Chapter Eighteen
Sit and stare, take your time
I already see it
Fantasize, fantasize
For everything to fall into picture
– "I Already See It," Kye Kye
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Over the next week, Luna tried to occupy herself with homework as best she could. Professor Bornwise in Arithmancy had begun to notice the recent drop in quality in her work and had offered her the chance to improve her marks for the term with an extra credit essay. Luna had chosen to write on the relative usefulness of Tullus' Theorem in forecasting when an incumbent would leave political office and the accompanying complications of applying its results due to its incapacity to specify how (for example, political defeat, resignation due to scandal, assassination, natural death, or inexplicable extended holiday to Tibet). She was working on a similar type of project for Professor Dumbledore, who tended to be generous with opportunities for extra credit but ask for extremely advanced results. A little unidentifiable half-transformed creature with mechanical insides had been meeping around her things for a good several days by the time she managed to definitively turn it into a functioning watch that could not only tell the time but also measure and quantify the wearer's current level of interest in playing a game of Parcheesi.
Most of her other classes were not sources of concern. Defence Against the Dark Arts was nearly always old hat, although Luna did still enjoy Professor Merrythought's methods of teaching the subject, and Orion Black was a capable duelling partner. Charms and Care of Magical Creatures were likewise easy to coast through, especially with Euphemia and Everett sharing notes with her – though Fleamont, true to form, never took any and focused most of his energy on silently provoking his friends to laughter during lectures.
Divination was usually a bright spot in her Wednesdays and Fridays given that she was able to spend some time with Perpetua, who had dropped Arithmancy for Astronomy after the first week of classes. Professor Shearwater currently had them working on tea leaves, and on Friday the 22nd of October, Luna and Perpetua made plans to have tea together the following Saturday and get part of their assignment out of the way.
Ravenclaw prefect and Head Girl Sofia Hopkirk had graciously opened Ravenclaw Tower to Luna after hearing of her troubles with Malfoy, complaining for her part (rather at length) that he was unreliable, a wretchedly poor administrator, and impossible to work with, among a number of other failings. Consequently, Luna and Perpetua had commandeered a little round table and two chairs in the nearly-empty Ravenclaw common room on the appointed afternoon and were sitting together chatting and sipping Darjeeling.
"So," Perpetua began after a brief lull arose in the conversation, "is it really true you can perform a Patronus?" A small smile played about her lovely features.
Luna tutted. "Does everybody know, now? I might have known that Gryffindors would be such poor secret-keepers." Her tone was not as light as she had intended it; the reminder of her impromptu lesson with her friends brought up in turn the unpleasant memory of her confrontation with Riddle afterwards. "Yes, I can."
Her friend was quiet a moment, the smile gone. "Why are you friends with Gryffindors, anyway? Everybody knows Slytherins and Gryffindors are supposed to hate each other. You can't have so very much in common with them."
Luna gazed ruminatively into her tea. "Well – no." Some of the leaves were swishing around at the bottom of her cup. "But we get on really nicely. They're very kind, you know."
Perpetua grabbed her hand abruptly, and when Luna looked up, the other girl was staring at her anxiously. "Lu, why are you in Slytherin? Why couldn't you have been in Ravenclaw with me? It's not as though you aren't clever enough; you know you are." The line between her fine red-gold eyebrows deepened, and Luna was distressed to see her bright eyes beginning to mist over in frustration. "And it's clear you hate it there. You hate everything about Slytherin – you haven't any friends in your own house. Just tell me why."
Luna gripped her hand back and sighed. "If I were going to explain to anybody, it would be you. But I can't – I really can't. I'm sorry." She glanced back at her tea. "We ought to finish this."
Perpetua nodded, her great red mane of curls tumbling over her shoulders. She apparently forgave Luna's silence on the matter of her house fairly quickly, as she made no argument to the change in subject. "It feels more like a chore than it should," she said regretfully. "I suppose it is schoolwork, though."
Luna smiled vaguely at her, and both of them quickly finished off their tea before trading cups.
"Let's see…" Perpetua murmured, squinting into Luna's cup. "I can't tell if this is a trident or an arrow. Help?" She made to offer the cup to Luna, then withdrew it abruptly. "No, wait, we aren't allowed help. I forgot." She grimaced and glanced at the textbook sitting on the table between them. "I suppose I'll call it an arrow and prophesy that you'll have, er… smooth travel."
