Ria felt painfully anxious for the rest of the weekend.

There was more than one aspect responsible for this, although some of the anxiety was also brought by the constant bad feeling she got.

One: the dream in the hog's head. It was the weirdest shit Ria had ever experienced, and that was coming from a Seer. She was firm that it was the Carrow child that made her see that.. But why? Just to mess with her?

Two: her magic classes weren't going on well, if you couldn't guess. Yes, she managed to levitate things now, but that was not enough. She couldn't do spells yet. She also needed to work harder at Transfiguration if she wanted to be overall good at handling Enchantress powers.

She needed to be stronger; she needed to know more about Enchantress magic and dig deeper to actually understand and embrace it.

And it pained her to even think about it, but it made sense for her mother to teach her, rather than Minnie. True, Minerva had been the one to teach Isabella, but perhaps, for Ria, this method of teaching wasn't right.

Three: their recent 'study group'. Even though everyone had been cautious enough, she couldn't help but wonder the consequences of them getting caught. She couldn't imagine the horrors they'd have to go through if Umbridge does find out.

But that didn't stop her from scooping up books from the library and from Severus's shelves; in case she found some new, useful spells.

One good thing that had come from visiting Severus was that he had warned her about the drinks Umbridge offered in her office. And that had been enough for her to figure out why there suddenly had been a shortage of Veritaserum stock in the Potions' cabinet.

Ria had been sitting in front of Minerva's table around seven that morning, relaxed, while her hand controlled the floating books in the air. Her magic had no golden glow effect around the books like her mother, but she didn't mind. It was good for camouflage.

"Minnie.." Ria called out, "how long till we can finally talk about mind manipulation?"

"There's still a long way to go.. dear." said Minerva, not looking up from some papers. She was proud of the progress Ria had made, even though it was small.

"How long did it take for Mum?" asked Ria, even though knowing well McGonagall didn't like her comparing herself to her mother. "It's just a question. Don't get mad."

"She never felt the need to learn mind manipulation." McGonagall justified, finally looking at Asteria. "Because she never knew she was going to take part in a war."

"And when she did.. when she was finally ready to explore mind manipulation..."

"Those powers got taken away.. Right." Ria nodded.

"But I can assure you, Asteria," said Minerva, "when the time comes.. I believe you will be prepared."

Ria flashed her a small smile. "Thank you, Minnie, for helping me so much."

McGonagall chuckled. "Not because I taught you."

Asteria raised a questioning eyebrow. "What d'you mean?" She asked.

Minerva just gave another fond chuckle before shaking her head and going back to her work. Though Ria was mischievous and handful at times, one could clearly notice the amount of will she held while working.

In the beginning, when Ria was sorted into Slytherin, Minerva wasn't that happy since she could easily see her fall into Ravenclaw. But now that she knew her well, she could see her fit in with Slytherins; Determined, resourceful and clever, hard-working and loyal.

She valued self-preservation, yes, but she valued her worth, loyalty and self-respect above that. She also came with a disregard for rules, but only when necessary.

Though Minerva had taught her many things throughout the years, Ria could easily stand out to be an exceptional witch on her own as well.

Ria's confusion increased when McGonagall didn't answer, but then a playful smile adorned her lips. She slightly lowered her second hand and then moved it back up. McGonagall's glasses and her papers ascended up in the air, taking her by surprise.

Minerva gave her a stern look, while Ria tried not to laugh. "I am doing good, don't you think, Minnie?" She wiggled her eyebrows at the unamused professor.

After some seconds, Ria broke out in laughter at McGonagall's face, while she shook her head, fighting back a fond smile.

But their moment of joy was soon interrupted when a stout body barged in with Mr. Filch behind. The two looked at the door in shock; McGonagall's eyes widened slightly in alarm, while Ria gently lowered all the floating objects on the table.

"May I ask, Minerva, what is going on?" asked Umbridge, maintaining a stern, authoritative smile on her face. Ria nervously glanced at Minerva.

