The door to his office closed and not a second later, his personal space was submerged in silence once more. The girl hadn't been loud or specially erratic, she reminded him more of a little feline, calm, cautious and quiet. Jumpy when younger, but still vicious when angered. At this point in life, though, it'd take him a near death experience to forget he wasn't alone in a room. Her magic signature wasn't specially invasive or loud the way Voldemort's or Dumbledore's or Moody's was for that matter. It took a special type of genius to control one's signature and they all mastered it perfectly. Hers was simply different, it still made it impossible to overlook.

The headmaster had taken the time to explain what the girl's situation entailed, when she had specifically asked for his medical guardianship of sorts. It was the first time the old man had ever shared a personal thought with him, and only a little more digging was enough to uncover the man's past.

Dumbledore made sure that night, he understood the severity of her ailment. Magical core maladies were rare but it did not need an expert to understand the severity of it, still he had been insistent enough to awaken his curiosity.

He told him little of how he knew what he knew, but he told him enough.

The girl's core was bigger than usual. It produced more magic and energy than what her body could retain. Taking into account that a witch's body was made to receive a certain level of energy throughout their life, always dependent on age and anatomy, it was very rare that a small child would be born with a core that produced extra energy.

This extra energy could be relieved the way a developing child would, with a bout of accidental magic in normal cases, Ms Morgenstern's case though, would result in an explosion of energy.

Which was gravely dangerous on it's own. Extra energy on a small body would be forced to fit in, which created a pressure effect that could end up unleashing too much magic, when the body would need it's relief. This could only be avoided by training said child to relieve the pressure before it was too much by practicing wandless magic.

One of the most complicated branches of magic. That time was long gone, when wizards and witches needed no use of wands, this problem could perhaps have been avoided. Alas the girl found a solution on her own.

As the headmaster explained, it was paramount for her to maintain a healthy balance between wandless magic and wand magic, although nourishment and overall physical care was important, a great imbalance would only occur due to lack of depressurizing.

How the girl managed to do so without raising attention for two years, only spoke of her character. He was even more surprised when Poppy gave him a mapping of her rune work, he wasn't an expert but he could see a million ways to catastrophe.

She had been thirteen years old when she created her own array of runes, based on an alphabet familiar to her. It wasn't just about creating a random few squiggles and deciding the meaning of each. No, it was a deep connection between symbol, magic and canvas. The symbols she chose needed to be infused by blood and magic at all times, until her own magic recognized the drawings she made and it's meanings. This alone required an impressive amount of meditation and control.

The canvas on the other hand needed it's own preparation, there were so few people in the world who dared place a single rune on their bodies. The canvas needed to be cleansed of all magical particles, and trained to accept the infused rune.

Of course the girl had knocked down most problematic incidents by creating her own symbols, infusing them with her own blood and signature; and finally drawing them herself. It wasn't impossible to do, of course, it was simply not of interest to most scholars. The study of runes was dedicated to understanding and learning what others left behind, even though it made its success rate dwindle to rarity. Those daring enough would be marked as untrained and amateurs, one of wizardry's academic traditions that made no sense.

Knowing all this he was still astonished to find the girl's way of maintaining balance. It was rather simple and effective yet it still surprised him. How could he ever think that she would choose to swim in the Black lake around vicious mermaids and a giant squid, when she jumped every time he moved too abruptly.

It had been a sight he rather believed he'd never witness again. If it wasn't for her swimwear he would have thought her another creature of the deep, her ease and languid movements made it an entrancing thing to watch, runes and eyes glowing brightly from a distance, she moved undisturbed by the dark as if her glowing eyes guided her underwater the same way the glowing sun did on land. She must have enhanced her sight, directing magic to her eyes, a feat only possible with her stabilizing paired with her direction runes. The girl had been smart enough to draw her stabilizing runes on her spine, this way she assured her runes maintain stability along her entire body, even if she directed magic to another part that wasn't her hands. He shuddered to think what would have happened if the girl did so without careful study, surely her eyes would have burst into blood and ocular remains.

