Author's Note: Happy New Year. I can still say that, dammit. It's only early February... In a slightly related note, December and January can go straight to the tenth circle of hell. Yes, I know there are only nine. They deserve one all their own.

CHAPTER TWELVE

The Zeref and her Redfox

"Three, two, one. Draw!"

Bright red and crackling, a blast tore past Juvia and the other students and landed square on the chest of one of the Slytherin fifth years, the massive boy flying backwards and landing with a heavy thud after a few yards. The boy stayed sprawled out on the platform, a low groan the only sign that he was still conscious.

"Very good, Mister Redfox," Professor Jose said as he approached the red-eyed boy on the other end of the platform. He smiled. Like the puppeteer pleased that his favorite marionette was behaving exactly as he commanded.

"Giihii!" Gajeel laughed. "Thanks, Professor."

"Now, a few observations that'll improve your accuracy," the professor continued. The puppeteer and his marionette chatted low between themselves while Gajeel's latest unfortunate victim moaned as he struggled to get back on his feet.

Juvia watched the professor and his student with her now normal detached interest, the boy hanging intently on every comment the pointed professor made. Beside her, the other students that comprised the Phantom Lords shifted nervously as they whispered amongst themselves, their fear palpable as they glanced between Gajeel and the boy he had sent flying, each terrified at the prospect of being Gajeel's next opponent.

For Juvia's part, she wasn't sure how she was supposed to feel. She tried to imagine how she would have felt last year. Would she have been afraid like the others? That seemed unlikely. She could not recall ever being afraid of Gajeel before. Perhaps she'd be angry? Worried? Proud? She heaved a sigh. She couldn't remember, and it tired her to think of it.

Most things tired her nowadays. Tristan had been right. The pain had lessened over time. Two months had passed since she gutted her heart to quell her storms, and she no longer felt the ache from that butchered organ. It no longer called and reached out for her missing pieces. It no longer hurt. She no longer hurt. She only felt the exhaustion now. The cold. She only heard the patter of rain where her heart beat should have been.

Gajeel had been worried those first few weeks. He had dragged her to Madame Porlyusica multiple times, but as Juvia wasn't ill or injured, the dour woman had been quick to chase the pair away. When the last visit had ended with multiple swats of a broom over Gajeel's head and even one over Juvia's head for good measure, Gajeel had given up taking her to the Infirmary. Eventually, Gajeel just seemed to accept this was his friend now. His quiet, detached little friend.

Professor Jose's dueling lessons had done a great deal to distract him. In dueling, Gajeel found his calling. He was a natural and enthusiastic combatant. He backed away from no challenge and instigated more than his fair share of fights, earning him a near permanent place in detention.

Whispers, for once not directed at her or about her, began to swirl about the school. Whispers of the newest Redfox, ready to follow in the footsteps of his infamous father. She knew those whispers. She knew the fear they carried with them. She had heard them often in her time on Inis Stoirm. But unlike her, Gajeel didn't seem to mind. Fear he preferred over hate. Fear was useful. If he couldn't be liked, fear would do just fine. It kept many other students from approaching them, not that many were inclined to do so before. It also kept many from harassing Juvia, too terrified to afraid to bring down the boy's wrath on them. The protection it afforded Juvia brought the boy a great deal of relief.

It also brought agitation to many of their fellow Phantom Lords when Professor Jose called her up next. "Miss Lockser, your turn."

Gajeel hopped down from the platform beside her before helping her to climb onto it, the platform too tall for her to manage on her own very easily. As she straightened herself and pulled her wand from her robes, she wondered how she would have felt before, standing before all the other students, waiting for a fight she wasn't likely to win. Worried? Scared? Scared was a normal reaction to such a situation, wasn't it? Yes, scared. That sounded right. Not that she could clearly remember how being scared felt at the moment.

"Alright, Mister Clay, you'll be opposing," Professor Jose called out.

The dark-skinned third year, Boze Clay, recoiled. "I concede."

"You can't concede," the professor snapped. "Get up here."

"I hit her, Redfox tears off my head," the boy protested, casting an uneasy glance at Gajeel.

