Heyo, here's your second chapter of the day!

Thanks for following my story, please review if you enjoy reading it!

I only have one hour of class on Friday. That's for the best, because I'm getting a lot of side looks by half of the students, which is pretty annoying and makes me want to isolate. Of course, Scorpius and his mate are still pretending that I don't exist, even if I can see him staring at me once or twice, when he thinks I'm not looking. I wonder why. Saturday flies by quickly. During the Quidditch training I fly against our official Seeker. I make my part of the team win (we parted in two groups to train) because I saw the Snitch first. I'm quite happy with my success, my flying training helped. Al' uses the training as an opportunity to recruit some people for the obstacle course challenge. In the evening I reluctantly hold end of the deal with Ewlad and go for my first Occlumency training with him, since I finished reading the books.

For once we take the risk of sneaking into the Room of Requirement because we don't know what we'll need yet and want to make sure we won't be disturbed. Inside, we find a small room lit by a magical orb casting a gentle light. A library covers a wall, and some pillows lie on a cover on the opposite side. Ewald glances at the books and smiles, so I check them out as well, curious. All of them are on Occlumency or Mind magic in general. We take a seat on the pillows, then Ewald asks.

"So, you're sure to be willing to try this?"

"Of course."

"Well, I won't insist again on how dangerous that can be, you're not stupid. Do you already know how you plan on defending your mind?"

"I think so…" I answer, slightly uncertain

"I won't be trying to enter your mind right now. I will only position myself on the border of your mind and try to see if it's already well defined. If it is, I will observe what defenses you managed to build."

My only answer is a tense nod. It takes me all my strength to let him do that, but it's needed to know what my defenses are worth. The books mentioned different methods to close one's mind. For instance using Elements or thoughts as a barrier. I'm using none of that. No subtlety. My mind is simply circled by a wall, a sort of impenetrable sphere which I use as a shield. I didn't really have trouble putting it into place. There's always been a sort of wall inside me, separating me from my emotions. It's a block that comes from my traumas, and I discovered that I could sort of imitate it with magic. It's complicated to explain how I do it. I use the feeling of being blocked, that I infuse with magic before pushing it around all of my thoughts. And since Ewald is aiming his wand at me, I suppose I will soon know if it's working.

"Are you ready?"

I nod, keeping my mouth shut so he won't feel the fear in my voice, and I focus on my wall. He speaks out clearly "Legilimens" and the second after I can feel a strange sensation that I can hardly put into words. I assume it's Ewald's presence that I can feel, but I have no certainty, since I'm on the other side of my wall. I extend my will, trying to feel better what's happening, but my wall explodes. Ewald breaks his spell.

"That's interesting. You actually managed to create a defense that seemed flawless, but it broke. What happened?"

"I wasn't really able to feel your presence so I tried to see beyond the wall."

"I see… It's a problem, indeed. You need to manage to shield your memories and thoughts while keeping your conscience and your magical senses free to come and go. If you want to be able to detect intrusions and see what potential enemy consciences try to do, that's a requirement. That's the main difficulty in Occlumency, because one often creates cracks in one's defenses when working on that. I guess that will be your focus for your next training sessions."

While I'm listening to him, I slowly admit to myself that Occlumency won't be a piece of cake. My mind wanders a bit, wondering what it would be to manage to occlude in a way that would make my mind invisible. I wonder if it's possible to make it so that if someone was to probe me they wouldn't see nor feel anything. Maybe just some magical energy, my conscience, but nothing else. No wall nor thoughts or memories, no entrance point. Anyway. I keep on listening to Ewald who tells me to read some chapters of the book again before giving some trick on how to keep my conscience and magical strength out of my walls. Imagining for instance that my walls can give me sensations like touch. I ask him if imagining them covered in cameras and sensors could work and find myself having to explain what those are. After my explanations, he confirms that it could be working. Nevertheless, I quickly forget about this idea, because if the cameras have blind spots it would probably weaken my defenses. I'd rather picture my wall as a living being, who would feel through touch and magic. We do a new attempt after I focussed on this idea, and this time I manage to feel the Slytherin. My focus breaks really fast though, as I get mixed up. It's extremely difficult to confine a part of oneself while expanding another at the same time. Ewald seems to think that I'm doing well, though. He tells me it's normal to not succeed on the first try, but I'm still frustrated. I ask him to try one last time, even if I'm already tired, just to see if my "blind" wall can handle an attack. He half-heartedly accepts, considering we did enough for today. The attempt doesn't last long. He manages to break my wall in a handful of seconds. It's like an intense pressure on every side and bam, my wall blasts. He doesn't try to press his advantage and breaks the spell as soon as I'm defenseless. He gets closer to me to ask me how I am, and I tell him that I'm well despite the fact that I'm a bit shaken.

