It's been a week since the beginning of term and all has gone well for Phyllis. The marauders have left her alone, it seems they barely know that she even exists, she gets on well enough with her housemates, and her friendship with Lily is as strong as ever. It is all going too well for her honestly, good things have never lasted long for her. She just had to bide her time for the inevitable collapse of her good fortune. But in the meantime, she would work toward her goal of eradicating the dark lord's Horcruxes.

She has spent more time in the library this first week than many Hogwarts students will in all seven years of their education. Despite those hours of sorting through shelves and leafing through books, she has found nought even a reference to Horcruxes or any similar subject matter. If there are any books able to aid her in the Hogwarts library they will be hidden away in the restricted section, not a place she will be able to venture anytime soon without delving into more nefarious means.

Hope was not all lost though, Hogwarts was filled with many a secret. Having been around since the ninth century and playing host to thousands of powerful wixen the castle has absorbed enough residual magic to nearly become sentient in its own right. Phyllis could find the answers she was searching for yet. There were a few places she had yet to search for her desired information, the first on her list to search was the room of requirement. It was the most obvious as the room gives, or at least tries its best, to give one what they need and it is also the most likely to hold answers.

That would have to wait for another day though as she had promised Lily she would study with her out by the black lake while the weather was still nice, well as nice as the weather can get in Scotland.

"Lissy! There you are," said redhead called out to her friend as she saw the morose girl approach.

When Phyllis made it to the tree her friend set up camp under she saw another Hufflepuff girl alongside Lily. Lily had likely made friends with the girl, who Phyllis was failing to recognise. The raven-haired girl was not overjoyed at having to share her friend, especially during the time they promised to spend together. But she would not say anything, she did not want to lose her friend over something so petty.

"Lissy, this is Amelia Bones. I'm sorry I didn't tell you she would be tagging along but she's actually doing good in history of magic so I figured she'd be useful to our study session and you wouldn't mind too terribly much," Lily explained with a smile.

Now that she had a name she could see traces of Amelia Bones in the bubbly and smiling Hufflepuff girl. The Amelia Bones she had come to know in her adult life was much more stern and weary. The loss of her brother and his family truly did a number on the woman, she never did look the same after that.

"It's nice to meet you, Snape was it? Lily's always talking about you," the blonde spoke, her words accompanied by a large smile.

"Yes," Phyllis said as she took a seat across the two Hufflepuffs, "I suppose it is nice to meet you as well, Bones."

"I've seen you in the Library an awful lot, is there anything specific you're looking for? I might be able to help."

Phyllis hadn't realised anyone noticed how much time she spent in the Library besides Lily and she had been hoping if anyone did notice they would simply chalk it up to her being a Ravenclaw. It would not do for anyone to be suspicious of her even if they are just an eleven-year-old.

"I'm just perusing the shelves so that I know where everything is for future reference and to see if there is any interesting subject matter to study," Phyllis lied to the girl, she could not tell anyone her true intentions and the lie she gave is as close to the truth as she could get.

"Oh, did you find anything, Lissy? Like anything that could get rid of a certain history professor. He is absolutely dreadful. I can't stand having to hear him ramble on anymore without actually learning anything about the actual history of magic and not just goblin wars. Yes, learning about past conflicts is important so that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past but there is more to history than that," Lily expressed passionately.

"I do believe I saw a book or two that explored the theory of ghosts, poltergeists, and other such things," Phyllis responded with a slight smirk on her thin lips. The pale girl always did have a penchant for darker subjects, even after that penchant got her in more trouble than it was worth.

"Do you really think that's a good thing to do? I mean it's not fair to professor Binns to remove him from the mortal plane without his input," The youngest Bones sibling interrupted.

"Is it fair to the students to receive a deplorable excuse of an education thanks to the headmaster being too cheap to hire an actual professor. He does not even have to vanquish Binns if he does not want to, just hire an actual professor and change the room history of magic is taught in. Hogwarts is a castle, there is more than enough room to do so," Phyllis argued, perhaps a bit too harshly, but that was simply her nature.

"Well… you may have a point, but that does not make what you two want to do right. Everyone has a right to life, no matter what life it is they lead, natural, immortal, or an afterlife," declaimed Bones as she walked off. Even young there are traces of the head of the department of magical law enforcement Phyllis had once seen the girl become.

