Danny sat bored in his bed, a crumpled piece of ordinary paper in his right hand, his left hand absentmindedly stroking the kneazle; he paused for a moment, and it let out a loud hiss, its lizard tongue slipping out form behind its fangs; he continued, jumping a moment before settling back into the pillows. The sky outside the few narrow windows in the dorm was darkening; he was beginning to get worried about Eve, but waved it off, figuring that she could fend for herself. It's not as if she could have gotten herself into too much trouble, especially not with Professor Krum there.

He lurched at the thought of Krum. He knew that there was no one around to see his embarrassment, but felt himself flush deeply anyway; his eyes flicked up to the nargle-infested mistletoe above his bed. He chided himself- Krum was a teacher, and although it wasn't the first time he'd crushed on a teacher (he was reminded of his high-school math teacher), it wasn't as if any of them had stripped in front of him. And hadn't Lorelei said something, something about Krum not being into girls? He didn't seem very fazed by Madame Heliot coming strongly on to him. Danny shook the thoughts out of his head; nothing good would come of them. Still, if ever he caught the scent of vanilla, his breath would catch…

He had spent the hour or so before dinner practicing some of the spells Professor LaHaye and Professor Hayeel had given them to study. Lorelei had helped him, offering her assistance while poring over a large encyclopedia and tending the leg of the niffler, which seemed to have broken its leg somehow. He hadn't mastered any of them, by far, before dinner; indeed, his Gluing Charm didn't seem to glue anything at all, and his Shield Charm only seemed to intensify the effects of whatever light hex Lorelei threw at him.

He uncrumpled the typed letter in his fist, flattening it out on his knee and reading again, apprehensively, although he had already memorized it by heart, he had read it so many times. It has come during dinner; Rudolphus flew into the Great Hall- Danny remembered Howl saying that all mail in the wizarding world was delivered by owl- and dropped it on his plate before screeching and flying off, disappearing through the door and down the hall. It had the return address of his parent's house, the house he had grown up in; as his eyes dashed across it again, he sighed deeply.

Danny and Eve, it began, in a familiar scrawl;

We've just been told that you've been accepted into Pronghorn! That's wonderful! (at this point in his first reading of the letter, Danny had blinked, hard.) Of course, you'll be wondering how we know. Professor Howl wrote to us the minute you two arrived, and though we're all deeply sorry, it seems that we have a lot of explaining to do.

Danny: Although we're Muggles, we've known about the wizarding world since before you were born. You see, your Uncle Allen was a wizard. We never managed to tell you, and even denied you entry to a lot of good wizarding schools, because we were afraid. We see now that this was a mistake; you see, after the last War, and the wizarding world in the state it was in when you were born, we didn't want you to be in any danger. It seemed better to just keep you out of it all.

Here, the handwriting changed distinctly, from short, blocky letters to a slanted, loopy text.

Eve: We are both very sorry that you've had to find out this way. We, too, were afraid of what might become of you, what with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named out on the loose again; we, along with Danny's parents, agreed it would be best if we kept you safe, away from the wizarding world. We didn't know that everything was at peace again by the time that you turned eleven, and old enough to enroll in any of the wizarding schools; your Aunt Camylla died in the War, killed by a Death Eater. She was our only tie, as was Danny's uncle, to your new world. We are both Muggles as well, and proud to have a witch as a daughter.

We want you both to know that we never meant to lie to you. We just wanted to keep you safe. But, try as we might to keep you from the wizarding world, it seems that the wizarding world has found you. We are thankful that Professor Howl took you in; he told us that you will both be able to come home for the holiday after next term. Of course, we all did expect you both to attend college, but we're as we don't think this to be an option any more, we support your pursuit in magic.

