A/N: And the plot thickens!

WARNING: Bad language

Disclaimer: Credit for Harry Potter goes to J.K. Rowling.

Discovering With Amaranta

The two girls stared at each other; Amaranta gaping like a fish, and Dianthe sneering expectantly. Amaranta had a heart-wrenching look on her face, but when she saw Dianthe's smirk of glee at her inner turmoil, she quickly regained her hard, emotionless face.

"And to think I thought you were a sadistic psycho before," Amaranta stood up, straightening her robes.

A cold look of disappointment shot across Dianthe's face, but only for a second, before it reverted to its disgusted sneering. "And now I've awakened your true, murdering self. You're welcome."

Amaranta took and aggressive step forward. "You killed him, you stupid sod! You killed him! And you blame me?!"

"Yes, I blame you!" Dianthe's face contorted in rage. "If you hadn't snuck around my back and seduced him we would all live happily ever after! But no! You had to be a thieving bitch and steal the one man I love!"

"The one man? Look at yourself, you little whore!" Amaranta roared back with equal ferocity. "You got all the men at Hogwarts wrapped around your finger, and you still do now! Why the hell did you have to target the only guy I've ever liked!" Amaranta was so angry tears were forming in her eyes. "You could've had any guy you wanted, but no! you just had to choose the one that liked me! I never knew what love was before Jake, and you just had to kill us all, didn't you?"

"It was punishment! I told you that I liked him, and just as I was about to confess, you go up and snog him!"

"Ok, for your information, he confessed to me, not the other way around! And it's not my fault he kissed me like that!"

"Well, you could've pushed him away!"

"Who the hell would push that sex god away when he's kissing you? You would have done the same thing in my place!"

"I would have not!"

"Would to!"

"Shut up, you slut!"

"Whore!"

"Backstabber!"

"Bubblehead!"

"Bitch!"

"Ok, you know what, you got me!" Amaranta put her hands in mock shame. "I did it! I'm the perpetrator! As soon as I knew you were targeting Jake, I snuck behind your back and wooed him with my sexy body!" The sarcasm was dripping from her voice.

"Argh! Shut up!" Dianthe pounced on top of her sister, clawing at her face. "I hate you! I hate you!"

Amaranta grabbed one of Dianthe's hands long enough to punch her in the face. "You don't have the right to hate me! If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have any friends, you ungrateful little urchin!"

"Same to you!" Dianthe shouted, pulling Amaranta's brown locks. "I was the only one who ever talked to you! Everyone else thought you were a heartless ice queen, and I gave up popularity to become friends with you!"

"Popularity my arse!" Amaranta pulled Dianthe's golden hair as well. "Everyone just thought you were a stupid, big-boobed idiot—which you are—and were just going to use you as their personal servant! I was the only one who treated you like a human being!"

"No, you didn't!" The girls were no rolling across the floor, kicking, punching scratching. "You just thought I was your annoying little lackey! You thought I was beneath you, like the rest of the world. Well, get off your high-horse, princess, because there are other people with talent besides you!"

"So you think I'm some stuck-up prat?! What would you know?! Acting all cute, you always got what you wanted! Everyone just loved you! Well, I never got loved, okay? My parents hated me! They thought I was a freak!"

"No, they didn't! If you'd end your pity-party for three seconds, you'd know that they loved you enough to fear for your safety, you dunce! My parents were never around to care! They didn't even notice what I truly was!"

"Who's in the pity-party now?!"

"GIRLS!" The two didn't even turn their heads, as Professor McGonagall ran towards them in a state of panic, and quickly flicked her wand to render them immobile. She separated the two frozen girls. "What is the meaning of this?! I will not have such vulgar fighting in the hallways! 50 points from Slytherin! And Miss Amaranta, as the Headmaster's ward, I would've figured you'd have better manners than this! I'm sure he'll find a suitable punishment for you both!"

Professor McGonagall undid the charm on the two girls, only so that she could drag them each by the ear to the Headmaster's office. After they heard the soft "Come in," Amaranta and Dianthe were unceremoniously thrown inside, clutching their earlobes in pain.

