Muggle In Hogwarts

Chapter Eleven

"She looked up to find a pair of motherly eyes she had grown up with sowing away at the sowing machine.
'Mommy, Laura says I'm adopted,' the little five-year-old said whining. Behind her came a devious smiling six-year-old both full of mud and making faces at the other.
'Mommy am I adopted?' the little five-year-old asked tearfully. Her mother paled and looked fearfully at the six-year-old Laura, before turning to five-year-old Cecilia.
'Of course you aren't adopted, Cecilia!' her mother said looking around herself apprehensively.
'If you were adopted I would tell you, wouldn't I?' her mother asked. Cecilia nodded wiping her eyes and sticking her tongue out at her sister. Laura looked at her mother open-mouthed.
'But mommy-!' Laura complained. Her mother looked at Laura angrily.
'Stop torturing your sister,' she ordered Laura reprovingly. 'Now I hope that we never have to have this conversation again.'
Cecilia and Laura nodded shuddering slightly because of the sudden gust of wind that had enveloped the house. As Cecilia and Laura left their mother, bickering all the way, she sighed softly. She almost wished she hadn't asked her to...
No, she wouldn't even think about it. Cecilia was her daughter and there was nothing else to it. And with that she picked a torn pant and started sowing.
'Cecilia! Cecilia! Hey, Ces!'
'Wake up, Ces!' Hermsy's voice cut her dream off. She opened her eyes, blinking and breathing heavily.
'Laura.' was the first thing that she said. Hermsy frowned.
'What?' she asked, looking confused.
Cecilia tried to explain but the dream was already slipping away from her. 'I dreamt something about my sister, but I can't remember now.' she said, trying hard to catch what it was.
Hermsy just rolled her eyes a bit and hauled her out of bed. 'Honestly, you're truly weird. Most girls our age dream of guys, and you dream of your sister. Now up you go,' she said, smiling amusedly, dragging Cecilia to a standing position and helping her into one of the black robes Draco had given her for Christmas.
Cecilia looked thoughtful. Once she was fully dressed Hermsy dragged her to the Common Room where they were to meet Harry, Ron and Draco. As soon as they got there Hermsy let go of Cecilia and put her arms around Draco's neck to give him a kiss.
Cecilia smiled. 'Ugh.' she said jokingly.
'That's a nice word to start the day with.' Draco said.
Cecilia looked sheepishly at the floor. Ron and Harry were talking softly in a corner. Draco, Hermsy and Cecilia went downstairs for breakfast leaving them to sort their things out.

***

'So?' Harry asked Ron softly.
Ron was looking at Harry blankly. Harry licked his lips nervously. He didn't know what had made him do it. Probably Cecilia's insistence. He looked at the floor. What an idiot he had been! How could he ask him to the Spring Dance? He was ready to turn around and leave with his question still unanswered.
'Yes.' Ron said softly.
Harry turned around sharply. Ron was looking at his hands, a small smile on his lips, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He took Harry's hand in his and looked up. 'Yes.' he repeated.
Their eyes locked. Harry inched closer, and so did Ron. Their heads leaned closer together and their eyes fluttered closed, their lips about to meet.
'Hey Harry, Ron! You guys coming?' Seamus and Dean asked bounding down the steps, interrupting them. Harry and Ron jumped away from each other, flushing with embarrassment, though Ron still didn't let go of his hand.
'Um, yeah. Coming.' Harry answered, as he and Ron followed them to the Great Hall for breakfast.

