My mouth goes dry.

"Lucius? You're Lucius - Draco's dad?" I blink rapidly as I stare at the silent figure - at Lucius. What the hell does he have to do with my mum? He acted as though he didn't know the Chang family, when I'd met him over break. Was that a lie? Or had he made some sort of deal with my mother after meeting me? But what on earth would he want with my mum?

"Ah, you know our dear Draco?" The talkative one says. "He's a brilliant boy. Good old Lucius's pride and joy. It would be a shame to see him fall in the…wrong direction. Just as it would with you, Meiqi."

"What are you on about?" I frown, resting my elbows on the table as defensiveness builds in me. I highly doubt Lucius would create an unsafe environment for me, since he knows his son shares positive feelings towards me, but I know nothing about the other hooded figure. It seems as though this one holds authority over Lucius, though, so I determine that I must keep my guard up.

"There is a war coming, Meiqi." The talkative one presses. "There will come a time where you will have to pick a side, and you ought to pick the right one. The one that won't make you a weapon, a weapon that will bring about destruction."

"A weapon?"

"Your abilities are known by the wrong people. They will want to use you, use you for horrible things."

"Like You-Know-Who?" I gulp, hoping my shaking hands don't give away the nerves coursing through me. "Does he know about me?"

"You do not need to worry about the Dark Lord." Lucius speaks for the first time. "It's someone else that covets you, that seeks to use you for what he deems to be the greater good. Do not listen to him, Meiqi. Your mother made that mistake, and she will pay dearly for it."

I'm not sure what to say, so I say nothing, simply staring at the pair with wide eyes and a racing heart. "I don't understand. Who are you? How do you know me - my mother?" I turn to look at Lucius. "You said you didn't know my parents. Did you lie?"

"No." He says simply.

"Then how-"

"Meiqi." A voice interrupts us, and I nearly jump out of my seat in shock.

"Abe. Hi." I turn to face him, forcing the brightest smile that I can. While part of me is happy he's appeared, just in case these men decide to attack me for whatever reason, another side of me is annoyed, that I'd just been so close to an answer, yet so far.

"What are you doing, talking to these folks?" He eyes Lucius and the other hidden figure up and down, folding his arms over his chest. "You should know better, not to talk to strange men in the middle of the night, at a random bar."

"You're correct, Mr. Dumbledore." The one I don't know agrees, standing up from the table. Though I try, leaning down to get a glimpse of him, I cannot see his face, even in the slightest. "We were just leaving."

Lucius rises from his feet as well, following the other man out of the bar, and only when the door shuts behind them do I fully process what the mystery man had just said.

"Dumbledore?" I frown, turning to look at Abe. "You're related to Professor Dumbledore?"

"My brother." He huffs. "Unfortunately."

"Oh…" Suddenly, it made a lot more sense, the events that had taken place between Dumbledore and I. Of course he'd know about Speakers, if his brother was one.

"Now, I take it you didn't come down to my pub to make conversation with strange men."

"I didn't." I agree. "I wanted to talk to you. Something happened with Cedric Diggory, and Dumbledore - I mean, your brother, about a month ago."

"Oh?"

"Cedric attacked me. Tried to choke me. And Dumbledore - the other Dumbledore, that is, stepped in, somehow. He found us, and cursed Cedric away. I don't know how, or why."

For a long moment, he says nothing. "And you didn't come to me about this sooner why?"

I lift my shoulders in a shrug. "I don't know. It didn't occur to me that I should, I guess. Only tonight did I think of it."

"Silly child." He shakes his head, taking a seat on the chair where Lucius had just been. "Tell me what happened. Everything."

So I do. I explain how Cedric attacked me out of nowhere, nearly choking me to death, before Dumbledore stepped in. How before I could ask him what had happened, he left, and I returned to the Slytherin common room like nothing happened, because what else was I supposed to do?

Abe presses his lips together. "Did you somehow hint to Cedric that he's dead?"

I nod. "A couple times, yeah. It was before you and I talked, though. I didn't know that you're not supposed to tell them that they're dead."

He sighs. "Great. Just great. Now you have a dead person after you, on top of everything. This is just great."

"Dumbledore banished him, though. I don't know what he did, or how, but he made him go away."

"For now." Is all Abe says.

My stomach churns. "Am I in danger?"

"Yes. You are in grave danger, for more reasons than you know." He glances around, as though confirming no one is nearby, that could be listening to our conversation. "Tell me, Meiqi, have you told anyone else about your gift?"

"Just Draco. He's helped me out, a lot."

Abe blinks. "You told Draco Malfoy?"

"Was I not supposed to?"

"Were you - of course not! Do you know how dangerous his family is?"

"Lucius and Narcissa are dangerous?" I pause, thinking this over. Until five minutes ago, I never would've thought anything different about Lucius, but after him being all suspicious in a bar, I can't help but wonder if I should've stayed as far away from him - and consequently, Draco, as I can.

