Senna walked back to her dorm, the new discovery encompassing her mind. She hadn't meant to end up here, but her mind was too distracted. Tonks, the traitor who turned her into the ministry, was still stalking her. She had already testified in front of Scrimgeour that she wanted nothing to do with Struan, and yet, that had not been good enough. The fact that Struan had stripped her of all her power, didn't matter. The ministry still felt that Senna was a danger.

If it wasn't for the shield barricading her room door, she would've been making sure Tonks didn't steal anything else.

She plopped down in her cot, letting the weight of her lead limbs consume her. It made sense now, the way Tonks always looked so tired. Following Senna must be a twenty-four-hour assignment.

Someone knocked on her door. Senna groaned and rolled off the bed with much effort.

She swung the door open with more force than necessary, surprised to see a redhead with an annoyed expression on her face.

"You're going to miss dinner." Viola said in an annoyed tone.

This shocked Senna back to reality. How was it dinner time already? Had she dozed off?

"I thought you weren't speaking to me." Senna accused.

Viola continued to stare defiantly at the wall, her arms crossed.

Senna signed. Then she wrapped her arms around Viola and attempted to pull her through the barrier. Senna could feel Viola resisting her, but after a second, Viola gave in and let herself be pulled in.

Senna closed the door behind them, knowing she could be being followed at this very moment.

Viola looked at her, confused to why Senna had barricaded them in the room, when they were supposed to be heading to the great hall. When Senna didn't explain right away, Viola questioned her.

"What are you doing?"

"We have to be careful." Senna whispered.

Viola took in Senna's serious expression, and then looked around the small room, trying to find the reason they were whispering.

"Well duh… that's what everyone has been telling you, but you're too dense to grasp the concept." Viola scolded her in a whisper, "But what in particular are we being careful of this time?"

Senna stepped away from the door, motioning for Viola to follow her to the corner of the room. "I'm being tailed by Aurors. Possibly all day and all night."

Viola's eyes widened in surprise. "Well, that's not too shocking considering you're the spawn of evil." Viola thought for a moment, "But to spend such resources on you when they're spread so thin already…" she paused, "Wow, they must really think something of you." Viola smirked.

"You wouldn't be smiling if you knew which Auror they assigned to tail me." Now it was Senna's turn to smirk. But the pit of her stomach twisted uncomfortably. Viola had just started talking to her again, and this might send them into another argument.

Viola's nose wrinkled in disgust. She made this facial expression so often, that Senna thought it would become permanent eventually. "Please don't tell me it's the incompetent one."

"Tonks is not incompetent." Senna corrected her.

Viola rolled her eyes.

"And I just thought you'd want to know that you're not my only stalker now."

A sudden sharpness seemed to enter Viola's eyes. "Speaking of which…" She took a quick breath, "You and her…"

"Nothing is going on between her and I ." Senna told her.

Viola's eyes narrowed, not convinced. "That's not what I saw."

"And I already told you. That was a long time ago." Senna said, exasperated now. Senna waited, but Viola did not respond. "Way before we started," Senna brought her fingers up to make air quotes, " dating ."

Viola crossed her arms tighter. "Are you sure?"

"Definitely!" Senna forgot they were supposed to be quiet.

"You have no feelings for her whatsoever?" Viola demanded.

This caught her off guard. Feelings? What did she mean by this?

"Um. What?"

"You don't have feelings for her, right? You don't fancy her in any way?"

"Er…" Senna didn't know what to say. She had to admit she was still attracted to Tonks. Who wouldn't be? She was an attractive woman. Senna had at one point given Tonks a piece of her heart, but that had since been revoked. Right?

The silent pause that followed Viola's question was the wrong answer. Viola took that to mean the worst and spun around the leave, fuming with anger.

Shit . Senna scolded herself for taking too long to think. "Wait!"

Viola did not wait. She swung the door open.

"I don't. I swear it!"

Viola paused with her hand on the door.

Senna's next words knotted themselves in her throat. "I don't. Really." Senna was lying. She knew that. But she couldn't help it. She hated Tonks right now, but something deep down still hung onto Tonks. But they would never be together. Heck, they would never even be friends again. So there was no point in admitting it.

Viola's stiff shoulders seemed to relax a bit. She turned to Senna, her eyes still angry, but not as cold as before. "Hurry up. We're late to dinner."

Dinner started as a quiet affair. Viola was in no mood to talk, and Senna was worried she would restart their fight if she said the wrong thing.

Fake relationships were hard. She could not imagine how difficult real ones were.

Viola's usual group of admiring Slytherins looked between Viola and Senna cautiously. They could feel the thick air between them and didn't dare to speak to Viola.

Senna nearly jumped when Viola finally spoke to her.

"Did you study the notes I took for you?" She asked without looking at her.