"A class." McGonagall answered, quick and unbothered. "Why, Dolores? Is it now illegal, and disloyal, to help students around in this school?"

"Not at all, Minerva." Umbridge chuckled. "This is what schools do.. Help students." Then her smile slowly tightened. "Not train and turn them into some kind of self-beneficial weapons."

Minerva stood up. "Self-beneficial weapons?" She asked ridiculously. "Do you know what you are talking about?"

"Of course." Umbridge egged on. "Don't assume we've forgotten about Isabella Diggory, Minerva. I was here, too, when you were training her."

"My mother is not a weapon." Ria defended, eyebrows knitted in anger. Enchantress or not; Isabella Diggory was human first. Nothing about her gave anyone the right to call her a weapon.

"We are only trying to help them!" McGonagall fought back.

"Oh, are you?" Umbridge asked. "So why isn't the Ministry informed about this so-called 'helping program' of yours?"

When McGonagall had no answer to this, she continued. "Because according to Educational Decree number Nine, no extra classes or activities authorised by Professors are allowed to be carried on, unless the permission of the Ministry." Umbridge gave her a little smirk. "I thought you knew about this, Minerva."

"Professor, you need to understa—"

Umbridge cut Asteria off rudely. "These private classes will henceforth be discontinued." She announced. "And I'm going to have to confiscate every book you have on their magic."

"Dolores.." McGonagall started, her voice quivering. "You are making a big mistake. You don't know what you are doing. If Asteria is not trained—"

"Dumbledore will lose another opportunity to take over, I'm assuming?" Umbridge chuckled.

"You stupid, stupid woman!" bellowed Minerva. "Even a blind man could read this situation better than you! How can you not see? All these disappearances, they're— they're connected! How can you not see, You-Know-Who is back!" Ria scurried to hold on to her as her entire body was shaking with fury.

Two figures, Sophie and Draco, hurried into the corridor behind Umbridge and Filch. The two exchanged glances, knowing it was too late. Malfoy caught Ria's glance, and mouthed her a genuine 'sorry', drowning her in confusion.

"His fate was decided years ago, when the Seer put that Curse upon us! You ignored Lagarde's warning that time! At least this time, use those pathetic brains of yours and act on those warnings!"

Unfazed, Umbridge kept smiling and scribbling on her notepad. "I see you're done. Anyway, Mr. Filch.." she turned to the man. "Where did you say her room was?"

At this sentence, all four gaped at her in shock. Sophie quickly grabbed Draco's arm and ran away in the direction of her dorm.

"I'll show you, Madam." Filch said with a sickly grin. The two turned around to walk away.

Ria watched them in shock. There were many things in her dorm that she didn't want Umbridge to find. She ran behind them with a mix of anger, desperation and nervousness radiating off her body. 

"You can't do that!" She yelled accusingly, and every single thing they walked across either fell down or shattered to pieces. Umbridge wasn't fazed.

"Technically, I can, Miss. Edwards." She answered with a chuckle. "I'm only doing what's right."

"No, you're not!" Ria opposed. "How can you— I thought you knew what I could do! Look around you!" She said, gesturing to all the mess she was making.

"I can't go back to my House dorm! It's dangerous! I thought you understood this! Isn't that why you gave me this?!" She lifted her sleeve, showing her the scar etched on the back of her hand. Umbridge stopped for a while to take a good, impressed look on those words, and then the girl's desperate face. "I'll hurt someone!"

"Oh, I know that." Umbridge nodded, and a sickly sweet smile grew on her face. "And that's why I hope you control that, Miss. Edwards, unless you want to get expelled from Hogwarts."

Umbridge giggled and continued walking with Filch. Ria kept watching her in disbelief. What a twisted hag..

"You fucking bitch! You're trying to set me up!" yelled Asteria, making Umbridge turn around. "What did I ever do to you?! Why do you hate me so much?!"

The Professor just simply walked towards her and smiled in mock pity. "Considering the kind of freak you are, I am treating you just right, dear." Ria's eyes drooped at that word.