"I am losing my patience, Mister Clay." The pointed professor narrowed his eyes on the stalling student. The boy seemed to go through some great internal debate about who frightened him more, eyes darting between the scowling professor and the red-eyed student who stood smiling with a full set of teeth on display. Fear of the professor apparently won out, and he scrambled up onto the platform, a muttered set of prayers just audible from his group of friends below. Professor Jose rolled his eyes. "Good. Now then, Miss Lockser. I want you to try to summon a shield charm. Do you remember how to cast it?" She nodded. "Good. Mister Clay, you'll be attempting to disarm Miss Lockser." The boy flinched but nodded all the same. "Good. Now, turn. Walk. Three, two one. Draw!"

There were things you learned being the arguably only friend of a dueler, if one ignored the temperamental Kneazle he'd managed to reach some sort of truce with. Chief among them was how to duel yourself. The next few moves were as natural as breathing to her by now. She spun on her heel and raised her wand. "Protego." The spell crackled to life, a shield spreading from the point of her wand, rippling like water around her. A breath later, however, it collapsed, just as Clay's disarm spell hurtled towards her. Unimpeded, it struck her hand and sent her wand spiraling behind her. Pain coursed from the point of impact, drawing a sharp hiss from her involuntarily.

"Shit! Sorry! Sorry!" the boy frantically apologized, though not to her. Juvia glanced back at Gajeel whose predatory smile had given way to a scowl and narrowed stare at the cowering boy.

"Gajeel," she called out softly. Red eyes flicked over to her, the scowl still set on his face. "Can you find Juvia's wand?" He gave her a short nod in response and turned to search for the wand, students practically falling over one another trying to get out of his way. Clay mouthed a wordless Thank you to her. She merely nodded at him in response.

"Good execution and aim, Mister Clay, but you're too slow on the cast," Professor Jose said as he approached her and Clay, standing between them. "Miss Lockser, your reaction time is good, but your spell lacks focus." The professor didn't seem upset or disappointed by her failure. He merely smiled. The puppeteer and his obedient marionette, dancing just as he wanted. "Study the spell further."

"Yes, sir," she said quietly before turning and heading for the side of the platform where Gajeel waited. She sat down by the edge and waited for Gajeel to lift her off of it. He set her down next to him and then handed the wand back to her.

"Don't worry, Raindrop. I'll help ya sort it out," Gajeel said to her, a heavy hand placed on her head, a gesture that always had the unique Gajeel trait of being both irritating and comforting all in the same breath. "Good job on the draw, though. Practicin's been helping'." She nodded. "Didya see how quickly Ward crumpled?" The boy grinned as he turned his focus back onto the platform where two new combatants had been called forward. She merely nodded again, not that he saw it, his eyes trained on the figures climbing up, his thoughts still on the fight he'd just finished and all the fights still to come. "Giihii! Can't wait for Jose to have us try out the stunning spell. Gonna use it on Dragneel a few dozen times. See if it improves the idoit's brain any. Probably not, but it'll be fun tryin'." The boy went on while Juvia just continued to nod. The words he said reduced to a hollow din, lost to the rain that only she could hear.

Drip, drip, drop.

She closed her eyes, exhaustion setting in once more.

Drip, drip, drop.

"No, Natsu!" Erza snapped.

"Oh, come on! Redfox gets to!" the pink-haired boy protested.

"That's because Professor Jose's allowing him to duel. Not you," the scarlet-haired witch replied, folding her arms over her chest with a scowl.

"That's not fair," the boy pouted. "I'm going down there and fighting him." Gray didn't even blink when Natsu started to climb onto the window sill, apparently intent on jumping down from the open window to the courtyard three stories below. This would normally have been the point where Gray would have helped the idiot along with a well-placed kick in the ass.

Unfortunately for both of them, or perhaps fortunately and unfortunately for Natsu, Erza was far faster. Long before Natsu could jump or Gray could help him on his way, Erza dragged the boy away from the window via a vice like grip on the boy's ear. She dragged him over to one of the library tables, Natsu yelping all the while. After pulling back a chair and shoving the pink-haired boy into it, she pointed to the Potions textbook on the desk. "Read."

Grumbling and rubbing his poor assaulted ear, Natsu turned to his books while Gray returned his focus to the courtyard below where Redfox was currently instructing Juvia on how to summon a shield charm. The pair had been at it for nearly twenty minutes and progress, from what Gray could see, had been slow. He frowned as he watched them. It wasn't like her. She wasn't like her. There was no enthusiasm in her movements. She almost seemed like a mechanical toy, executing motions that she had been crafted to perform. It didn't match the girl from last year. Even at her most timid last year, she still had a child-like fascination with magic, approaching every class he had with her with a wonder that never failed to leave her smiling. But not this year. He hadn't seen her smile. Not once. Every class he had with her, she merely sat quiet, disinterested.