"Er…" Senna thought of her response very carefully. "Not yet. I've been trying to find any leads I can on this stupid curse."

Viola turned to her, interested. "And?" She questioned. "Have you got a good lead?"

"No." She admitted, "But my Headmaster has a Parselmouth coming to see me tomorrow or the next day. He thinks she might be able to help."

"Oh? Who is it?"

"I don't remember her name, but he said something about her being a descendant of Ilvermony's founder."

"Yes. Isolt Sayre was not a Parselmouth, but she was descended from one as well. That's interesting…" Viola paused to think. "But I don't think it'll help."

Senna sighed. "Me neither."

Viola leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I think I might have a lead though. I'll tell you about it later."

But Senna only heard half of what she said. Her hot breath on her ear was very distracting. "Um, sounds good."

After dinner, they stood to head back to the shelter of Senna's dorm, where their little stalker could not overhear them. Senna felt hopeful. Senna hated to admit it, but Viola was rather brilliant, and her research regarding this curse was likely to be productive.

They walked in awkward silence, knowing they were most likely being tailed by the Auror, Tonks.

Once in the safety of their dorm, Viola shut the door.

"Okay." Viola took a deep breath. "You mentioned the curse is called Malos."

"The creature behind the curse is named Malos." Senna corrected.

"And he's sucking the life force from you because he cannot get his own, right?" Viola pulled out a dusty black book from her cloak. "This book tells us how witches and wizards in Roman times transferred secrets from one person to another. They used it to transfer secret knowledge to whoever was next in charge."

Senna exhaled, disappointed. "I don't think a memory implantation charm will help me."

"But it's not just memory. It's nothing like the memory charms." Viola raised her voice and then started shuffling through the pages. "It's far more complex. The knowledge, emotion, and understanding of something is contained and put through some sort of tunnel into another person. Maybe this concept can be applied to that thing… "

"No way." Senna was mortified.

Viola's green eyes widened with innocent surprise. "What?"

"If this were even possible, who would I transfer it to? I can't just give the curse to someone else. That would be wrong."

Viola rolled her eyes. "It would be fine. If you put it on a muggle, they don't use magic anyway, there would be no difference. Maybe Clyde—"

Heat rose into Senna's chest. "I said no! It doesn't just sap magic, you know. There's a reason I had to take that nasty potion. It drains everything. I'm not doing that to Clyde." Senna grabbed Viola's arm and started pulling her to the door. She did not want to hear any more of her 'leads'.

"Hey!" Viola yanked her arm out of Senna's hand, "I'm just trying to help you since you can't seem to help yourself."

Senna rose to the insult, "Well maybe I don't want your help!"

Viola's face reddened with fury. "Fine then. I won't bother."

"You do that." Senna spat.

A look of hurt crossed Viola's face, but Senna was too angry to feel bad for her. Viola turned to storm out the door and her perfectly ironed robes fanned out behind her. Senna followed her until they reached the hall, and then slammed the door between them.

Senna exhaled, her heart still pounding madly. They just started talking again, and Viola just had to be—Viola. To think she would suggest putting someone Senna cared about through that hell, on top of the hell Clyde had already been through… it just proved she was a self-centered bitch.

"Girls are so dramatic." A deep voice came from behind her.

Senna jumped and threw an elbow behind her in reflex.

Clyde stopped her swing with ease.

"Clyde!" Senna gasped, her eyes wide with surprise. "I almost broke your nose! How did you get in here?"

"Pft," Clyde waved a dismissive hand, "Not by a long shot, you're far too slow."

Senna ignored the insult. "Where were you hiding?"

He jerked his head towards her bookcase. "Between the bookcase and the desk."

Senna followed the direction of his chin and eyed the space between her bookcase and desk and then back to his tall, muscular frame. There was no way he could completely hide himself in that space. But she knew Clyde was adept at doing impossible things. It was almost like he was a wizard as well, but his magical powers were defying the laws of physics.

"You are both very unobservant." He added in his low, gravely voice.

Once again, she chose to ignore his insult. She was far too pleased to see him to care. The spat with Viola was temporarily forgotten.

"What have you been doing this until now?" Senna walked over to her bed and plopped down, exhausted.

"Observing you stick-wavers." He followed her slowly to the bed but didn't bother to sit down. "No offense, but they all seem like spoiled brats."

Senna couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I thought the same thing when I first started at Brownwell." Senna sighed. "I guess I'm just a spoiled brat now, too."

"Not completely," Clyde told her. "But you've changed."

Senna looked up at him. His shoulders were slumped forward, and his knees were slightly bent as if preparing to flee at any moment. He never seemed to let his guard down.

"You've gone soft." That was all he said.

Senna exhaled. "Just what I needed. To get weaker… now that the whole wizarding world is trying to eradicate me. It's no different than the townsfolk in our old shit-hole of a city."

