The Rules of the Ritual

"What did he say? Anything useful?"

Ila shook her head. It had been a few hours since Ila had her conversation with Malfoy. Her head was filled with nothing but snippets of their conversation. She couldn't get it out of her head. Even when she was walking back, helping her friends put Parkinson, Goyle and Crabbe in their rightful places. Even she was transformed back and ate breakfast.

Even now, when she, Ron and Hermione were watching students place their names in the Goblet of Fire, today being the last day to do so. Her mind never left him. Ila distractedly watched Cedric walk up to the Goblet. Cheers erupted for him when he stepped over the line.

"Attention whore!" Fred muttered under his breath as the twins reached the trio.

"Don't say that. Just because you can't get past doesn't mean you should shame others who can," Hermione said, her eyes never leaving her Charms textbook.

The twins chuckled. "Who said we wouldn't be able to get past?" George asked, leaning down to her.

Hermione lifted her head. "Have you not seen the Age Line?" she said, pointing to the misted circle surrounding the Goblet. "Dumbledore made it so you can't get past unless you're seventeen, which neither of you will be in another…sixth months."

"Five months, actually," Fred said. "And Dumbledore's an old man…he isn't as powerful as you guys think he is."

At that point, Fred and George stood up and headed over to the Goblet. Ila watched as they each took out a vial from their pockets. They crossed their arms and downed the drink. They waited a few moments. They shrugged before jumping over the line. There was a pregnant silence as everyone waited for something to happen.

When nothing did, the twins smiled, getting everyone to clap for them. Hermione looked unimpressed.

"Can't believe it was that easy," Ron said. "We could've done that too, Ila!"

"No, you couldn't," Hermione said.

"Wha – but look at them." The twins placed their names inside the dancing blue flames. At the same time, Hermione held a hand up. She put a finger down periodically. By the time she got to one, she had turned the page, and simultaneously, the twins were blasted off their feet, hitting the wall opposite them. Everyone stood up in horror…

Only to disappear when the twins stood up. Replacing the youthful sixteen – soon to be seventeen-year-olds in five months – were a pair of old men, with beards rivalling Dumbledores. Everyone started laughing at the two.

"Fred! What the fuck!"

"How was I supposed to know? I don't even take Potio - "

But his sentence was interrupted as George punched Fred. The two old men were now in a brawl.

"Ila…Ila…Ila!"

"Hmm? What – did you say anything?" Ila said, tearing her eyes away from them and focused on her two friends.

"You never answered my question - "

"I shook my head."

" – properly," Hermione finished.

"Yeah, what did he say?" Ron asked.

"Nothing important," Ila muttered. She didn't see her two friends share a concerned glance.

"Ila…what did he say?" Hermione asked gently.

Ila closed her eyes.

Not yet, she told herself. She had to figure it out first by herself before she could even explain what was going on with her friends.

"He was pretty normal," Ila said, looking back at her friends. "I must've looked too much into things…maybe he has just changed…."

Her friends looked instantly relaxed before Ron started chuckling, "I told you, didn't I? There's no way He'd let Malfoy work with him…maybe he does just have a - "

Ila glared at him.

"Do you want to go to Divination?" he suggested lightly. Ila groaned, picking up her bag, watching the last student place their name: Viktor Krum. What was strange was that it seemed like he was looking for someone. He turned around, right before he reached the circle and smiled. Ila followed his gaze. It was Hermione, still sitting and reading her textbook…

Ila's eyes bulged at the thought that impeded any ideas about Divination or Malfoy.

"I think Viktor has a crush on Mione," Ila whispered to Ron as they climbed up the ladder that lead to their classroom. It seemed that Ron hadn't heard her. He didn't have any reactions. Instead, he walked to their usual table and buried his head into his arms, waiting for the rest of the students to fill up the class.

"Ron," Ila hissed. There was no reaction. "OI! Wake up!"

Ila kicked his leg.

"What?" Ron said, one hand massaging his leg. "What did I do?"

"Did you not hear what I said?" Ila asked. Ron shook his head. "I think Viktor has a crush on Hermione."

