The castle was almost barren for the holidays, only a handful of kids staying behind, though there were more Slytherins than before. Daphne, Theo, Blaise, and Draco all stayed behind, saying things about not wanting to go home- but she guessed they were staying for her.

Which, honestly, was sweet (even if she'd never say that out loud).

(Though the two lugs that followed around Draco were a little less welcome.)

Sitting by the fire- as no one was honestly stupid enough to try to steal her chair even without her being Queen- she ate slowly from the plate that Blaise and Theo had brought back for her. "I wonder when Snape changed his rules for meals."

"Hmmm…" Theo hummed sarcastically. "Probably around the time when you stopped coming to them."

"Ah." She nodded. "That would make sense."

Theo shook his head. "I think it's ridiculous. First, you stop coming to class, then meals..." None of them looked up at the others coming in, the boy narrowing his eyes at Lena. "What next? Avoiding the house and sneaking out to ice skate in the middle of the night?"

She laughed dryly. "So you noticed then?"

"Of course we did Lena." Blaise frowned. "You could have fallen in or- or something like that! Gotten hurt! What would Janus say?"

"I think he probably wouldn't say anything. No, Janus would most likely just kidnap me so he could make sure I was completely and utterly unharmed." She rolled her eyes. "I don't understand him sometimes."

Draco snorted as he sat down, Crabbe and Goyle lingering at the edge of the couches with Daphne. "That's because you're you."

"Offensive, Malfoy. I would much rather be me than you." Tilting her head when he scowled at her, she looked to where Daphne was standing with Crabbe and Goyle awkwardly. "Hey, Daph. Get lost again?"

"Uh- yeah, sorry about that."

Blinking, as Daphne never said sorry for anything because it was something ingrained in her from her mother and the girl hated that, Lena nodded and waved her hand. "Well come on the three of you. Sit down. We were just talking about how I broke Janus' arm."

Blaise gave her a strange look, Theo and Draco looking at each other.

Daphne, however, gave a strangely high-pitched laugh. "Oh, yeah, I remember that."

"Right." She looked to where the other three had caught on, looking at her for instruction. Shaking her head at Malfoy, she gave the boy a look of slight disdain and leaned back in her chair hauntingly. "Well? Got anything to stay about the gossip recently?"

As the boy leaned back in his own chair, he seemed to catch on to what she was playing at. "I wonder why there hasn't been an article in the Daily Prophet about the attacks… Probably Dumbledore covering it up."

"My mother always said that Dumbledore was the worst thing that happened to this school." Blaise sneered.

And by that, Madame Zabini meant she wished the man had gone into the ministry to clean it of idiots.

"You're wrong!" Crabbe burst out.

Lena stood, eyes cold and smile suddenly venomous. "Oh? And you think there's someone worse than Dumbledore in the castle?" Sharing panicked glances between the three she knew were imposters, she then paused and smiled slowly. "Oh-oh, you meant me, didn't you?" Her laugh was light and airy, using her hand to throw some of her hair over her shoulder with a fake smile she'd seen the girls at the orphanage do too many times. "You flatter me... But I don't think flattery will work when you're impersonating my friends." Clenching her fist, she pulled tight the web of magic she'd woven around them.

Stiffening, the three tried to move, but couldn't- slowly but surely changing back to three familiar figures.

"Ron Weasley, Charles Potter, and Hermione Granger. How quaint. Come to see the snake's lair for yourself? Maybe get a few good rumors about how evil I am for your adoring masses?" She moved to lean forward, eyes boring into Charlie's. "I heard a rumor that you're going to grow up to slay me because apparently, I'm a dark wizard. And here I thought we were friends…"

"I would never be friends with the Heir of Slytherin!"

The barbed insult hit her hard, almost losing her grip on the magic holding them, and she knew that Charles could tell- something in his eyes regretful even if it was mostly smothered by rash indignation.

Blaise snorted. "You're all idiots. Lena isn't the heir, nor is she anything you think. Janus joined her of his own free will and so did the rest of us."

