In Which Ila Potter Whishes She Wasn't Ila Potter

"Are you angry Ron? Please don't get angry -"

"I'm not angry…I'm just…merely disappointed," Ron said with a huff.

"Oh give me a break," Ila muttered as pushed past her two friends and entered the Potion's classroom. The two girls had just finished recounting the story of last night when they entered the Forest. Including how Parvati thought the creature grabbed her feet when it was actually just a leaf.

Parvati and Lavender waved at her, the four girls now somehow bonded by their shared experience of nearly being killed by a leaf. She walked past the Slytherin table, who surprisingly didn't seem to bother her. Well – apart from one.

Ila shouldn't really say bother but –

From the way Draco looked at Ila, he knew something happened last night. Something that Ila wasn't planning on telling him. Mainly because she could already hear the nagging he was going to do.

"Merlin Ila – you're such a fucking idiot! Why the fuck would you risk hurting yourself like that? You could've been killed! Blah…blah…blah…"

Merlin, she didn't know why, but she just could not deal with it today. She wasn't sure why she was in such a grouchy mood. Maybe it was because she had Snape first thing or…during the night, she thought more back to her conversation with Dumbledore. For someone who's supposed to be concerned about student safety, he didn't seem that worried about a bunch of students being attacked.

She wondered if Dumbledore cared at this point.

Of course, he cares – he's just…

Ila isn't and shouldn't be the only thing that he cares about at this point. She wasn't the only person in this world that was important.

"Why didn't you two tell me you were going to do this?" Ron said as the three settled for the class.

"It wasn't like we planned it – I just – it was a spur of the moment thing," Ila said, shrugging her shoulders as she took her books out.

"A spur of the moment thing is hosting a quidditch game, not trying to find the creature that nearly killed your friend!" Ron hissed.

After yesterday's revelation from Hermione, Ila couldn't help but stare in slight disbelief. One of the things that she remembered reading the article about how to get a boy to like you was that when someone does like you, they tend to copy your mannerisms and because of that, you can use that to your advantage.

It was suddenly like seeing a double of Hermione.

"It wasn't any old creature – it was an Inferi," Ila whispered.

"I know," Ron replied.

"How do you know that?" Hermione asked. "What is it?"

"It's – it's…You Know Who was known to use his dead victims and turn them into the…unalive, I guess. There's some spell to reanimate the dead and you can control them however you want. He'd usually get them to kill more people and then use them to grow his army even more. Dad saw a few when he was fighting in the War."

"That – God, that's horrible," Hermione said, struggling to swallow. Ron placed a hand on her arm, soothingly circling it to relax her. "Is it just You Know Who that's been known to use them?"

"I'm guessing."

"So – that – the Inferi, was that – was – that was His doing wasn't it?" Hermione said, her voice getting quieter and quieter as the worries that Ila tried desperately to avoid from them arrived. "I was nearly – oh my god I was - "

Ron immediately pulled Hermione into a hug when he saw that she was struggling for words and air. Ila rushed to her side, joining in on their hug.

"I'm sorry," Ila whispered into her hair.

There were a few people in the class that had seen the Trio hug and wondered what had happened, Draco being one of them. He had switched places back so that he could see everything that was going on at Ila's table. It was mainly to get as far away from Parkinson, but…he supposed that it was nice to see Ila every time he looked up.

Well, apart from today.

Rather than relaxing him, he was starting to worry. The three don't usually do these kinds of things. He knew they were close but not like this…

Ron and Ila were hugging Hermione, who just moments before looked like she was going to break down.

Was this about the Forest?

Now that Draco had thought about it, it was only him and Ila that were together. What had happened to the others? He looked down at his paper when the three broke apart, not wanting to seem as if he was interested. At least, not to her friends.

Should he ask about it? Would she ever talk to him? He groaned at the memory of last week. Merlin, what was he thinking?

"You alright?" Theodore asked, slightly concerned, but most amused. "Parkinson got your knickers in a twist again?"