***

'Look!' Ginny gushed as Harry and Ron entered behind Seamus and Dean, hand in hand.
Hermsy managed to drag her eyes from Draco's and look at them as they walked over to the Gryffindor table, looking completely comfortable with each other. Cecilia grinned from ear to ear.
'It seems they're a couple!' she said, a small hint of sadness in her eyes.
Hermsy laughed and turned to Draco again, putting her head on his shoulder. They kissed. Cecilia wrinkled her nose in disgust and turned again to Harry and Ron, who were about to sit down next to her.
'So?' she asked nosily.
Ron turned red and directed his attention to the food, though since they both refused to let go of each other's hand, they had to eat single-handedly.
'What?' Harry asked, playing dumb, but his twinkling eyes, his red cheeks and irrepressible smile told her everything.
She hugged him tightly. 'I'm so happy for you!' she said. She looked from one boy to the other. And smiled grandly.
'Hey guys,' said Seamus over them, a mischievous look in his eyes.
Cecilia turned again to her food.
'Hey, Seamus.' they said.
'Wanna make a bet? About the Spring Dance?' he asked his eyes sparkling. Ron and Harry attempted to look interested while trying not to choke.
'Sure,' said Draco, interestedly.
'It's like this. Dean and I made a bet, about which of us could take the prettiest girl to the Spring Dance. Now, whom do you bet will win?' He asked. Harry and Ron looked thoughtful.
'I bet ten galleons that Dean wins,' Cecilia said, turning around.
Seamus smiled. 'You are going to be a very unhappy little girl,' he said as he took out a piece of parchment and a quill and jotted down the bet. 'Anybody else?' he asked.
'I'll also bet ten galleons on Dean.' said Hermsy lazily, catching Cecilia's eye and smiling.
Seamus jotted her down too. 'By the way,' he asked. 'Who are you two going with?' He asked, eyeing Hermsy and Cecilia with interest.
'Draco,' said Hermsy immediately.
'Harry,' Cecilia answered without thinking. Seamus looked at Draco and Harry grandly, not seeing the coldness that swept over Ron's face as he started to get up to storm out of the Great Hall.
'Go get 'em tigers.' Seamus said, strolling away.
Harry tried to stop Ron, but it was Cecilia's hurried explanation that made him sit down again. 'No, I'm not really going with Harry. I'm going with Dean, that's why I lied,' she said. 'Hope you don't mind,' she added.
Ron shook his head and smiled apologetically at Harry, then turned to look at Cecilia curiously.
'Uh, Cecilia?' Ron asked. She smiled at him.
'What?' she asked.
'Um, why are you going with Dean?' he asked. Then added hurriedly. 'It's not that he's not cute, I mean,' he was now blushing and stuttering with embarrassment as Harry grinned at him. 'He's-he's cute all right, but-but, um, I mean, uh-uh, well he-he isn't really...' He sighed and turned bright crimson as he looked down at his plate.
'You look so sexy when you're embarrassed,' Harry whispered into Ron's ear, making him blush even more.
Cecilia grinned toothily. 'Aw, guys! You look so sweet!' she said grinning happily.
Harry laughed, and Ron turned impossibly redder. 'Thanks, Ces. What Ron meant was that, Dean isn't the bravest guy there is, especially not where girls are concerned.' He smiled at her contentedly. 'So, how did he ask you out?'
Cecilia grinned mischievously, making Ron look almost normal again with interest.
'Come on tell us.' Ron urged.
'Well,' she said mysteriously. 'Let's just say we traded one thing for another...' she licked her lips dreamily. Ron and Harry looked at her dumbstruck.
'What?!' Harry exclaimed, both he and Ron looking at her disbelieving. Hermsy, on Cecilia's other side, laughed; turning to them.
'She asked Dean to make a picture for her of... uh, well, when it was finished she said she owed him one, so he asked her to go to the dance with him,' she shrugged. She hadn't wanted to reveal about May, since they obviously didn't know about her yet. Cecilia smiled at her thankfully.
'A picture? Of whom?' Ron asked.
'Of you in the shower,' Cecilia said non-pulsed. Harry, Hermsy, Draco and Cecilia laughed, as Ron resumed his redness.
'If you wanted to see me in the shower you just had to say so,' he answered huskily, winking at her. Cecilia snorted with laughter.
'Is that offer open to me too?' Harry asked innocently.
'Why of course. You can jump in my shower whenever you want,' Ron purred, before dissolving with laughter. All the people within earshot had ceased talking and started laughing.
'Hey, Ron,' came Parvati's voice. He turned around. 'Do I get that offer too? Maybe try a ménage à trois?' she battered her eyes at him provocatively.
He blushed but regained his composure immediately. 'Sorry, babe. Limited tickets only,' he said, trying his best to look sorry as she pouted.
'Limited to whom?' asked Lavender, giggling next to Parvati.
'Hmm, let me see...' Ron said thinking. 'Limited to Hermsy and Cecilia, of course,' he winked at them, making both girls laugh and blush at the same time. 'And to all boys in my room, though they've already been in the shower with me, at least twice.' he winked at Dean, Seamus, Harry, Neville and Draco, trying his best not to burst into laughter as he did so.
Dean and Seamus where the only one's who looked horrified. Neville laughed appreciatively, as did Harry and Draco.
'Nah,' said Draco. 'I'll stay in Hermsy's shower, thank you very much.' Hermsy blushed terribly as Draco put his arms around her waist. All the girls looked at them, their mouths open except Cecilia who, with the rest of the boys, applauded and whistled and catcalled and threw them knowing looks.
'Can I join you guys next time?' Seamus asked, trying to look innocent, but Lavender, his current girlfriend, whapped him on the head jokingly.
'The only shower you're going into is mine,' she said.
'Well let's go then,' he said tugging at her arm eagerly. Everybody laughed.
The conversation was getting loud enough to get carried to the other tables, even some snatches to the High table where the professors sat. Some seemed oblivious to the current... discussion... in the Gryffindor table, others were merely amused, but some, like McGonagall, deemed it horrifying and would have gone there to give them all a piece of her mind were it not for Dumbledore's laugh. The only other thing that kept her from doing that was the time. They had only a couple more minutes before having to go to their respective classes, so she thought it unnecessarily.
Finally the bell resounded all through the Great Hall and the students hurried to pick their things and head to their classes.

