Disclaimer: I am just a mere visitor in the sublime world constructed by the brilliant mind that is J.K Rowling. Anything that rings a bell is hers.

Chapter 64

KY'S POV

I shot out of the classroom, the large red A burned in my retina, haunting my vision. An A…an A for potions. Acceptable... I ignored Harry's shouts, knowing the speech he would lay on me, having received it about ten times this week. A small part of me felt guilty, Harry, Ron and Mi were spending all their free time researching some way of fixing me, and I understood their worry but a bigger more self pitying part of me wanted to just run away from all their troubled stares. To just run…

I flung my shoes off, feeling the soft grass tickle through my socks, the wind tossed my hair backwards and I felt the cool air massage my scalp. My breath came in gasps and I felt my lungs struggle inside me, but I ignored them, I felt my shirt slip out of my skirt has my hips jostled it upwards, my legs fought off the cold wind by harnessing its own heat and I ignored the sharp pain in my left leg. I pelted forward has if I was chasing her, as if she was tangible. For a moment a tall, willowy figure floated in my minds eyes and I called her magic. She taunted me with a smirk that I used to wear too well, bright blue eyes that said catch me if you can, and red hair spun with the most vibrant of silks floating about her immune to the dictating direction of the wind.

A spike of pain shot through my abdomen and I doubled over, coughing aggressively, feeling the warm liquid hit my hand has I clutched my mouth and with one last cynical smile she disappeared again. I felt hands at my waist and as if she had stolen my energy with her disappearance, I had no choice but to let the hands help me to the nearby stands.

I continued coughing until breathing was even an option, taking in air in sharp breaths that made me cringe inwardly at this weakness. I lapped the water the hands had pushed into my mouth, taking the liquid in as if it was the elixir of life.

"Should I get help?" I looked up into his brown eyes that shorn with worry and I hated myself. Here stood a boy whose life was torn asunder and he was worrying about me. I hadn't seen that sandy hair for weeks, not since the repercussions of the cave-in, I was consumed with the anger, self pity and resentment that came with the loss of her. What of his anger and resentment at the loss of her? I lost my magic…but he lost his mother.

Suddenly I had the urge that I thought had completely left me this past month. An urge that I thought I could never feel again in my present state. The urge to just feel another person, to have contact, to just exist in their space. I pulled Liam to me and clutched him around his waist, the crown of my head leaning against the arch of his cheekbone and I heard his audible gasp of air at the shock.

"I'm so sorry." I was glad that my voice didn't come out in a broken whisper, but instead had some remnant of strength in it.

I felt a trembling hand at my back as he stroked it, "Whatever for Ky? My sister is alive and well, thanks to you. She smiles and laughs and thinks and speaks and if it were not for you sending help…"

"But your mother…"

"My mother would die a hundred deaths to keep us safe. Nothing in this world meant more to her than our safety, she turned her back on everything to keep us safe, and I know wherever she is she will exist in eternal gratitude to your brothers for what they had done for her, a stranger. For saving what she couldn't save, for allowing life to flow through Aria's veins, because that is all that ever mattered to her. My safety and Aria's and you delivered that."

My breathing slowed down and my eyelids sagged down, the run finally catching up to me. My weight was completely on Liam and his trembling hands became steady on my back as he supported me. He lost her, but found strength in her absence, the little boy I saved all those months ago in the forbidden forest gone and a man stood in his place. And I…the girl that stood tall against acromantula protecting the little boy could barely stand in front of him, I lost her and found weakness in her absence…and then a thought crossed my mind before I let my eyes close…was it choice? Was he choosing strength…whilst I chose weakness?

Hermione's POV

I shut the book closed with a snap of my wrist, Harry jumped up, startled,

"Sorry."

I didn't mean to wake him, considering he barely got any sleep between classes, DA, researching a cure for Ky and now visiting Ky in the hospital wing…she had been passing out frequently after her ingestion of the Vikadel, which Madam Pomfrey and Healer Atticus said should be expected. It was her body's coping mechanism against the toll that the Vikadel was exerting on it. Sometimes she would be out for days, others for hours, but every time it was painful to sit by her bedside and watch her, just as painful as it was to watch him watching her.