The little squiggly line in Perpetua's cup meant change, but the leaves did not make it clear what kind. Vaguely unnerved by an emotion she could not have described in words, Luna took Perpetua's hand again, her expression intent. "We're done, then. Listen – did you want to learn how to perform a Patronus?"
Her friend's face lit up. "Oh, could I? Oh, Luna! Of course I do!"
"Come on, then, we'd better clean this up."
The two of them made quick work of the teacups, cleaning them magically and replacing them in the little tea-cabinet on the wall, along with the kettle. Perpetua then dragged Luna out of the common room, so eager that she tripped over her own feet, and Luna had to suppress laughter while hauling her up off the floor.
Luna considered introducing Perpetua to the Room of Requirement, but after a moment decided it was no use trying to be secretive. There were no school rules prohibiting students practising together or teaching each other more advanced magic, especially not something essentially harmless to humans like the Patronus, and somewhere in her gut was a fiery conviction that some observers of a particular sort should be reminded that she did not fear them. Therefore, as it was an uncharacteristically lovely day out despite the mid-October chill, she determined that they would go outside.
Perpetua's breathless interrogation pervaded their exodus from the castle. "How in Merlin's name did you learn it so early, anyway? Who taught it to you? How long did it take you to learn? Is it really as dreadfully tricky as everyone says? I can't imagine it should have taken you half as long as it's going to take me – unless you had a very poor teacher – and even then, I'm sure you'll have gotten the hang of it like that. Do you know anyone else who can do it? What does it actually look like? I've heard rumours, of course, but surely it doesn't really produce an animal made of clouds? …"
Luna let her carry on this way until they had marched a good distance away from the castle and were close to her favourite hill, the one she privately still thought of as the Whomping Willow's home despite its present state of emptiness. The sun was shining – rather weakly, but shining all the same. As the two of them scrambled to the top of the hill, Luna crouched down briefly to admire the way it glowed through a blade of grass. Perpetua was a little winded, not being the particularly active sort herself, and her questions had trailed off during the climb.
"Now," said Luna, whirling around to face her friend, who was red in the face and panting but still looking beyond delighted. "Take your wand out, go on." She laughed a little when Perpetua had to fumble around in her robes for it, and caught a playful glare from the other girl.
"I know the incantation already, like I suppose most people do," Perpetua told her, before she had the chance to begin explaining. "Expecto Patronum, right? Fairly simple Latin. I've tried it once or twice," she admitted, pushing some of her wild red hair behind an ear. "I've never been able to get it to work. Can you tell me what I'm doing wrong?"
"It's not just the incantation," said Luna, and explained the principle of the spell as briefly as she could while Perpetua listened intently, her dark eyes slightly narrowed.
"When you say focus on the memory – do you mean to try and relive the memory, to try and see the images and feel the sensations again as much as I can? Or to focus more on the feeling?"
Luna's smile faded a little. "For a truly happy memory, you should be able to do both fairly easily."
Perpetua wrung her hands, avoiding Luna's gaze. "Well – I was thinking of this one time when I was really little. With my mother. But it's not as though – I mean, I was really happy then. At that time, you know, in the moment. But it isn't exactly as though memories of my mother make me happy now. As you get older, you find out things about your parents, and you get more and more disappointed when you realise – that what they're doing isn't your fault. Because that means you can't fix it." Her brow was furrowed now, and she looked as though she was trying very hard to keep back tears.
Luna stepped forward and hugged her, then said, "Is there a memory that isn't of your mother?"
Perpetua's lips quirked. "Well, when you're a child – when you're young, your happiness is sort of… pure. There are no worries in the back of your mind, and you're not thinking of anything else but the fact that you're happy. Children are selfish that way, I suppose. But there's a sort of clarity to their emotions. I thought a childhood memory would be easier, produce a stronger spell – don't you think?"
Luna exhaled through her nose. "It's true that the memory I use is of my mother, when I was small. But…" She considered the matter for a moment. "Even if you're happy as an adult, and you have other things in the back of your mind, and you have problems… what matters is that you're able to let them go, if only for a moment. To be present in that moment, to be with the people you're with, and realise that whatever happens, whatever worries or obstacles come into your life, you'll be all right. Because you will." Suddenly she found herself staring at Perpetua earnestly, her vision blurry and overbright. I never cried this much when Harry was alive, she thought distantly, but persisted. "Whatever happens, you can survive it and go on and eventually be all right again. You just have to be able to have perspective. And hope." She smiled. "And – maybe a little help."