Ron stared blankly. It took so long that Ila thought he was frozen. She was about to slap him to see if he was still there when all of a sudden, he let out a loud laugh, startling a few of the students surrounding him. A few others turned around to see what was going on.

"Are…serious…Viktor….Hermione….what…." He burst into another fit of giggles as he tried to breathe correctly. He looked like he was doing a balancing on the threshold between pain and pleasure. It took him another few moments to calm himself down. He wiped tears off his red cheeks and smiled. "Right…that…that was a good one, Ila – I'll give it to you…I think that might have just made my day…."

"I'm not joking," Ila said.

"Of course you aren't," Ron said, winking at Ila. She narrowed his eyes at him.

"I'm not…."

"Sure you aren't, Ila," Ron said, though, from the way he said, it didn't sound like he believed her. "What?"

"Why don't you believe me?" Ila asked.

Ron looked around as if Ila's question was the stupidest question anyone could ask. "Isn't it obvious?"

Ila tilted her head. "What's so obvious?"

Ron scoffed. "Ila…it's…it's Mione, for merlin's sake….are you seriously trying to convince me that Viktor Krum – the best Quidditch player in the entire world has a crush? on…Mione? Our Hermione? Hermione Granger…."

"You're just probably jealous," Ila muttered.

Before Ron could retort, however, Lavender and Parvati climbed up the classroom, asking everyone, "Have you lot seen the paper today?"

With most of the class shaking their heads, the two girls ran to their table, carefully placing their crystal ball on the floor and spreading the newspaper on it. Ron and Ila followed the rest of the class and read the article.

"MURDER AT THE MINISTRY!

It has only been a few months since a ministry employee named Bertha Jorkins had disappeared into thin air. Many suspected that perhaps when she went on holiday to Albania, she hadn't realised the time passing by and would turn up to her office in October, with nothing out of the ordinary. Many of her fellow peers have told the Prophet of her scattered brain…however, a few days ago, it was found that on Leven Seven in the Department of Magical Games and Sports was Bertha Jorkins at her office. Devraj Sheikh was the first to find her. Thinking nothing out of the ordinary, he walked up to Bertha, ready to ask her how her holiday in Albania went, when –

There was a picture that had interrupted the article. Many of the students had to look away or express their disgust. Ron took a few deep breaths to not throw up on everyone. Ila swallowed any feelings of nausea as she looked closer at the picture. It was of Bertha Jorkins, dead. Her face had been slashed several times. Ila was thankful that her eyes were closed in the picture. Her body had been carved in the shape…Ila wasn't sure what it was. But what was strange, and perhaps the thing that made everyone shudder…

Her entire body drained of her blood.

Devraj found that she wasn't responding. When he tried to do something, he found her like that. Dead. Carved. Drained. Aurors were immediately on the case, figuring out how exactly this had happened. What kind of sick, twisted wizard could do this –

Ila couldn't read anymore…she felt like she was going to throw up.

"Get back to your seats, everyone, chop-chop! We don't have all day!" Professor Trewlany said, clapping her hands. The group dispersed Ila and Ron, clutching their stomachs as they headed back to their seats.

"I think that might've ruined my appetite," Ron mumbled, looking unusually green, considering how red the entire room was.

"First things first, I would like everyone to have their homework out…I hope everyone's done it," she said when she saw Seamus and Dean groan. "Come on, bring them out…I will be interested to see your interpretations." Trelawny began walking around the room, collecting everyone's homework and telling the two boys off. Ila grabbed her homework and quickly placed it on the table, not wanting to look at it longer than she needed to. It took a few minutes, but Trelawny came by to collect the pieces of paper. "I'll be interested to hear what I was doing…merlin knows I don't remember anything…" she muttered as she took Ila's.

"That's lucky," Ila muttered darkly.

Once taking everyone's, she shoved them in her desk and stood in the middle of her classroom. "For today's lesson, we will not be looking into anymore reading techniques…we will now be looking into rituals! For this lesson and perhaps the next, we will be sharing our lesson with the Ancient Rune class and dive into the portal between Divination and Alchemy!"