"And that misuse of words will cost you another night of detention." Umbridge just simply smiled.

Ria's chest aggressively heaved up and down, watching her walk away with a victory. She leaned her forehead against a nearby wall and breathed out.

"Peaceful thoughts.. Peaceful thoughts.." She muttered through her gritted teeth, but the damage was already done.

Every window glass in the corridor shattered forcefully to pieces, while Ria wasn't even half-done with her suppressed wrath.

"I'm not ready." Ria whispered, fist clenched tightly as she walked through the dungeon with her luggage. Theodore and Malfoy were right beside her. Blaise was helping Sophie out.

"I would be shocked if you weren't.." said Theo. "You're coming back to the Slytherin dorms after what? Two years?"

Ria nodded, her legs getting heavier and heavier with every step she took. "Yeah.. two years."

"Not all of them hate you, though." Malfoy confessed, shrugging. "They just have.. mixed feelings." Ria nodded again, not knowing if she was supposed to feel reassured by this.

Mixed feelings were better than hatred, right?

"What happened at Umbridge's office, again?" Theodore asked Malfoy.

"Well.. Umbridge called me. She told me she wanted to talk about our Quidditch team.. wanted to know how the new Captain was handling the practises, you know? Because she's a Slytherin too."

Ria and Theo groaned simultaneously. "And just when I thought our reputation couldn't get any worse." She muttered under her breath. "Anyway.. So what did you say?"

"I said, they're going great, thank you. And then she asked me if I wanted tea." Malfoy answered.

"And what did she ask after you got your tea?" Ria asked.

"She just kept talking about you. And I— I really couldn't help but give out whatever answers she needed."

Ria sighed at Draco's answers. "Of course, she did. Severus warned me about this." she mumbled. "Well, I hate to break it to you, genius, but there was Veritaserum in your tea."

"Okay, now I do know there was!" Draco said defensively. "That was why I told Scamander as soon as I realised! I couldn't find you anywhere. And I apologised to you, too."

"Yeah, you did. Anyway, speaking of Sophie, Malfoy." Ria changed the subject, and stopped in the way. "What's going on between you two?" She asked, and Theo rubbed his hand together, ready for the tea to be spilled.

"What's going on between who?" asked Malfoy, exchanging glances between the two.

"Stop playing dumb, okay?" answered Ria straightforwardly. "We aren't blind!"

"Yeah!" Theo joined in. "We see everything. What stage are you two on? Like— are you just talking? Going out? Dating? Committed? What stage are you on?" He asked, catching Malfoy off-guard.

"Uh— We—"

"Because guess what?" Theodore stepped closer to him, grabbing his collar. "If you, in any way or form, hurt her, or even think about hurting her.. We will find you. No matter what corner of this world you'll be hiding in, we'll find you, 'cause the earth is round, you shithead, it doesn't have corners." Ria blinked in confusion at the sudden change of topic.

"We'll hook you up to a fucking jeep. You know what a jeep is? It's a vehicle— a pretty cool and fast one. We'll hook your foot to that and drag you around the world, laughing in madness as your face gets shredded by the streets."

"And then we'll beat you up until you can't move, decapitate your balls, chop 'em up real nice, grill them with extra spices on a barbeque, and make you watch as wild ferrets devour them while cold tears stream down your face. You understand that?"

Malfoy, and Asteria, were pretty much shaken by the end of it. Theodore let go of his collar and gave him a long, menacing glare before gently taking Ria's luggage out of her hand and walking away. Malfoy stared at her in utter shock.

Ria nodded. "Yeah.. what he said." She replied and followed her best friend. "What the hell was that?" She asked, genuinely confused.

Theo shrugged. "A warning, duh." He answered.

"Did you give the same warning to Harry?" Ria asked suspiciously. By the type of response Harry had, she assumed this had to be the one.

Theo gave her a nervous side-eye before looking back at the front. "No.."

Ria raised an eyebrow. "The balls and wild ferrets part was different. It was dick and wild owls instead." He answered honestly, making Ria shake her head in disbelief.

