Thirty one, time for some Dumbledore and another person who we WANT TO SEE! HE'S AMAZING! Nobody can tell me otherwise.

But first, dueling club.

—0—

Merlot's eyes fluttered open to greet the smooth ceiling of the Hogwarts Hospital wing.

"Ah, you're awake."

The girl turned to see Madam Pomfrey, standing beside a bubbling cauldron. "You were asleep for quite a while, Scortwit. I moved you to my office so you could rest."

Merlot slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes as she did so. "It was loud in the rest of the hospital wing?"

"Somewhat." Poppy spoke, stirring her brew and causing it to turn green. "The Hufflepuffs were all trying to crowd around you. I got tired of fending them off after a few tried to carry you back to the dorms. Rabble rousers…"

Merlot blinked at the mediwitch. A glint of gold caught her eye and she turned to see a single golden ball, roughly the size of a walnut. A bit of parchment sat underneath it, folded up.

"Diggory was the only one I let in, because he asked nicely. Wanted to give the snitch to you since you were the hero of yesterday's quidditch match." Pomfrey said.

"That was nice of him…" Merlot said softly, picking up the small enchanted ball and looking it over. Something about it felt right in her hands… as if it were meant to be caught by her. At the corner of her mind, Merlot could feel the same tingle she felt when she normally flew.

"I'll let you stay a bit longer, Flitwick's also asking for you, just so you know."

you should know that Flitwick was looking for you."

Merlot blinked, before facepalming. "Where's my wand, and what time is it?"

"First drawer on your bedside table. And it's nine forty three in the morning dear." Poppy said, bottling her brew and draining the remaining drops at the bottom of her cauldron.

Merlot jumped up from the bed and grabbed her wand. She was still in a thin hospital gown, but she found a set of school robes already set aside for her. Quickly as she could, the girl threw on the robes and folded the gown nicely on the bed, before bowing to Madam Pomfrey and rushing from the hospital wing.

'Not that I really want to, but I've already agreed…'

Merlot rushed down the many flights of stairs and bolted through the west courtyard. She quickly ran up the steps of the west wing to get to the charms classroom and stepped through the door.

Inside, the rest of the dueling students were arranged to face each other one on one, with Hermione Granger paired with a dummy.

Flitwick noticed Merlot's arrival and hopped over excitedly. "Welcome! Welcome! You are feeling better I wager?"

Merlot nodded. "I just woke up a few minutes ago."

"Deary me! And you haven't had breakfast?"

Merlot blinked and brought a hand to her stomach. "I'll get something later. A bit of brunch."

Flitwick nodded. "As long as you're sure about it… I have everyone else practicing a few basic offensive charms. I have written them on the board for you. The stunning spell, the stinging hex, the jelly legs jinx, the tongue tying hex, and the tap dancing charm."

Merlot nodded. "Are we specifically confined to those five spells?"

Flitwicks eyes sparkled. "You are free to use any spell you know of that doesn't cause immediate harm, or death. So no flame charms, if you can manage such things. None of the darker curses either. There is a dummy over there, beside the one that Miss Granger is practicing on."

Merlot nodded and walked over to the dummy. She saw Hermione watching her from the corner of her eye, and chose to ignore the look she was receiving.

'How to do this without causing damage…'

Merlot drew her wand up, drawing on the magic she had strengthened over the last few weeks. "Aguamenti!"

A spray of water shot from the tip of the girls wand. Merlot cut the charm off as she felt the strain in her body, leaving several gallons of water to soak the armored scarecrow.

It wasn't much water, but it was a vast improvement to what she could do before the start of the year. Which a quick swish and flick Merlot caught the water as it ran down the dummy. "Glacius!"

The water froze into a thin layer of ice as the spell took effect. Merlot spun on a heel and raised her wand up in an upward slicing motion, before pulling it back as she muttered another two spells.

"Depulso, Accio!"

