The ship in storm, the frog and Sam's café belong to me. Merlin belongs to Roger Zelazney. The rest belongs to Rowling.

I sat at Sam's café, that silly spider-run café I had found in the shadows, sipping on an espresso. I smiled at the memory of how I first came across it. It had just been a whim from my side to invite the student, Luna, for the walk, and then she gave me the suggestion to let a spider be in charge. It was of course no match to make it so that the owner knew me. That is basic shadow-manipulation, anyone from Chaos could do it. A bit harder was to explain for myself why I had returned, and why I had brought Luna with me. House-elves or not, there were certainly easier ways for me to get an espresso, and bringing a student through shadows was definitely not in obedience with the headmasters request of not upsetting things further. Taking a bit of my pastry, I came to the conclusion that I simply enjoyed getting away from the school for a while, and also that I enjoyed the company of Luna. She was sitting next to me, reading the Quibbler with a concentrated frown while eating a sandwich. Sam was in the background, doing whatever café-owners do in the background.

"Anything good in this issue?" I asked, more to say something than out of real curiosity.

"Well yes!" she said with the far-away voice of her, looking up and carefully putting down her sandwich on her plate. Butter-side down for some reason. "It says that the current defence against dark arts teacher of Hogwarts is demon in disguise, plotting against Dumbledore."

"That'd be me?"

"Indeed," she said contently, then tilting her head to one side she regarded me with a thoughtful stare. "I think I will have to write a letter to father and correct him. You are clearly not in disguise." This amused me more than I would have thought. I laughed. She laughed too.

"But I am a daemon."

"I know. You said so in the lecture a few weeks ago. The same day you taught us about the tactics of wand-less fighting, remember?"

"So what about the plotting?" I asked, emptying my mug.

"The article does not go into details. I will have to wait for a follow-up issue to be able to give you are proper answer."

"You could ask me," I suggested. She suddenly started to smile with her whole face.

"Why, what a wonderfully imaginative idea, Merle. How ARE you plotting against Dumbledore?"

"In a very inefficient way, I think," I chuckled. "But tell me Luna, now when you know from your father that I'm a plotting daemon, how comes you still don't mind following me to this café?"

She regarded me with a raised eyebrow in silence for awhile before answering.

"Why should I?"

I chuckled again. I couldn't help it.

"No idea really. But I'm glad that you don't."

I took a sip from the new mug that had appeared on the table. Good ol' service-minded Sam. Yes, I reflected. I did like Luna. She had a way of thinking in loops and quirks that made it almost impossible to follow her train of thoughts and that made a chat with her like a mental adventure bath. But she was interesting all the time, and I thought I could feel something from my own childhood reflected in her loneliness. That was why I kept taking her through shadows, to this place. Just for the two of us to have a few nice moments in peace and good company, and maybe to help her get away from the bullies of the school now and then...

"Merle," she said, looking up from her sandwich. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Where are we?"

...or as an experiment, I suddenly realized.

"We are at Sam's café," I answered, knowing that was not the answer she was looking for.

"Yes, I know that," she said, now giving me her full attention, something she rarely did. "But where is that? We walk only like ten minutes from Hogwarts. There is no place as this within that distance. I know the forest, Merle. I have been walking there for years. When we walk to the café, we only walk a few hundred meters before we leave the forest I know. What is this place? How do we get here? Please Merle, tell me."

"Please Merle, tell me," she had said. "Where was that place. That cave, that waterfall? Where did you take me that night? I promise not to tell anyone. Not a soul. Whatever secret you have, whatever background, I will not betray you if you can only trust me. Please, tell me."

The memory made me shudder. Yes, that had been the beginning of the end. Julia never forgave me for not trusting her, but what could I have said? 'I'm a demon, baby, and from my point of view, you are like a figment of my imagination.' No, that wouldn't have been well received. Was that why I was bringing this girl through shadows as well, to try how she would react to the same temptation and frustration as Julia? I did not like the prospect of my reasons being so selfish and - admittedly - pointless, but I knew myself well enough to know that it might very well be true.

I sighed and gave Luna a smile, but I didn't put much feeling in it.

"Sorry, Luna. I won't tell you. And the answer wouldn't make much sense anyway. Let's just say that I'm a demon and can do all sort of stuff, and leave it there."

She was not leaving it there. She was still staring at me, her large eyes unblinking. Her sandwich was forgotten.

"Is this your world? The demon world?" she asked with a clear tone of curiosity in her voice.

"Nope. Far from it."

"But it is another world, is it not? How else could you be the only one able to go here?"

"Yes and no. In a way, I suppose. But this is pointless. There's no need for you to know this. You would probably not understand it anyway." (Which was exactly the wrong thing to tell a curious teenager, I realized the moment after I had sad it). Abruptly I stood up.