"Or got twisted in them?" Blaise quipped, uninterested in the conversation Daphne was forcing him to partake in.

"No, it's not her," Draco sighed, running a hand through his hair. Should he tell his friends?

"So who is it about? Don't tell me you've got another stalker," Theodore said.

"No it's…" Draco drew a long breath, closing his eyes.

The reason why he didn't want to tell his friends about the whole 'I really like her but I'm not too sure if she likes me cos she gives me mixed signals, and even if she does like me, what can we do about it considering who we are,' with Ila, wasn't actually because of her. It was because every time he had ever spoken about liking a girl, his two friends would non stop bully him about the whole thing. Even if it was with girls that he didn't like.

Draco still held grudge against Theodore for making it seem as though Draco had a crush on Parkinson.

But the thing that was making him want to tell his friends?

Draco had no idea how to get with a girl. Both his friends had more experience by themselves compared to Draco. He was more of a – appreciate from a distance and get jealous whenever they were with another guy even though he had never made it clear in the first place that he liked that girl - kind of guy.

He really didn't want to fuck things up with Ila.

He didn't want to lose her this early on.

"Say if…say if there was this girl - "

"I called it – I fucking called it didn't I Blaise!" Theodore said, pumping his fists in the air. "Get in!"

"Fuck off," Blaise hissed, pushing a few Galleons to Theodore. "Is this why you've been acting…differently?"

"Is it obvious?" he asked, though he already knew the answer after seeing his two friends bet on him.

"Draco," Theodore sighed, "it's like you're a fucking Hufflepuff. You get upset over the tiniest of things - "

" – you get annoyed every time we talk shit about someone," Blaise added.

"You even get angry when we started talking about fucking Looney Lovegood!"

"It's just – I don't know, it's all bit fucking unnecessary, isn't it?" Draco asked his friends. Luckily the rest of the table were still engrossed in the story Parkinson was talking about. He glanced up to see Ila and her friends looking normal again. The two girls were laughing at a reddish Ron, though they still felt a bit awkward. "Life is short enough to not make fun of people."

"Merlin – there you go again. What did I just say? Fucking Hufflepuff, pulling these quotes out of your arse," Theodore sighed. "Who is she?"

"No."

"No?" Blaise questioned. "Why no? I thought we were friends?"

"I thought we were Slytherins," Draco countered.

"Considering how you've been acting this year…"

"Listen, it doesn't matter who she is but…how…I like her, but I don't know if she likes me back," Draco said, his voice lowering to almost a whisper by the last word. "How do I know if she likes you?"

The two boys hesitated. They looked at each other, conversing wordlessly before Blaise turned to Draco, who for some reason was nervous. This was probably the closest thing to getting his friends' blessing.

Merlin, it wasn't like he was getting married to Ila.

"Is she worth it?" Blaise asked.

"Worth what?"

"All of this," Theodore said, waving his hand around. "The whole – I think bullying Hufflepuffs is a waste of my time – thing."

Draco nodded reflexively.

"She'll usually be a lot more open – not just mentally but…physically if you get what I mean," Theodore said, winking suggestively.

"When you mean physically…"

"I mean" – Theodore popped out of his chest – "physically."

"Right…" Draco said, slightly concerned before swivelling to Blaise. "Anything else?"

"Maybe she does like you but doesn't know if you like her."

Draco snorted. "I've given this girl a bunch of hints."

"You're going to have to be more obvious."

More obvious than nearly trying to kiss her…

"Like what?"

"Like – girls like it when you 'accidentally' touch them. Y'know, move her hair, touch her arm, her leg. Any excuse that you can find to 'touch' them, take it."

"Ok…right…there's still one er – problem."

"What?" the two boys asked.

Ila saw from the corner of her eye, Draco talking to his two friends. She shouldn't be mad at him. At least not that much. She can still be annoyed at him for nearly trying to kiss her. Though she wasn't sure why.