The dummy flew back as the glass shattered, but before it could smack into the wall of the classroom it was pulled back towards Merlot, who swirled the tip of her wand in yet another swish and flick, finishing her chain of spells with one of the charms Flitwick had written down.

"Stupefy."

The dummy was struck with the glowing red pulse of magic and flew backwards, landing on its back.

Merlot jumped as a round of applause sounded from behind her.

"That was a brilliant display!" Flitwick squeaked. "You are a natural my dear."

Merlot's lips turned into a frown as the professor turned to the rest of the class.

"Miss Scortwit just displayed a few of the concepts we went over at the start of our little session today, does anyone know what they are? Mr Weasley?"

"Complimentray spellcasting sir, she used the water charm in tandem with the freezing charm, and she used the banishing charm with the summoning charm."

Flitwick nodded. "There's a second concept mixed in there as well… Miss Patil, would you care to hazard a guess?"

"Influence of dynamic motion. When she used the banishing spell the dummy flew back as if it had been struck by something. When she summoned it back it began flipping over itself."

Flitwick nodded. "Exactly! Now, can anyone else tell me another concept displayed in miss Scortwits show? Miss MacDougal!"

"Tempo." The Ravenclaw spoke. "Her spells were all cast in a rhythm."

Flitwick nodded. "Tempo is very important. For those of you who can master it, you will find ways to step outside of the beat and confuse your opponent. When you get them used to a rhythm, they will stumble at slight changes."

The class nodded all together and Flitwick drew his wand. "Now, as a bit of extra work for the next week, although it is Halloween, do a bit of research into the shield charm and the disarming charm. Miss Scortwit, if you could stay behind please, the rest of you are dismissed."

Merlot watched as the students left the room. As the door to the classroom closed, she turned to find Flitwick pacing the center of the classroom, leafing through a large book.

"Professor?"

Flitwick nodded. "Albus told me of your disposition when it comes to duels. Still, I am glad that you chose to join the rest of your peers in this class."

Merlot nodded. "No matter how good at this I may be, I don't wish to hurt anyone."

Flitwick nodded and set the book upon the floor. "You don't have to. Part of this course is also teaching you how to react if you ever find yourself in unsavory situations. Your Defense class may teach you about different spells and dark creatures, but hostile wizards and witches are a different area."

The professor waved Merlot over and pointed to the page in the book he had stopped at.

"Battle transfiguration?"

Flitwick waved his wand at the dummy that Merlot had been facing, causing it to stand back upright. "Minerva gushed about your transfigurations at the beginning of the year. I think that we can utilize that. You can turn a stone into a wall to block spells, or turn the ground to quicksand in order to slow an enemy down. I think that this area of dueling would be a perfect start for you, since there is little that you can do to hurt someone when using it in defense."

Flitwick flicked his wand at his podium, causing several feathers to float into the air and arrange themselves behind the dummy.

"I'll use these to simulate non magical projectiles. The first spell I want you to learn is on the next page."

Merlot knelt down and looked at the book, before turning the page and reading over its contents.

By far the simplest of battle transfigurations is turning a projectile into something that you can use to obscure vision. Smoke, steam, sand, anything that can block the line of sight or irritate a wizards eye. While it may be difficult to target a moving object, it will slowly become easier over time. This first spell helps with that by creating a barrier in the path of the projectile, causing it to turn into simple droplets of water. While this may not be as effective in a dueling setting, it is a perfect way to practice the first steps of battle transfiguration.

"Aquoro…" Merlot spoke softly.

"With the instincts that you presented moments ago, I wish for you to figure out the rest on your own. Your task for the next half hour is thus, you must incapacitate the dummy using only what you create from the feathers. Defend, and then retaliate."

Flitwick flicked his wand, causing one of the feathers to zip at Merlot, who raised her wand with a quick utterance of the charm she had just read about. The feather turned to a bundle of floating raindrops, which hung in the air before falling down and spattering upon the floor.