Gray winced as the mechanical girl's shield collapsed right as Redfox's spell raced towards her. The Slytherin boy's spell passed harmlessly over her left shoulder. The girl never reacted even as it whizzed by her, though she must have felt it as it passed by. Heard it crackle in her ears. But nothing. His frown deepened as did the knot that twisted in his stomach.

"He's rather terrifying, isn't he?" Lucy said quietly as she stood beside him, her focus not on the small blunette but the towering boy that now circled around his small companion while studying the other's form.

"I can totally take him!" Natsu chimed in from the desk that Erza had banished him to.

"Back to your classwork, Natsu," the scarlet witch said with a glare at the boy that quickly silenced any further boasting from the boy.

"Heard a couple of the Phantom Lords talking about him," Loke said as he watched the pair below as well. "They say he's an absolute monster in a duel."

"What do you expect? He's a Redfox," Lucy muttered. "What's Professor Jose even doing teaching dueling to second years?"

"Professor Gildarts when over the Disarming Charm just last week," Levy reminded her as she sat at the same table that Natsu had been exiled to, though her presence there was not enforced by the scarlet-haired fury that still hovered over Natsu. The Ravenclaw blunette had little interest in the activities of either the Redfox or the Ameonna, as most the school had now christened her after a class last year had encountered a story of a rain spirit of the same name. She was perfectly content merely listening to the conversation while surrounded by her various opened texts, safe among her kingdom of words and knowledge.

"Well, at least Professor Gildarts isn't hosting fight clubs," Lucy grumbled, arms folded over her chest. "Don't you think it's odd that Professor Jose only invited Slytherins and a few Ravenclaws into the Phantom Lords? No Hufflepuffs. No Gryffindors. I mean, he invited Lockser into the Phantom Lords. Don't you think that's suspicious?"

"Why would that be suspicious? Juvia was one of the best students in the Defense class last year!" Gray snapped, not bothering to hide his irritation with the direction the conversation was going. It was a direction more than a few conversations had gone before.

Every generation that passed through Hogwarts looked with troubled eyes at their fellow students, wondering if the next Zeref studied amongst them. It was a given that there would be a next one, just as there had been one every thirty years or so for the last four hundred years.

He had already heard more than he wanted about the would-be Zeref lurking in their midsts.

It was bad enough when Dreyar was sorted into Slytherin. Nearly the entire school had been quick to pass judgment on him. Gray himself had little love for Dreyar, pompous ass that he was, but it seemed unfair to condemn another person as their generation's incarnation of an evil wizard simply because a hat put him in a House.

Even more ridiculous than the condemnation of Dreyar were those that believed it wasn't Dreyar but Erza who would assume the mantle of Zeref. Irene Belserion had been the most formidable of the last Zeref's generals. There had even been rumors that she herself had been the Zeref, a rumor supported by the fact that the war drew to a rapid conclusion after the death of the Scarlet Despair. There was some that looked to Erza, skilled in magic, commanding in presence, as the natural successor to her mother's role. Even her sorting into Gryffindor hadn't dissuaded everyone from their belief that the Scarlet Despair was to be reborn in the form of her daughter. As terrifying as Erza could be, Gray couldn't regard the possibility without utter contempt.

And then there was the problem of the Redfox.

Every Zeref had a Redfox. It was a universal truth, like the sun rising in the east or Natsu flunking potions. Though there were still Redfox cousins lurking about, everyone's focus was on Gajeel Redfox. Son of the last Zeref general, grandnephew of the one before that, the entire school seemed to wait to see who he'd latch on to. Except he didn't speak to Dreyar and he never looked twice at Erza. The only other student he'd associate with was Juvia.

No one seemed to think much about it at first. She was just the Ameonna. An oddity in her own right. A Muggle-born. A nameless orphan with no family.

This term, however, she changed. She was colder. More reserved. The whispers began to grow.

"Erza was a far better student," Lucy replied, "and Jose didn't invite her."

"Maybe Jose's afraid of Erza," Loke offered. "Can't say I blame him." The orange-haired boy yelped as Erza grabbed him by the ear, just as she had with Natsu, dragging him over to the library table.

"Sit. Study," Erza ordered. "Precht's test is in a couple of days, and you and Natsu have a lot to work on."