You could say Theodore Nott really was, one of a kind.

They finally reached the stone wall of the Slytherin common room, and Ria involuntarily held her breath. Theodore muttered the password 'Pureblood'.

The wall opened to reveal the familiar dark, greenish, and cold room. "Welcome home, I guess." Theodore said.

"Yep." Ria nodded, looking around as familiar faces stared back at her, unimpressed. "Welcome home, indeed."

But a delighted face instantly took her in a hug. "Hey! You're back!" Amelia squeaked. "Not gonna lie. I missed you hanging around, really."

"Yeah.. Me too." Ria agreed, not being able to contain her grin. "Hey, Adrian." She said to the guy just behind Amelia, and he waved back.

"Hey, Captain! Welcome back to the Dungeons." He said with a smile. But then he bent down towards her. "And yeah.. if anyone gives you a hard time here, just let me know. Okay?" He asked, winking. "I'm carrying on Dahlia's legacy, you see."

Ria nodded with a chuckle. "Sure. Thanks, Adrian."

Theodore dragged her luggage up to the base of the girls' dormitory. "Well, unfortunately, that's all the help I can give you, Ri." He huffed.

"Don't worry." Another voice said, and Ria smiled after seeing another friendly face. "We'll help her out, Theodore." Daphne softly smiled at her, along with her sister Astoria.

No matter how bad the day had been already, at least she wasn't going to go through shit alone.

Now.. things had gotten a bit out of hand. There was a fourth, a fifth, a sixth and a seventh reason of worry added to her list.

Four: she had no source to learn about her Enchantress magic. Her classes with Minerva were banned, and the books she used were confiscated too. And since Umbridge was a high inquisitor appointed by the Ministry, Dumbledore and McGonagall couldn't do shit about it.

Five: she had to go back to the place she hated. Her House-mates eyed her like she was a freak. Pansy kept nagging and poking fun at her. Not even God knew how Ria had managed to keep calm and not flung her at a wall or something.

Six: this one was the most worrying. Umbridge had swept her room for survey before throwing her out of there. The bottles with Draught of Peace, the star charts, all the stuff she used to calculate her visions, all were gone.. along with the Marauder's Map.

At least, Lagarde's journal was safe with me.. tucked in the pocket of my robe.

But lord, she didn't have the heart to tell Harry about it. Fuck it, she didn't have the heart to face the fact that she had really lost the Marauder's Map.. to no one other than Umbridge.

The seventh reason, you ask? It was right in front of her, hanging on the wall.

— BY ORDER OF —
THE HIGH INQUISITOR OF HOGWARTS

All Student Organisations, Societies, Teams, Groups, and Clubs are henceforth disbanded. An Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students.

Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor (Professor Umbridge). No Student Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor.

Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an Organisation, Society, Team, Group, or Club that has not been approved by the High Inquisitor will be expelled.

The above is under Educational Decree Number Twenty-four.

Signed:
Dolores Jane Umbridge
HIGH INQUISITOR

"No way.." Ria chuckled in disbelief. "Is she being goddamn serious right now?" her smile disappeared.

Let's add another one, shall we? The eighth one?

Eight: the goddamn Quidditch team. Now, Asteria had to go and politely beg Umbridge to let her reform the team. And now way in hell, that was going to go well.

"She knows." Hermione nervously muttered under her breath as they read the notice on the wall.

"Who could the snitch be?" Sophie asked.

Ria shrugged. "Dibs on Smith." she said without hesitation. Or Haynes.. or Bonheur.

Fuck, I can't suspect them without a valid reason!

"Are you okay, Ria?" asked Hermione. "You look distressed— way more distressed than us.."

"Well.. She's— uh.. she's playing a game called 'thirteen reasons why'." Sophie answered, making the bushy-haired girl give her a questioning look.

"I'm playing this game so I could learn to control my urge to take the Draught of Peace." Ria explained. "Unless, there are thirteen reasons that stress me out, I won't take it. I'll have to control.."