Harry shifted in his seat opposite my own in the library, wiping the sleep viciously from his eyes and pulling the nearest book to him, Ron had left ten minutes ago for quidditch practice.

"Harry-"

"I'm OK Hermione."

"Harry-"

"I don't need to sleep Hermione, there isn't any time!"

I frowned at him, we were all stressed yet strangely enough I was the only one getting snapped at, "You're late for occlumency."

He closed his eyes at the realisation and shut the book, he stood up and dusted himself off scrap parchment, he grabbed his bag, "Don't you have prefect duties?"

"I do." I remained seated though, I spoke to Hannah about covering for me, Harry was right, we didn't have time, it had already been a month since Ky took the Vikadel and every second that ticked by was detrimental to her magic.

"Thanks."

I nodded at his gratitude and watched him walk away. I stared at the exit to the library long after Harry had left. It's strange. It isn't even two years since Ky had fallen into my life, yet I can't imagine Hogwarts without her. Even though these past few months I saw less of her considering she started dating Harry, yet she still made time for me. I remember Lavender quipping that I should count myself lucky if I even got a hello out her after she started dating Harry, but that statement was just one of the many that shows how clueless Lavender was. When did I need more than just Harry and Ron? When did it become impossible to imagine life without her? When did the words Ky and sister ring in synonymy. The notions of a sister were always foreign to me, being an only child, yet now I understood it as easy as Gamp's Laws of Elemental Transfiguration. She was my sister. My person. My throat burned and I leaned forward, massaging it with my hands, there was no time for tears.

I looked down at my bag, at the familiar scratching noise. I heaved a deep sigh, leaning over and grabbing the Parch out of my bag

Hermione? Has she woken up?

Not yet Linus.

I'm sorry I couldn't come today, I can't say why but I had some business to take care off. Has Madam Pomfrey administered her Nutritive injection for all three meals?

Yes, I popped by after classes and Madam Pomfrey was doing so, just as I entered. But I don't think she would forget. She's very reliable about those kinds of things.

I know. I know. Thanks for checking up on her, I know you must have a lot on your plate. Any new leads? Need any more books from Snuffles Place?

No, I haven't finished with the lot you brought in yesterday. And no, no new leads…

Crap. It's OK though, Hermione, you're brilliant, I'm sure you will find the answer. I wish I could help you, more than anything else but…there's some stuff that I have to deal with. I know the Old Man met with a healer from India and his meeting one in China tomorrow. Damn Voldemort, his making it really hard for us to move around.

It's OK Linus, Harry, Ron and I will deal with this, don't let this get you distracted. Distractions hinder progress; focus on one thing at a time. Whatever work you're doing for the…you know what, I'm sure it's imperative that you stay focused.

Thanks Hermione, I can't honestly say I have it in me to heed your kind words though. I have to go now, if you can please just send a message with Len if he makes it to visit Ky tomorrow. Tell him to tell Agnes that you spoke to me. I won't be able to check in for a few days, so take care. And please look after her…and give her a kiss for me…even if she won't want it.

Linus, Ky will see that you did what you thought was best for her when she is in the right state of mind.

Did I? I'm not so sure anymore. I made a decision thinking I was protecting her from a future danger but instead placing her in even more danger than before. I should never have listened to Kat. I should have

The scratching stopped mid sentence. I stared at the yellowing sheaf of parchment as the words slowly faded away. I waited moments longer yet still, nothing. I wonder where he was that made him stop writing so abruptly. Or more importantly…who he was with…

I tossed the Parch back in my bag and rubbed my eyes, resting them in my hands. I felt like I read every book on magical ability, the origin of magic and even a few on wand lore just to see how magic is harnessed in that way. All dead ends. It was insanity, wizards and witches existed for thousands of years yet nobody expunged how the ability came about, what controls it. This search reminded me a lot of how muggles wondered how life came about, whether it was the Big Bang or some higher power…is that how enormous a question we're searching for is.

"Planning on giving old Ollivander a run for his money, are you?"