"That was a bit extreme, she's been so nice to me in the dormitory and classes. I was hoping we would all get along. Now, tell me about what you found about ghosts, it's bound to be a better use of time than the essay for Binns' class," Lily spoke, turning to look at her raven haired friend with avid attention.

Phyllis hadn't actually read up on ghosts while in the library, but she knew enough about them from her previous life to bluff her way through it, "all creatures have a soul of some type, and those souls can become trapped and tethered to the mortal plane, creatures with the ability of rational thought have a higher chance of this happening. Ghosts as we see them around the castle are more the work of magic. Magic gives the trapped souls a form and helps to preserve the souls mind, ability of rational thought, and ability to communicate. And based on the magical ability of the dead wixen some ghosts even retain some of their ability to perform magic. Muggles, while their souls may become trapped will never appear as ghosts due to lack of magic and they also have very limited ability to communicate," Phyllis explained to Lily.

"So, how can we exorcise professor Binns? Do we have to somehow sever his soul from his magic, his magic from his soul, either or, or both?"

"A wixen's magic and their soul can not be severed from one another. They are far too closely intertwined for that to be feasible. The easiest way I can think of without any further research to get rid of Binns would be a dementor, given they consume souls. Though that is a highly impractical method, and not just because of how hard one would be to acquire."

"What makes the dementor method so impractical?" Lily interrupted

"For one, dementors are only known to be found in Azkaban prison, one of the most secure prisons known to the wizarding world. Additionally, not only do they consume souls but they also feed off of human happiness leaving those in the creature's presence left in a drained and depressed state, not an ideal state to be left in. and we also have no real way of controlling the thing, meaning we may let a dementor loose on the world and still have to sit through Binns class," Phyllis info dumped to the young redhead.

"That's too bad, I was hoping we'd be able to get rid of him no problem. I think I'm going to go to the library tomorrow and do some research on it if you want to come join me?" Lily asked hopefully.

"I would love to, but unfortunately I promised to help Chronis with some studying," Phyllis lied in response, as much as she really would love to spend more time with Lily she had to find more information on Horcruxes. It's been weighing on her since she got to Hogwarts and she can't help but feel as though she's close to a breakthrough in her quest.

Using Chronis as an excuse would be perfect, the girl hardly left Ravenclaw tower and when she did it was only to run to the Library for a book and run back, as far as Phyllis knew at least. She supposed the girl could be going elsewhere and she just never noticed, she has been rather absorbed in her hunt for information on horcruxes.

"Oh," Lily said, sounding mildly disappointed, "well then, how about we meet up at the end of the week and discuss what we find."

"That works for me."

"Great! Then I'll see you at the end of the week, partner," Lilly said as she saluted the raven haired girl and ran off with a skip in her step.

"You've gotten into a bit of a mess and involved me haven't you," Pandora Chronis stated as Phyllis walked into the Ravenclaw dormitory after dinner. "I would appreciate it if you didn't do so again, I just hope you didn't get me into any trouble."

"How would you know?" Phyllis asked the blonde, her words coming out with a suspicious tone behind them.

"The wind likes to speak with me sometimes."

That certainly would explain Chronis' oddness. Wind whisperers were very rare and much more in tune with magic and nature than any other wixen. There is magic in almost everything in magical communities and to be as in tune with it as a wind whisperer is an astronomical thing that is advantageous in most every scenario and Phyllis is proud to have made her acquaintance.

"No, I got you into no trouble. I just needed an excuse and you are the first that came to mind. If you wouldn't mind sticking mostly to the dormitory tomorrow it would be appreciated."

"Well, that's good. But if you ever need any actual help with whatever mission you have let me know, I won't ask many questions, I just want more experiences and to learn more."

Phyllis nodded to the girl and went to her bed, perhaps having Chronis on her side could be useful. If she managed to find one Horcrux Chronis' relationship with magic could help her locate the rest. As much as she wants to do this in secret, get it done, and sweep it under the rug without anyone knowing, she wants to get it done more quickly and bringing Chronis into the fold would accomplish that. So many things she must consider and so many arithmancy equations to set up and complete.

Notes:

I have a very fun idea for the next chapter and I will leave it at that. I just hope I will be able to capture it the way I'm Imagining it.