Hermione and Sophie exchanged a glance, worried about her. "You.. You really don't have to do that, you know? I don't think it's healthy for you—"

"I want to improve." She cut her off. "I have to push myself beyond limits. Or else, I'll stay stuck in one place."

"But Ria.. what if Carrow uses it against you?" asked Hermione.

Ria chuckled in defeat. "It's not like she doesn't use her powers against me at all, is it?" She said, shaking her head. "Whatever I do, whatever I speak, whatever I envision, whatever I think, hell— even if I had some memories that I couldn't retrieve, Carrow would have access to them. There's literally nothing I can do until the Enchantress inside me is activated."

"Well.. what about Occlumency? You can't learn that?" asked Hermione.

"That's the problem, she can't.." Sophie explained. "Legilimency and Occlumency wouldn't work on them. Even the Imperius Curse wouldn't. Enchantress mind manipulation can only be balanced out by the same kind of mind guard— if not, stronger."

"Yeah.." Ria added. "Like.. Enchantresses actually have their mind on guard all the time, even from the time they're young and unprepared."

"Only a manipulator of their own kind, that is more skilled than them, can break it. That's the reason Carrow could break mine, I guess. They're better.. and I'll have to catch up as soon as I can."

Hermione nodded in understanding. "That's unfortunate."

"Alright.." Sophie sighed, checking her watch. "I'll need to go now. I have Potions. Ria.." She whispered. "Could you meet me in your common room, at midnight? But only if no one's there, okay?"

"Wait— Wait. Do you mind tomorrow, Sophie? We need Ria with us tonight." Hermione asked.

And after a few moments of thinking, Sophie shrugged. "Sure, why not? Tomorrow night, then."

Ria hesitantly nodded. "Okay.. Bye." Sophie said to the two, and the two waved back.

"Is everything alright?" Ria asked Hermione, and she shrugged as they walked to their Arithmancy class.

"Yeah.. It's just.." Hermione looked around nervously. "Hedwig came back hurt, today, in Divination. We think Umbridge is monitoring all the letters. Maybe Hedwig got hurt in the process."

Ria got alarmed. Wow.. the ninth reason was quick to come. Letters were being monitored now.

"There wasn't anything—"

"No, thankfully, there wasn't." Hermione quickly answered, much to Ria's relief. "It was from Snuffles. He wants to meet again, midnight. He said, 'Same time, same place'."

Asteria nodded. "Alright.. I'll be there, then."

But then Hermione's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Wait.. You said your mind guard is up even when you're unprepared and young? And that opposes every other kind of mind trick except the ones from Enchantresses, right?" The girl nodded at her question.

"Then.. Then how did Dumbledore use Legilimency on you, last year?"

And that question sent another hurricane of questions and doubts into Asteria's mind.

Well.. there goes the tenth reason.

What in the ever-loving hell is Dumbledore hiding?

Harry, who was making very little progress with his Potions essay, decided to give it up for the night. "C'mon, Harry. You're almost there." Ria encouraged him. Harry gave her his best puppy eyes, saying he was tired. She sighed in defeat. "Fine, give it to me—"

"No, you're not completing my homework again." answered Harry, snatching the essay away from her.

"It's okay, I like Potions anyway—"

"Oh! Don't you go.. doing his work for him every time!" Hermione scolded. "We get it. You're in love. Doesn't mean you'll encourage him to be lazy!"

"I'm not though!" Ria answered. "And it's not like I'm doing.. everything. It's just the conclusion."

"Bloody hell.. Is this what girlfriends do?" asked Ron, then turned towards Hermione. "Then, Hermione, would you like to be my girlfriend?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, smacking him with his own book while Ria and Harry laughed.

A small ablaze in the fire went off, and Sirius's untidy dark head was sitting in the fire again. "Sirius!" Harry exclaimed.

"Hi," he said, grinning.

"Hi," chorused Harry, Ria, Ron, and Hermione, all four kneeling down upon the hearthrug.

"How're things?" said Sirius. Crookshanks and Cassie, too, approached the fire at the familiar face.