I jumped and looked up from my hands, snapping the book on wandlore shut, Theodore Nott was sitting in Harry's place, how long was he here for? I sighed and reached for the book nearest to him but he was quicker,

"What makes a wizard tick?" He raised an eyebrow at the title and smirked at me, "Oh Granger…you should have just asked."

I glared at him, "That book is not what you think it's about."

"It's not about magical ability in wizards?"

I frowned, "Well actually…it is."

"Whatever were you thinking I thought it was about Granger?"

"I…I…I didn't think you thought it was about anything you thought I was thinking you thought it was about." Godric, I was tired, I sound like an idiot.

"Cute."

I flared my nostrils at Nott, "What is?"

"You." He smirked at me.

I stood up, I wasn't going to sit here and be ridiculed. I'd rather do my prefect duty than be on the receiving end of…his bizarre conversations. Plus Ky's situation was extremely top secret and Nott had the annoying habit of cottoning on to situations quickly and I was too exhausted to counter his quips presently. I turned and walked to the exit,

"Oh come now Granger, I was only playing."

"Well I'm not. I don't have time to play games with you Nott! Did you ever think that life isn't just one big game full of riddles and puzzles? Why did you give me that flower on Valentine's Day?"

"Why did you take it?"

"Do not do that. Do not answer a question with a question."

"I only answer a question with a question because the answers to both questions are the same."

I glared at his hazel eyes, the boy was infuriating. I pushed past him and walked out,

"If you want to know about magical ability, you're looking in the wrong place."

I turned around as he walked down the corridor after me, all traces of playfulness abandoned.

"Who said I wanted to know anything about that?" We were under strict rules by Dumbledore himself to not tell a soul about Ky's situation. Thankfully the only classes she needed to use her wand was in Charms and Transfiguration so McGonagall and Flitwick helped, turning a blind eye when I did the spell highly discreetly instead of her. She was getting by with Ancient Runes and Arithmancy but I think the biggest blow was when she mucked up the Vitamix Potion on Thursday. She literally made that potion hundreds of times…she never got lower than an O for potions and she was already averaging an A for the last three potions we had to brew.

"Now who's playing games Granger?"

I didn't answer Nott, he was highly resourceful wasn't he? Incredibly so, but I couldn't risk him finding out about Ky. If word somehow got to Umbridge or any of the death eaters that she was this vulnerable…

"Do you want to know about magical ability or not Granger?"

I bit my lip in thought, we'd been searching for weeks and came up with no leads at all, and I feared the day that Ky would wake up and not be able to even brew an acceptable potion. I couldn't even imagine losing my magic, but if Ky lost hers it would take too many relationships with it. She and Harry couldn't get past that, I don't think so, initially when she looked to him for support he sided with her brothers and then he convinced her in believing in him just to have her hopes crushed. She would resent her brothers for making her take the potion in the first place and I, well she won't have magic. She wouldn't be a witch. She wouldn't be in Hogwarts, a bed away, a desk away, a step away from me…my thoughts from earlier tonight bounced back in my mind…I would lose something I never thought I ever wanted…yet now can't live without…a sister.

"Yes."

He nodded and in the same moment turned around, "Follow me."

I hesitated…could I trust Nott? He was a Slytherin, and a baffling one at that. The very fact that I couldn't read his next move should mean that I should stay away from him…yet Ky was lying in a bed few floors down…her magic weakening as I stood here debating Nott's trustworthiness. Without another thought I hurried down after Nott.

Five minutes later we were in the heart of the dungeons, we must have gone through five secret passageways but the corridor we ended up on looked familiar.

"Kittens lab isn't far from here. The dungeons is much like a labyrinth, there's a lot of rooms that run parallel to each other, right next to each other but impossible to reach one from the other." He stopped halfway down the corridor in front of the plane brick wall, I hugged myself, it was freezing down in the dungeons and I could hear a wind blowing somewhere which was strange considering there were no windows down here.

Nott stopped walking abruptly and took out his wand and tapped a sequence onto the wall; he then pointed the tip of the wand to his forefinger and stared in fascination at the drop of scarlet that arose. He rubbed his finger onto the centre brick,

"Nott-"

"Salazar Slytherin's personal study Granger, a drop or two of blood here or there is worth it, don't you think?"

