"So, where are we going tonight?" Lorelei asked. She brushed the dust from the tunnel off her clothes. Filch had been taking her around with him on his patrols some nights.

"Nowhere interesting." Filch grumbled. He was still getting used to having someone tagging along with him, especially one as chatty as Lorelei. "I haven't been in the old storage rooms in awhile."

Lorelei scooped up Mrs. Norris and snuggled her. "Sounds good to me. I love exploring different parts of Hogwarts." Lorelei took off down the hallway.

Filch rolled his eyes. "Wrong way."

Lorelei turned around on the balls of her feet. "I knew that."

"Gosh, it's dark down here." Lorelei shivered. "And cold." She wrapped her robe more tightly around herself. Mrs. Norris had left them at the top of the staircase to go her own way.

"We are underground." Filch grabbed an unlit torch from the wall, lit it with his lantern, and handed it to Lorelei. "Here."

Lorelei's fingertips brushed Filch's hand as she took the torch. It felt like electricity shot through her fingers. "Thanks." Lorelei was thankful for the darkness that hid her blush. 'That was weird. Why am I suddenly nervous?' She shrugged the feeling off and went poking around in nooks and crannies with her new light source.

As they walked through the dark rooms, every so often Lorelei would find something and ask Filch what it was.

"What are these?"

"Broken paintings."

"What about this?"

"Old furniture from the common rooms."

"Oh, this is cool!" Lorelei held up a moth-eaten robe.

"It's just a pile of rags."

"Well, yeah. But they're cool." Lorelei dropped the robe back in a pile, kicking up a plume of dust that caused her to sneeze. She hurried to catch up with Filch, who hadn't stopped moving. They walked in silence for awhile, broken by the occasional sneeze from Lorelei.

"Having fun?" Filch asked with mild amusement.

"Oh yeah." Lorelei said, snuffling. "Minus all the dust of course." She was walking side-by-side with Filch. Suddenly she stopped. "What was that?"

Filch sighed. "What did you find now?"

"I saw something move over there." Lorelei pointed to a corner where the shadows looked extra dark.

Filch stopped and looked where Lorelei was pointing. He couldn't see anything. "Probably just a rat. Nothing to be scared of." He started walking again.

"I don't know… Maybe. It looked a lot bigger than a rat." Lorelei ran to catch back up to Filch. She grabbed his hand.

"Eh?" Filch almost jumped out of his skin. "What are you doing?" he yanked his hand away from hers.

"Oh relax." Lorelei grabbed his hand again. "I don't want to get dragged away by a giant whatever that was. It scared me."

Filch grumbled to himself but let Lorelei continue to hold his hand. He secretly felt satisfaction that holding his hand made her feel safe, although he would never admit that to anyone. Soon his grumbling stopped, and before long they were heading back to the warm glow of lit torches and braziers.

Lorelei threw her sputtering torch into one of the braziers as they passed. Even though they were back in the safety of the light, she continued holding Filch's hand, who seemed used to it by now. She smiled to herself.

The pair made it back to the tunnel entrance and Lorelei reluctantly released Filch's hand.

"I won't be able to meet for a few days, at least not until Christmas break starts. I have exams to study for and papers to finish."

"You won't be going home for Christmas?" Filch asked.

Lorelei laughed sadly. "No. I'll be staying here. My parents send an obligatory gift and that's it."

"I see." The rusty wheels in Filch's head began to turn. "Don't fail your exams." He said goodnight and went to find Mrs. Norris.

Lorelei slipped through the tunnel and silently crawled into bed after changing. Her thoughts as she drifted to sleep were happy, albeit confusing; her feelings towards Filch were shifting in a way she had never calculated.

"How's your paper going? Beth asked.

"Almost finished. All I have left is the closing paragraph." Lorelei was bent over a scroll of paper, ink smeared on her sweaty forehead.

"You really shouldn't have waiting until the last minute to write it." Beth scolded.

"Yeah, yeah." Lorelei waved her friend's words away. "I was busy."

Beth shook her head and went back to helping Myra. "You've been busy a lot lately."

"I know. I'm sorry. The stress of passing classes really gets to me I guess." Lorelei made a lame excuse.

Beth seemed skeptical of her friend.

Myra interrupted. "Hey Lorelei, can I borrow your notes for a second?"

"Of course." Lorelei handed Myra her notebook for Transfiguration.

"Thanks. Your handwriting is a lot better than mine." She opened the notebook and a yellowed piece of paper fell out.

Lorelei saw her name written on the front in a shakey hand.

"What's this? Myra picked it up. "It looks like a note…" She smirked playfully. "Or maybe a love letter!"

Lorelei blushed and grabbed the letter before Myra could open it. "It is not a love letter!"

"Why are you blushing then?" Myra teased. "Come on, who's it from?"

Beth just rolled her eyes and kept working on her homework.

"No one. It's nothing." Lorelei shoved the letter into her pocket. "You think I would hide a secret admirer from you guys?" She said lightheartedly.

Myra narrowed her eyes. "Hmm… Fair point." She sat back with a huff. "What's a girl got to do around here for a little romantic drama?"

Beth laughed. "You're such a hopeless romantic."

Lorelei laughed with them but inwardly she was wondering what the letter said. She knew who it was from, but had no idea how he had gotten it in her notebook without her noticing.

Later that evening, Lorelei got a chance to read the note:

Lorelei,

Meet me Christmas Eve at the usual spot. Bring a coat and boots.

Filch

"A coat and boots?" Lorelei folded the note and tucked it somewhere her friends wouldn't find it.