Harry placed Sirius' letter on his bed, and stared at the ceiling. His eyelids were heavy now, and his mind much too full, once again. He sat on a small wooden chair and placed his feet on the small desk that he and his four friends shared, but nonetheless never used: it's drawers were empty and it's surface was free, whereas the rest of the small dorm was jam-packed with items of all sorts. He eyed the letter, then forced himself to place his attention upon the open widow. A dark figure had appeared not far from the cloud behind which the owl had disappeared only minutes ago. It's silhouette was blurry, and Harry could not make out it's contours. Saliva filled the boy's throat, preventing him from swallowing. His thoughts were tangled, he felt suddenly worried. Was it the attack, already? He plunged towards the window, magically sealing it, not daring to touch it with his bare hands. He leaned forward until his nose was half an inch away from the glass. His heart was roaring and his breath formed a warm, grayish spot on the window. He wiped it away with his sleeve. The figure was still. It did not grow nor shrink, it simply remained where it was. Harry sighed, his heart still pounding in his chest. It was a cloud. A simple cloud. He lacked sleep, his brain did not have enough substance to function correctly. He sat up straight, leaving a couple of seconds to his heart to return to a more or less normal pace. Suddenly, a loud screech hit his ears.

The surprise threw the boy off his chair, and he found himself sitting on the bare ground. He quickly got on his feet, adrenaline pulsing through his veins. Harry ran down the cobblestone stairs that led to the Gryffondor common room and halted on the last step. He felt half-relieved to see it was nothing, and half-frustrated to understand he had over-reacted. Thalia had simply set foot in the oval tower, which somehow led to a third-grade girl screaming at the top of her lungs. All of the inhabitants of the common room seemed angry with the young girl, who had turned as red as the couch she was sitting on. A false-alarm. Again. Harry was about to climb the stairs again to reunite with the sweetness of his sheets, but then Thalia frowned and gazed intensely in his eyes. He let out a small moan of pity, hoping a form of superior power would take notice of it and postpone the upcoming battle for a year or two. The teacher got up, and slowly gave out orders. "Would you students please run upstairs to get your friends, and bring them back down here? I have an… important message to deliver, and I would like all the Gryffondor students to be present when I do so." She was undeniably sad. Her grim expression did not leave her features one instant, and it was with the same beat look that she asked Harry to come and join her as the other students were running to their dorms, hurried by Thalia's somehow frightening announcement. Harry slowly walked towards her, realizing Sirius would be quite unhappy when he would learn she had been the one of charge of protecting him during the battle. Tucked under her arm were three or four packages wrapped in a thick velvet envelope. She was only wearing a regular muggle shirt, and Harry caught a glimpse of the jet black tattoo engraved on her forearm. Something jolted upwards in his stomach.

"Harry, could you please help me set these up somewhere?" she asked, breathing heavily.

"Of course," Harry replied. "Are… Is it going to be that bad?" Harry inquired, his teacher's nervosity affecting him.

"What?" she simply continued, gingerly placing the few Thin Ices she had brought on a low coffee table.

"The battle? Is it going to be horrible?" Harry explained.

"Oh, of course not Harry!" Thalia exclaimed. "I'm just so scared… All these students under my responsibility, I don't know what to do." She chuckled lightly. "I'm not used to protecting the people with whom I battle. People like Bella don't need defense… Anyways," she said, cutting short to what Harry guessed was a moment of nostalgia, "I hope they are going to send a teacher who knows how to handle kids." Harry smiled at her and focused on his task. Bella. Bellatrix Lestrange. Sirius' warning suddenly seemed more necessary now his teacher had mentionned her ancient friendships. What if… Bella, Harry thought, finally forcing himself to spit out the nickname, was among the attacking forces? Harry shrugged. He hated his teacher's twisted situation, and he hated being part of it. Nonetheless, he tried reassuring his teacher. "Just treat us like adults, you know. Well, maybe not the younger ones, but at least us… We'll help."

"Do you really think Dumbledore allows me to use you children as weapons?"

"Errrm… No?"

"No indeed," Thalia laughed. "I'll manage to figure out some defense strategy. I still pray I'll be joined by Flitwick…"

"Dumbledore didn't tell you with who you would be working?"

"No, he hasn't decide yet. When we learned the Death Eaters had arrived, four teachers were sent away to the common rooms to protect the students, then four more will arrive to help them, depending on Dumbledore's decision. The rest will stay with him to chase the Death Eaters away.

"You're not fighting?" Harry asked.

"Of course not, I… feel rather uncomfortable attacking, you know... them. Not all of them but… I simply don't know what would happen if I was to face Malfoy during the battle. Dumbledore doesn't thrust me on that point. Neither do I."

