Harry Potter 1. The Squib

_The long awaited AVOTICA story is here. This story is set in the second Harry Potter book. You may see familiar characters, and some new ones too!_

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**The Squib**

A young eleven year old child with long, golden red hair in two pigtails was pulled along Diagon Alley by an older woman, around 50, with grey hair that frizzed around her head like a strange halo. She looked slightly batty, in an annoyed, cross sort of way. The young girl kept her head down, trying to make herself as discreet as possible.

The woman was wearing long, black robes, black shoes, woollen stockings, and the oddest hat. It seemed to be made out of leather, yet it felt like velvet, and was a dark blue, and it didn't match her at all. The hat looked out of place atop the frizzy hair. The woman's face gave the impression that she was much older than she really was, yet it was her eyes that made the most impression upon the people she passed.

They were such a dark brown that they looked black, and her stare was menacing. It seemed she thought she was too good to be having to drag a little girl around Diagon Alley. She was too good to have to mingle with common witches and wizards. Just much too good, was the impression, yet it was far from the truth.

The girl was quite different. Although the old woman and the girl did look alike in some ways, they were not related. The old woman was simply the girls governess, the person who looked after her. The girl's parents paid the woman a lot of money to look after her, which meant he was basically getting money for free. The girl could look after herself.

The girl's parents never really had time for her. In fact, she had barely seen them more than five times in her entire life. Occasionally, she heard them talking in their high-class voices, but she never interrupted, or she would be punished brutally. As a result of having no-one for her childhood, she was a shy girl, and never looked anyone in the eyes. Although… that was for an entirely different reason.

They then came to stop outside a wand-making shop. It was dusty and unkempt, as though it were abandoned years before. The walls were a dusty grey, as though it was originally suppose to be black, and a sign hung over the door that said _Ollivanders_ in faded white letters.

"You stay here and get your wand," Said the old woman, who had a very high-pitched voice. "I'll go to Flourish and Blotts and get your books." Suddenly, the old woman looked wistful. "They say that Gilderoy Lockhart is doing a book signing. Go to the Leaky Caldron when you're done. Don't forget to pick up your caldron at the… caldron place…" And the old woman walked swiftly way, leaving the young girl alone.

She was relieved that the old woman had left her, but she had no idea what she was supposed to do. She took a timid step into the shop called _Ollivanders_. She saw that boxes were stacked unevenly across shelves and stands, most caked with layers of dust. And then suddenly, an old man seemed to appear out of no where from between the shelves.

He had white, wispy hair that looked more like a cloud than actual hair. He wore an old, moth eaten suit, but his eyes were the brightest blue-grey the girl had ever seen, and they sparkled as she set his eyes on her. For a moment, Avotica saw words flash in her mind, but she ignored them. She quickly averted her eyes downwards, ignoring the mans gaze.

"Hello," the old man said. "You must be the little Wiccan girl. My goodness, I remember when your father came in to get his wand. Holly, 12 inch, bats heartstring, if I remember correctly. And your mother, willow, 9 ½ inch, dragons heartstring. Dear me, an awful lot of heartstrings in your family. It appears you might be eligible for one to," He said, searching through the boxes. "Ahh, Pine, 10 inch, toad's heartstring. Give it a go."

The girl swished the wand with no effect. Not that she had been excepting one. The old man frowned.

"Perhaps not." He returned to his search silently. He pulled another dusty box, and handed her a wand. "Willow, 9 inch, unicorn hair."

Again, nothing.

"Holly, 13 inch, phoenix feather."

"Redwood, 8 ½ inch, dragon heartstring."

"Ceder, 11 inch, unicorn hair."

But no matter which wand she tried, not one worked. She had not been expecting them to work, but she was disappointed none the less.

"Hmmm," said the man, in that sort of curious way. "Strange. Very odd indeed. I will need to make a new one, to fit the requirements. Please come back tomorrow to pick it up. It will be ready by 10:30." And with that, the man disappeared between the shelves again.

The girl left the store and headed back to the Leaky Caldron, stopping on the way to pick up her shiny new black caldron. She walked slowly, even though she knew she was late, as she had taken quite a long time trying to get a wand. She didn't really want to get to her destination.

"Where have you been?" The old woman's voice snapped icily across the street. "And where's your wand? I told you to get one." She grabbed the girl's arm, pulling her along the street. She dropped the books she was carrying into the girls caldron. "All that time, and you didn't even get a wand! We'll have to go back tomorrow. Come along now, you still haven't been fitted for your robes."

"You don't know that I will be in Slitherin," said the girl, speaking for the first time. Her eyes remained downcast, and her words were slightly muffled.

"Of course you'll be in Slitherin," The woman said in a fake kind voice. "You have to be in Slitherin or else your parents will disown you." The woman smiled to her before pulling her off into the dress store.

For the next few hours, she was poked and prodded with pins, while she had to stand as still as a statue, ignoring the sharp pricks of the pins. When that was done, she was pulled into a pet store.

"Hurry up and pick an animal, Avotica. I don't have all day." The woman didn't seem too fond of the idea of the girl having an animal. In fact, she seemed disgusted that Avotica should get an animal. But she didn't have much say in it, because she wasn't the girl's mother, she was the girl's governess. The girl's real mother thought it was necessary for her to own an animal. A _familiar _she called it.

Avotica was overjoyed at the idea of owning her own animal. She had only really agreed to go shopping for her things because of the idea that she would get one. Well, it wasn't as though she had much of a choice of whether to go shopping or no, but she had been looking forwards to this all day.

She didn't want an owl, because she was actually quiet afraid of birds. She didn't want a snake, or a toad. She wanted a cat. And it was her lucky day. There was one, lonely, small black kitten cowering in the corner of the cat cage.

"That one only just came in today," The shop keeper said, seeing her staring at the cat. "He's only a few months old. Do you want him?" Avotica nodded her head, not looking at the shop keeper. She gave the shopkeeper the money for the cat, and walked happily out of the store, the cat nestled comfortably in her arms.

"You got a cat? Couldn't you have got an owl, or something useful?" Avotica didn't answer, and she just kept her head down. Mostly because she didn't want her governess to see her smiling.

They returned to the Leaky Caldron, where they would be spending the night. The old governess said that she would go straight to be, for she had a headache, caused by having to run after little girls all day. Avotica was glad to see her go.

She petted her new kitten that seemed to prefer the dusty room to the cage in the shop. She thought of names for her cat, before deciding on one.

"Your name shall be Jinx." She told the cat. Jinx licked her gloved hand as a way of saying that he liked the name too.

Avotica looked through the books that her governess had got her. All brand new. They didn't look very interesting. She picked up the Standard book of Spells Grade 1, and began to flip through the pages. Of course, she wouldn't be able to do any of these spells. She tried to do the one on the very first page, a simple levitating charm. But she had no wand, so the spell was no use.

She looked at her other books. Most of the books were by Gilderoy Lockhart. She had tried reading one of his books before, as Ms. Optimun, her governess, was a big fan. They were the most boring books ever written.

Her potions book held her interest for much longer than the other books, but only because she had always enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen. The house elves weren't that fond of her though, because she was always intruding in their kitchen territory.

Avotica grew tired of this quite quickly though, and she lay down on her bed to rest for a moment. Before she knew it, it was morning again, and someone was banging at the door.

"Are you up yet?" a sharp voice asked, entering the room without even knocking. "Good grief, you're a mess! Get some clean clothes on, wash your face, and brush your hair. You can't go out looking like that!"

"Yes Ms. Optimun." Avotica said, changing her clothes. It was a shame that she didn't have much of a choice in outfits. It was basic black until she was in school, and then the school colours. Not much range of clothing.

She washed her face and combed her hair, replating them again. She felt her stomach growl, and she was about to asked about food, when Ms. Optimun pulled her out of the room and down the stairs.

"Hurry, we need to get your wand before the train leaves."

"But it doesn't leave for another 5 hours!" Avotica complained. She was shocked at herself, actually, bursting out like that. But she was in a rather bad mood, due to a headache, and she kept tripping over Jinx, who followed her around like a shadow.

"Well, if you want to miss the train, then fine, but I don't want it on my conscience." Avotica knew that she didn't really have a conscience; she just didn't want it coming out of her pay check.

They went into the dress shop first, picking up her finished robes. They looked hideous, and still hung off her very loosely. Bottle green really wasn't her colour. For a moment, she fantasized them being yellow and brown, but she knew that to be in Hufflepuff would be disgraceful.

They then went back into the wand shop, where the old man had finished her wand. Oak, 6 ½ inch, unicorn hair. It had a strange shine about it, and it almost looked purple. Ms. Optimun paid him, and then left, without even letting Avotica try her wand. It wouldn't have worked anyway.

They returned to the Leaky Caldron, where Avotica was told to pack her things while Ms. Optimun did something 'important'. She folded and packed her new robes, as well as her old, plain robes, in case she wasn't in Slitherin. She packed all of her books, two quills, several bottles of ink, ten rolls of parchment, a diary, a few leisure reading books, an extra pair of shoes, and her wand. In all, she only had one small trunk. She pack her caldron in the brown box it came in, tying a string around it so it would open and fall out.

"Are you ready yet?" Ms. Optimun called. Avotica quickly stuffed Jinx in a carrier bag, where he immediately started whining. "Can't you shut that cat up?" She grabbed Avotica's trunk with one hand and her wrist with the other, and then dragged her out into the hallway, where they appareted to the London train station. The sensation was nauseating. Quite suddenly, Avotica was being pulled towards a brick wall. She shut her eyes tightly, and when she opened her eyes, she was on platform 9 ¾.

"Have a good time now!" Ms. Optimun called to her, with fake kindness.

"But the train's not leaving for another two hours!" Avotica called back, but Ms. Optimun was already gone.

Avotica walked onto the train, being the first one on. Not knowing where to sit, she walked back and forth through the train before finally choosing a carriage. She placed her suitcase under the seat, her caldron on the seat next to her, and Jinx on her lap, who was still complaining about being in the carrier.

"I'll let you out when the train starts moving, so longs as nobody else comes into the carriage," she whispered to him. He quieted down for a while. She sat there for what seemed like forever before people actually started to pile into the train. She heard talking and laughter pass her carriage, and she hoped no-one would enter hers.

Unfortunately, she was not to be granted this, for just before the train left the station, two red-head boys, twins, entered her carriage.

"…Told mum we'd be late." One said as they entered.

"No, actually, I told her," the other replied. They both noticed Avotica at the same time.

"Oh, hello," they said in unison. She kept her head down, but couldn't help but smile a little, as the pair looked quite amusing.

"What's your name?" one asked. She stayed silent, so the other began.

"We're Gred and Feorge. Who are you?" Avotica giggled at this, but still wouldn't lift her head or speak.

"You're a first year?" One asked. "Do you remember our first year, Gred?"

"Like it was yesterday, Feorge."

"Those were the days," they both said, reminiscing.

"Our sisters an ickle first year too."

"Little Ginny. The youngest of our family."

"Although she will probably outsmart ickle Ronnie by a mile."

"I have almost no doubt about that! At least we're not likely to have another prefect in the family with ickle Ronnie."

"You're the Weasley twins, aren't you?" Avotica said before she could help herself. She immediately regretted it.

"It speaks!" the one that called himself Gred said, astonished.

"You caught us out," Feorge said. "But can't we at least know your name?"

"Avotica." She lifted her head, but kept her eyes down.

"Avotica?" One said, looking shocked.

"Avotica Wiccan?" said the other, looking just as shocked.

"The squib?" They asked in unison.

Avotica nodded.

"Blimey." One of the red head boy's shook his head. "You must have some magic to be allowed to go to Hogwarts."

"I doubt it," Avotica replied, picking at her leather gloves. The carriage was quiet, only broken by Jinx's constant meowing.

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_Please review, and keep reading! Enjoy!_

_OcyTavia_


	2. Wrong Placement

**Wrong Placement**

"There's Hogwarts!"

The train was closing in on the magical school very fast indeed. All the students had changed into the robes, and were getting ready to get off the train. It came to a halt. People began the pushing and shoving, wanting to get off quickly.

Avotica sat quietly. She didn't like the rush ad bustle, and thought it might be best to wait until the worst of it was over before leaving the train. So she sat patiently and waited.

She made her way off the train when it had finally quietened down. Unfortunately, the boats that all the first years were supposed to be sailing on had already left. So she was made to go on a carriage. The only one left already had people on it, people from Slitherin. She climbed timidly into the carriage and sat quietly.

The other people talked and laughed about this and that, ignoring her completely. It sounded a lot like what Ms. Optimun was always complaining about, Muggle-borns and Half-bloods. Avotica assumed that the Slitherins were all pure-blood on this carriage. Of course, there was a way she could check, but it was unpleasant, because she couldn't control it. Still, Avotica gave it a go as curiosity consumed her.

She looked up, and for the slightest mid-second, she locked eyes with a bleach blonde boy with startling blue eyes. It was horrible for her. She could hear every hateful thing in his head. She couldn't forget it either. She had photographic memory, and she couldn't forget anything. She would never forget the fact that the boy thought she was ugly.

Avotica kept her head down for the rest of the trip. She overheard the blonde-hair boy say that someone called "Potty" wasn't on the train. She didn't know who it was, and she didn't really care either. She just wanted to get off the carriage.

When the carriage finally stopped outside the great hall, Avotica had to rush off to where the other first years were waiting to be called in. She arrived just in time. She walked through the middle of the great hall, slightly behind the rest of the first years.

Then people were sorted into the four houses. Avotica was the last to be called, just after Ginny, whom Avotica recognized to be the twin's sister. Ginny was placed in Gryffindor. Then Avotica's name was called. Before the hat even touched her head, she knew she would be in Hufflepuff.

_Not Hufflepuff, Not Hufflepuff! _She begged the hat. _Put me in Slitherin._

_But why would you want to be in Slitherin? _The hat asked. _You do not have the potential to be a Slitherin. _

_I would rather live in Slitherin than be a homeless Hufflepuff, _She told the hat.

_Fine, _The hat replied, before shouting: "Slitherin!"

The room cheered, and Avotica went to sit at the Slitherin table, sitting next to a dark haired girl who looked incredibly snobbish. She knew she wouldn't be in Slitherin for very long. She would fail, and be expelled.

"To the first years, welcome, and to our previous students, welcome back," Professor Dumbledore began. "Because of the tragic events from last year, I am happy to present our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Lockhart."

The new teacher stood up, and many of the girls cheered and sighed dreamily. Avotica recognized his face from the books that the students needed for his class. Not that any of them were that useful. Lockhart sat back down to let Dumbledore continue.

"And now, without further a due, let the feast begin."

Suddenly, food appeared across the tables, and everyone began to pile food onto plates and into mouths. But Avotica wasn't hungry. She just sat, waiting for the feast to be over. It seemed like forever until the last of the desert was finally finished off, and Dumbledore dismissed them. She trailed slowly behind the rest of the first years, who were following the prefects. She wasn't really listening to what they were saying, and got quiet a fright when the staircase she was on started to move away from where the rest of the Slitherin's were.

As soon as it had stopped, she ran up to the landing, not knowing were she was. She sat down on the cool cement floor, resting her head against the rough bricks and closing her eyes. She stayed like this for several moments until she heard footsteps coming down the corridor.

Her eyes flashed open to see two boys, Gryffindor boys looking down at her. One was obviously a Weasley, but she had no idea who the other one was. She carefully avoided their eyes, so she wouldn't accidentally read their thoughts.

"Hello?" said the Weasley. Avotica stayed silent.

"Which house are you in?" The other asked. Once again, she didn't reply. She knew that Gryffindor's wouldn't help a Slitherin.

"Will you at least tell us your name?" asked the Weasley.

"We want to help."

"Avotica," She whispered.

"Sorry?" said the brown hair one with glasses.

"Avotica," she said a little louder. "Avotica Wiccan."

"The squib?" the Weasley boy blurted out before he could stop himself. Avotica wondered if all the Weasley's reacted this way.

"The what?" asked the other boy.

"Oh, a squib is a non-magical person born into a magical family," explained the Weasley.

In this time, Avotica had stood up and slowly inched away from the two boys. It was something she had learnt to do as a child, for nobody paid any real attention to her; they just talked about her like she wasn't even in the room.

"Hey, where are you going?" the Weasley boy asked. They chased after her. "What house are you in?"

"Slitherin," she replied quietly.

"Geez, how'd you get into Slitherin, being a squib and all…" The red-head trailed off.

"Well, you're going the wrong way if you're trying to get to the dungeons. Come on, we'll show you the way."

"Are you kidding?!" Weasley asked a bit too loudly. He lowered his voice. "She's a Slitherin."

"So? She's only a first year." The boy with glasses was nice.

"So? What do ya mean, 'So?' It's already late; we should be getting back to the tower!"

"It's okay," Avotica said. "I'll find my own way." She rushed off, not wanting to cause any more trouble. But she still had no idea where she was going.

She wandered up and down stairs, unaware of the fact that it was very late. She found herself first at the Hufflepuff room, then at Ravenclaw. When she stumbled across the Gryffindor tower she knew that she was very far away from the dungeons.

She went down more stairs, then up again, through some corridors, then down, through some more corridors, then down again. She kept coming across the Hufflepuff room. It was as if the castle knew that she was supposed to be in there. But she still couldn't find the Slitherin room.

Eventually, she somehow made her way to the dungeons. But now she came across a bigger problem. The password. She had no idea what it was, and she really didn't care. She was too exhausted, so she lied down on the cold, hard ground, leant her head against her arm, curled up into a ball, and fell asleep.

"Oi! Get up!"

Avotica felt a hard shoe come into contacted with her stomach. She was jolted awake, winded. It took her a few moments to remember where she was, as well as get her breath back. She sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"What are you doing? Lying outside the door." Avotica looked up to see the blonde boy from the carriage. He seemed to recognize her too. "Oh, it's you. Avotica Wiccan, the squib. An embarrassment to the Wiccan family. You must have made that stupid hat a deal to get into this house. Can't have gotten in out of skill." The boy walked away, laughing.

Avotica stood up and stretched. She was use to being called an embarrassment. It didn't really bother her much anymore. At that moment, another group of Slitherin's came out of the common room, and Avotica was able to slip inside.

Now that she was in the common room, she felt twice as out-of-place as she had before. For a few moments, she stood there, dazed. She didn't know where to go or where her stuff was. But luckily for her, the Slitherin prefect was in the common room at that exact moment.

"Hey, you weren't with the rest of the first years, were you?"

Avotica shook her head.

"You in Slitherin? You're first room to the right." The boy walked away, muttering something about how unorganized first years were.

Avotica rushed to the dorm she was supposed to be in. She spotted her bed right away, as it was the only bed that didn't have someone in it. A few people were beginning to stir, but none were awake yet. The sun was still had still not completely risen.

Avotica didn't feel like sleeping. She went to her bunk, and unclasped her trunk, which was stationed at the foot of her bed. She let a moaning Jinx out of his cage, then grabbed her robes and dressed quickly. Grabbing her brush, she sat down on her bunk to do her hair, only to sit on something strange. She stood up to reveal her timetable. She read it as she brushed her hair.

First today, she had Charms with Professor Flitwick and the Hufflepuff's, then History with Professor Binns and the Ravenclaw's, the Potions with Professor Snape and the Gryffindor's. It seemed as though everyone would discover she was a squib today. Well, if they didn't already know.

She grabbed her books for first lesson and went down to breakfast. She had much less difficulty finding the Great Hall in the light of the day than in the dark. When she arrived, she saws that not many people were there. It made her wonder whether the blonde boy that had woken her so rudely was up to something, doing something that he probably shouldn't, as he was up so early.

She sat down and grabbed a plate, feeling ravenous due to no eating in more than 18 hours. She gobbled down her toast and bacon, which she wouldn't normally eat. In fact, she was against all pig products, and she was only eating it now because she was very hungry.

When she had eaten her fill, she went to wash up. She found the nearest bathroom easily, but was dismayed to see that it was out of order. Yet, she could hear a noise coming from inside. A strange, muffled echoing sound. Crying?

She entered the bathroom, wondering why somebody would be crying in an out of order toilet. The answer came to her quickly and easily; privacy.

"Hello?" She called quietly into the bathroom. The sobbing stopped.

"Who's there?" A voice asked sharply.

"Uhh… I'm Avotica. Are you okay? I could hear you crying-" She was cut off.

"Sobbing, crying, moping, moaning Myrtle. Ugly Myrtle. I know what they say behind my back!" The girls crying continued.

"Are you Myrtle? I've never heard of anyone called Myrtle. Except my great aunt. What house are you in?" Avotica was actually quite curious to know about Myrtle.

"I _was_ in Ravenclaw," Myrtle said, sniffing. "Not that it matters anymore."

"Ravenclaw, huh?" Avotica said, ignoring the curios comment that it didn't matter. "You must be pretty smart then."

"I was," she replied plainly. Avotica was slowly wandering up to the cubical the voice was coming from. "It doesn't matter anymore."

"Why don't you come out?" Avotica asked, standing just outside the cubical the girl was in.

"Why should I?" Myrtle asked, sounding annoyed and angry.

"Well," said Avotica, thinking fast. "Don't you have classes to get to?"

"Ha! I can't remember the last time I went to class at this school. I wish I could just leave!" Myrtle went into hysterics again.

"Why don't you leave?" she asked, starting to get confused.

"Because I'm stuck here! In this stupid school. I can never leave." Myrtle moaned.

"Can't you at least come out of the toilet?" Avotica asked, starting to get quiet angry.

Suddenly, there was a quick rush of air, and Avotica saw something pale blue and transparent, before it went through her. It was a horrible, cold, lifeless feeling. She turned to see what it was that passed through her. She was very surprised to see the figure of a young girl with glasses, floating a few feet off the ground. She was transparent with a blue-ish tinge.

"There!" Myrtle shouted at her, on the verge of tears. "Are you happy?"

"You- you're a ghost!" Avotica exclaimed.

"Give the girl a prize! Of course I'm a ghost. The ghost that haunts the girl's bathroom. It's more horrible for me than it is for the students," Myrtle wailed.

"I didn't know you were a ghost!" Avotica was still in shock.

"Did you think I was a student?" Myrtle asked, in a small, mocking voice. "Would you have come in and talked to me if you knew that I wasn't?"

"Well, yes, I think I would have." Avotica had gotten over her shock at this stage.

"Liar," Myrtle accused.

"No, I honestly would have. I've always wanted to meet a ghost."

"Oh, don't give me that!" Myrtle said, slightly enraged. "Ghosts are _always_ wandering the corridors."

"I haven't seen any," Avotica said honestly, starting to wonder why she hadn't seen any yet, considering she had a long wander around the castle last night.

"But why would you want to talk to me?" Myrtle asked in a small, high voice. "Miserable, moaning Myrtle." And with that, Myrtle gave a long, loud moan, before diving into the toilet in her cubical.

Avotica was going to try and persuade her to come out again, when she checked the enchanted wrist watch connected to her left glove, and saw that classes would be starting in less than 10 minutes.

She rushed out of the bathroom so fast that she slipped on the puddle of water that was now gathering around Myrtles toilet. She lifted herself off the ground, walking carefully to the door to make sure she didn't slip again.

She quickly came out of the bathroom, trying to look as casual as possible, but not succeeding. There was a rather large crowd of students in the corridors, so she blended in as everyone rushed off to class. Charms class was on the second floor, so she had to walk fast. She didn't notice the trail of water she was leaking behind her.


	3. Magic Shortage

**Magic Shortage**

"Swish and flick," Professor Flitwick instructed the students.

Avotica could swish and flick all she liked, but she wasn't going to be able to make the feather go any higher. She might as well blow on it. At least it would leave the table, instead of sitting there aimlessly.

Some of the Hufflepuff's were able to move their feathers slightly, whereas most of the Slitherin's had lifted theirs off the desk. But Avotica was proving to be an embarrassing addition to the Slitherin house. The bell rang, and Avotica couldn't be more relieved.

"Okay everyone. Practice! Just keep practicing. I'll see you all next lesson," Professor Flitwick said, climbing down from the stool he was using to give himself more authority.

Avotica walked quickly out of the classroom, walking swiftly to the History class, on the fifth floor. Unfortunately, she was walking much to fast and she bumped right into what she thought to be a teacher. She fell over backwards, and the teacher flew into a wall. She scrambled up to help him.

"I'm so sorry, Professor…?" The teacher grunted.