Perpetua looked at her for a moment, and then smiled brilliantly back, the same slow dimpled grin that had lit her face the first day they had met. "Oh."
She was silent again briefly, and then, "Expecto Patronum."
A silver owl leapt out of her wand almost instantly and began silently winging its way toward the clouds, looking as jubilant as its mistress. Perpetua squealed with glee and threw her arms around Luna, twisting around to keep her eyes on the shining bird. "Oh, I did it! It's like a thing out of a fairy tale, don't you think? Oh, dear Luna. Thank you so much. I'll never, ever forget this." Her voice softened to a whisper, but Luna could still hear her smile. "I'll use this one from now on. This memory, every time I do it. Thank you."
Luna hugged her back as the silver owl circled overhead, and forgot even to be reminded of another, colder voice saying her name in precisely that way.
She was in a bright mood when she returned to the dungeons that evening, and it brightened further when she came upon some new information.
She was walking down a corridor that led back to the common room by a somewhat roundabout route, wishing for a little time by herself to reflect on the day, when she heard the sound of footsteps in front of her and realised there must be someone else heading back to the common room at the same time. Looking up, she caught a glimpse of robes and a dark head disappearing behind the corner that turned into the main corridor leading to the common room. The person looked small, perhaps a third- or fourth-year.
On random, cheerful impulse, she thought to say hello and perhaps ask how their weekend had been, and quickened her pace to catch up. She hadn't tried to be friendly to another Slytherin in a while, but perhaps it was somebody she hadn't met yet. In any case, there was no harm in a simple greeting.
When she turned the corner, however, the corridor was empty. It didn't seem possible that the other student could have raced down the considerable remaining length of the corridor to the common room in such a brief period of time, and it wasn't as though the bare stone dungeons held very many hiding places, as Luna had discovered during the peak of her avoiding-Riddle-like-the-plague phase several weeks prior. It was exactly as though the student had Apparated – but that was impossible on school grounds, and in any case any student younger than fifteen couldn't have been trained in Apparition yet.
Only two explanations remained: an Invisibility Cloak, or a secret passageway. The former seemed so unlikely that she felt she could safely ignore it. The latter would more than likely be in use by Riddle's people, and Luna seized immediately upon this idea.
She no longer had access to the Marauders' Map, as it had disappeared along with Ron when he lost his bezoar and was yanked back to their own time, but it would have only served as confirmation for what she already felt certain must be true: that there was a secret passageway here in the dungeons, and that Riddle was using it. She would simply have to comb through the area by herself; in the moment, that seemed merely to add an enjoyable level of challenge to the whole matter. Luna found herself smiling, and for an instant felt as though Harry must be watching over her and helping her to succeed. The idea was pure foolishness, as Ron or even Harry himself would likely have told her in kinder words, but it made her smile grow just a little, and so she held onto it.
After a few moments of revelling in her discovery, Luna judged that now was not the moment to investigate further, and that she had better not be observed standing around where the secret passageway was known to be if she didn't want to make it obvious that she now knew of its existence. Casting a final glance down the corridor, she returned to a silent and unwelcoming dormitory to have defiantly pleasant dreams.
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Luna spent most of the week trying to find a time to have a proper look round for the entrance of the passageway, without success. It was difficult to hang around the dungeons outside the common room without her intentions being clear; she had to make it seem like she was either just entering or just leaving, and she could only be seen doing so by the same people a few times before her behaviour became suspicious. More students than she remembered had apparently made a habit of spending all their spare time in the dungeons, because the common room was now very rarely empty even during mealtimes, and there were almost always people coming or going.
At last she gave up on trying to look during the day, although it drove her to distraction to have to attend classes with the knowledge that Riddle could be keeping dangerous secrets locked down there for her to find and interfere with to the fullest extent of her abilities. Her chance did not come until Thursday night, when the dungeons abruptly became conspicuously empty, and Luna surmised that the location attached to the passageway must have been occupied. While now was obviously not the ideal time to make an attempt at getting in, Luna was painfully aware that she might not get another opportunity to do so for several more days, depending on how far the Slytherins were willing to let their grades drop for the sake of keeping an eye on her. She made her way down to the spot where the probably-fourth-year had vanished, and began searching for the entrance to the passageway. Using a spell to probe for it crossed her mind, but it wouldn't do for her to set off any wards or magical alarms that might have been placed over it. In any case, whatever it was had to be physically built into the dungeons, as she had heard no muttered incantation and seen no evidence of spellwork by the vanished fourth-year.
