A/N: Thank you to all who reviewed my chapters. For those of you reading booth this one and Alex Bellmonte's story by RaineArilan, you may already know this. We have decided to turn these fics into a series of stories about different purebloods, all that intertwine together. They will be titled 'Behind a Veil of Silver and Green: Whoever'. So This fic's title has been changed to match.

All reviews are helpful and welcome.

Slowly and with little apparent concern, Tania made her way down from the girls dorm. Pausing to consider the empty Common Room, she decided to keep moving. A glance at the Message Board showed nothing new since the notice about the water games for the first and second years who couldn't go to Hogsmeade. A twinge of regret and hate flashed through her. She had been waiting for so long to be able to go to Hogsmeade and now she was a Third Year…but Falon had cornered her last night, so she couldn't go.

Flashback

"Hey, Tania." Falon's voice cut to her core, even though the words were calm and almost gentle. That meant it was going to be bad. She stopped and faced her brother.

"Little sister, tomorrow is Hogsmeade. I'm sure you're excited to finally go. It's too bad Hunter has to stay behind." His voice was silky, but the malice was as clear as the flash of triumph in his eyes.

"Yes, it is. I suppose I'll have to wander the village myself." She managed to get out. Falon had placed a hand on her shoulder and it was suddenly harder to breathe.

"We can't have that, my dear. Father would never forgive me. I'll show you around. We can….bond. Imagine, the whole day together. I'm sure it will be fun, don't you agree?" She nodded slowly. Her brother smirked and released her. Tania fled as fast as she could.

end flashback

Hate coursed through her. She was stuck here while everyone else was discovering Hogsmeade. Tania hadn't told Hunter. He was busy and would have killed Falon. Or he would have put aside what he was doing to take her. None of that was good, so she said nothing. Determined to make the best of the situation, she had gathered supplies for an experiment that she had not dared to try with the rest of the school roaming the halls.

Exiting Common Room and turning deeper into the dungeons, she pulled her bag of equipment closer. She did not encounter another soul, and that included the ghosts of the castle. The air around her became colder and dank, but she didn't mind. That meant there was even less of a chance of someone stumbling upon her. Plus she was used to those sensations. After a few minutes, she walked into an abandoned classroom and locked the door behind her.

"Lumos," she cast and light filled the room. Spotting several candles around the room, she moved to each one and lit the wicks. There was a lot of dust but the candles were still in good shape and so burst into flame easily. She set a double lock on the door. She did not want any distractions. Placing her bag on a side table, Tania pulled out two books, one with the words Runes of the Roman Era in gold letters and the other had a set of symbols on the cover where a title normally went. A dictating quill, small bowl, several white cloths, and a small, but sharp dagger followed the books out of her bag. Opening the second book she read over the words she had there, easily translating the special language she used into English in her mind.

…As with most magic, adding something that belongs to the caster will strengthen the spell and bind it to the caster's mind….

…In those dark times, wizards and witches used blood to cast their darker spells. Blood was easily gained and easily replaced…

…Runes hold a special significance that few wizards truly understand. Only those extremely gifted individuals can summon the strongest form of runes…

…Runes, once marked on a certain object and if cast in the correct manner, will last as long as the wizard can hold the spell….

Her own notes came underneath…

Blood binds spells to the witch. Spells are not dark or light, your intentions determine that.

Runes will last as long as the witch can hold the spell. Adding blood to the rune casting or possibly drawing the runes in the caster's blood might make it that much easier to hold the spell longer. Any drain felt from such a spell should be easier to bear once the mind adjusts to the new pressure.

That was what she was going to do. If that worked, she would be well on her way to the next piece of her real goal. That goal might take her all year to research the pieces and complete, but it would be worth it. It was something she needed.

Turning now to the textbook she had brought with her, she found the runes of shielding that she wanted to try casting with the blood. Tania had successfully cast the runes on their own over the summer several times, but only for very short periods of time. If her Father found out that she was casting Fifth or Sixth Years runes in the house, he would have…well, let's not think about that. She instructed herself, Focus on the spell. This is not child's play. You remember what happened the first time you cast these with only half of your mind focused. A shudder went through her as she recalled. It had not been a pretty sight and luckily for her, no one was home but the House Elves and the Muggle servants. They had helped her clean it up, since no one was around to forbid them.

Placing the book on the floor, she knelt with the bowl, the dagger, and the cloths. Tania pulled off her outer robes and carefully set them well away from where any blood might splatter. After rolling up the left sleeve, she studied the light pattern of scars on the inside of her left arm. There were a few that were more visible, those that had cut deeper. None of these she had shown Hunter. He wouldn't have understood.

Collecting the dagger in her right hand, she slowly pulled it across her skin, feeling the building pain and watching the red liquid ooze out of the cut, then drip one drop at a time into the bowl. The pain was sharp, but almost beautiful. Tania had such a high pain tolerance, thanks to her past and current life, that she hardly felt anything at all, unless it was a concentrated effort. This counted. For these brief moments, she could feel and knew for certain that she was still alive.

Soon enough the pain faded to a barely felt ache and, sighing, she returned to her task. The pain lasted for shorter and shorter amounts of time. Now she was back to that empty lifelessness that she normally existed in.

The blood had collected to fill the bowl half way. That was more than enough and she wrapped a white cloth around the wound to stop the bleeding. No sense in passing out and being caught. Blood magic was legal and illegal. There was a list of spells that were against the law, and technically what she was doing wasn't on the list, but most people never made that distinction and she would be branded as an evil Dark Witch if found.

Dipping her finger in the bowl, she could feel her magic in the red stains. She outlined the six runes that made up the shield spell. Once completed, she had used half of the blood, but it was ready to activate. She wiped her hand on another cloth and pulled out her wand. Pointing it at the symbols on the floor, she spoke the spell words. Each rune flared in turn and then together. A field of blue light blazed to life and surrounded her.

Tania sat back on her heels and looked at her handiwork. She could feel the presence of the spell in her mind, but it was less than the other times she had cast it. It appeared that she was right. This was one successful first test. Obviously she had to test this several times to assure that her results were accurate. She pointed her wand to the dictating quill.

"Test one," she began as the quill obediently moved across the pages of the second book, under her other notes, "was an apparent success. The drain of the spell does seem to be less with the blood to bind it to the caster as theorized. Spell cast: Six Point Rune Shield Spell. At current energy levels, estimate six hours of maintaining this spell is possible. Note: only four hours was estimated possible with normal casting methods. Questions: Would more blood continue to strengthen the spell and the length of time to hold it? Or can some potion enhance the effect? What would happen if the spell and blood was combined into an object? Would that extend or lessen the length of time for the spell? Further Testing necessary." Turning off the quill, Tania released the shield. She had enough blood left to test it once more, then clean up and head back to Common Room before anyone else was back. Cleaning the floor of the last test, she began again.