"I ain't a Professor," he said, sounding annoyed. "I'm the caretaker!" He seemed like a grumpy old man, but Avotica was still sorry for bumping into him.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking, and-"

"Well, you shoulda been lookin'," the caretaker shouted. "Be off with ya now." The caretaker limped away. Avotica stared after him with curiosity, but had no time to ponder upon the grumpy caretaker, or she would be late for history.

She soon discovered that it wouldn't matter whether she was there at all, for the history teacher, Professor Binns, was the most inattentive teacher she had met. She thought that it might be because of his age, or the fact that he was a ghost. Avotica actually began to wonder whether he actually knew that he was dead as the lesson dragged on.

She tried her best to stay alert and take down notes, but she found herself fazing out again and again, and she hardly got anything at all out of the lesson. The bell finally rang for lunch, and Avotica felt like she had just left the longest class she had ever been in.

She rushed off to the great hall to eat lunch. The great hall was crowded with people getting food, as well as many people in the corridors. It seemed as though the school had doubled in size since yesterday.

She ate lunch quickly, not wanting to be in a crowded room for very long. She then walked down to the dungeons, to the Slitherin room. She panicked when she realized that she hadn't been told the password. Luckily, some other Slitherin students were wandering towards the door.

"Pureblood," One said clearly. The door swung open. She walked into the common room after the older students. _Pureblood?_ She thought. _How stuck up can these Slitherin's get?_

Dropping off her books in her dorm quickly, she left the room, Jinx trailing behind her. She turned to him just as she was about to leave the common room.

"I'm sorry, Jinx, but you can't come with me. I promise to bring back some fish, though." This seemed to satisfy Jinx, who went to curl up in front of the fire. Avotica had no idea how she was going to get some fish, but she would think of that later.

She went back up to the first floor and walked back into the out of order toilet, humming to herself. Myrtle was sobbing quietly, so she hummed a little louder. She went into a toilet, pretending to go to the toilet. She went to the sink to wash her hands, still humming. She went to the first tap, but it didn't work, so she tried the second one. It worked perfectly. She washed her hands, making sure to take a long time. Myrtle came out of her cubical, annoyed.

"Will you go away and let me be miserable in peace?"

"Oh, hello Myrtle. Fancy seeing you here," Avotica said, playing dumb.

"You knew I was here. Will you leave, please?" Myrtle seemed to almost be begging.

"Actually, I was hoping to run into you. I was hoping you could answer a question for me."

"Will you leave if I answer? Well, hurry and ask!"

"Can non-magical people see ghosts too?"

"You mean, Muggles?" Avotica nodded. "Well, I don't know. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you see, I have only seen you and Professor Binns as ghosts. I find that rather strange, as I got lost last night, and must have been wandering around the castle for a few hours. I didn't see any other ghosts, and I still haven't."

"But you're a witch, aren't you? They must be hiding or avoiding you for some reason." Myrtle floated towards her, so she was quiet close. "Okay, there's you're answer. Now will you leave?"

"Thank you Myrtle. Goodbye." Avotica turned to leave, hearing a loud splash, a signal that Myrtle was lost somewhere in the plumbing. She turned back towards the bathroom, still having something to investigate.

She walked up to the tap that wasn't working. She turned it hard one way, and then the other. Still nothing. Not even the slightest drip. She gave up, turning to leave. There was something suspicious about that bathroom.

She went back to her dormitory, grabbing her books just as the bell went. Jinx walked around her, meowing. Avotica fished out some chicken she had saved from lunch, but Jinx wouldn't take it. He walked away, uninterested.

"Sorry, couldn't get the fish," Avotica said, but Jinx's problems weren't on her top priority list. First, she had to get to potions.

Professor Snape, the potions master, seemed to be a very dark fellow. He always had the same, ominous voice that chilled her bones to the very core. But, considering her was the head of Slitherin, and she was in Slitherin, she was likely to be let off easily in this class. She had studied her potion books, and the recipes looked quiet simple, compared to the stuff that she had cooked up at home. Of course, she almost always stuffed it up, but still, she might have a chance…

Snape gave his usual start of the year speech, mortifying the Gryffindor's, exciting the Slitherin's. Avotica was actually more worried about her Transfiguration class tomorrow, and hardly heard a word Professor Snape said. Not that any of it mattered, as most of the first lesson was just theory. They then got paired up to make a simple potion, which didn't seem so simple to the students.

Avotica got paired with Ginny, the young Weasley girl. She was a bright, happy girl with quite a bubbly attitude. She simply would not stop talking. But Avotica was use to this sort of thing, and just smiled and nodded, making appropriate sounds here and there, not really listening. She measured the ingredients carefully correcting Ginny occasionally, and stirring the pot as she had always been taught. Seven stirs clockwise, seven stirs counter-clockwise.

And although Avotica wasn't really listening, she kept hearing the name "Harry Potter" come up. She wondered if it was the Potty guy the blonde Slitherin was talking about. So, still concentrating on stirring, she asked Ginny:

"So, who's Harry Potter?"

Ginny looked at her as if she had gone mad. Avotica gave her a sideways glance.

"What?" She asked, starting to feel foolish for asking.

"You don't know who Harry Potter is?" She asked, astounded.

"Well, obviously. I wouldn't have asked if I did."

"He's only the most famous person in this school! He defeated You-Know-Who when he was a baby, and then again last year at Hogwarts. I can't believe you don't know about him!"

"Well, you see, I was never included in conversations often were I lived, and our library was ancient. All the books in it were made decades before this 'Harry' person was born. My governess wouldn't even let me read a newspaper."

"So you don't know anything about modern history?"

"No, but I know an awful lot about ancient history. I expect I'll do well in the history exams," Avotica said, stirring the now thickening liquid inside the caldron.

"But you do know about, well, about You-Know-Who, right?"

"Oh, yeah. I mean, I did hear a lot. Professional eavesdropper, I am." Avotica extinguished the heat from under the caldron, as the potion was finished. "Hmm, that's strange…"

"What's strange?" Ginny asked, not knowing that Avotica was talking about the potion.

"The potion should be a lighter green than this. How much knotgrass did you put in?"

"I… I don't know. Don't remember." Ginny seemed slightly dazed at the quick change in subjects.

"Well, the book says to use two ladles full. I think you used three. Maybe more. You must always pay attention to your potions. If you add the wrong amount or the wrong ingredient, it could be disastrous."

"Too true," said a chilling voice from behind them. They turned around to see Professor Snape standing behind them. "It might do you some good, Miss Weasley, to spend less time talking about boys and more time studying."

Snape studied their potion, which was now seaweed green, whereas it should have turned out a more florescent green. "Satisfactory, for a first try. Be sure to add the correct amount, next time." He left them, but those last words stayed with Avotica for quite a while. She didn't mind potions. In fact, it was probably the only thing she was good at, except history maybe. But the way the teacher teaches the subject affects the way the students learn the subject.

Avotica was glad when Snape dismissed them. She wasn't enjoying her first day at school, but at least she now had one goal; Moaning Myrtle. Avotica sensed she was hiding something. She had discovered quickly that ghostly thoughts cannot be read, but she could still sense that Myrtle had something to tell, some secret that she had been keeping, and maybe she had no knowledge that she was keeping it a secret. But it was something that Avotica was willing to work with.

Avotica went quickly to her dorm, gave Jinx a can of tuna that had 'mysteriously' appeared in her pocket, and then grabbed her diary, a quill, and a bottle of ink. She sat the bottle on the shared dresser next to her bed, and then began to write.

She began to write Bio's of everyone. Everyone she had met since she had boarded the train to Hogwarts. Although she had photographic memory, she had always seen things clearer on paper. She started from the beginning, with Fred and George, then the blonde Slitherin boy, who was still nameless. She wrote one on the two boys she had passed in the corridor on her first night, being able to identify one as Ron, but the other was still unnamed, and she wrote about Ginny. She wrote what she knew and what she had gathered of Dumbledore, Flitwick, Binns, Snape, and caretaker, and Myrtle. By the time she had finished, it was time to go down for dinner.

Once again, it seemed that dinner was one of those times that the school all gathered in the great hall and ate. Avotica made a mental note to eat more at lunch and keep some spare for dinner, as she really did not like the bother of large crowds.

She sat at the table next to a curly black haired kid from her year. He started giving her a curious look, but she tried to ignore him. It was actually quite awkward to eat, with someone watching you. She kept giving the boy sideways glances.

"You look familiar," he said finally.

"Well, we do have classes together. There aren't that many faces to familiarize yourself with."

"No, not from school. I've seen you somewhere else."

"I doubt that's possible," Avotica said bluntly. "I rarely leave my prison of a house."

"No, I swear I've seen you. In a photo, or a painting." Suddenly, the boy seemed to have a brainwave. Without another word, he jumped up and raced off. Avotica stared after him, confused and slightly dumbfounded, but relieved he was gone all the same.

But this relief was short lived. At that very moment, the blonde hair Slitherin sat down next to her, giving her a start. She kept her head down. It didn't take a mind reader to read his thoughts, for he made sure that they were all known.

"I believe I haven't been fully acquainted with you," he said, turning to Avotica. "Draco Malfoy."

At this name, Avotica gave a start. _Malfoy._ She had heard that name many times before, as her parents and governess talked a lot about the noble Malfoy family, and how they were standing for what was true in the wizarding world.

"I don't believe I will have much use in knowing your name," he continued smugly.

"You won't last the year, once they discover that you're a squib."

Avotica chewed her food very slowly, trying to ignore Draco's voice that was repeating itself in her head.

Draco suddenly lost interest in Avotica, and started talking to his friends. At least, Avotica believed them to be his friends. She couldn't be sure that he _had_ friends. She quickly took two sardines from the plate in front of herself, and she stood and left.

She went straight to the Slitherin Dungeons, and then to her dorm. She gave the meowing Jinx the sardines, and told him she was sorry for ignoring him.

She was dreading tomorrow. First Transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, then Flying class with Madam Hooch. At least she had Herbology with Professor Sprout to look forward to, but Defence Against the Dark Arts didn't look inviting at all. How was she supposed to block spells if she couldn't even cast them?

She opened her diary once more, pencilling in Draco's name. She closed the book gently, and then shoved it under her pillow. She was the only one in the dormitory, so she changed, and then went to bed. Jinx snuggled up beside her, purring. She thought about tomorrow, and about how long it would be before she was expelled.


	4. Elves in the Kitchen

**Elves in The Kitchen**

Avotica tip-toed up the stairs to the Great Hall. As far as she could tell, no-one else was up yet, although it was 7 o'clock. She was right, because as she pushed one of the heavy doors open, she saw that the room was empty. She wandered away, wondering where the kitchen was, and wishing that she had a map of the castle.

A few doors down from the staff room, in a corridor that she should probably not be in, Avotica saw a big painting of a bowl of fruit. It was very odd, for she hadn't seen any pictures of objects in the castle before. Having some experience with hidden doorways, Avotica guessed this was one of them. She walked up to the picture and examined it.

Unfortunately, it is never easy to find a secret entrance, so it took a while before she figured it out. Looking very closely, Avotica could see the pear in the fruit bowl quivering ever so slightly. She brushed her finger down the pear, and it giggled. She did it a few more times, and it burst out laughing. Suddenly, the picture morphed into a door, and Avotica slipped inside as silently as possible. She found herself in the kitchen, which she supposed was a parody of the picture that concealed the doorway.

The kitchen was full of elves, rushing madly about preparing food. No sooner had she entered did the mayhem stop, and every elfish eye turned to her. Avotica panicked, not knowing whether to run, or whether to reason with the elves that had caught her in the act of stealing food.

But the result was somewhat different from what Avotica had expected. Rather than being angry at her, the elves welcomed her, passing her food and making a big deal out of her. Before she knew it, her hands were full of food, and she had no way of getting out of the kitchen through the sea of elves.

"Ok," she shouted, trying to sound as much like her governess as possible. "That's enough! Now, get back to work."

The elves seemed shocked at her, and started for a moment, but they did go back to work, and did not bother her anymore. She carefully picked her way to the door.

"Thankyou," she called over her shoulder as she left. Some of the elves waved, while others just ignored her.

She walked along the corridors, nibbling on the food, making sure she didn't drop any of it. She went back down to the Slitherin common room in the dungeons, being as quiet as she possibly could. She entered the common room, where a few drowsy faces looked at her entering, but nothing seemed to register. She thought perhaps it was too early.

She went back to her dorm, where a few girls were sitting up, yawning. They seemed to ignore her, although they talked as a generalization.

"First lesson with Gryffindor's," said a tall girl with straight brown hair, yawning. The girls in the dorm groaned.

"Why do we have to have any lessons with them?" asked the girl with the turned up nose. "I mean, they won't pass exams anyway. Everyone knows they cheat."

"You're going to have to cheat unless you actually start listening, rather than inspecting you nails and admiring yourself in the mirror." Said a dark-skinned girl.

"Shut up, Eve."

"Oh, don't be so mean, Nicola," said a short, curly haired, strawberry blonde girl. "She was just joking, although it was pretty accurate."

"Oh, please, Isabel. If I spent as much time looking in the mirror as you did, I'd see myself everywhere," the girl called Nicola retorted.

"Yeah, right," the tall brunette said sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up Freya." Nicola seemed to be in a bad mood. She stormed out of the room, nearly knocking Avotica over.

"What a snob," Isabel muttered, and there was a murmur of agreement from the other girls. The rest of them dressed, and then left for breakfast. Avotica pulled her diary from under the pillow, and flipped it open to a blank page.

She wrote: _There are 4 other girls in my dorm. Nicola, Freya, Isabel and Eve. _She held her quill posed over the page, intending to write more. She closed her diary, returning it under her pillow, and placed her quill on the bedside table. She got her books for the first lesson, Transfiguration.

Walking slowly, she was at the classroom a good half an hour before she was suppose to. But she wasn't alone. A Gryffindor boy with blonde hair was waiting outside the door to the Transfiguration classroom, looking as though he was searching for someone. He was holding a camera, as though ready to take a picture.

In fact, as soon as she had stopped outside the door, he lifted the camera to his eye, taking a quick picture of her. The flash blinded her for a few moments, and it left spots in front of her eyes.

"What did you do that for?" she asked, shocked and annoyed.

"I'm practicing. I need to have more practice on my aim and developing," the boy replied, looking at her as though it were an obvious fact.

"Well, practice on somebody else." Avotica rubbed her eyes in attempt to brush the spots away.

"Sorry," he said. Suddenly, his right had shot out. "I'm Colin Creevy."

Avotica looked at his hand for a few moments before taking it. "Avotica Wiccan."

"Avotica Wiccan? Aren't you a squib? Wow, a squib student at Hogwarts." He took another photo of her.

"Honestly, do you have to take my photo?" Avotica said, annoyed.

"Sorry, but I've never met a squib before." He gave her a strange look. "If you're a squib, then how'd you get into Hogwarts?"

"Well," Avotica said, thinking. "I suppose the teachers haven't picked up on it yet."

Quiet suddenly, Colin lost interest in Avotica, as he had spotted someone in the crowd. He rushed off, waving and taking pictures, shouting "Harry! Look over here, Harry!" Avotica wondered whether it was the same Harry that Ginny was talking about.

"Go away, Colin," the Harry person said rudely. Colin trudged back to the door of the classroom, looking disappointed.

"Lost him," he said, as though Harry was a rabbit or something.

"Why do you do that?" Avotica asked.

"Do what?"

"Well, Harry obviously doesn't like you much, so why are you so interested in him?"

"He's Harry Potter," Colin said, giving Avotica the same look Ginny did when she asked who Harry was. "He's the most famous wizard…" Avotica cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, he destroyed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. But maybe he'd be nicer to you if you just backed off." Avotica absent-mindedly picked at her gloves.

"Maybe," Colin repeated, but he didn't seem convinced.

At this time, people began to gather outside the classroom, until Professor McGonagall came to unlock the classroom. And then Transfiguration began.

Their task was to turn a matchstick into a pin. Many students began to swish their wands, pointing them at the matchstick, hoping it would somehow turn into a pin. Avotica stared at her matchstick, knowing there was no way that she would be able to turn the matchstick in a pin. So she pretended to try and do it with her wand, but that was just an act.

She tried willing the matchstick into a pin, concentrating on it hard. But no matter how much she tried, it just sat on the desk, still a matchstick.

By the end of the class, no-one had succeeded turning their matchstick to a pin, but several of them had taken on a metallic sheen, and one or two had a sharp point at one end. Avotica left the class, feeling relieved that she wasn't the only one unable to transform the matchstick.

She rushed back to her dorm, dropping off her books. She then rushed back out to the courtyard, where they would be learning how to fly. 20 broomsticks lay on the ground, in two rows of ten. Each student stepped beside a broomstick. The Slitherin's had this lesson with Ravenclaw.

"Okay, put your hand over the broom and order 'UP!'" Madam Hooch instructed her class.

The courtyard was soon filled with the voices of the students crying "UP!" to the broomsticks. Avotica did this also, but it didn't surprise her that her broom lay motionless on the ground. Eventually, everyone had their broomstick in one hand. Avotica, feeling slightly embarrassed, stooped down and quickly snatched the broomstick from the ground. She was almost certain that Madam Hooch saw this, but neither said anything about it.

"Now, mount your brooms, and on the count of three, I want you to kick of hard, hover for a moment, the lean forward and touch back down again. Everyone ready? One, two three…" Everybody kicked off.

Everybody except Avotica. She was the one student who still remand earthbound. Madam Hooch gave her a curious glance before blowing her whistle to call everyone back down again.

Fortunately, everyone was too excited and happy that they had all made it off the ground that nobody had notice her absence in the air. She was a little embarrassed, and she seemed to fade into the background for the rest of the lesson. Even when Madam Hooch called upon every individual to display their flying, she got skipped.

The bell rang for lunch. Avotica hurried back to the Slitherin common room, at least five steps ahead of the other first year Slitherin's. The corridors were empty, so although Avotica was walking steps ahead of them, she could hear every loud word the others said.

"That was great-"

"…The best…"

"I flew higher…"

"You were wobbling. I was better…"

The mingle of voices was confusing and almost inaudible, but Avotica was able to get a snippet of words here and there. She tried to become invisible, but that is close to impossible when you're wandering like a loner down the corridor. She was ashamed in herself, and wished more than anything now that she wasn't forced to come to this school. She quickened her pace.

Luckily, the group turned into a crowded corridor, and Avotica could no longer here the droning of voices clearly, but it was now a loud murmur of voices mixing throughout the corridor.

When she reached the common room, she lingered a moment or two. She didn't feel very hungry at all. In her first three days at Hogwarts, she had cheated her way into Slitherin, met two ghosts and was trying to befriend one of them, met two Harry Potter fans, discovered that the elves in the kitchen practically give their food away, and made an enemy within the Malfoy family. It was all very exhausting.

She walked to her dorm, dumped her books on her bed, grabbed a book that she had brought for leisure reading, and wandered back out into the common room. She sat in an empty armchair near the fire. She had no idea why the fire was going, because the weather was still warm from summer.

She flipped the pages open and began to read. She was completely absorbed, and had fazed out of the world around her. Well, at least until the bell rang. She got such a shock from the bell that she slammed the book shut without even marking her page.

She got up from the armchair, ignoring the cramps in her legs, and headed up to her dorm. She picked up her books, gave a sleeping Jinx a pat, and then left for Herbology. She was surprised at how quiet the corridors were around the dungeon, becoming quite nervous at the silence.

Eventually she reached the open corridor, where the bustle was as usual. She arrived at the greenhouses before any other student. She heard her stomach growl, and began to regret her decision to not have lunch. The sun was letting out warm rays, making her feel rather hot and bother after warming up in front of the fire for so long.

She was met with her other classmates and Professor Sprout about five minutes later. The teacher unlocked greenhouse one, and turned around to block any students from entering before her.

"Now, I warn you not to touch anything," she told them sternly. "We don't want people loosing fingers, do we?" She turned and enter, her students following carefully behind her.

"Now, today we will be pruning the Spiky Rosabilita. Watch you don't stab yourself, as the thorns tend to burry themselves under your skin." She smiled slightly, as though enjoying a personal joke, then continued with the demonstration.

Avotica had dealt with Spiky Rosabilita's before, as she had some growing in a window box outside her window at home. But the one's she had in her window box were only babies, whereas here she was dealing with the fully grown plant.

"Rosabilita's only flower in winter weather, and they shrivel in the sun. So around summer is the time to prune these plants. We might have left these ones a little too long, but we'll see how we go. Okay, everybody got gloves and clippers? Good, let's get started."

The class began to carefully prune away the plant with the instructions that Professor Sprout had given them. Most of the students seemed to have trouble with their plants, as they seemed to move purposely towards the skin, as if wanting to inflict pain.

Avotica, who had pruned her Rosabilita's every year, was able to lull them to a sort of sleeping state while she pruned away at them, by humming a tune. She was done quicker than anyone in the class, and got away with only a tiny scratch on her wrist.

"Very good work, Miss Wiccan," Professor Sprout said as she took the plant away from her to examine it. "I expect you have had some experience in this?" Avotica simply nodded, avoiding eye contact, as she did with most people. "Could you please help some of the other students? Mr Jamieson seems to be having some trouble."

Indeed, Loughlin Jamieson, a Hufflepuff boy, seemed to be having a lot of trouble. He had scratches down his arms, his gloves were torn to shreds, and he even had a cut across his cheek. He was just trying to detach a thorn that had stuck into his finger when Avotica asked if he wanted some help.

"Yes, thanks," He replied speedily. Avotica unhooked his finger, humming.

"You know, if you hum, it calms them down. It kind of puts them to sleep," She said, beginning to prune the Rosabilita. "You give it a go."

She handed the clippers to Loughlin, who started to hum a tune shakily. As the flower became less aggressive, Loughlin had more confidence humming to it, and had less trouble pruning it.

"Thank you so much," Loughlin said between tunes. "What was your name again?" He clipped the last of it off, admiring his work.

"Avotica," she replied with downcast eyes.

"Call me Loki," Loughlin said, extending a hand. She took it gently, seeing as the wounds caused by the flower were still fresh. Avotica looked everywhere but his eyes, for fear of reading his thought.

The bell went. Avotica rushed off to Defence Against the Dark Arts without even saying goodbye to Loki.


	5. The Down Part’s of Magic

**The Down Part's of Magic**

"Hello class," Professor Lockhart said as he entered the classroom. Avotica let out a loud, very noticeable groan. A few people snickered and giggled. Most of the girls shot her dirty looks.

"I, Gilderoy Lockhart," He continued, as if he hadn't heard Avotica's groan. "The grand and busy wizard I am, have taken the noble job of forming the young minds of our society in Defence Against the Dark Arts."

Avotica let her head drop to the table, where it landed with a soft clunk. She heard more snickers, and was sure that more people were still giving her dirty looks.

"I thought that we would start today with a quiz," he said gleefully. Avotica felt like groaning again. Anybody who had even attempted to read Lockhart's books would know how full of himself he is. The questions were most definitely all about him.

And she was right. And the lesson was very boring. She didn't even try to answer any of the questions; she just kept her head down on her desk, which was at the back of the classroom, wishing she had brought a good book to read. After what seemed to be an eternity, he collected the quizzes.

"It seems that nobody remembered my favourite colour…" Lockhart's voice faded from Avotica's ears. She would rather listen to nails scraping down a chalkboard than listen to Lockhart talk about himself. She must have actually fallen asleep at one point, because she opened her eyes and raised her head to see everyone looking at her.

"Are you tired, Miss…" Lockhart trailed off.

"Wiccan," She told him. "Yes, I am rather tired." She was very tempted to say that she was tired of him talking about himself, but she didn't. She didn't have the courage.

Finally, the bell rang. Avotica practically ran out of the classroom in her rush to get away from Lockhart's rambling. In fact, in her rush to be out of his class, she found herself in a dark corridor she had never been in before. She began walking slower, trying to figure out where she was.

"Ruddy kids," she heard someone say under their breath. "Come, my sweet. Let's…" A grubby man with a limp rounded the corner with a cat, immediately spotting Avotica. "What are you doing here? You've made a mess, split ink all over the corridor. This'll take forever to scrub off," Said the man, limping closer.

Avotica looked behind her to see a trail of black ink leaking from her book bag. She hadn't noticed it. She had probably broken an inkwell in her desperate rush out of Lockhart's class.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "I'll clean it up, don't worry. I'll clean it up." She stooped down and began to scrub the ink off with a tissue from her pocket. It didn't have much effect.

"Ya won't get it off with that," he yelled at her. "You'll need special stuff, and I don't have the time to get it for ya. Come to my office."