"Lena! Hermione's impersonating-" Daphne ran in with Ginny before both paused to stare at the three. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have worried if you have them all tied up."

Lena looked to the three trying to escape her bonds, sighing and releasing them. "Whatever. I don't care anymore. Go and spread your rumors and lies, ruin every nice word I've ever tried to say, or every time I stepped past my own limits to try to make friends." Shaking her head, she sunk back in her chair by the fire. "You've convinced me."

"Convinced you?" Charles stood, Ron and Hermione at his sides. "So… you'll stop the attacks?"

"No. Because I'm not the one behind them. No, you convinced me that the magical world has no room for me." Looking at the fire, she nodded slowly. "This will be my last year at Hogwarts. I'd rather be hated by the Muggles for something I actually did than loathed by my own kind for something I'm not to blame for. So… I'm leaving."

Hermione went to step forward. "If you're really not the heir then-"

"Get OUT!" Ginny was the one to speak, her voice a shrill yell. "You don't deserve to be here! Look what you did! Get out! I hate you! IhateyouIhateyouIHATEYOU !" She whipped her wand out, firing hexes at the three, who took the smart route and ran out.

The room was still except for the sound of heavy breathing.

"Lena… you can't really-"

"Ginny." Standing slowly, she moved to the girl's side and put a hand on her shoulder gently. "Even Blaise and Theo see it's useless to try to change my mind. I may think you have a bright future ahead of you, redhead, but please... don't make me repeat myself."

Charles Potter had never felt more guilty in his entire life.

"Surely she didn't mean it! I mean she's- she's brilliant! She can't leave or I'll never get to pick her brains on transfiguration theory and- and she's absolutely mad to want to leave magic behind!" Hermione was pacing the Hufflepuff Common room, where the three of them could meet together as long as they didn't mind others listening in.

Charlie sighed. "I don't think that's it… I think that she's just tired of being unwanted." He wasn't sure how he understood the girl, but somewhere deep down he somehow felt this aching cold thing that he thought maybe was what she felt all the time. "I mean, what would I do if I had lost all my family and then been forced into a world that didn't want me?"

Hannah looked at her hands. "But- but you said she was really acting scary and…"

"And she magically tied you up somehow!" Susan frowned. "That's not the behavior of an innocent person!"

Hermione cringed. "Well… we did sneak into their Common Room and impersonate her friends…"

Ron just frowned. "Ginny- she really hates me, yeah? She's been trying to tell me all year how great Lena was and I just mistook it for Slytherin brainwashing but- well- she's never been that mad at me before."

Charlie stood up. "I'll go talk to Professor McGonagall. She'll sort this out."

Lena was skating arm-in-arm with Blaise as Theo, Draco, and Daphne were dancing around each other trying to get their skates to spray each other with snow. They'd all taken the 'ditch class' route, as Lockhart's class was full of time to kill and none of them wanted to be spit at by the Gryffindors in Charms when Lena had already taught them most of the year's material.

She scowled. "I can't believe that you lot all took to skating naturally. I had to fall like six hundred times to even go in a slightly curved line!"

The boy laughed, his violet eyes mirthful. "Well, we did all grow up having to take mandatory dance classes. And my mother always says: 'If you can dance, you can do anything.'"

Lena rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. I forget you're all rich kids sometimes."

"Hey!" Theo skated over to throw an arm around her shoulders. "I'm a cool rich kid, I'll have you know."

Snorting softly, she pushed him away from her, laughing as he flailed a bit and caught himself on Daphne to take them both down in a tumble of limbs. The girl pushed at him, irritated. "NOTT! Get off me, you idiot!"

"It was Lena's fault!"

The two devolved into squabbling, Draco moving to skate beside her and Blaise. "Sickening."

Blaise nodded. "Really quite disgusting."

"What is?" She looked at the two of them, tilting her head.