We stay there for a few more minutes to recover before leaving the Room of Requirement. Since it's already curfew time, he opens up a window for me to fly back to my tower before closing it and slip into the secret tunnel going towards his Common Room. Once I'm sure he didn't get caught, I fly to my tower and go back to my arranged attic to sleep.

xxx

The morning after, once we had our breakfast, I'm surprised to see that even Arthur decided to join us for our Duelling session, in addition to Al'. We aim for our HQ where Ewald casts some silencing charms to make sure no one will notice our lesson. Al' seems pretty motivated while Arthur is mainly curious. Instead of teaching theory before starting the practice as usual Ewald suggests that we try to do some duels. At first, only the light marking and the shield spells are allowed. Arthur, who doesn't know the marking spell learns it quickly before we can start the duels. Ewald faces Alphonse and I face Arthur. It goes well for about ten seconds, then Al' sneakily casts a spell at me, lighting my shoulder in blue (apparently, he knows how to color the light). That's how everything escalates into a general fight where no one cares about shields any more, rather using the furniture as defense. The chaos lasts for five good minutes. After about twenty seconds of silence, Arthur carefully raises his head above the teacher's desk that he used to shelter himself and asks:

"Truce..?"

We find ourselves in the middle of the classroom with bright smiles on our faces, and I burst out laughing with Alphonse upon taking the whole measure of the damage. We all are shining, because of all the spells we caught, as well as the ground, the ceiling and the furniture. Alphonse is the only one who avoided the colored light markings, only because no one else knows how to produce them.

While we're busy removing all the markings using a counterspell, an idea comes to me, way too grandiose for me to keep it to myself.

"I have an idea."

"Oho…" Arthur answers, half amused half worried

"That is?" asks Ewald, careful

Al' doesn't say anything, but his smile shows that he can't wait to know.

"It'll be called the Firefly Hunt"

"You want to use the Marking spell." understands Ewald

"With Alphonse's twist" I confirm. "So, how do we plunge the Great Hall into darkness?"

"Peruvian Instant Darkness powder." the Gryffindor suggests

"How long do the effects last?" I ask

"It all depends on the amount, but seeing how big the Great Hall is, I would say not more than five minutes."

I wince. It won't be enough for what I picture. Luckily for me, Arthur joins the conversation, asking Ewald if he thinks some runes could help. He thinks so, but that the darkness wouldn't be complete then. That isn't a problem. After all, it's important to see one's targets. But the Instant Darkness powder could be a kickstarter, if we manage to get our hands on enough of it. Everyone gets caught up in the planning, even if there's a lot to do and much to research. Al' and Arthur are pretty enthusiastic. Ewald slightly less. He doesn't seem to think it's the best of activities for Seventh Years worried about their career, but I'm sure I can get him on board too. I'll just have to introduce it as a challenge.
Once the basics of the Fireflies Hunt have been decided, we go back to being serious. Ewald proposes to do actual duels, this time. To balance things, he says my opponents will only be allowed to use spells I can cast. I write down a quick list, and Alphonse raises an eyebrow.

"Wow, now I understand better how you kicked all those Third Year's asses, baby monster! Did Ewald teach you all of that?"

"Most of it." I admit, a bit embarrassed. "He mostly taught me to react quickly and how to behave in a fight.

We determine randomly the duels. In the first round, Arthur is facing Ewald and I find myself against Al'. The duel between the two Seventh Year is a bit too short to be interesting even though I can see one or two cool spells being cast. Arthur manages to defend himself a bit, but it's easy to see that he's outmatched. Ewald is more at ease and has more experience. I then face Alphonse. I know that it won't be easy, but he's not allowed to use spells that I don't know so maybe I stand a chance… Or not. He starts with an Expeliarmus, which I dodge by jumping to the side. I retort with a Levitation spell that doesn't disrupt him. He casts an Aguamenti that I can hardly counter with a shield, but I'm not able to hold it long enough for the five spells he casts one after the other. I gloriously end up defeated by the Sliding spell I taught him, crashing on the ground after my feet spontaneously slid away from each other. Arthur casts a healing spell on me to avoid bruises appearing on my aching chin. When Alphonse wonders where he has this knowledge from, the Hufflepuff explains that he wants to become a Healer.
Once my terrible wounds have been healed (I only let him so that he'd leave me in peace, and because he didn't need to touch me to heal me) I fight him for third place. He isn't as strong as Alphonse and I almost manage to steal his wand. Despite the good show, I still lose. I think things were mostly difficult for him because of the spell limitations rather than me, which is a bit upsetting. It makes sense, though. Seven years of studies must have a use.
Finally, it's Alphonses' turn to face Ewald. Their duel lasts longer than the one of Arthur versus the Slytherin. Al' is quite good. He seems particularly affectionate to elemental spells. I notice, among other things, a Shield spell incorporating a wind element that manages to unbalance Ewald. Very interesting. In the end, the Slytherin manages to make Al' slip on his own patch of ice before disarming him. Looks like making people slip is the new fashion. Arthur checks on the Gryffindor, making sure he isn't hurt, and Al' asks him:

"By the way, Arthur, what made you choose to become a Healer? Don't you have a family to succeed at the Magenmagot or something?"

"I could, but I'm not very interested in politics and my grand-mother will not give up her seat anytime soon! But I'm actually not sure if I'll become a Healer. I might also become a Mind Healer. It's because of a thing that happened while I was in Second Year…" Arthur explains, helping him back on his feet. He then stares at me, unsure of what to do, and Al' insists, curious.

"What happened?"

"Are you fine with me telling him, Vivian?" Arthur asks, turning to me

"Wait, Vivian was there?" Alphonse asks, surprised.

No one answers him. I hesitate. But well, if it puts Al' off that I killed someone, all for the better. It'll make sure he won't get too attached to me. I cast a stealthy look at Ewald. He isn't saying anything, he's tidying the room, but he's observing me. Embarrassed to have crossed his eyes, I answer.

"You can."

I'm not sure to be willing to stay here and listen to what Arthur will say, but I don't want to be weak, and I don't want to show them that I care. Also, I'm curious what Alphonses' reaction will be. That's why I sit leg crossed on a table and listen. The Hufflepuff starts by talking about James, the summer camp, to explain how he found himself there. He tells how we met, tells about climbing (there, Al' lets out a "Uh, that's why!"). He then tells about the last afternoon, and the moment when we found the missing kid.

"A man was walking him to his place, and proposed that we join them."

"A pedophile?" asks Al'

"Indeed… I didn't really know what was normal, since I barely knew the Muggle world. Vivian was the only one insisting on not going, and no one listened to her because she was only six. She followed us anyway. When we entered the shack, the pedophile closed it with a Collaporta, and I realized he was a wizard. He used a Petrificus Totalus on the others, but he wanted to rape me first because he had understood that I was a wizard too. He casted an Imperium on me because he found I was taking too much time to remove my clothes. Vivan did accidental magic and managed to free herself, so he decided to go after her instead. He casted an Imperium on her too, but he forgot I wasn't under his control anymore, so I hit him with a chair. It broke the spell. Vivian had a knife and she killed him. Afterwards we called the Obliviators and they made the Muggle kids forget about what had happened. Vivian came to my place. After that, I've had regular appointments with a Mind Healer, and it helped me a lot. It's thanks to that that I realized that I enjoyed helping people, and that I wanted to make myself useful."

"I understand. Oh shit. You're okay?" asks Al', shocked.

"I'm fine, don't worry, it belongs to the past." Arthur answers, reassuring him with a smile. For my part, I dig my nails into my wrist, sneakily, pushing my emotions away. I jump from the table, breaking the heavy atmosphere with a:

"Are we going to eat or what? I'm hungry and I think it's time."

I can feel Ewald's eyes on me, and Al' looks at me worryingly.

"Are you okay?"

"Always."

I put on a fake smile that does the work and we quickly tidy the rest of the mess caused by the duels before going to the Great Room. We eat our meal together at the Slytherin table. When the others are not paying attention, Ewald squeezes my shoulder without a word. It's so unexpected, coming from him, that I don't react, but it relieves me a bit. Then I notice his look on my wrist and realize that my nails let some marks. I discreetly roll down my sleeve on it, hoping he didn't notice anything, but it's probably too late. Luckily, he doesn't comment. We only talk about light topics, including the obstacle course that we plan on doing next Friday. It'll be on the last hour, since no one has class and that it's the Flying Club time slot and a lot of its members will probably take part in the event. Ewald still has to ask them. I notice that Alphonse is observing me intensively during the meal, but he doesn't say anything. Once I'm done eating I leave, pretending I have homework to do. Ewald isn't finished yet, but says he'll be joining me later. Arthur is talking with Alphonse and I'm not sure if he heard me. I go to my tower and cut myself a bit before retrieving my stuff. I miss Quentin. When I reach the library, after putting my Glamours back on, I can see that Ewald is already there. He seems a bit intrigued that I'm only coming now, so I tell him I went to pick up my books. He nods, and we dive into our homework.