"Not that good," said Ria, as Hermione pulled the two cats back to stop them from diving headfirst into the fire. "Padfoot, that bitch banned my classes with Minnie! And took away my dorm room too! I'm back in the Dungeons!"

"Oh, I heard about that one from Minnie.." answered Sirius. "I think she has tried to contact Isabella. Let's see what she says.." The four nodded.

"I feel like she's trying to set me up.." Ria answered in all honesty and worry, "Once I let it loose, she'll waste no time in expelling me."

"Don't worry, little star." He said with a small smile. "We'll find a way through it soon."

"The Ministry's forced through another decree," Harry started, "which means we're not allowed to have Quidditch teams—"

"—or secret Defence Against the Dark Arts groups?" said Sirius.

There was a brief pause. The four children exchanged glances. That got out real quick.

"How did you know about that?" Harry demanded.

"You want to choose your meeting places more carefully," said Sirius, grinning still more broadly. "The Hog's Head, I ask you..."

"Well, it was better than the Three Broomsticks!" said Hermione defensively. "That's always packed with people—"

"—which means you'd have been harder to overhear," said Sirius. "You've got a lot to learn, Hermione."

"Well— sorry for being new at opening illegal defence groups for the right reasons, I guess. We aren't experienced, Sirius." Ria said defensively.

"Who overheard us?" Harry demanded.

"Mundungus, of course," said Sirius, and when they all looked puzzled, he laughed. "He was the witch under the veil."

"That was Mundungus?" Harry said, stunned. "What was he doing in the Hog's Head?"

"What do you think he was doing?" said Sirius impatiently. "Keeping an eye on you, of course."

"I'm still being followed?" asked Harry angrily.

"Yeah, you are," said Sirius, "and just as well, isn't it, if the first thing you're going to do on your weekend off is organise an illegal defence group." But he looked neither angry nor worried; on the contrary, he was looking at Harry with distinct pride.

"Why was Dung hiding from us?" asked Ron, sounding disappointed. "We would've liked to have seen him."

"He was banned from the Hog's Head twenty years ago," said Sirius, "and that barman's got a long memory. We lost Moody's spare Invisibility Cloak when Sturgis was arrested, so Dung's been dressing as a witch a lot lately... Anyway... First of all, Ron, Asteria— I've sworn to pass on messages from your mothers."

"Oh, yeah?" said the two, sounding apprehensive.

"Isabella says that she is very proud of you four for making such tough but necessary decisions—" the four eased. "She advises you to make sure you stay vigilant and careful. She also says and I quote, 'If you ever get a chance, Ria, kick that ugly toad face for me, but make sure you use a false memory charm after that'." They all chuckled.

"Ron, Molly says on no account whatsoever are you to take part in an illegal secret Defence Against the Dark Arts group. She says you'll be expelled for sure and your future will be ruined. She says there will be plenty of time to learn how to defend yourself later and that you are too young to be worrying about that right now. She also—" Sirius's eyes turned to the other three..

"—advises Harry, Ria and Hermione not to proceed with the group, though she accepts that she has no authority over either of them and simply begs them to remember that she has their best interests at heart. She would have written all this to you, but if the owl had been intercepted, you'd all have been in real trouble, and she can't say it for herself because she's on duty tonight too."

"On duty doing what?" said Ron quickly.

"Never you mind, just stuff for the Order, with Bella." said Sirius. "So it's fallen to me to be the messenger and make sure you tell your mothers I passed it all on, because I don't think they trust me to."

"So you want me to say I'm not going to take part in the defence group?" he muttered finally.

"Me? Certainly not!" said Sirius, looking surprised. "I think it's an excellent idea!"

"You do?" said Harry, his heart lifting.

"Of course I do!" said Sirius. "D'you think your father and I would've laid down and taken orders from an old hag like Umbridge? Of course, not! Even Bella agrees with us! And she hardly does, nowadays, so it's kind of an achievement, if I'm being honest."