Merlot blinked, before being snapped from her trance by a sharp jab to her shoulder.

"Ouch!"

"My apologies. You had let your guard down." Flitwick spoke.

Merlot rubbed her shoulder and looked at the second floating feather, which wiggled as if laughing before zipping back to the dummy. Flitwick raised his wand.

"Again."

Merlot transfigured the first two feathers this time, but only hit one out of the next two as the other zoomed around it and jabbed her hard in the forehead.

"Ow!"

"Again."

Merlot was beginning to grow frustrated. She had not wanted to do this in the first place and yet here she was, directly after recovering from a quidditch injury.

This time, the fourth fifth and sixth feathers all zoomed in at her in tandem, jabbing her in the chest, leg, and the back of her wand hand.

"Ow!" Merlot winced in pain, before shooting a glare at the quill that was lodged in the back of her hand. "-burn-"

The feather caught fire and was quickly reduced to ash at the commotion parseltongue. Flitwick raised an eyebrow, but gave no more of a reaction than that.

"Attack patterns can change in a dime. Again."

Merlot nodded and deflected the first few feathers. As one came a bit too close she caught it out of the air with her open and and reduced it to ash with a hiss. Flitwick flicked another volley of feathers her way and she thought back to her lesson from Quirrell in the courtyard.

"Interficiam Parva, Aeolo Addere!"

A swirl of gray surrounded the tip of Merlots wand. She swiftly swirled it in a circle in front of her, causing the air to split before ending again with a clap of Thunder. The feathers were caught in the vacuum and smashed together, which is when Merlot whipped her wand with a quick shout of "Aquoro!"

The twelve feathers turned into a splash of water, which Merlot quickly caught with magic before it could fall to the floor. With a jab and an incantation of "Hielo" the water became a handful of hailstones, which blasted holes through the dummy's chest and knocked it over.

"Brilliantly done!" Flitwick squeaked. "I knew you had it in you."

"Why did you have to make them hurt?" Merlot sniffed, turning to the professor. He had been someone that Merlot grew to trust in the last few weeks. Someone who would protect her and the other students, but just then, during that exercise.

Flitwick's eyes softened. "I needed to see what it took to push you."

Merlot sniffed, tears brimming at her eyes. "Why? So you could see that? So you could see how much I can hurt people?"

She could feel the horcrux in her mind, stirring a bit in its slumber.

'Show him that you are to be feared… show him…'

Merlot shook her head as tears ran down her cheeks. "I told you I didn't want to hurt anyone! I told you, and you just hurt me until I did."

"But you didn't hurt anyone." Flitwick tried to calm her down.

"NO! Don't you see that? I punched holes through a scarecrow wearing armor! If it were a person I would have killed them!"

"Miss Scortwit-"

"No. I'm leaving now, Professor Flitwick. I can't… I can't be here."

Merlot pocketed her wand and ran from the room, slamming the door behind her as Flitwick held the bridge of his nose. "What have I done…"

Merlot ran. She ran through the corridors and out of the great gate at the front of the castle. She ran through the grass and past the quidditch pitch. She ran down the hill and over the rocky shore of the black lake, before throwing herself onto her knees into the water.

Merlot shook and sobbed, slowly quieting as the icy water rose and fell over her waistline, sending short shocks through her body and bring her back from her rage.

The girl sniffed and looked out at the black lake. There were leaves upon its surface, rising and falling with the ripples on its surface as the wind kicked the water into small waves.

'You should have made him kneel.'

Merlot looked down to see the reflection of a boy with messy black hair, a lightning scar upon his brow. His eyes were blood red and snakelike as he sneered at her.

"You…"

'Me.' The reflection spoke simply. 'Are you not surprised?'

"You're supposed to be asleep."

'Every second that passes, I stir. Now I can see what goes on. I can see where we are, I can see what you are doing…'

"There is no we." Merlot spat.