A big part of her wanted to kiss him but –

Perhaps she was madder at herself for not taking the chance to do so.

They have Care of Magical Creatures together today. Even with all the nagging, she can already picture, she'll still have to tell him. She needed to break the ice one way or another.

"Why is everyone still talking? Why aren't your books out? I expect this behaviour from first years on their first day, but definantly not from fourth years. Your exams are less than a year away and you're still acting like children. Hurry up!" Snape exclaimed as he shut the dungeon door, as though he wasn't going to let anyone out. He slammed a few books on the table before furiously using his wand to write on the board what they were going to do for today's lesson.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed," Ila whispered, to which Ron sniggered.

"Why are we learning about Polyjuice potion – we don't learn that until 6th year," Hermione whispered fervently. "At this point, we should have moved onto Wolfsbane."

Hermione was busy looking through the contents page of their Potion's textbook as Snape continued his diatribe. Ila couldn't care less. She was busy staring at a certain person's face…

No.

She wasn't staring.

She was merely…analysing.

For some reason, a part of her thought that Draco was over her. Any smidge of a crush that he had for her disappeared when he started actually hanging out with her.

But then…

She couldn't believe she was admitting this to herself, let alone you, but, when she saw Draco lean closer, she knew he wanted to kiss her.

And she wanted to kiss him.

It wasn't even a part of her that wanted to kiss him but her whole self. She groaned internally. Merlin why was she thinking about kissing Draco when two seconds ago Hermione was having a panic attack about nearly getting killed by You Know Who.

What is wrong with you Ila?

Why do you never focus on the important things? This is why people always get hurt on your watch.

"My lecture about the Polyjuice Potion giving you a headache Potter?" Snape said, breaking Ila away from her thoughts. For the first time, she was thankful. "Sit up and look at me when I am speaking to you."

"Most of the Slytherins are asleep and you're still picking on me?" Ila grumbled a bit too loudly, as Snape floated over to her table. He leaned over the table, his towering height cowering over Ila, ready to snatch her away and throw her in an empty classroom.

"You seem to be acting as though my lecture is beneath you Potter. Perhaps you already did some prereading?"

"No, but - " Ila glanced at her friends. She couldn't really mention the whole turning into Crabbe and Goyle in second year. And then again, this year. " – Dumbledore might have mentioned it."

Fuck!

She shouldn't have bought Dumbledore into this. Now Snape was going to cross-examine her statement. Merlin, she now knew what it was like facing a trial in front of the entire Wizenmagot.

"He has?" Snape murmured, raising a brow. He was contemplating something, slightly turning away from Ila, so that she could actually breathe momentarily before his head snapped back onto her. "Do you want to know why exactly I am having this lecture?" He waited for a few seconds before pushing off their desk and began walking around the classroom. "Does anyone know why I've had a sudden interest in the Polyjuice Potion?" He walked behind students, all of whom couldn't look up from their hands resting on their laps. Every time he came close to a student, they would jump in their seats.

"Come on, there has to be someone that would know?" Snape said, staring at Neville, who looked everywhere but to his right.

"Er – er – is it because – you're – you're a Potion's Professor?" Neville stuttered out. The moment the words came out of his mouth, he looked like he was going to throw up. Or perhaps it was the – no…it wasn't the lighting. He was going to throw up.

Snape slammed his hand right next to Neville's book, which seemed to push him to the edge. He had to excuse himself just Snape was about to slam the other hand on the other side of Neville. Snape stood up straight.

"It is not because I am Potion's professor. Take a look behind you – at the Potion's cupboard. Come on, I want everyone to do so, take a good hard look at the cupboard," Snape said. The entire class, barring the sleeping Slytherins turned around at the open cupboard. "The reason as to why we are talking about the Polyjuice Potion is because I keep a very limited number of the Polyjuice Potion in my cupboard," he said quietly. Even though the class could barely hear what he was saying, they weren't less afraid. In fact, it was the opposite. "I keep an inventory of all my potions, and it seemed that as the months have gone on since September, the number of Polyjuice Potion has been dwindling so much so, that I only have one left. I had twenty at the beginning."