"But— last term all you did was tell me to be careful and not take risks—"

"Last year all the evidence was that someone inside Hogwarts was trying to kill you, Harry!" said Sirius impatiently. "This year we know that there's someone outside Hogwarts who'd like to kill us all, so I think learning to defend yourselves properly is a wonderful idea!"

"And if we do get expelled?" Hermione asked, a quizzical look on her face.

"Hermione, this whole thing was your idea!" said Harry, staring at her.

"I know it was... I just wondered what Sirius thought," she said, shrugging.

"Well, better expelled and able to defend yourselves than sitting safely in school without a clue," said Sirius.

"Hear, hear," said Harry and Ron enthusiastically.

"So," said Sirius, "how are you organising this group? Where are you meeting?"

"Well, that's a bit of a problem now," said Harry. "Dunno where we're going to be able to go..."

"How about the Shrieking Shack?" suggested Sirius.

"Hey, that's an idea!" said Ron excitedly, but Hermione made a skeptical noise and all four of them looked at her, Sirius's head turning in the flames.

"Well, Sirius, it's just that there were only five of you meeting in the Shrieking Shack when you were at school," said Hermione, "and all of you could transform into animals and I suppose you could all have squeezed under a single Invisibility Cloak if you'd wanted to. Or even Ray in her Phoenix form would have apparated you there. But there are twenty-eight of us and none of us is an Animagus, so we wouldn't need so much an Invisibility Cloak as an Invisibility Marquee—"

"Fair point," said Sirius, looking slightly crestfallen. "Well, I'm sure you'll come up with somewhere... There used to be a pretty roomy secret passageway behind that big mirror on the fourth floor. You might have enough space to practise jinxes in there—"

"Amelia told me it's blocked," said Ria, shaking her head. "Caved in or something."

"Oh.." said Sirius, frowning. "Well, I'll have a think and get back to—" He broke off. His face was suddenly tense, alarmed. He turned sideways, apparently looking into the solid brick wall of the fireplace.

"Sirius?" said Harry anxiously. But he had vanished. Harry gaped at the flames for a moment, then turned to look at the three. "Why did he—?"

Hermione gave a horrified gasp and leapt to her feet, still staring at the fire. A hand had appeared amongst the flames, groping as though to catch hold of something; a stubby, short-fingered hand covered in ugly old-fashioned rings..

The four of them ran for it; at the door of the boys' dormitory, Harry looked back. Umbridge's hand was still making snatching movements amongst the flames, as though she knew exactly where Sirius's hair had been moments before and was determined to seize it.

Asteria's night had been restless, now that she had another reason.

Eleven: Sirius was almost caught by no one other than old toad-face Umbridge. It could've been ANYONE else among the teachers.. McGonagall and Dumbledore would've been able to convince them, but it just had to be Umbridge. Damn it.

The next morning was pretty.. nagging, for Ria. There was.. as if.. some sort of alarm going off in her head. She couldn't figure out why.

She also couldn't stop thinking about the Marauder's Map. Good thing for now was.. Umbridge couldn't really do anything with it unless she somehow found out the password.

One thing Ria was pretty sure about, though.. was that Umbridge wasn't going to find it out anytime soon.

All these thoughts were thrown off a cliff when she bumped into a tall body. A shiver of creep ran down her spine as the person in front turned out to be Louis Bonheur.

"Oh, hey.. Asteria." Bonheur sighed out in relief. "Thank Godric, you met me. I've— I've been meaning to talk to you for a while now—" He took hold of her forearm, and she froze in her place, vaguely reminiscing, his filthy touch all over her skin.

Ria snatched her arm away from his grip, backing away slightly. "D— Don't touch me!" She warned.

"Hey— Hey—" Louis took a step further, making her back away again. "If that makes you feel any better.. I know that you and Harry are dating. And I'm happy for you two." He said, while Ria kept eyeing her suspiciously.

"And— And I'm going out with Celine, too. So, it's not like I'm trying to come back to you—" Louis tried explaining, while Asteria made another mental note.

Twelve: two of the most likely Carrow child suspects are dating.. Great.