With deep love and deep regret,

Your Parents

There the letter ended. Danny fumed quietly before crumpling it up again and throwing it onto Eve's bed, turning over grumpily to his side. He mused over the words in the letter; they had known, for eighteen years they had known that he was a wizard. He gave them some credit- they were, after all, trying to protect them. From what, he didn't understand; that part of the letter was nonsense to him, but he remembered that Howl had mentioned Diagon Alley being much brighter since the War, and Lorelei saying that not a lot of people wanted jobs at the Ministry after it, either. His eye flitted over to his massive A Brief History of Time…he was sure he could find the answer in there, but the effort of simply picking up the book seemed to far outweigh the benefit of the knowledge.

And so instead, he turned back to his wand, picking it up and toying with it a moment before noticing Lorelei's queer plant on her nightstand. She had called it a Dirigible Plum plant; curious, he pointed his wand at it, looking up a particular spell form one of the lists on his bed. "Herbivicus," he muttered, watching the plant expand slightly. A small pop was heard as a fruit bloomed quickly on the bush; however, it stopped growing quickly, leaving hardly any change at all. He grimaced, rolling over; he was tired, too tired to resist the seductive charms sleep promised him. He let himself slip into it, his wand hand going limp as he was dragged off into a blissful, heavy sleep…

…and was promptly awoken by the loud calls of Rudolphus, who was intent on waking all three of the dorm's residents with a single, loud hoot. The sun was streaming in; he hadn't changed into his new pajamas the night before, and had once again slept in his robes. He looked over to Lorelei, who was either gone, or never came back. Eve's bed was empty as well, and at the sight of it Danny's brow furrowed in concern. What if she hadn't been back to the portkey in time to take it, surely Professor Krum knew she couldn't Apparate yet… He stretched off the last remnants of his dream, on which he was flying on a broomstick. There was scenery racing below him, but he was only paying attention to the stranger's arms around his as he guided Danny's hands, as he smiled at Danny, his face now a mystery to the waking world.

Having a sinking feeling he knew whom the dream was about, he cleaned himself, feeling the magic rake over his skin and clothes. After a moment of consideration, he stuffed a few pieces of parchment, quill and ink (after all, History of Magic didn't sound like the most hands-on class) into a small bag that Howl had bought for them at Diagon Alley, bearing the school's crest proudly. He cast a pinch of Floo powder, disappearing into the Great Hall, the bag strapped under his fur cloak and against his chest. There were few students at the tables at this early hour, and he sat down at a bench alone, looking around him nervously.

The stained glass window had changed again, now depicting a shining, light blue and crystalline goblet on it, seemingly a trophy, surrounded by darkness. There were two hands reaching out to grab it, and it shone with an ethereal blue light, not dissimilar to the dozens of portkey stones floating in neat lines beneath the window. All around, the students were talking in hushed tones, laughing, or studying with their friends; no one seemed to be alone, and Danny sank further down. He had yet to eat alone, and whenever he had come to the Great Hall, Lorelei had always had a plate of food ready for him.

"Can I help you?" squeaked a small voice behind him. He turned to face the most curious creature he had ever seen, small, hardly up to his waist, with massive eyes, and pointy nose, and bat-like ears. It had appeared as if out of nowhere, and was wearing what looked like a small, velvet tuxedo, making its head seem abnormally large.

""Uh- what do you mean?" Danny ventured. The creature laughed.

"To eat!"

"Um, I guess I could eat some, uh, pancakes?" he asked it like a question, still not entirely sure of what was going on. With a grin and a snap of its fingers, the creature was gone, vanished out of thin air. A moment later, with a small clatter and pop, a pile of delicious-looking, fresh pancakes was sitting in front of him, complete with silverware and a small glass of water. Danny gaped.

"Anything else?" the creature asked, again appearing out of nowhere. Danny shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, uh…what are you, exactly?" The little creature let out a soft "oh!" and squealed. It bowed courteously.

"I am a house-elf, sir," the creature replied with an air of dignity. "A free house-elf," it added, placing a special emphasis on the second word. It leaned in close, as if to tell Danny a secret. "I get paid," it whispered softly, but excitedly. In another snap of its fingers, it was gone again, leaving Danny more confused than he had been before he asked the house-elf what it was.