Sharing glances, Draco skated away and Blaise shrugged. "Nothing." Then, as he probably saw her confusion, he pointed to the edge of the lake. "McGonagall seems to be looking for one of us. Most likely you, if I had to guess."

"Whatever." Unhooking her arm from his, she skated calmly to the edge of the lake, stopping a few feet away from the edge. "Professor?"

"Miss Farland… would you care to explain why Charles Potter told me that you said you weren't coming back to Hogwarts next year?"

Lena looked at the woman patronizingly. "Really Professor. Shouldn't you and the other teachers be off opening a bottle of champagne? If you're looking for confirmation then, yes, it's true. Now go on, spread the word and join the party in the staff lounge- or Great Hall, depending on who knows. The demon child is leaving Hogwarts for good!" Then she skated back towards her group, ignoring the woman's calls to her back.

Skipping lunch and cutting it close to dinner, they all came with good cheer to the Great Hall. With wide smiles and flushed cheeks, she followed where Theo and Blaise were tangoing down the center aisle, gripping onto Daphne as they both died of laughter. Though the mood was somewhat contained when they sat down to eat.

Hestia Carrow leaned forward, looking at her. "Lena? Is it true? You're leaving Hogwarts?"

"You're leaving? What? Why?" Marcus frowned at her, his eyebrows furrowing.

"Yes." She nodded, voice carrying maybe a bit more than she usually let it do. "Yes, it's true. I will not be coming back next year, as I think I am done with the magical world and it's idiocy."

Lena wouldn't seem to process it, the world seeming to slow around her.

Charles Potter.

Charlie was… petrified?

Staring where Snape had called her into his office, she shook her head. "No."

"No?" The man arched an eyebrow. "What do you mean no? Potter is lying in the hospital wing, petrified, and all you have to say is no?"

Lena shook her head. "I didn't do this." She looked into the man's dark eyes, trusting he could see that she was telling the truth. "I promise."

"You can't honestly think that you won't be hunted for even the bare implication of having hurt the Boy-Who-Lived?"

"Then I will have to stop whoever is doing this before whoever hates me decides to make their next move." Turning on her heel, she stalked for the door.

Lena wouldn't fail Charlie, no matter if he liked her or not.

She wouldn't be able to look at herself again in the mirror if she did.

The restricted section had old maps of Hogwarts, but with a determined letter to Vlad from the owlery, he sent her some even older maps and she carefully studied where any possible renovations had been done.

She found six possible entrances.

Lena then spent a good week or so investigating each one and figuring out which would be the best to go through and be unnoticed, as they were all in pretty public places. The answer, however, came with the seventh abnormally on the maps. A wall, that when spoken to in parseltongue, turned into an archway just a few hallways further into the dungeons than the Slytherin Common Room.

Then someone was taken into the Chamber.

Lena stared at the writing on the wall, the blood reading: Her skeleton will lie in the chamber of her house forever.

Of course, they had to take a Slytherin.

Raising her wand and erasing the message from the wall, she turned on her heel.

It was about time she stepped in.

Walking into the Common Room, she looked around the room with cold eyes. "Who is missing?"

"Um-" Hestia looked around, each year finding their peers and the girl looked back to her with a frown. "Only Ginny Weasley... but she said she was going to find you about something important."

Swearing softly, she closed her eyes for a second. "Ginny. Of course- I was so blind! " Turning to where Blaise was watching her, she took off her bracelet and held it out to him. "Hold this for me and if I don't come back in the next two hours… I'm sorry."

"Be safe."

She nodded and turned from the common room, making sure no one was following her before she turned to the secret passageway, her voice slipping into parseltongue easily as she'd had many summer days to practice. :Open:

The tunnel down was almost pleasant when once one ignored the brackish water, mold, and the slight smell.

Turning into a long passageway lined with statues of snakeheads, she spotted a figure lying before a figurehead of Salazar Slytherin.

