"Did you hear that they found three dead acromantulas on the lawns?" Parkinson asked as the trio sat at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall for their lunch the following day.

The trio shared a look.

"Acromantulas?" Greengrass repeated, looking dismayed. "On the lawn?"

"Yes. The lawn. Just outside the castle!" Parkinson answered, looking both thrilled to be sharing gossip, but also appalled by the nature of the news. "The first years were having flying lessons and they spotted them. The gamekeeper was trying to remove them."

Callidus, Harry and Draco had agreed not to talk about their near-death escapade the previous night. Though it was tempting to tell their peers of the remarkable events, they knew that they would get in trouble if it was discovered that they were leaving the castle past curfew. The last thing the trio wanted was to risk the chance of detention or worse, if they happened to be discovered.

"This is awful!" Greengrass cried. "Hogwarts is supposed to be safe! I thought nothing from the forest could hurt us as long as we remained on school grounds!"

"I'm not afraid of acromantulas!" Bulstrode declared. "I bet I could take one on!"

"We don't all have your strength, I'm afraid," Parkinson replied.

"Nor her bravado," Zabini drawled. "Though as Slytherins, I'm sure we'll find a way to keep ourselves safe."

"Acromantulas are native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia," Nott informed them. "What are they even doing here in Britain?"

"Who cares why they're here!" Greengrass exclaimed, sounding shrill. "What matters is what the school is going to do about it! What if someone gets eaten?!"

"Keep shrieking like that and you'll make a nice target," Callidus taunted. He was sick of playing nice with Greengrass. If he had hoped that she would have become more tolerable, he had been wrong. And Rowle's influence only seem to worsen her attitude.

Greengrass's eyes widened, and she snapped her mouth shut, as though an acromantula could jump out at her at any moment. Callidus smirked, satisfied that he had managed to shut her up.

Greengrass's expression turned mulish. "Dumbledore should do something."

"When has Dumbledore ever done anything to make anything safer for us?" Draco pointed out with derision. "This place is falling apart."

Harry and Callidus rolled their eyes. They listened to the rest of the conversation with half-hearted interest, occasionally snickering when one of the Slytherins made some sort of wild speculations about what had killed the acromantulas.

The rest of the day passed quickly and Harry and Draco had Quidditch practice after classes were done.

Since Callidus was still waiting for Madam Fikodoxos' letter, he decided that he didn't need to stop by the potions lab, and instead headed straight to the library to meet up with his Gryffindor friends.

He spotted Hermione, Caiside and Ginny sitting at their usual table, and sat down next to Hermione.

"Did you hear about the dead acromantulas?" Ginny asked, after they said their hellos.

Callidus smirked. "I did."

Caiside narrowed her eyes. "What's with that look?"

"I saw it too," Ginny piped.

Hermione nodded. "Yep. There was a look."

"You know something. Tell us!" Ginny ordered. Madam Pince glared in their direction, and Ginny looked momentarily sheepish. But she returned her gaze to Callidus, giving him a stubborn look.

Callidus silently cursed the girls' perceptiveness. "What makes you think I know anything?"

A slow smile spread across Caiside's face and Callidus felt a moment of unease. The girls all shared a look and it was as if they were speaking a secret language. For a paranoid moment, he wondered if they had all managed to learn to communicate using legilimency. However, he quickly decided that it was unlikely.

"They're saying it must have happened after curfew," Caiside explained. "If it had happened before someone would have seen them."

Hermione nodded. "Acromantula aren't native to these parts. They're from -"

"The rainforests of Southeast Asia, I know," Callidus cut in. "Nott was telling us about it."

"Ah - well, it was a shock to learn that there are acromantulas in the forbidden forest." Hermione looked towards the other two girls. "Did either of you know there was acromantulas here?"

Ginny and Caiside shook their heads. "If my brothers knew, they would have used that fact to try and terrorized us - especially Ron. Ron is terrified of spiders."

Callidus raised his eyebrows. "Terrified is he?"

Ginny snorted, her expression mischievous. "Completely terrified."