The class did not share Trewlany's excitement. Instead, they just stared at her as she smiled at them, waiting for at least someone to start clapping her hands, yelling how she was the best teacher in the whole wide world. When she realised that no one would do that, her smile dropped, and she told everyone to get their bags and head to the Ancient Rune's class.

"I guess Mione will never truly leave Trewlany then," Ila told Ron as they walked to Ancient Runes with the rest of their class.

"You can tell her about your little joke about her," Ron replied, suddenly smiling at the thought. "Still cracks me up…."

"I told you, Ron, I think it's true," Ila said once more. "I saw the way Viktor looked at Hermione."

"How?"

Ila narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips and pushed back her hair. "Are you seeing it? Do you see it?"

"I see something alright," Ron said, slightly weirded out.

"Fine…how about…oh – Hermione always complains that he's in the library whenever she's there and – Viktor asked me last night whether or not you and Hermoine were dating and when I told him no, he smiled."

"Ila, I would rather trust Ginny when it comes to figuring out whether or not a guy likes someone," Ron said. "You can't even tell when a guy likes you."

Ila scoffed. "That's not true."

Ron raised a brow at her. "You don't realise that Malfoy - "

"Shh!"

" – has a big fat crush on you!"

"No, he does not."

"Yes, he does."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he does."

"No, he doesn't."

"Yes, he - "

"MALFOY DOESN'T HAVE A CRUSH ON ME!"

Ila hadn't realised what she said and just how loud she had said until it was too late. Until the door opened and the entire Ancient Runes and Divination class heard. Until Ila saw Malfoy turn around, a look of amusement on his face. "Shit."

"Sybill!" Professor Babbling said, walking up to the door, trying to obscure the view of her class from the Divination class. "What a delightful surprise….what are you doing here?"

"We arranged to share our lesson, don't you remember?"

Babbling's face morphed into confusion as she strained her mind to remember what Trelwany was talking about. "…Oh! Right! Yes, I remember, we were planning on….we were going to do…?"

"Rituals? A mixture of Alchemy and Divina - "

"Ah yes! Rituals – a mixture of Alchemy – ok, now I remember….but er – I thought we planned it next week…I only have one lesson this week, but I have two next week."

"Well, that's because I have two lessons this week with them and one next week."

Babbling's held a strained smile, letting out a forced laugh. "Right…I s'pose I have to give up…teaching important things that are relevant to the curriculum to appease a crazy bat," she whispered before clearing her throat and allowed the students to enter. "Students…it must have slipped my mind, but we won't be learning about the German mysticism but rather - "

"We will be learning about the enthralling realm of rituals!"

Yet again, no one shared Trewlany's excitement. Even Babbling struggled not to tell Trewlany to piss off and let her continue her lesson. "Well, go on. Find a seat now!"

Being towards the back of the room, Ron and Ila were left to take the last two seats, one which was by Hermione and the other –

"Interesting way to enter a room," Malfoy quipped as Ila reluctantly took her seat.

"Fuck off, Malfoy!" Ila hissed before turning her body away from him and, unfortunately, to the two professors.

"Now, I know many of you are quite new to your journey into opening up your third eye – some of you might not have ever taken the journey before," Trelawny said, her eyes stopping at Hermione. "But I promise that you will not be disadvantaged throughout this lesson as in fact, we will all come across something that we have never learnt before, which will be…Alchemy!" From her peripheral, Ila saw Draco sit up straighter. "Though, I do wonder Professor Babbling, does anyone know anything about Alchemy? Hmm…anyone at all? Perhaps, I'll start a bit smaller…does anyone know the three main goals of Alchemy?"

Malfoy's hand was the only one to shot up. People were surprised to see him and not Hermione to answer. Many eyes were on her, and she looked away, embarrassed that she didn't know.

"Draco, what a surprise…it feels like you barely say anything nowadays," Professor Babbling said excitedly. Ila noted that in the back of her mind – she needs to write all of this down before she forgets. "What's your answer?"

"It's to find the Philosopher's stone, discover the transmutation of metals and to find the Elixir of Life," he said simply.