"Listen— I— I just wanted to apologise, okay? I— I didn't know what came over me that day— It felt like I had no control over myself and—"

"Hey!" A distant voice angrily exclaimed, and Ria and Louis saw Malfoy stomp towards them. He pushed Bonheur away aggressively and stood in front of Asteria.

"What's your problem, Malfoy?" asked Bonheur, slightly annoyed.

"Don't you dare come anywhere near her, or I'll hex your arse off into oblivion." He warned.

Louis took a step closer. "Why don't you stay out of our problem, eh? Ria, how about you tell him to piss off?" He asked.

When Ria stayed firmly by Malfoy's side of the argument, Bonheur huffed in irritation. "Alright? You got your hint?" asked Malfoy. "Now stay away!"

Louis threw one last glare towards Ria, and then strolled away, while Ria hugged her bunch of books tightly to her chest, observing him. Malfoy finally turned towards Asteria, his gaze slightly pitiful. "Are you okay?" She nodded.

"I'm sorry, I didn't stop him that day." Malfoy apologised sincerely. "I didn't know he was trying to.. harass you.."

"It's okay.." Ria squeaked. "Thank you, Malfoy." she attempted a small smile.

"Welcome.. and about that permission we have to take from Umbridge, for our team. Don't worry about it." Malfoy tried to soothe her. "Adrian and I will handle it."

"Thank you again." She smiled, genuinely warmed by his surprising act of humanity.

Malfoy waved his hand dismissively. "It's fine, actually. It's the least we can do.. We know it might be hard for you these days.. I just read the news and it must be pretty hard for you—"

"Wait— wait!" Ria interrupted him, shaking her head in confusion. "Read the news? Why— What happened?"

An expression of regret dawned on his face. "Oh.. you didn't know?"

The alarms in Ria's head were now blaring red with loud rings. "Didn't know what?!"

Ria stormed into the Great Hall, her heart racing in fear of what the news held. And her anxiety heightened after seeing her friends hunched over something at the table.

She made way in between Harry and Ron and pulled 'the Quibbler' towards herself.

'UNCALLED ATTACK BY ALLEGED DEATH-EATERS LEAVE PUBLIC IN SHOCK'

"Death-eaters?" Ria whispered in disbelief, continuing to read ahead, while Harry gently pulled her down to sit beside him.

"Ria.. It'll be fine, okay? They'll— They'll find her." He tried to calm her, though that news made him anxious too.

'In an unexpected move, last night, a house along the town-side of Brighton was attacked by an alleged group of masked death-eaters (as mentioned by the wizarding neighbourhood).

The house was found in piles of rubble, by this dawn, with no evidence of any humans underneath the debris. Sources say that the man behind the attack might be the escaped convict, Sirius Black, though the information is unreliable as of now.

After a bit of research, the house was revealed to be under the ownership of known Magizoologist and Ministry worker, Isabella Diggory.'

Tears quickly pooled into Asteria's eyes. Her chest felt heavy and groggy, as if her lungs suddenly didn't know how to work.

'The witch living in the house in front, says "I could see Isabella roaming in her living room. She came to the window, and we were talking when suddenly an explosion went off. I am truly sure she was in there when she was attacked, but now they come and— and say they couldn't find her! Where else could she be if not under there?! She couldn't apparate on her own while being that injured!"

Isabella Diggory, 35, said to be a single mother and a hardworking Ministry servant, was supposedly a part of the group of wizards who fought against You-Know-Who and the Seer during the war, fifteen years ago. Apparently, her only daughter, Asteria Edwards, is reportedly safe and sound at Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, at the moment.

But with no news or reporting since yesterday morning, and with no evidence of life found in the wreckage of the attack, Isabella Diggory, as of now, is declared to be missing.'

In shock, Asteria stared blankly at the picture of her wrecked house, her worry for her mother peaking with every passing second.

This was the thirteenth reason that made her run to her godfather's office and gulp down half a bottle of the Draught of Peace, while her racing heart almost made her pass out.

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