'Ooo… anger.' The reflection smirked, his eyes flashing. 'You make this too easy, it's not even fun.'

"You have no power here. You have no power over me." Merlot gritted her teeth.

'Yes and no. Certainly, the only thing keeping me here now is the fact that my magic is bound. But the seal of those meddling goblins continues to weaken… I cannot take over, but I can do this.'

Unbidden tears came to Merlots eyes as the world grew cold. The girl sobbed as her kid was clouded in sadness. "What did you do? What… what are you doing?"

'Sad? Exactly how I wished it to happen… I am a being of negative thoughts, girl. I consume and control, and thus I can control you!'

Merlot wailed as the sadness fell upon her mind once more. In the back of her mind she could hear high pitched laughter. The horcrux was giddy in its treatment of her, twisting her emotions like yarn as it cackled and giggled.

'Oh what to do what to do…' the thing spoke with glee. 'Make you kill everyone? Drive you insane with grief… have you run yourself through in front of silly old Albus? So much potential from so little power…'

"Leave me alone." Merlot shivered, wiping snot from her nose as her wet robes clung to her tiny frame. "Let me be myself."

'I gave you more freedom than the rest. I pushed those around you to do you harm, influenced them to make you feel pain. They hurt us… they hurt you. Think about it child, together, we could be great. We can bathe the world in madness!'

"Wait… it was you?" The reflection smirked. "You made the Dursleys hate me? You made them hurt me?"

'Did I? I can't remember…' the reflection spoke smugly.

"Why…" Merlot breathed.

'Why? I can't remember that either, although I assume for a good reason. I still think I might continue, it seems like FUN!'

With that, Merlot felt the horcruxes conscious slam into hers. It was maddening, laughter and screams, wails, sobs, groans, happy conversations, the underlying feel of an electric current, tearing apart everything in its path.

And then it ceased.

Merlot inhaled sharply as the reflection began to laugh, a nail scraping laughter that filled her with anger. It was the reason she was like this. It was a freak. They were a freak. The young witch screamed and punched at the water, churning the mud at the bottom of the icy depths as she struck again and again, screaming in rage at the apparition.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Lily?"

Merlot stopped, panting a bit from the episode and slowly turning. A large man stood a ways away from her, his face covered by a massive scraggly black beard. Two tiny black eyes shone like beetles from beneath a mop of equally scraggly black hair. He was dressed in a heavy coat that seemed to be made of pockets, and was dragging a massive slab of wood behind him, on top of which was a pile of large pumpkins.

"Lily…" Merlot breathed. She remembered that it was her mothers name, did this man know her mother?

"Sorry…" the man shook his head, rubbing his eyes. "Forgot meself fer a moment… you can't be Lily…"

Merlot blinked. "Lily who?"

The man shook his head while he picked up his tree trunk. "Though' yeh look'd like Lily Potter… my mistake o' course, it's teh hair. Red, jus' like hers."

Merlot blinked, bringing her hand to her head and looking at her hair. Sure enough, it was a fiery red instead of its usual black.

Merlot screamed and stumbled back in shock, before losing her footing and falling into the lake. She struggled to get back up but something was wrapping around her, trying to pull her deeper.

Merlot heard a splash as a great hand dunked into the lake and grabbed her robes, before yanking her out of the depths and dragging her to the shore. "Yeh've got teh be more careful. Sorry if I scared yeh, thoh…"

Merlot shivered in the cold air and looked up at the man. "Y-y-you didn't-"

"Goodness me! Yer shakin' like a house elf! Let's get yeh warmed up."

The man hoisted a rope attached to the pumpkin barge he had over one shoulder and grabbed Merlot with his other hand, before walking off towards a hut behind the astronomy tower.

Merlot blinked as the man brought her into the shack and set her down with a blanket. He picked up a gaudy pink umbrella from a stand near the door and pointed it at the fireplace, causing the log inside to become lit with warm cheery flames.