Lena walked across the slick stone, standing over Ginny Weasley with a small sigh. "The things I do..." Nudging the girl on the floor with her foot, she looked up to the ceiling, trying to find some sign that any of this was a good idea and that she wasn't just going to get herself killed.

"She won't wake."

Looking over to where a boy in Slytherin robes moved from the shadows, she tilted her head and looked at the prefect's badge on his chest. "And who are you?... You're not the Slytherin Prefect, as I know Marcus got that badge after Janus graduated."

The boy smiled, charming, but there was a glint in his eyes as he moved forward as if a predator stalking their prey. "Tom Riddle, at your service, beloved Slytherin Queen…" Taking another few slow steps forward, the boy stood only a foot from her, looking down at her smaller stature with dark eyes. "Ginny has told me of you- so very cold as if made from marble itself, and yet so beautiful and good. Sitting in the Common Room until late to make sure you can be there is someone wakes with a nightmare, leaving chocolate out for the nights you don't, always ready to answer questions or just help someone out with a spell…"

"You seem to know me quite well and yet I have never seen you before. Which is… improbable."

That same charming smile, but with an undertone of barely concealed fascination that sent a shiver down her spine even if she didn't show it. "Do you really not know me? I find that hard to believe."

Something about that gaze was familiar, same with the way he moved and spoke, but she'd only seen it before in…

Oh.

Turning away from the boy, she looked down at Ginny and sighed as if disappointed. "You were using her to talk to me all those late nights. Possession maybe?" Her eyes found the black journal clutched in the girl's hands that Ginny always had on her. "Or are you something a little less… human?"

"Who are you to talk about humanity?" Leaning down to whisper in her ear, the boy moved behind her back and came around to stand in front of her, reaching out a finger as cold as ice to tilt her chin up to look at him. "You are so far from human, with eyes made from the killing curse- a being of great power just pretending to have a heart."

"What does that make you then?"

Tom leaned in, cold skin of his cheek brushing hers as he murmured his answer into her ear softly. "I am a memory… preserved in a diary for 50 years."

Lena kept still as the boy pulled back just far enough to look her in the eyes, their faces mere inches apart. "So you, a memory, took over a girl and made her open the Chamber of Secrets. I somehow doubt that, but as you would like, I guess." She glanced past the boy, scanning the empty room, stone darkened with time, and a slight mold from the still water. "And the basilisk?"

"It won't come until it's called." A smirk crossed his lips, dangerous and cutting this time.

Pulling away from him slowly, she nodded and turned away, bored of trying to dance around the subject and hoping to push his hand. "Alright then. Have fun. I have an essay to write for charms."

"Wait!"

Stopping, she looked back at the boy. "Yes?"

Seeming to be thrown, something she assumed he was not used to feeling, Tom gestured to Ginny a little helplessly. "You spent multiple nights comforting this girl, showing me that you cared and yet you can just... leave?"

"Well the conversations I had were with you and not her, were they not?"

Tom blinked. "Not all of them. She wrote many times of you, telling me of your iron grip over the house, your fantastical magic and sweet personality… your loneliness and isolation from the other houses..." The boy stepped forward as if he was drawn to her like a moth to a candle, eyes still gleaming. "Will you not save her?"

Lena gave the boy a small half-smile. "You're the diary, aren't you? And a lost little girl in the big bad house of the snakes finds a girl a bit older than her that will listen to her childish ramblings and seems to really care about her, so what happens is she develops a bit of an obsession. But then writing all that down… I bet she gave that obsession to you, but I bet it got corrupted it from something simple and naive to something dark and twisted."

The boy moved closer yet, eyes never leaving hers.

"It makes perfect sense." She crossed her arms, the picture of ease even if she was left a bit unsteady from the intense gaze tracking every single movement she made as if she was some type of prey to him. "The only thing I don't get… is how you're able to open the chamber."

Chuckling darkly, a cold hand reached out to caress her cheek lightly. "So brilliant and curious, my little Queen... I had thought maybe Ginny had drawn you down here, but no, you came for the answers. The key to the riddle."

