Chapter 4

Tom had an understanding with all the prefects of his year that he preferred to perform his duties alone whenever possible. And that night while waiting for his partner, he did not expect things to go any different. He was waiting by the gargoyles for Nancy Leach the Hufflepuff prefect. They'd meet for a time check before meeting there again for a small report at the end of their round.

After waiting over five minutes, which is longer than he was used to waiting, a silhouette finally appeared when he was starting to lose patience. But it was not Nancy.

"Excuse me," he said with authority, "you are not supposed to be here at this time. You need to go back to your dormitory."

The frail blonde girl continued walking towards him.

"Peace," she dramatically replied with her hands in the air, "I came to patrol with you. Nancy had a Quidditch accident."

Tom lowered his wand and frowned.

"And what gives you the authority to patrol?" He inquired, "You are not a prefect."

"Yea, I'm the substitute," she replied with a smile.

He looked at her curiously and then shrugged. What did it matter to him who patrolled anyway?

"Fine, we usually separate to cover the whole itinerary faster. You should just go this way and I'll go here." He instructed quickly. "We meet back here in about fifteen minutes. Anyone outside their dormitory; take ten points from their house."

He was about to leave when she called him out.

"Actually you wouldn't mind if I go with you? Walking around in the castle at night by myself kinda freaks me out." As she said it she looked around with worried eyes searching for invisible threats.

Tom eyed her annoyingly, thinking about what to do. If he went with her they would take twice as much time but she looked like a recipe for disaster and if something happened he could be blamed for it. He decided to go with her and they started walking together.

He discovered in the first few minutes of their patrol that Tracy, his new companion, was a talker. She babbled about everything and nothing. Tom did not mind as he was very good at listening without hearing a single word. If he did not care for the conversation he would just tune it out. He also found out a long time ago that letting people talk was the easiest way to get a lot of important information. Being listened to made people feel special.

He caught a few words about Nancy leach's accident. Tom thought about how it was already humiliation enough to be flying around chasing some ball without getting injured doing it.

"...and I was like excuse me don't they teach you manners in America," Continued Tracy "She did apologies but still the girl is weird."

"What?" Tom's attention was caught by the phrase he himself had told a certain American girl not too long ago.

"I mean who wanders in the middle of the night by themselves anyway. Best way to look like a creep."

"I'm sorry," cut Tom, "What are you talking about?"

"That Ilvermorny girl, she ran right through me on the first floor while I was coming to meet you. Looked like she saw a ghost. Probably met Peeves."

"Which girl from Ilvermorny?" Inquired Tom.

"I don't know her name. Something Olga... She is the arrogant one, that was put in Ravenclaw. Long puffy hair that makes her look like a savage. She always has this 'I'm better than you' expression on her face."

Tom almost smiled at the salty description. That was definitely Olivia. She seemed to have a great talent at pissing people off who she probably ignored the very existence of. The attempt of Tracy to act nonchalant about this made things even more pathetic. He was sure she knew exactly what her name is.

"What was she doing on the first floor at this time? The Ravenclaw's dormitory is on the east tower."

"I don't know, maybe she was lost. Should I have taken points from her? I mean how fair is it that one of our houses loses points because of them anyway? it's not like she is a real Ravenclaw ..."

Tom drowned her voice again thinking about what she said. What was Olivia doing alone at night on the first floor? And why was she running? What was she scared of? Something told him that her being there was not random, that it was linked to the mysterious book. It was possible Tracy misinterpreted her expression and she wasn't scared but actually upset. Something about Olivia being scared didn't sound right. She was full of herself and too confident. Whatever happened must have been major. Maybe she was conducting some experiments taken from the book and it failed. Maybe she was practicing black magic.

The rest of the patrol went smoothly and before he knew it Tom was back into the comfort of the Slytherins' common room. He nonchalantly fell in a couch next to Avery who was pecking away at a lengthy parchment. The boy acknowledged his presence with a head tilt before going back to his work. Tom appreciated the silence. He had much to think about.

Although already very obsessed with Olivia, the interest had originally started with a simple curiosity. Now, Tom wondered if something more serious was going on. While on the patrol Tom had gone through the reasons why Olivia could have been roaming at that hour. One idea that had come to his head was that she might have a boyfriend. Though she had been very lonely every time he had observed her it was probable he had missed something.

"Avery," he called out, "Do you know if that Elliot girl has a boyfriend or something of that nature?"

At the mention of his name, the pecking stopped immediately. Avery raised his head and listened intently.

"I doubt it," he said after thinking about it "The only male presence I've seen her with is the guys from Ilvermorny but nothing in their behavior towards each other suggests that they are romantically involved."

Tom was not surprised, it was exactly what he witnessed himself.

"If you wanted to get a book out of the library without anyone knowing, like say disguised as another one. How would you do it?"

"I would probably use a concealment charm, or simply duplicate the cover of one book unto the other. Mrs. Figgins never looks inside the books. Why? Do you need anything?"

"I'm just curious." Tom fell back into the chair again.

Olivia had already proven her magic skills were very advanced, the possibility that she had used a concealment charm powerful enough to change the appearance of an entire book was not too crazy. Tom was more interested in the reason behind all those measures. Was the book she took from the restricted section? Or was it an embarrassing topic that she didn't want to be caught with? That made his research a little harder, for all he knew the book could have any form by now, and maybe she wasn't even in possession of it anymore. He needed to get closer to her to make her trust him. That was his best chance to find out.

Whatever it was he was ready to do what it takes to figure it out. He was excited at the prospect of uncovering the mystery.