Harry sensed there was something more than this, only he had no time to obtain any confessions from his teacher. The common room was filled with students now, and Thalia had turned away from him to start counting. Harry stared at the Thin Ices, noticing with disappointment that Thalia had not brought with her the thinnest of these objects. He grumpily dragged himself to the center of the room, were all the students were assembled, sitting on the ground. He found a place between Ginny and a chair, and immediately reached it. He gave the young girl a wide grin as he sat on a thick rug. "Listen up everyone," called Thalia, and within seconds the room was silent, " I am sorry to announce that the castle is being attacked this very moment by a small group of Death Eaters." The group remained silent, none daring to speak, but fear was spread across the young faces. The small woman was tempting with little success to seem reassuring. "Do not worry, any of you, the school has the situation under control, and none of you will be harmed." Harry noticed how she emphasized, unintentionally, the last you. It became clear that she hated standing before a pack of inactive kids that couldn't do anything to prevent the battle, nor any of it's consequences. He wondered for a second which names were on her mind. Bella and Malfoy, or Dumbledore and the teachers. The young man could not guess the answer. It scared him more than a little.

"Rest assured, we shall be fine. The Dark Lord himself will not even be present during the battle." As she said so, she lifted her thin arms in the air, and the entire crowd saw, before it's eyes, a Dark Mark. Harry sighed. His teacher was terrible when trying to comfort. "I guess, errm, if any of you have questions…" Thalia proposed, and immediately a few hands raised, Hermione's reaching the air a full second before everyone else's. " Miss Granger?"

"I was wondering what was our defense plan?"

"I'll come to that in a second dear," Thalia replied, immediately pointing a young first grade.

"Are we going to fight?" he asked, his small voice trembling.

"Of course not darling. I will stay here the entire night in case any of our enemies get past the first lines of defense, assured by the teachers." Half a dozen hands fell, leaving only the raised arm of Fred Weasley, which was held straight, darted towards the sky. The boy was smiling. Thalia seemed reluctant to let him speak. "Fred… you never even ask a question in class. Do you really need to express yourself this very instant?"

"Of course I do."

"You will not worry the younger students?"

"Not more than your cute little tattoo and your mention of He-who-must-not-be-named already have."

"Alright," Thalia gave up, smiling at the criticism of her small speech.

"If I understood correctly, you will be sleeping with us?" he asked, still grinning, gesturing towards the students.

"Yes…" Thalia slowly admitted, sensing there was more to this question than she could see at the moment.

"Yes, you will…" Fred started.

"Yes I will be sleeping with… Oh Fred, grow up!" she shouted, finally understanding what the Weasley was trying to do.

"Oh please, Thally, I just want my galleon," the boy insisted, jubilant.

"I… Just… Don't call me Thally, in the first place," the woman said.

She then paused, taking a deep breath. "Alright, my dear, here it goes… Yes I will sleep with you. You have now won your bet in such an unfair way that I can't even describe, but I'm in such a hurry that I will let you win, here is your money," she spat out without stopping once, and throwing a golden galleon towards the red-head.

"Now, I would like all students in 5th, 6th or 7th grade to stand up and place themselves at the back of the room. Actually, no, please move towards the back wall, but then you may sit. I would like all the others to stand up, and to stay the closest possible to the center of the room." Harry got up and walked towards the collection of Thin Ices, reaching Ron and Hermione as he did so. They both sat down as the younger students stood up. "Perfect," Thalia continued, "could the boys please come to my right now, and the girls to the left?" The kids shifted rapidly, and soon they were divided in two distinct groups. "I would now appreciate if you could place yourselves in four lines, one for each grade, and all choose a friend in your grade," she continued as the students obeyed. "From now on, this person is part of you: you must follow her or him everywhere until I say you can stop. If you have to pee in the middle of the night, you bring this person with you, if we are evacuated, you stick to this person, is it clear enough?" They all nodded silently, clasping their partners, as if, like Thalia had said, they were part of them. "To finish, each couple of fourth grades will pair up with a couple of first grades. The second grades will pair up with the third grades. Each little group of four can now install themselves in a dorm, don't bother to take your own, just get your essentials and bunk in. From this point the oldest one in the group is in charge. You will teach a few defensive spells to the youngest ones, and you'll be in charge of communicating with me if there is any trouble. You can install yourselves now." The students jogged up the flight of stairs with a military discipline. No sound was heard for a little while, and then a few subtle cracks crackled in the air.

