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Chapter 25

Viola eyed the dusty gym with disgust. "What is this place?"

"A gym, it seems."

"It's disgusting," She disapproved, "It looks like it hasn't been used in forever."

"That's because it hasn't. Witches and wizards tend to neglect their physical body in favor of their magical one. Such a shame."

Viola snorted. "Who has time for that? Physical exertion is for muggles."

"We need two staves." Senna ignored her insults. If Viola thought what they were going to do was remotely easy, then she was in for a rude awakening. By the end of this period, Viola's perfectly ironed robes were going to be in tatters. The thought of this made Senna smile.

Two staves magically appeared on the equipment rack. Senna walked over and picked them both up.

"You better get used to it." Senna took Viola's hand and made her grip one of the staves.

"What are we going to do with these sticks?" Viola asked incredulously.

"You wanted to learn how to fight. First you have to learn how to move, and how to balance."

Viola scoffed. "This has nothing to do with dueling."

"It has everything to do with dueling. Now pay attention!"

Senna stood with the staff tucked neatly behind her elbow. Then she put her hand underneath the center of the staff and flipped it forward, and then back.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

"It's the first count in the basic staff form. Learning this form will strengthen your coordination and balance."

Viola raised a brow incredulously.

"Do it now." Senna ordered. "One more stupid comment, and we're done here. I swear it."

Viola tried to spin the staff the same way Senna had, but it slipped out of her hand, and then clattered onto the floor. She hastily picked it up and tried again. She didn't drop it, but her left hand was not doing the motion correctly.

Senna grabbed her hand and corrected her.

"Good," Senna stepped back and took her own staff. She brought it perpendicular to her body, then swung it once on the left side, and then the right, simulating if two enemies came from each side. "This is step two. Bend your knees."

Viola tried to imitate it. It was a poor attempt. Her arms weren't high enough, her movements were shallow, and her knees weren't bent. This was going to be harder than Senna anticipated. Viola was very talented, but martial arts was her obvious weak point.

"Your knees aren't bent." Senna told her.

"They are!" Viola grunted. She was already out-of-breath.

Senna walked over to Viola. Her knees were slightly bent, but not nearly enough.

"Not good enough, get lower." Senna warned her.

"Shut up, I am doing it!"

"Really?" Senna moved quickly, hooking the back of her heel around Viola's ankle, and swept her lightly. Because of her poor stance, that was all it took for Viola to lose her balance and fall backwards.

She landed with a loud thump on the dusty wooden floor.

"No," Senna said coldly, "You're not."

Viola groaned loudly, absolutely enraged.

Senna ignored her and kept talking, "If your stance is not deep enough, you will be easy to knock over. You think this is a stupid muggle technique, but this is the secret to a strong shield charm. Many adult witches and wizards can't even produce a fully functional shield charm. That's because they don't understand what it means. The shield is to protect. To protect yourself and others, you need to be sturdy like a rock. To be sturdy, you need a good stance. Only then will your shields be impenetrable."

Viola stood up. Her face was livid, but she did not argue with Senna's lesson.

"Again." Senna barked.

They continued with this staff form for the rest of the long period. Only ten minutes in, she could see Viola visibly slowing down. Her stamina was awful, but it would improve over time.

By the end of the hour, sweat ran down Viola's freckled face. They had reached step fifteen. This form had twenty steps to it.

"Okay, that's enough for today". Senna told her.

Viola's breathing was labored. Senna, on the other hand, was still comfortable. This was a very light workout—if you could even call it that.

Senna was actually impressed. Not by her talent in this department, because there was none, but by her resolve. She was sure Viola would have given up halfway through, when it was painfully clear that this was not her forte. But she stuck with it. She didn't even complain once about her now disheveled uniform. Or the fact that she must be getting very sore.

"Thank merlin's beard it's over." Viola breathed.

"Make sure to choose something high in protein for dinner. You will be really sore tomorrow, and your muscles need to rebuild themselves."

"What?" Viola asked, perplexed.

Senna sighed. So nutrition and anatomy weren't her strong points either. "Eat some meat at dinner. And even legumes if they have any. And rehydrate—I mean drink water as soon as you can. Just trust me on this."

"Fine."

They two girls made their way to dinner. When approaching the Great Hall, Viola stopped at the bathroom to muse over her hair and robes. Senna took this opportunity to relieve herself.

When Senna stopped at the Hufflepuff table, Viola grabbed her arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Senna asked through narrowed eyes.

"Sit with me for dinner." It wasn't a question.

"You're out of your mind. I've spent enough time with you, thank you." Senna said sarcastically.

Viola was calm and collected. "You agreed to this," Viola used heavy emphasis on that last word, "So get over it and come sit with me. Only for dinners. You can sit with your—friends—" she cringed, as if forcing herself to say something nice, "During all other meals."

Senna groaned, but then let Viola pull her towards the Slytherin table.