"Acromantulas are said to be wizard-bred in order to protect treasures or buildings," Hermione continued to explained. "They're social creatures as well. I've been reading up on them. They're rather difficult to injure because of their carapace. But these particular acromantulas did not die of natural causes."

"How can you be sure?" Callidus asked.

"It doesn't reflect normal acromantula behaviour," Hermione answered. "In fact, almost all of the creatures in the Forbidden Forest tend to remain in their habitats. The acromantulas wouldn't have left the forest without good reason."

Callidus tried to shrug casually. "And?"

The girls shared another look. "And you may or may not be aware of this, but we are able to see quite a lot from Gryffindor tower," Hermione continued. "Include rule-breaking Slytherins who sneak out at night. So tell me Callidus, why were you, Harry and Draco sneaking out last night? Was it for dueling club? Were you dueling?"

"We weren't dueling," Callidus denied.

"So you were sneaking out!" Ginny crowed.

Callidus's expression turned defensive. "You said -"

"We were making it up!" Caiside gloated, looking smug.

Callidus opened his mouth and then snapped it shut again. He glared at the trio of Gryffindors with irritation. "You three are utterly maddening. I must be a masochist for being willing to spend any time with you."

Ginny giggled while Caiside and Hermione just looked amused. "Don't feel too bad," Caiside reassured him. "It was the three of us against one of you."

"You didn't have any hope to begin with," Ginny added. "Now tell us! How did you kill the acromantulas? We've been dying to know!"

"Well -" Callidus looked over at Caiside, "- I actually have Caiside to thank. Those seed pods you gave me are the reason we escaped."

Caiside brightened. "Really? You actually used them?"

"What seed pods?" Ginny questioned.

Caiside began to explain the seed pods to the other two girls, and to Callidus's relief, they fell into an extended conversation about Caiside's dangerous plants. It left Callidus free to focus on other matters such as actually getting his homework done. But soon, his mind began to drift to the previous night. The near-death experience had been frightening, and it hadn't given him time to sort out the other memorable aspects of the night; specifically, being able to see magic. Draco had mentioned that the purebloods were aware of this fact, but that it wasn't well known. But considering how prolific of a reader Hermione was, would she have heard anything about it?

The girls had fallen silent and were busy with their own assignments. But curiosity was eating away at Callidus and he decided to interrupt.

"Hermione -"

Hermione looked up from her parchment, pausing the movements of her quill as she gave him an inquiring look. "Yes?"

"Have you ever read anything about seeing magic?" He asked.

"Seeing magic?" Hermione echoed. "What do you mean?"

Callidus flicked a glance over to Caiside and noticed that she had raised her eyebrows. "I mean a visual awareness of magic. Being able to see it with your eyes."

Hermione pursed her lips. "I don't think I've ever heard about seeing magic like that."

"Are you saying there's something you don't know?" Ginny asked, wide-eyed.

"I don't have the time to look up everything!" Hermione answered defensively. "But now that you've brought it up, I'm going to see what I can find out about it."

Ginny grinned. "So you are human after all. I was starting to worry that you were some kind of - personified encyclopedia or something."

"Well -" Hermione's cheeks flushed.

Caiside's expression became amused. "It's a good thing. I doubt either of our grades would be as good as they are if not for you."

"Yeah!" Ginny chimed in. "Honestly, it's awesome! My brother Percy is always going on about school stuff and his grades, but you're far more brilliant than he is! He almost made me afraid that I'd hate academic stuff, but since meeting you, I've changed my mind."

Hermione coloured even further. "Well thanks -"

Callidus fidgeted. "This is starting to make me uncomfortable -"

Caiside grinned. "Aww - the poor Slytherin can't handle all the feelings?"

Callidus scowled. "I can handle feelings. If people keep them to themselves."

"Callidus is embarrassed!" Ginny gleefully exclaimed, causing Madam Pince to give her an irritated glare. Ginny let out a small giggle, darting quick glances towards the librarian.. "She probably hates me doesn't she."

"Yes," Callidus agreed, causing Caiside and Hermione to give him an annoyed look.

"I don't think Madam Pince likes anybody," Caiside observed. "I think she only likes books. I bet she'd sleep with them except that she's probably afraid of hurting her precious books." Caiside smirked with amusement.