"It's just very odd that he invited Lockser but not Erza," Lucy pressed on, clearly determined not to be distracted by Loke's exile to the table.

Gray only had time to scowl before Cana turned to him. "Wasn't your brother in the Phantom Lords, Gray?"

"Cousin," he snapped back, the response almost a reflex.

"Adopted brother," Cana insisted.

"Reluctantly adopted relation," he replied, his arms folded over his chest as he glared at the brunette, unwilling to call the elder boy anything as close as a brother. Silver had adopted the boy after the matron of St. Rowena's, Ur Milkovich, died in the attack on the orphanage. Lyon and Gray had been two of the first left in Ur's care, the last Zeref emerging the Scottish Highlands and she had taken the pair as apprentices while they waited for news of their parents and the war. When the smoke cleared, Ur was gone. As was Gray's mother and both of Lyon's parents. How the older boy ended up in Silver's care was still a mystery to Gray, but the hell he was acknowledging him as a brother. Pompous git. "He was only in the Phantom Lords for a few months start of last year. Just long enough to pick up a few jinxes he used on me that winter break."

"Why only a few months?" Lucy asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the pair outside to turn to him.

"Dad convinced him to quit when he found out it was Jose leading it. He doesn't like Jose."

The shock on Cana's face was, he knew, exaggerated but not altogether insincere. "Silver doesn't like Jose? Silver likes everyone! He even likes Loke!"

"Hey!" The oft maligned boy barked from his exiled table. "I'll have you know. I resemble that remark."

Gray ignored him. "Apparently Jose was always running around trying to impress Redfox and his cronies when he and Dad were at Hogwarts together. Left a bad impression. And when everything happened at Raven's Hollow, it only go worse."

He saw Lucy tense out of the corner of his eye. He shot her a sympathetic glance at the girl. All of them, save Erza, had suffered through the assault on St. Rowena's and the village that sheltered it, but for Lucy, the wound was far fresher. Her mother had survived, unlike his own, but Layla Heartfilia never returned to health and over the most recent summer break, her body had finally given in.

"I didn't think Professor Jose was at Raven's Hollow," Erza said with a frown.

"He wasn't, but he was supposed to have been, according to Dad," he replied. "Dad believes that Jose knew the Redfoxes were going to assault the village and stayed at Hogwarts to be spared the slaughter."

"That's absurd!" snapped Erza, her voice ringing through the library, earning their group a withering glare from the librarian. The scarlet haired witch, flushing nearly as red as the hair on her head. She lowered her voice. "Professor Makarov would never keep Professor Jose if that were true."

His eyes rolled before his brain had sense enough to warn him that it would very likely shorten his lifespan if the red-haired witch noticed. Fortunately, Natsu has chosen the moment to try to sneak away from the table, drawing Erza's attention and ire. In spite of her temper and rather violent nature, Erza was probably the most sensible of their little group, but she had a blind spot a mile wide when it came to Makarov. He was fond of Makarov. All the St. Rowena's kids were. But Erza's belief in the man was absolute. His actions were not to be questioned. His judgment was not to be doubted.

"You have to admit the man's a little odd, Erza," Cana said. Erza's focus shifted from Natsu to Cana, and the brunette flinched, but she pressed on anyways. "He's not the first choice I'd make for taking care of kids."

"Yeah, makes you feel kinda sorry for Lockser," Loke added. "Can't be fun having to follow him around Diagon Alley."

"Or Knockturn Aleey," Mirajane said from where she sat next to Levy. A half-dozen eyes turned towards her, all silently asking the same question. "I saw Professor Jose taking her down Knockturn Alley before term started."

"Mira, is there anything anyone does that you don't somehow see or hear about?" Loke asked. The white haired girl merely smiled sweetly in response.

"What do you think they were doing at Knockturn Alley?" Lucy asked, her undivided attention now completely on the topic at hand, Gray noticed with a frown. The girl, since her mother's death, had become obsessive about certain topics, and the little blunette had been one of them.

"Think he was trying to sell her?" Natsu piped up.

"She's still here, dumbass," Loke replied.

"Well, I did say try."

"I'm sure whatever they were doing at Knockturn Alley, it was done with the approval of Hogwarts and Professor Makarov," Erza snapped, though she did seem a little less certain than her words conveyed.