She didn't move or say anything, just staring at the boy, not about to lose the upper hand of not being affected by his behavior.

"I am the memory of someone of great power, preserved in a diary to continue his mission to bring back all the pieces of magic that the ministry has shoved in their vaults and kept under lock and key. I am the start of a path of greatness for the most powerful sorcerer in the world."

"Voldemort… Tom Riddle, heir of Slytherin and Voldemort." She mused this over. "They're the same person. They're you."

Tom grinned at her, leaning in with half-lidded eyes. "I knew you would see me for who I am, as we have more than a few things in common and you would have to eventually see our connection-"

Lena sidestepped the boy, not in the mood for being touched, even if it didn't make her feel anything more than the unnerving coldness of his skin. Walking over to Ginny, she picked up the journal the girl was clutching, feeling it was warm in her hands like a tiny sun. "That's great and all, but the mystery is solved now and I'm cold. So if you could, would you please leave?"

Something close to rage flickered over his face, Tom's brown eyes darkening. "I think we will just have to see this power you have for myself… draw out what really makes you so special." He turned to the face of Salazar Slytherin, slipping into the snake language. :Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four:

The mouth of the stone statue started to move, lowering with the sound of rock grinding on rock.

Humming softly, she wondered- not for the first time- about how she could speak to snakes and if it was a hereditary thing.

Perhaps she was distantly related to Salazar Slytherin from a different line?

Was it something about her that was as strange and freaky like a lot of things were?

Maybe one of her ancestors had been a naga?

Or was the reason this boy felt so strangely familiar... because he was related to her?

Attention pulled back to the present when she heard a soft hiss from the statue, she closed her eyes and stood still. :I am Lena Farland and I claim the title of Heir of Slytherin, as Tom Riddle has been made into nothing but a shade of his past self: Feeling a wave of warmth wash over her, she stayed still, feeling a large presence move in front of her.

Only flinching slightly when a tongue darted out to brush against her skin, a hiss drifted on the air. :You have been accepted as heir, little speaker, and may look upon me now:

Opening her eyes, she blinked at the large basilisk of brilliant greens and blues in front of her. :Hello then:

:What do you wish of me, mistress?: The giant snake twisted loosely around her.

Looking to where Tom was watching this whole thing, seeming more intrigued than mad, she sent him a half-smile. "Sorry Tom."

Then she lit the diary on fire.

Seeing his form flicker and start to glow slightly around the edges, the boy moved to stand in front of her with a wide grin, hand taking hold of her chin lightly. The fire licking at his skin didn't do anything but warm her face slightly and the boy leaned in to press soft cold lips against hers gently with a smirk. "We will meet again, my little Queen… I will make sure of it."

Then the book caught on fire fully and the form of Tom Riddle glowed brightly before disappearing.

Sighing, she looked to the basilisk. :The girl will wake soon and I must get her out of her before then. Other than that, you are free to live in these chambers, but please keep away from the students. Is there a way for you to get food?:

:I can hunt in the Forbidden Forest, snakeling… but will you visit me?:

Lena nodded, waving her hand to levitate Ginny. :When I can, I will:

Walking away with the girl floating behind her, she used the simple passageway from the Chamber to a hallway only a bit away from the Common Room. Speaking the password, she silenced the other students with a poisonous glare, laying Ginny down on a sofa and casting a cleaning charm on her damp clothes.

The girl woke slowly, looking groggy. "L- Lena?" Then with a few blinks, the girl sat up, eyes wide. "Where- Tom and- and the diary! What-"

"Ginny…" She took the girl's hand gently, before lightly pushing her back to laying down. "Please, calm down. You were having a bad dream and fell asleep on the sofa… is everything alright?"