Too frightened to do anything else, she followed the grubby man to his 'office', which was no bigger than a storage cupboard, with barely enough room for a table and chairs. In the dim light of his office, Avotica recognised the man to be the caretaker, but that didn't make matters any better.

"_Name-_ What's ya name?" he asked, scribbling down words on a piece of parchment.

"Avotica Wiccan." She tired not to sound too scared.

"_Name-_ Avotica Wiccan. _Crime- _Vandalizing school property." She didn't point out that an accidental spilling of ink wasn't vandalism. "_Punishment-_…"

At this point, Avotica looked up at him. For some unknown reason, she looked him straight in the eye. Perhaps she wanted to know the real caretaker. Perhaps not. It didn't really matter why, it was what she discovered that was important.

"You're a squib too?" She asked, questionably. She had blurted it out before she could stop herself, and now she regretted saying it. The caretaker turned as red as a tomato with rage.

"Who told you?" He seemed to be in to much of a rage to continue speaking. Avotica needed to do something, and since she didn't have water that she could douse him with, she tried talking to him.

"I'm a squib too," She said loud enough for him to hear over his squeals of fury. He stopped and looked at her. "I'm a squib too."

"You ain't," he said. "You're lying."

"Why would I lie about being a squib? It's horrible. Being born into a pureblood family as an only child, parents having great expectations, discovering that the reason you're parents won't talk to you because you can't do magic, being told you would be disowned if you didn't live up to their standard." Avotica was almost crying at the end of this speech, as it brought back painful memories that she had suppressed.

The caretaker was looking at her in such a way that made her feel like she was under scientific study. After a while, he stuck out his hand.

"Argus Flich," he said, in a less rough voice. "And that's Mrs. Norris." He nodded his head towards the grey cat. Avotica sniffed, dried her eyes on the sleeves of her robe, then took his hand, making his the third hand shaken that day.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Flich. You have a very beautiful cat."

"Thanks," he replied, looking rather bashful.

"I have a cat as well, you know."

"Ya do, do you?"

"Yes, and I think that Jinx would get along with Mrs. Norris very well."

"Well, why don't ya bring him down to meet her?"

"That's a good idea." She glanced over at the parchment. "And my punishment?"

"Huh? Oh, don't worry bout that. I'll clean it up, no problems." Avotica smiled. She rose from her chair.

"Goodnight Mr. Flich. Goodnight Mrs. Norris."

"Goodnight," Flich said, sounding much kinder than he ever had.

Avotica did her best to make her way quickly to the Great Hall. She was hungry, as she had skipped lunch and was now late for dinner. But, as she didn't know where she was, she didn't know whether she was heading in the right direction or not.

Eventually, she made it to the Great Hall, where many where still sitting, eating. She sat down, relieved that she could finally fill her groaning stomach. Unfortunately, she was put off her food before she could even take a mouthful.

Draco had decided that she was going to be his next victim. He sat down next to her, his large 'friends', who were more like henchmen, one sat on one side of her, while the other stood behind her. She was trapped.

"How's the little squib going?" Draco said with mocking concern. "Actually, I'm surprised you made it this far. It is rather obvious that you don't have a magical bone in your body."

Avotica put her chicken leg on her plate and stared at it, trying hard not to listen to him. She kept her breathing regular, trying not to get worked up. Draco's henchmen laughed, although Avotica could not find any humour in Draco's words.

"Don't worry, little squib," Draco began again. "You'll be out of here soon. Of course, this school seems to _love _Mudbloods and Half-bloods. Squibs. They'll all be gone soon, even if the teachers can't realize that they have no potential." Draco turned away from her and began talking to the other Slitherin's at the table, but Avotica wasn't listening.

She kept turning over what he had said. She could not get it out of her head, not only because she had photographic memory, but because of how suspicious it seemed. Draco had let something slip, something was going to happen, and he knew about it. And now, without realizing, he had given her the knowledge that he knew something that he probably shouldn't.

Draco had been acting suspicious the whole time that Avotica had known him. Not that she knew him well; in fact, she would rather not know him at all. But she could tell that he was involved with something dodgy.

"…and my father told me…can't say too much…family such as their's deserves…" Avotica caught snippets of Draco's conversation. Actually, it wasn't much of a conversation. He was talking, and everyone was listening. It was rather sad, really, watching his fellow Slitherin's so absorbed in his words. They all looked rather stupid, to be completely honest, hanging on his every word, considering that he didn't say anything of importance. Just gloating.

"…and this one is the one my father told me to keep a watch on," Draco said, jolting Avotica awake as he jabbed his finger in her direction. "I have no idea why. He just told me to 'watch her'. I don't see why she's so important."

"Maybe you should stop listening to your father so much and think for yourself," Avotica said before she could help it. "Oh, that's right. You can't. It's just impossible for you to think for yourself when you have nothing to think with. Silly me." She stood to walk away, surprised at herself. Luckily, Draco's henchmen were so surprised at her outburst that they didn't even try to stop her.

She walked casually out of the Great Hall, breaking into a run as soon as she was out of sight. With tears of anger running down her face, she ran into Myrtle's bathroom. She didn't realize where she was until she heard the door slam behind her. She walked over to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Slowly sinking to the floor, Avotica silently cried her heart out. The only evidence of her agony was the occasional gasping for breath. She was just so angry at everyone she knew. Her father never talked to her, her mother paid no attention to her, her governess was a sour woman, and the other Slitherin's were the most horrible people, completely self-centred.

"Are you okay?" a voice asked. Avotica jumped, slightly startled. She wiped her eyes to clearly see the person who had asked. It was Myrtle.

"I'm fine," she said, trying to smile but failing miserably.

"I have had a lot of experience with crying," Myrtle said in a voice that sounded slightly eerie. "And you aren't okay. You're angry. Very angry."

Avotica tried to hold the tears that threatened to spill out, but she just couldn't. She looked away just as two big hot tears came rolling down her cheeks, so that Myrtle wouldn't see. If she could prevent anyone from seeing her crying, she would.

"What are you angry about?" Although her motive was concerned, it sounded anything but.

"Everything," Avotica said, trying not to hiccough. She wiped her nose with her sleeve.

"Ohhh, the world isn't that bad," Myrtle said, sounding very sarcastic.

"You're one to talk," Avotica said, sniffing rapidly. "You h-hated y-y-your life here!"

"But I hated my life." Myrtle was floating gracefully around the bathroom, six inches off the floor.

"I hate my life too! I wish I would just die!" Avotica buried her head in her hands, sobbing.

"Be careful what you wish for," Myrtle said eerily. "It might just come true. Just look at me."

Myrtle floated into her cubical, and a splash of water made it evident that she had gone. Avotica didn't move. She sat there, on the cold, hard ground, crying. She had no idea how long she sat there, but when she finally did get up, the corridors were deserted. She made her way quietly along the corridors where the Slitherin common room was, not being able to forget its location now that she had it in her head.

There was almost no-one in the common room, and the few people who were there were almost asleep anyway. She slipped silently to her dorm, where all the girls were already fast asleep. Changing quickly, she slipped into bed. Jinx curled up at the end, looking content for some unknown reason.

She stared at the ceiling, knowing that it would be a long time before she got to sleep. A growl from her stomach confirmed this.


	6. Magic’s in the Air

**Magic's in the Air**

The next few weeks passed slowly. Potions was becoming extremely dull, especially since Ginny could still talk of nothing except Harry. Colin was much the same when she got paired with him.

Herbology was becoming more interesting, as the plants were becoming more exotic and strangely beautiful. And then there was Loki, who seemed to becoming worse at Herbology, despite the fact that she spent most of the lessons with him, as she was the best in the class, and he seemed to be the worst.

Transfiguration was slowly coming down on her. Most of the students had succeeded at turning their matchsticks into pins, and had now moved onto turning pebbles into buttons. Even those who hadn't turned their matchstick into pins had managed to create some change to the match. Except Avotica. The moment of dread was coming closer and closer, and it would only be a matter of time before it was discovered that she just couldn't do magic.

And Charms was a failure too. She couldn't do diddly squat with her wand. It was hopeless, and she had known it from the start. No matter how many times she swished and flicked, nothing was going to move unless her wand transformed into a fan, which was probably more likely to happen.

Flying lessons was another disaster. Everyone was doing loops and twists, while she was still earthbound. Luckily, Madam Hooch didn't let her go through with the embarrassment of having to stand on the ground with a broom, looking more like a cleaner than a witch, while everyone else was zooming through the air.

She got pulled aside after the second lesson, when people started to noticed her stronger gravitational pull, and was told that she could sit out and watch, and that she would discuss the situation with the headmaster. Not that it made her feel much better.

History was just plain boring, but Avotica did her best to stay focused. In fact, she was the most focused in the class, and that's saying something, considering how much she got out of each lesson.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was just a joke, and not a very funny one at that. There was no point of it, and with no actual magic involved, it was probably the easiest class, but equally the most pointless. So long as they could endure Professor Lockhart's rants about himself, then they would pass. Most of the time her just repeated himself anyway. Avotica was sick of him before she even met him, and their meeting just worsened this sickness.

Avotica had stopped taking trips down to the Great Hall, instead, she took many trips to the kitchen whenever she was hungry, always getting something for Jinx as well. She didn't like the large crowds, and she was almost certain that she would run into Draco, and she already got enough of him in the common room, where she could spend little time without Draco annoying her.

And then there was the amount of time she spent in Myrtles bathroom. She turned out to be quite a sympathetic person, considering how upset, sarcastic and eerie her voice almost always sounded.

Jinx had also taken up become her official shadow. She had now allowed him out of the common room to follow her to classes and between classes, for the complains of the noise in the dungeons during classes, and how savage he was to people in the dorm and the common room. The teachers seemed to understand, although many despised him. Especially Lockhart, who came across as rather superstitious.

Mr. Filch's office was also regularly visited by her, especially after hours. Filch didn't seem to mind when she was out of bed during the night. In fact, with him on her side, she could get away with almost anything. She often went to his office if she spent to long in Myrtle's bathroom, and he was always friendly to her, especially when Jinx was following her, which had become more frequent.

Avotica also had a hunch that Ginny considered her as something like a friend now. She often came across her in the libraries, and she smiled and waved, made small talk. Sometimes it was more than small talk, and Avotica usually zoned out. She did find that Ginny seemed to be talking about a diary called 'Tom'. How a diary could have a name, she didn't know.

She spent a lot of time in the library too. Most lunchtimes, actually, were spent in the library, reading and researching. Although they had a lot of homework, Avotica was able to zip through it quite easily. She started researching magical creatures, as she hoped to take up Care for Magical Creatures in her third year, if she made it that far.

It wasn't that Avotica was a bad student; she was actually a good student. It was just that she couldn't do magic, which made it hard to get through in a magical school.

But something happened in October, something very strange happened in October. On the day of Halloween, something strange happened to her.

The day was like any normal day, except for the dress of the teachers. Professor Lockhart's dress sense seemed to be considerably worse, as he was wearing a bright, pumpkin orange get-up that appeared to be somewhat like a fencing outfit. In fact, during the Defence Against the Dark Arts class, they spent the whole lesson carving pumpkins in pairs while he talked about something great he did on Halloween. Avotica got stuck carving with Loki, who would not stop trying to start a conversation.

"So, how are you?" Was his first attempt.

"Fine."

"How are you doing in your other classes?" Avotica gave him a funny look.

"History's okay." She replied

"And your other subjects?"

"What about your subjects? How are you going?" Avotica asked, trying to change the focus.

"You're avoiding the question."

"So are you."

"I asked you first." Avotica gave a great sigh before telling him.

"Well, I'm pretty good at potions, but I can't fly, and I can't use my wand."

"Well, I suppose, with some practice…" Avotica cut him off before he could finish.

"No, you don't get it. I can't fly. I can't. And I can't use my wand. I swish and flick, but absolutely nothing happens!" Loki looked shocked for a couple of moments, and then came up with a clever compromise.

"How about I try and help you?"

"You can't, I'm a squib."

"I don't believe that. You're just not trying hard enough. Let me help you. Consider it pay back for helping me in Herbology."

"But this is so much bigger than just Herbology!" Avotica moaned.

"Well, how about giving me some help with potions then," he suggested, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

"Okay, then," Avotica said, still unsure.

"So, how about meeting every afternoon…"

"Not every afternoon," Avotica said. "I do have other things that I do."

"What, patting you cat?" Loki said, pointing at Jinx.

"I wouldn't offend him if I were you. He tends to get savage."

"But why does he follow you everywhere?"

"Well, if you must know," Avotica said with an evil smile. "When I was a baby, I was cursed, so that half my soul would withstand in another form, the _evil_ side of me. And the _evil_ side of me resides in Jinx, so don't get him mad at you, or you'll be sorry."

Loki scoffed at her, and then stopped for a moment, as if considering something."That story's not true, is it?"

"Yeah, of course it is," Avotica said, sarcastically. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, you said you couldn't work your wand, and I just thought that maybe he had the part of your soul that the magic is hidden in."

"That's a great theory, Loki," Avotica said, carving a spiky mouth on the pumpkin. "Except for one flaw. I have my own soul. If there is any hidden magic in there, it's hiding well."

There was a curious silence, which was almost awkward, but not quite. Loki looked at her curiously.

"You know, when I first saw you, I thought you looked rather shy," he said suddenly.

"Well, when I first saw you, I thought you looked like a dope," Avotica said, laughing. "Getting beaten up by a flower."

"Hey, it wasn't funny! It was tearing me to shreds!" He exclaimed.

"Well, I beg to differ. I thought it looked rather funny." Loki smiled and began to give her another curious look, until she started getting annoyed. "What?"

"Nothing," he said. "It's just that… I…"

Loki never got to finish what he was going to say, as at that exact moment, the bell rang. Avotica got up and picked up her bag, heading for the door. Loki had to scramble to keep up with her.

"Hey, wait up!"

"Sorry, Loki. I'm kind of in a rush."

"But it's lunchtime."

"And I have research to do."

"Well, can we meet up this afternoon?"

"I don't know…"

"Please! I really need help with Potions or Professor Snape'll have my head!" Avotica couldn't suppress a giggle.

"Okay, fine. Meet you down at the dungeons at 4, okay?"

"Okay, great. See you then." Loki went off to the Great Hall to get some lunch.

Avotica, on the other hand, was going to Mr. Filch's office. He had ordered a Kwikspell course through the post, and she was going to see if he had a reply yet.

"Oh, hello Avotica, Jinx," Filch said, acknowledging both the girl and the cat.

"Hi Mr. Filch," Avotica said cheerfully. "Have you received the Kwikspell course yet?"

"Yes," He said, smiling a toothless grin. "Came in the other day. But a student picked in up off my desk and read it. He'll probably spread the word that I'm a squib."

"Oh, don't worry too much," Avotica said, trying to cheer him up. "I mean, how much can underage wizards and witches do?"

"Believe me, you have no idea," Filch said menacingly.

Avotica put her interest on the envelope that she had been given, which had already been ripped open by eager hands. She pulled out the paper booklet inside, looking at it. She flipped through the pages, memorising the pages instantly. Most of them consisted of helpful ways to hold and wave your wand.

"Let's hope this works," Avotica mumbled, half to herself. She seemed quite doubtful. She handed the booklet back to Filch, who took it graciously.

"Are you hungry? Would you like something to eat?" He offered.

"No thank you, but I think that Jinx wouldn't mid something if you have anything on hand."

Filch gave Jinx a fish from out of his pocket, who took it, then sat in the corner to gnaw at it. Filch sat down behind his desk. He looked at Avotica.

"You know, I'm surprised that you made it this far," Filch said.

"Haven't I heard that a lot," Avotica said, slightly annoyed. Draco had found that it was his job to remind her of this daily.

"But I'm glad. If you'd have been expelled, I wouldn't have had someone to talk to."

"You would have had Mrs. Norris," Avotica pointed out.

"But she's not that fond of talking back. And, if you hadn't come, Mrs. Norris would never have met Jinx." He looked over at the two cats, who were sharing the fish that Filch had given them.

"Well, things happed for a reason," Avotica said.

The bell rang, startling them both. Avotica jumped up, almost upsetting the table. She rushed out of the room, Jinx at her heels, calling out her goodbyes over her shoulder. She rushed to Potions class, where she spent some more time creating a simple potion, listening to Ginny go on about Harry and the 'Tom' diary.

And then it was the end of classes. Avotica went to her dorm, got a book, and then walked back to an empty potions classroom. She sat behind one of the teachers desks and opened her book, starting to read.

At exactly 4 o'clock on the dot, Loki showed up. He looked a little flustered, but he beamed at her all the same.

"Hey," he said. "So, do you want to work on your spells, or on my potions?"

"Well, which is more desperate?" she said.

"Okay, your spells," he said, smirking.

"Hey!"

"Well, you did say that you couldn't use your wand." He did have a point.

"Fine," Avotica said, reluctantly.

"Okay, show me what you've got."

"There's not much to show." Loki thought for a moment.

"Show me a levitation charm."

She tried. Swish and flick. Nothing. She shrugged.

"What am I doing wrong?"

"Well," he said, thinking. "You're flicking too hard."

"_What?_"

"You're flicking too hard. Here," Loki stood up and took out his own wand. "Swish and flick," he said, swishing and flicking. "You've got to flow more."

"_Flow?_"

"Just try it," he said, starting to get impatient. She tried it. She must have done something wrong, as nothing happened. Loki stood up again. "You're still not swishing."

He walked around and stood behind her, holding her wand hand in his own. He moved her hand in the way that she should move it. He was so close to her she could hear him breathing.

"Swish and flick," he whispered in her ear. "Swish and flick."

"Avotica," he said quietly, moving away and walking in front of her. "Can- can I tell you something?"

"I sure hope you can!" Avotica exclaimed, making it into a joke.

"Avotica, I'm serious! I want to tell you something." Loki seemed a bit stressed.

"Okay," she said, getting kind of nervous.

"Avotica, I… I like you."

Avotica was a little confused. "I like you too. You're a good friend."

"No, I mean I really like you. Like, boy-girl like you." Loki took a deep breath.

"Oh," she said. "Err, Loki, we've only known each other a month at most. You're a friend. I'm not sure that I'm comfortable being anything else."

"Okay," he said, looking disappointed.

"I'm sorry Loki. I really am, but…" Avotica paused, not being able to find the right words. "Shall we move on to Potions?"

"Uhh, it's getting late. I think I might just go." He stood up and walked out.

"Loki, don't be like this. Loki," but he was already gone. Avotica sighed, waited a few minutes, and then went to her dorm.

Horror awaited her as she opened the door to the common room. Draco Malfoy was sitting on the big chair in the middle of the room, surrounded by other Slitherin's, mostly girls. He looked at her when she walked through the door, and for a moment, their eyes met. His thoughts were brimming with horrible things, and she had to turn away.

"Look, it's the little squib herself," Draco announced. It didn't take a mind-reader to know he was just talking about her. Why was he so interested with her?

"Hey squib! Where were you? With your Hufflepuff boyfriend." Avotica turned to him, amazed at how he seemed to know every detail of her life.

"What are you, a stalker?"

Avotica stormed up to her dorm, where three girls were already there. Avotica didn't notice that anyone was in the room at first, and she slammed the door then sat against the door with her eyes closed. She opened her eyes as one of the three cleared their throat. She recognised them to be Eve, Freya and Isabel.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude." She felt awkward standing there. Although the girls were from her dorm, she knew very little about them.

"What were you doing with Loki in that empty potion classroom?" Isabel asked.

"Huh? I-I was tutoring him. Why do you want to know? Wait, how do you even know we were there?"

"Tutoring? Aren't you a squib?" Eve asked.

"Yes, he needed help in potions. Why do you care and how do you know?"

"Loki doesn't need help in potions," Freya said, slightly confused.

"Huh? How do you know?" Avotica was probably the most confused out of all of them.

"Because," Freya began. "I'm his girlfriend."


	7. Quick Thinking

**Quick Thinking**

Avotica stood there, staring at Freya.

"Boyfriend? You're only eleven!"

"Yet you still seem to find it okay to mess around with other peoples guys," Freya said, starting to loose her temper.

"Mess around? What sick thoughts go through your mind, girl? I'm only eleven. I don't want a boyfriend. If he's your boyfriend, fine. You keep him. I don't want him."

Avotica didn't even wait for a reply. She walked out of the room, and then out of the common room, ignoring Draco's snide remark as she exited. Walking fast, trying to keep her emotions together, she made her way to Filch's office. She knocked on the door. He opened it, slightly surprised she was there."

"Mr. Filch, how are you?" Avotica tried to sound normal, but her voice was quavering.

"Avotica, what's wrong?"

Avotica sniffed. "Nothing, nothing." She said. "I'm fine."

"Avotica?" This was not Filch. It was a different voice, younger, familiar. Loki appeared behind Filch.

"Loki?"

"I found him scuffing his shoes on the ground," Filch said, sounding rather proud.

"Leave him be, Mr. Filch," Avotica said, glancing at Loki.

"What?"

"Please. I promise, I'll clean up the mess. Please, Mr. Filch. He's my friend. And I need to talk to him."

"Oh, alright," Filch said reluctantly.

"Thank you, Mr. Filch."

The door closed behind them, and they were alone in the corridor. They began to walk.

"I think he fancies you, you know," Loki said suddenly.

"Loki! Why do the people in this castle have the sickest minds?"

"I'm sorry, but it's just how I am."

"Do you get it from your girlfriend, or does she get it from you?" Avotica asked, anger hinting in her voice.

"I don't have a girlfriend. Well, not yet." He tried to take her hand, but she snatched it away.

"I met her," Avotica said, picking at her gloves.

"Met who?"

"Your girlfriend."

Loki groaned. "For the last time, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Freya seems to think different."

"Freya," Loki said, looking shocked. "Did you say Freya?"

"Oh, so you do know her?"

"Yeah, I know her. But she's not my girlfriend. Her family had known my family for forever. Freya's always had a crush on me, but I don't really like her much."

"Well, whether you like her or not, she likes you. Today she accused me of stealing you, and people seemed to think you were my boyfriend. Loki, we really can't be more than friends. Not now, not yet. We're only eleven."

"But I don't want to wait! I don't think I can."

"Well, then find somebody else. For crying out loud, Loki. For one, we're only eleven. And I have to live with that possessive girlfriend of yours. You're going to have to wait or get over me. Now, can we just be friends?"

"Yeah, okay." Loki didn't seem to have a case to argue. "Are you going to the feast?"

"No, not hungry."

"Come on, come to the feast with me." Then Loki quickly added, "As a friend."

"Fine," she said, to get a Cheshire cat smile off of him. "The things I do for you."

They walked to the Great Hall in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, it was just a silence. They entered with the rest of the fuss and bustle. Finally, Avotica said,

"You do know we can't sit together, don't you?"

"Yeah, I know. I'll see you later then, okay?"

"Okay." Avotica walked off towards the Slitherin table. Loki hesitated before heading over to the Hufflepuff table. He sat down next to a few of his classmates.

"Who was that?" one asked.

"Who was what?" Loki replied

"That girl that you walk in with?"

"She's a friend."

"A friend, eh?"

"A girlfriend?"

"No! She's just a girl that happens to be my friend," Loki said, although he did wish she was his girlfriend. But she had made it clear.

"So, what happened to Freya?"

"What do you mean?" Loki asked.

"Last I heard you two were going out," one of them said, picking up a roll and shoving it into his mouth.

"For crying out loud," Loki said, quoting Avotica. "We're only eleven."

"That didn't stop you from kissing her."

"I didn't-"

"Shhh! The dancing skeletons have started."

Meanwhile, over at the Slitherin table, Avotica was once again squashed between Draco, Crabbe and Goyle. She was beginning to regret coming to the feast. She should have just gone to the kitchen to get something.

"So, little squib. Long time, no see," Draco said, smiling evilly.

Avotica said nothing.

"I saw you walk in with your boyfriend," He said casually.

"He's not my boyfriend," Avotica told him through gritted teeth.

"Whatever you say." Draco picked up a piece of pie and took a bite. Crabbe grabbed a piece and shoved it into his mouth whole.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" Avotica asked desperately. She wished she had just broken the rules and gone and sat with Loki. Even Ginny and Colin would be better company than this.

"I won't leave you alone until you are where you belong. It is obvious that you don't belong to this house-" Draco was cut off.

"Then why did the Sorting hat put me here?"

"Well, I don't know. You must have made some sort of stupid bargain with that smelly old hat. All I know is you don't belong here."