He wasn't surprised the mere guard did not give chase, intelligent magical creatures had an uncanny ability to read magical signatures whether they were objects, animals or people, and hers was different no doubt.

The headmaster could only assert that her strangeness was linked to her unstable magical core, why though? His question had to be answered by his own efforts.

It wasn't the first time he tried to understand the man by looking into his past. He had countless research go cold at his home desk. But until Ms Morgenstern's predicament he hadn't given a single thought to the man's private life.

It was an understandable error, he had known the man since he was but a child, and since then he glimpsed no further life, than his academic and professional achievements.

Even when he defeated Grindelwald who threatened the entire world, there was no record of it. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that he had purposefully eliminated all records on himself. So finding out the man had a younger sister who died at an early age, and who had been practically isolated and shunned from society by her own family, only made it easier to understand the old man's hesitation, worry, interest and knowledge of everything regarding Ms Morgenstern.

Soon after he could see a sliver of the old man's guilt resurface anytime Ms Morgenstern's rune work was being discussed, until he locked it under his twinkling eyes and seemingly easy smiles.

He signed the letter, where he detailed Ms Morgenstern's little escapades and sent it to The Headmaster with an elf. No self respecting staff member would trust the floo network or the owlery at the moment. There was too much at stake and every minute that Hogwarts remained under The Order's control counted.

It was a few hours later when he was ready to call it a day and go to sleep, when he received a missive from the Headmaster.

He flooed directly into his office, the man was standing near the window behind his desk watching the school from his tower, he hadn't seen him in days, and stress was indeed showing.

"Severus, my boy, how have you been doing?" He asked genuinely.

"I could do better if I was allowed to slip a tiny concentrated drop of Draught of Peace into Umbridge's morning tea, Headmaster." He said, completely serious.

The headmaster laughed heartily and replied "if only things were as simple, my friend, if only..."

He groaned displeased, he still had hope the old man would wake someday and come to him with the four most beautiful words 'Do as you please'.

"Regarding your letter Severus, are you positive Ms Morgenstern's activities are enough to maintain her safety?" He asked.

"Yes Headmaster, I believe she has been doing so for quite some time now, and knowing she lives in a coastal area, I have no doubt she has been using her methods even outside Hogwarts, she seems rather... Comfortable underwater." He explained.

"I see. Strange how the Mere Guards never mentioned an intrusion, I have been regularly meeting with them." He said pensively.

"The Guard only followed her for a few seconds to stray her away from the new protected zone. The Guard appeared to be curious... Rather than hostile. She expressed, "This was not the first time they simply guided her away."

"Mm... Merepeople can be very insightful, perhaps they simply see a curious child looking for wonders who can swim in the deep just like them." He said smiling softly.

Silence took over for a few seconds as Phoenix came down from his perch and softly bumped the old man's face with his beak, the man caressed his feathery companion smiling softly as he asked.

"Anything else you would like to tell me, Severus?"

"Umbridge has been punishing children with a cursed Quill, and Madam Pomfrey's supplies are being monitored, I asked Ms Morgenstern to forward her fellow students to me, if she witnesses any other injuries." He said features twisted in a scowl.

His silence was stormy this time, if there was anything he hated more than anything it was losing control, and this was only the first taste at losing Hogwarts.

"Good, I'm sure she will not disappoint, and keep an eye out Severus, Ms Morgenstern can only hold her secrets for so long."

He couldn't say he didn't see that one coming, the old man had been suggesting to leave the girl be for now. Her role in the return of The dark Lord is clear and yet essentially unknown.

Now he was being asked to find out more, without asking, it seemed The Headmaster was losing his patience at last, he found this a task he was very much eager to carry out.


Sunday proved to be a grim ordeal for Harry and his best friend, their long awaited first Quidditch practice soured by Slytherin's sabotaging chants from the stands, and it only continued along their fight with homework.