Ila glanced at her friends again, careful to not look suspicious.

Hang on…

They only took Polyjuice once. That doesn't account for all the other eighteen times the Potion was taken.

"What makes you think it was us?" Ila asked him.

"Why should I think otherwise?" he countered.

Ila scoffed but before she could say another word Snape whirled his cape as he walked towards her once again.

"I know it was you Potter, in fact, it would be impossible for it to not be you," Snape said in a way that Ila had never seen before. He had unravelled before her feet. She didn't know what was more dangerous – his composure or his lack thereof.

"It wasn't me sir," Ila defended. "What could I possibly have used the Potion for?"

Snape stared at her. "If I find my last Potion has disappeared, I will make sure that I use every last drop of my Veritaserum on you and have you spill every single thought you have ever possessed in front of the entire class. Do I make myself clear?" he said, biting every word in the last sentence. He didn't wait for Ila to answer, instead walking back to the front of the class. He had his back to the class momentarily before turning around and starting the lesson – which wasn't to do with Polyjuice Potion.

"Who shoved a stick up his arse?" Ron whispered as the three, and the rest of the class start to write their notes for the lesson. Snape had enough today, not even giving the Slytherins any mercy. He woke them up by slamming a large book in the middle of the table. There were only three that were awake. Draco, Theodore, and Blaise.

They were all engrossed in the conversation. Ila couldn't help but stare.

Not because of Draco – not this time at least.

But actually, to what his friends were doing.

They were –

It looked as though they were trying to flirt with Draco. Blaise was rubbing Draco's left arm up and down, blinking his lashes as quickly as possible while Theodore thrust his chest in front of Draco's face while pouting his lips.

Maybe Slytherin's friendships were different to Gryffindor's.

What was even strange was that Draco was kind of going along with it. He did have a smirk on his face, a smirk that was only reserved for the people he flirted with. Ila had seen it a few times –

But that doesn't mean anything.

He's a Malfoy. And Malfoys flirt with anything that moves.

Draco leaned towards Theodore and was about to say something.

But Theodore had instead leaned his pouty lips forward, two inches away from Draco's face and was about to kiss –

"WHAT THE FU…" The entire class turned their heads to the Slytherin table, specifically to the three boys who were all in a compromising situation. If no one knew they were friends, it looked like Draco was starting up his own harem. "…hell…" Draco finished weakly. He cleared his throat before putting his head down. Snape stared at the three boys. Perhaps Ila had drained out most of the energy or perhaps it was his bias, but Snape had ignored the three boys.

While she would have been mad, even Ila had to side with Snape on this one. What could you possibly have said to three boys that looked like they were a thruple.

"Why is everyone acting so weird?" Ron said once Snape asked the class to do some questions. "First you two and those three."

"You're one to talk," Ila snorted. "Wasn't it you who managed to have a conversation with Malfoy without ripping his head off?"

"That's different," Ron said, putting his quill down as if he had finished all the questions when he hadn't even attempted the first. "We were both worried about what happened to you."

"He probably wasn't even that worried," Ila muttered. Hermione glanced up from her answers, remaining out of the conversation. Since last night, Hermione had a new perspective when it came to Ila and Draco. Though…it was slightly obvious, Hermione hadn't realised the extent to which it was. She saw the small smile on Ila's face, that was deliberately hidden from Ron after she spoke. From her peripheral vision, she could see Ila constantly looking towards the Slytherin table and staring. Not too long for it to seem weird but long enough to admire whatever it was that made Ila like him.

Hermione wondered when if it was obvious with her and Ron. She wasn't sure how observant Ila was when it came to subtle things. To be honest, she was slightly surprised that Ila hadn't realised about her and Ron until last night. And also, glad that she hadn't realised until last night.