Avotica could feel her annoyance building up into anger, bubbling and frothing, boiling hot anger. Everything in her range of vision became a crimson red. Very suddenly, she felt the anger realise itself, now bubbling, frothing and boiling into something else. And that something else just happened to be Draco's cup of pumpkin juice.

Draco, who was yet to notice that his pumpkin juice was boiling on its own, picked up his glass. He dropped it immediately, being burned by the hot metal, which sent hot pumpkin juice all over the table. Some splashed on Draco's face, and left red marks on his forehead, cheeks and nose. Some people screamed, but Draco's was the loudest.

"It's burning! It's burning my face! It burns!"

Avotica would have found the whole ordeal quite funny, if she hadn't fled the first chance she got for fear of being caught. Jinx was following closely at her heels. She walked quickly to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom.

"Oh, hello," Myrtle said, not sounding pleased at all.

"Were you expecting someone else?" Avotica asked, still feeling slightly annoyed at Malfoy.

"No, I suppose not." Myrtle flew back into her toilet, and began to cry. Very soon, the bathroom started to flood. Avotica took refuge in one of the cubicles, standing on the toilet seat. She stuck her hand out to the water, to try and heat it up enough to evaporate, but she wasn't angry anymore. In fact, she was a little afraid.

Very suddenly, the bathroom became very cold. The water froze to ice, and everything seemed to be caked in a thin layer of crystal ice, including herself. Shivering, she turned the lock of the cubical and took a Slippery step outside. Everything seemed frozen, except a small trickle of water melting near the door.

Avotica heard a noise. It sounded like something really large dragging itself along the ground. She couldn't tell where it was coming from, so she slipped (quite literally) back into her cubical and locked the door. She sat on the frozen seat, listening to the huge thing slide around, and then it slid away. Finally, when she heard no more sliding, she thought it was safe to come out.

She walked slowly in the bathroom, for fear of slipping on the ice-land that it had suddenly become. She had just gotten to the door when she heard footsteps outside. Not wanting to be caught coming out of an out-of-order toilet, she decided to stay inside the toilet until the footsteps were gone. The footsteps seemed to come right up to the door, pause for quite a long time, and then they turned and left. The footsteps faded, and Avotica finally thought it was safe to come out.

Coming out of the toilet was like switching from air-conditioning to heater. The slightly cool air seemed blissfully warm against her skin, yet she still shivered, as it was still cool air. Jinx shook the ice from his fur. After a while, she noticed the wall.

THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED

ENEMIES OF THE HEIR BEWARE

The bold letters shone brightly on the wall, as if they were painted with blood. But the writing was not what startled Avotica. Underneath, hanging from a torch holder was Mrs. Norris. Avotica was sure it was her. She was still and stiff and Avotica assumed she was dead.

Running to Filch's office was difficult, since her shoes were still wet from the bathroom. Along the way, she bumped into three people making their way quiet quickly towards Myrtle's bathroom, but she didn't stop to chat. She would have found it odd that one of them had his ear pressed against the wall if she wasn't in such a hurry, and still in shock.

When she arrived, she knocked on his door, and kept knocking until he answered. He answered the door to a puffy faced, crying Avotica.

"It's horrible!" She said as soon as he opened the door. "You must come quick… Mrs. Norris… Quick!" Avotica rushed off, pulling a confused Mr. Filch behind her.

By the time they reached the scene, the feast had finished, and everyone was gathered in the corridor near Myrtle's bathroom. Filch pushed his was through the sea of students, Avotica following closely behind, not wanting to loose him.

"What's going on here? What's going on?" he shouted. He made his way to the front of the crowd, where he immediately spotted Mrs. Norris. His legs seemed to fail him, and he held his face in what appeared to be agony. "My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?"

Avotica was crying too. She had grown quite attached to Mrs. Norris as well. She wanted to comfort Filch, but she couldn't. She wasn't comfortable with… touching. She didn't like people to touch her, and vice versa. It was most probably a result of never being touched or hugged as a child.

"You!" Filch screamed, pointing at the brown haired boy Avotica had passed in the corridor moments earlier. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll-"

"Argus!"

Dumbledore seemed to just appear out of nowhere, peering at the cat through his half-moon spectacles. Professor McGonagall appears quite suddenly behind him, looking over his shoulder in concern.

"Who could have done such a thing?" She asked Dumbledore, but Filch answered.

"It was him!" He shouted, pointing at the boy with glasses.

"It wasn't," The Weasley boy she had met in the corridor as well. "Harry would never-"

"It was them! They killed my cat." Filch was hysterical.

"All students will return to their dormitory," Professor Dumbledore told the crowd. He picked up the cat. "Argus, come with me. Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger should come too." He led the way down the corridor.

Despite the fact that she knew that she shouldn't go with them, that she should be going to the Slitherin common room, she just had to follow. She followed the group in somewhat of a daze, trying hard to think clearly, hoping against hopes that Mrs. Norris could have somehow survived.

Eventually, they got to Professor Lockhart's office, which he had most kindly and eagerly donated to the cause. If Avotica wasn't still in her trance, she most probably would have complained. Dumbledore turned around, and was most surprised to see her with the rest of them.

"Miss Wiccan, what are you doing here?" he asked. "Did I not request that all students return to their house common rooms?" Avotica kept her eyes downcast.

"Yes, I know sir. It's just, I knew Mrs. Norris… Is she going to be okay?" Jinx cried beside her, having already given up hope of Mrs. Norris' return. Everyone stared at the cat.

"What is that cat doing here?" Professor McGonagall asked sternly.

"I'm terribly sorry, but I couldn't leave him in my dorm anymore. He cries, you see, and has shown signs of being savage towards certain people. It is in the best interest of the Slitherin house for me to have my cat with me."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore said in a somewhat curious voice. It was often so hard to tell what mood he was in, since his tone of voice only varied slightly.

"Please, sir, is Mrs. Norris okay?" Avotica asked again.

"She's dead!" Cried Filch from the chair he had collapsed in. Dumbledore ignored this remark, and continued to exam the animal, tapping it with his wand every now and then.

Avotica looked over to where Harry and the other two people were standing. The girl with the incredibly bushy hair cast her a curious look, whereas the two boys would only look at the ground.

She turned back to where Dumbledore was still examining Mrs. Norris. Professor McGonagall was watching with a sympathetic expression, at least, what seemed to be a sympathetic expression. Professor Lockhart was babbling on to himself about how he could have prevented Mrs. Norris' death, and Filch's loud sobs could still be heard over Lockhart's voice.

"She is not dead, Argus," Dumbledore said finally. "She has merely been petrified."

"Yes, well…" Professor Lockhart said, seemingly lost for words. "Well, of course I knew that straight away. Pity I wasn't there, I know the exact counter curse…"

"When the Mandrakes are fully mature, they will be ready to create the antidote."

"Please, sir, how long?" Avotica asked, not knowing how old the Mandrake already were, or she might have been able to work it out for herself.

"Not long. But we will have to wait and be patient."

"Now the question is, who did this to her?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"It was them!" Filch said, pointing his grubby finger at Harry and the two other people. "He- he knows I'm a- a squib!"

"It wasn't them!" Avotica said immediately afterwards. Everyone gave her a curious look.

"How can you be so sure?" Professor McGonagall asked. "You were at the feast."

"No, actually. I left early. I went to the bathroom on the first floor."

"That toilet is out-of-order!" Filch said, which scored him an icy look from Avotica, which was still effective, although it was aimed of his forehead and not his eyes.

"Anyway, Myrtle started flooding the bathroom, and I went to stand on one of the cubicles so I wouldn't get wet. And when I came out, I saw Mrs. Norris and the writing on the wall. I ran straight to Mr. Filch's office, since it is his cat, and I bumped into them coming from the complete opposite direction." She gave the three people she was defending a glance. "So it couldn't have been them."

"But why where you not at the feast?" Professor McGonagall asked Harry and the other two.

"We went to Nic's death day party," Harry replied simply.

"Can't imagine they had good food for the living," Filch said.

"Mr. Filch, stop it. They didn't do it," Avotica said firmly. To everyone's surprise, he kept quiet, instead of making a remark about respect or mumbling under his breath. He actually took a request from a student seriously. Even Professor Dumbledore seemed amazed.

"It seems that you three have a confirmed alibi. You may leave," said Dumbledore, nodding in Harry's direction. "Miss Wiccan, I would prefer you to stay a moment longer."

Once outside, Harry's two friends started to walk off quickly, but Harry hesitated. He glanced at the door of Lockhart's office, apparently deep in thought.

"Harry, what's keeping you?" The Weasley asked.

"Shouldn't we say thankyou?" He asked his friends.

"To who?" The Weasley asked.

"Avotica," Harry said, as though it were obvious.

"How do you know her name?" The girl asked.

"We met her at the start of the year, wandering around in the corridors. She was lost."

Ron seemed to think this was a good explanation.

"She was lost, was she Ron?" The girl asked suspiciously.

"Yes, Hermione, she was lost."

"So, do you think we should say thankyou?" Harry asked again.

"Harry, she did what she was supposed to. She told the truth. We don't need to thank her for doing the right thing. It would sound suspicious."

"She's right," Ron said. "She's always right."

Just then the door opened, and it hit Harry hard on the back. He fell forward, winded. The door shut again. Avotica stood in its place.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," she said, seeing Harry on the floor.

"It's okay," Harry said, picking himself up off the ground.

"So, you're the famous Harry Potter." Avotica sounded almost amused. "Ginny talks about you all the time. So does Colin."

"How do you know?" Harry asked, as though it were a great mystery.

"They're in my class." Avotica looked from the Weasley, to the girl with bushy hair. "You're obviously a Weasley," she said, pointing to Ron. "And you must be muggle-born or half-blood…"

"Not that that's any of your business," the girl said, as though Avotica had said something rude.

"I'm Ron," Ron told her, "And she's Hermione Granger."

"Thank you Ron," Hermione said sarcastically.

"By the way, I heard that you guy's like to work out the castle's mysteries. Well, if you're wondering who the _heir_ is, I'd say that Draco Malfoy would be a prime suspect. But I doubt anybody at this school could trace their ancestry all the way back to Slitherin." Avotica turned and walked away. "See ya!" she called back to them, leaving them puzzled.

"What was she talking about?" Ron and Harry asked, in what was almost unison, but not quite.

"Don't you see? The writing on the wall, the heir of Slitherin, Filch's petrified cat, it all leads to one thing," Hermione said smartly.

"What?" They both asked, now working in unison.

"The Chamber of Secrets."


	8. Improvise an Escape

**Improvise an Escape**

Avotica woke the next morning with a start. It was still dark. She wasn't sure what had woken her. Jinx was purring contently at the end of her bed, and the other girls in the dorm were sleeping silently. She patted Jinx gently, waking him. He meowed.

"Shhh, Jinx. People are still sleeping. Come on, let's go get some breakfast."

She dressed blindly in the dark, trying hard not to make too much noise. She slipped silently down to the common room. She gasped to see Draco sitting in front of the fire, but he was motionless.

Avotica wandered up to him to see that he was asleep with a book on his lap. She recognised the books to be _Hogwarts: A History_. It was open to the page based on the legend of the Chamber of Secrets.

Avotica passed him, and opened the door to the dungeons. It squeaked. She held her breath as the second year Slitherin stirred. She didn't move, hoping that he would just sleep on. Of course, things never seemed to go as she hoped. Draco yawned and stretched, opening his sleepy eyes.

"Hey," he said, still sounding sleepy. "What are you doing?"

"That's really none of your business, so don't ask." Avotica continued out the door, only to be grabbed and pulled back in. "Let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me where you're going."

"If you really must know," Avotica said, pulling out of his grasp. "And I don't think you do, I'm going to get some breakfast." She turned and began to walk away, but he grabbed her again.

"The Great Hall doesn't do breakfast before dawn," he told her. "Where are you really going?"

"Let go of me, scumbag!" She shouted at him, getting angry.

"Ohh, that's rich," he said. "You calling me scum! You're the one who can't even do magic, squib!"

"Scum isn't who you are," She told him angrily. "It's what you do!"

Then, something peculiar happened. It was the scene from last night all over again. Avotica felt the anger leave her and enter something else, except this time, Draco didn't have a glass of pumpkin juice. His hand started turning a bright, tomato red. He backed away, clutching his hand in obvious pain.

Still furious, Avotica rushed out of the room. She was a fair way away when she heard Malfoy scream. She kept going, Jinx following at her heels. As soon as she reached the corridor, she collided with someone, knocking them to the ground.

"I'm so sorry," she said, helping them up. It turned out to be Loki. "Loki? What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I was going to ask you the same question." He gave her a curious look.

"I'm a morning person, what's your excuse?"

"Me too," he said quietly.

"Well, I'm going to get some breakfast, you want to come?" Avotica asked in the same cheerful tone.

"Uhh, the Great Hall isn't serving breakfast at this hour." He seemed slightly confused.

"I know, but the kitchen does." Avotica smiled cheekily. She pulled him down the corridor. "Come on."

"What are you doing?" He asked when she started tickling the pear in the portrait. The results amazed him so much that he was speechless.

"Wow," was the first thing Loki said as the entered the kitchen. "Do you come here often?"

"All the time," she told him cheerfully, as the elves began filling their arms with various goodies.

"All the time?" He asked in amazement, or maybe shock. "Don't you ever get caught?"

"No," she said happily.

The elves filled their arms, and kept staking food on, picking up the food they had dropped and putting it back on the top of the pile in their arms, only to have it fall to the ground again.

"We thank you," Avotica said, in a stern voice. "But we have enough food."

After that, the elves completely ignored them. Loki was still gawping at the elves and the kitchen they worked in. He seemed more shocked than amazed. The kitchen was clean, but the elves were far from it. Not that anything could be done about that, though.

"What are you staring at?" Avotica asked finally, a slight hint of humour in her voice.

"I've never seen so many elves before!" Loki exclaimed, still looking rather bewildered. Avotica just laughed at him.

"Come on," she said, still giggling. "You'll be the first reason I was caught in here, you know."

They left the kitchen, and Avotica headed in the direction of the library, trying to balance the food in her arms and eat some of it at the same time. Loki walked beside her. He was munching very loudly on a rock cake.

"Shhh!" She told him firmly. "People are still asleep. Honestly, you're as bad as Jinx."

"Sorry," Loki said, with his mouth full. "Where are you going?"

"To the library," she told him.

"Why?"

"Where else would I go this early in the morning?"

"Well, you could always… good point."

Avotica laughed. "Professor Sprout doesn't like people touching the plants without her supervision, and Professor Snape just doesn't like me,"

"Does he like anyone?" Loki cut in.

"I don't think so. Anyway, Ginny and Colin are in Gryffindor, and they are extremely dull."

"Who?"

"Oh, Colin and Ginny are two people that are sort of my friends, but they are obsessed with Harry Potter. I mean, I hadn't even heard of him until I came here."

"You had never heard of Harry Potter?"

"Oh, please. I'm lucky I know how to talk. My parents never talked to me at all, not after they found out that I was a squib."

"You can't be a squib," he told her firmly. "You're too good at Potions. You are just having… difficulties."

"Sure. Anyway, Mr. Filch isn't up this early, and I expect he'll be up later, as he's been going to bed later ever since Mrs Norris died. That only leaves the library."

"How do you know so much about Filch?" Loki asked as he shoved a patty cake in his mouth.

"Well, I'm sure that's really none of your business," Avotica said, nervously. She hadn't told anyone about the relationship she had with the caretaker, as it was known that he was disliked by the students.

"Come on, tell me," Loki pressure, spraying cake crumbs all over her.

"Why should I?"

"We're friends, aren't we?"

"You didn't tell me about Freya."

"You never asked."

"I'm asking now."

Loki sighed. "Okay, but do you promise to tell me about Filch if I tell you about Freya?"

"Sure."

"Well, we've known each other since we were born; we were quite literary cradle buddies. I was only one day older than her, but she always seemed to find a way to blame everything on me, because I was older and 'more responsible'. Anyway, last year, Freya admitted to having a crush on me. I don't know how she expected me to react, but I must have done or said something to lead her on. She thought that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, which is absurd."

"Yes, it is," Avotica said, with mocking agreement.

"Anyway, I haven't been able to get rid of her, and I don't want to hurt her feelings, because we see each other all the time. Our parents are really close. So now she's under the impression that we're going out."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Is there anything else?"

"Well, we did kiss. She kissed me, I mean, but that was a while ago."

"How long ago?"

"A month."

"Yeah, that's a really long time."

"So, will you tell me about Filch? I mean, how were you able to stop him from punishing me."

"Well, we're friends," Avotica said, like it was no big deal.

"Really? Wow, this could be really good."

"I don't want you to use this to your advantage. I won't bail you out all the time."

"So, why are you two friends?"

"Now, that's really none of your business." She sounded really annoyed.

"Okay, okay, I won't tell anyone. Promise. Well, I will if you do one thing for me."

"What's that?"

"Well, you know I like you-"

"Like you'd let me forget," she said, half joking.

"Well, would you, could you…"

"What?" Avotica asked, becoming impatient. They had reached the library and were conversing outside.

"Kiss me?"

Avotica looked shock. Well, she was shocked.

"I thought I made myself clear. I am not interested. _We are only eleven_."

"Oh, you say that, but you don't mean it." He was leaning closer to her, and it was really starting to freak her out.

"No, I actually do mean it," she said, dumping the rest of her food into his arms. "Unlike you and the people you hang out with, I say what I mean." She walked swiftly into the library. It was quite obvious that Loki wanted to follow, but food was not allowed in the library. He returned to the common room, munching sadly on the food.

Avotica walked through the library, her feet making an unavoidable clacking noise on the hard, stone floor. She only had one pair of shoes, and they were quite new, so the bottom of them was still rather hard, and they rubbed annoyingly against her heels, causing blisters, something to which the wizarding world was not familiar with. So she could hardly complain, as no-one would understand her.

She walked through the isles, looking at all the different books. There were two isles dedicated completely to books by Gilderoy Lockhart, obviously by his request. He hadn't publish all that many books, so there was enough copies there to supply the whole school with new ones.

Avotica selected a book on muggle plants, titled _Spotting the Difference Between Magical Plants and Muggle Plants_. It was by someone called L.Crouch. The book was over 200 years old, so it was probably very out-dated. Still, the subject interested Avotica, and she sat in a big armchair to read the book.

Avotica became absorbed in the book, and was startled into reality when the bell rang. She spent nearly 10 minutes just trying to find the right shelf for the book, and then she had to rush back to her dormitory, pushing against the swarm of people heading in the opposite direction. She grabbed her books and her wand, and was about to rush back our when she remembered that she needed her caldron.

She rushed back into the door, hoping to grab it and rush back out, only to find that it wasn't there. She spent at least another ten minutes searching for it, but with no results. She finally rushed off to Potions, without her caldron.

"Well, well, Miss Wiccan. First, you show up late to class, then you forget your caldron," Snape sounded menacing. "Take your seat. I'll deal with you later."

The lesson passed very slowly. Avotica had to sit out and copy Potions from the book by hand. It was much less fun than you would imagine, especially since she had to redo the whole recipe when she made a mistake, which was quite often, and was criticized about her handwriting, which was atrocious.

Finally, the bell rang. Avotica nearly tripped over trying to get out of her seat, she was in that much of a hurry. Unfortunately, Snape wasn't going to let her off the hook that easily.

"I would like a word with you, Miss Wiccan. I'm sure that your teacher won't mind if you are a little late." Avotica sat back down in her seat again. "I would like to make up for lost time, and since I have no classes following this one, you will stay until I let you leave."

"Professor, I have Herbology now, and I really mustn't be late-" Snape cut her off.

"No, indeed you mustn't. But, unfortunately, you mustn't be late for Potion's either. But, as we can see now, you will be late for both."

"Why do you hate me so much?" Avotica asked before she could help herself. She immediately regretted it.

"I do not hate _you_ as an individual, Miss Wiccan," He said, turning away from her to re-arrange some bottles. "You make the mistake that I am singling you out. I do not do that." Avotica knew otherwise.

"But you do single someone out," she corrected him, improvising quickly. He turned to glare at her. "You do, uhh. All the teachers have mentioned someone that you haven't. Someone special." Avotica had no idea what she was talking about, but it was quite obvious that Snape did.

"What does Mr. Potter have to do with this?" He asked angrily.

"So you admit that you single him out," Avotica replied, smiling. "You see, I didn't mention a name, or anything. You gave me the information. I just suspected."

Snape looked as if he was going to explode. She could have discovered who he was singling out just by one small glance into his eyes, but she didn't like to do that. She always found out too much by doing that, more than she wanted to know.

"Detention, Miss Wiccan!" Snape shouted.

"Why?" Avotica asked. She was really quite clueless when it came to emotions. She didn't realise that by discovering his hatred of Harry Potter, she had released hatred towards herself.

"Because you were late to class and forgot equipment." He was still as red as a tomato, but no longer steaming from the ears. Avotica felt rage boil up inside herself as well.

"Aren't you supposed to take points away or something?" She asked angrily.

"I will not let the Slitherin house suffer because of your actions, Miss Wiccan! Especially since you do not belong in the house!"

Avotica had that sudden feeling again. All the anger left her and entered something else. It just so happened, that Snape's example potion was on the bench beside him, and it began to bubble and froth, and it turned a sickly aqua colour. He stared at it. He stared back at Avotica, who was gazing at the caldron with glassy eyes. He stared back at the caldron, which was about to overflow.

As suddenly as it had started, it stopped. Actually, it hadn't started that suddenly, so it didn't stop so suddenly either. It began to boil down to a simmer, but Snape had already figured out that Avotica had done something to it.

"What did you…?" He seemed awestruck. He didn't know what to say. "Miss Wiccan, I think you should come with me."

Snape no longer seemed to be frothing with anger, but Avotica's anger had turned to fear as they passed corridor after corridor. They eventually stopped in front of a big statue of a gargoyle.

"Sherbet Lemon," Snape said to the gargoyle, although it was quite obvious that he thought it sounded ridiculous. The gargoyle jumped to one side, revealing a spiral staircase that appeared to go on forever.

Snape began to trudge up the stairs, Avotica following some distance behind him. Finally, after walking for so long that Avotica felt dizzy, they stopped. Snape knocked on the door.

"Come in," said a croaky old voice that was no doubt the headmasters.

"Wait here," Snape whispered to Avotica, who nodded before Snape entered. Avotica could hear nothing through the big wooden door, but they were in there for an awfully long time. When Snape finally came out, he pushed her into the room with the headmaster, and closed the door behind her, leaving her in a room with many interesting gadgets.

"Sit," Dumbledore croaked at Avotica she sat down in the chair in front of his desk. There was a glass of water on the desk, which suddenly froze when Avotica noticed it. She gasped.

"I'm sorry," She stuttered. "I didn't mean to."

"It's quite alright, Avotica," he told her. "How long have you been able to do this?"

"I- I don't know, sir," she said truthfully.

"Were you unaware of this gift when you came to Hogwarts?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you remember when you first were able to do this?"

"Well, last night, when I was at the Great Hall, I heated up a goblet of Pumpkin juice. And when I was in the bathroom, when I heard the footsteps, I froze all the water in the bathroom. And this morning, I heated up someone's hand-"

"You boiled someone's blood, quite literarily?"

"Yes sir." Dumbledore seemed rather amused by this. "And just now, in potions, I heated up Professor Snape's potion. And then froze your glass of water."

"And how were you feeling when you heated up the Pumpkin juice?"

"Angry," She told him. "Always angry."

"And when you make them cold?"

"Sad, sometimes afraid," she said.

Dumbledore rose from his seat and walked over to the window. He paused to look out of it before continuing.

"I believe you have another gift, am I correct?"

"Well, I'm good at gardening-" But she was cut off.

"No, another gift. One that you have always had knowledge of." Avotica knew what he was talking about from the beginning.

"You mean, when I read minds?"

"You have the gift to look into other's minds, but more importantly, their souls, just by looking them in the eye. That is a rare gift."

"I would rather not have it. Maybe I wouldn't be a squib if I didn't have this 'gift'."

"Hmmm," Dumbledore hmmmed. He turned around. "You have been having trouble with your wand, correct?"

"Yes," Avotica said, looking at her feet.

"And on the broom, yes?"

"Yes."

"I think we can arrange some help with that," Professor Dumbledore said with a secretive smile.


	9. Meltdown

**Meltdown**

"Swish and flick," said Professor Flitwick. Avotica swished and flicked, swished and flicked. Still nothing happened. Of course, she hadn't expected anything to happen. She had tried again and again, but it never worked. Now she was being treated like a problem learning child.