Bless Hermione's good heart, if it wasn't for her, they would have spent the whole weekend without sleep just to have everything ready by Monday morning, and they couldn't do so, they had a plan after all that required time.

Sunday evening though found them surrounding the marauders map, painstakingly watching where the person of their interest was at the moment, to no avail. Nina Morgenstern wasn't at Hogwarts.

How could she disappear when they were ready to carry out their plan when he had checked diligently every time he could and found her doing something or other?

They spent hours on it, and by the end Hermione's skeptic feelings towards his suspicions on everything Nina were gone.

"I just don't understand...where could she be?" Exclaimed Hermione still thinking about their current enigma. They were finishing dinner, Gryffindor table only housing some fellow housemates who preferred the quiet of the hall to the bustling common room.

"Do you think she could know about the tunnels?" Asked Ron whispering.

"To go where?" Asked Hermione

"I don't know, Hogsmead maybe?" He suggested.

"Harry Look..." Hermione whispered.

Nina was walking in, brown leather backpack on her right shoulder, eyes looking over the four tables but mind somewhere far away from them. Most people would call her dreamy, but he knew better, Luna Lovegood was dreamy, Nina Morgenstern had an air of determination, an unsettling focus she sometimes set on him. It made his insides flutter in nervous anticipation, except when the results of her attention made him lose his shit.

"Harry... Look at her shoes" he turned his sight to what Hermione said, and caught sight of white sneakers just when she sat and turned her back on them. Her usual white shoe wear had several brown and green spots, she could have only gotten if she had been strolling down the Forbidden Forest.

He turned eyes huge to Hermione, his whole body screaming 'I told you so'.

They left the conversation there until they were headed back to their house. His frustration only mounted by the pensive silence of his friends. "How are we supposed to find out anything if she keeps disappearing to Merlin knows where?" He exclaimed.

"Maybe we should keep a closer eye on her, I mean she can't disappear, she's going somewhere we just don't know yet." Said Ron.

Both boys locked eyes and it looked like the same idea popped in their heads at the same time, they didn't dare utter a word though, they looked at a confused Hermione, and waited for her to catch up. She frowned in confusion until her brain caught up and then she scoffed "No way".

"Hermione, it's the only way," Harry insisted.

"No, it's not," she exclaimed, snorting.

"Okay maybe there are another million ways but I can't think of anything better, and we need answers." He continued.

"Well didn't it occur to you, you should simply apologize, instead of sending me to pretend to be her friend." She exclaimed angrily now.

"You're friends though, you're always going on about how nice she is." Ron answered.

"She doesn't... It's not like that Ron. You don't just go on declaring you're friends with someone. I barely know anything about her, we're friendly and yes, I would like to be her friend but not to spy on her." She exhaled at the end disbelieving.

He retracted his words wincing in guilt, "okay... I'm sorry, that was uncalled for... We already have a plan, we can just go on with it when we can right?" He worried his friend was too uncomfortable to carry on with what they intended.

She looked at his scar and frowned, determination setting in, she demanded, "you have to apologise first."

"Done" he immediately answered.

They went back to their dorms and a few hours later they were deep in dreams.

Monday morning greeted them with appalling news though. The vile monster was made High Inquisitor and she was to start inspecting teachers while they performed their duties. The notion of Mcgonagall and Snape being inspected by the ridiculous woman, made them chuckle every time they pictured it.

Unfortunately, they didn't get to witness such a thing, Divination was their next class and it looked like Trelawny was a mess already, her nerves taking every smidgen of professionalism and credibility she ever had. It was a sad thing to watch, but as she kept foretelling his gruesome deaths, he found his sympathy for her dwindle and die.

Later on Double Defense with Umbridge started and he couldn't believe he'd have to bear her presence for another two hours. He had kept an eye to see if he could sit beside Nina again, maybe the gesture would speak louder than any words he could utter, but the girl was there sitting beside her Hufflepuff friend.