He looked around; a couple of more students had just sat down at the tables. A house-elf appeared near them to take their orders as well, and Danny sighed. This place just got stranger and stranger with every passing day. The pancakes, however, were delicious. He ate them slowly, enjoying them, before picking up his bag and rushing off to History of Magic.

History of Magic was a dull class, Danny could tell, as he opened the door to the classroom, glad he had left breakfast early. He had gotten lost again, having to ask a suit of armor for directions and feeling really rather odd doing it. Professor Lubman was a short, stout woman, with a round face to match her round body. She seemed jolly, though, as she conjured up a small writing desk for Danny, and began lecturing off of a conjured blackboard. Her wand was short, like her, and snapped sharply as she began to talk about the revolutions of the giants in the early twentieth century, hitting the blackboard with it. She, unlike her predecessors, had not bothered to explain why history was important. She seemed very excited, though, her heels clicking with her jolly mood as she talked furiously.

Danny, in the meantime, seemed to be having a tough time in writing with the quill. After having used ordinary pens for so long, having to dip the large feather in ink every few words seemed ridiculous and annoying. By the middle of the lesson, however, he seemed to have gotten the hang of it. He was the only person in the room, other than Professor Lubman, who was still talking rapidly about giants. Danny's hand ached from taking extremely swift notes, to keep pace with his professor's talking speed, and he rested it a moment, trying to listen intently but being distracted by thought of Eve.

Where is she? he wondered loudly, frowning in confusion. Eve was never the time to miss a class in high school. He wondered if there had been a problem at whatever she had had to do on the Quidditch field the night before. He was brought back down to earth with the small explosion of sparks on his desk; Professor Libman looked at him contemptuously.

"Dozing off on your first day is never good," she squeaked before continuing. Danny grudgingly listened to the rest of the lesson, trying to get his mind off of Eve and wondering what the worst that could have happened was. He remembered what Lorelei said about Lucifera, and the look on Lucifera's face in the Great Hall the day before, and shivered. Finally Professor Lubman seemed winded enough to stop her lecture; before making the desk and blackboard disappear with a wave of her wand, she assigned a nine-inch roll of parchment on the effects of the early giant revolutions of the Muggle community.

"Lend your notes to Evelyn, as well," she recommended as she waddled out of the classroom. "And that essay is due for her as well, on Friday." Danny called down the hall after her.

"Wait!" Libman turned around. "Do you know where Eve is? I haven't seen her all day." The professor seemed completely unfazed while she handed him the news.

"Why, she's in the infirmary. Had an accident on her broom, it seems. I hardly believe that no one has told you!" With a jolly, ironic, but well-meaning and warm, smile, Libman waddled off. Danny's face froze as his mind jumped to the worst conclusions possible. Two voices fought in his head; on one hand, he hoped that Eve suffered only a minor, quickly fixable injury. On the other, a sneaking voice told him that there was something far more serious wrong. He dashed off to the Great Hall, throwing a large handful of Floo powder into the fire and yelling, perhaps louder than he should have, "Infirmary!"

Eve's eyes fluttered open, the world coming into slow focus to find a beautiful woman standing over her, her blonde hair tied back smartly. Eve groaned; her skin itched from where her burns had been, and her hands were tied to the bed as if to stop her from scratching. The bright white of the infirmary made her squint as the world focused itself. Danny was standing beside her bed, asking Madame H worried questions. He hadn't yet noticed that she was awake, and she listened for a moment.

"What happened?" he demanded of the nurse, who didn't answer him fast enough. He demanded the answer to the question again, and Eve smiled calmly at his apparent frustration.

"Danny," she called weakly. "I'm fine." He rushed over to her side, as did Madame H. Instantly the woman began to rifle through her bedside drawer, looking amongst the bottle, all containing curious liquids, for a certain one.

