A/N: Exactly a week today until series three starts, I hope you are all looking forward to it. I am sadly not and I don't like the direction it is going but I am still going to be writing and plan to write a lot more in 2019. So here is my last update for this year and I hope you all had an great Christmas and Happy New Year!

Chapter Thirty-Five

Esmerelda spent the next day trying to subtly research the spell she had seen on the piece of paper the blackmailer had sent Lily but the problem was she couldn't remember what the spell had being, she remembered the odd bits but she could not remember it in it's entirely and Esmerelda knew she did not have much time to find out if she wanted to help her friend.

The blackmailer started to make demands of her friend. They would tell her to do things that would get her into trouble or laughed at, that was how Esmerelda knew the secret must be bad because Lily was going along with it like a lapdog and she was quiet and wouldn't talk to Esmerelda about it and did not seem to be able to look at her straight.

"Where are you going?" Esmerelda asked, pausing from her reading at dinnertime when Lily stood up and walked over to the teachers table, she picked up the bowl of porridge Miss Bat was eating and put it straight on top of HB's head. Of course, the rest of the girls started to laugh but Esmerelda didn't she did not like the look on the deputy's face, she clearly was angry and more angry than normal.

Esmerelda looked around the hall at all the girls laughing, trying to figure out which of the girls was blackmailing Lily, but they were not giving anything away, they were acting the same as everyone else and she knew it would be nearly impossible to find the blackmailer. Esmie could only watch as Lily was led away to the office, knowing she was not going to say why she had really done what she had done because she was scared of the blackmailer.

Esmerelda of course felt for her friend, after all, she was being forced to do stuff she didn't want to do in order to keep this secret hidden. Esmie knew though she couldn't do anything to help her right now so she sneaked to her friends room and looked around, finding the piece of paper from earlier in her drawer. Yes now she looked at it she saw it was the same spell, she quickly jottered down the spell in her notebook and then left the room, making sure it looked like it had not being entered before she did so, she didn't want Lily to think she was snooping in her room, which she was doing but she was only trying to help.

Now she had the spell she could now properly try to find out what it was and see if she could help Lily with the blackmailer. Lily definitely needed the help because the blackmailer was only getting worse and starting to make her do things that would get her into more trouble.

In Chanting class Lily put down her bag and found a note inside, someone had clearly put it in there as she had being walking and her eyes went wide and scared as she read it, Esmerelda leaned over her to see what it said and gasped, equally as shocked, she wouldn't get expelled for doing it but she would get in big trouble.

"Lily, no you can't do that, do you know how much trouble you would be in?"Esmerelda asked her but Lily shook her head as if in an apologetic way before she sneaked out of the classroom before Esmerelda could stop her. Esmie made sure she was not being watched by Miss Bat then went after her, just as Lily entered the nearest bathroom and turned on the tap, sticking tissue in the plughole to stop the water going down the drain.

"Lily stop no!" Esmerelda told her knowing she would be in so much trouble for purposely flooding the place, when HB found out, especially after the events earlier that morning she would be expelled before she could blink, but Lily wouldn't listen to her, and of course it was only a matter of time before Miss Drill saw water coming from the bathroom, coming to investigate and finding the second year red handed. Esmerelda would of gotten in trouble too if the woman had not walked in just as Lily pushed her friend into a toilet cubicle and used magic to lock the door, making Esmerelda confused as she realised what had happened and by the time she came to her senses and walked to the door to start banging on it, Lily was being led away, but the girl did make sure to unlock the door before she followed Miss Drill.

Esmerelda knew that as soft as Miss Cackle was most of the time, Lily would still get in trouble and she would eventually be expelled if it carried on, that was why Esmerelda quickly took to the library, taking down every spell book she could find for the mysterious spell that scared Lily so much she was willing to risk her future to obey the blackmailer and stop her secret getting out.

She looked through as many spell-books as she could find but she could not find the spell in them, there was spells that were similar but not quite the same and Esmerelda began to wonder if the blackmailer had written it down wrong, it wouldn't be the first thing they had gotten something wrong after all but Esmerelda knew in the back of her mind, this time, that was not the case, because she knew she had seen that spell before.

At first when Esmerelda had looked at the spell she had not known it at all and she thought she had never seen it before, she had never heard of it and never heard of anyone using it but the more she had looked at it the more she knew she had been wrong.

She HAD seen it before. She had definitely read that spell someone during her life, something gave her a familiar nag of familiarity when she looked at it but she could not for the life of her think of where she had read it before, she was not even sure where she had read it, had it being at school or perhaps at home, during all them hours her parents had forced her to read and study hard, she had no idea, all she knew was the spell meant something to her.

Esmerelda sighed as she closed the eighth book on her lap, having still not found the spell she was after in any of her books. She leaned her head on her hand, trying to think of which book to look at next when she felt someone's presence next to her.

A first year girl walked up to her, she was wearing a green belt and Esmie had seen her a few times during the year but had no idea who she was, but now she stopped in front of Esmie looking nervous.

"Are you Esmerelda Hallow?" the girl asked her and Esmie was confused as to how she knew her name, she wasn't that well known around the school, was she?

"Yes that is me..." Esmie said confused as to what was going on.

"I was told to give you this" the girl said putting her hand out and offering Esmerelda a rolled up piece of paper. Esmerelda took it and before she even unrolled it she knew it was one of the blackmail notes, she had seen enough to know what they looked like and now she had a chance to find out more information from the girl about who was doing this to Lily in the first place.

"Who gave you this?" Esmerelda asked the girl and the young brunette in front of her shrugged.

"No idea, they had a cloak on with their hood up, I was quite scared but they told me just to give it to you and they would leave me alone" the girl said and Esmerelda sighed, she should of known it wouldn't of being that easy.

"Were they in uniform?" Esmerelda asked, wondering if she could at least find out if they were a pupil or nor.

"I didn't see sorry" the girl said before she walked off, having done what she was supposed to do, Esmie waited for the girl to leave and then shakily unrolled the paper, wondering if the person had decided to blackmail her as well.

"You are looking in the wrong place, if you want to solve the mystery, look closer to home" the letter read and Esmerelda realised then how serious this was.

The blackmailer was clearly spying on her and Lily. They somehow knew she was looking for the spell and had yet to find it, it must be someone at Cackles then, no-one else would have such good inside knowledge of the place, the thought she was being spied on was terrifying to Esmerelda but she tried to put that worry in the back of her mind and focus on the letter.

"Look closer to home?" What on earth did that mean? Esmerelda wondered. Did they mean that the answer laid in the Hallow mansion, but how would they know that unless they were spying on the house as well? The thought of her little sisters being watched scared the blonde more than anything but somehow it didn't seem quite right, she wouldn't be able to solve the mystery because she attended boarding school and couldn't just go home everyday, she supposed the blackmailer could be tricking her but someone she got the impression they wanted her to solve the mystery, the question was, what on earth did closer to home mean?

Esmerelda took the letter and left the library, trying to think of what the riddle meant as she did so, she thought of everything that the note could mean but only drew a blank, wondering if she would ever solve the mystery as to who the blackmailer was and the spell Lily was so afraid off.

The blackmailer was smart, despite the fact they had messed up at first by giving the letter to the wrong person they were clearly clever and cunning. That meant Esmerelda had to think deeper, for Lily's sake she had to solve this riddle, and if she did that she was sure she could solve this whole mystery.