After a careful look round for visual clues did her no good, she decided to try a more hands-on approach. Working quickly, she ran her fingers over and between the stones that made up the dungeon wall, not bothering with any that she knew the fourth-year couldn't have reached. She found no irregularities until she reached the corner where she had seen the student before his disappearance, and her hand fell upon a small and slightly misshapen stone that she had previously failed to notice. She hadn't thought to look this close to the corner, assuming that the passageway would be farther away. When she pressed on it, the dungeon wall in front of her seemed to grow somehow less substantial, and Luna was able to silently slip through it into a dark passage.
It was difficult to see anything without the light from the dungeon, as the false stones ostensibly blocked it out. Luna was hesitant to risk Lumos, and waffled briefly over whether or not to try and proceed without vision. She thought for a moment that she might try conjuring glowing stones or dust to fall on the path in front of her, but if the Slytherins at the end of the passageway were to suddenly emerge into it, she could easily fail to Vanish them in time and thus accidentally reveal herself.
After a little while of standing there motionless, she realised that a current of air was blowing on her face and that it seemed to be coming at her from a fairly low angle. Stairs? Luna wondered, and after edging forward a bit she was rewarded with an empty space under her foot, which indeed proved itself to be a series of broad stone steps leading downward. Gaining confidence, she began slowly descending them while keeping one hand on the wall.
An instant later, her worst fears were realised. A door at the bottom of the staircase opened and a pale green light streamed out, illuminating the stairs and threatening to reveal her. Luna scrambled backwards as silently as she could, cursing her own impatience. Now that she knew where the entrance was, she could easily have slipped inside when it was empty without revealing herself, but she had thoughtlessly entered the passage anyway and possibly risked losing her chance at changing the past. As she floundered on the stairs, her panicked brain registered one key fact: they were not expecting her.
"Neamhshuntasach," she whispered hoarsely, pointing her wand at herself. She felt a slight pins-and-needles sensation as the spell took effect. When it was cast, she got to her feet and shuffled as close to the wall as she could, praying that no shoulder would bump her in passing and ruin it.
A series of familiar faces came through the bright doorway and up the stairs, lighting their wands as they went. Walburga and Orion Black, holding themselves like royalty as usual; the Selwyn twins; tall, broad-shouldered Rabastan Lestrange; Evan Rosier; unobtrusive and plain Percival Nott; dim but handsome Antonin Dolohov; Cecily; the little fourth-year who had led her to the entrance. All passed by without a word. Not one noticed Luna.
Lingering at the bottom of the staircase were Malfoy and Riddle, who were discussing something in hushed voices. At last, with a nod, Malfoy bounded up after the others, taking the steps two at a time with his long legs so as to catch up. Riddle paused, glanced into the secret room once more, then extinguished the green light with his wand and closed the door before following. Almost safe, Luna closed her eyes and waited for the sound of his footsteps to fade as he moved past her and exited into the dungeon proper.
When the passageway was silent, Luna opened her eyes and nearly cracked her head against the wall with the speed at which she careened backwards, suppressing a scream into a whimper and then a silent, harsh exhale. He had not left, but was standing a little ways in front of her and staring into her face with a look of consternation. Evidently he had noticed something and somehow silently come back down the stairs to have a second look, and now she was caught out. She gripped her wand, white-knuckled, waiting for the inevitable curse he would try to incapacitate her with.
Riddle did not speak or move for his wand, however. He simply frowned and squinted, and after a moment she registered that he was not looking at her face, and that this was because he didn't see her. With a start she also realised that his usual annoying magical emptiness had not alerted her to his continued presence because he did not have it now; there was an aura around him, a heavy, glossy green so dark it looked nearly black. It reminded her a little of photographs she had seen of the deepest parts of the ocean – fittingly, it also contained monsters. Nevertheless, its presence was bizarrely comforting in comparison to the hollow space that normally surrounded him. Perhaps it only revealed itself when he was alone.
After an agonising two minutes, he finally abandoned his scrutiny of what would have appeared to him to be bare wall, and left her in solitude. Luna regained her breath and slowly made her way down to the door, which opened easily.
When she shut the door behind her and illuminated the room, she saw a small, dank, circular chamber. There were no furnishings, no incriminating evidence, and in fact no trace whatsoever that it had been occupied a mere five minutes earlier. Whatever it was that Riddle was working on in secret with his followers and keeping so carefully hidden away, it was elsewhere.