"Ouch," Amaranta grimaced and then opened her eyes to find a thoroughly stunned Harry, sitting in a chair, staring at them, as was Dumbledore, though not quite as surprised. The silver basin on the desk caught Amaranta's eye. She recognized that magical item. What was it that Albus called it? A Pensieve? She remembered falling into it once and looking at one of Albus' memories. She had been kindly chastised and informed as to what it could do.

So this is what they're doing in their late night meetings? Amaranta mused. They look at memories? Whose memories? And of what?

"Sorry to interrupt, Professor," McGonagall suddenly looked regretful at having shoved this matter onto Dumbledore's shoulders. She could have easily handed out a suitable punishment.

"No, no, it's perfectly alright," Dumbledore smiled kindly at her. "Mr. Potter and I had just concluded our meeting. Now, what is it that these two young ladies have done to warrant coming to my office?"

"They were fighting in the hallways," Professor McGonagall said. "Quite viciously, I might add."

Dumbledore nodded, noting the scratches and bruises marking the girls. "Thank your, Professor, you may go now. I'll be sure to give them each suitable punishments."

The Professor nodded curtly, and then walked out of the room. Harry looked at Dumbledore, his trance finally broken, curious if he should leave as well. Since the Headmaster didn't specify otherwise, Harry remained in his seat.

"Please, you two, have a seat," Dumbledore waved his wand, and two elegantly carved wooden chairs appeared, next to Harry's.

They both nodded solemnly, and took their seats.

"Now, what, may I ask, started this quarrel?"

Both girls looked reluctant to open their mouths. Amaranta just looked downright miserable. "I'm sorry, Albus—I…"

"I appreciate the apology, but it is not me you have injured," Dumbledore's eyes were soft towards the ashamed visage of his adopted daughter. "May I please know what caused you two to fight so?"

Amaranta shot Dianthe a glare, who remained cold, nose high in the air. "Dianthe made me remember, sir," Amaranta decided it best to be polite. "She opened the memories of my heart, and I now know everything about what went on between the two of us."

If it was possible, Harry looked even more intent now.

"And this caused you to engage in a battle with young Miss Greene?" Dumbledore didn't raise his voice at all. He remained completely calm, chin on his wizened hand (not the burnt one, mind you).

"Well, no, it's what I remembered," Amaranta shot Dianthe a death glare before proceeding to tell all she had recounted, with the few exceptions of the Jake kissing scene. Harry's mouth grew steadily more open as the story progressed, but Dumbledore remained unmoving. "…and then Dianthe went nuts and killed us all, but not before she did something to the Whomping Willow, to make it as it is now."

"Hey, I didn't kill all of us!" Dianthe shouted in anger! "You killed me and Jake!"

"You killed Jake, you twisted—"

"Sit down," Dumbledore's voice boomed throughout the office. The two girls, who had stood up in their anger, slowly reseated themselves. "Being sisters, it's a wonder you two never fought until now, though I would rather you have not killed each other and an innocent boy." Amaranta flinched at this. "As Blommarians, your emotions greatly effect the plant life around you, especially trees since they harvest a great amount of life force, you, Amaranta, I'm sure, noticed this a long time ago, which is why you always try to remain passive."

Amaranta watched the patterns on the rug intently.

"However, I'm sure bottling up your feelings until now, didn't help," Dumbledore looked between the two girls. "I'm sure there is more than just a spat over a boy going on between you two."

The two glared at each other again.

"Now, let's start with you, Amaranta," Dumbledore turned his twinkling eyes on the shrunken figure of the girl. That must've been a very interesting design on the rug. "Don't be afraid to open your heart out to us. Nothing you say in here shall ever leave this room, should you wish it. Tell us why you dislike Miss Greene, even though you two obviously got along before, if you felt the need to call each other 'sisters.'"

"This girl is no sister of mine!" Dianthe shouted, but Dumbledore glared her back down into her seat.

"Please, no interruptions, Miss Greene."

Amaranta twiddling her thumbs nervously, but spoke with a steady voice nonetheless. Harry noticed that her face looked completely blank.