Another one of Slytherin's secret hideouts…I watched, captivated as each brick turned backwards, leaving a narrow yet distinct entryway. It was black as night inside and I could just make out outlines of what I could only assume was shelves. Nott stepped in and I followed, suddenly a pain resonated through my skull as if I had run into a brick wall.

"Granger? Are you OK?"

I grumbled and held my nose, tipping my head back. Damn it, I muttered the healing spell for a nosebleed. "I can't come in."

Nott sighed and lit his wand, shedding some light onto the room and himself, it was small, much smaller than the teachers offices and it was filled with an array of shelves, cupboards and desks all carrying books, boxes and in some cases jars much like the ones Professor Snape had in his office.

"Trust old Salazar to put a spell or two to keep the muggle borns out." Nott's eyes glinted green has they zoomed around the room.

"Just find what you can on magical ability and lend it to me. I'll return it to you by tomorrow." I was already past annoyed at not being allowed to even enter one of the founders personal study's, even if he was a prejudiced old fool…he was still a founder.

"I can't, I tried taking some stuff from this room before, but the room wouldn't let me. I'm lucky I even found the place twice."

I huffed and lowered my head, the bleeding had stopped with the spell but I wasn't sure if I had managed to clean all the blood. I must look an idiot. "How sure are you that what I need is in there?"

"Judging by the books you were looking at, you're trying to figure out the dynamics of magical ability. How it comes about and what kinds of laws dictate it. Whatever you need would be in here."

"Why are you so sure?"

"Think Granger. This is Salazar Slytherin's study."

My nostrils flared, "I don't want some book that states that purebloods are better than muggle borns."

"Look, apart from being an extremely prejudiced ponce, Salazar Slytherin was a great wizard. If he genuinely believed that purebloods are better than muggle borns, don't you think he would have done research to prove this? If his research was a success he would have shouted it out from the top of the Astronomy Tower so loudly that we would probably hear his echoes in the future. So I think that his results must not have been to his favour and that's why he kept it hidden away over here. Anyway, there's sure to be a lot on magical ability over here if he was trying to state the case that purebloods were superior."

"Well that's all well and good but I can't get to that knowledge." I wanted to punch Nott in the face, knowing it wasn't his fault but frustrated none the less, all the answers might be feet away from me yet I couldn't reach it, damn Slytherin.

"Who said so?" Nott smirked at me and I quickly wiped the tear of frustration that leaked down my face, "Take a seat Granger."

"What?"

"Just sit Granger." He turned away from me and I watched as he ruffled in the nearest box, I coughed, the dust in the room puffing out after the years it was left undisturbed. I watched as he left that box, and put his hand in another one, he whipped it out quickly with a swear as I heard something scuttle away,

"Are you alright?"

He answered me with a smile that made my mouth go dry, I licked my lips and my face flushed as the action made him stare at my lips for moments afterwards, I suddenly felt naked. The sensation of punching him came over me once again.

"I think this is it." I snapped back to reality as Nott grabbed a box and walked to the entrance, he sat down with his legs crossed and I mirrored him. It was so strange; there was nothing but a thin layer of air that bound us to either side of this invisible barrier. He ruffled through the box, and took out the first sheet of parchment,

"Ready, Granger?"

I nodded, blocking out all other thoughts except Theodore's Nott's voice.

"Go back to the last part."

I watched as his hazel eyes searched through the parchment, "-there are some who believe that magic is elemental in its nature, all spells a variant of some kind of manipulation of the surrounding atmosphere and wizards merely able to wield the power to execute this manipulation. I do find some truth in this fact yet one cannot over look the fact that this is a very Godric sentiment and only refers to the magic of the day. The magic that is restricted by light and stunted in its growth. This doesn't explain the substance of free magic, which in its nature itself is quite unnatural."

"Free magic? That's the tenth time he has referred to that."

"Well I highly doubt in his opinion what he did was dark magic."

