had dressed as a wizard, and nothing bad had come from it. Nobody they saw that evening, kids and adults alike, knew his turmoil, so, apart from being nervous the whole time, everything went rather well.

Until now.

Following the street, they had knocked to every house's door, and either people gave candies, or participated freely to the custom of being tricked. These persons had played along; some asked to imitate ducks, while others were asked to make a hideous grimace.

The large man who opened the creaky door wasn't happy to see them. Obviously, he had been startled by the door knock, and had spilled tea on his otherwise white shirt. That's why he opened the door in a foul mood, his moustache quivering with fury. He addressed the kids, who were too frightened to run. Gabriel was a little behind, as it was the kids' game to play and he was there almost only to oversee them.

"Who do you think you are? Some freaks that can knock on honest people's door? Can't we have a moment of peace without being harassed by the like of you? I'll show you!" and the man got a knout that was 'decorating' his entry wall, and went to the kids, menacing.

The man either really wanted to hurt them, or it was only intimidation. In any case, Gabriel reacted immediately, and ran in front of the kids. Angry and frightened at the same time, he raised his hands protectively. The next thing he knew, the man was flying backwards, as if knocked by a sudden and strong wind. Not having time for indecision or explanations, he pushed the kids out of the garden, and far from the house. As soon as the house was out of view, they stopped, and he hugged the younger kids, while they all cried in relief.

As it was pretty late anyway, they stopped their quest for candies, and, after Gabriel shared the loot in equal parts for the kids, he comforted them a last time, and saw that each of them got home safely. Each time, he explained the incident to the parents, and that's very tired that he finally arrived home. He quickly changed, and went to bed. He was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

He made a strange dream that night. He was a lion, and was running besides a beautiful lioness around a lake. They were leaping happily together, and he was making higher and higher bounds.

When he woke up early afterwards, he felt something weird on his body, and, lighting the lamp, found that his skin had been replaced by fur.

Yellow fur.

Like a lion's.

Restraining the panicked shout that menaced to escape his throat, he thought hard about the situation, while trying to pick the hair out, unsuccessfully. Nobody he knew could have played a prank of this nature, so it left only one alternative: he did it himself. He remembered his dream, and, strangely, felt that his current situation was linked to it. It stirred something in his memory, akin to all the stirrings related to his 'old life.' Remembering the episode of the eye, he closed it, and concentrated. He felt his skin prickling, but he opened his eyes immediately, and nothing happened. He would have to concentrate better than that.

Five minutes afterwards, nothing was done, and he was starting to lose his nerve. He really didn't want to be discovered in that state. He didn't want to be seen as a freak, like one of the 'monsters' that had been shown in the fair for a short time. The man had had an arm protruding from his chest instead of his shoulder, and his right leg was shorter than the other at least a foot in length. He had even pretended being a wizard and that he had a travelling mishap. The show hadn't attracted that much people, and the few who went there commented on the freaky nature of it, and the fact that it had surely been simulated. The monster show had left shortly afterwards.

Gabriel suddenly remembered the isolated rooms, and, he reflected that it would be the perfect place to be isolated while he tried to solve the problem at hand. So to speak. Checking that the ring was still on his finger, he said "Safehaven."

Once there, he remarked that nothing had changed and the rooms were in the same spotless state, except for the trunk of books, and the diary with his haphazardly scattered pages of translation on the desk. He immediately resolved to come back at a later date to sort it all out.

He concentrated hard on his problem for half an hour, and started to reflect at the same time. He wanted to have a normal skin, because he didn't want people intruding in his perfect life; people like Tamara, who would undoubtedly pry him for information if he showed up with a yellow fur. Thinking of Tamara skewed his concentration. He got a tingling feeling that stopped shortly afterwards, and got a shock when he opened his eye. He was looking at his arms and they were black!

Stunned at first, he thought "That must have been because of my thinking about Tamara, I should concentrate better." Besides, the transformation had woken some memories of his. He suddenly was able to remember an old book content, at least a small part of it. And it spoke about what he just achieved. Self-transfiguration.

As he had decided, he concentrated better, trying not to think about anything else than turning back to his own skin. After fifteen minutes of meditating and a prickling feeling all over, he finally got his normal complexion back. Now that he thought about it, he could pass incognito in the streets or in the school, if he could change his skin. He decided not to push his luck further, and returned to Grace's home through the ring. While he was running afterwards, he reflected about the fact that he could perhaps change his body also. He didn't have time to think much about it, though, because Grace had asked him to help her inspect the ghost ride, like they were doing periodically, and to start to prepare it for Christmas holidays. The park was always open on school holidays.

He verified the time before leaving, and, comparing to his watch, found that the kitchen clock was fifteen minutes late. Checking on the other clock in the lounge, he found out that it was his watch that was faulty. He set it up, and quickly forgot about it. He left with Grace soon afterwards, and totally forgot that he hadn't straightened his bed.