Trelawny smiled. "Wonderful, excellent, ten points to Slytherin," (Hermione scoffed!). "Yes, Draco is correct; however, for today's lesson, we will be focusing on one of those three goals, which is the Elixir of Life, specifically what it means. For another ten points, could you explain what the Elixir of Life is, Draco?"

"It's this potion that exists that can allow the drinker to be immortal," Malfoy said. Ila could see the entire class sit up a bit straighter now. "It hasn't been found out yet – though according to this French alchemist named Fulcanelli, he had found it. No one knew what happened to him because he disappeared…."

"Ten points to Slytherin once again and another five points - " ("You've got to be kidding me!") " - for that extra tidbit of information I'm sure all of us loved to hear," Trewlany said. "Yes, the Elixir of Life has been a famous myth for many centuries. First discovers by the Arabs, the legend had been passed around the entire continent of Asia before travelling overseas to Europe. Many have tried to work out how the potions worked, how to make them, but like Draco mentioned, it has never been found. While all of that seems interesting, it isn't the Elixir that we're interested in but rather what it means after you take it. You will be granted immortality…who would want to be immortal?"

A few cautious hands rose before slowly, the entire class barring two, had put up their hands.

"I would've seen this coming from Hermione, but Draco? I would've thought that learning about the Elixir would have made you somewhat interested?" Trewleany asked. Even Ila was slightly interested to hear why he wasn't bothered with living forever – a concept she thought everyone would want to be. Well, apart from Hermione – especially with how dark her answer had been when Fred asked her if she wanted to be immortal.

"Death is a powerful being, and something tells me to not get on the wrong side of him," Malfoy said, making everyone in the class uncomfortable and Ila regretting even more sitting next to him. Even the two professors were slightly uneased by his honest answer.

Trelawny looked back to her counterpart, who shrugged slightly, unaware that an answer like that can even come from a fourteen-year-old. "Well…I suppose that is fair enough…well…speaking of Death…this is what we will be looking into for this lesson," Trewlany sounded unsure if she wanted to continue with the topic of the lesson. "First thing first, I have a few books here – you'll have to share" – Trewlany took out a few books from her bag and started handing them around the class, quickly passing Ila and Malfoy – "I want you to ready pages seven to ten which will give you a brief introduction to Death, and I want you to take some notes."

Neither Ila nor Malfoy made a move to take the textbook. It wasn't until Malfoy had enough. He grabbed the book, muttering something under his breath and opened it to page seven. There stood an image of Death.

It reminded Ila of the image of the card she had gotten when Ron was predicting her future. He was more of a black cloak than an actual human; a skeletal hand holding a scythe as large as he was the only humane thing about him.

'Death. Or the Grim Reaper, the Angel of Death, Anubis, Hades, Shinigami or Yama depending on where you are from. Even with many different names, Death remains Death. He remains as the Shepherd of souls, guiding them to Afterlife, where they will rest for eternity. Since the beginning of time, Death has been one of five sentient beings that have always been present. The other four include Time (page eleven), Fate (page twenty), Destiny (pages twenty-two, page thirty) and Space (page fifty-five). These five beings dictate the rules of the universe, control what goes in the world and what happens to you. You cannot escape any of these. You cannot escape one's Death. Death will always be inevitable. In fact, some might say that perhaps Death is more stable than Life; for what is Life but a mere grain of sand on a beach? A sudden flicker on a candle before being blown out?

You might ask as to why Life is not one of these sentient beings. Surely Life would be the most important…

But you must understand that Life and Death are not equals. Death will always prevail in Life. You would have to think of Life as not another separate being but rather a lack of Death. According to Unspeakables working on Death, they have found that rather than thinking of all of these sentient beings as equal, they are not. Death is superior to the other four. In fact, they have found that the other four are what makes up Life and therefore make up the lack of Death.

And while we have been discussing Time, Space, Fate and Destiny as sentient beings, there has not been evidence to prove that they are sentient. They could be less – they could be forces, or they could be something more, something that our minds cannot fathom. But notice how we have never mentioned Death…there have been many people who have been close to death*, coming forward about how there was a light at the end of a tunnel. Someone had been guiding them. That was Death. While anecdotal evidence may not be of your concern, there has been something that perhaps will shift your mindset about Death once more.