"Professor Jose's investing a great deal of interest in her. So's Redfox," Levy said, her voice quiet against her more boisterous friends, but still Gray heard her. His fist clenched, knowing well what was coming next. "What if she's to be the next Zeref?"

There it was. The newest whisper echoing the halls had finally made it way to his group.

"That's nonsense!" he snapped, his eyes narrowed on the slight Ravenclaw girl who quickly sank down in her seat as though using the stacks of books around to shield her.

Fortunately for Levy, a loud crack from the courtyard below pulled Gray's attention away from the diminutive blunette and back down to the pair outside where Juvia's shield had apparently managed to repel Redfox's strike. The Redfox boy laughed and cheered, but the girl betrayed nothing. No joy, no pride, no relief. She only nodded when Redfox called out some instructions. The pair turned, their backs to each other, before taking five spaces in opposite directions. On the fifth step, the pair spun and drew their wands, Juvia summoned her shield charm as she turned, the spell rippled like water around her and held. Redfox, after what seemed to be a generous pause for the girl's benefit, let loose another spell at Juvia. The red bolt shattered an impact against the shield, fizzling away into the air around her. The Redfox boy crowed victory, throwing an arm over her shoulder and ruffling her hair. The girl, however, still wouldn't react. Just the same distant expression. Empty. Hollow.

"Doesn't seem like nonsense to me," Lucy said as she stepped next to him, watching the pair below. "She's powerful, a Slytherin, already has a Redfox by her side ready to fight for her, and he's even training her how to fight herself."

"He's teaching her how to summon a shield charm, Lucy," Gray growled. "That's not exactly the Dark Arts."

"Has to start somewhere," she replied with a shrug. "I doubt even the real Zeref started off learning killing curses."

"She's not like that! She's just a little shy. A little quiet. That's all."

"She may have been last year, Gray, but even you have to admit that she's changed a lot this year," Cana said. "I had Herbology with her last year and, outside of being a little quiet, she was practically bouncing off walls during class. Now, though, it's like she doesn't even hear what's going on half the time."

Gray didn't answer, having noticed the same in the few classes they shared this year, but the idea that the same girl he met in Ollivander's could be anything like the people who murdered his mother... It wasn't possible. For them, it was, but they didn't know her. They only knew her as the little rain witch, the Ameonna - more myth than person. He knew her as a lonely, scared orphan, just hoping to fit in. Hoping for a place to belong. She just needed to find it. As he watched Redfox, beaming like a proud brother with his arm around her shoulder, he supposed she might have already done so.

Few things comforted Juvia like Potions. Most of Juvia's other classes were a mess. Whatever progress she had made towards the end of last year with Gajeel's help had largely seemed to disappear. Spells that she had conquered last year, she couldn't cast consistently now. Most of the time, nothing would happen with each cast. Sometimes, however, they'd take a mind of their own, resulting in small fires, discolored furniture or broken windows. She spent hours each day with Gajeel - provided he wasn't in detention for something, which was becoming an increasingly rare occurrence - relearning spells to get them to behave as she wanted.

Potions, however, didn't change. The potions she made didn't care what was in her heart or her head. As long as she measured the same ingredients, as long as she followed the same steps, she'd get the same potion. There was relief in that, that something was still the same about her. That she was still the same in some way.

The pain hadn't reemerged, and the exhaustion had grown bearable. She even started to feel dull flashes of emotions once again, distant echoes of what they had been before, but still, it was something. A smoldering flame of anger, a distant pang of grief, even the smallest flicker of joy. And yet, lately, there was on rare occasion a flash, bright and blinding, that untempered by any other emotion took full control of all her senses. A burst of anger that would leave her near trembling with rage. Or a flood of grief that had her sobbing uncontrollably, which if she weren't so distraught would have probably coaxed a laugh from her at how panicked Gajeel became when the floodgates opened. She couldn't keep balanced. She ever knew quite who'd she be one moment to the next.

But potions - potions were consistent. Potions would always be the same.

Her latest concoction bubbled gently away on the desk, the green hue just as it was supposed to be. Next to her, Gajeel cursed as his cauldron started to overflow. "Add a pinch of banyan root," she told him. He started to search his reagents in a panic. She pushed the necessary bottle towards him. He hurriedly pulled out the instructed pinch and heaved a sigh of relief as the potion receded back to the confines of the cauldron.

"Thanks, Raindrop."

She merely nodded in response.