Ginny giggled again. "I can picture her sitting around and petting the covers: 'There, there, sweet books - no student will get their oily paws over your beautifully bound surface,'" she mimicked.

"To be fair, oily fingerprints are actually damaging to books," Hermione pointed out. "I would have thought magical books would have been an exception, but apparently not. At least not the most magical and rare ones. Though our common course books all have charms protecting them from oil and dirt."

Ginny's expression turned thoughtful "That makes sense."

"I thought we were talking about Callidus's feelings," Caiside cut in, and Callidus have her a resentful glare. He has really hoped that the girls had forgotten the topic but apparently life was less merciful than he had hoped (or girls were more tenacious.)

"Aww, look at his face!" Ginny remarked, sounding far too cheerful for Callidus's liking. "He's soo uncomfortable!"

A small smile tugged at Hermione's lips. "Don't mind those two. They're the same with me. It's how they show they care."

Callidus answered with a mutinous look. "Then maybe they should care a little less."

"Aww, Callidus! Don't you care about us?" Caiside asked, a mocking smile on her lips.

Callidus hummed. After a pause, he said: "No. I don't believe I do."

"You don't mean that!" Ginny pouted.

"Oh, but I do," Callidus declared.

"You know what I think he needs?" Caiside asked Ginny conspiratorially.

Ginny shook her head, looking suspiciously innocent. "No, what?"

Caiside gave Callidus an impish glance before answering Ginny. "I think what he needs is a hug."

"No," Callidus said flatly, while Ginny squealed: "Yes!"

The girls made their way to his side of the table and threw their arms around him while Hermione, who was sitting next to him tried to hide her laughter.

"Hermione, you need to hug him too!" Caiside insisted, while Callidus hissed: "Unhand me!"

A pink tinge coloured Hermione's cheeks while Callidus just wished that he could sink into the ground.

"I'm never visiting the three of you ever again," Callidus growled.

"Don't make threats you don't mean to keep," Caiside cheekily replied.

"Hermione -" Callidus gave her an imploring look. "Get these unseemly wenches to remove their tentacles off my person."

Hermione tried to hide her giggle. "Caiside, Ginny, leave him alone. He looks seconds away from cursing you both."

Caiside gave a dramatic sigh, and the two younger girls released him, and returned to their chairs.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked him sympathetically, though her eyes were bright with laughter.

Callidus considered leaving but it felt like that would be admitting that the girls had gotten the best of him. "I believe I shall survive - though I'll be sure to shower thoroughly after getting their dirty Gryffindor paws all over me."

"I'm a Gryffindor too!" Hermione said, sounding somewhat indignant.

"Hermione, I like you in spite of the fact that you're a Gryffindor. Not because of it. I'd probably like you more if you were in any other house," Callidus informed her.

"Even Hufflepuff?" Ginny wondered.

"Oh yes," Callidus answered. "Even Hufflepuff."

"You like Hermione, do you?" Caiside asked innocently.

Callidus gave her a mistrustful look. "Yes. Hermione has many excellent qualities."

Ginny giggled while Caiside gave him a sly look.

"What?" Callidus asked suspiciously.

Ginny tried to stifle her giggles while Caiside just maintained her fake-innocent look. "Nothing!" she quickly replied. "Nothing at all."

Though Callidus didn't believe her, he didn't push it. The last thing he needed was to have to deal with the strange, convoluted mind of girls. Eventually, the topic changed and the girls started talking about Quidditch (or more specifically, Ginny would not shut up about how great Quidditch was.) It was annoying, since all Callidus ever seemed to hear from Harry and Draco was Quidditch talk. And with the game coming up, it seemed like the rest of the school had joined in with the talk as well.

"I just don't see the appeal," Hermione told Ginny.

"I don't see the appeal in talking about it," Callidus muttered.

Ginny narrowed her eyes at him, before answering Hermione. "Quidditch is just - amazing! It's so exciting. There's nothing like it."

"It's just a bunch of witch and wizards on brooms throwing and catching balls," Hermione opined.