If you are reading this, I'm sure you have heard about the Tale of the Three Brothers. However, it will be to my own detriment if I don't acknowledge that not everyone grew up reading the Tales of Beedle the Bard. In summary, the Tale of the Three Brothers is exactly what is in the title. A tale of three brothers who, one day, we're on a winding, dark path that lead them to a river. Anyone who swam across would instantly see death. Using their magical abilities, however, the three brothers were able to conjure a bridge. Feeling somewhat cheated, Death appeared in the middle, sneakily congratulating the three brothers and offered them a prize for their quick-wittedness. The eldest brother asked for a wand that was more powerful than any in existence. The second asked for a stone – a stone to resurrect anyone back from the dead. The third had asked for something rather peculiar. For he did not trust Death and his word. Rather than humiliating Death, he asked for something much smarter. He asked for –

The page flipped over. Ila was unable to see what the Third Brother had asked for.

"Hey! I was reading that," Ila said, ready to turn the page back when Malfoy slammed his hand on the book.

"What a shame," Malfoy said sarcastically, his hand never leaving the page. "Next time, try and read more than two words a minute."

Ila scoffed, backing down. She couldn't be bothered with him today. Not after what happened this morning…Could he be any more confusing? Ila asked herself. She wished he was as one dimensional as he was the last few years. Since when did Malfoy have substance?

He had to be lying, Ila thought as she started noting down about Death and his favourite forms to take – his favourite being himself, as the Grim Reaper and second, to that was an old man – and occasionally glanced at Malfoy. There was no way that he could…

He did call Voldemort a bastard…from the way he talked about Him and his father, it sounded like they were as bad as each other – which was true, but Malfoy shouldn't know that…

But then again, he did know it was Ila….Well, not really, but she knew it. The way he stared at her as Parkinson was the way he stared at her when she was herself. Not to mention he did find Parkinson this morning acting a bit strange…

Maybe the potion hadn't been brewed properly – a sudden thought of getting food poisoned by the potion distracted her momentarily before she shook herself. This is important, she reminded herself though she still clutched her stomach protectively.

If he knew that it was Ila and not Parkinson, that would explain why he was acting so weird. His plan with Voldemort is to lure her in by Malfoy's good graces (Ila inwardly snorted). Obviously, Malfoy would say all of those things if Ila asked him about it.

That would make a lot more sense if she were honest…

But there was a nagging feeling, a feeling that was trapped in a hole, wriggling its way free. Ila pushed that feeling away. It could free itself another time. Right now, she needed to know Malfoy's true intentions. It was no good hearing him talk shit about Voldemort when it was likely His idea to get Malfoy to say all of those things. Ila needed to find out what he truly thought. Not what Draco – I'm on a mission to bring Ila Potter to the Dark side even though it's totally failing because she sees right through him – Malfoy, but rather Draco Malfoy, the Boy Who Had an Opinion on Everything…

"I never thought out of all people you'd give up on being immortal," Ila said as casually as possible as they finished writing up their notes on page eight and moved onto page nine. She was now beginning to write about Death in the real world, specifically mentioning that while Dementors are usually correlated with Death, they are not a creature of Death, but rather an inhumane creation of man.

"You're not the only one," Malfoy said distractedly, his eyes fixed on his notes. "Why are you talking to me?"

"I don't need permission to talk to you, do I? I'm not Crabbe or Goyle," Ila said, glancing over. It seemed that he was pretending to take down notes. He had already finished writing for pages nine and ten…

"No, unfortunately, you're worse," he said.

Ignoring the jib, Ila carried on, "I would've thought you'd be obsessed with finding the…the…the - "

"Elixir of Life?"

"Yeah…that…"

"What makes you say that?"

This was her opening. "Well, y'know…you're a Slytherin - "

"Merlin give me a break," Malfoy muttered under his breath.

" – and there are quite a few wizards that are also interested in immortality," Ila finished.

"Oh yeah? Like who?" Malfoy leaned close to her, their faces a few inches away and whispered, "Voldemort maybe?"