The girl looked around, seeming to relax, but looking confused. "I- I was with Tom… and the Chamber of Secrets…"

Lena smiled softly, petting the girl's hair to soothe her in a way she'd seen mothers do for their children before. "Redhead, you must have had a horrible dream. I don't know any Slytherin named Tom, nor where you're getting this idea of the Chamber of Secrets from. Maybe all this nonsense with the petrifications is getting to your dreams." Summoning a chocolate bar from her trunk, she caught it easily and then put it in the girl's hand gently. "Eat that and get to sleep, alright?"

"Oh- okay…" Ginny nodded, slowly standing and moving to her rooms.

Turning on the rest of the house, she narrowed her eyes. "What you heard is the truth from now on. No matter if you did not see me here, or you thought she was missing- you were wrong. Am I clear?"

The house slowly nodded, faces solemn.

"And the attacks?"

Lena fixed sharp eyes on where Theo stood, unbothered by her sharpness. Softening slightly, she sighed and rubbed at her temples. "I am sure… that whatever was going on has somehow been dealt with accordingly and the attacks will stop." Moving to the stars, she paused on the bottom step and looked back to the room. "Ginny should not have to carry the burden of what happened on her shoulders. Let her think it a dream, as we all rest a little easier when we think we can wake up from our nightmares and leave them behind."

Then without another word, she took the bracelet offered to her and moved to go get some rest herself.

Voldemort was in the process of trying to possess a snake when he felt a rush of power and memories surged through him, his formerly mist-like form seeming to solidify into a thicker white smoke.

Memories of his time at school and of opening the Chamber of Secrets.

Memories of being locked away in a diary.

Memories of a girl finding the diary, starting to write about her sorting into Slytherin and how the house hated her but yet one girl stood out and had taken her in.

Memories of Lena Farland, the strange girl with the eyes like emeralds calmly facing down death, unflinching, with only a small smile.

She was right.

He could feel it, some tiny part of his brain telling him that what he felt for the small girl in the green and black uniform was obsession, twisted and blackened by a mangled soul latching onto something bright and beautiful. It combined with the curiosity and intrigue he'd previously felt, making the interest and need to see the girl all so much stronger.

He could feel it, knew exactly what was happening… but the thing was?

He didn't care.

Lena Farland would be his.

The petrified students were returned to normal, Lena never giving out a single word about what she'd done that night, even as the other houses spit venom at her still.

But instead of just taking it, the Slytherins seemed to rally around her tighter than before, getting up in the faces of whoever tried to insult her until she either pulled them away or glared them into silence again.

Eventually, with finals coming up and no attacks, the school settled into an uneasy truce.

They celebrated the end of the year like the time before- once again half the house was wasted in time for the End-of-the-year Feast and she nodded to Dumbledore when she sat down, the man's eyes sparkling as he nodded back.

"Could I have your attention, please?" McGonagall tapped her spoon to her wine glass, the hall quieting.

Dumbledore stood. "This year's House Cup goes to Hufflepuff, but before we award such a thing or eat, I would like to give a round of applause for Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey, whose Mandrake juice has been so successfully administered to all who had been Petrified. Also, in light of the recent events, I think I must clarify something that someone wise told me when I doubted my instincts..." The blue eyes smiled as they sought her out. "Correlation does not equal causation."

She blinked, then giggled slightly, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

His smile was small but fond. "Let us eat!" As the food appeared on the table, the man moved from the dais to stand by her seat. "Perhaps I could talk to you in my office?"

"Of course." She dipped her head, standing and walking silently with him out of the Great Hall

"Severus saw the message and went to fetch Minerva, but when they came back it was gone. Upon questioning one of the first years, they found out that you and Miss Weasley were missing… though only a few hours later, both of you were back and unharmed."

Lena nodded. "We were taking a walk."

The Headmaster looked at her sadly. "Will you not tell me the truth, Lena?"

Watching the man for a long time, she smiled softly. "Slytherin's chambers belongs to the Heir, as does the monster. I may like you, but I think that it would be an affront to history to either destroy the Chamber or make it open to the Ministry so they can remodel it to their tastes. Understand me when I say that the creature inside the chamber will not harm anyone in the castle and stay away from everywhere but the Forest and it's home."