"I found out that I was adopted when I was ten," Amaranta started. "My adoptive parents were kind and nurturing, they didn't abuse me or anything. But still….there was something lacking. They had never meant for me to find the adoption papers, but when I did…I felt angry…betrayed. Why hadn't they told me? It wasn't that they were unacceptable parents, but I hated lies. I hate artificial things. My adoptive parents didn't truly love me as I thought. They were merely trying to look like perfect parents, so that society would think them 'generous' or 'charitable'. If people didn't praise them on raising a child they found at a battle scene, they probably wouldn't have given me the time of day.

That was also when I found out that I was a Blommarian. My parents told me that they found me in a burnt village, on one of their travels across the Wizarding World. They said that the village was called Rosetta Village."

Dumbledore and Dianthe tensed up at this name, but Harry looked confused. Amarata noticed this so she decided to explain.

"Rosetta village, I soon learned, was one of the few Blommarian villages in the world. About two hundred years ago, a terrible war broke out between wizards and the Blommarians. Their power to control plants had been known for a long time, but when one man, a man named Hubert Grimmwald killed a Blommarian, he soon learned the effects of eating the Heart Fruit. At first, he planned on keeping the secret to his immortality to himself, however, word soon spread of the abilities a Blommarian's Heart Fruit could grant. Soon, a total war broke out among the Wizarding World. No, it was more like a slaughter. Blommarians everywhere were hunted down for their hearts." Amaranta snorted bitterly. "Little did they know that they weren't granted invincibility, their bodies just stopped growing. They could still be killed by a knife wound or illness, and so each died, and with them the legend of the Blommarians. Everyone thought all the Blommarians had been completely killed off.

"One of the villages attacked was Rosetta village, and apparently, my old home town where my parents once lived. But just this wasn't enough proof for me to be a Blommarian, and so I decided to try and test my powers, should I have them. And, as we all know, I learned of my ability and how to control it. My parents, although they never told me, had secretly hoped I was just a normal witch. When I told them what I was, they soon became disgusted with me, and told me to never use my ability ever again. They said, 'If anyone should find out what you are, you'll be hunted and killed.' But that was just an excuse. They were afraid of me. I had this strangely ability to control the environment around me without the use of a wand. I was powerful. And sending me to Hogwarts would only make me more powerful, they knew it. But not sending me to Hogwarts would raise suspicion, and they couldn't very well tell everyone I was a Squib.

"And there, is where I met Dianthe. I was planning on going through my school years peacefully alone, gaining power, but no! Dianthe wouldn't have that! She followed me around for half the first year before I finally gave in and decided to befriend her." Amaranta's face grew soft. "That was the first time I had ever thought of using my power to help someone instead of frighten them. Dianthe was stupid, pretty, but bubbleheaded, so it made people want to bully her, as most of the girls decided to do. I planned to ignore it at first, hoping that maybe this would help keep Dianthe away from me, but it only made her all the more clingy. And when I finally decided to stand up against those snobby upperclassmen and turn that one girl into a pig," even Dianthe couldn't keep from letting a little smirk cross her lips, "I learned that…it felt good to help people. I felt distinctly proud of myself for making someone's day. That's what changed my mind. I started to think that maybe it wasn't so bad to have someone get close to me, after all.

"I slowly grew to like Dianthe. She was like a little sister, albeit taller than me, but the way she devotedly followed me around like a lost puppy, how could anyone not find that loveable? But…well, it seemed like the rest of the world noticed her cuteness in our third year. She got asked out at least twice a month! It didn't annoy me at first. I merely thought of them as outsiders trying to take away my cute little sister, but when they only grew in quantity as the years progressed, it started to annoy me. I mean, it began to feel like I was living in her shadow. No one noticed me compared to her radiant beauty! I never got asked out once! There were never any rumors about any guy liking me! I even heard the guys use it as a joke, 'If you don't do what we say, you'll have to kiss Amaranta!' Anyone would be ticked like that! I mean, I know I'm not a living Aphrodite, but did my looks really pale in comparison to Dianthe?