He sighed and promised himself he would catch her after class, no hostility this time.

Class started with the stupid woman's favourite words 'wands away' and as they began their mind numbing reading, he heard Hermione speak up.

"I've already read chapter two," said Hermione.

"Well then, proceed to chapter three." said the vile woman pleasantly.

"I've read that too. I've read the whole book."

There was a millisecond silence, until the woman replied.

"Well, you should be able to tell me what Slinkhard says

about counter jinxes in chapter fifteen."

"He says that counter jinxes are improperly named... he says 'counterjinx' is just a name people give their jinxes when they want to make them sound more acceptable, but I disagree," Hermione continued.

Professor Umbridge's eyebrows rose higher, and she answered, tone frosty cold this time."Is that so?"

"Yes, I think they can be very useful when they're used defensively." said Hermione confidently, he overheard the table next to his, Nina whispered "Oh Merlin, here we go" as her friend hushed her.

"Well, I'm afraid it is Mr. Slinkhard's

opinion, and not yours, that matters within this classroom, MissGranger." She said

"But..." Hermione tried to continue her argument only to be cut off again. "Miss Granger, I am going to take five points from Gryffindor House."

He breathed deeply as he fought against his own brain to not speak up against the utter unfairness of the situation. The class was now whispering frantically.

"I am here to teach you using a Ministry

approved method that does not include inviting students to give their opinions on matters about which they understand very little. Your previous teachers in this subject may have allowed you more license, but as none of them with the possible exception of Professor Quirrell..."

At this he just lost it. His brain filter left the building as his mouth moved, heart going a mile a minute, anger making him see red.

"Yeah, Quirrell was a great teacher, there was

just that tiny detail of him having Lord Voldemort sticking out of the back of his head."

The loudest silence he'd ever heard took over the class until it was broken by the vile woman.

"I think a week's detentions would do you some good, Mr. Potter." She said smiling disturbingly at him.

He forgot everything about what he had promised to do by the end of the two hellish hours, he had spent fuming, until Nina came out of nowhere and pulled him from his robes to an empty corridor with an intense frown, his friends, the traitors just watching the scene play out.

She pulled him inside an empty classroom further down by the corridor and unleashed her anger, his friends followed and stood near him, having closed the door behind the girl's loud voice remained inside.

"Un fucking believable, do you two have a brain in those heads of yours" she said directed surprisingly enough at him and Hermione, it looked like Ron was the only on hadn't offended her somehow.

"What?" Hermione looked surprised, confused and hurt, though, her intelligence had just been questioned.

"What the hell are you debating Slinkards's bloody counterjixes for, haven't you caught up with the memo just yet. This isn't about the best way to teach us, all this... That woman is not here to teach she is hear to disrupt, separate, spy and sack as many Dumbledore follower's as she can."

Hermione's face was red in embarrassment and he felt a bit of anger directed at the lecturing girl.

"So we just lay down and take it?" He asked disgustedly by the notion.

"Yeah right, like a good Hufflepuff" Ron continued.

She looked at them with that unnerving attention and replied intensely. "Tell me, do you honestly think you have a rats ass chance to change a Ministry decree by spouting at one teacher in your little uneventful class... Grow the fuck up, this is war, politics we have never heard about, and not even Dumbledore can stop it from reaching this school, What Voldemort is not enough for you?... you want to keep raising attention to yourself?... Maybe someone from the Ministery tries to murder you this year, a nice little change, right?"

He didn't know what to say so he kept silent, his female friend didn't.

"That's completely uncalled for, Nina, what do we do about our O.W.L.s that vile monster wants us to fail, and we don't even have a professor, aren't you worried." She asked, trying to get her to understand.