Once I'm done, I notice that Ewald is working on the climbing bracelet's runes and that he also has a draft about brightness runes.I smile to myself and ask him to explain to me some of the basics. I barely understand anything, but when I leave the library fifteen minutes later I still learnt some things. Ewald stays for a bit longer to speak with two Ravenclaws from his group, who cast me an intrigued look before ignoring me.

As I walk in a corridor, planning on going back to my tower to leave my stuff before starting to look for a cleaning spell that would avoid me having to use the Gryffindor's bathroom on a weekend, someone calls my name.

"Vivian, wait!"

I turn, surprised. Scorpius is behind me, standing at the library's entrance. He's alone. What does he want from me?

"What do you want?"

"Can we talk?" he asks, without any aggressivity.

I walk back to him, slightly on my guard. We haven't been talking since our argument in the Great Hall. He motions for me to follow him, and I do while discreetly putting my hand on my wand's handle. This really smells like a trap…Yet he only walks for about ten meters before opening a classroom door, seemingly randomly. I enter, ready to fight, but no one jumps at me. Scorpius closes the door behind me and explains:

"I wanted us to have some privacy. I've been meaning to apologize for the other day, I've been unfair to you."

"In Potions?"

"Yes, and before too. I probably spoke too fast. I've been talking with your friend Arthur earlier, and I realized that I didn't know much about your problems. I should have listened to your reasons before pushing you away."

I sigh inwardly. Why did Arthur feel the need to patch things up between me and Scorpius? The blonde must understand my grimace correctly because he adds:

"I'm the one who went to him, he just listened to me."

"I see. I accept your apologies. And I'm sorry too, because I didn't treat you well, I was wrong."

"Are we friends again then?" asks Scorpius.

He smiles at me before extending his hand. A part of me would like to shake it, but I'm too aware of my faults, and of the fact that we should never have been friends in the first place. I smile too, before apologizing.

"Sorry, I have nothing against you, rather the contrary, but I think it's for the best if we keep our distance. I truly am an arrogant kid that finds herself better than the others, at least for studies and intellectual development. Everything you reproached me, or almost, is true, and there's no use reconciling now if it's only for me to hurt you again. It's better for everyone if I stay on my own. And as you saw, I'm a trouble magnet."

"I'm a Malfoy, that's hardly better." answers Scorpius with a disenchanted smile. "I'm sorry, okay? I care about you, even if you have your flaws. Since we've been arguing I realized I didn't want that. I don't want to let you down."

"Yet, that's for the best, believe me."

I can see on his face that he's hurt, but rather this now than worse later. I still add:

"We can still work together in class, I have nothing against you. But it won't go further. Don't commit the mistake of thinking we could be close. I have nothing to give you, and I'll disappoint you again if you expect too much from me."

Scorpius looks sad, but he still shakes the hand I'm extending towards him. Then, he thinks for a second and smiles at me.

"That's a start! You will find out that you can't live without me at some point!" then, more seriously "Don't close up. I'm happy Arthur is your friend, he really looks like a good guy."

Then he just lets me there, leaving the room without letting me answer anything, which is probably for the best since I don't know what to say. Those Hufflepuffs. I have a slight pinch of the heart that I ignore, and I aim for my tower. With some luck the classes next week will be less unpleasant.

xxx

« Je t'avais dit de ne pas t'attacher à moi. Je n'apporte rien de bon. J'espère que tu as compris maintenant, que tu me détestes. Parce que je ne mérite rien de mieux. Mais là encore, peu importe. L'essentiel, c'est que tu saches que rien n'est de ta faute et que tu sois conscient que je suis heureuse d'être morte, que c'est ce que je voulais. »

"I told you not to get attached to me. I don't bring anything good. I hope you understood now, and that you hate me. Because I don't deserve anything better. But here again, it doesn't matter. The most important thing is that you know that nothing is your fault and that you're aware that I'm happy to be dead, that's what I wanted."

-Extract from the suicide note Aurore Berger left to Quentin Lemage-

Hopefully I'll translate the next chapter faster than this one xD
Let me know what you thought of this one, and of the Plans Vivian and her mates are doing!