***

After breakfast Cecilia headed towards the Library, to look for more information about what happened the night her parents and sisters had died. She felt an unexplainable urgency to find out what exactly had Wormtail done to Laura.
As soon as she got there she busied herself inspecting the rows of books, peering at the titles to try and find something useful from time to time grabbing a book and peeking inside. Every time they had Potions or DADA Cecilia went to the library and looked at several books.
'This is useless!!' she commented several weeks later. She was sitting in a corner of the Common Room surrounded by books she had thought might help her. Not only was she looking for information about anything related to 'Renocuo', she was also looking out for any clue that could reveal her of May's true identity.
'Don't know why I worry so much.' she said shaking her head and rubbing her eyes. Cecilia piled the books up high and tried to put them all in her bag without searing it.
'Cecilia?' asked a slightly hesitant voice. She looked up.
'What is it, Neville?' she asked in mild frustration.
He sat down next to her watching her work. 'Need help?' he asked as she shoved the books in her bag. She nodded panting slightly, feeling dangerously lightheaded. He waved his wand once murmuring something she didn't catch, and all the books fitted her bag perfectly.
'Wow,' she said, looking at her now neatly packed bag with disbelief. 'Amazing,' she looked at him, and smiled at the triumphant look on his face.
'All thanks to you,' he said. At the look on her face, he laughed. 'Don't look at me like that!' he said.
'Like what?' she asked.
'As if you didn't have any idea what I was talking about,' he answered.
'But I don't,' Cecilia responded. Neville sighed.
'Remember the night we were both kidnapped?' she nodded, slightly confused. 'Remember that you gave me, how had you said it? Oh, yeah, "part of Ingenuita's power" or something like that. You do remember, right?' again she nodded, wondering where he was heading with all this. 'Well, now I'm better. I'm better at Transfiguration, Charms, DADA, and all those other classes I used to be useless at, all because of that power you gave me. Actually, the only thing it hasn't corrected is my forgetfulness, but I'm working on it.' Neville said looking at her in the eyes.
'Wow, I didn't know it'd do that,' Cecilia answered surprised. 'But I'm really happy that I could help you,' she said smiling.
'Now I want to repay you,' he gave her a book he had been holding. 'Check the R' he said, turned around and left.
She stared after him, a frown on her face. With a small sigh she turned her attention to the book. 'Ancient Spells and Enchantments' the title read with fancy silver lettering. She opened it and looked about the pages.
Dark spells and queer enchantments, with the most hurtful purposes were written on its aged pages. A shiver went up and down Cecilia's spine as she read some of them. 'Just get to the goddamned 'R' and get it over with', a small voice in her head told her, a shivery quality to it. For once Cecilia decided to heed Ingenuita and flipped the pages rapidly, pausing long enough to see in what letter they were on. As she got to the 'R' she slowed down. Magically highlighted was the word 'Renocuo'. Neville knew.
She looked up and scanned the Common Room looking for him, before remembering that they had DADA and then Potions. It was obvious by its spells that Neville had taken the book from the Restricted Area of the library, where all the potentially Dark Books were kept; but how had he found out? She looked around herself once more before reading the description.