"You don't have any more plans with him, do you?" Ron asked as casually as he could. Which for Ron was pretty casual. Compared to everyone else though, wasn't.

Ila looked up from her questions, which she too hadn't started and stared at Ron. She debated on telling him about the whole sneaking off to Knockturn Alley with Draco Malfoy of all people…

"Maybe," she said quickly.

"Seriously Ila?" Ron scoffed before looking at Hermione for reassurance that he wasn't overreacting, only to see Hermione looked completely calm. "You knew about this as well?"

"I didn't know that it was a real thing," Hermione said defensively. "I only knew about this when you and Dean got into that fight."

"If I didn't fight with him, would you have told me?" Ron said, staring the two girls down.

The two hesitated.

"You're fucking kid - "

"Anything you would like to share with the class?" Snape said when Ron's voice had gotten louder. "Perhaps the reason why you took my potions?"

"No," Ron muttered and once the attention was off of him, he went back to the two girls. "How could you not tell me? Why won't you tell me?"

"Because look at your reaction," Ila said, waving her hands up and down. "You would never let it go if I went somewhere with Draco again."

"Draco?"

"See, you're doing it again Ron. You're twisting things into something that isn't there!"

"Stop painting me as some bad guy all because I haven't fucking forgotten all the shit that he's done, Ila," Ron hissed, pointing to Malfoy and his friends, all three were laughing about something inconsequential.

"But he's changed Ron, can't you see that? He's apologised, he's sorry for what he did," Ila replied.

"If he was really sorry, he's done, why hasn't he said anything to us? Why does he keep hanging out with them? Why doesn't he do something other than trying to take you away from us?"

"No one is taking anything away from anyone," Hermione said calmly. "Maybe the reasons why he hasn't said anything is because he's…maybe he's too intimidated. He's only just realised the messed-up things his parents did all in the name of"- Hermione looked around before lowering her voice to a whisper – "You Know Who. He's only just had one conversation with you that didn't end up with the two of you pointing wands at each other."

"So what, is it my fault that he can't grow some fucking balls and admit when he's wrong?" Ron was slowly but surely turning into a dangerous shade of red.

"Maybe – maybe if you show him that you aren't as bad as he thinks you are, maybe he'll finally apologise," Ila said.

Ron scoffed. "Why do I have to work for the apology?"

"It's not like there are loads of options. Unless you have any, which if you do, don't let us stop you…"

Ron leaned back against his chair, crossing his arms. He scrunched his lips and clenched his fists. He glanced at Malfoy.

"Either be a bit more civil with him or don't complain about me having to work with him," Ila said, going back to her work, though for the past ten minutes, she had just been scribbling in her notebook. She could always finish it for homework. "Besides, the Third Task is coming up soon and I can't have any more distractions. After Saturday, I won't help him anymore. Sounds good?"

Ila only got a huff from Ron.

Ron didn't speak to either of the girls throughout the entire morning. Which made it hard during Divination when they were doing partner work and Ila was sitting next to him. For a moment she feared that it would be the beginning of the year all over again. But the more she thought about it, she hadn't actually said anything wrong, did she? She knew that it was annoying to put in effort in order to get an apology, but it was just as annoying to hear Ron sigh or make some sort of comment every time she bought Malfoy up. She believed Draco. She believed that he had changed.

She also believed that Ron deserved an apology. Ila had Care for Magical Creatures with Slytherins once again. Perhaps she can a slip a word or two about this apology. Speaking of the Slytherins, something strange had happened to them.

She had a feeling it was down to the twins, but…it started in the middle of Lunch. Ila and Hermione were talking about how she could actually go to Knockturn Alley.