"Time to go back." I found a gallon in my pocket and, rubbing it over the invisible Frakir, coiled around my left arm, turned it into the slightly thinner, richly engraved coin of this shadow. I put it on the table and, abandoning my coffee, started to walk. Luna quickly gathered her things and followed me.

"I am sorry to have insulted you, Merle," she said sincerely and a bit out of breath when she had caught up with me. I grunted something non-committing and kept walking.

"I only want to know where we are, that is all," she went on. Still, I didn't answer. We were now crossing the brook. I took a shortcut towards Hogwarts, leading her through an area with pine trees and slowly drifting clouds of ants.

"It's only that since you took me to the café, I thought that maybe you would trust me enough to..."

Damned.

I stopped, brushing away some of the ants that came to close and turned to Luna.

"Listen Luna. It's not that. I do trust you. It's just that some of the principles of the universe are a bit too much for a fifteen year old girl to handle. Trust me when I tell you that you'll be happier if you don't push it any further."

She had halted as well. Now she was standing very still on the path, regarding me silently. Her head slightly bent. I realized that I had shouted and I knew that I had taken something away of both her trust in me, as well as her good mood. I only hoped that that was the only thing I had made her loose. I tried not to think of Julia. I smiled at Luna and put a hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she stood unmoving as a statue, but then she relaxed and nodded slightly.

"Can I ask you just one thing, Merle?" she said with her eyes focused somewhere behind me.

"Go ahead then," I sighed.

"Do you think Sam has anything to do with the Rotfang Conspiracy?"

I didn't even try to hide my surprise, and she smiled at me. A knowing little smile. I laughed and the tension was gone. Releasing the grip of her shoulder I shook my head.

"Nah, not ol' Sam. He's too much of a pragmatic to get involved in the big schemes, and besides, he has his business to think of."

"That is good," said Luna, and we started to walk again. Everything was fine.

Everything was fine, but nothing was forgotten. And we both knew that.

I parted from Luna in the castle. She was walking towards her dormitory, and I went to the staffroom. Walking through Binns - the history teaching ghost - I made my way over to the fireplace and picked up a copy of the Daily Telegraph. I sat down in an armchair and started to read. The paper was filled by creepy animated pictures, but these at least did not talk as the portraits did. The articles were all about the war and the government's actions, but I did not care. I only wanted to sit down for a moment and sort my thoughts. Funny. Who could have thought that a cup of coffee with a student would have brought up the whole Julia-thing? Maybe it was time to leave this shadow and move on after all. I decided not to hang around after my year here was finished. Sure, the place was fascinating enough but I didn't want to get rooted. And I had other business to attend to. Now when Ghostwheel was about to be operational...

"Do you mind if I sit down," a dry voice next to me said. I looked up and met the sour eyes of my help-teacher, Snape. I smiled at him, a happy, carefree smile that should irritate him.

"Not at all Serveus. Please, take a seat." I indicated the chair next to mine and he sat down, looking irritated.

"Thank you. I trust that the students have not annoyed you to death yet?"

"Oh no. They are a nice bunch of rascals. Clever enough, and eager to learn. There are a few among my six-years I wouldn't want to face in a duel." That was a lie of course, but I liked the sound of it. He did not smile.

"There are a number in that class I would prefer not to face at all," he answered dryly. "However I have some duties that can hardly be neglected. Next weekend there will be a small dinner held by the students of the Slytherin house, and I as their head am naturally expected to attend. I have been asked to invite you as well."

"Really?" I said, still smiling, but this time not faking it. "How nice of them. Of course I'll come. Is there any certain dress code or anything such?"

"Dress robes are usually expected, but as long as you are... decent, there will be no comments," he answered.

"Understood! May I ask you something else?"

He gave me a thoughtful look, his face blank. We had actually never discussed how he gave away my secret identity to the school a few weeks back. Did he expect me to bring it up now? Was he nervous? Those things are always good to know about those you are dealing with. But he did not give anything away.

"Feel free," he answered.

"What do you think of the war and all that?" I indicated the newspaper. "Are we gonna win or what?" Again he gave me a long, thoughtful look before answering.

"There are a lot of wizards and witches who feels that the ministries actions are not enough to put an end to the Dark Lords plans," he said. "Indeed, some feel that it would be a good thing to change the current power holders of the community."

"Really?"

"As I said. Yet other feels that as long as Dumbledore still is alive and able, we have nothing to fear."

"And what do you think?"

"I think that events will have to run themselves to their end, as is the usual state of things. And now if you excuse me, I have some bad excuses for essays to mark."

He stood up, gave me a short nod and left. I picked up the newspaper again but I did not read it. Is there really anything such as the usual state of things?