"It's way more than just that!" Ginny defended. "I mean, players have to spend the whole time watching their backs in case they get hit by bludgers. No one tries to actually throw or catch bludgers. It's the quaffle and snitch that have to be caught."

Callidus rolled his eyes. "I'm sure everyone already knows how Quidditch is played. Telling us the details doesn't make it more interesting."

Ginny's expression became mulish. "Yeah, but it takes a lot of skill to be a good player. The chasers have to be really coordinated to score goals through those hoops with the quaffle, all while trying to get past the keeper and avoid bludgers, and really skilled beaters can direct the bludgers towards other players, rather than just aimlessly hitting them away. And the seeker! The seeker has to be the most nimble of all to catch the golden snitch!"

Calidus raised his eyebrows. "Is that your way of bragging about your skills?"

Ginny looked uncertain. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, don't play dumb with me. I know you're on the Quidditch team. Did you think I wouldn't figure it out?"

Ginny gasped. "You know? You're not supposed to know! How did you find out?"

Callidus smirked, while Hermione and Caiside looked away sheepishly. "Clearly, you underestimate my intelligence if you think I would have remained unaware. But answer me this: How do you think the Gryffindors will have a chance of winning if you can't even look up when Harry is in the same space as you? The Slytherins are going to crush you."

Ginny jutted her jaw forward, and there was a determined look in her hazel eyes. For a fraction of a second, Callidus was reminded of his old friend Lily, but the moment quickly passed.

"I'll be able to play," Ginny stated. "Don't you worry about that. I'll play so well that Harry won't be able to help but notice."

"This is all about Harry?"

Ginny faltered for a moment. "Well. No. It's about me. I want to prove myself."

Callidus hummed and then shrugged. "If there was one way to get Harry's attention, it would probably be Quidditch."

Ginny lit up. "Really? You think so?"

"Oh no," Caiside interjected. "Now you've done it. She's going to be drawing hearts on her parchment all day."

Ginny blushed. "I am not! I only did that once!"

Caiside grinned. "That we could see. I bet you have a secret notebook that's filled with hearts."

Somehow Ginny turned even redder. "It's not true," she said weakly, but no one believed her. Callidus was just relieved that her embarrassment had ended the Quidditch discussion.

When Callidus returned to the Slytherin dungeons after finishing off his star chart for Astronomy, Harry and Draco were splayed out on the sofa. Both of them looked exhausted, and Callidus assumed that Quidditch practice had probably been grueling. Their first game against Gryffindor would be coming soon, and Marcus Flint was determined to maintain the Slytherin's winning streak.

As Callidus neared the sofa, he heard Greengrass grouse: "Must you two sit like that? This is Slytherin House! Your positions are so - undignified! People will talk about us!"

Harry just hummed indifferently, while Draco tiredly declared: "I really - don't - care. If you have a problem, take it up with Flint. I bet you won't be complaining when we win the Quidditch Cup."

"Confident, aren't we?" Callidus observed as he sat down on the sofa next to Harry.

Draco looked over at him and managed a tired, but self-satisfied smirk. "Of course I'm confident. The Slytherins have a secret weapon this year."

Callidus arched an eyebrow. "Oh?"

Draco somehow managed to look even more smug. "I'm not telling what the secret is. Everyone is just going to have to find out during our first match of the year."

"Oh!" Parkinson exclaimed. "Is it the fact that you all have new, top-of-the-line brooms?"

"Paaansy!" Draco wailed unhappily. "How did you knoooow? We even disguised the brooms during practice! We wanted to shock everyone during the first match!"

Parkinson grinned brightly. "If there's a secret, I'll find out eventually. There isn't much here at Hogwarts that gets past me."

"Oh, really?" Callidus intoned.

Parkinson's expression turned sly. "Yes, really, Cal. Don't tell me you doubt me. Do you want me to tell everyone what happened at the library earlier?"

Callidus paled. "You wouldn't dare."

Draco straightened up in his seat. "Something happened in the library?" He looked from Callidus back to Parkinson and then to Callidus again. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened in the library," Callidus growled.

Draco now seemed fully alert, though Harry was still indifferently lazing on the sofa. "Tell me what happened," Draco demanded.