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The following evening, Luna returned to the forest once more. Even if she was turned away again, or threatened, she had to make every effort to communicate with the centaurs and follow up on her one and only remaining lead. She was out of options for any further information-gathering within the castle, but she would not give up. Not yet.
About two-thirds of the way to the border of the centaur colony's lands, she was unexpectedly accosted by a long-fingered hand landing on her shoulder in the dark. She squeaked and jumped, and just barely managed to restrain her drilled-in Dumbledore's Army impulse to fire off a restraining hex first and ask questions later. Harry had impressed very strongly upon them that reflexes were everything, and that their first instinct in risky situations should be Shield Charms, disarms or harmless incapacitating spells like the Full Body-Bind. Luna hadn't forgotten the lesson, and the vaguely pacifist leanings of her youth had dwindled as the war had progressed. Centaurs, however, tended not to react well even to spell usage intended for self-defence.
A soft voice, presumably belonging to the owner of the hand, urgently shushed her. "You are the little witchling who came to the forest before, aren't you?" To Luna's mild surprise, the speaker was the female centaur she had encountered last time she'd come to the forest.
She nodded in response and helpfully supplied, "I'm Luna."
"Luna," repeated the centaur, then continued a little stiffly, "I must apologise for the way I received you the last time we spoke. I informed my father of your visit, and he has invited you to come and speak with him."
Luna whirled to face her, suppressing a heart-racing rush of excitement. "I accept. Thank you – ?"
"Tor," the centaur said shortly, but her tone was a little less aloof. "You may follow me." She waved a hand in the direction of the colony and moved off at a brisk pace, it clearly having never crossed her mind to offer her human companion a ride. Luna had to maintain a light jog to keep up, but felt no animosity toward Tor for the oversight, mild as it was. She was finally, finally going to get some answers.
The two of them progressed deeper into the forest, skirting the borders of centaur territory and failing to cross into it for so long that Luna almost began to wonder whether Tor had lost her way. They encountered no other centaurs, and Luna could make out nothing in the inky darkness that looked like a centaur dwelling. Twice she tripped over roots or fallen branches and had to scramble to her feet and sprint after her guide, who made no effort to slow down to accommodate her.
At long last, they came to a clearing that must have been several miles into the forest. A familiar centaur form stood in its centre, tail flicking impatiently. Trembling slightly, Luna made her way over and bowed. To her great surprise, Solarn bowed back.
"Greetings, little witch out of time," he said quietly. "Your persistence speaks to the honour of your mission." He looked at Tor. "And your promptness in finding her, daughter, speaks to the quality of our bloodline." He did not say well done, but by the shy smile Luna could just make out on the other centaur's face, she had heard it.
Tor made a kind of salute to her father, placing one hand at her forehead palm down, then sweeping it in a half-moon arc to her chest. She then addressed Luna. "I will stay to guide you back when you have finished, witchling." With that, she retreated to a respectful distance away at the edge of the clearing, out of earshot.
Luna turned back to Solarn. "Thank you for meeting with me," she said politely, a little uncertain of what to expect now that the pleasantries were over.
Solarn shook his head. "There is no need for thanks, traveller. I made a grave error in turning you away the first time we met. I allowed my emotions to control my judgment, and in doing so I failed to serve either the good of my line or the greater good of the colony. It is true that we centaurs do not like to involve ourselves with your kind, but this matter cannot be avoided." He took a breath, meeting her eyes steadily. "You know of my nephew. Perhaps you might discover what has befallen him, and perhaps we might see him return to the colony. He is our finest star-watcher, the greatest we have had in a century. And he is family." His dark gaze was pained.
Luna shifted. "I know him only by acquaintance, and I have no idea what's happened to him in this time," she admitted. "Any information you can give me would be helpful."
"He vanished," Solarn informed her, "shortly after a disagreement he had with the leader of our colony. It was assumed that he had left the forest to join another colony. Under circumstances like his, and given the severity of the disagreement, such an act would not be unheard of. After his disappearance, we did not speak of him. It is our way." He paused for a moment, seeming to collect his thoughts. "It did not occur to many of us that his disappearance might not have been voluntary. The circumstances… were extreme," he reiterated, his eyes darting away from hers to stare into the trees. "But I spoke to Tor, and she made clear to me that she did not believe it was in her cousin's nature to leave us for such a reason."