If he had done so, he would have remarked a long and golden feather in it.

The previous evening, in a large and magical castle...

After the distressing events of Hogsmeade, and the full day of Hospital wing that ensued for most of the victims, everyone had had only one thing in mind, rendering the teacher's task almost useless: the Ball.

Those who hadn't had the time or the determination to ask out their chosen one forced themselves to do so, especially after Hogsmeade events. As a result, very few students could be seen going to the Ball without a partner. But even those ones dressed better than usual to attend to the occasion.

In the Great Hall, the long house tables had been replaced by smaller round tables, beautifully decorated with an orange-and-black theme, including pumpkins. The walls displayed picture of Halloween-related scenes, and the ghosts were patrolling the premises, as happy as one could be.

The teachers were also invited, at least for the beginning dinner. Each of them had to watch over two tables, and that was a job in itself. As the students chose their table as well as their place, a hierarchy of likeliness showed itself, as the tables where Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Albus Dumbledore were seated seemed to get students faster than the others. On the other side, Severus Snape's table gained them more slowly than others. It was faster than it would have been if he had stayed the infamous Potion Professor of the previous years, though. As it was, he had a few students not belonging to his house on his table. The social event, though, disgruntled him greatly, and, if he hadn't been asked to stay there by the Headmistress personally, he would have fled the lovey-dovey couples that seemed to have invaded the Great Hall. He seemed not to be the only one, though, as, when he looked around the room at one point during the four-course meal, he noticed the slumped frame of Hermione Granger. The girl didn't seem to have a 'significant other' at her side, and seemed to wait for the end of the meal to exit the boring room. He started to feel sorry for her, before shaking himself. Since when did he feel sorry for someone, and a young female student, on top of that? Neglecting the small voice telling him the answer, he returned to his own table and took a few points from a kissing couple. It wasn't even dessert, for Merlin's sake!

When the band arrived, after dessert, the tables were magically shrunk, so as to still be able to hold drinks, and the chairs were rearranged. The dance started slowly, like all dances, with only a few daring couples going on the freed place in the middle of the hall. Those included Ron and Luna, who were oblivious to the people around, and Fred and George, who started to dance together before inviting Katie and Angelina. Soon after, though, the atmosphere caught almost everyone there, and people danced freely. Thanks to the generally relaxed atmosphere in the school, more inter-houses couples could be seen dancing and having teenage fun. One of such couples, which could have been strange in other circumstances, was Blaise Zabini and Megan Prunner. They were dancing pretty well, exchanging good-natured remarks at the same time. They were dancing pretty well, exchanging good-natured remarks at the same time, and Blaise had been quite successful in his assessment of their dancing together smoothing Slytherin-Gryffindor relationships.

A few students, mostly Ravenclaw, not interested by the dance, left the hall quickly, as well as a few teachers. Ginny Weasley stayed for a time, wanting to keep company to her brothers, but she quickly found that she was too sad for not having Harry beside her to be able to dance, and that, apart from Ron and the twins, who were having a grand time, Percy was his usual bossy character. She left without looking behind. Had she looked, she would have seen the glance exchanged across the room between McGonagall and Dumbledore. She would have noticed also that Ron and Luna stopped dancing and started to follow her, while staying in the distance.

She went for fresh air outside, in the inner patio, but quickly found that kissing couples were all around the place, and, avoiding them, she went on the grounds. The crescent moon was illuminating the well-kept grass, and the only sounds were made by the miscellaneous magical animals that Hagrid, groundskeeper and Professor of Care of Magical Creatures, kept for his classes. She shook herself, and walked towards the lake. On her way, she reflected that she had mastered each part of the animagus transformation successfully in the previous weeks, assisted by Albus Dumbledore, and that she could try it tonight.

She found a spot, under a tree, where she couldn't be seen from the castle doors, and concentrated. After a minute of straining her body, a powerful feline was in her place, panting slightly. Still for a moment, taking in her new perceptions and angle of vision, she went slowly, then faster, on a stroll around the lake. If she could have smiled and laughed like a human, she would have, as the feeling of freedom was exhilarating. She was also sad that a particular raven-haired and green-eyed boy couldn't do the same thing at the same time, even if she was feeling less lonely while running like that, as if the mere thought of him was bringing his soul next to her. She attributed it to her changed appearance, though. While running, she wasn't aware of two things. Firstly, even if lions weren't normally able to do so, she was crying freely, from the well of emotions that was overflowing in her. Secondly, there were four people looking at her from the castle doors.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Ron said, while holding Luna by the waist.

"Indeed, Ronald, indeed." Dumbledore answered, while McGonagall nodded.

Luna hummed happily, before adding, to the adult's astonishment. "They both are."

They stayed there, until the running animal came to a pause under a tree and Ginny Weasley emerged five minutes later, still not having noticed them. Then they left.

To be continued in next chapter: Escapades...

Now, their wild side starts showing,
The dark one starts its acting,
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