The second the last first grader rushed up the stairs, Thalia let herself fall on a couch, trembling furiously. The students could not sort out if she was conscious or not, and none dared to walk towards her, wondering if they were allowed to walk away from the wall. She finally lift up her head and muttered: "I hate being the figure of authority." A few students laughed, and suddenly the pack dispersed across the room, taking place on different chairs and couches, or simply on the ground. "How come?" Harry asked. He was under the impression Thalia would love being in a position of power. Thirst for control was a rather common characteristic of Death Eaters. "Because you have to pretend to be in charge and confident, and you can't show your emotions," she explained, still shaking. "Well… you've pathetically failed that aspect," tried Seamus, still resentful towards the comments his teacher had emitted, two nights before. His words did not affect Thalia, who burst into laughter. "You guys have passed the age where you think your teacher is a mythical creature that cannot be wrong," she giggled. "What makes you believe that?" asked a sixth grade. "How many of you think I'm a hundred years old?" she said. The students laughed. By now, Thalia had controlled the shudders that had taken possession of her spine. She continued, gaining confidence. "Is it so hard for you to imagine that I have a boyfriend, or that I don't have for sole purpose your education?"

Once again, the students chuckled, Thalia's question creating a bigger wave of agitation: all wanted to know who was the mysterious boyfriend she had referred to. Harry knew. He knew the others did not want to know. Fred and George approached the three friends, and Fred hit Harry with his elbow, winking. He jumped on the occasion. "Oh, darling, I asked you not to tell them!" he shout out. Thalia seemed at ease with the older students: she seemed to consider them, as Harry had recommended, like adults. She was simply chatting with the Gryffondors like she had been surrounded by old friends. She smiled at Fred's remark, and Harry saw a flash cross her eyes as she decided to play his game. "Well sweety, they wouldn't have guessed if you could have shut your trap for once."

"You're right, it's all my fault."

"Yes it is."

"Fine… Anyways, I guess now it's not worth pretending anymore."

Fred jumped on the couch Thalia was occupying, slowly approaching his mouth from hers, in an unnaturally slow motion. The woman smiled and pushed him away. "Do something stupid like that and the real one… well I don't believe it's necessary to explain what will happen if you anger him."

"How come, you don't feel like exposing gory details tonight?," Fred asked, sitting up besides her.

"Half this house believes I'm a sadistic murderer."

"And?"

"And I wouldn't want to loose the half that still believes I'm not so bad."

George finally broke the silence that had crept upon the room. "He couldn't attack him. We'd all discover who he truly is."

"Ah, dear friend, you seem to forget that regrettable accidents happen once in a while…"

"You're kidding right?"

The twins were starting to fear Thalia's threats were more than just laughs, which was what the rest of the students believed. They all giggled at Thalia's fake menacing expression, unaware of the true identity of the real one in question. Harry did not doubt Snape would eliminate anyone standing between him and Thalia. The two Weasleys seemed to have finally understood this fact. "Of course I'm kidding," Thalia, reassured them, "you think I would really let that mindless, heartless man after you? Even though we'd have a model," she added, pointing at George, "I doubt we could ever manage to reconstruct you the same way you used to – YOU! GET AWAY FROM THOSE!"

Harry turned on the spot, surprised. Thalia was shouting at two seventh years who had approached the Thin Ices and the wooden easels that held them straight. They froze when their teacher strolled towards them, furious. "You two idiots! I knew I shouldn't have brought these with me," she half-shouted, half-muttered. "If any of you try approaching these, rest assured you will wish you had been locked outside the tower rather than in it." The two students shrunk back. Harry guessed they intended no harm, but were simply curious to examine these peculiar objects. He had to admit the idea had flashed across his mind… where it still lingered of course. Thalia sighed, and sat on the table with the mirrors. "Alright, ground rules. No one gets near the objects I will lay out on this table. You probably weren't aware of the mere existence of half of these, and there is a reason to that. Normally I would never get them out of my office, but Dumbledore asked me to keep watch so… Well anyways, don't touch them. On the other hand, you can still talk to me or to yourselves until the second teacher arrives, with Dumbledore's orders of course. Is it fine?"

The students nodded, and all walked away from the table Thalia had marked as her own. Suddenly, they did not mind staying away from these strange artifacts. As their teachers opened as large suitcase Harry had not noticed, the conversations reignited and soon the common room was exactly as it was supposed to be at such a time: filled the few, older students that continued their meaningless chatter to escape the obligation of homework. It was only about half an hour later, at nine o'clock exactly, that an intruder interrupted the magical instant of serenity.

He pursed his lips, stared at the audience of astonished students, and sneered. "Charming," he mumbled sartistically in his deep voice.