Isabella was laying in bed like a log, trying to fall asleep. Ever since she was a child she had insomnia of sorts - it took her quite a while to fall asleep. A fancy muggle meditation technique helped her rest her body, yet her mind was still awake for hours before finally succumbing to sleep. Luckily her body somewhat adapted and she felt fully rested, even if she slept only as few as four hours at night.

Today, like usual, she heard her dorm mate waking up - she seemed fond of practising spells in the bathroom every midnight for an hour or two - Isabella wondered if that is the reason for her excellence in classes, even tried doing more practising herself one day - but just after half an hour of non stop casting she felt drained and had a headache for a few days, she even visited the hospital wing where it was told she had magic exhaustion after overspending her magic. It was rare, but common for muggle borns, especially early years as their bodies adapted to absorb magic from the world faster.

Yet tonight Ginny was different somehow - Isabella could not hear the usual click of bathroom door locking, instead she heard the girl cast some sort of complex spell - and then there was silence. Feeling a bit spooky she opened her eyes and looked around - as expected her dorm mate's bed was empty, yet she was nowhere in sight. Suddenly there was a barely audible bump and she turned just in time to see the door handle rise up again. 'What could Ginny be doing going out at midnight?' - she wondered as she resumed her meditation to fall asleep faster.

My heart was beating with excitement as I ascended the seventh floor steps - it took a while to get there, even though I mastered disillusionment charm in a couple of days - the reason for an extra week of delay was caused by students.

At first I thought only Gryffs were such troublemakers, sneaking out at night… Yet as I learned their rough schedules for the few hours I had in control and exited Gryffindor tower… I saw a lot of other students walking around. It is like no one cared - the castle was quite lively during the night. Yet students somehow knew when to hide in nearby places when caretaker Filch or some prefect passed by. The only exception was the caretaker's cat, Noris. It could walk completely silently and take students by surprise, I guess that's how most of them got caught for detentions…

Still, it seemed ten minutes after midnight most corridors were empty - those who planned on sneaking out managed to achieve that and would be returning an hour or two later. Or perhaps even later - as I remembered some students never making it back during my possession time…

I finally reached the famous illustration of some person teaching the trolls how to dance, I somehow did not remember if the door would appear to the left or to the right of the picture - so I just strolled in a large circle while thinking in my mind.

'I want a private room where I could learn more about souls, horcruxes and possession'

After three repeats a door outline silently manifested to the right of the illustration. Still excited I opened the door - inside was a small room, with a table holding a dozen or so books, even more excited I stepped through the door. Then somehow that special feeling came again - as if I was losing control.

I panicked and stepped back to the corridor - the feeling stopped. I tried a few more times until realisation struck me - 'The room is somehow isolated from Hogwarts, so I need to bring diary along if I ever want to come in'

Seeing I still had a lot of time, I decided to give the library a visit. Remembering how young Harry managed to sneak in during his first year no less - it shouldn't have any fancy protections in place, perhaps only for stealing books, not knowledge within them.

The journey all the way back was tedious, but I was glad to know a few of secret passages Ginny herself had discovered - skipping two whole floors was quite entertaining.

The library was quite easy to access as expected, I had already seen all sections through Ginny's eyes and knew there was nothing specifically about souls or possession in regular sections, so I just strolled to the forbidden one in confident steps.

Glancing at the titles I could only lament the fact that most of the books were somehow… in rune language. Runes were quite rarely encountered in regular libraries, so young Ginny did not start learning them yet… Hence I knew nothing about it as well.

Still for the hundred or so English books I did see - there were quite a few interesting titles. I could see a few matched what the room provided, yet some others looked different. I wondered if my wording was imprecise or the room did not have access to all books in Hogwarts? I collected a few promising titles from the shelves and put them on a nearby table. Remembering some random book… screaming during Harry's visit I cast an area of silencing charm and sat near the table.

Skimming the content I was kind of disappointed so far. Yes the first book 'All about possessions' was quite great, but it only covered dark creatures with such ability. I still read about various symptoms of possession, yet it did not match what was happening to me.

As I finished the first book I felt my wand vibrate - the variation of tempus - the alarm charm, hence I knew it was time to head back. I quickly put books in place, hoping my future visits would be more fruitful and I hurried back to the dorm.

As I passed by the second floor, I seemed to hear some pipes clanging. I shuddered remembering what beast Salazar decided to leave at Hogwarts, but remembering the shedded skin I thought it lived there for ages, why would it ever choose to come out this year? I soon forgot it as I reached the portrait and waited for a few minutes, until the young couple came back - they usually came back at this time during Tuesdays. They opened the portrait and I tagged along, then I sneaked back into my room and quickly went to bed as my control slipped away.