Renocuo: Unknown origin or language. It permits one to obtain a considerable amount of another wizard or witches power. It makes a 'copy' of what they know and what they can do, imposing it in the cursing wizard. The cursed one remains unconscious for two months minimum before regaining consciousness, and it takes them another month to redevelop their powers to obtain a full recovery.
Caution: make sure that whoever you curse isn't a Muggle, or the curser will be reduced to little more than a squib. It is only possible to do this curse once in a lifetime and even then the probability of the curser's death is very high or at least severe brain damage.

Ok, that sure explained a couple of things. Wormtail threatened her with a knife, not with his wand, and when he had kidnapped her he did it the Muggle way, covering her mouth with his hand and dragging her out of the castle. But why had he used it? You can only do it once in your lifetime, why waste it on a bunch of Muggles?

She closed the book and took it to her dorm, hiding it under her mattress. She went back down and, heaving her bag on her shoulder, she stumbled out of the room heading towards the library.
After returning the books she had taken out, Cecilia went back to title reading. Tired as she was of doing this, Cecilia decided it easier to ask Madam Pince, since she knew every single book in the library and it's location.
'Excuse me, Madam Pince?' she asked, rather timidly. The librarian set deep brown eyes on her.
'Yes? What seems to be the matter?' she asked with a frown. Cecilia gulped.
'Um, well. I was wondering if wizards kept, you know, uh... lists of the people, you know... were you can find information about them...' she said nervously.
Madam Pince looked at her curious. 'Yes, I believe I know what you mean. You want to look for someone?' she asked, looking at her suspiciously.
'Uh, yes, Madam,' Cecilia answered.
Madam Pince peered at her, trying to find a hidden reason. Not finding one, she sighed and walked to one of the rows of books. She looked them over and then pulled out a large and heavy book and handed it to Cecilia.
She took it, mumbled her thanks and carried the heavy book to her table in the corner. She flipped it open and passed the pages. She noticed that there were no pictures of the people listed. She sighed, feeling frustrated. She picked the book and once more headed to Madam Pince.
'Uh, excuse me,' she said. Madam Pince looked up.
'What is it now?' Madam Pince asked.
'Well, you see. This person, I saw her, but I don't know who she is, and I want to find out,' she said, hoping she made sense.
'Really? Are you sure she's a witch?' Madam Pince asked. Cecilia nodded.
Madam Pince strolled to a row in the far back of the room, and searched the titles. Finally she found the book she was looking for and handed it over to Cecilia. Cecilia looked at it strangely. It was neither heavy nor very big, it was actually quite thin and small.
'What you have to do is tap it with your wand and say what characteristics you're looking for. Like long white beard and you shall see several pictures of men with long white beard.' As she explained, Madam Pince disappeared into her office for a second and reappeared with her wand. 'Here, let me show you.' she neared Cecilia with her wand, and tapped the book, saying "Men with long white beards." and when she opened it, sure enough, several men with long white beards smiled and waved from the pages.
'There's Dumbledore!' Cecilia said amazed. And underneath the picture, where his date of birth, his parentage, and details of his life. 'Wow,' Cecilia breathed. 'He sure can't say his life was boring,' she said.
Madam Pince smiled. 'When you want to make a new search you just close the book and say other characteristics,'
Cecilia nodded gratefully and went back to her corner table and sat down. Only then did she realize she didn't have a wand to tap the book with. Shyly she went back a third time in search of Madam Pince's help, who offered she use hers, since she didn't need it at the moment. As soon as Cecilia's fingers touched the wand, she felt as if she had been hit by electricity and dropped it in surprise.
'What the-?' she said.
Madam Pince looked at her startled. 'What's the matter?' she asked.
Cecilia blinked and swallowed nervously. Madam Pince touched her shoulder, making her snap out of it. 'Are you ok?' she asked.
'Yeah, yeah. Just a little current that went up my arm. I guess it's normal, but I've never touched a wand in my life,' she said.
Madam Pince looked at her strangely. 'I think you should better ask someone to open the book for you... besides, if you use the wand, I doubt it would work,' Madam Pince thought for a couple of seconds. 'Maybe it'll work even if you don't have a wand,' she said thoughtfully.
Cecilia smiled thankfully and went back to her corner table. She sighed and took the book in both her hands, holding it securely over her lap. She tried everything she could, but to no avail. The book wouldn't open.
She checked out the book out and left to the Common Room.
She sat on one of the chairs nearest to the fire and read several different books as she waited for someone to come. She checked her watch from time to time, just hoping time would pass faster. To her relief, she heard many footsteps on the other side of the portrait, which seconds later opened to reveal the pale sixth years who scrambled through the hole as fast as they could...
Cecilia stood up and looked at them alarmed. Never had she seen them so frightened. She had just spotted Hermsy and she was about to call out her name, when Dean caught up with her and pulled her away from the crowd, his face determined.
He took her to a corner and signaled her to sit in a chair. He sat right in front of her but wouldn't meet her eyes.
'Wha-what's the matter Dean?' she asked after a while. He looked up. Fear, confusion and anger were almost seeping from his eyes.
'Tell me what's going on,' he said softly.
She looked at him confused and worried. 'What's wrong with him?' she asked herself
'We went to Potions class as usual. Snape was being a git as always and all of a sudden, this ... woman appears in the middle of the room. She looked familiar to me, I was sure I had seen her somewhere, but I couldn't put my finger on it. Everybody started to scream and panic and Snape got his wand out and faced her, so did Neville, Malfoy, Harry and others. She cursed a couple of them unconscious and looked around as if looking for someone,' At this point he looked at me significantly. 'And then she just disappeared. Seamus dragged me out of my chair and out of the classroom as Snape yelled that we were all to go to our Common Rooms and wait there.' He took a deep breath and looked away, so that he was now watching the open entrance of the Common Room as the students from the other years streamed in
'Know who it was?' he asked suddenly looking at her again.
Her breath caught in her chest. 'Who?' she asked in a small voice, though she already knew whom it was.
'The woman you asked me to draw,' he said
'Oh my God,' she said softly. She looked at him pleadingly. 'I need you to do me a favor...' he nodded.
She took a deep breath, debating if she could really trust him or not.
'Ok,' she said, finally giving in to her natural instinct. She walked towards the book she had taken out from the library and took it to him. Dean looked at her quizzically.
'What-?' he started to ask, only to be interrupted by Cecilia.
'Just tap it with your wand and say women with green eyes.' she told him biting her bottom lip. Dean looked at her intently for several seconds before nodding and taking the book from her hands. He took out his wand and tapped the book with it.
'Women with green eyes,' he said, his voice shaking slightly. He opened the book and gasped. 'It's like a photo album.'
Cecilia smiled faintly.
'Yeah,' she said, and inched forward so that both could see the waving pictures. The witches' pictures were set in alphabetical order. They flipped past them slowly and scrutinized each picture for about five minutes.
'What are we looking for?' Dean asked after about five minutes.
'May,' she answered simply.
Dean nodded, though not really understanding. In the end, they simply passed the pictures, given the fact that many witches had green eyes and that most weren't very similar to May. After having past almost 150 pictures of witches with green eyes, the search started to seem futile.
'Ok, if the next one isn't her, then we'll call it a night,' said Cecilia tiredly after having been an hour looking from smiling picture to smiling picture, trying to decide if it was or wasn't her.
They passed the page. Cecilia's heart froze in her chest.
There was a four year old little girl with soft green eyes and barely visible brown spots around her irises. Something about her was frighteningly familiar.
'Hey,' Dean said. 'She looks like you.' Cecilia chuckled uneasily; she looked at the information below the picture:

Birth: 31 December 1986, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, South America, at one o' clock in the morning.
Mother: Marilyn Theresa Valenti
Father: Unknown
Details: Disappeared at the age of four, being untraceable in any kind of map or magical instrument, as did her mother.

Cecilia shut the book rapidly and jumped from her chair, murmuring her thanks to Dean she ran out of the room and went up the stairs two at a time with the book under her arm. She entered the room she shared with the other sixth-year girls and closed the door softly to not bother anybody and locked it, so nobody could bother her. She leaned on the door, closed her eyes and sighed with relief, letting herself slip slowly to the floor.
'What's up?' she heard Hermsy ask from her bed. Her eyes flung open. Why hadn't she seen Hermsy when she had come in?
'Nothing, I'm fine,' she lied without really thinking. Wait a minute, came a voice in her head. Don't you trust Hermsy? As much as she hated to admit it, Ingenuita was right, but right then she wasn't ready to show the picture to anybody. She smiled weakly at the worried girl. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I just need to sleep,' she said, walking to her own bed and throwing herself on it.
Hermsy sat on the bed next to Cecilia's. 'You sure?' she asked, peering into her eyes, willing them to tell her what was wrong. Cecilia closed them, just in case.
'Uh huh,' she answered. Hermsy sighed and got up, though she didn't look at all convinced.
'Well, if you ever want to talk, you know where I am,' she said before closing the door behind her. Cecilia lay still, breathing softly, until she was sure her friend wouldn't re-enter, then sat up. She hugged her legs and put her chin on top of them. How could they have exactly the same birthplace and birthday? She looked blankly at the wall, willing herself not to think, until her eyes started drooping and she feel asleep.