Blaise Zabini, the handsome dark-skinned Slytherin, looked surprised when Viola and Senna sat at the table. He looked between the two of them, but didn't say a word. But Senna unwillingly heard his thoughts. So the rumors are true. Damn, Senna's taken now. Such a shame she might be gay... But I don't know a soul that could compete with Viola. Male or female…

Senna ignored him. Similar thought patterns echoed in Senna's head. She tried to keep them out.

Viola filled her plate with pasta. Senna quickly took the plate from her, moving it away from the pasta. "You can have some carbs, but don't fill your whole plate with it!" Senna pushed some of the pasta back into the serving pot. "Remember what we talked about?" Senna reached for the stew and spooned some beef chunks and vegetables onto Viola's plate.

"Ew, I hate stew." Viola compained.

"Too bad."

Viola grumpily poked at the strew with her fork. "Stew is for peasants."

"You should come visit me at the orphanage I live in, maybe then you'll stop being such a spoiled brat." Senna added.

Viola didn't respond to the savage comment. She forked a piece of meat and threw it into her mouth, grimacing as she chewed.

Satisfied, Senna turned to her own food.

After dinner, Senna jogged to catch up with Hannah. "Sorry about that Hannah, Viola is very demanding."

Hannah gave her a sweet smile, but there was still concern in her eyes. "I had a feeling she kidnapped you or something."

"Pretty much," Senna sighed, "She added dinner-time to the list of demands."

"And you're going to follow them?"

"Well, I guess I have to."

Hannah looked disappointed. "You know Justin and Susan spoke to me earlier, after you left."

"And?" Senna heard Hannah's thoughts, but gave her a chance to speak her mind.

"They're concerned about the company you keep now. Viola isn't a very nice person. It doesn't help, and with all the rumors going around. They're just put off by your new choice of friends."

"She's not my friend!" Senna defended. "You know that."

"Just your fake lover?" Hannah asked, unconvinced.

"Well… Yeah." This was difficult. She hasn't had a disagreement with Hannah so far. Hannah was just so agreeable and kind, but it was different now. She could see Viola was someone that caused the Hufflepuffs a lot of misery. And associating with her was putting a divide between them.

Senna sighed and turned towards her own dorm. She had to make a choice, and soon. It was either Viola… or her friends. Her stomach churned with unease.

Back at her dorm, within the privacy of her cot, Senna pulled out the parchment. Senna was surprised to see a response from her prank parchment.

But of course you do, Senna my love. Just ask Uncle Severus.

The 'my love' part sent a shiver of disgust down her spine. What a creep. But the uneasy feeling turned into a sense of dread. No one else knew that Professor Snape was her uncle. At least, she couldn't think of anyone else that knew. Maybe her prankster had guessed, because of the similarity of their names.

What if, for a moment, she entertained the idea that she might have a brother? Snape would've told her about it. Or would he have? She knew he was keeping things from her, still, but would he withhold the fact that she had a sibling? That seemed like a low blow, even from him.

But she had no choice but to accept that possibility. Until he told her the truth, she couldn't know what he was hiding. She was counting on him, but she couldn't trust him.

She would ask him about it tomorrow. But Senna had to be smart about it. If she waltzed in and asked him about her 'brother', he would likely find out about the parchment and old leather book. If he took away the parchment, and this parchment was a way to find out the truth, then the truth could be lost to her forever.

Senna took out an ordinary parchment and her quill. If Professor Snape asked, she would tell him she got this letter as an Owl that morning. That way he would confiscate this one, and not the real one. To make the diversion believable, she had to make it as authentic as possible. She held her quill over the parchment, willing herself to write in that slithering and curvy way. At first, nothing came. But then, her thoughts made her hand move. In fact, she felt as though this was easier than English. Her thoughts were better portrayed in this language. Her decoy letter read:

I hope you find your way to me soon.

I look forward to your return.

Sincerely,

Your big brother

At first Senna stared at her handy work, impressed with her decoy letter. It sounded not too unlike the real letter when she first received it.

But the second time she read it, a sinking feeling welled up in the pit of her stomach. There was an eerie similarity with something else she could not place her finger on.

She read it a third time.

And then the voice of Armidian Tusk rang in her head,

'And of course I knew right away, that our Princess was looking to return home. Why else would you go through the trouble of escaping the castle?'

'The Dark Prince wishes for you to come home. Isn't that where you want to be?'

No. No. No. It couldn't be. Was it possible that this so-called brother of hers, and the Dark Prince, were the same person?

It couldn't be.

But it made logical sense. Sadly, she only knew of one person in this entire world that was waiting for her to come 'home'. And that was Prince Struan.

Senna ripped up the decoy letter, letting the pieces fall to the floor. She slammed the prank parchment on her bedside desk, with much more force than necessary. And she dug her wand into it. "I'd be stupid to beleive anything you said, Prince Stuan." Senna muttered.

And then she watched the spindly letters write that message onto the parchment.