The remainder of the class passed in relative silence. Potions that year tended to be a much quieter affair, which Juvia attributed to sharing the class with the Ravenclaws rather than the Gryffindors. The class lacked its daily dose of Dragneel. Gajeel had professed relief at that at first, but Juvia suspected he rather missed the chaos.

A bell sounded to announce the end of class, the students all rising as one and gathering up all their books and supplies. Juvia followed their lead, carefully stowing away her cauldron and reagents, but she didn't follow them out the chamber. After a silent wave to Gajeel before he joined the exodus shuffling out the room, she approached the professor at his desk and waited while the professor continued with his marking. She said nothing to hurry him, and he gave no indication that he would be hurried by her presence even if she had said anything. They just remained in absolute silence until the professor laid the quill back onto his desk a few minutes later.

"Now then, Miss Lockser, let's see how you fared this week," the professor said, finally turning his attention to her. She fished a vial from the little apothecary satchel Precht had lent to her and handed the dark green liquid over to him. He examined the vial, twirling its contents about before reaching into his desk and retrieving from it a small carriage clock, its glass face shattered as though someone had taken a hammer to it. He laid it on the desk, shattered face up, removed the cap from the vial and poured its contents over the clock. The potion hissed as it hit the clock, a faint crinkling heard above the noise. When the liquid dissipated, the shattered face had knitted back together, but the evidence of its previous state remained, a great spider web crack visible below the surface of the glass.

"A good attempt, but not quite. What went wrong?" Professor Precht asked.

He knew the answer. He always did, but he never supplied it to her. She didn't mind the endless quizzes. He trusted her to find the answer in her own time, and there was sometimes the faintest flicker of pride at that.

Juvia thought on the last week, thought of each moment of the potion's progress. "It looked off when she added the ground devil's snare seeds. The potion didn't thicken as it seemed to in the text. She thinks that the reagent may have been too old."

"Let's see your reagent," he said. She dutifully pulled the small amber bottle from her satchel and handed it over. He poured a few of the seeds into his palm and rolled them between his fingers, nodding. "Fetch the third bottle from the right on the shelf, would you, Miss Lockser?" he asked, gesturing to one of his various reagent shelves. She returned back with the aforementioned bottle, from which he poured out some of the contents onto the desk, the large round seeds rolling out towards her. "Take one of these and roll it between your fingers. Feel how it resists any pressure you place on it?" She nodded. "Now try the same with one of yours."

Juvia picked up one of the seeds from her vial and executed the same test on it, feeling it crack beneath even the slight pressure she placed on it. She imagined if she so much as pressed a little harder on it, it would crumble to dust, immediately. "It's far more brittle," she said.

He nodded. "The seed has started to rot and has lost its structure. Grinding seeds from a devil's snare should always be a trial. If you find it reduces to a powder easily, chances are your reagent is well past its intended shelf life." He handed the amber bottle back to her. "Take this to Professor Warrod. Ask him to replace its contents. He had a few blooms last week, so it shouldn't be an issue. Then try again and we'll see how you fair next Thursday."

"Yes, sir," she replied as she returned the bottle to her pack. "Thank you, sir." She turned to leave but paused when Professor Precht called out.

"One more thing, Miss Lockser."

A faint flicker. Worry? Yes, worry. Juvia had earned a number of names in her couple of years at Hogwarts - Minerva's favorite, mudblood, and Ameonna, the favorite of the rest of the school. Her latest, however, was "Precht's Pet", a tribute to the interest that the Potions Professor showed the girl. However, in spite of the name, Precht's actual interest only extended to Juvia's study of potions. She knew very well that it was the teaching that Professor Precht was interested in, not her. He wasn't like Professor Makarov who would sometimes sit with her for an hour after lessons to talk about whatever topic he or she wanted to discuss. Professor Precht would just tell her what he needed to and then she was just another student for another week. He didn't talk to her otherwise. Talking to her now could not be good.

She turned slowly back to him as he remained at his desk, his hands folded together before him, looking as somber as ever.

"I've had some concerns raised to me by a couple of your professors." The flicker of worry tried to catch, but it struggled to grow beneath the pounding rain. "Professor Gildarts and Professor Belno are particularly concerned. They say that you're struggling with even the most basic of spells. Belno tells me that Dragneel is progressing better than you, and I will remind you that it took three weeks to undo the damage he did during his Transfiguration final last year. Is there an issue that I need to know about, Miss Lockser?"