"Y-yeah…" Ila was glad that she was sitting at the back of her class. Her enthusiasm died down as their conversation went on, and as Malfoy moved away from her, a smirk playing on his lips. That nagging feeling came back once more.

"A…a dead, dark wizard doesn't dictate everything I do."

Of course, it does, you liar…Perhaps she needed to go back to the poly-juice potion.

"I hope you're still not going on about me changing, are you?" he asked slyly. "In fact, Potter, how come I find it strange that you've taken a sudden interest in my personal life all of a sudden. Why am I not allowed to say anything?"

"What? That's because I haven't," Ila said.

Malfoy raised a brow. "In the past two months, I have had more conversations that didn't end up in a screaming match with you than in the last three years. That's a bit strange, don't you think?"

"Well…it takes two people to have a conversation, doesn't it?"

"Ah yes – but it only takes one to scream," Malfoy said in a low tone.

Since when was this conversation about her?

"What exactly are you trying to imply, Malfoy?"

Malfoy smirked and leaned closer once more, getting closer to Ila than before. She pushed herself away – not enough to make it seem like she was intimidated but enough, so she didn't have to be a mere two inches away from him and make everyone think they were going to kis –

"I think you have a crush on me."

…

…

…

Right…yes, well…ok…right…that was….it was…right….er…

…

Ok…that was definitely….that was….well…it wasn't nothing….

…

Ila now knew how Ron felt when she told him about Hermione and Viktor. She wanted to do nothing but laugh in his face…and cry at the thought that someone thought she had a crush on –

"What the actual fuck is wrong with you? Excuse me? Me? Have a crush on you? Are you stupid? Are you actually an idiot? Seriously what the fuck is going on? I literally have no idea where you got the stupid idea that me, Ila Potter – I of all people has a crush on – I can't even say it out loud, because that's how inexplicable and abhorrent - "

"Abhorrent? I never knew your vocabulary was so vast, Potter."

"Shut up! Let me finish. There is no way on Earth that I, Ila Potter, will ever, ever, ever, ever, ever have a positive feeling towards letting alone spend all my time thinking and obsessing over you because I have a crush on. Is. That. Clear?"

Malfoy didn't look the least bit offended. In fact…that prick! He's smiling. Just before he could reply, Professor Trelawny gathered the attention of the class.

"I think that's plenty of time to write all your notes…now, you might ask yourselves whether our next topic will be related to those pages of Death; however, all of this will come clear soon. We will be talking about rituals. For any house points, does anyone know about any kind of rituals?"

Not even Malfoy had put his hand up this time. He was staring smugly into his stupid little –

"Professor Babbling, do you know any?"

Babbling's face blanked as she wondered why Trewlany was suddenly picking on her and not any of the students. "Er – well…I don't really – I'm not very knowledgeable in that field – is your eye alright, Sybill? It's twitching quite often - "

Trelawny let out a cough that sounded very similar to 'Blood!'

Recognition dawned on the second professor's face, and she smiled. "Ah – right, it must have slipped my mind…how about Blood rituals?"

"Ah yes!" Trelawny clapped her hands at the complete coincidence of Babbling's answer. "Blood rituals, one of many types of rituals someone can perform for several different reasons. Perhaps to make an offering to a deity or to get in contact with someone on the other side or even…to bring back someone from the dead – ohh! How exciting!"

"But Professor, can't you just use the Resurrection stone that book was talking about?" Ron asked.

"It also said in the book that they were a part of a legend," Hermione countered. "You can't use something that doesn't exist to perform a ritual that doesn't work."

"Ah Hermione, how I've missed your rigid ways," Trewlany said spitefully. "Just because you haven't experienced it doesn't mean it doesn't exist."

"Loads of people do that, don't they? Some people haven't experienced racism, so they don't think it's real…."

Trelawny shifted her weight from side to side. "Er – well, yes, and those people are wrong, which is why we cannot stoop down to their level."

"Ok, but just because the book says it's a myth doesn't mean that it's definitely not true…there's always a chance it could be wrong," Ron said.

"There would have to be some truth to it, or otherwise they wouldn't allow professors to teach it to their students."