"What happened?" Danny asked, worried, brushing a stray hair from her face. She shook her head sharply, the best she could do to swat him away, since she had no use of her hands. She explained the story to him, about coming to the field only to learn that she'd replaced Lucifera, and about Lucifera's spell. Danny blanched; Eve knew that he recognized that nothing good could come from replacing Lucifera DuMarne.

"An Eetching Fire Hex," Madame H cut in softly, her voice soft. "Well-cast, too. Here, take zheese." Eve opened her mouth obediently, realizing that she really had no other choice. The orange potion tasted bitter, and swallowed it with some level of difficulty. She shook her head, sticking her tongue out in disgust; Danny looked disconcerted.

"What's up?" Eve said cheerfully as Madame H walked over to another bed, which had its curtain wrapped around it. He shifted, and she grew concerned. What had he been up to? Finally he broke down, looking almost ashamed, telling her about the letter that had come by way of owl post from their parents.

"-WHAT?-" The shriek echoed through the infirmary, and Madame H poked her head out form behind the curtain in surprise. Danny clapped his hand over Eve's mouth, knowing that the rage was bound to be loud and long. After the echoing died down, leaving only the sounds of the wood elves' sing and the fountain, he slowly wrenched his fingers off. "They knew this whole time?" Eve seethed, disbelieving it. Surely her parents hadn't known, surely they would have told her! This was too big of a secret, and goodness knows her family had never kept anything from each other before!

Danny nodded mournfully. "They didn't tell either of us." His voice was solemn.

"Why?" Her voice was rising, and she knew it. Danny shushed her harshly before continuing.

"There was some kind of war when we were born, something that they didn't want us to be involved it. They said that they kept us away form the wizarding world to protect us!" Eve exhaled, deflating; she had heard mentions of the war before, and understood that her parents were only trying to protect her.

"Still," she harrumphed stubbornly. Danny smiled.

"How long will you be in here?" he asked, lightening the mood.

"Until deenner tonight," Madame H interrupted, checking to make sure that everything was all right. Seeing that it was, she walked off, her nose high in the air, her hips waving seductively, as per usual. Danny looked nervous.

"We've got homework from Professor Lubman- she seems nice enough, I guess. Jolly," he said dejectedly. "Should I leave you my notes?"

Eve nodded, wondering what kind of homework they would have to do for this class. "It'll give me something to do. What's the homework?" She didn't consider her tethered hands, and then questioned whether or not they would come off anytime soon, so that she might get a head start on studying the notes.

"She said nine inches of parchment on the effects of the giant rebellions of Muggles." Eve blanched; she had no idea what he was talking about, bidding him to lay the few pages of notes on her stomach but a nod of her head. "Just read the notes, I think I took pretty good ones. Oh, and you should practice using a quill, too." Danny looked at her, concerned. "Hey, I'm gonna be late for my flying lesson," he said, turning to leave. "I'll be back right after our Offensive Magic lesson, to get you, okay?" Eve smiled at him, and he turned to leave.

"Hey, Danny!" she called after him, as the flames in the fireplace turned green. He turned, a flash of concern over his face. "Have fun with Krum," she jeered, laughing. Danny flushed, and stepped into the flames, gone in a flash. Eve laid her head back, smiling at Madame H, who had popped her head back out again upon hearing Krum's name. She let the wood elves' song take her into sleep, letting it fill her ears as her eyes drifted slowly shut.

Danny was out of breath by the time he came to the Quidditch field, he had been running so hard in order to not be late to his lesson. Professor Krum was already in the air by the Danny stumbled onto the field, throwing his bag onto the snow. Krum nodded silently to the broom in the middle of the field; Danny grabbed it, mounted it, and pushed off from the ground shakily. Guiding the stiff shaft of the broom was still unwieldy, and for the first half of an hour Krum had him flying back and forth down the field, at varying speeds. His turning slowly got better, and he found that leaning in close to the broomstick certainly helped; soon Krum called him over to him, to where he had been floating above Danny, watching his progress.