She has been working for at least an hour, missing Herbology and Defence Against the Dark Arts completely. She would have assumed that Flitwick had a class to take care of, but apparently his students were doing theory, working from a text book. She found this rather surprising.

"Hold you wand straighter," Flitwick told her. "Make it flowing, but not sloppy."

Avotica sighed. She swished and flicked again. And again. And again. But still nothing happened. Finally, Flitwick gave her a depressed sigh.

"I suppose we'll try again tomorrow." He hopped off his stool and started to waddle away.

Avotica looked at her wand. _Stupid,_ she thought. _So stupid. Doesn't even work. _She suddenly became so frustrated that she felt like throwing the wand away, but it zapped her before she got the chance. Squealing, she dropped the wand.

She examined the wand on the ground. It looked like a stick on the ground, nothing irregular about it. She bent to pick it up again. Gingerly, she picked it up and straightened up again. She looked at the wand, curiously. She swished and flicked, but nothing happened.

She swished and flicked again. Still nothing happened. She became frustrated, and swished and flicked very vigorously. Suddenly, an electric blue light, almost like a bullet, shot out of her wand and hit a picture on the wall, making it shatter.

"Hey," said the picture, which was a small girl, now shattered pieces of one. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," Avotica said, rushing over to the picture, collecting the shattered parts. "I didn't mean to do that."

"You better be able to put me back together," the girl in the shattered picture said, sounding very much like a selfish brat.

"Uh, I'll find somebody," Avotica said, heading towards the door.

"Hey, come back here!" The girl shouted. "You're not going to leave me behind, are you? Pick me up and take me with you!"

Avotica rushed back over to the picture and shoved the pieces into her book bag. She rushed out of her room, trying desperately to muffle the sounds of the picture in her bag.

She walked quickly around a corner. She was supposed to be heading to the courtyard, to work on flying, but she was heading in the opposite direction. Turning another corner, she bumped right into Ginny, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Ginny, what are you doing?" She said, getting up and going over to help Ginny. "What's this down your front? Is- is that blood?"

"What?" Ginny said, sounding dazed. She looked at her front. "No, I don't think so. I think it's just paint. Where did I get paint from?" She sounded puzzled. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

"Ginny, are you okay? Ginny, I think- I think we should take you to the hospital wing…" Avotica trailed off, looking concerned.

"No, no, I'm alright," she said a little too quickly. "I'm okay. What time is it?"

"Half past eleven."

"Oh, okay. I should be getting to Flying, shouldn't I?"

"Uh, Ginny, I think you better go back to the Gryffindor tower and lie down. I'll tell Madame Hooch that you don't feel very well." Avotica was quite concerned about Ginny.

"Yeah, alright. I do feel a little dizzy." Ginny stumbled off to the stairways. Avotica started heading in the direction of the courtyard, only to run straight into someone else.

"Ow," said a bushy hair girl. Avotica recognised her from when Mrs. Norris was petrified.

"Oh, sorry." Avotica bent down to pick up her bag, which had spilled out into the corridor.

"Hey, what's this?" The bushy head asked.

"Nothing," Avotica said, trying to snatch it back.

"I'm not nothing!" The rest of the picture called from her bag.

"What do you have in there?" The girl asked, looking suspicious.

"Nothing," Avotica insisted.

"I'm not nothing!" The picture screamed again.

"Give me a look." Before Avotica could object, the bag was in the girls hands, open. The picture pieces spilt out onto the floor. "What happened?" The picture answered.

"She broke me!" The picture complained. The girl took her wand out.

"_Repairo_," The girl said, and the picture neatly re-attached itself. She gave it back to Avotica. "There you go."

"Thanks, uh…"

"I'm Hermione Granger, but you already know that. You would be Avotica, right?" Hermione gave Jinx a quick glance, and he meowed innocently.

"Yeah," Avotica said, curiously. "How did you know?"

"Ron won't shut up about you now, always talking about how your family was a big supporter of you-know-who, and he's spread rumours about you. Well, Fred and George did that, but he didn't do much to prevent it."

"Great," Avotica said. She'd known that her parents and relatives were all for what the Dark Lord was doing, but she didn't want the world to know.

"Well, I've got to go," Hermione said. "See you later."

"See you," Avotica said, stuffing the picture back into her bag.

"Take me back!" The picture said desperately.

"Okay, just shut up!"

Avotica raced back to Professor Flitwick's office and placed his picture back on the wall. She then rushed back out, now quite late for her flying lesson. She rushed back out to the courtyard, to find almost every student airborne.

"Miss Wiccan," Madame Hooch said as she strode quickly over to her. "Why are you so late?"

"Sorry, but I saw Ginny in the hall. She wasn't feeling very well, and went to lie down. I helped her back to her common room." Well, it was half true, anyway.

"Okay, just don't make a habit of this. We have given you these extra lessons so that you can develop your skills. Well, hurry and grab a broom."

Avotica spent the next 20 minutes trying to get off the ground, but it was much use. It seemed to her that the only way she would ever experience flying was if someone levitated her. Finally, the bell went, and Avotica rushed back to the Slitherin common room.

Fortunately, Draco was not yet there, so she was free of annoyances. She rushed back up to her dorm, Jinx following closely behind her. She rushed back out of the common room before she could run into anyone who might stop her, and she rushed to the kitchen, not wanting the crowded hall.

She opened the kitchen door and was surprised to see two identical red heads already there, arms full of goodies from the elves, as well as bags. They looked up when she entered.

"Hey," They said in unison, accusingly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked. They held up their bags.

"Food," one of them said, as the other one stuffed something in his mouth.

"I can see that."

"What're you doing?" The other asked with his mouth full.

"I come here all the time. I know most of the house elves here." The twins jaws dropped, and their eyes opened wide.

"So that's why we never see you in the great hall," one said, coming to a realization.

"Yeah, thank you Flappy," she said one of the elves gave her a fruit bun.

"Flappy?" One of the twins asked.

"They do have names. Thank you Topsy. Floppy, I don't really want any pork." The house elves began to surround her, passing her food.

There was a loud hiss, and one of the twins jumped with a yelp. There was a parting in the sea of house elves as Jinx came scampering back to Avotica, tail between legs. Avotica dropped her food on a nearby table and gathered Jinx into her arms, where he began to pur contently.

"That cat it creepy," said one of the twins. Avotica supposed he was the one who stepped on Jinx.

"Well," Avotica said, putting her food into a basket that was contently placed. "I will be leaving now."

Avotica walked out, pausing momentarily at the door to put Jinx on the ground. He meowed, not wanting to have to walk. Avotica ignored him and continued to walk. The day was nice and unseasonably sunny, so she decided to have lunch outside. She went to sit by the lake, but was interrupted by none other than Malfoy and his gang.

"Hey, squib," Draco said as he towered over her. "Didn't see you at lunch, yet you have so much food." He picked up her basket of food and chucked it in the lake.

Avotica began to think she should have stayed in the kitchen and taken humiliation from the twins. Anything was better than Malfoy. He gave her a nasty shove, causing her to half fall into the lake. She pulled herself back out, shivering. Maybe it wasn't such a nice day.

"Stupid cat," Malfoy said, kicking Jinx. Jinx decided that he had had enough beatings for one day, and completely retaliated. Hissing and spluttering, Jinx launched himself at Draco, attacking himself like glue to his face.

"Get it off me!" He screamed, pulling desperately at the cat.

With Malfoy distracted, and his gang clueless of what to do, Avotica fled back to the castle, and went straight to Filch's office. She was suddenly accompanied by Jinx, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere after his ordeal with Malfoy. Avotica sniffed, but not from crying. She sniffed again, and tried fishing a tissue out of her pocket, but they were soaked and fell apart in her hand. Shivering and sniffing, she quickened her pace, wiping her dripping nose on her wet sleeve.

She knocked on Filch's door, sneezing by this time. It was opened to reveal that he was puffy eyed from crying, but he seemed to brighten up after seeing Avotica. He immediately expressed concern at her state. He dragged her inside his office, wrapped her in a big warm blanket that seemed to come from nowhere, and handed her a tissue box before asking what had happened. She explained Malfoy, and his concerned look turned to an angry look.

"Stupid kids," he muttered. "No respect."

"They're not all bad," Avotica said as kindly as possible, sniffing. "Perhaps just a little inconsiderate."

"That's the understatement of the year," Filch said in an annoyed tone.

Jinx started to rub against Filch's leg, and he stooped down to pet him. He purred contently, and Filch became misty-eyed remembering Mrs. Norris. Avotica was watching him.

"They'll bring her back," she told him in a quiet voice. "The Mandrakes will bring her back." Filch just nodded and stayed silent.

Avotica lost track of how much longer she stayed in Filch's office, and she didn't remember dozing off, but she was shaken awake by Filch. She opened her eyes and gave him a groggy look.

"What? What time is it?" She asked, yawning.

"It's almost 1. Lunch has ended. You better get moving to lessons." Filch helped her to her feet where she swayed for a moment before regaining balance. She walked slowly out of his office, in somewhat of a daze, and made her way slowly to the Slitherin common room.

Students passed her continuously, in much more of a hurry. Avotica wanted to be in bed, for she had a headache and her nose was blocked up. Jinx walked beside her, meowing concerned, but Avotica ignored him.

By the time she got to the common room, classes had begun and the corridors were almost deserted. She walked slowly upstairs to her dormitory, her head pounding with every step. She opened the door and it swung open, making a loud moan that made her head hurt more.

She walked to her bed and pick up her timetable. _Perfect, _she thought. _Double Defence Against the Dark Arts. Maybe I'll go to the sick bay._

But Avotica knew that she would need teacher approval before going there. She grabbed her books, hoping she wouldn't need them. Knowing Lockhart, he would probably tell her that it was only a cold that that he had to endure much worse when he was banishing the Bunyip or whatever.

So she made her way slowly back down the corridor. Unfortunately, she was stopped by the prefect, the Gryffindor prefect, who was harsh to everyone, even the people in his house. Avotica's head pounded harder with every step he stepped.

"Hey," he said in a snobby voice. "What are you doing in the corridors? Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I'm going to Defence Against the Dark Arts," Avotica replied, but it came out funny because of her blocked nose. The prefect didn't seem to realize that she was ill.

"Well, hurry up. You're a first year, so I'll let you off, but next time it'll be a detention." The prefect turned and left, leaving Avotica in the corridor, dizzy and dazed.

She had completely forgotten where she was going, and didn't have the slightest idea of where she was. She started off in one direction, only to meet with a wall almost instantly. She started again, and made it successfully down one corridor before colliding with a suit of armour. It clattered for a few moments, and then straightened up again.

Avotica started again, and walked through an open door into a 3rd year Transfiguration class. Struck with a sudden dizzy spell again, she collapsed. She heard a murmur of voices around her and she found herself being lifted from the ground. She heard a familiar voice, but couldn't identify it. She then completely passed out.

Sometime later, she woke up in the hospital wing, feeling headachy and slightly nauseous. She tried to sit up, but the effort was exhausting. She closed her eyes, trying to relieve herself of the pain in her head, but it wasn't helped by the clicking of heels coming ever closer to where she was laying. She groaned.

"Good," said a sharp voice with a hint of concern. "You're awake. You'll need to take this." The woman propped her head up on the pillow, and pushed a goblet to her lips. Her mouth burned as she sucked in the red hot liquid, and it burned as it went down her throat and into her stomach. She could almost feel steam shooting from her ears. She tried to gulp down some air to relieve herself.

"There we go. You should be up and about in a few hours. Mighty strong tonic, that is. You are garneted not to catch the flu again this winter." The woman walked off with a clicking of her heels.

Avotica swallowed a few times, trying to get the horrid taste and burn from her mouth. Today hadn't exactly been the best day, but at least the weekend was tomorrow. Everyone would be down watching the first Quiddich game between Slitherin and Gryffindor, so she practically had the castle to herself.

Avotica closed her eyes and absent-mindedly started picking at her gloves. It felt good to not think of anything at all. She could remember her problems, and life was bliss. But, of course, she had to come back to reality eventually.

When she opened her eyes again, she felt much better. Better than she had felt all month, all year, and all her life maybe. She felt blissfully unaware. It was around 6, so Avotica decided she would go down to the Great Hall for some dinner. Under normal circumstances, she would have not gone to the Great Hall for dinner, but she felt different. Happy.

She entered the Great Hall without much notice. She felt almost normal. She went and sat down at the Slitherin table, and started to put food on her plate. Malfoy, who was sitting at the other end of the table, was watching her with an annoyed look on his face. His hand was bandaged lightly, with a few red fingers poking out the top. But she didn't care; she was happy.

Then something strange happened. Well, not really strange compared to the other things that had happened over the last week, just something unexpected. She went to grab a chicken leg off of the big chicken on the table, and as soon as she touched it, there was a big poof of yellow smoke. When the smoke cleared, she saw a live chicken sitting where the cooked chicken was. It clucked a few times, before taking off down the table. There were screams and yells and laughter, but Avotica just sat there, speechless from the shock.

There was a bustle as people scattered, some wanting to get away, some wanting to get closer to the chicken. Professor McGonagall pushed her way through the crowd to see what was happening. She saw the chicken and seemed shocked.

"Who did this?" she asked, her voice quavering.

"It was her!" Malfoy accused, pointing at Avotica.

Miss Wiccan, you will come with me. And the rest of you, back to your seats." She pointed her was at the chicken, and it disappeared.

Once more, Avotica made the silent trudge to Professor Dumbledore's office. Professor McGonagall only spoke when telling the Gargoyle the password, and she did not sound pleased.

Once more she entered the Headmasters office without any idea of what was going to happen to her. But she was use to that. She almost never knew what was going to happen to her.

McGonagall and Dumbledore talked in hushed whisperers as Avotica sat nervously under their gaze. Finally, Professor McGonagall left, and it was just Avotica and the Headmaster.

"Would you like to tell me something, Avotica?"


	10. Prefects and Quiddich Players

**Prefects and Quiddich Players**

Avotica woke the next morning with a feeling of dread. Once again, she woke before anyone else, while it was still dark. Although she hated the Slitherin's, today was to be her last day in this house, and she was dreading the switch. She would be the only mistake the Sorting hat had made. Her parents would most likely disown her, and it's not like she would do any better in a different house.

She heard Jinx meow, and she shushed him. She crept slowly out of bed, trying not to make a sound. She went downstairs in her nightdress, not being bothered to get changed. She was still feeling strangely pleasant from the tonic she had been given in the hospital wing, but the anxious feeling in her stomach had driven most of that away.

At first glance, the common room was empty. Avotica went and sat in front of the fire, on the rug that draped the hard stone ground. She held her hands out to the fire, trying to heat her bare fingers. Her gloves cut off at the fingers, which left them exposed.

A noise behind her made her spin around quickly, her hair narrowly missing the flames. Behind her, sitting crookedly on the lounge, was a Slitherin boy in his robes. He was clutching a broom, the Nimbus 2001, which gave him away as a Slitherin Quiddich player.

The boy was staring at her with a grim expression on his face, but it was hard to tell if he was doing it on purpose, or whether his face was always like that. His face was so squashed up; it looked as if he had been hit repetitively with a bludger. In his case, he probably had. She couldn't tell what year he was in, probably fourth or fifth year.

He made a grunting noise again, and Avotica wasn't sure what to do. She sat there for a few seconds, frozen. It took her a few minutes to realise he was snoring, and that the boy had his eyes closed. It was hard to tell through the dim light of the fire.

The relief that flooded Avotica only lasted for a few seconds, and then fear came flooding back. She could hear footsteps coming from the stairs. Just before the person made it to the foot of the stairs, the fire went out behind Avotica, and she knew it was her fault. Her fear had put the fire out.

She heard whoever it was coming down the stairs stumble on the last few ones. She heard them swear in such a quiet whisper she couldn't tell if she knew the voice or not.

"Who put the damn fire out?" The voice asked. She heard footsteps coming slowly towards the fire. She slowly and carefully moved away, not wanting to be heard. The person paused, shifted, and kept going. She heard the voice mutter something, and the room was filled with the dull light from the fire.

Avotica could see the person now, but he had not noticed her yet. He was tall, dark haired, and a prefect. He looked very superior, and Avotica hoped he didn't blame her for the fire, even though it was her fault.

The Quiddich boy behind them snored, and the prefect spun around, startled. He noticed Avotica as he did so, and she sat as still as possible, trying not to make a sound or move at all.

He stared at her, and she stared back. She wasn't looking at his eyes, but she could sense what he was thinking. Not only was he annoyed that a first year was up this late, and he did blame her for the fire, but he was also concerned about his exams, and that the teachers would soon catch on to the fact that he wasn't doing his night patrol duties.

"What are you dong up this early?" The prefect asked, sounding very annoyed. "Did you put out the fire?"

Avotica found herself speechless. She didn't know what to say. What was she suppose to tell him? "Oh, I put out the fire. I just came down here because I'm anxious about the fact that I'm swapping houses today."

"What are you doing here?" He asked again. Suddenly, Avotica had an idea. It was sly and she would be prying into his personal thoughts, but she didn't know what else to do.

So she looked at him, looked him straight in the eye. She was suddenly hit with a wave of emotion and a mixture of thoughts. He was more anxious than she was, and he was sure that someone would have caught on that he hadn't taken his patrol shift tonight, but he was studying for exams.

"You better do well in your exams," she said quietly.

"What? What's that suppose to mean?" His voice was beginning to quaver.

"You better do well in your exams, or all that studying you did tonight would be a waste. Of course, you must have really needed the study time, since you missed your night shift to study. So, you better do well."

"Go back to your dormitory." His voice was quavering like mad. "Go back to bed. NOW!"

There was a loud snort as the Quiddich boy woke, slightly startled, from his slumber. He made some strange grunting noises, and then yawned. He stretched, grunted and yawned again.

"What time is it?" He muttered in a gravely voice.

"Uh, it must be nearly 6," the prefect said, suddenly distracted. Avotica carefully snuck away from the fire in this short time, getting swallowed in the shadows at the far end of the room.

The prefect seemed to be very confused and distracted. He walked out of the common room, muttering something that Avotica couldn't comprehend. The Quiddich boy stretched and yawned again, and then he went up to his dormitory, dragging his broom lazily behind him.

The common room was empty, and Avotica was alone, like she originally intended. She walked to the fire and sat down in front of it. She warmed herself up again, as she had been shivering in the darkness. And then she concentrated.

She figured that her abnormal abilities were tied with her emotions. She had made things cold when she was afraid. She had made things hot when she was angry. When she was happy, she was able to bring the dead back to life. Avotica began to ponder what would happen when she was sad. She didn't really want to test it out.

So she stared at the fire and concentrated. She was trying to enhance her emotions, in order to control her powers. So she tried to make herself fear something. It was harder than it seemed. When she was just about the give up, she heard something clatter behind her. She spun around to see what it was, but she couldn't see anything. She spun her head back around to the fire, but there wasn't one. Just darkness, pitch black. She had done it; she had put out the fire.

Now came the easier part; lighting the fire again. She knew exactly what to do. She just thought of Malfoy, and the anger and annoyance came almost instantly. When she was so full of anger she thought she might burst, it left her, and the room was suddenly lit by the dull light of the fire once more. It had taken her more than five minutes to achieve this anger, but at least she could do it.

She continued practicing this until daylight broke, about an hour later. She got quiet good at it. It took some time, but she could do it without experiencing the immediate emotions. By the time she had gotten the hang of it, she had gotten quite tired again.

So, yawning, she when back up the stairs and back into her dormitory. She silently climbed into bed, and dozed off almost instantly. A few minutes later, she could hear the distant voices of the other girls in her dormitory as they got up, but she didn't know what they were saying, and she didn't care.

Avotica slept on, relieved that she would not be disturbed because of the Quiddich match on today. Everyone would be at the game, even the Ravenclaw's and Hufflepuff's.

But Avotica wasn't really into sports, especially not Quiddich. It was just a little boring, watching as everybody chased colourful balls around a big field until someone caught the gold one. She wasn't that sure about the rules, but it didn't seem all that interesting anyway.

When she eventually did get up, it must have been around 9. She got up, dressed, and then went to have some breakfast. The game must have already started, because the corridors were deserted.

She was hungry, so she decided to go down to the kitchen. It was a little more than eerie to be walking down the empty corridors of the huge, magic castle. She walked slowly down the halls, aware of the noise that each step she took made.

She reached the kitchen, but she suddenly didn't feel like going inside. She didn't feel very hungry. She felt Jinx rubbing against her leg, and she knew that he was definitely hungry. She sighed, tickled the pear, and entered the kitchen.

The elves immediately passed food to her, but she got out before it became to extreme. She got away with a fruit bun, a can of sardines and a piece of toast. She spread the sardines on the toast with her fingers, and then gave it to Jinx, who gobbled it up greedily. Avotica slowly ate her fruit bun, savouring the flavour.

She went to the library, taking her time getting there. She looked at every painting that she passed. Some where sleeping, others were looking bored. A few were smiling and waved as she passed, and one or two were just blank frames, where the people in the portrait had gone to visit people in other portraits.

When she reached the library, she opened the door slowly, hoping it wouldn't squeak. But it did, and Avotica was getting a little annoyed at all the noise she seemed to be making. She didn't seem to make so much noise when other people were around, just when she was alone, when it was quiet.

She entered the library and quickly travelled to the back. The best books were the ones hidden away, where people wouldn't normally look for them. Plus, the first few shelves were still full of Lockhart's books.

Avotica grabbed a potions book, hoping that it might teach her more than Snape did. He seemed to think if they couldn't make a potion straight away, they never would be able to. He didn't seem to understand that it took practice and instruction to make things work.

But she found that she couldn't concentrate on the book. She was much too nervous. She was to go to Professor Dumbledore's office at 5 O'clock, and wear the sorting hat once more. She knew it would put her in Hufflepuff.

She wasn't smart enough to be in Ravenclaw, wasn't brave enough for Gryffindor, wasn't cunning enough for Slitherin. Hufflepuff was the place where all the rest of them went, where the people who didn't seem to have much skill at all. They said it was for the loyal and good-hearted, but it was just those who weren't goo enough for the other houses.

She put the book away, knowing that she wouldn't be able to read it anyway. She had to find a way out of this situation. If she had to swap houses, she would probably be considered the mistake of the Sorting hat, the only mistake it had made. Dumbledore knew that she didn't belong in Slitherin.

She would prefer to feel out of place at school and at home, than belong at school and have no home to go back to. If a letter had to be sent home, explain that she had been misplaced, she would be disowned and have to live on the street. Didn't anyone understand that? Obviously nobody knew her parents.

She began to walk between the shelves of the library. She wasn't looking for anything in particular, just wandering. Then, she came across a book that might be able to help her. _The History of Hats_. It was an old book that looked as if it had been made before books itself. It didn't have a cover, just a bundle of parchment sewn together.

She picked up the book, being careful not to make any of the pages crumble or fall out. She went to a desk at the side of the room and sat down, placing the book delicately on top of the desk. She opened the book.

Dust flew everywhere. Avotica coughed a few times as the dust settled, and then began to look at the index. She grew very excited when she saw _The Sorting Hat_ listed as one of the hats, and began to flip through the pages.

As she did so, a peculiar thing happened. Well, it would have been peculiar if Avotica hadn't been so use to peculiar things happening to her. The book was quite suddenly engulfed in a blue smoke, which cleared almost as quickly as it had come. The book had taken the most magnificent transformation. It was like new; it had a cover, fresh, crisp pages, clear print. It was just like new.

It was then that Avotica realised that she didn't bring things back to live, she renewed things. She turned back time for things, to the way they use to be. This got Avotica wondering.

She had been crying in the toilet, and everything went cold. Everything turned to ice, just like when she was afraid. Maybe she was more afraid than she was sad. She had never really thought about it, but she hadn't really been sad, she had been more afraid. Avotica wondered; if she could make things new when she was happy, could she make things old when she was sad?

She decided to test the theory. She tried thinking of something sad, the saddest moment in her life. It was much harder than she had first anticipated. She didn't have many sad moments, just gloomy moments. Lonely moments, before she was ever really happy. They weren't much good.

Avotica gave up. Enhancing emotions was much more difficult than I first seemed. Avotica had always thought that if she had ever developed powers, she would practice and work until she could control them, but it was harder than she thought. She had never pictured that her powers would be so disastrously crazy.