"I was going to stick to the original plan of using Polyjuice, but after today…" Hermione said, taking a bite of her pie. Ron had still sat by the two girls; he made no effort in taking part in their conversation. Instead, he was reading the news…

Yes...that was how angry Ron had been, that he would rather read the news than talk to his two friends. Ila tried to remain emotionless seeing this strange sight but taking a peek, she couldn't help but raise her brows. Ron had been reading a story about Barty Crouch's disappearance. Well, to the rest of the Wizarding Society, it seemed that Barty Crouch had enough of the Ministry and decided to quit his job without another word and live the rest of his life carefree as a newly divorced man.

But to Ila…they still hadn't found him? Perhaps the same people who attacked Ila and her friends kidnapped Barty Crouch, but…they didn't see anyone else's footprints on the Map.

She looked over to Dumbledore's empty chair. He probably had a meeting with the Aurors about what happened. She wondered if he would mention the whole Voldemort coming back and this attack potentially being his doing.

"I could just use my cloak," Ila said. "The only thing I have to make sure is that no one's around the statue both when I leave and come back."

"But what about when you're in Hogsmeade? How are you going to get to Knockturn Alley?" Hermione asked.

"There's bound to be a fireplace. We can try the Three Broomsticks."

"And have Madame Rosmerta find you?" Hermione asked. "There's always…well, it's a bit more of a dodgy pub but maybe it will help with you going to Knockturn."

"Where is it?"

"It's called The Hog's Head. It's a bit further out than the Three Broomsticks. If you just keep walking straight, past all the shops. When everything gets a bit quiet, you'll see it. I mean, you can't really miss it. There's a massive pig's head that snorts and oinks every time someone enters and leaves."

"How do you know about this, if it's so dodgy?"

"Remember when you didn't go to Hogsmeade this year because of the First Task…well, I went with Ron, Dean and Seamus, Lavender and Parvati. Seamus found about it first and asked everyone if they wanted to see if and you know how boys are…" Hermione glanced at Ron who looked engrossed in his article. "Anyway, we ended up walking there. The boys dared each other to go but no one really wanted to go. Ron said he would in the end but I knew he wasn't going to do it alone, so I offered. Anyway, we went it…to be honest, I was pleasantly surprised."

"It was actually clean and hygienic?"

"No, the place was absolutely disgusting. There were so many rats. But the man who owned the place was actually quite sweet. He saw the two of us here and guessed that we were dared to go in before sitting us down for tea and biscuits. Well, they were more like the biscuits Hagrid would make. Anyway, I'm sure if you tell him that you know us, he'll let you use the fireplace. From what I remember, it did look pretty old."

"I doubt there's any other place that we can go to," Ila said. "You said it was past all the shops."

"Yep, in the quiet part of –"

Hermione was interrupted by a clang. The two girls, along with the rest of the hall, stopped their conversations and turned around to where the noise came from. Even Ron looked up from the newspaper, intrigued by what happened.

It was from the Slytherin table. A first-year Gryffindor bumped into Parkinson. All of the first year's food had spilt onto the floor. The first year's friends stood a bit away from their friends, terrified that if they made a move, they would be next.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Can't you see or something? Do your glasses not work?" Parkinson shouted before pulling the first year's glasses from his face. She held them in her hand, glancing through them before pulling a face. "Merlin you're blind."

"Please be careful," the first year squeaked.

In the other ear, Ila could hear something else. She glanced down at the table. With the rest of the hall's attention at the Slytherins, no one, apart from her, could see what the twins were up to. They were muttering things to each other, clearly angry at the treatment the first year was getting. They were waving their wands around, making sure it was in the right shape.

Whatever they were planning to do to Parkinson's wasn't going to her hurt her…so…she went back to what was going on in front of her.

"Aw? Did your parents work really hard for them? Did they spend long hours working hard just to save enough for your glasses?" Parkinson mocked.

"Y-yes…how did you know?"

Parkinson smiled, a smile that was only reserved for her victims. "You nearly ruined my uniform. It's a shame that your poor…or maybe not."

"Drop it, Parkinson," Draco said. It wasn't loud enough for most people to hear. Only for those who were looking for it. "You don't even have a drop of his food on your clothes."