"Of course I'm worried, Hermione, but don't you think I have a better chance at sneaking around into an empty classroom on a Sunday evening to practice with my other worried friends, than you loud mouths, she only has to ask one student to follow you around and you're done." She sighed looking exhausted and mattered "Merlin's beard. It's like the only thing I do is shout at you", she shook her head.

He went to say he appreciated her worry but held his tongue in embarrassment, as she kept looking at him.

"She's been punishing people left and right, and it looks like she has a special thing for you,... She actually smiled when you spoke up. Did you notice Harry?" She made a little pause looking at the door, as some students passed it loudly.

"Come find me in the library after your detention,... And please, I'm begging you... all of you, keep your head down, she's worse than you think." She warned ominously, and promptly turned to leave the three Gryffindors.

It was after she got out of the classroom when he followed running after her.

"Nina, wait!" He said loudly, she stopped in the middle of the empty corridor, confused.

"I... I wanted to apologise about... Last week. I lost my temper and I'm really sorry... It wasn't right. I... Yeah, I'm really sorry." He stumbled as she looked up at him, brown doe eyes huge.

"I... Yes... I mean it's okay... I should apologize as well, for... It was wrong, but I still think today would have ended a bit better if I did it again...but it was wrong... So yeah, I'm sorry too." She answered nervously.

"So we're good, then?" He asked hopefully.

"Yes, sure" she said smiling, "See you after detention, then", she walked for some meters and then turned to meet his eyes again and waved as he caught her looking back.

His smile didn't come off for the rest of the evening, Ron snickering at him everytime he caught him, and Hermione just elbowing his friend to keep his mouth shut, until his detention of course.

The place could have never passed for The impostor Moody's office or Remus's or Lockhart's. A bomb of pink had set off and painted everything on sight, he had nothing against the color, he had always referred to it as Nina's ball dress color, the soft pink made her skin color glow, she looked beautiful. Now that nice memory was forever purged by his disgust for everything pink.

She greeted him with her sickly sweet tone and asked him to sit at the small table prepared for him.

"You are going to be doing some

lines for me, Mr. Potter. No, not with your quill," she added, as he went to take his own quill.

"You're going to be using a rather special

one of mine." Nina's ominous words came back to him and he felt like something was wrong.

She handed him a long, thin black quill that looked unusually sharp.

"I want you to write 'I must not tell lies,' " she told him softly.

"How many times?" Harry asked, politeness dripping from his tone.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said the vile woman sweetly. "Off you go."

She left him to it and focused back on what looked like grading essays.

"You haven't given me any ink," he said as he realized so.

"Oh, you won't need ink," she said with amusement , clear in her tone.

Harry placed the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.

He gasped in pain and clutched his right hand closed as the words that appeared on the paper in bright red ink, started to itch on his skin as if cut by a scalpel.

Suddenly Nina's ominous words, her worry and anger made sense. It took a special type of person to punish children by scarring as they watched smiling.

She was evil.

He didn't give her the satisfaction of seeing any weakness, he wrote and cut open his hand until darkness set outside, he didn't raise his head from his task until she asked him to show her the result of her madness.

She looked at it and tutted at him mockingly.

"It doesn't seem like it has sunk in just yet, Mr Potter I will see you tomorrow at five, Good night."

And promptly went back to her scratching.

He went straight to the library, part of him pissed off that Nina only hinted at what awaited him.

He found her in a table, further in, hidden from sight and away from the usual groups of students.

She was surrounded by books and parchments, no doubt preparing an essay.

She heard his steps and turned to him, she must have seen his scowl, because she automatically looked at his hands and visibly winced. Yeah, she knew, now he was back to being pissed.

She avoided his eyes, patted the seat next to her and turned to her brown backpack looking for something. He sat down scowl ever so present and watched as she pulled a small glass jar of some kind of paste. Her eyes remained focused on her task as she put two fingers on the substance and pulled some of it, it was then that she met his eyes.