"May I ask what happened?" Luna ventured.
"You may not," Solarn replied without vitriol. "It is not our custom to speak of internal matters to humans. However, I can tell you that the incident began with Firenze observing something… unusual in the stars. Something that may have to do with the great enemy you spoke of." He met her eyes again. "In any case, the time of the dispute and his subsequent disappearance was not long before our first meeting."
A chill ran down her spine. "I first arrived in this time a few days before we met," she said blankly.
Solarn did not look surprised by this information. "Indeed. It is possible that my nephew was in some way affected by your arrival." He glanced at Tor. "I have not told my daughter of this. She would blame you for his loss." After a moment, he added, "While I understand the urgency of your mission, I cannot say that I do not feel the same."
"But I can find him," Luna blurted anxiously. "He's – somewhere here. I know it. I'll set him free."
"Only thus can you repay the debt you have incurred to our colony," Solarn agreed, "and only thus, I believe, can you further your mission." He looked up at the sky and frowned. "Our time runs short. I will tell you the rest of what I know as quickly as I can.
"Centaurs are a hardy folk, and are generally not as vulnerable to the magic of humans as your kind tends to believe. Magic, and most especially the magic of fate and prophecy, run in our veins. Where most creatures would perish, we persevere; where others are overtaken, we find a way to bear the weight. Our magic is beyond our conscious minds, like the magic that overflows from you humans as foa – as young ones. We simply look at the stars and see the fate of our people. In the same way, we feel a strong magical threat and our basest selves react. This magic is stronger than anything your kind is able to harness. It would shatter your little channeling instruments and break your minds, were you to try." This last was spoken with disarming frankness, despite the haughty words. "If your enemy has any connection with Firenze, if he seeks our power – it would more than likely kill most humans who tried. But if this one is as dangerous as you have said, as Firenze's vision of the stars has told him, perhaps he will simply go mad and many more will die. This cannot be allowed to happen.
"Little traveller – for your own sake, you must find my nephew. But it is for the sake of your people that you must stop your enemy. Do you understand?"
She looked into his wide-set black eyes and did not blink. "I knew that from the moment I saw him. You needn't worry about me."
Solarn signalled Tor, who began to approach them again. "I worry for my nephew, Luna. If he is not to be regained – then I will worry for you."
"We do not have much time," Tor hissed in frustration. "I will be missed when I am not at the border to be relieved from night watch, and you must get back to your castle before a search party invades our forest looking for you, witchling. Come!" She grabbed Luna's arm and threw her onto her back, nearly wrenching the arm out of its socket in the process. Luna rubbed her shoulder and did her best to hold tight with her legs.
"I'll find him, Solarn," she promised, her voice higher-pitched in her anxiety and surprise. Tor did not wait for her father to respond but turned and galloped out of the clearing at an impressive speed, forcing Luna to fling her arms around the centaur's torso and hang on for dear life.
The two of them made the journey back to the edge of the forest in record time and did not bother with goodbyes. Luna sprinted out of the forest and over the grounds, her sleep-deprived brain casting about for the incantations to a series of invisibility and attention-dispelling charms that she had never been able to master. Finally, aware that the spell would fail as soon as somebody intending to keep an eye out for her came upon her knocking about the castle in the small hours of the morning, she choked out the Irish incantation for her variation on Notice-Me-Not and stumbled her way back to the dungeons. Two third-years were awake in the common room writing essays; only one of them looked up at her arrival, and she spared him a rather cold, probably-bloodshot glance which made him hurriedly return to his work. So, Riddle would know that she had returned to the dungeons in the early morning. So what? she could not stop herself from thinking, too exhausted and angry to think through the implications of that fact. The only things on her mind now were finding the lost Firenze and, more pressingly, sleep.
She could sleep through all her classes tomorrow for all she cared – as long as when she awoke, she was in good enough shape to go toe-to-toe with her enemy.
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A/N: Hey babes, so uh, turns out this isn't the end of the arc after all... the chapter that I planned ended up being way too long, so I cut it in two (and this first half is still pretty long for me, lol). The first arc will end after the following chapter.
Thanks as always for reading and supporting me, and for your patience. I'm pretty much resigned at this point to not really being able to update more often than once every couple of months. This did end up being posted a little later than I planned, though, seeing as it's midterm season and my beta had a lot of work to do before she could get to me. You may reasonably expect the next chapter to be up sometime in December, but I'll try to get it finished earlier if I can.