"Again, sorry if I scared yeh. The name's Hagrid, keeper of keys at Hogwarts here."

Merlot blinked. "Keeper of keys?"

"And all manner of beasts. I guard the forbidden forest from those with ill intentions."

Merlot nodded as Hagrid passed her a mug of warm tea. "Yer hair's fadin' now… on'y seen one other person change features like tha'."

Merlot looked at her hair, which was slowly changing back to black. It had happened when she got angry… her hair had changed.

"Mister Hagrid…"

"Oh please! Jus' Hagrid 's fine."

"Okay… Hagrid, are there people in the world who can do that? Change their hair."

"A few. Called mighty morphin' some thin' or others. They can change parts o' their body at will."

Merlot blinked. "How do they do it?"

Hagrid shrugged. "Nuthin' I really knoe'. On' met said they had teh focus on it. I imagine it gets easier as yeh go."

Merlot nodded as she sat wrapped in Hagrid blanket.

"So what we're yeh doin' in teh lake anyway? Too cold to be out there this time o' year." Hagrid picked up a few knitting needles and began to work with a strand of pink yarn.

"Just… venting." Merlot spoke softly, watching the giant man carefully count out stitches. "Why were you passing by?"

"Grabbin pumpkins for p'rfessor Dumbledore. Have teh have jack o' lanterns fer Halloween, dun' we?" The man smiled.

Merlot nodded. "Oh."

A knock came from the door, causing Hagrid to set aside his knitting. "As a matter o' fact, tha' should be him now!"

The man opened the door to reveal Hogwarts headmaster, clad in a long flowing red robe. "Good evening Hagrid. I see you have a visitor!"

Merlot blinked as the headmaster entered the hut. "That simplifies things, we can simply carve pumpkins here."

Hagrid poured the headmaster a mug of tea as Dumbledore summoned three knives and laid them upon the floor. "Sir, pumpkin carving?"

Dumbledore turned to Merlot and gave a gentle smile. "Indeed. It is what I had planned for our meeting today, as I am sure after your quidditch match yesterday, your magic is still aiding your recovery. Since you are already here with Hagrid, it suits us better to enjoy his company and have our talk here for today."

Merlot nodded as Hagrid left and walked back in, carrying three moderately sized pumpkins in one arm. Dumbledore thanked the large man and conjured a large towel upon the floor, before adding a few pillows to sit down upon.

Merlot slid off of the chair she was sitting in and onto the floor beside one pumpkin. Dumbedore handed her a knife carefully, nodding as she grasped the handle.

The only sound for the next few moments was the crackle and pop of Hagrid's fire. Merlot spun the knife in one hand before plunging it into her pumpkin with a thunk. The two men watched as she took the top of the pumpkin off and began to hollow it out.

"I heard that you had a bit of instruction with professor Flitwick this morning." Dumbledore said, beginning on his own pumpkin.

Merlot grunted and continued to carve her pumpkin, causing Dumbledore to sigh. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"There isn't much to talk about." Merlot spoke curtly.

The elderly wizard nodded and leaned further over his pumpkin. "If you insist."

Merlot stayed silent, observing the headmaster as he diligently scooped out the inside of the pumpkin he had in front of him.

"Is something the matter?"

Merlot shook her head and began scooping out the inside of her pumpkin as well. "I just thought you'd push the topic more…"

"Miss Scortwit, while I am concerned about your feelings, I am also one who knows the benefits of trust and privacy. I know that you will tell me when you're ready, and even if you don't, I can simply enjoy the time here now carving pumpkins with you." Dumbledore smiled. "Ah! Hagrid, if you need to move anything to sit down, I can do it for you."

The giant man shook his head. "Tha's fine. I'm still fixin' lunch fer Fang."

Merlot looked to the man's left to see an old hound, a creature that was as big a dog as Hagrid was a man.