"No, sir," she replied, the worry smoldering before dying out completely.

The professor seemed unconvinced. "Oddly enough, Professor Jose has not expressed the same concern, though I'm willing to wager you're experiencing similar issues in Defense Against the Dark Arts." He paused, but as no question was posed, she merely stood quietly before him. The old professor frowned, his brow furrowed as he studied her. "Tell me, Miss Lockser, what sort of spells is Professor Jose teaching you? Outside of class?"

"Dueling spells, sir. Shield charm, disarm spell, stunning spell," she replied.

"Nothing else?"

"No, sir."

"Nothing he's taught you only?"

"No, sir."

His frown deepened. Just as he had that day in Knockturn Alley, he seemed to be studying her to determine if she was telling him the truth, but she betrayed nothing, even if there had been anything to betray. He heaved a sigh. "I'll remind you, Miss Lockser, that you are on scholarship. While Makarov is not going to send you away willingly, the school governors are far less altruistic. Do not give them a reason. They'll happily take it."

"Yes, sir. Juvia will try harder." He waved his hand to dismiss her and obediently, she turned and headed for the door, trying to summon back that flicker of worry. Trying to summon anything at all, but all was drowned out beneath the rain pattering in her heart.

Drip, drip, drop.

"O goes before R, Mister Dragneel," Professor Precht's droll voice drew Gray out from his muttered string of curses he planned to try on the pink-haired idiot later. The Gryffindor boy glanced over at his sometimes-friend-sometimes-enemy-always-idiot, looking up from the stack of books he had been sorting.

Natsu looked back at Precht incredulously. "No, it's not," he protested before immediately launching into a recitation of the alphabet.

"It goes before R, Natsu," Gray snapped.

"Shut up, snowflake," the boy snapped back before returning to his recitation. "M, N, O... Oh, huh, it does come before R. And Q."

Gray groaned. "Can I kill him and finish this on my own?"

"Tempting Mister Fullbuster, but Makarov frowns on capital punishment," replied the professor, not looking up from the opened book before him. "Besides, this is meant to be a punishment for you as well."

Punishment. Right. Bit extreme of a punishment if you asked him. All he did was give flame-brain a little shove after the idiot knocked over the contents of his cauldron. Wasn't his fault the idiot went careening back into Precht's bookcase, toppling its contents on to the floor. And so began an hour long stint in detention setting Precht's library right, made all the longer by the pressing need to take another swing at Natsu to retaliate for one taken at him.

"This has to be just as painful for you as it is for me," Gray continued.

"Suffering is a given part of the teaching process, Mister Fullbuster. Now hurry up or you'll be here past dinner."

Scowling, the boy returned to his task, returning the well-worn volumes back to their proper places. An half hour and a few mishaps later, the dungeon door groaned to announce the arrival of a new inmate. Gray shifted his gaze from the book he was holding to watch as Juvia entered, the slight blunette girl not even bothering to glance about as she hurried towards the professor's desk.

"Hey, Blue!" Natsu called out cheerfully. "What are you in for?" The Slytherin neither responded or acknowledged that she had heard anything at all. Precht answered for her.

"Miss Lockser is not here to serve out detention, Mister Dragneel. She's here because she values her education. A novel idea that you might want to consider at some point. For now, mind your own task." Natsu, grumbling, went back to the books in front of him, but Gray remained watching the blunette girl, a book forgotten in his hands. "Now, then, no mishaps this week?"

"No, sir. The infirmary was much quieter than the greenhouse."

"Did Madame Porlyusica give you any grief?"

"She did say that Juvia was underfoot too much," the girl replied, her voice hardly a whisper. It was the most he heard Juvia speak all year.

"That doesn't mean much. Had she meant it, she would have emphasized the point with a broom over your head. Warrod's far more accommodating in letting students use the greenhouse but he does have a tendency to foster a chaotic environment. Not very conducive for carefully crafting potions. I think you'll be better off keeping to the infirmary going forward. Now, let's see how you've done." Gray tried to follow from his spot while Precht pulled something from the confines of his desk. He poured a vial handed to him by Juvia on the item, a hissing sound emanating from the spot. The professor nodded approvingly as the hissing subsided. "Not a mark left on it. Well done, Miss Lockser. I have students prepping for O.W.L.s that have more difficulties with this potion than you did."

She smiled.

At least he thought she did.