For the remainder of the lesson, Danny tossed the Quaffle back and forth with Krum; the professor had barely uttered a word all day, other than to shout instructions every once in a while. The end of the lunch period was marked by the tolling of a bell from somewhere inside of the castle, and finally Krum tossed the Quaffle one last time. The red ball was thrown sharply up, into the glare of the sun; Danny braked on his broom and turned sharply, sliding several inches down the handle as he accelerated sharply up after it. He felt the world spinning around him as he corkscrewed, the wind beating his face until he could hardly keep his eyes open; with a thud, the Quaffle fell into his hand, and he straightened his broom to be parallel with the ground again. He shot off back towards Krum, tossing him the Quaffle. The professor smiled, and dismissed him, deep in thought, his eyes focused on nothing at all.

"Tell Eve zat ze next Quidditch practice iz on Friday," he told Danny as he walked back to the castle. Danny choked back a smile- for once, Krum had nothing bad to say about his flying. "I ezzpect you back here tomorrow." Danny smiled, and walked dutifully back into the castle, readying himself for his first ever Offensive Magic lesson. He looked back to Krum's retreating figure, realizing that the professor had done him a favor by walking him back to the castle; he looked magnificent, his furs falling thickly around him as he retreated back to the Quidditch field. Danny sighed, and turned back into the warmth of the castle.

He had little difficulty finding the classroom again today, trying to keep his head down as he rushed through the vaulted corridors. He slowed to a normal paced walk as he rounded the corner to the hallway where the classroom was; he opened the door, not knowing what to expect to find inside of it.

The back wall was hewn off, as was usual, and the snows were still blowing softly onto the long, rectangular rug that now lay over the floor. Several torches had been it along the walls of the classroom, casting an eerie glow and flickering shadows over the cold stone walls. Professor Calcifer stood impatiently on one end of the rug, and Danny looked him over as he entered.

The professor wasn't a very tall man, nor was he too short; he was shaped somewhat like a barrel, stout and heavy, with wide, almost misshapen looking brown eyes and hi lips were so thin they seemed to be hardly there at all. He wore robes of flaming red and orange, the colors seeming to flow as if he were really on fire. His hair was receding, and looked like though it had once been bright red, had been reduced to an ashen gray.

The moment he saw Danny a wand snapped into his hand; before Danny could react, Calcifer bellowed, "Incarcerous!" Robes flew from the tip of his wand, bounding a shocked Danny, who hadn't even had the reaction time to pull his wand. Calcifer walked around him, and Danny tried hard to look at him, his eyes whirling about wildly. "Tut, tut," he said, tapping the ropes; in an instant, they disappeared, freeing Danny from their bind. "You've got to expect the unexpected." Danny glowered at him.

"Today," Professor Calcifer started with a bored ease, "you will begin your studies in the realm of real magic. Magic that can would your enemy, maim your target- save your life," he said, his voice sing-songy, in vast contrast to the words he was saying. "Together we will explore jinxes, hexes, curses of Dark magic," suddenly his voice darkened. "Of course," he drawled, "I wouldn't recommend using any of it unless you have to…

"Now, then, stand there, boy!" he instructed. Danny took his place at the end of the carpet opposite Calcifer, who had his wand raised, pointed firmly at Danny. He raised his wand as well, pointing it warily at his new professor. "Now, then, the best way, I have found in my twenty-odd years of teaching, to learn magic is to use it. Now, then, I expect you don't know a lot of spells yet, only a few days into your tutelage," he paused, as if waiting for Danny to confirm or deny this statement. He nodded, still unsure at to where this was going.

Calcifer sighed. "Very well, then. I suppose we can start with this- the Full Body Bind Curse." Calcifer raised his wand, and Danny's mind raced- he knew this one! Before his professor could bring his wand to the sharp snap that would undoubtedly petrify Danny, he raised his wand and shouted the spell.