Avotica borrowed the book before leaving the library. The librarian gave her a suspicious look as she handed her the once scraggly book. Still, she couldn't complain about the great condition of the books when she left them in such bad conditions. She also gave Jinx a withering look, but said nothing about him.

Apparently the game was still on, as the Hallways were still deserted. Avotica walked slowly back to her dormitory, flipping through the pages of the book, hoping to find something that helped. There were pages and pages about the magic that went into the Sorting hat, and how each of the founders put a little of themselves in it too, although it wasn't specific.

By the time she reached the Slitherin common room, she was getting quite frustrated. She had found nothing that was of any use to her. If they were only more specific about the magic used to make the hat… But that would be difficult for the book. It was written in old English, so it was hard to follow, and the spells were differently named than they were today. It was all very frustrating.

She entered the common room and flopped onto the chair in front of the fire, tossing the library book to one side. Jinx curled up at her feet, warming himself at the fire. She sat there, watching the flames dance around on the logs, thinking of something that could solve her predicament. She tried to stay calm, but it was all just too frustrating.

Unfortunately, she wasn't left in peace. Apparently, the game had ended. Slitherin had lost to Gryffindor, and they were very annoyed. The boy that had been sitting on the lounge earlier that day was yelling as he entered the common room.

"What were you thinking? The snitch was right next to your head, and you didn't even notice!" Avotica curled up on the lounge, afraid and trying to make herself scarce.

"I didn't see it!" Said a blonde haired boy Avotica knew as Draco entered behind him. "If stupid Potter-"

"It wasn't Potter's fault, it was yours! If you hadn't been so proud, boasting and mocking that Potter boy, you might have noticed the snitch right in front of your nose!" The boy from earlier was apparently the captain of the Slitherin Quiddich team. "But no, you let your pride get in the way. If you don't keep your head in the game, we'll have to drop you."

"You drop me," Draco said menacingly, "and you'll loose the brooms."

"It's not always about the brooms, Malfoy." The boy chucked his broom at his feet. "It's about how good the rider is." The boy stomped up stairs to his dormitory. The other Slitherin players went up to their dormitory as well.

Draco stayed behind in the common room, quite obviously frustrated. In his fury, he up-turned a table, kicked over a suit of armour, threw a roll of parchment into the fire, and almost ripped out his hair.

All this time, he had not noticed Avotica, cowering in the armchair. He also had not noticed that the fire had gone out quite a while ago.

He sat down next to her on the lounge, frustrated and angry. Even now, he did not notice her next to him. She was too afraid to move, even too afraid to breathe. Malfoy was not a friendly person at the best of times, so she didn't want to be anywhere near him when he was angry.

But it seemed he didn't see her at all, and if he did, he didn't say anything about it. He just sat there, gazing at the blackened ash that was left of the fire. She wanted to get up and leave, to get as far away as possible. It was like Draco was a bomb, waiting to go off. She didn't want to be anywhere near him when he did.

Eventually, when she gained enough courage to move, she slowly slipped off the lounge. Unfortunately, she couldn't do it scarcely enough. Draco turned his head in her direction, and she stayed as still as possible. She looked directly into his eyes, reading his thoughts.

He was depressed and annoyed about loosing the game. Half of him wanted to blame Harry for it, half of him blamed himself for the situation. Even though he was looking straight at her, his mind didn't register that she was there. He was too deep in his own self pity.

Avotica crawled across the room, gathering her book on the way to the stairs. She quickly made her way to her dormitory and closed the door behind herself. She grabbed her dairy and a quill and sat down to write. She had quite a lot to write about.


	11. Resorted

**Resorted**

When Avotica emerged from her dormitory, the common room was almost full again. Draco wasn't in the common room any more; to her relief, but the rest of the Quiddich team was down there, talking through new strategies for the next game.

There was a group of giggling girls, and few people huddled in the corner doing homework and studying. There were people chatting by the fire, and a group of people near the door playing exploding snap. Every time the cards exploded, a small squeal could be heard from the large group of girls, who were sitting rather close to the game.

Avotica passed the people quickly, heading for the door. There was a loud explosion as she opened the door, which made her jump. She quickly regained herself and walked out of the common room. She walked quickly out of the dungeons, not wanting to be in the gloomy place for too long. She was walking so fast that she bumped right into someone before she realised it.

It was Loki. Of all the people she could meet in the dungeons, Loki was among the least likely. Still, there he was, beaming at her. She was still rather annoyed at him for asking her so rudely to kiss him, so she excused herself, and dodged around him.

"Avotica, wait," Loki called after her, but she ignored him. He caught up with her quickly, as he was much faster than she was. "Avotica, can I just talk to you?"

"Why? So that you can ask me something disgusting again?" The anger hinted largely in her tone.

"Avotica, I'm sorry about that, but I need to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you." Avotica turned away, but he grabbed her arm.

"Avotica, please. At least just listen." Avotica reluctantly turned back to him.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for asking you to kiss me before. It was completely inappropriate and I'm an idiot. I still want to be friends. Will you forgive me?" Loki's eyes were pleading.

"I'll think about it," she said teasingly, and acted as though she were actually thinking about it. "Is that all? You just came to ask that?"

"No, actually," he said, pulling a piece of paper from his pocket, handing it to her. "I was told to give you this."

"Thanks," she said, taking the paper. She unfolded it and read it.

_Dear Miss Wiccan,_

_We have decided to move your Sorting ceremony forward. Please meet outside the gargoyle guarding my office at 3 O'clock._

_Professor Dumbledore_

"What does it say?" Loki asked with curiosity.

"Uh, it says I have to go to Dumbledore's office to be sorted at 3. What time is it?"

"Quarter to three. Better get going then."

They walked off to Dumbledore's office quickly, Avotica leading as Loki had never been there before.

"Why are you being sorted?"

"The teachers seem to think the Sorting hat put me in the wrong house," she told him.

"Did it?"

"Yes," she said simply, "because I asked it to."

"Why would you ask to be put in Slitherin?"

"That," Avotica said sternly, "is none of your business."

They walked for the next five minutes in silence, until they came to a sudden halt as a vase flew at them and shattered on the ground. Then another vase came flying across the room, smashing on the wall beside them. They heard mad giggling, and a blue thing flew at them and began to circle them.

"Aww, Ickle first years," it said, giggling.

"A poltergeist!" Avotica said, intrigued.

"It's Peeves!" Loki whispered urgently in her ear. "He reeks havoc in the school. The teachers can't control him, only the Bloody Baron can."

"Who?"

"The Bloody Baron is the Slitherin ghost. I would have thought you'd have known that."

This gave Avotica an idea.

"Peeves, stop it!" She said sternly.

"Or what?" He said, stopping to throw a book at them.

"Or I'll get the Baron."

"You wouldn't." Peeves said, although he didn't sound too sure of himself.

"Oh, yes I would. You see, the Baron and I are good friends, and I don't think he would be too happy to see you throwing things at me."

"He never told me he made friends with ickle first years," Peeves said, poking his tongue out. Avotica ducked as an ink bottle came hurtling her way.

"Why would he tell you?" She said cunningly. "You're just an annoying poltergeist, not someone who has any authority. Now shoo before I have to call the Baron. He would be annoyed at you for making me call him just because you can't behave. Who knows what he'll do as a punishment."

"Oh no, magnitagas!" Peeves flew off, looking scared.

"Wow, well done," Loki said, patting her on the back. "But what are magnitagas?"

"I don't know, maybe some sort of ghostly torture. I'll look it up when I go to the library next."

"But what will you do if Peeves finds out that you lied?"

"Well, I don't know. I'll be able to do something about the situation before that happens, though."

They reached the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office soon after their run in with Peeves. And not a moment too soon, for the gargoyle jumped out of the way, revealing a spiral staircase to Dumbledore's office.

"Cool," Loki muttered.

"I'll see you later," Avotica said, walking towards the stairs.

"Yeah, see you," Loki said, waving. He walked down the corridor, looking back every so often at the staircase, which still seemed to amaze him.

Avotica was nervous, very nervous. Each step she took up the stairs added to this anxious feeling. She hoped beyond hope that her parents would accept that she wasn't in Slitherin, but she doubted that very much.

She knocked on the thick wooden door at the top of a staircase. There was a quiet, crackly voice that told her to enter. She walked into Dumbledore's office for the second time that year.

"Ah, Miss Wiccan. Please, sit." Avotica walked forward and sat down on the seat in front of Dumbledore's desk.

Dumbledore had risen from his chair and gotten the Sorting hat from on top of his shelf. He walked over to her and placed it on her head. Before he did so, he whispered in her ear, "no bargaining this time."

_Hmmm… A lot of indecisive thoughts. You seem to have been up to a lot since we last talked. Hmmm… It seems that you have been a bit mischievous. A little bit cunning, maybe somewhat sly. I don't know, maybe you do belong in Slitherin after all. You seem to have grown to it. Better put you in…_

"Slitherin!"

Professor Dumbledore took the hat calmly from her head, not showing any signs of being surprised at all. He turned, and put the old hat on the shelve, and as she watched him, an idea formed in her mind.

"Professor?" she called to him questionably. "May I look at the hat again?"

Dumbledore made a strange, incomprehensive mumbling noise, but handed the hat back to her none the less. She took it, and concentrated. Suddenly, the hat was engulfed with a green smoke. Dumbledore was watching curiously, but said nothing. When the smoke cleared, the hat look new, yet it was still floppy and a rather ugly shade of brown. Dumbledore took the hat from her hands and examined it. He then peered at her through his half-moon spectacles with such a penetrating stare, she began to blush. He handed the hat back to her.

"Can you change it back?" he asked, with no hint of the slightest surprise. She didn't answer, she just concentrated.

In less than a minute, the hat was back to its normal, grubby self. Dumbledore held out his hand to take the hat back. When it was back on the top of the cupboard, he turned to her and gave her a curious but penetrating stare.

"You have a special gift. It seems you can control temperatures, and renew, as well as age, items. Is there any other gift I am not aware of, Miss Wiccan?"

"Well," Avotica began, wondering if mind reading was really considered a gift. "I can, sort of, see people's thoughts." If Dumbledore was surprised, he didn't show it.

"In what way can you read thought?" He asked.

"I can, well; I can _see_ what someone's thinking. Like words written on paper. I can read them."

"And do you read them when you touch someone, or when you're near someone?" Dumbledore seemed completely unfazed by this strangeness.

"When, well, when I look into someone's eyes." Avotica felt a weight lifted off her, like she was finally free of the burden of the secret.

"So, as a result, you avoid looking people in the eye." Dumbledore sounded almost amused. "They say eyes are the windows to the soul. Apparently, to the mind too."

Dumbledore smiled at her, but Avotica kept her eyes downcast. "You may go now. I'm sure you have other things to attend to. Good evening, Miss Wiccan."

"Good evening Professor," Avotica said as she walked off.

Avotica walked quickly back to her common room, half relieved that she didn't have to leave the Slitherin house, half horrified that the sorting hat actually believed that she belonged there. Unfortunately, looking where she was going was not a strong point of Avotica's, so she soon found herself sprawled on the ground after ploughing straight into someone.

Unfortunately, it was Draco. She seemed to meet him at the most inconvenient times, and now was a very inconvenient time. He was obviously very angry, and he was in no mood for her. He jumped to his feet, and grabbed his wand to point it at her. She recoiled in fear, not knowing what he was going to do.

But, her fear suddenly left her, but panic quickly filled that space. She realised she had unleashed her freezing powers before she could see the reaction. If she wasn't so frightened of being blamed, she would have laughed at the sight of Malfoy's hand frozen, as the other one had been burnt.

Draco stared at his hand in horror, and Avotica took that time to flee. She wasn't sure where she was going, she was just getting away. Her heart was racing in her ears, pounding away in time with the thumping of her feet on the ground.

And very suddenly, as she rounded a corner, she bumped straight into another person. They were both knocked backwards, and Avotica found herself very close to tumbling down a staircase. The person she had bumped into had stumbled backwards into a wall, quite close to a portrait of an elegant woman, who said in an offended voice;

"Watch out!"

Avotica rolled away from the staircase and jumped to her feet to go and help the girl she had knocked over up, only to find she was already being assisted. She had run into Freya, who looked very distressed after being bumped into. She almost didn't believe it when she saw it was Loki helping her up.

She skipped emotions quickly, and quite sudden found herself very angry. He had lied. Loki had lied to her. He had told her that he and Freya were not together, but they were. It wasn't so much that she was angry at him for having a girlfriend, it was just that he had lied to her.

She didn't stop to apologize, she just rushed straight past. It seemed Loki had notice her because she heard him calling her name. She blocked him out and kept walking. Apparently, he didn't give up easily.

"Avotica, wait," he called as he grabbed her arm and spun her around.

"You lied," was the first thing to come out of her mouth. "You lied to me."

"I never…" Avotica looked straight into Loki's eyes, able to read his thoughts as clearly as if they were written down on paper. _What is she talking about… Freya? But she doesn't understand… I told her I didn't like Freya. I did once… She knows I like her…_

"You like me?" Avotica said, trying to sound calm. "How long will it last? How long did you like Freya for?"

"This is different," Loki began.

"How? How is it different?" Tears of frustration were running down her face.

She saw the words in his mind before he said them. _…I love you…_

"Because I love you."

"How many times do I have to tell you Loki? We're eleven, for crying out loud! We don't know what love is. We're too-" Avotica never finished. She felt soft, wet lips against hers, and she felt frozen in shock. Loki pulled away, but Avotica was still in shock.

"Romeo and Juliet were barely teenagers, and they died for their love. Were they too young?" Loki left Avotica standing alone, staring after him.

_Romeo and Juliet? _Avotica wondered, not understanding the significance.

Avotica walked slowly to her common room. It was getting near sunset, and everyone was heading to the great hall to eat. Avotica wasn't hungry. She got to her common room a short time after the corridors in the dungeons had become deserted. She opened the common room door quietly, and closed it behind herself again.

When she turned, she was startled to see a blonde boy staring at her. Draco was glaring at her with cold, evil eyes. Both his hands were lightly bound, his fingers sticking out the end. The plasters didn't prevent him from pulling out his wand, thought. Avotica backed away, but soon found herself against a wall.

"You're a sorry excuse for a squib," he said, advancing on her. "Can't cast a simple spell, yet you can burn one hand, and freeze the other." He sounded very angry. He pointed his wand directly at her. "So, how do you do it?"

Avotica was much too frightened to do anything, but it took all her will power not to release her fear. She ducked around Draco and crawled towards her dormitory. She felt something curl around her leg, dragging her away from her dormitory. She kicked at Malfoy's hand, but her just laughed.

"Why don't you just freeze me? Or maybe you want to burn me." Avotica kicked again, still keeping her fear from being released. "What? Are you powerless now, huh? Truly becoming the squib you were born as?" Suddenly, Avotica just gave up. She released fear, releasing anger at the same time.

Although she couldn't see what was happening, she could tell it was painful from the way Draco cried out. She felt no hands restraining her, so she crawled away, just as people began to come into the common room from the dormitories. Avotica quickly changed her direction, crawling towards the common room exit. She swung it open and raced out, not bothering to close it again.

She ran quickly to Myrtle's bathroom, wanting to be somewhere no-one else would be. Myrtle was upset too, it would seem. She was crying, and there were a few puddles on the floor here and there. The bathroom was also chillingly cold.

"Myrtle?" She called, stepping closer to the ghosts cubical.

"What?" She asked in an annoyed voice.

"Myrtle, what's wrong?"

"Why do you care? Nobody cares?" Myrtle began sobbing louder.

"But I'm not nobody, and I do care."

"No, you don't," Myrtle said stubbornly. "You're just saying you do so I'll stop crying." She wailed again.

Myrtle wouldn't let Avotica into her own cubical, so she enter the one along side it. It didn't take long to calm Myrtle down, but it was quite a task to keep her calm. Myrtle was a self-centred, miserable ghost, who felt very sorry for herself. She seemed to think that no-one was worse off than she was.

So Avotica began to talk about herself. She told Myrtle that she was a squib who had never been around children, and how nobody paid any attention to her. She told of how people seemed to always make decisions for her, and people always made her feel like she stuffed up when she made up her own mind, like she never did anything right. Myrtle didn't listen intently. Instead, she snickered at Avotica's story, adding comments on different parts of the story about how her life was worse than Avotica's.

"Fine," Avotica said eventually. "You have the worst life because you only see the horrible parts. If you saw more of the good parts, you might be happier."

"What happy parts?"

"Birthday parties?"

"Nobody ever came. My parents always forgot the date too." Myrtle was sobbing.

"Christmas?"

"We didn't celebrate Christmas. My parents said I should focus on study."

"So you were smart," Avotica said, stating the obvious.

"Yes," Myrtle said reproachfully. "I was the smartest in the class. So, all the kids hated me." Myrtle started wailing again.

Avotica gave up. She sat on the toilet seat in the cubical, listening to the moaning of Myrtle. She began to doze to the sound of her sobbing, and she finally fell asleep, literary tired of her crying.

She was awaken some time later by the sound of something gliding heavily along the tiled ground, through the door.


	12. Confrontation

**Confrontation**

Avotica sat in the toilet, listening to the sound sliding along the ground. She had the realisation a de-ja-vu. She had been in almost the exact same situation just before Mrs. Norris was petrified. Was someone else going to be petrified? It was very dark, and only a little section of light flitted under the door.

She listened closely, and heard someone talking. She couldn't understand what they were saying, or whether they were saying anything at all. It seemed to be more like spitting, hissing noises in a random order, like somebody was trying to get a bad taste from their tongue.

Then the sliding noise started again, and faded into the distance. Avotica listened until the sliding grew so distant that she could hear it. She kept still for a few moments, listening for the sliding noise coming back, but she heard nothing.

Myrtle was still blubbering quietly in her toilet, somewhere in the pipes. She quietly and carefully unlocked the door and slipped out. The room was eerily silent, as it always was. The room was slightly chilly, causing her breath to create mist in the bathroom.

She walked quickly to the bathroom door, quite aware of her shoes making an ominous clacking against the tiled floor. She opened the bathroom door, and froze as it squeaked open. When nobody came, she relaxed and continued out the door.

The corridors were deserted, as it was after hours. She would get into trouble if she was caught, but if she didn't tell someone what she had heard, somebody else could get petrified.

Avotica ran down a corridor, her feet gliding over the stone floor as though she were weightless. Her eardrums pounded at the same rate as her heart, giving the impression that her heart was beating in her ears. She didn't know where she was going, but she knew she had to save someone from being petrified, maybe even killed.

But wasn't she at risk? The last attack was on Mrs. Norris. Avotica cast an anxious glance at Jinx, who was following closely behind her. Jinx never left her side, so if he got petrified, so would she. The thought didn't comfort her.

Avotica watched her feet, as keeping her head up took to much energy. She ran straight into somebody, but luckily didn't knock them or herself over. It turned out to be Filch. He looked at her, surprised to see her out this late.

"What are ya doing out at this time of night?"

"I- I was… I heard something Mr. Filch." She kept her gaze at the floor. "I-I heard the same noise as last time."

"Last time?" Filch's tired eyes looked concerned. He had been looking worse and worse as each day passed, as if he wasn't eating or sleeping at all.

"Last time, when Mrs. Norris got petrified! I think someone is going to get hurt. They might get petrified, or they might get killed. Please, Mr. Filch, we have to help them!" Avotica had tears streaming down her face, and the corridor was beginning to get cooler.

"Hey, hey. Calm yourself. We better get you safe, and I'll send a message to Professor Dumbledore. Come on." Filch led her quickly to his office. It seemed he was afraid for her, as she was still officially a squib, despite her abnormal powers.

As soon as they were inside his office, Filch walked over to the back wall and pulled on a pull rope that might traditionally ring a bell for room service. But, instead, a dumbwaiter like thing seemed to have materialised out of the wall. Filch scratched out a quick note on a small sheet of parchment, and then placed it in the dumbwaiter thing. He then pulled on the pull rope again, and the dumbwaiter thing disappeared.

Filch then started to boil some water over the small fireplace in his office. He pulled a chair over and gently pulled Avotica over to it. Taking the hint, she sat down. Filch disappeared into a room on the other side of his office, which Avotica assumed to be where he slept, and emerged again holding thick blankets and a pillow.

He wrapped the blankets around the shivering Avotica, plumping up the pillow behind her head, and then began to shuffle through his cupboard. He eventually pulled out an old metal mug, that looked rather battered, and, she assumed, once held beer. Filch rinsed it out in a sink that Avotica had failed to notice until now, and then poured some brown powder from what looked to be a flour sack.

He limped slowly over to the tin kettle he had placed over the fire, and poured some hot water into the mug. He limped back over to a little cupboard, being very careful not to spill any of the hot liquid on himself. He stirred the hot liquid with a wooden spoon, and then poured in some milk from a little wooden jug. It seemed Filch had his own little make shift kitchen in his own office.

He handed Avotica the mug full of frothy hot chocolate. It even had marshmallows to finish it off. She sipped the hot broth with bliss, momentarily forgetting about the fear of someone getting petrified. She wrapped her cold, gloved hands around the warm mug, and blew on the hot liquid.

"I woulda got it from the elves quicker, but then we'd've ended up with 50 hot chocolates from ten different elves." Mr. Filch took a drink from his own mug, which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. But she was use to things just randomly appearing by now. "Anyway, they always make it too sweet."

Avotica finished her hot chocolate, and Filch took her cup. She began to doze off, snuggling under the warm, soft blankets. She felt safe and comfortable. Jinx was curled up by the fire, sleeping soundly. Avotica fell into a deep sleep in the warmth of Filch's friendly office, unaware of the scene unfolding in the hospital.

She awoke the following morning, feeling very refreshed, but rather stiff from sleeping on a chair. She stretched, and Jinx jumped on her lap to be petted. Filch came out of his room, dressed in what he was wearing the other day, looking as if he'd slept in it, which was ironic because he didn't look like he'd slept at all.

"Morning," he said to her, putting the tin kettle back on the fire.

"Good morning, Mr. Filch," Avotica said brightly.

"There was an attack last night. Small boy got petrified." Avotica's high spirits drowned quickly in worry and fear.

"Is he alright?"

"Yeah. Not too much to worry about. Was holding a camera, and Dumbledore hopped he'd got a shot of his attacker. The film had melted."

Avotica had stopped listening, even though Filch was still talking. There was only one person she would know to carry a camera everywhere.

Colin.

Question was, what was he doing out at that time of night? And then the answer came to her. Harry Potter. Colin was obsessed with Harry, and apparently he had gotten hurt in the last Quiddich game, and was probably in hospital. Colin had probably gone to see him.

Avotica quickly said goodbye to Filch, and rushed out of his office, Jinx following closely behind. She went quickly to the hospital wing, which was empty except for one bed, which had curtains pulled around it. Colin had to be in that bed and she didn't even have to see him to know.

She rushed away from the hospital wing, heading for the place Harry was likely to be; the Great Hall, eating breakfast. When she got there, Harry wasn't there. She remembered once seeing Hermione sneaking suspiciously in and out of Myrtles bathroom, but had thought nothing of it at the time. Knowing that Harry was friends with the bushy haired girl, she decided to go and see her, which might not have been such a wise idea in her rage.

She arrived at the toilet to see six legs through the crack under the door of one of the cubicles. She knocked on the door, and heard a splash and then the legs disappeared from beneath the door. She knew who was in there, she could tell from the voices that it was the Weasley boy, Ron, and the bushy haired girl, Hermione, and Harry. They had conveniently disappeared.

"I know you're in there," she said like a child playing hide and seek. "I know you're there, _Harry_!"

"What do you want?" Came the girl's voice, Hermione.

"It's your fault."

She'd said it clear, but the three voices answered in unison. "What?"

Hermione unlocked the door and their legs reappeared again. They were all looking at her with looks that were half scared, part annoyed and part curious.

"How did yo-" The Weasley began, only to be cut off.

"It's your fault," she repeated. "Colin was going to see you. It's your fault he's been petrified."

"It's not Harry's fault-" Hermione began, but Avotica cut her off.

"It _is_ his fault. You know, if he hadn't have come here, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named wouldn't have followed. And I wouldn't be surprised if the chamber was connected to him as well."

To anyone viewing this conversation, they would not only have found the slightly randomness of the dialogue amusing, but the fact that the whole catastrophe was taking place in an out-of-order girl's toilets would have been extremely funny. Though it was anything but funny to the four people participating.

"That's not Harry's fault," Ron said, his ears turning bright red. "You can't blame him for what You-Know-Who does!"