"I didn't say you've gotten weaker." He corrected, "Just… soft."

Senna raised an eyebrow at him, not comprehending. His amber-colored eyes met hers. They were cold and slightly pondering.

"Maybe if the redhead is right, you should just do it. Hand the curse over to me."

Senna shook her head in bewilderment. She was not following the conversation. "What?"

Clyde turned away from her and faced the wall instead. "The Sen I knew before would have done whatever is needed to survive."

Senna was taken aback. "Perhaps I'm a little less savage, but I'd like to think I wouldn't throw another orphan under the bus for my own gain." Senna was offended, and it showed in her voice.

"Hmmm." Clyde thought about this. "I suppose that's true."

There was an awkward silence between them.

Clyde broke the silence. "You should do it." He told her, nonchalance in his voice. It was as if they were discussing the weather, instead of a life-threatening curse.

"What? Put the curse on you instead? There is no way I would allow that."

"Why not?" He shrugged.

"No."

"Tell me."

"What if you die?"

"So what? Nobody is waiting for me. There won't be anyone looking for me. You know how it is."

"That's not true. I would be looking for you."

"You would be the only one." Clyde scoffed.

"T–That's not true." Senna lied.

Clyde sighed now. "Girls." He mumbled.

"Now it's your turn." Senna threw back at him.

"For what?"

"Why?" Senna asked. "Why would you volunteer to take the curse for me? You don't owe me anything."

"I know." He said. And then there was silence.

Senna couldn't hear coherent thoughts from his mind. She just saw flashes of memories. Memories of their fellow orphans, doing chores together, staying up late together–which were interrupted by the images of flame. After a very long minute passed, Senna couldn't help but prod him. "And?"

He took in a deep breath and then shrugged again. "Maybe if there was a chance–for one of us street rats–to do something incredible, it would be best to help them, before it's too late." He paused. "None of us know how much time we have left, perhaps it's time to leave our mark in this world. Otherwise, we will just be forgotten, like so many of us who are unwanted and unknown. We simply cease to exist."

"So you want to die a hero's death?" Senna asked incredulously.

Clyde smirked. This caught her off guard. Senna had never seen him smile before.

"Hell yeah, I do."

Senna brought her palm to her forehead. All the serious discussions she had today with her friends and fake lovers had given her a headache, and the curse had sapped her stamina to nearly nothing.

"No," Senna groaned. Senna got up and started pushing him out the door, but she could've been pushing against a brick wall for all the good it did. Clyde was taller than her, but he wasn't a massive guy, yet he managed to stand as sturdy as a deeply rooted tree.

"Go to bed, I can't deal with all this right now."

Clyde shrugged. "Alright."

Just before Clyde disappeared through the doorway, it occurred to Senna that he did not have a place to sleep.

"Wait!" She called out.

He paused.

"Why don't you stay here? You can sleep on the floor." Senna felt rude, but she figured that was better than the freezing night outside.

"Alright." He shrugged.

Senna sighed. It was as if Clyde's body language had only one word… and it was shrugging. If he thought girls were dramatic, then boys were dull and simplistic.

He plopped down next to her bed. Senna settled in, not bothering to change into pajamas. Senna blew out the lantern and darkness engulfed them both.

After a moment of silence, Clyde's low voice pierced the darkness. "You should lighten up on the redhead." He told her.

"What?" She whispered angrily.

"I don't think she meant anything evil by it."

"You don't know her like I do. She's—"

Clyde interrupted her. "Look, all I'm saying is that people are willing to do crazy things to save the people they love."

"Ugh, she doesn't—"

Clyde didn't let her rant, "She cares about you more than you think. Some people are willing to burn down the whole world if it means saving that one person they care about."

Senna's mouth snapped shut. The unwelcome memory of flame engulfing the Orphanage intruded into the front of her mind. Senna felt that Clyde's chosen euphemism was in bad taste, especially after the recent tragedy that struck their hometown.

"Just give her a chance, okay? Good night." Clyde ceased talking.

"Er… goodnight." Senna said awkwardly.

Senna tossed and turned as unwelcome memories sprung from the jail she kept them in. The pleasure she felt when she told Struan about the abuse at the orphanage, how she had finally felt seen and acknowledged.

'More. More...' Malos hissed.

Senna knew she must be asleep now.

'It's you again, Malos?" Senna groaned. 'Give it a rest.'

'They got what they deserved.' Malos' hiss was so quiet, Senna wasn't sure he'd spoken. He never really spoke to Senna, just mumbled about his starving state. She thought Malos was an unintelligent life form with no way of thinking outside of his programmed state of starvation.

'No. No one deserves that.' Senna tried to shake her head, but her body was made of lead.

'You know it's true. They deserved it.'

'Shut up!'

She tried to force his voice down, along with other unwelcome feelings.

Thank you for reading! Please leave a review and let me know what you think!