"Petrificus totalus!" he shouted, and instantly Calcifer's arms shot to be stuck to his body, and his legs straightened and froze; a smile on his face, he fell to the ground. From the end of the professor's wand, still in his hand, a soft blue light burst; Danny's curse fell away.

"Very good," Calcifer said enthusiastically. His arms were flailing passionately. "Very, very good! Now, then, let us see if you can block mine-" Without saying a word, Calcifer pointed his wand, and Danny fell to the ground, frozen solid. His mind whirred I confusion- Calcifer hadn't even said a spell!- but the next moment, he saw the professor standing over him, that brief blue glow on his wand lighting as he uttered, "Finite." Danny felt the curse fall away as his legs relaxed. "Maybe I should say the spell first," Calcfier said sheepishly. "Any remotely good wizard could have blocked that. I should give you a bit of warning. Of course, be warned that for most of my advanced classes, you will be expected to use the magic without having to say the spell." He didn't elaborate any further, and instead launched into teaching him several hexes and curses for the next several hours.

Calcifer insisted that Danny show him his Reductor Curse, and kindly offered himself as a target. At first, he was unsure- use one of his best spells on his teacher?- but Calcifer demanded that he demonstrate. Raising his wand, he shouted the spell- "Reducto!"- and instantly there was a small explosion. The wall next to Calcifer exploded, leaving a crater large enough to put a fist into. Danny's heart sank.

"You didn't miss," Calcifer reassured him. "I deflected it- one of the advantages of the Shielding Charm, you see," he muttered, investigating the hole in the wall. "Very well cast, very well- most students don't see that kind of progress for several years, far less a few days…" The rest of the lesson went on as the sun began to dip below the horizon, leaving the snow-covered scene deathly and ethereal. Calcifer seemed pleased with Danny, and other than the occasional passive-aggressive remark, Danny seemed to like Calcifer.

At the end of the lesson, Professor Calcifer walked over to him, out of breath but his eyes sparkling with excitement. He had just blocked a particularly nasty Jelly-Legs Jinx that Danny had accidentally made too strong, and was panting as Dany took the letter from. He recognized the script immediately as being Howl's, and opened it. Before he could read it, however, Calcifer grabbed his arm, bringing him down so that the man could whisper in his ear.

"Keep in mind," the professor said, his voice suddenly dark, breathing his damp breath on Danny's neck heavily, "that the Ministry outlawed the teaching of Offensive or Dark spells at every wizarding school in Europe. Of course, Howl got special permission from the Minister himself to allow us to teach them here… but keep in mind that nearly none of the students when they start here know many jinxes, or hexes, or curses. To be as gifted as you are tells me great things about you."

Danny shivered, and tried to pull away, but Calcifer held him close, his queer eyes flashing. "A wizard with such talent could go Dark very easily, my boy…keep in mind, we do not teach ethics here. We simply teach the magic- what you do with it is up to you. You could be great, you know, if you do not bother with labels such as 'good' and 'evil'… there is only you, and what you want, and how you get it…" Danny was, at this point, shaking with fear, the hair on the back of his neck screaming out to him as Calcifer's hot, wet breath panted on him.

Calcifer, having said his peace, let his grip go; Danny fell backwards, stumbling to the ground and scrambling to get away from the professor, who now looked down on him, perplexed. "Well, I think you ought to be getting to dinner," Calcifer said, before making the rug and torches disappear with a wave of his wand. He strode out of the classroom, giving one final, dark look to Danny before closing the door and leaving him alone in the cold silence.

Calcifer's words whirled around in his head like some sort of storm, thundering at him as he lay on the soothingly cold stone floor. He felt the snow fleck onto his face, but made no effort to brush it away; he lay on the floor, his eyes staring up at the ceiling. Lorelei had warned them about Calcifer- part fire-demon, she had told them. Very powerful, and well trained in the Dark side of magic. Danny wondered what that meant- was Professor Calcifer a Dark wizard? And if he was, what did that mean?

