"Very good work today, everyone," Professor Flitwick said, watching his students enlarge and shrink their teacups. "Very impressive. Kindly put your teacups in the cupboards in the back, and then you are free to leave. Homework is six inches on the theory of this charm!"

"At least I managed to do this one," Alexandra said as her, Fred and Alanna cleaned up their area. "After only a dozen tries…"

"But your teacup grew bigger than mine," Alanna pointed out.

"It barely shrunk, though," Alexandra reminded her.

"Ah well, it's not exactly an important spell," Fred shrugged. "You really wouldn't be using it during duels or anything."

"That doesn't mean it's not important," Alanna said rolling her eyes as the three made their way into the Great Hall. "Not everything's about duels."

"Only the important things," said Fred.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, Fred and Alanna still going on about dueling. Alexandra helped herself to a piece of chicken potpie and was just about to dig into it when something caught her eye. On the other side of the hall, she spotted Wretermoust fiddling with something in his bag. She couldn't see what exactly it was, but Wretermoust seemed absolutely engrossed in it. She knew whatever was occupying him couldn't be good, and she wished she had some way of knowing what it was without actually having to have any contact with him.

"What are you looking at?" Alanna asked, snapping Alexandra back into reality.

"Nothing," she said quickly. She looked down at her lunch. Suddenly, she wasn't hungry.

"I'm going to go to the library," she said, pushing her plate away. "I want to get a head start on Flitwick's essay."

"We'll meet you in there after we finish eating," Fred said. "I need to return my Quidditch book anyway."

Alexandra nodded as she grabbed her bag and headed out of the hall and into the library.

The library was empty, since most of the students were eating their lunches still. She began browsing the aisles, enjoying the solitude.

"Mum wanted me to thank you."

Alexandra spun around and came face to face with Wretermoust.

"What?"

"For getting the necklace," he said.

"Keep your voice down," Alexandra hissed, frantically looking over her shoulder to make sure no one had come in with him and heard what he just said.

"Still ashamed of her and I, are you?" Wretermoust grinned. "No matter. You'll come around in time. She just wanted me to deliver the message."

"I didn't do it for her," Alexandra said in a hushed tone. "I did it so I could get rid of any link she had to me. Now that I did, I don't plan of having anymore contact with her or you."

"Like I said, you'll come around," he sneered. "Maybe sooner than you think."

"What do you mean?" she asked, backing away from him.

He grinned wickedly.

"Is there a problem here?"

Much to Alexandra's relief, Neville rounded the corner.

Wretermoust crossed his arms. "I was just leaving." He made one last glance at Alexandra before he turned on his heel and headed out of the library.

"He wasn't harassing you too much, was he?" Neville asked Alexandra.

She shook her head. "No."

"Good," he nodded. "I just wandered in here to look for a book I can recommend to a few students who are struggling a bit in Herbology."

"That's…nice," she said. "I, um, was just about to go up to the common room for a bit before I went to Potions."

"I won't keep you then," Neville said.

Alexandra quickly exited the library, and was just about to turn a corner when she nearly crashed into Fred and Alanna.

"I thought you were going to work on your essay," Alanna said, balancing herself.

"Yeah," Fred nodded. "Why are you leaving?"

"The book I wanted was checked out," she lied. "I was just going back to the Great Hall to find you two."

"Oh," Fred said. "Well, since we aren't going to do the essays, why don't we go down to Hagrid's for a bit? We still have twenty minutes of break left."

"Good idea," Alanna said. "Come on, Alexandra."

Alexandra followed the two. She hated the guilty feeling that was bubbling inside her. How many lies had she told her friends all to keep her secret safe?

She had to, though, she reminded herself. A thousand lies would be better than them finding out the truth.