The next day quickly arrived as I was back to the seventh floor once again, with diary and wand in hand. Come to think of it, tomorrow is Halloween. I wonder what would happen to possession if Ginnys stays up late celebrating?

I walked across the empty wall while voicing my requirements inside my mind. As the door appeared I took a peek inside - it was empty. Disappointing, but kind of expected as this time I wanted a way to solve my possession problem without killing off Ginny… I guess the room cannot help with specific problems like that.

The door quickly disappeared as I closed it and tried again - this time I wanted to see the Hogwarts library, inside I did see a library, but I did not even need to visit a restricted section replica to know this won't work - the library replica was fine, but the books… Most of the bookshelves had a few books missing, some were entirely empty. I was not clear on how exactly the room worked and why it even had some books in the first place, but I checked the restricted section just in case - and yes it was mostly empty. I did see one book I saw last time I asked for souls related books… but other books were missing.

Disappointed, I exited and asked for the same thing as the previous night. The familiar small room with a dozen or so books greeted me once again. I stepped in, sat on the comfortable armchair nearby and started reading.

Yet I was met with disappointment once again - the couple of books I read were great, one of them mentioned some exotic dark magic like how to create a horcrux and even how to create that silvery arm Voldemort gave wormtail after his resurrection, another was quite nice read as well - it covered a lot of rituals, starting from the basic ones for fixing misaligned teeth, all the way to the relative resurrection ritual - which was probably what Voldemort used to get a body back. He did change the wording a bit - saying enemy blood and what not, from the ritual it was clear that anyone's blood could be used.

Still as my wand vibrated I put the books back and started strolling back to the tower, the books were interesting, yet did not seem to help me in any way. Was I considered dead? If so I could attempt the resurrection ritual, but where would I get relatives' bones? Would Voldemorts work as I did technically overtake his horcrux? Still I had no idea where the graveyard even was... Nor where to get people for some blood and a… limb of all things - the book mentioned it needed a fresh, same species creature… limb - the whole devoted follower willingly given arm was probably just Voldemort feeling the need to rhyme the words. I guess I could keep this as a backup plan and just… use the rat? But as mentioned I had no idea where that graveyard was, what it was called and as the book mentioned, only a few days during the year actually worked for the ritual… Planetary alignment and all that crap. I mentally calculated and surprisingly the nearest date was two years and a half away - so roughly at the time triwizard tournament ends… Guess Voldy did know his astronomy.

I paused mid step as I heard someone calling me. I stayed still and heard nothing - well just some pipes clanging - must have been my imagination, or perhaps there's people nearby? I quickened my step back to the tower, while wondering why a magical school would need pipes if it could just get rid of all the waste… Perhaps it was easier to get rid of it in one place?

The morning sun shone as Ginny woke up well rested as usual. Today was Halloween so there were no classes and she could do whatever she wanted the whole day. She wondered if she should just spend the whole day flying outside to relax - she was clearly way ahead of her peers. Or perhaps she should relax and chat with her close friends - Tom, Luna, Hermione and … Bella, well she was not yet a close friend, but they did chat from time to time.

The bathroom door opened as Isabella walked out with a towel over her hair, some steamy air still escaping the door. She suddenly caught Ginny's eyes as if she wanted something to say.

"Good morning Ginny, could you do that charm… you know the hair drying one you used last week?"

Ginny smiled back - "Morning Bella'' - then sighed, this is becoming a habit of sorts… She picked up her wand and waved as a warm gust of wind appeared and dried her roommate's hair… while somehow not over drying and not messing up her haircut.

"Thank you Ginny! This is such a time saver, now I can do my transfiguration essay before breakfast rather than drying my hair"

"You're welcome, any plans for Halloween?"

"Not really, just gonna do things I do at weekends - you know, lazing around, reading fantasy books, writing a long letter to my parents as they get over worries about this magic school… How about you?"

"Same here, I was thinking of going flying after breakfast for a few hours… Maybe until lunch? Perhaps even practise some quidditch balls throwing unless some quidditch team shoos me off… Wanna join?"

"Sure, but not for that long, I do enjoy flying, but flying for four hours seems like madness - I would probably stay for one or two at most"

"Okay! Thank you!"

Bella looked as if she had something else to add, then with slight hesitation she started - "Ginny…"

"Yes?"

"I have been wondering… where did you sneak out last night?"