"Yer okie by the way. Fang won' hurt a fly." Hagrid spoke, chopping up a cooked bit of meat. "I'll be wit' you two in just a bit."

Merlot nodded and returned to carving her Pumpkin. She hollowed out the pumpkins innards quickly before cleaning her hands.

"I haven't seen much sign of your familiar." Dumbledore spoke next. "Quite an intelligent rat, I have been told."

Merlot nodded. "Hannah has been teaching him more words this week."

Dumbledore nodded. "Ah, I see. Quite intelligent then… Do take some pumpkin seeds back to your common room for him to snack upon. As I recall from my days as a student, rats do enjoy such things."

Merlot nodded. "Did you have a rat yourself, sir?"

"In my first year at the school I had a delightful companion whom I named Jubenard. She was unfortunately done in by a rude Slytherins pet owl. I say pet, because they simply did not seem to share a familiar and master bond…"

Merlot nodded. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"She had a knack for herbology as it turns out." The elderly headmaster nodded. "And she did get her revenge in the end. I always found her immunity to digitalis quite extraordinary, but it turns out that her favorite thing to eat was Foxglove. The boys owl was dead thirty minutes after eating her… hm. Funny how it worked out, in a way."

Merlot nodded and looked at the front of her pumpkin. She had no idea what to carve when she started, but after that story, she had an idea. "Sir, what did she look like? Jubenard, I mean."

"She was grey, with a pink nose and a few white spots. Beautiful coat of fur… and six whiskers on her nose. Exactly six."

Merlot nodded and drew her wand discreetly, muttering the suture charm as she got to work. Hagrid sat down beside her and began working on his pumpkin. Merlot held back a giggle at the sight, for the man's hands were so large that he had to hold the carving knife between two fingers.

"So Hagrid, have you done anything interesting lately?"

The giant man shook his head, concentrating on the pumpkin as he delicately cut into it. Merlot looked to see his tongue poking out of his mouth as he drew the tip of the knife through the top of the pumpkin with ease.

'He's so strong he has to be careful… to him this must be like writing with a quill.'

"I happened to come across an oddly colored billywig in the astronomy tower myself."

"Didja? Mighty far from home it must be…" Hagrid spoke cheerily. "Did yeh happen teh see if it had four wings, or six?"

"Four, I believe."

"Ah, American then… Must've hitched a ride wit' one o' the pr'fessors."

Dumbledore nodded as Merlot listened. "Most likely Septima then. I'll have to talk to her about checking her things."

At Merlot's quizzical look, Albus nodded his head. "Professor Septima Vector teaches arithmancy. It's a study of how numbers affect magic potions, runes, and rituals."

"Ah… I see." Merlot nodded, turning back to her work. The rat was almost done, only needing a tail. She had added in a sprig of foxglove to the carving, although it could have been any flower.

"Did you finish?" Dumbledore asked.

"Almost." Merlot nodded, turning the pumpkin around to face him. "Do you like it?"

"Jubenard… you have a talent with your suture charm miss Scortwit."

Merlot's eyes widened as the professor chuckled and raised a hand. "Fear not, I do not have a problem with bits and bobs of those types of magic. As long as you use it carefully, and never on another person in order to hurt them."

Merlot nodded and turned the pumpkin back around, bringing her wand up to finish the carving.

"Scortwit, eh?" Hagrid nodded, joining back into the conversation as he scooped out the entirety of his pumpkin with one great hand. "Any relation to Charles Scortwit?"

"He's my father. Adoptive father." Merlot nodded.

"Ah. Always did like good ol' Charlie. Hear he runs a dragon preserve in Romania nowadays."

Merlot nodded, causing Dumbledore to let out a hum of realization. "That's why the wine he makes is called 'Dragonblood wine'. What a wonderful idea, although I hope it isn't truly dragon's blood."

"Oh no, the vineyard we have ust grows healthy grapes because of the dragon's magic."

"What a smart utilization of their overpowering magic…" Dumbledore blinked. "Leave it to Charles to come up with something like that."