"So, when Jake, the most handsome guy in school, and also, as Dianthe told me the night before, the guy that she had a crush on, I will admit, I felt like I had gained a small victory over her. Just knowing the fact that I got a guy that she couldn't get…well, it did sort of go to my head. But, even so, I wasn't going to back down just because Dianthe liked him too! It would've come down to his choice even if she hadn't told me, right? I did nothing wrong by accepting is proposal!"

Amaranta flushed, and sank back into her chair, signaling that she was finished.

"So, you were jealous of Miss Greene's beauty," Dumbledore said frankly, "and so you felt superior, knowing that you 'hooked' the one guy that she liked?"

"No!" Amaranta cried out indignantly, but under Dumbledore's steady gaze, murmured a soft, "Yes."

"And would you say, even now, that you loved Mr. Pele?"

Amaranta opened her mouth to speak, but stopped. She closed her mouth, thinking, and then finally said, "I guess I didn't really love him in that way. I mean, we were great friends, the three of us, but I guess I just got a little crazy with my superiority-complex that I said 'yes.'"

"You little—!" Dianthe stood up, the blood rushing to her head.

"Please, Miss Greene, sit down," Dumbledore, ordered and then turned back to Amaranta. "Now, is there something you would like to say to Miss Greene, now that she knows your true feelings?"

"Yes," Amaranta turned to look at her friend. "Dianthe…I'm sorry for stealing your guy and killing you, but that was only to protect Jake."

"Now, Miss Greene," Dumbledore turned to Dianthe. "Is there anything you'd like to enlighten us with?"

Dianthe sat down her chair, steaming still. "I was jealous of you too," she finally said stubbornly. "You were smart and always good at everything you do, not to mention you didn't go with the flow. You were independent and strong. I always thought it was a wonder that no one asked you out until Jake." Then more softly, "Though I guess that's kind of my fault." Then more loudly, "I guess I craved the attention. My whole life, I had been ignored. My parents work at Gringott's so they were always away on business trips and such. They rarely ever came home, and when they did, they were too tired to care about me. Thy believed in smarts over looks, so since beauty was the only thing I had going for me, my parents thought I was a failure. Being from a pureblood family, they used to always say, 'Well, at least we can marry her off to some rich bachelor.' I never even knew that I was adopted until Amaranta showed me what I truly was.

"But when I met Amaranta, I knew that she was the kind of daughter my parents wanted. Someone intelligent, powerful, with this commanding aura about them, who didn't get caught up in silly schoolgirl gossip like I did. So, I tried to hang around her more. To try my best to be just like her, that way, my parents would love me. But, once I began to get a lot of confessions from boys, I realized that, aside form my parents and the girls in school, everyone else loved me for my looks. So, maybe I was a bit desperate for attention, and I did tend to flaunt the fact of beauty a bit in front of Amaranta, but that was because I could only see her as the daughter my parents always wanted, and defeating her…was like defeating my parents! I felt like I could finally prove that I was good just the way I was.

"And I do think I really did like Jake. I've liked him ever since first year, but back then, I was too shy to ever confess to him, and when we became friends, I didn't want things to become awkward. Jake was a year older than us, so he was going to leave soon, and well, I just wanted to relieve myself of these feelings either way."

"And so, you felt your inferiority towards Amaranta come back when you found out she was dating Mr. Pele, correct?" Dumbledore interceded.

Dianthe looked away. "Maybe just a little. And it all began to eat me up inside until finally, I just snapped. I couldn't look at either of them with the same fondness as I had years ago. I hated them both so much!"

"And you let your emotions get the better of yourself, until you killed your friends," Dumbledore concluded solemnly. "Do you want to add anything?"

"…I'm sorry for killing Amaranta and Jake," Dianthe rolled her eyes.

"Good," Dumbledore grinned broadly. "Even though you two have made up, I'm afraid that you still broke a school rule, and therefore must be punished. You will serve detention with Professor Snape, every other night, for one week. I'll inform him, and he'll inform you of the specifics. You three may go now."

Harry remained seated, until his mind finally processed the "three" and then he quickly followed the girls out of Dumbledore's office. As soon as the stone gargoyle had hoped back into it sentinel position, Dianthe flung around, and grabbed Amaranta by the collar, shoving her up against the wall. Harry didn't have enough time to react and pull out his wand.