"But I could've. That's the point…besides, someone has to teach him about valuables…you ever heard of an eye for an eye?" Parkinson asked, turning back to the First year.

He shook his head vigorously.

"It's not hard to understand," Parkinson said getting down to his level. It was at this point that Ila began to wonder, why were the teachers never here when the Slytherins were up to no good. "You ruin something of mine, I ruin something of yours. Since you're too poor to pay up for my uniform, I have to get the next best thing…" And with a snap that echoed throughout the hall, Parkinson handed the two now snapped glasses to the Gryffindor. At that point, Ila could see that the twins had enough. They waved their wands, this time more confidently, aiming it right at the group of Slytherins. The spell was practically invisible, but the effects, however, were not.

Parkinson was pushed back momentarily. She looked around before her eyes landed on the Gryffindor in front of her.

"Did you just fucking push me?"
The poor first year looked as though he was about to cry. He debated on whether or not to say it was him, even though it wasn't, just to stop everything.

But before the First-year could say a word, Parkinson doubled over, clutching her stomach before a howl erupted from her mouth.

"Are you ok Pansy?" Daphne said as she and the rest of Parkinson's friends rushed up to her. "What happened?"
"I feel like – I feel like…I think I going to throw - "

The rest of Parkinson's sentence dissolved into a mouthful of bile that erupted from her mouth onto Daphne.

The crowd broke into laughter at the sight. Parkinson once again threw up, this time hitting Millicent Bullstrode. Parkinson's lunch splattered on her uniform. The unfortunate thing, well for them at least, was that both Daphne and Millicent had a problem, where if they saw someone throw up, they two would start throwing up.

You could imagine how the rest of lunch turned out.

With a lack of Slytherins present, Grubbly Plank had thought it would be a good idea to strengthen inter-house solidarity by pairing up the remaining Slytherins with a bunch of Gryffindors. Now, on any other day, Ila would have been happy that she managed to get paired up with Ron.

But today wasn't any other day, was it?

"Malfoy can you tell Ila to hold down the Niffler cos I can't get draw properly with it moving everywhere?" Ron muttered.

"Er - " Draco struggled, glancing between the two wondering what had happened. Weren't they just hugging each other last lesson?

"Ron, I'm literally sitting right next to you," Ila said, 'accidentally' elbowing him while she went to grab the Niffler. She held onto its arms, picking it up and holding it in front of Ron. "I don't get why you have a problem with me."

"Who said I have a problem with you?" Ron muttered, staring at his drawing.

"You" – the Niffler kept wriggling in her arms. She sighed, taking a gold coin from her pocket and giving it the Niffler, keeping it calm momentarily. "You haven't talked to me for the whole day."

"That's because I'm making a point," he replied.

"What point are you making by giving me the silent treatment. Are you seriously still mad at me for that?"

Ron scoffed, and for the first time since he started his silent treatment, looked at Ila. "You're making it seem like I'm being irrational."

"Well yeah," Ila said, shaking the Niffler a bit too aggressively, causing it to drop its coin. The Niffler, using its stubbly little arms was trying to reach for it again but was unsuccessful. This time it was Draco who handed the coin back to the Niffler and watched the two friends, well at the moment, he wasn't sure if they were still friends, carefully. "You're being very irrational."

"Anyone who heard what you said would have the same reaction as me," Ron said angrily.

Ila sighed before turning to Draco. "Last night I went back to the Forest."

Draco froze momentarily, as a number of thoughts erupted in his head.

Ila went back to the Forest, the same Forest that she nearly died in.

Did she go in by herself?

Why did she go by herself?

I finally get why Ron was so mad at her, and no, it wasn't irrational.

How could she be so stupid to go back?

"Why?" was the only that he could come up with. He held the pencil far too tightly, but only realised when he was starting to get splinters from it.