"Nothing happened," Callidus repeated, while Parkinson said, "Something quite interesting."

"It was involving the Gryffindor girls wasn't it." Draco was like a wolf who had scented blood, and didn't want to lose the trail.

"Oh Cal, are you embarrassed?" Parkinson asked, her voice saccharine. "It was actually really sweet. Odd, yes, but sweet."

"Tell mee!" Draco whinged.

"I have no desire to discuss this topic." Callidus's voice was flat, and he had crossed his arms.

Parkinson cackled. "You're lucky that it's just as fun to torment Draco as it is to torment you, Cal. Don't worry, I'll keep your little secrets."

Callidus narrowed his eyes. "For what price?"

Parkinson shrugged. "No price. Just bear in mind that I have eyes everywhere."

Callidus thinned his lips. "For a moment, I thought I might have to make an enemy of you."

Parkinson gave him a weak smile. "If there's anything my life has taught me, it's when not to push things too far."

"This isn't fair!" Draco interrupted. "You have to tell me Pansy!"

Parkinson turned and gave Draco an amused smile. "I don't have to tell you anything."

"Harry!" Draco nudged him. "You want to know, don't you?"

"Ow!" Harry winced. "Why did you do that? Merlin, I'm so sore. Flint is a slave-driver. I swear, he's trying to kill us all."

"Haaarry - don't you want to know what Callidus was doing with the girls?"

"I want to know why Flint is so cruel," Harry groaned. "Why does he take such pleasure in making all of us suffer? What did we do to deserve this?"

Parkinson laughed. "Oh Harry, darling - you signed up for it!"

"I signed up to play Quidditch - not to be tortured," Harry told her mournfully. He turned his head to face Callidus. "Cal - you should test that potion on Flint. You said you needed to do human tests right?"

Callidus raised his eyebrows. It was true that he needed to do human tests on his friendliness potion, but he hadn't thought of who to test it on yet. "I suppose Flint would be a suitable subject. But I don't want to be the one to dose him. Frankly, I'd prefer not to be flayed alive by an irate Quidditch captain."

Harry straightened up and then winced from his aches. "You would really test the potion on Flint?"

"What potion? What are you talking about now? I thought we were talking about what happened in the library," Draco interjected.

Though Callidus had been keeping the topic of his friendliness potion quiet from Draco, he didn't see the harm in telling him now. "I've been formulating a potion that removes aggressiveness and hostility, and makes people behave more amiably."

Draco scrunched up his nose. "Amiably?" But then his expression cleared and he brightened. "You're going to use it on Flint? Really?"

"As long as you two are the ones to dose him, then I'm fine with Flint being the test subject," Callidus answered.

"Let's do it then!" Draco said excitedly.

Harry grinned and nodded before turning back to Callidus. "How does it work?"

"It can be swallowed as potion, but we're testing it in vapour form so it's a rather different process. You can leave an open vial or bowl of the potion and when Flint is within a meter from it, a use a vapourizing spell - it's a very specific one that I'll have to teach you if you don't already know it."

"I think I know most of the vapourizing spells - I lent you that book, remember?" Harry reminded him. "But we'll probably have to teach Draco."

"I don't know any vapourization spells," Draco told them.

Callidus nodded. "All right then. Make sure the potion doesn't get knocked over - anything on the floor can interfere with the ingredients and it may not work. Otherwise, the only requirement is to make sure that Flint is within a meter of it before you vapourize it. Oh, and throw up some sort of protective barrier spell if you don't want to be affected. You should be fine if you're far enough away, but I'm not sure if you want to take that chance."

"Okay." Harry nodded. "I think I got that. When do you want to do it Draco?"

"Next practice," Draco decided. "Flint has made us triple our practice time since the big match is coming up, and I need a break!"

Callidus raised his eyebrows. "Are you sure it won't affect your overall performance in the match to be slacking off during practices?"

Harry groaned. "If anything, we'd probably perform better because we wouldn't be in pain!"

"So it's decided!" Draco asserted.

Harry nodded in agreement, looking pleased. "Next practice - two days from now."

A/N: Thanks for the reviews/favs/follows!

I'm slowly getting back into writing :)