"I hate you, Amaranta!" she growled. "And when the time is right, I'm going to kill you and bring back Jake!" She eyed the tip of Harry's wand and then shoved Amaranta away, stalking off.

Harry put his wand away. What was that all about?

Malfoy was up to no good. Well, duh, he was always up to no good. Thank you Captain Obvious! Harry shouted at himself. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately, but never mind that!

Malfoy had been disappearing along the seventh floor quite a lot recently. He had Dobby and Kreacher tail him for four nights. Thanks to Hermoine's speculation, he had gathered that he was using the Room of Requirement (and Crabbe and Goyle transformed into girls, thanks to the Polyjuice Potion). Ron had a right laugh at that one.

"Didn't Dumbledore ask you to ask Slughorn about that memory?" Hermoine lectured him for the billionth time that month. "If Dumbledore wants you to do it, then it must be important!"

"I know that, but I just don't see how!" Harry argued in his defense. "I can't think of a way to make him talk."

"Harry, if it was a matter of slipping him a potion, Dumbledore could have easily done that!" Hermoine argued, looking through the Daily Prophet. Now with Lord Voldermort realized by the Ministry, all that was ever in the papers were the obituaries.

"Anyone we know?" Ron asked.

"No, thank goodness," Hermoine sighed. "Oh this is horrible! A nine-year-old boy was arrested for attempting to murder his grandparents. The Ministry suspects he was under the Imperius Curse."

"Anywho, I just have a bad feeling about Malfoy," Harry reverted back to the prior subject.

"When have you ever not had bad feelings about Malfoy?" Ron snorted, although he agreed with Harry, despite his obvious paranoia.

"Are you sure you're not letting your…well…jealousy," Hermoine said that word carefully, "lead you on a bit? I mean, Amaranta doesn't suspect him of doing anything foul, but—"

"One: I am not jealous of Malfoy," Harry growled. "I just hate how he treats Amaranta. Two: It's not that Amaranta doesn't suspect him, it's that he won't tell her anything. And three: it's because he won't tell her anything that makes it all the more suspicious! He trusts Amaranta with everything else—I admit, she said she wouldn't tell me some of his secrets—but if this is something he can't tell even her, then it must be bad, or something she wouldn't like, which is worse."

"But you still need to persuade Professor Slughorn to tell you the true contents of that memory," Hermoine said finally.

Harry grumbled inaudibly, and finished taking notes in Charms class.

Harry stood outside Dumbledore's office. He had succeeded in getting the necessary memory from Professor Slughorn and had just watched it with Dumbledore in his office. He learned more than just about Lord Voldermort. He had learned about Dianthe as well. There was no way, there was no f'ing way.

Horcruxes, as he had found out, were objects that contained a part of a person's soul. The act was commited by an incantation and murder. Voldermort had split his soul seven times, but that wasn't so shocking (after all, he had killed millions), what shocked him most was that Dianthe, as evil as she may try to be, had created a Horcrux, and not only that but the Horcrux was none other than the Whomping Willow. By killing Amaranta and Jake, Dianthe had split her soul, so that part of it was inside the once normal willow tree.

His blood rushed through his veins. He needed to keep Amaranta away form her, no matter what their past was together. Dianthe was just as good as a Dark Lord. In fact, she could be the next one! She was certainly powerful with all her hundreds of years of knowledge. Dianthe really wanted to kill her. She really was evil.

Yet, why hadn't she? Even if she wanted to torture Amaranta slowly, letting her live her happy school days with him wasn't a very evil way of torture. No, something was up. She was planning something. Something devious. Something tugged at him from the subconscious. What was it Dianthe had said to them that one night? The usual threat of killing Amaranta and what else?

"And when the time is right, I'm going to kill you and bring back Jake!"

Harry didn't know how, even in the Wizarding World rebirth was impossible for all except Blommarians, but he knew that whenever Dianthe brought Jake back, Amaranta would die. He bolted down the hallways, not knowing what he was doing, just knowing that someone very powerful and very evil was after his Amaranta.