"He's putting everyone in danger by being here!" She turned to Harry. "Do everyone a favour, go somewhere else. You could kill someone."

Avotica walked away, her anger still within her. She blamed Harry for what happened to Colin, and now he knew that. But that didn't relieve her of her anger. In fact, she was so angry that she fired up every torch she passed, but her anger raged on. She had no relief from releasing her magic.

She was soon in a strange trance state, a world of confusion, where everything was painted red. People around her started screaming and yelling. She ignored them, not realizing that they were screaming because of her. She heard a few people cry out in pain, but kept walking. She was hot and cold at the same time. Everything was red, yet nothing seemed real.

Suddenly, a voice broke through the confusion. "Avotica," it called. The voice was disoriented and dreamy, yet urgent at the same time. "Avotica," it called again, louder and more urgent. She spun around, and the red scenery flashed back and forth.

Filch was standing, watching, calling. She saw him as though he was close, yet he seemed so far away. It seemed he was trying to tell her something, but it was hard to concentrate with a red wave blocking your vision. The red wave eventually turned to yellow, and she was able to see more clearly. Filch seemed somewhat relieved, yet still worried. She became aware that the yellow wave dancing in front of her eyes were flames, and that she was surrounded by fire.

She didn't feel very well, and her head was thumping. And then everything turned dark…

She awoke in her dormitory, alone except for Jinx, who was sleeping soundly at her feet. Sun was streaming through the window, which was two beds away from her own. She felt peaceful and light-headed, without a care in the world. She rubbed her eyes and yawned, stretching out. Doing so, she saw that her gloves had been removed. The peaceful feeling dropped down to a panicky feeling.

Luckily, she found that nobody had taken her precious purple gloves, as they were tangled in her blankets. They must have just fallen off when she was tossing and turning in her sleep. She had dreamed, she remembered as she pulled her gloves back on. But she couldn't remember what she had dreamed about.

Jinx, who had been woken by the desperate search for Avotica's gloves, had jumped off the bed, and now was complaining for food. Avotica was suddenly rushed with what had happened earlier. She vaguely remembered fire.

She searched herself for marks or burns. Finding none, she looked Jinx over, but found nothing. She was slightly confused. Jinx had been following her the entire time, while she was engulfed with flames. Yet, neither he, nor herself, were harmed.

She rose from bed, changed from her night gown (while wondering how she could have gotten into it) and back into her robes. She wondered what time it was as she picked up her brush to brush her hair, which had come loose from her plaits, and had frizzed around her head, almost like an afro, but not quiet. She re-plaited it, making herself neat again.

She wondered what time it was, then wondered why she was doing so much wondering. She wasn't even entirely sure what day it was. She hoped it was still Sunday; otherwise she would be very late for lessons.

She was just about to leave her dormitory when the handle of the door turned slowly, and the door creaked open, and a tall, shadowy figure walked in…


	13. What Will Happen Next?

**What Will Happen Next?**

Avotica stared as the figure walked into the room slowly, a scream caught in her throat, her body frozen in terror. The cloaked figure walked into the room and glided across to the end of a bed.

Suddenly, the figure pulled off her hood, showing Avotica the back of their head. It was obviously a girl, with white-blonde hair that was slightly wavy. She recognised her as Freya, but she was much too tall to be Freya.

The figure turned around, and seemed to be startled by the sight of Avotica. She regained her posture and sighed. She flashed a sweet smile at Avotica, proving that it wasn't Freya, who would've cast her deadly glare.

"Goodness, I didn't see you there," said the girl. She looked a lot like Freya, except she was taller, and her voice was slightly different, quieter and less whiney. Looking closer, she saw that the girl had hazel eyes, whereas Freya had bright green eyes.

"Sorry," Avotica managed to mumble out.

"I'm just grabbing some of my sister's things. I was going to go get her something for Hogsmead, but she said she'd give me some money for a packet of chocolates and a new quill. She keeps breaking hers. And I meant to ask her if she'd seen my scarf." She picked up a green scarf and wrapped it around her neck. "I guess I won't need to ask her."

The girl rummaged through her sisters things for a moment longer, before pulling out a green purse and taking two silver sickles and five knuts. She closed the purse and put it back with her sisters stuff, waved, and then walked out of the room, leaving Avotica alone again.

Avotica slumped on her bed for a few seconds, confused. She felt as if she should be doing something, that she should be somewhere, but she couldn't remember it. She decided that a walk might clear her head, so she rose and walked to the door.

As she walked towards the Slitherin common room, she felt a feeling of growing dread, like something horrible had happened. She reached the common room, expecting to see something horrid, but she entered into an empty room. She looked around the room, looking for some signs of mishap, but could see nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, although everything seemed normal, she couldn't shake the growing sense of dread.

She took another step into the common room, and then was startled by the sudden opening of the common room door. Standing in the doorway was Professor Snape, looking quite annoyed. So he basically looked how he always looked, but it still disturbed Avotica deeply. There was something about him that she couldn't explain, something that she saw in his eyes, something horrible had happened to him…

"Miss Wiccan," Snape said in his agitated voice. "Professor Dumbledore would like to see you in his office. It seems there has been an…" He paused for a moment, building the suspense. "Accident."

Avotica was still too startled to do anything except nod her head and follow the Professor out of the common room and towards Dumbledore's office. They walked in silence, and they were only briefly interrupted by Peeves, who tried to drop a vase on Snape's head, but immediately flew away when he spotted Avotica. She was a little confused at this, because she really didn't see how her earlier incident with Peeves could have scared him so badly.

They reached Dumbledore's office after what seemed like eternity. She followed Snape up the gargoyle guarded staircase, and he stopped her abruptly outside the door, spinning around to talk to her.

"Wait here," he said menacingly.

It was at this moment that Avotica met the Professors eyes, and a word flashed before her eyes before she averted her gaze. _Dead_.

And then Professor Snape disappeared through the door, and left Avotica alone. She wasn't outside for very long before she was called in. Once inside, Dumbledore excused Snape, who left them alone.

"Sit down," he asked. She sat, her eyes stuck to the floor.

"You are awake. How are you feeling?"

"Fine," she mumbled.

"You've given us quite a scare, Miss Wiccan," he continued, "You've been asleep for quite a while."

Dumbledore peered down at Avotica through his half moon spectacles, but she stayed silent. She wondered what day it was, but she didn't want to ask Professor Dumbledore, because she was slightly frightened of him.

"It seems you've been through quite an ordeal, and you affected some students quite severely."

"Is anyone hurt?" Avotica asked anxiously, remembering how she marched through the school hallway surrounded by fire.

"A few burns, but nothing serious. But, Miss Wiccan, I think it would be wise to remove you from the rest of the students for the remainder of the year, so you can learn to control your special powers."

Avotica stayed silent, but was really quite scared on the inside. Dumbledore must have picked up on this, as the room suddenly became colder.

"We have sent word to your parents, but were met with some rather unfortunate news." Dumbledore stopped to try and get Avotica to look at him, but her gaze stayed fixed on the floor. "It seems that you parents have… passed away."

Dumbledore gave Avotica a few moments to take this in. Oddly enough, she didn't feel anything. It was like telling her that her great grandfather who she never knew had died, because that's what her parents were. They were people she didn't know. They were strangers.

"Due to this unfortunate event, your new guardian will be the closest friend of your parents, as they left your guardianship to him in their will."

There was a knock at the door, and Dumbledore granted the person enter. A tall man with long white hair and the coldest eyes she had ever seen on a person, and even though she looked directly at them, she couldn't read his thoughts clearly. She knew this man, as he was at her house often, but she couldn't connect him with a name. She heard Jinx hiss next to her, and the man gave him a disgusted glance.

"Lucius," Dumbledore said, "Thank you for joining us."

"Always a pleasure," Lucas said coolly.

"Mr. Malfoy is your legal guardian and owner of your entire estate until you become of age," Dumbledore continued. "And, as of now, you are on leave from school. You will be staying with Mr. Malfoy as of now."

Avotica looked up at Lucius, and Lucius glanced down at her with his cold, lifeless eyes. Avotica shivered, but not from the cold.

"You are both excused. We hope to be seeing Miss Wiccan next year."

"Not likely," Lucius said coldly. He turned to Avotica. "Follow me."

Avotica nervously followed Mr. Malfoy, wondering why she couldn't just go home, as the house elves would be there, and so would Ms. Optimun. Well, unless her pay had been cancelled. In fact, with her parents gone, that wouldn't be all that surprising.

She wondered what would happen to the house elves, but the fear of what might happen to her next kept her from thinking about it too much.

Even though she could feel Jinx walking beside her, he seemed as though he wasn't all there, as though he was fretting about something. He had gone quite ridged and his tail was swishing stiffly from side to side.

Before leaving the grounds, Malfoy travelled to the Slitherin common room. Avotica didn't know that parents were allowed to go into the common rooms, but Lucius seemed to be granted full entrance, as he didn't even need a password. After a few moments of Avotica standing awkwardly outside the room, Lucius pulled her inside as well and closed the door.

Although the common room hadn't changed at all, Avotica felt as if it had, as though, in some way, it was no longer what it used to be. It was no longer her schoolhouse, as she had been suspended. It was all so strange, she couldn't think straight.

At that moment, Draco entered the common room from the boys dormitory, and was slightly surprised to see Lucius there.

"Oh… Hello, father," he said, completely ignoring Avotica. Jinx hissed again.

"Draco," Lucius began icily. "I am afraid you won't be coming home for Christmas. I have something that needs to be…" He glanced momentarily at Avotica. Although her gaze was fixed firmly on the floor, she could tell her was looking at her. "Taken care of."

Without waiting for any response from his son, Lucius turned on his heels and left, Avotica following behind him. Avotica had to run to keep up with him, but it made for fast time. She saw Ginny wandering aimlessly around the corridors, looking slightly dazed. She still managed to smile and wave at her, but Avotica did not wave back for fear of attracting unwanted attention from Lucius.

In hardly any time at all, they were outside the grounds, and Avotica almost fell over as he quickly appareted. In fact, when they arrived at the Malfoy Manor, she did fall over. Avotica got up quickly, hoping that her fall hadn't caused too much attention. She gazed up at Lucius as he looked down at her getting up. For a moment, their eyes met, and Avotica saw a few words flash before her eyes, before quickly averting her gaze. _Clumsy Squib._

"Dobby will show you to your room," Lucius said, as a house elf with bandages around his hands appeared beside him. Lucius strolled swiftly out of the room, and the house elf's giant eyes gazed at her. Jinx meowed at her, as though asking her if she was alright.

"Dobby will show you the room," the house elf said, almost daring to sound miserable. He marched solemnly up a flight of stairs and showed Avotica into a room so small it could have passed as a walk in wardrobe. It had two things in it; a rusted iron bed and a dresser. Avotica was surprised to see her suitcase at the foot of the bed.

"Thank you, Dobby," she said to the house elf.

"Miss is too nice to Dobby," Dobby replied. Avotica turned around to look at the miserable Dobby.

"Your masters don't treat you very well, do they?" She asked.

"Dobby is treated how his master wants to treat him," Dobby told her. "And Dobby must do what his master wishes."

"Poor Dobby," Avotica said. She crouched down until she was level with the elf. "Listen, Hogwarts is a good place for a house elf to work. I promise to get you there someday. Would you like that?"

"Dobby would like that very much, Miss, but Dobby must obey his masters, and his masters would never let him leave." Dobby looked more miserable than ever. But then he looked up at Avotica, and his eyes seemed almost hopeful. She accidentally looked at his eyes directly for a moment, and saw _Harry Potter._

"Does Miss know of the great Harry Potter, who has twice defeated the Dark Lord?" Avotica rolled her eyes, but nodded. Dobby looked nervous. "Does Miss not like the great Harry Potter?"

"Trouble seems to follow him," Avotica said, feeling a little angry. "He puts everyone in danger coming back to Hogwarts." As she said this, she recalled passing through the halls, engulfed in fire, not so long ago.

Dobby suddenly looked vague. "Dobby must go," he announced, before snapping his fingers and disappearing. Jinx began to rub against her legs and meowed for his dinner.

Avotica turned to her small room, knowing that the future of her life would probably be as dark and dull as the room she was in now. Yet, she couldn't help but think, _What will happen next?_


	14. Follow the Black Cat

**Follow the Black Cat**

The sun rose in the morning, like it normally would, and a new day began, as it usually would. Yet, for Avotica Wiccan, this day was unlike any other, the first day of her new life with the Malfoy's. A dull, dank new life with no light at the end of the tunnel.

Jinx was curled up, looking rather uncomfortable on the lumpy mattress atop the rusted bed. Considering the circumstances, Avotica's sleep had been fairly undisturbed. She rose from her excuse for a bed and walked across the cold floor towards her suitcase.

She unzipped it and pulled out her black dress and velvet cloak. She dressed quickly, and then brushed her hair, taking her time to re-plait it perfectly. As she finished, she heard her stomach growl. She wondered when she would get something to eat. _If _she would get something to eat.

Jinx awoke, stretched, and then announced that he was hungry. He continued meowing as he left the room. Avotica quickly scampered after him, and grabbed him before he could do too much harm to the icy environment of the Malfoy house. She crept back to her room, where she set Jinx down on the bed and closed the door to prevent him from escaping again.

"Jinx, you really must be more careful," she whispered to him. "These people don't want us here as it is, so we don't want to anger them in any way. We don't know what they might do to us."

Jinx meowed, as though arguing her statement, but she harshly shushed him, and he stopped complaining. Avotica sat on the floor to pull her shoes and socks on and then re-adjusted her fingerless purple leather gloves to cover her hands properly.

A knock at the door startled her to her feet. She smoothed down her dress and opened the door. Dobby was outside, holding two tarnished silver platters, one holding a small can of sardines and a small tarnished silver bowl of water, the other holding a piece of burnt toast, some extremely sloppy looking porridge with a wooden spoon and a small goblet of water.

"Master told Dobby to send the Miss and her cat up some breakfast. He told me that the meal could not be as splendours as Miss is used to." Dobby couldn't meet her eyes, as though he was ashamed of following Lucius' orders and bringing her a horrible breakfast.

"Thank you Dobby," Avotica said, trying to sound grateful for getting mush for breakfast. She took the platters from him and he scampered away. She closed the door and put her breakfast on her iron bed. She tipped the can of sardines onto the platter and put it down on the ground. Jinx ate it hungrily.

Avotica sighed and bit into her burnt toast, which was now, ironically, cold. She felt slightly jealous of Jinx. She had never really liked fish, but it was still better than what she had to eat. Still, her hunger won over her taste buds, so she ended up eating the sludge. She wasn't able to drink any of the water, though, without feeling sick. So she put the goblet on her dresser, and placed Jinx's new water bowl next to her bed.

There was another sharp knock at the door, and it was Dobby again, who gathered the platters, telling her that lunch would be at 12:30, and she must not leave her room until she is requested to do so. Avotica thanked Dobby with a hollow thank you, and then returned to her bed, feeling rather down. She heard the door lock before hearing Dobby's feet scamper away.

She had nothing to do. She was not allowed out, and there was nothing to do inside either. She still had her books, but she didn't really want to re-read the simple recipes in them, or the impossible spell, or the fanatical rantings of Gilderoy Lockhart. She didn't feel like re-reading Hogwarts: A History either, as it would make her more depressed about leaving. True, she was never a good student, but she felt more at home at Hogwarts than anywhere else she had ever been.

Her thoughts turned to her friends, if she could even really call them that. Colin, who had been petrified and was recovering in the hospital wing, Ginny, who seemed so trouble lately, confused and frightened, Mr. Filch, who was still grieving over the loss of Mrs. Norris. And then there was Loki, who desperately wanted to be loved by every girl in the school. She did have to admit that he was attractive, but a serious jerk.

_I wonder how they all are?_ Avotica thought. It was at that moment she noticed a piece of cloth hanging from the wall. It was rather inconspicuous, as it was the same grey as the walls, but Avotica's keen eyes had spotted it nonetheless.

She stepped over to it and examined it. It appeared to be caught in a crack in the wall. Looking closer, Avotica noticed that the crack in the wall was very straight, completely vertical. In fact, it seemed to be a door, as the crack went vertically from the floor, to a point where it went directly horizontal, and then vertical back down again. She had found a secret door.

But it is one thing to find a door, and another thing altogether to get it open. Pulling did nothing, neither did pushing or knocking. She tried sliding, and even singing to get it open. But the door was obviously sealed by some sort of magic.

Fortunately, Jinx helped her discover how to get through the door. He had noticed Avotica banging at the wall, so, as a curious cat does, he investigated. Jinx scratched the hidden door twice, and then meowed. The piece of wall materialized, and the grey piece of cloth fell to the ground. Avotica picked it up and felt it's soft, woollen feeling, thinking that it must have once been white.

The entrance to the mysterious room or tunnel was very dark, and Avotica didn't know whether she wanted to go in or not. It was only just big enough for her to crawl through, and she didn't know if it would get any narrower. She suddenly remembered that she had strict orders not to leave the room. So, under the pretence of fear, she decided that she better stay in her room.

But Jinx had other plans.

Cats are very curious creatures, and must investigate every dark corner there is to investigate. So, Jinx, being a very curious cat, had to investigate this dark area. He walked through the door without a second though, much to the surprise and horror of Avotica, who frantically tried to stop him. But Jinx slipped skilfully through her hands like butter, and continued on his way.

Avotica, fearing the worse, crawled after him. She knew that if the door lead them to people, Jinx would be shown no mercy. She probably wouldn't either, but her fear might just be enough to protect her. In fact, at that moment, her fear was causing her to shiver from the coldness she was creating.

After a short time of crawling through a tunnel, Avotica found herself and Jinx in a small, red room, lit dimly by a fiery torch that had been burning for who knows how long. The room wasn't much bigger than the closet she had just come from, and the only way out was through the way she came, meaning that there was a good chance they wouldn't run into anyone.

Against one wall was a rather hight bookcase, crammed with old books: books that were mouldy, books that were falling apart, books that had lost their covers, books that had no titles. She was surrounded by books. At least she couldn't be bored any longer.

She picked up a book and opened it at random. It appeared to be someone's personal logging, yet it didn't feel like she was prying. It was written in a way that seemed to be open to all eyes. She read a few paragraphs:

_Words have little meaning without the feeling to back them up. It's like saying 'I love you' and not really loving the person, or like saying 'I'm sorry' when your not. Spells are the same. There is no use having the wand and the words with out the feeling. You must feel the intention of the spell before anything can happen._

_But there is some magic that doesn't require a wand, but just the feeling. You can do almost anything with the magic inside you, with the belief, with the feeling. You can fly with a broomstick, but you can't fly without the belief of being able to fly. Because if you don't think you can do it, then you can't do it._

The person had written more, but Avotica didn't need to read on. If what this person wrote was true, then it shouldn't be so hard to do magic. Avotica tucked the book inside her cloak and immediately felt a warm, happy feeling flooding her. Maybe she wasn't a squib after all; maybe she was just a little out of touch. Maybe, just maybe, there wasn't any such thing as a squib, it was just a disguise, an unconscious protection from the dangers of magic.

Avotica was about to turn and leave when she noticed Jinx meowing at a large piece of cloth, the same colour and texture as the one she found caught in the door. She walked over to have a look at it, as it appeared to be covering something. As she drew closer, a horrible smell reached her nose. It grew stronger, almost unbearable, when she had reached the cloth. She lifted it and discovered a dead animal, mostly bones, but it still had some flesh and fur attached to it.

A sicking feeling rose in Avotica stomach, and she dropped the cloth back over the animal and crawled quickly away, back through the tunnel, followed closely by Jinx. She crawled back out the other side, back into her closet of a room, and wretched. Fortunately, there wasn't enough in her stomach to actually bring anything up, so she avoided making a mess. She slowly crawled over to her dressed and took her goblet of water with a shaky hand, sipping out of it for a good five minutes.

Jinx closed the door with a meow, and it almost seemed as if he knew what he was doing. He wandered of to Avotica, and rubbed up against her to comfort her. _I guess cats really do know how you feel,_ she thought.

After a few minutes, she had recovered enough to examine the book she had stowed away in her cloak. The cover would have once been dark blue, but over time, the mould had turned it a strange grey-blue colour. Some of the pages were badly faded and she was unable to read what was written.

But this was easy to overcome. She had learnt to channel her powers enough to renew the book. Inside the cover was written _C. Black_ in gold letters. She concluded that the book was a diary, yet still did not regret reading the contents, as if she knew that she was allowed to. In a strange way, she was meant to.

_Magic cannot be learnt, it cannot be taught, as some wizards and witches might think. Witches and wizards cannot simply learn to do magic, but their abilities can be encouraged. The witch or wizard must feel the magic in them to create the effect, every action having a reaction. _

_But sometimes magic can get out of control, or it cannot be understood. This is when the wizarding and witching schools come in, to help the children to cope with their powers, to help their powers grow and flourish. But it is no use having the guidance unless you have the magic inside of you first._

_But not every witch and wizard can have the same abilities. Some may be gifted at flying, some at transfiguration, and others at potions. Although gifted in some areas, but not in others, witches and wizards can still manage to do this simple magic. But some witches and wizards are gifted with special abilities. Some are able to talk to a specific animal, some can change the weather, some can change their shape or form, and the list could go on. These abilities need no wands to unleash the magic, only the feeling. But not every witch and wizard can do these abilities, as most do not have special abilities at all._

_Take mimicking, for example. The gift is strictly genetic, but that does not mean that the gene is always passed down. But mimicking is almost second nature to those with the gift to do it, as they merely have to feel themselves becoming the object or person they are mimicking. Of course, this gift, like many others, holds great responsibility and danger. If used wrongly, the outcome would be disastrous. _

_Speaking to a specific animal is quite special. The person with the gift may not even know that they have a gift unless someone tells them that others cannot do what they can do. They speak to the animal as humans communicate, as animals are smarter than we give them credit for._

It went on like this for many pages, and it got Avotica wondering whether she had any other gifts. She closed the book and placed it on the bed beside her. She was surprised to find that as soon as she had lost contact with the book, it returned to its old, moulded self again.

_Maybe my magic is amplified at Hogwarts, but not here,_ she thought. But she didn't dwell on the matter, as she had something more exciting to experiment with. She looked Jinx in the eye, and his emerald green eyes stared back at her.

"Jinx?" she said. "Can you understand me?"

The answer, it seemed, was no, because Jinx began washing himself, completely ignoring Avotica. She sighed. "I guess I'm not going to talk to animals. But maybe I can shape shift."

She looked at her hand and imagined it becoming a hoof. She sat there for at least an hour, but still could not make her hand a hoof. Eventually, she gave this up, and went to lie on her bed, exhausted from concentrating so much.

There was another knock at the door, which startled Avotica into a sitting position. She wondered if she had fallen asleep. She climbed back out of bed and opened the door.

It was Dobby with her lunch: A sandwich made from crusty bread and another goblet, this one had watered milk in it. She thanked Dobby, but he hardly acknowledged her before scampering away again. Avotica couldn't help but feel sorry for the mistreated house elf.

Avotica returned to her bed and began to eat her crusty sandwich. She couldn't identify the meat between the bread, but it didn't taste too bad. She drank the milk quickly, as it was a pleasant change from the sickening water.

Dobby returned just as she was finishing and collected her tray. The house elf, once again, barely seemed to notice her, although she thanked him and tried to get him to talk to her.

Avotica wondered if Lucius had told Dobby not to talk to her, or something like that. Maybe he had disobeyed orders when he brought her the not-so-gruesome lunch. Either way, she was beginning to get suspicious of the house elf's behaviour.

She turned to Jinx, who was now napping on the bed. Although the lumpy mattress looked very uncomfortable, Jinx still managed to keep up sleeping for most of the day. Back when she was at Hogwarts, he would sleep under her desk during lessons, and only wake when it was time to move.

She envied Jinx, the way he seemed to have live so easy, could adapt to a new place, new surroundings. She wished that her life was that easy, that she was a cat.

Suddenly, she was overcome with a strange, tingly feeling, and she felt as though she was shrinking. Her sight went fuzzy, and then clear again. Then it was over. She felt strange, though. Different somehow. She walked over to where she had left her hand mirror, noticing that she was walking on all four of her legs.

She looked at her reflection, and was surprised to see Jinx looking back at her. Well, she thought it was Jinx, until she saw the eyes. The eyes were her grey eyes. She was looking at herself.

"I can mimic!"


	15. Premonition

**Premonition**

The rest of that afternoon was spent practicing her new power. She discovered that the thing didn't have to be alive for her to mimic it, but she did change it to the grey-blue colour of her eyes. Try as hard as she might, but she could not get her eyes to change with the rest of her.