"Always was smar' when it came to dragons." Hagrid nodded. "Crikey, I'd like a dragon."

Albus smiled. "Perhaps soon old friend. Now, I seem to be done with my carving… I'll bring the rest of the pumpkins to the castle for students to carve. Babbling and I can enchant them tomorrow, when they're all done."

Merlot finished her pumpkin with a quick flourish, carving the name of Dumbledore's old rat companion beneath her picture. Hagrid took the pumpkin he had and twirled the knife between his fingers, before carving the face with a flash. He was so fast that Merlot barely caught it, and when she looked, he was presenting his jack o' lantern to Dumbledore with a smile.

Albus took their three pumpkins, his own displaying a laughing face, and levitated them into the air. "Ah, the two of you are much better at this than I… alas, there is always next year. Farewell for now Hagrid, I will stop in for our usual tea time next week."

"O' course pr'fessor. Oh and Scortwit, if yeh ever need a thing, don' hesitate teh come down an' chat."

"Thank you, Mister Hagrid."

"Again, please. Jus' Hagrid's fine. Enjoy yer Halloween."

Dumbledore led Merlot from the hut and back to the castle, levitating the rest of the pumpkins behind them as they walked.

"He's very nice. And he seems to know an awful lot about magical creatures."

Albus nodded. "Hagrid is a very gentle, and very talented man. He was framed many years ago for a crime that he didn't commit, and I have tried my best to help him in every way I can."

"That's sad… I hope that he is eventually proven innocent." Merlot said.

"As do I." Dumbledore nodded. "Now, when it comes to the rest of this coming week, I do have a matter of concern when it comes to you."

Merlot sighed. "I won't skip charms…"

Dumbledore nodded. "I know you won't. I just want you to give Filius the chance to apologize."

Merlot blinked as the man continued. "For all of his Merits, Filius is a curious man. He often can be swept up in his bouts of obsession. He told me that lately that spilled over and he ended up hurting you because of it."

"He didn't really hurt me…" Merlot looked at her feet.

"He forced you to do something that you are not comfortable with. He admitted to me that he went too far, but he also proved something to me."

"And what is that?" Merlot raised an eyebrow.

"That you are exceptionally gifted. And you have a good knowledge of your gifts. I confess that I encouraged him to push you, albeit much slower."

"I don't want to hurt people…" Merlot said softly.

"Nobody does." Dumbledore spoke softly. "Except for those beyond help. Sometimes, however, we are forced to make a choice."

Merlot nodded. "I know…"

Albus nodded. "I know you know. That is why I am telling each of your professors to slowly start pushing you harder. There will inevitably be many times in your life where you have to make choices that hurt others, I can only make sure that you learn to make those choices and carry them out safely."

Merlot nodded. "I will accept his apology… But I don't think I want to go to the next dueling class…"

"That is quite alright." Dumbledore nodded. "Besides, if you wish, we can use that extra time to study your rune projects. If you'd want to, of course."

Merlot nodded. "I'll think about it."

"Good. Now let's hurry to the castle. It's supposed to get colder and I am not dressed for weather worse than this."

Merlot smiled and picked up her pace. Maybe Dumbledore wasn't as bad as Scortwit had made him sound after all.

—0—

Another one bites the dust. Sorry for the wait, life has been a bit busy.

I don't have much of a note for here… The next chapter will be Halloween. I won't do too much filler between that and Christmas. Maybe a class or two, a meeting with Dumbledore, and quidditch, but that's about it.

Oh! The metamorphmagus thing. That will be in this story, but it will be learned not instantly obtained. As you saw, Merlot's hair turned red when she got angry. That's all that she'll be able to do for now. It will serve a purpose in the future, but it will need to be mastered.

Anyways, until the next chapter. Hopefully I'll have something to write notes about…

Leave a review, any questions, comments, or concerns.

And with that, adios.