She waited for him in silence, and slowly, trying to maintain composure, he gave her his hand. She pulled her chair closer and put his injured hand on her knees, the palm of his hand suddenly burned as much as the scarred side, his face joined but a second later. Her legs were covered in her jeans, it wasn't inappropriate yet he still felt the gesture too intimate. He wouldn't dare complain, but it would have felt ten times better if he was assured of her feelings and her innocence on that dreadful night.

She applied the paste gently, he felt the pain stop at first touch, the foul smelling paste was doing wonders, he saw her read and follow the lines with her fingers and his stomach made a weird flop, she knew he was a lier, Sirius made sure she knew it wasn't him the night of the maze, it hadn't bothered him at the time, Dumbledore had asked him to lie for a reason but now everything was crumbling, everyone was calling him a liar, treating him like a paria, he wanted so badly to know if she truly saw him as a liar, her words last week were not forgotten.

"What's that?" He asked, nodding at the small jar.

"I have no idea, something with boredust I think, smells foul" she whispered.

"So you didn't make it? He asked interested.

"No, does that bother you?" She looked at him smiling.

"No" he hurriedly said, his hand on her knee just made everything more intense.

"So who made it?" He said, clearing his throat.

No answer. She continued her task, putting the jar away and pulling a roll of clean bandages from her backpack.

"One of those things, you'd prefer not to mention?" He continued bravely, now that the pain was gone and she was so close. She turned with a sheepish smile that made little dimples on her cheeks appear. "One of those things, that would piss you off."

"That's safer then, I don't enjoy it either" he whispered as if he was telling her a secret.

She turned the bandages from side to side until the thing was in place, feeding off this sudden feeling of rightness he asked to quench the curiosity that plagued him for two weeks now.

"I never got the chance to ask you about these." He whispered, catching her hand with his injured one, palm up he could see the little squiggles on her middle finger and palm.

"I thought you'd simply didn't want to know." She said surprised, her other hand tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

"Of course I want to", he answered "may I?" He asked.

She gave him her hands and leaned in as he moved the sleeves of her sweater up so slowly, uncovering soft olive skin, he didn't dare ask about the scar, it wasn't the moment. He was doing so well, she was calm and close to him and so very open, he could see it in her eyes, he couldn't mess it up now.

He followed the runes with his fingers hovering above, he felt some kind of energy tickle his finger and as their skin connected he felt her gasping softly. The little squiggles started to glow slowly, a pretty golden color he only ever saw on sunsets, he broke the silence at last, "what are they?"

"Direction runes" she answered softly. She was giving him the same look she made the day she helped him with his hair. Cautious.

"Did you make them?" He continued.

"Yes.." she replied, a soft smile on her lips.

"Was it painful?" That seemed to catch her off guard, as she chuckled nervously. The runes looked like they were etched in her skin, just like his, it looked painful.

"Only at first" she whispered, shrugging.

"Why did you make them?" He asked.

She seemed to look for a way to say what she wanted and for the life of him he didn't understand why couldn't she just blurt out the truth sometimes

"My core was... damaged in a way... I needed it." She answered hesitantly, looking at their joined hands.

"They're beautiful," he said without thinking, and looked up nervously to see her reaction. The girl's cheeks turned a pretty shade of peach, only enhanced by the golden light of the library.

"Thanks", she whispered.

They stayed together for awhile, even silence was peaceful, he didn't know if it was a product of a quiet library or just the feeling deep inside him that screamed 'stay'.

Soon they were both getting through homework together and didn't stop until Madame Pince announced the library would be closing in five.

They looked up from their work and looked at each other surprised, they had ploughed through Charms and Potions with a steady efficiency.

When they were near the Hufflepuff stairs she gave him the jar and gave him directions on what to do, wished him luck tomorrow and left. He almost wished he could give it back so he would be assured her presence for the rest of the week.

It was late enough he found his friends half asleep in the common room, Mondays were exhausting, he promised them he'd explain tomorrow since they looked about to drop and promptly went to sleep.