He couldn't quite see her profile, but he swore he saw the corners of her mouth twitch ever so slightly upwards. It may have just been wishful thinking, however. He hadn't seen her smile once since the start of term. Granted, he only had a couple of classes with her this year and smiling in History of Magic was a sign of insanity or a cry for help, but it was still a far departure from the girl who practically skipped her way to Potions each day last year.

"Let's see what to have you try next." He flipped through the text before him but quickly shook his head. He glanced at his half-assembled library and then turned his one-eyed gaze on Gray. Gray involuntarily gulped and recoiled back when he became the focus of the man's interest. "Mister Fullbuster, bring that book here."

Gray looked down at his hands, surprised that he was still holding the book. He scrambled to his feet and approached the desk, his eyes on the blunette standing in front of it. However, no matter how close he got, she always seemed to be turned away from him. When he stood next to her at the desk, her gaze was on the wall to the right of them. He frowned, leaning forward to try to catch her eye, but she only turned further away. Across from him, Precht snapped his fingers to draw his attention back. "Errr... sorry, Professor," he said, handing over the small leather bound volume. Precht thanked him with a wave to shoo him away again. With one last glance to Juvia, her interest still firmly fastened on the wall, he returned to the back of the room and the half-filled bookcase. When he looked back to the front of the room, Juvia's focus was back on Precht. Frowning, he watched as Precht flipped through the book and then pushed it towards the girl.

"We'll try this one next," he said. "It'll be a difficult one. It takes three weeks to brew and timing is key. I trust you'll be here over the break?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. With the school empty for the break, the infirmary should be fairly quiet. I've no doubt Madame Porlyusica will still be irritated, but she'll let you have use of the infirmary to brew it. Off with you."

The girl nodded and quickly left the room without looking back to anyone in the room.

"Oi! Ice princess, hurry up! I'm nearly done here," Natsu crowed.

Gray glared at the boy and then glanced back at the bookcase behind him, most of the books sorted. "J comes before K, Natsu."

The pink-haired boy blinked and turned to the books behind. "H, I, J... Dammit!"

A half hour later, the pair had reassembled the bookcases and had earned their freedom from Precht who was as happy to see them go as they were to leave. Gray groaned as he tugged at the tie around his neck, his body aching from being hunched over the books for so long.

"Start stripping again, droopy eyes, and I'm telling Erza."

"Shut it. I'm not stripping. I'm just taking this damn tie off. It's strangling me. Keeps getting twisted up with my necklace."

"Then take the necklace off."

Gray grumbled and ignored the boy as he pulled the tie off, adjusting the sword cross necklace around his neck while Natsu prattled on, complaining about one thing after another as they headed up to the Great Hall. He was only half-listening to the other Gryffindor. "...nearly Christmas and it hasn't snowed once..."

Natsu's voice drowned completely away as they rounded the corner. Further down the hall, Juvia stood, staring out a window. With a half-hour head start, she should have been well into her dinner. But instead, she stayed staring out at the sunset as it cast its warm orange glow over the school. It wasn't like that day outside Ollivander's where a litany of emotions seemed to parade across her face while she looked to the sky. Now, she just seemed... empty. Stoic. As though she had been turned into a statue, eyes forever on a sun she had been denied for most her years.

"Wait! There's Blue! She can fix the snow." Natsu's voice pulled him out of his thoughts, the words little more than a blur of sound until he worked out their meaning.

Wait.

What?

Shit!

"Natsu, don't!" Gray hissed, but it was too late. The boy bounded up to the blunette with all the eagerness and tact of a golden retriever.

"Hey, Blue!" he called out cheerfully. The statue turned towards him, her dark blue eyes reflecting nothing. No surprise. No irritation. Nothing. "Can you make it snow? I want a rematch against Red - urk!" Whatever else the Gryffindor might have said was cut off as Gray throttled the idiot with his scarf.

"Goddamnit, Natsu! Sorry about that, Juvia, he's an -," the words died on his lips as he looked up to see Juvia walking away. He watched her go a moment before his grip on the scarf went lax, and he turned his irritation to his housemate as the latter tried to break free of his hold. "Nice going, ass. You upset her."

"She was fine when I was talking to her. It was you who scared her off," Natsu snapped back.

Gray returned his gaze to the retreating figure, an odd feeling moiling about his stomach made worse by the thought that, for the first time in his brain dead life, maybe, just maybe, Natsu was right.