Danny voiced these concerns to Eve as he went to fetch her from the infirmary. She looked at him, interested. "Well, what exactly did he say?" He told here again, repeating the words as close to word-for-word as possible. Eve frowned, mulling them over. "Well, at least he complemented you!" she said brightly. Danny was not amused, his face set and impassive. "Look, I'm sure it was nothing," she tried to explain. "What was he like, other than that?"

"Fine, I guess. Definitely excitable, and a little rude, sometimes," Danny said sullenly. "Say, how do you think the wizarding world works? I mean, what sort of jobs are there?" Eve shrugged- how was she to know? Danny repeated the question to Lorelei in the Great Hall, as they placed their orders from the finely dressed house-elf. As the food appeared a moment later, Lorelei thought deeply.

"Well, there aren't all that many, outside of the Ministry," she said, after several minutes of consideration. "I mean, let's say you want to be a trainer for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks. You'd have to be a part of the Department for the Regulated Control of Magical Animals, in which case you'd work for the Ministry. If you wanted to be a Curse Breaker for Gringotts, even, you'd have to work for Gringotts, and thus the Ministry…" This question seemed to have stumped the girl, as she scratched her blonde hair, deep in thought.

"Is there a Wrackspurt in here? I can't seem the think properly." Eve and Danny looked at one another, and waved their hands about, finally shaking their heads.

"You are holding onto your wand," Eve told Lorelei, who looked at her, surprised. She had remembered that it had a core of Wrackspurt hair, and that it made Lorelei a little fuzzy sometimes.

"I suppose owning your own shop isn't working for the Ministry. And there are such things as freelance Aurors, they work for bounties and whatnot. But I guess Dark wizards don't really work for Ministry either." Lorelei frowned into her pudding. Danny looked at Eve frankly.

"Lorelei?" he asked, and the girl looked up, straightening the lion's hat on her head, "What does it mean, to be a Dark wizard?" Lorelei looked apprehensive.

"Well…" she began tentatively, "it means that you use magic to harm other people in order to get what you want. It means that you're a criminal, wanted by the Ministry to be put in Azkaban. Or," her voice softened here, "it means you enjoy using the Unforgivable Curses." This last part was so soft that it was just barely audible over the drone of the conversation in the Great Hall. "But," she said suddenly, cheerily, "there aren't many Dark wizards left, after the War!" And with that, she turned back to her pudding. The three ate the rest of their meals in silence, Danny contemplating hard what Professor Calcifer had said him, Lorelei humming happily, and Eve trying hard to get her mind off of whatever it was that was worrying Danny.

Once back in their dorm, Danny invited Eve over to his bed, and showed her the letter. He hadn't yet opened it, and when he did, he craned his neck, so that they could read it together.

Dearest New Muggle-Born Students Named Danny and Eve,

Tomorrow your lessons with me will resume, and you shall a Transfiguration lesson in the afternoon. Daniel, Professor Krum expects you again during lunch. Eve, you have more Quidditch practice on Friday, same time, same field.

Howl

Eve looked to Danny, pointing out the abnormal shortness of the letter and the ordinary size of the signature. It looked as if it had been written in a great hurry; Danny shrugged, and they both decided that it was long past due time to go to bed. Danny fell asleep almost immediately after giving Eve a short list of spells Professor Calcifer had asked him to learn by their next lesson; she took it back to her bed and took out her wand, spending the next two hours practicing both the first few Charms on the list given by Professor Hayeel and the first on the list Danny had just given to her.

By the end of the evening, she could cast a decent Impervius Charm, which she seemed to find sufficient as enough progress for the evening; soon she too rolled over and allowed herself to fall into a heavy sleep. The last thing she felt was the kneazle curling up on her back, purring deeply, hissing on it's exhales. She smiled comfortably, and closed her eyes.