"Funny you should say that…these are actually copies of my own textbook. Found them in an old book shop…thought they were useful…."

"That explains so much," Ron whispered to Hermione, who bit her smile back as they let the professor teach the lesson again.

"Anyway – where were we?...ah yes. Blood rituals. Now, as I said before, many blood rituals occur. Many of them require a sacrifice – many unwilling sacrifices, might I add. The way the blood is used differs depending on what you are trying to do. One can cut the palm of their hands and allow drops of blood to pour – this would usually be a form of identification or measure a characteristic about yourself, usually magic. You could kill someone and use their blood – this is usually to give it to a deity, or you could even drain the blood – which will most likely be used for bringing people back from the dead."

"Am I the only one concerned with how much she knows about his?" Dean whispered to Seamus.

"Now, there are many ways in which one could use their blood. One specific one – and this will be important to write down everything I will say to you – is to bring back the Four Horsemen. Now, what are they? They are referenced in the Bible as God's exterminators for the world. They will bring chaos and destruction around them. It will be the end of the world as we know it. How does it happen? The Bible refers to a Lamb. What do you think a lamb will represent?"

"Innocence?" Parvati suggested.

"Exactly," Trewlany said. "The Lamb will have to be someone of pure nature. They will be the ones to break the seal and release the Four Horsemen. Now, this would usually happen thousands and thousands into the future – nothing for you to worry about; however, there have been wizards who have tried to hurry that process up. All have been unsuccessful, however. All of them did not bring the Lamb. None were innocent enough. By the rules of the ritual, the Lamb would have to be a child – someone who has not to harm. But say if you do find someone as innocent and pure as a Lamb, what then? With every Lamb comes a Lion. The antithesis of the Lamb. In fact, it has been specified that this Lion should be an enemy of the Lamb. The clash of morality and immortality will be what breaks the seal. The energy of the two would be so vast that it will release the Four. But who exactly are the four? Anyone?"

Hermione's hand shot up straight away, though Trewlany hesitated for her to answer, looking and waiting for anyone else to answer. "Go on, Hermione," she said, slightly deflated.

"Well, there's Conquest. There's Famine. There's War, and there's - "

"Death," Trewlany interrupted. "These are the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse. It's been said that when they do arrive, they will each arrive on horses in different colours. White for Conquest, Black for Famine, Red for War and Death will be a skeletal horse. However, do not be so narrow-minded. There aren't just any old creatures. You have just read everything about Death, so you can assume what you have read about him must be applicable for the other three. They are all sentient beings. They know what they're doing. They will disguise themselves and manipulate hundreds and thousands of people to get them to do whatever they need."

"But Professor?" Hermione asked.

"What is it?"

"The book mentions that someone can be the Master of Death if you obtain all three of the Deathly Hallows. So how exactly can you bring Death to the Earth unless you're his master? Surely then the only person that can perform that ritual would have to be the Master of Death? Not to mention, I doubt the other three can even be comparable. There was a whole paragraph saying that the four out of the five biggest forces on Earth can't be compared to Death, but rather they make up the lack of Death. If everything revolves around him, how can one ritual cause him to come to Earth?"

Trelawny stood there, regretting ever letting Hermione speak after how last year turned out to be. Babbling, seeing the steam coming out of Trewlany's ears, decided it would now be the best time to step in and continue the lesson. However, the students didn't seem to mind the standoff between Hermione and Trewlany.

"You always know how to get the teachers to stop and think, don't you, Hermoine?" Babbling joked, slightly dragging Trewlany to a seat that wasn't in Hermione's line of the eye. "Perhaps we'll start a new topic…until we get everything sorted out. Turn to page…."

The rest of the lesson was learning about the different forces mentioned in the introductory passage about Death. Malfoy hadn't said anything. He didn't need to. Ila could see his face, smirking when he thought she wasn't looking. She wanted to do nothing more than bang her head against the table to get rid of the newly formed memory of Malfoy leaning in and telling her that he thinks she has a crush on him.

Merlin, is that what it looked like?

But she didn't have a crush on him.

As she said, the day when someone had found the Lamb and break the seal was the day she would like Draco Malfoy.