In the early evening, she received another knock at the door. She was trying to mimic her mirror at the time, but the knock had startled her so much that she completely lost concentration and did not succeed.

Expecting it to be Dobby with her evening meal, she opened the door quickly, feeling rather hungry. She was met with a rather unfortunate surprise. Lucius Malfoy was standing in her doorway, looking down at her in disgust. As soon as she realized who it was, she felt sick to the stomach and had to avert her gaze.

"Narcissa _insists _that you should join us for the evening meal," he sneered, and then he added, mostly to himself, "Although why, I don't know."

Although she dreaded the though of having to eat at the same table as Lucius and his wife, she followed him obediently and did not say a word. They passed through many rooms and went down at least two flights of stairs before arriving at the dinning room. Avotica had never realized that their house was so large.

Narcissa might have once been beautiful, but the beauty had faded from the many years of sneering and belittling people. It was obvious that she had never been a very nice person, as it was reflected in her expression.

"So this is the daughter of our dearly departed friends, the Wiccan's." Narcissa's voice had a sweet tone, but an icy edge.

Avotica did not answer because she did not know how she was supposed to answer. Unfortunately, the Malfoy's had expected an answer. This became obvious when she felt a sharp sting against her back legs as Lucius hit her with his cane.

"You will speak when spoken to," Lucius whispered icily into her ear.

"Yes, Ma'am," she mumbled, trying not to cry out from the pain of her legs.

"Well, now. You must be hungry, so why don't you sit and eat with us?" Narcissa motioned to a chair across from the one she was sitting at.

They had an over-large table that only seated three chairs: one as the head and two at the sides, quite close to the head. She assumed that Draco would usually sit in the chair she was about to sit in, but the thought made her feel more nauseous.

"Yes Ma'am," she said, taking her seat.

Dobby brought out their meal, which had some strange meats and vegetables that Avotica did not recognise. The mashed vegetable reminded her of mashed potato, but it was orange.

Fortunately for Avotica, the Malfoy's did not include her in their discussion. Rather, they talked as if she wasn't there at all. In fact, they talked about her, as if she was a rat they had inherited and whether or not she would be any use, and who they could pawn her off on. It would have been quite offensive if she had any sort of pride in herself. Still, she was worried about what would happen to her.

"Could she be put to work, perhaps?" Narcissa suggested.

"We have a house elf to do our work, Narcissa," Lucius explained boredly.

"Yes, but he can't do the laundry. Maybe she could do that…"

"I wouldn't want that filthy squib to be touching my clothes. Would you?"

"Oh, she's no help at all!" Narcissa cried, frustrated. "Why do we have her?"

"Well," Lucius had said. "I can't help that we've got her. She was _willed_ to us."

"If a sewer rat was willed to us, would you give it a room and feed it? I don't think so," was Narcissa's sharp reply.

"If I could be rid of her, I would," Lucius said in a bored tone. "But the Ministry would not approve, and we might be examined."

"But we have the money," Narcissa said selfishly. "We could pay them to keep this quiet."

"Oh, please don't be difficult, my dear. You know as well as I do that there will always be a traitor that wants our money as well as the media's. Besides," Lucius said, giving her a devilish look. "She might prove to be… useful."

Lucius gave her a brief look that gave her the startling expression that he knew some deep secret about her that she didn't even know herself. It made her feel like she had been pushed out into the stage with no idea what she was performing.

After the meal, Avotica was rather politely told to return to her room, but she could feel no real feeling in the words. Dobby escorted her back up, as she would have lost her way had she gone alone.

Dobby barely cast a glance in her direction when they were walking back to her room. He seemed to be lost in thought, worried about something else. Maybe he was worried that if he associated with her too much, he might get punished. But Avotica couldn't be sure.

Avotica tried to thank Dobby, but he scampered off before she could get a word out. She didn't take it personally, though she was beginning to get concerned. He seemed quite stressed about something.

She sighed and went to sit on her bed. She pulled out the diary, intending to read more of it, but something inside her tugged at her heartstring to get out her wand. So, she reached for her suitcase.

She pulled out her wand and held it in one hand, while the other grabbed the spell book and turned it to the first page. She remembered that earlier that morning she read that she had to feel the magic, because the words did nothing without the feeling.

So she tried to concentrate on what unleashed her magic. As far as she was concerned, she could only release her magic through sperate emotions. But then she realized that every time she used her powers, she felt like she was releasing the emotion. She looked at the levitating spell, and then picked up her quill, to levitate it. She thought hard about the levitating until it became more like a feeling than a though. Before she could say the words to entice the spell, she saw her quill quiver. Though it surprised her, she did not loose concentration.

She tilted her wand, and the quill slowly began to rise. She raised it to her eye level, and then smiled. She was happy, but soon was overwhelmed with excitement of having achieved the spell, that she lost the feeling of levitation. The quill dropped, but she wasn't bothered. She had cast a spell, and she was not a squib after all.

But she hadn't used words. This confused her, as she had not known anyone to be able to use magic without words. _Why can I do it without words? _She wondered. _Why am I different?_ But these were questions without answers. At least, they didn't have answers yet.

She spent some time looking through the spell book, but she could not do any of the other spells yet. She just couldn't seem to get the feeling right. No matter how much she concentrated, it didn't seem to work.

Quite suddenly, Avotica felt very tired. She yawned and stretched. She didn't know what the time was, but she decided that it was time to go to bed. She changed from her black dress into her dark blue flannelette nightgown, took of her shoes and socks and then climbed into bed. She curled up and turned off the lamp that stood beside her bed.

After a short time, she felt something furry brush against her, and she patted Jinx, who curled up beside her. She continued to pat him until she eventually drifted into a restless sleep.

She was back at Hogwarts, only she wasn't. She didn't feel like she was there at all, she could just see the castle; she could see the hallway outside Myrtle's bathroom, where the writing on the wall was.

Except that the writing wasn't there yet. The wall was clean and bare. Mrs. Norris wandered the corridor, searching for misbehaving students. She wanted to call out to the cat, tell her to leave, but she didn't make a sound. She couldn't move or speak; she could only watch the scene unfold.

The cat closed in on the spot where she was found, where there was a dramatically large puddle of water that had flowed out of Myrtle's bathroom. She stopped to examine herself in the clear, reflective liquid.

It was then that the beast emerged. Though it was little more than a very large fuzzy shadow, she could tell it was dangerous and deadly. The whole scene turned chillingly icy, as the beast overshadowed the puddle and Mrs. Norris.

Mrs. Norris became stiff, ridged and lifeless. She fell onto her side, making a horrid hollow clunk when she hit the floor. Avotica could feel herself shaking with sickness having to watch this scene, although where she was, she could not tell.

The beast slid back into the bathroom, and then there were footsteps. The same footsteps she had heard when she was hiding in the bathroom. All at once, the figure of a girl appeared. No older than herself, the girl had long, flaming red hair. In one hand, she held a limp animal, a chicken or rooster. With the other, she leaned down to pick up the petrified cat, and hung her on the torch post.

She then reached her hand inside the animal, making her fingers bloodied. She wrote the message on the wall, and then turned to leave. It was when the girl turned that Avotica got a look at her face.

Avotica sat bolt upright in her sleep, scared from her nightmare. She couldn't believe what she had just seen. She wouldn't believe what she had seen. But, if what she had seen was in fact true, then she had to get back to Hogwarts.

Because the heir of Slitherin was _Ginny!_


	16. Portals and Passageways

**Portals and Passageways**

Avotica, woken in the middle of the night by a horrible nightmare, rapidly looked through her spell and potions books to find some way to get to Hogwarts, but the sleeping draughts were too weak, and she didn't have any ingredients, and spells were useless on stronger wizards. She couldn't apparete there, because the castle was magically protected. That, and the fact that she was under aged and had no idea how to apparete!

In her last desperation, she looked through the diary of C. Black. She was genuinely shocked when she discovered the pages devoted to portals and secret passageways. From the diary, she learnt of many secret passageways from Hogsmead to Hogwarts, and also a way to get there using a portal.

Unfortunately, it was much more difficult to conger a portal than she had first anticipated. She had over-estimated her abilities, and didn't realize how much effort actually went into magic. It was so draining to make just the tiniest keyhole of a portal that she eventually gave into exhaustion.

The next day, she awoke tired, but more determined to get a portal. Dobby arrived with her morning meal, which looked worse than the breakfast from yesterday, if that was even possible.

After she had eaten, she worked on the portal. But, though she spent hours of hard concentration and determination on the magic, she could only get a sliver of shimmery light to appear, much too small to allow any passageway.

By the time Dobby arrived with her midday meal, she had almost no energy, yet her spirits were still high. Well, as high as they could be with so much at risk. She may not have had made many friends from her short stay at Hogwarts, but she wasn't going to sit helplessly and wait for them to die when she knew that there was something she could do.

Having gained a little energy from the meal, she read and re-read the pages that talked of the Portals. She realized that she had been making it harder on herself by not having a source to concentrate on, a place where she would be going. Since she knew that the castle was magically protected from intruders, she would have to find a passageway from Hogsmead.

There were pages about these secret passageways, and it was only a matter of choosing whish one. If Avotica wasn't in such a fluster, she might have wondered where all this knowledge of Hogwarts' secrets was coming from, but she didn't care how she got there, she just needed to get there.

She finally chose to enter through the least suspicious passageway, the one that lead from the Shrieking Shack to an open area at Hogwarts grounds, under a rather large tree. Avotica knew that this tree had been enchanted years ago to make it the Whomping Willow, but she wasn't too worried. With her knowledge of plants, she should be fine, even though it was not the plants nature to be a 'Whomping' Willow.

Before long, Dobby arrived once again with her evening meal. Avotica was very relieved that he was bringing her evening meal, instead of having to dine with the Malfoy's again. They spoke highly of her parents, but obviously still saw her as a squib.

She thought about this as she ate. Everybody still thought of her as the squib with a serious emotional problem. Of course, she was able to control her powers, to an extent, but she had discovered many more qualities that proved that she wasn't a squib. She had used her wand.

It was then that Avotica decided that she would try to use her wand to help her bring up a portal, even though the diary did not mention wands as being needed. But, too exhausted to do anything but sleep, she changed and went to bed.

Once again, she woke in the middle of the night, terrified from the same dream. She knew she had to get there as soon as possible. So she once again, began work on her portal, even though her magic wasn't much help to her when she was in such a tired state of being.

And the days went on like this, with no night passing without her dreaming the same dream. The days began to turn into weeks, and, eventually, into months. But, with each passing day, her will to return to Hogwarts and warn everyone of who had opened the chamber grew.

But, as the chilly weeks before Christmas grew ever closer, and Avotica was still very far from her goal, she could feel her hope starting to fade like the green grass turning to white snow. But her determination burnt on.

Although she was aiming to get to Hogwarts as soon as she could possibly get there, she had come to the realization that she would not be getting there any time soon. She began to wonder if it was already too late, but she banished the thoughts from her mind.

She couldn't give up hope. There was still hope.

She was, once again, watching Hogwarts, as if watching a television. She might have though of the feeling like watching television if she had ever actually watched television. Of course, growing up in a traditional magical family, she hadn't.

But this time, she was watching a different scene. It was no longer the scene of Mrs. Norris getting petrified, but of a hallway near the hospital wing. Avotica didn't have to think long before she could put the pieces together. She was about to see Colin being petrified.

And, sure enough, Colin came walking around the corner. He scuttled quietly along the corridor, a bunch of grapes tied to him. He might have been holding him, had he not been looking at everything through the lens of his camera.

Avotica would have pondered why Colin was holding the camera when it was much to dark to take a picture, and if he was afraid of the dark. Of course, Colin's personal fears were not of her immediate interest, for she knew that a whole new fear was waiting for him around the corner.

As he rounded the next corner, he came face to face with the beast. Though it was still a shadowy blur to Avotica, it had a tremendous impact on Colin. In a moment of his shock, he clicked the flash button on his camera, and the whole scene went bright. Once it had gone, Colin's stiff figure fell backwards onto the cold, hard floor of the castle.

The Beast slunk away, followed by a pair of feet. Though she could only see the feet, Avotica knew it was Ginny. The question was, why was she doing this? She seemed nice enough, and didn't appear to have a grudge against muggle-borns. And then, suddenly, something came to her.

Ginny wasn't doing this herself. She was being _forced _to!


	17. Discovery

**Discovery**

If Avotica had been desperate to get to Hogwarts before, it was nothing to how she felt now. She had to get to Hogwarts, because she knew that it could only get worse. The Chamber was opened, and Ginny was being forced to do something against her will.

But, unfortunately, desperation did not help her situation very much at all, as it did not make her powers any stronger. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. She could no longer form a sliver of a portal, and she couldn't manage to mimic properly any more. She found that she was not able to read thoughts clearly either, as she could not think clearly herself.

So, as well as being desperate, she was also quite helpless. And, in feeling helpless and desperate, she also became very tired, and, within a week, became sick. She did not know what she had, she just knew that she had a pounding head and could not get out of bed.

She stayed in bed for the next few days, Dobby silently bringing her meals. Despite Avotica's efforts to get him to speak with her, Dobby remained mute and just gave her a sad look with his large dinner plate eyes.

The fact that the weather was getting colder did not help her situation. In the tiny room, there was no warmth, and the blankets on her rusty cot did not keep the cold out at night. Unfortunately, she had nothing warmer to wear.

You see, she was going to be returning to her home during the Christmas holidays, her mansion being similar to the Malfoy mansion, perhaps a little smaller. The Malfoy family, after all, was a much respected family. The Wiccan's were respected and well known, but not nearly as much as the Malfoy's.

But, there was the unfortunate incident of her parents, the parents she hardly knew, dying. Of course, she knew her mother, Gwen, who was a fashionable, delicate woman, not one to get her hands dirty or lift a finger to help. And her father, Titnius, who always seemed to be away on business. But when Avotica had chanced to see him, she didn't like what she saw. He wasn't ugly, but actually rather handsome. No, it was his eyes that Avotica hated. His cold, steely, empty eyes, as though he had no sympathy or mercy for anything.

She often wondered whether she was adopted, because she had never seen her parents as much as hold hands. But, analysing herself against her parents, she noticed many similarities, and had to face the fact that she had been born into this family.

And now, as Avotica lay exhausted on the floor, she wished more than ever that she had been adopted. She wished that she had someone else she could search for, someone else who was her family. She curled up into a ball and closed her eyes, imagining herself away from all of her worries.

In her imagination, she had a loving mother. A mother who enjoyed spending time with her daughter, a mother who played with her, instead of sitting down all day and admiring herself.

In her imagination, she had a father who would always be happy to see her, who liked to take her out to places, treat her with a present, a father that would hug her when he came home after work, one who would comfort her when she was hurt or scared or upset.

In her imagination, she was happy.

She began to absent-mindedly flip through her diary. The first few pages contained biographies of the people she knew at Hogwarts, and then there were a few blank pages, and some notes. She had begun to copy down things she found important and useful from C. Blacks diary to her own notebook.

But she had to come back to reality. And she came back surprisingly quickly, as a sharp knock at her door brought her out of her day dream.

She opened it, not surprised in the least to see Dobby. He was holding something in a bowl, which looked like steaming porridge. He handed it to her, and she took it gratefully. She woofed the food down hungrily, not even caring about the taste.

Although it didn't entirely satisfy her hunger, she felt better with food in her stomach, and much warmer. She also felt very tired. Without even bothering to change or remove her shoes, she collapsed into bed.

The next day she awoke, with a sudden realization. She didn't actually have to be at Hogwarts to warn the people inside. She simply had to send a message.

It was still very early; although she wasn't sure how early it was, since she had no way of checking the time. She decided that she needed to find out as much as she could about the situation before she sent any messages. For all she knew, they could have already discovered what had happened, even though it was quite unlikely.

Knowing she could not just walk out of her closet-like room, she figured she would disguise herself. She knew she could mimic, although her abilities were still limited to mimicking what was directly in front of her. She needed to be something small and insignificant, something practically invisible.

She needed to be a bug!

There were plenty of dead flies in her little room, so it was not hard to morph into one. It was a strange feeling, being a fly, and very different from anything she had mimicked into. Then again, she had only really mimicked into Jinx, so her experience was quite limited.

After a few minutes of learning to concentrate while having so many eyes, and learning how to fly, (She found wings considerably easier than a broomstick) she was set to go and find out information.

Unfortunately, she had forgotten about breakfast. A knock at the door promptly reminded her, and she quickly changed back. Well, as quickly as she could. It wasn't easy when she was put under pressure, so it was no wonder Dobby gave her a strange look when she answered the door.

Except the strange look wasn't because she took so long to answer the door, Dobby was used to waiting for hours on end. No, she was given a strange look by the house elf because she had not completely morphed back into herself yet, and was left with much less hair on her head than what she started with.

She noticed her lack of hair when she scratched an itch on her head, and almost screamed. After a few nervous moments, she relaxed and morphed back. She timidly touched her head again, relieved to find her head full of hair again.

She quickly finished her morning meal, and worked on mimicking the fly again. It was not as easy the second time round, after the traumatic experience of loosing her hair, but she managed to morph into a fly again.

As soon as she got used to the feeling of being a fly, she took off, and went zooming through the crack under her door. She flew down a flight of stairs, and then down a hallway. After going down another two flights of stairs, she slowed her pace, realizing she was not sure where to go.

She was just about to turn around and head back to her room when a door flew open and almost whacked her. Luckily, she had mimicked fly-like reflexes along with the appearance, and she was able to dodge it.

Draco walked out of the newly revealed doorway, much to Avotica's disgust. _Typical_ she thought. _Only that brat could be so thoughtless to… wait! What is he doing here? I thought he wasn't coming back for the Christmas holidays! _

"Father?" Draco called out while Avotica was still mulling over the strange happenings. "Father?"

Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Draco's father appeared. "What is it, Draco? I am very busy at the moment, and you were not supposed to leave school."

"I know, Father, but I've just heard that, well, there's this new broomstick, see, and it'll be out next year…" Draco trailed off, seeing his father's anger.

"You mean to tell me that you used the expensive and new Transmitter that you mother made me buy you for you to use in emergencies, to call me so that you could ask me to pre-order another broomstick for you?"

"Well… father…" Draco seemed to be mumbling out some sort of apology.

"I don't want to hear it. Go back to the school grounds. It is not safe for anyone to be outside, especially with everything that's happening there."

"That's another thing," Draco said nervously. "It's all stopped. Kind of. You see, that Weasley girl was taken into the Chamber last night, and Potter and his gang went to save her… and now everyone's going to be okay, because of the Mandrakes, and they've got Dumbledore back-"

"What?" Lucius seemed genuinely shocked to hear this, and Avotica was shocked too. "Get back to Hogwarts, Draco. I will be there to sort it out soon." Lucius rushed off, and the figure of Draco shimmered and vanished.

Avotica felt all light and fluffy inside. Everything was okay, Ginny was saved, and Dumbledore was back at Hogwarts. Nobody had been killed. All was well. She flew over to a window and perched herself on the sill.

She basked in the warmth, and it suddenly occurred to her that Christmas must have happened quite a while ago, as it was no longer cold. She realized that she must have spent a much longer time in her dark little room than she first thought. It was pleasantly warm, even a little bit hot. She suspected that the summer holidays would come soon. That would mean that she was twelve now, since her birthday was in January.

Maybe she would be going back to Hogwarts next year, because she was learning a new type of magic control from the journal. She hoped so, because then the summer holidays wouldn't be so bad with something to look forward to. She would have to send a message to Dumbledore to ask about it.

Avotica floated happily back up to her room, wondering if she could possibly still send a few messages to Hogwarts.


	18. Letters

**Letters**

Hogwarts was a bustle that morning, as it was the last morning of the year. The room was full of owls delivering last-minute letters, and everyone was smiling, even Filch, who had Mrs. Norris right beside him.

Suddenly, everyone was pointing and shouting, as another bird entered the room, but this bird was not an owl. Having a bundle of small envelopes tied to it's purple legs, a cream coloured woodpecker flew in overhead, the top of it's own head splotched with red. Everyone watched in wonder as it flew to the staff table, landing directly in front of Dumbledore.

The bird pulled one of the envelopes neatly from its place with its beak, and gave it to Dumbledore, who graciously took it. It then proceeded to give small letters to Filch, Loki, Ginny, Colin, Fred, George, Ron, Hermione, and finally, one to Harry. The bird then bowed, and took flight again, as everyone followed it with their eyes.

Harry's own eyes remained on the very small letter he had just been delivered. It had only his name on it, as if the bird knew exactly where to find him. He opened the envelope, and unfolded the little piece of parchment inside. It read:

_Dear Harry_

_I do not know you well, and I don't know if I will get the chance to know you any better. I am not sure if you are really the Great Harry Potter I have heard that you are, but I do know that you saved Ginny. I thank you for that._

_Avotica_

_P.S. I still don't know what Ginny sees in you. _

Harry turned to Ron, slightly puzzled. "Who's Avotica?"

"You know," Ron replied, even though Harry obviously did not. "That squib girl we saw on the first night. Apparently she got sent home because she caused a big fire. At least, that's what Fred and George say. Anyway, Fred and George say that her parents were supporters of You-Know-Who…"

"Yes, we know, Ron. You've been telling us all year!" Hermione said, annoyed.

"Well, he asked," Ron replied defensively.

"What does yours say?" Harry asked Ron curiously.

"It says 'Dear Ron,'" Ron started, his mouth full of bread. "'You may not remember me, but I am a friend of Ginny's. She's very lucky to have an older brother like you, who'll always watch out for her. I'd like to thank you for saving her, but you would have done it anyway. Avotica,'" Ron wiped his mouth. "What does that mean?"

"It means that you would have saved her whether or not Ginny had a friend like Avotica to thank you for it," Hermione said as-a-matter-of-factly.

Ron raised his eyebrows, obviously still not getting it. Hermione just sighed.

"Well, what does your's say then?" Ron asked her.

"None of your business," Hermione replied, tucking the piece of parchment into her robes.

"Hey, Fred and George got one too," Harry noted curiously.

"Yeah, apparently they sat with her on the train, and she ran into their classroom once and fainted. I think they must be using her for some sort of experiment or something."

"What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"Well," Ron said, shoving some bacon into his mouth. "Fred and George are always experimenting with new tricks and gags to use, and they need to make sure their safe…"

"So they use human guinea pigs?" Hermione asked, shocked.

"I dunno!" Ron said defensively. He turned to Harry and whispered, "What's a guinea pig?"

VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVV

Avotica sat in her little room, trying desperately to use her wand. It was late, but Avotica couldn't sleep. She still had not received a reply from Dumbledore, and she might not even get one. Plus, Dobby had still not come with her midday and evening meals, so she was very hungry.

Suddenly, there was a loud clicking sound, like someone snapping their fingers. Wispy smoke appeared and then vanished, revealing Dobby, now wearing a sock. Avotica took a few moments to register it, and then got very excited.

"Oh, Dobby, you're free! That's great! That's amazing! You're free! Finally, good for you! Oh, Dobby! I'm so happy for you!" Avotica was so happy she almost gave Dobby a hug, but she wasn't quite that happy.

"Thank you, Miss. Dobby brought a letter from Dumbledore. He asked Dobby to do it as a favour."

"Oh, thank you, Dobby. Thank you!"

There was another click, and Dobby disappeared, this time with a huge grin on his face. Avotica was happy for him, and she tore open her letter.

_Dear Miss Avotica Wiccan,_

_We are happy to announce that you have been accepted back to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. You will receive your list of school books later this summer. Enjoy your holidays and we hope to see you back next term._

_Albus Dumbledore_

Avotica read the letter over and over, and almost cried with relief and happiness. She could go back as soon as summer was over! And she would go back. She wouldn't let the Malfoy's boss her around, and treat her like dirt. She was going back to Hogwarts, and they couldn't stop her.

Avotica was suddenly overwhelmed with tiredness, and she could feel her eyelids drooping, and her limps felt heavy. And she fell asleep, despite her hunger, and she did not awake until late the next morning.

She knew it was morning, because she could feel it in her soul. A new day had begun, and she could feel a change in the air. She opened her door and stepped out into the hallway. She walked down the stairs and went to the kitchen to make herself some breakfast.

Life was looking up.

**_The End_**

* * *

_(Stay tuned for the next Avotica story, Avotica: Much Ado About Magic)_

_OcyTaviAh_


End file.

Harry Potter