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On her way back to the Common Room, Cecilia cursed herself multiple times. She should have just stayed put and not decided to get drunk because she was bored. If it had been any other than Fred Weasley, she would've been in big trouble. Fortunately for her Fred actually seemed to get to want to know her. That was something she had to use so he would stay quiet. Maybe she should tell Daphne that she had to pursue someone and the younger girl would definitely help her. Cecilia had never flirted; her looks and her coldness had always worked better than trying to be something she was not.

Back in the Common Room she made her way through the drunken crowd and went to bed immediately. She was not going to try with another drunk person.

The next morning she was up before everyone else. They all would probably carry a massive hangover, while she only felt a slight ache behind her temple. She sat at the breakfast table all by herself and used the time to think about the fact that she was seriously contemplating seducing Fred Weasley, in order for him to forget about her secret. One thing was clear, she had to do it subtle. He would surely notice if she suddenly did a 180 and started being nice to him. Maybe she really had to ask Daphne how to flirt while still being mean.

"What are you thinking about, Nott?" a voice she identified as Timothy's asked her out of the blue. Cecilia realized that she had stared at the empty Gryffindor table for the last five or so minutes.

"None of your business. What do you want from me?" she asked nonchalant.

Timothy did not answer. Cecilia started thinking about a plan, when suddenly she had a startling thought.

"Thank you, Timothy. You just gave me a brilliant idea" she half-shouted at him and then stood up and ran out of the hall with a grin on her face. Now she knew what she had to do. Gryffindors always had a weird savior-complex, meaning that they would probably help anyone when it came down to it. She just had to make sure that Weasley saw her broken inside before she was going to break him.

It was seriously time to notify her father. While everyone was still asleep, Cecilia made her way to the Owlery to visit her snowy looking owl called Amity. She remembered when she was just a first year and her father had critized that name simply because it meant 'friendship'. To this day, Amity truly was a friend to her and would always be.

She wrote a quick letter, in Theodore's truly terrible handwriting, and then gave it to his owl. Even after Theo's owl had left she stayed for a good hour, relishing in the peace and quiet before the storm would hit. The sky was filled with clouds and there was a chill running through her bone.

She spent the rest of the day only half listening to her professors because she was too busy formulating the rest of her plan. It was Friday, so tomorrow would be a Hogsmeade weekend and she was going to see Weasley in DADA again on Monday. As always her timing was perfect. She had been scheming since she was child and it turned out, that all of that payed off.

She was just eating dinner when Theodore pulled her aside, just like she had planned. She kept her face just impassive enough.

"What do you want?" she asked her brother, seemingly angry that he had interrupted her dinner.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't be so impatient, you can eat after I had my word with you."

ยด"Do not dare dismiss me like that, Theodore" she said with clenched teeth. She couldn't believe Theo thought himself above her. Especially because she was his older sister and a way better spellcaster than he would ever be.

Theodore did not say anything back at her just looked at her through narrow eyes. Cecilia clenched her fists, she was not going to be provoked by his arrogance.

"I only wanted to notify you, that father wants to meet you tomorrow in Hogsmeade. He will await you."

Cecilia held in a sign of relief and in contrary let out an anguished sigh and allowed her real fear to show for just as long as it would take Weasley to notice. Speaking of Weasley, Cecilia craned her neck just enough to look at the Gryffindor table, where Fred indeed sat and watched her. She felt some sort of relief and then turned her head to look at Theodore once again.

"Tell him, I'll come" she whispered and then went away on her own notice, trying to look like someone who had just received horrible news but was still trying to act like everything was alright. She was not elated about seeing her father again so soon but on the other side she was happy that her plan had taken off so well.

Of course she couldn't show that on the outside, so she made sure to wear a sour look on her face.

It worked so well that everyone kept out of her way. She smirked every time someone jumped out of their skin because she had approached them. It was still funny to her, how people misjudged her daily.

She felt someone's eyes on her back the whole way to the dungeons. It would not be a Slytherin. No one in her house would ever observe someone so obvious. Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs obviously did not care about Slytherin, so it could only be a Gryffindor. It was Fred, for sure. Still, Cecilia did not turn around until she had safely entered the Common Room, only to go to sleep right away. She needed all the sleep she could get.

Cecilia slept until 10a.m. before she finally arose from her bed and walked into the bathroom. There she straightened her long silver curls. She put a bit of lipgloss and mascara on, latter would surely make for a great effect when it was going to run down her cheeks later. She took deep breaths for about ten minutes and then slowly departed to the Great Hall, where Daphne was already waiting.

"You're late, Cecilia", Daphne said in a discouraging tone, tapping her wrist to indicate the time.

"I was tired" she simply said to please her friend and then walked ahead, knowing Daphne would follow.

"I'd rather have you not accompanying me today" Cecilia informed Daphne in a formal way and straightened her posture to put on her arrogant, self-centered personality.

Daphne simply rolled her eyes dismissively. Cecilia should have known she couldn't fool her friend.

"Ok. But whatever it is, look after yourself" Daphne said in a soft tone and touched her arm momentarily before disappearing.

"Can't promise that" Cecilia whispered and then walked among the crowd of students, so no one would be able to see where she was going. She walked fast paced, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. When everyone else had walked into a store, she took a turn to her left and stopped when she saw her father's face in front of hers.

"You are quite late, young lady" he said with malice in his eyes. Cecilia resisted the urge to make herself small.

"Hello, father" she addressed him politely, not wanting the situation to esculate where everyone could see.

"Let us go somewhere more secluded" he said, grabbed her arm and dragged her into a small building to her left. Cecilia tried to subdue the fear racing through her veins. She had planned this, she had prepared herself for the pain, but now she wondered if it had been worth it. She found herself in a cellar, without any light and a wet floor. She cursed loudly. Now she had to buy new robes to not ruin her reputation.

"It is a shame that we cannot use the Cruciatus Cruse without going to Azkaban, so I will have to find a different way to punish you for your actions" her father's voice clung out of nowhere and made it Cecilia instinctively cover herself. His voice was so cold that Cecilia felt shivers run down her arms and she suddenly wished for the comfort of her common room.

"If you do not want your secrets to come out, you might aswell stop talking to your brother. He is really afraid of me"

"Get on with it" Cecilia told him, sick and tired of waiting for the torture to begin. It was always the hardest part about this ritual.