But no. I can't. Something has been tugging me towards Draco for months now, an invisible string willing me to stay near the boy I fancy. There's no way I could will myself away from him, not when I'm already in too deep.

"Lucius, yes. Very, very dangerous."

"He was just here." I look at the chair Lucius had just been seated on. "He was one of the hooded men."

"I know."

While I want to question how he knew it was Lucius, given their hoods, I don't, instead focusing on the subject at hand. "If he's dangerous, why would you let him in your bar?"

"If the alternative is him and his…friend, murdering me for denying him, I think I'll take serving him some drinks. But you need to stay away from them, Meiqi. That entire family is bad news. And if Lucius gets his hands on you…"

"He said that he wanted to meet with my mum. That it was fine that she didn't show up, though, because I'm here. Do you think he already knows?"

"It's possible. Do you think Draco could've told him?"

"I don't know. Maybe?" I press my lips together, attempting to push away the horrible feeling in my stomach. Draco wouldn't betray me like that, would he? Maybe he didn't know that it would put me in danger if his father know. Or maybe Abe is wrong, and Lucius and his intentions are perfectly harmless.

Something tells me that isn't the case.

With a deep breath, I look down at my shoes, certain that if I look at Abe, I'll wind up even more terrified than I already feel. "Should I be afraid, Abe?"

"You'll be safe in the castle." Is all he answers with. "If anything happens, and I mean anything, no matter how small, you come to me immediately, understood?"

I nod, rising from my seat. "I ought to go back to the castle now, before anybody notices that I'm gone. Thank you. For everything."

"It's nothing, kid."

The two hooded men are hovering outside of the Hogs Head when I exit the bar, standing near the door, like they're waiting for me.

They probably were, I reckon, given that they clearly had something to do with me. If they knew of my abilities, like Abe suggested, I'd be in Merlin knows how much trouble.

As much as I hate seeing dead people, I'm certainly not ready to join them in the afterlife quite yet.

"Meiqi." The one that isn't Lucius greets me, and I can tell by the tone of his voice that he's smiling, but not a kind one. A sinister one, a sinister smile to match his sinister voice, hissing like a snake. "We were waiting for you."

"I need to go back to school." I breathe, my voice just above a whisper. "I don't want to be too tired for my classes tomorrow."

"We won't take up too much of your time." The mystery man says. "We just want to know a couple of things."

"Such as?"

"If it's true." Lucius begins. "Can you see the dead? Are you a Speaker?"

I hesitate. He might not know for certain, but if I lie, and he finds out I'm lying in the future, won't that make things even worse for me than if I come out with the truth immediately? Besides, what could he possibly do to me? Kill me? Doubtful. Abe was most likely being dramatic about the nature of what was going on. Maybe Lucius and his friend are just curious?

"How do you know that?" I finally ask, deeming it the best possible response to give.

"Draco told me." The mystery man answers, instead of Lucius, who'd I'd expected to talk. "Well, more like, I figured it out. I'm a legilimens, you see."

"Like a mind reader?" I clarify.

The hooded man nods. "Precisely. You're a smart girl, aren't you, Meiqi?"

"I don't know about that." I shrug, eyes flickering down the road and towards the castle. "I really need to go, though. If I get caught out of bed at this hour, I'll be in loads of trouble. According to my sister, McGonagall once took one hundred and fifty points from her own house for finding students out of bed. I ought not to let that happen to me."

The mystery man lets out a chuckle. "Oh, I remember the days where house points were the most important thing to us. Those were the days, weren't they, Lucius?"

Lucius lets out a cold, dry laugh, that I can tell is forced. Why is he so nervous around the mystery man? If he's nervous, I probably should be too. Which I am. Very bloody nervous, given that they clearly don't want me to return to the castle.

"Meiqi, how would you like to be great?" The mystery man continues.

"Great?" I frown.

"Yes. Great. Great like Merlin, like Morgana, like the most powerful witches and wizards to walk the planet. The ones that live to be a thousand years old. The ones that every man, woman and child know the names of - even muggles have heard the rumors, the legends."

"Er…I don't think I could be great, even if I wanted to." I shift my weight from foot to foot. "I'm just me. Just Meiqi. I'm nothing special. But I really need to-"

"Quiet, child." Mystery Man holds up a hand, and I instinctively shut my mouth. "You have the potential to sit at my side. You are powerful. You hold the key to something we need, something we crave so dearly. You can see The Other Side, which could be the way to win this war. You could be our hero, the hero of the war."

"What war?"

"The war." Mystery Man repeats, as if that explains everything. "The war that is coming, and that will be the doom of the other side. Make no mistake, Meiqi, you're wanted on both sides of it, but only one can have you. You should choose the winning side. Choose us."

"I don't know what you're bloody talking about!" I exclaim, running a hand through my bubblegum pink hair. "Can you please just leave me alone? I need to go back to the castle!"

"Remember what we've told you, Meiqi." Mystery man says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I shiver at his touch, but for some reason, something tells me not to pull away. "You could be great. All I ask is you join us."

And with that, he reaches over to Lucius, and apparates away.