"And who was leading the attacks?"

"The same person that did fifty years ago." Looking at the man as his eyes widened slightly, she tilted her head just slightly. "The same boy that I seem to remind you and Professor McGonagall of."

The man's voice was a soft whisper. "Tom?... What happened to him? How did he..."

"A diary. He called it a memory, but it was possessing Ginny Weasley. She, of course, thinks him a nightmare, but I am sure that will not last for long." She leaned back in her seat. "I destroyed it."

Dumbledore nodded, seeming lost in thought, and their food appeared.

They sat in silence, eating for a while before she finally spoke up again. "I'm not normal. I've never been normal and for once I thought I would make friends and get to be something better than I was- just the demon child of St. Judes… but then it happened here. The strangeness followed me here, made me yet again unworthy of anything good." She put her plate to the side, drawing her knees up to her chest. "It always happens that way. Every good piece I have eventually gets ripped away from me and… I don't know what to do anymore."

"My dear…" The Headmaster's voice was heavy with tiredness, smiling gently at her. "I have felt the same way. When my sister died when my best friend left me for power when I was forced into a battle that I didn't want to fight… You must rely on your greatest strength."

"And what's that?" Her voice was barely above a whisper.

Dumbledore reached across the space to squeeze her hand gently. "Your friends. Let them support you when you have no one else."

Nodding, she wondered if that was the advice of an old man or a great wizard.

"You mean… Voldemort was in the castle?" Charles almost couldn't breathe, looking at Dumbledore from his place in the hospital bed, horrified.

Sirius was practically spitting venom at the thought. "What- why didn't you tell us! What would happen if-"

"Sirius, my dear boy…" Dumbledore looked calmly at his uncle over the top of his glasses sternly. "I do not think Charlie was in any real danger. He was just chosen to be petrified because I believe that the attacker knew it would get to the real target to act. However, I think that Tom was not prepared to deal with what he ordered, so to say."

"Speak clearly Albus." That was his mum, her eyes flashing dangerously from under messily pinned up red hair. "What do you mean by that?"

Dumbledore looked at his mother with almost mischievous eyes. "I was worried about a girl, a student in Charles' grade who seemed to be much like Tom when he was young… but I think that fate, as fickle as she is, has granted us something close to a miracle." The man stood slowly, nodding to Charlie. "I can only hope that Tom knows what game he is trying to play, as I do not think that his opponent will play by the same rules he makes for himself."

Charlie watched the old Headmaster wander out, suspicion creeping up on him, but he swallowed it down.

Lena couldn't have done this.

He was just being silly.

Stepping off the Hogwarts Express, Lena shook her head. "That's not the point Blaise. It's not that I care about the Muggles, it's that I'd rather not have you or any of the Slytherins around that place!"

"But you can't just not tell us anything when you're not planning on coming back to school next year!" Blaise frowned. "What will we do then?"

"Just let us stop by every once and a while Lena." Daphne looked at her with big blue eyes. "Please? Just to make sure they're taking care of you?"

Giving the girl a small smile, she pulled each of the three into a hug, looking over to nod to where Draco was standing with his family. "I will be alright. In fact, I'm thinking of getting a job this summer." Snorting softly at their faces of disdain at the mere thought, she shook her head and shrunk her trunk to put in her pocket. "If I do, then maybe I will tell you where to find me during my shift hours."

Instantly the disdain was gone.

"That's a great idea, Lena!" Theo smiled. "Something in Diagon then?"

"Nope. A little cafe I've passed by while exploring London. It looks like the perfect place to escape to." Grinning widely at the three's sinking moods, she glanced to where Charles Potter was pointing at her for the second year in a row. "That's my cue. Gotta go! See you around!"

Weaving through the crowds, she slipped from the platform into Kings Cross, ducking into a bathroom to change her clothes before starting to the orphanage.

She wondered how different it would be not counting down the months until she left for Hogwarts.