"When the two of us split up from the rest of them, Hermione was telling me about some creature that nearly attacked them if it weren't for Ron. When they were telling me about what it was last night, it sounded too familiar."

"What was it?" Draco said. He had to admit that while he was still very angry at Ila for putting herself in danger like that, he was curious as to what had happened to the other group. Was it something to do with the Sisters?

"Well, remember that story about your dad in the Ministry," Ila said, glancing at Ron, who nodded slightly. "Well, Ron was telling me about how during the Wizarding War, his dad was in the ministry, fighting off these…undead people - "

"Inferi," Draco interjected. "They were like dead rotten bodies."

"Yeah," Ron said, slightly surprised that Draco knew. "How do you know that?"
Draco glanced left and right to make sure that Grubbly Plank was nowhere near them. Thankfully she was helping Neville overcome his fear of Nifflers with Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati, encouraging him to hold it.

"You Know Who was known to use Inferi in order to attack people. Apparently, he kept them in some dark cave because they don't like the light. He'd be able to control them and make them do whatever he wanted."

Ron and Ila shared a concerned look.

"What?" Draco asked, seeing the two like that. "What did you find in the Forest?"

"Hermoine, Lavender, Parvati and I went to the forest to find the creature and when we did…it was a dead body. It was like a dead body. Its flesh was rotting off, its bones were jutting out everywhere but…there were weird markings on the body like they ahd been carved in. It was like…it was the same markings as the Sisters."

The three fell into pregnant silence. Even the Niffler sensed that something was off with the three and stopped wriggling in Ila's arms. Ron had completely forgotten his anger with Ila and Malfoy. Draco had completely forgotten his anger with Ila.

It was real, Ila thought.

That box inside of her head, the box that she had tried too hard to be kept locked all those months ago. That box was made when she thought about all of her worse fears in that corridor. They had all come true. Voldemort was truly back. And he was going to deal with Ila. She was going to be dead or alive, but either way, she still had to face him. Clearly defeating him as baby left him pissed off.

So pissed off that he wanted to kill her no matter where she was.

Was that him, the night of the attack? The weird, hooded figure. It oculd have been lying when it said that it wasn't Him.

"Have you told Dumbledore about this?" Ron asked, his voice shaky.

Ila shook her head. "Last time I did, all he said was that he was going to talk to the Aurors. But he couldn't tell them the whole thing. He said that he couldn't trust a lot of people in the Ministry. Not yet anyway."

"So, what now?" Ron said.

"We forget about it," Draco said sternly. The two looked at him in disbelief.

"What do you mean forget about it? WE nearly died for merlin's sake, you can't tell to forget about nearly - "

"What use is there if we don't forget about it," Draco asked Ron. "How are we going to move on if we keep coming back to that. We'll be scared shitless if we keep thinking about that. We won't be to leave our rooms in fear that You Know Who will catch us. Ila and I will go to Knockturn Alley but after that we won't do anything else. You have the Third Task to worry about anyway." Ila glanced up at him, surprised to see him have the same response as her.

"But what about after?" Ron said. "We have to at least tell someone about this."

"After the Third Task then," Ila replied. "All of us will go to Dumbledore and tell him about what happened."

Though Ron wasn't satisfied, he wasn't in the mood to argue two against one. At that point, Ila could hear the faint ringing of the bell, signalling the end of the lesson once more.

"Alright class, I want you to finish up your drawings for homework. Make sure to bring some wellies next lesson. We'll be going to the Lake. You may go now," Professor Grubbly Plank said ever so cheerfully.

AN: Sorry for the long wait. Exams are coming up again - these are the main ones. But the good news is that there's not that much left to go now. I know I said a hundred chapters ago that I'll be nearly done, but this time I will be nearly done. As I mentioned before, I plan to continue the story up until their final year. I'm debating if I should make a post-Hogwarts story but...that's a future me problem. I hope you guys are enjoying the story. Leave a review. It helps to know what people like and don't like.

And might motivate me to write a bit quicker...