"True, yet at the same time it doesn't help me much." I leaned my head against the wall, we had sat here for three hours and were on the sixth box, it was fascinating to pick the brains of one of the Founders but disappointing at the same time to find out how little he actually had managed to find out about magic. The Founders revolutionised magic for centuries, inventing and altering many of the spells that we use today. I guess they had their hands full with all of that instead of actually researching the root of our magic. Not that Slytherin didn't have his opinions on magic, like what Nott was reading right now.

"…those weak wizards who wished to outnumber the muggles, who recoil from our small numbers instead of revel in its uniqueness. I do believe it is these feeble minded wizards, of course with the help of muggles, who first stole the magic from wizards and somehow implanted it into muggles. Of course this is stolen magic and must be returned and I have long since been trying to find a way of doing so, yet I have hit many setbacks, the greatest being Godric's refusal to allow me the use of his muggle born students, and hence his badgering over-protection of them ever since my asking." Nott looked up at me, "That's the last page. Except for this, it's mostly in runes."

He held it up but all I saw was a blank page in front of me, "I can't see anything. Maybe if you wrote it down?"

"The room won't allow it, give me a minute." Nott concentrated on the page and I watched him, this could very well be the page that saves Ky's magic. His eyes were obscured has he looked down at the parchment, his dark hair falling black in the dim light. His skin was enviously smooth, I thought back to the pimple that had popped up on my chin this morning and wanted to punch him again. His jaw was chiseled, his cheekbones not comparable to Blaise Zabini's in sharpness but suited his face pleasantly. He was attractive, yet he wasn't popular with the other girls like Malfoy. Or maybe I was just not made aware of it, who did he go to the ball with last year? Did Lavender ever mention him before? Any romantic relationship, regardless of tie colour, she discusses in detail with Parvarti and try as I might, sometimes I could never fully block their nattering out and my ears are assaulted with most of their conversation. His long fingers tapped rhythmically against his knee and I stared at the pattern, entranced.

He suddenly tossed the parchment back into the box and pushed it back into the corner. I snapped my head up; trying to school my features so as to not look like I had been staring at him, quite a hard feat considering my heart seemed to pump the blood solely to my face at this precise moment. He stood and walked out and once he did the wall closed behind him, he grabbed my bag from my shoulder and opened it with deft hands, thankfully not noticing my dilemma. He fished out a quill and parchment and placed it on the wall, drawing what he must have seen on the page, bringing me to my senses faster than any of my own internal lecturing could manage.

"This is it, but like I said it's all in runes."

"Yes but the rest of his work was in Latin wasn't it? Why was this parchment in runes?"

He stared at the parchment for a moment and then shrugged, "I don't know Granger."

He handed the parchment to me and I stared at it, it was three columns I think, judging by the spacing. The first and second were full but the third was practically empty. I frowned down at it, it looked unfinished. The runes were not one's I was familiar with; I don't think it was taught in the curriculum. The most I can say from my knowledge is that it was three columns and that was estimation, if anybody else had looked at this parchment they would probably think it was just a jumble of shapes. I usually could read a rune like I read English…almost as well as Nott could translate Latin…this was going to take a while.

"Well, good night Granger."

I looked up, we were in front of the Fat Lady, did he really walk me all the way to the common room? Without me even knowing? He smiled at me and it made me blush,

"What?" I felt like I had something on my face, oh Godric! I didn't manage to wipe off all the blood from my nosebleed, did I?

He shook his head; the same smile on his face like something amused him.

I rolled my eyes, "Well…thank you Nott."

"Pleasure." He gave me a straight backed bow that brought a smile to my face, he turned and walked away and I muttered the password, "Hermione?"

I looked back up at him, "I hope that helps Kitten."

I would have panicked if it had been anyone else. Had it been any other Snake. Yet when he said it, with his eyes unusually sincere, I knew it wasn't some mind game. Some way of telling me he knew Ky was vulnerable and he will exploit it. He genuinely cared for her,

"I hope so too Theo."

I walked through the portrait hole and was in my bed by the time I realised what I had said…and what he had said…Theo…Hermione. Theo and Hermione. I batted away the last thought, what on earth was I thinking, I must be exhausted. I should sleep…the Founders know I need it considering the puzzle I need to solve tomorrow.

A/N: Please review

Have a good day

Kalina