***

Hermsy trotted down the stairs that went to the girl dorms, not really seeing ahead of her, her pretty face contorted with worry and something very similar to despair. Draco was sitting near the fireplace, looking at Harry and Ron trying not to be too obvious with a mixture of amusement and disgust. Hermsy absently neared them and sat on Draco's lap, and cuddled in his arms. Draco noticed her face, his eyes showing his concern.
'What's wrong?' he asked her.
She shook her head. 'I don't know. I guess I'm a little worried, that's all,' she answered.
'What about?' he asked.
'Ceci... and all this Valenti situation,' she answered after a short pause.
Draco looked at her curiously. 'What's the matter with Ceci?' he asked.
Hermsy sighed, looking as if she were actually very far away. 'I don't know,' she said, shaking her head once more. She sat up, her face scrunched in thought.
All of the sudden she jumped up, her eyes and her happy face showing she was back in the present. Draco smiled in amusement as his girlfriend pulled him out of his chair to a standing position.
'I've got an idea,' she gushed. 'Come with me to the library,' she said, her eyes sparkling.
'Wait a minute, wait a minute!' Draco said, holding up his hands trying to calm her down. Ron and Harry looked up from whatever it was that they were doing to look at the pair interestedly. 'Listen, Hermsy, I know you adore to go to the library, but Valenti is strolling around Hogwarts, and nobody knows the reason, and thanks to her we got the afternoon classes-free! Let's party!' Draco said in a very low and intimate tone as he wrapped his arms around her.
Hermsy smiled at him lovingly, her eyes mirroring her feelings as well, and she kissed Draco long and luxuriously. All around the common room people cat called and whistled though the pair really didn't notice. When they finally broke the kiss Hermsy looked at Draco straight in the eyes.
'Come with me to the library, and you shall be rewarded,' she said, winking at him cattily.
Draco's eyes lit up. 'I'm at your service, Madame,' he said jokingly. 'Shall we part immediately?'
Hermsy giggled and nodded. Several first-years looked at them in awe (they we still scared about Valenti... that is, until they saw how the others joked around about it).
'Hey, hey, hey!!' said Harry standing up, Ron right next to him. 'Don't you dare think you can leave us behind!' he said indignantly, his eyes shining with laughter.
'Oh, we weren't thinking it,' said Draco putting an innocent face. 'We were planing it!' they laughed as Harry shook his head in amusement.
'So, what's this all about?' asked Ron.' I'm not accompanying you guys to the library on an afternoon off for no reason at all!' he said looking at Harry, who looked at Draco, who looked at Hermsy, who let her eyes wander to the girl's dorms staircase.
'Ah. I see,' Harry said, a serious look on his face.
'So what's the plan?' Draco asked while they moved to a more private place to talk without being overheard.
'Ok, when we came in I saw Ceci and Dean in a corner looking at a book. Really engrossed in it. I believe it was Finder,' she said. They looked at her blankly. She rolled her eyes and went on. 'A Finder is like an address book, but is mainly used to find people known only by a physical characteristic.'
'So you think she used it to find out about who?' Harry asked, still looking confused.
Hermsy bit her lip. 'Remember about her asking Dean to draw a picture about someone and then agreeing to go to the Spring Dance with him?' They nodded. 'Well, she asked him to make a picture of a woman. The only thing she knows about this woman is physical appearance and she calls herself May.'
'So she needed the Finder to learn more about May?' Draco asked.
Hermsy nodded. 'Yes. And apparently she didn't like what she saw. She looked very upset.'
'And the plan is to get a Finder from the library and find out who's May?' Ron asked.
'That's the idea.' she answered. All four remained silent, thinking of how to escape the tower.
'But wait a minute!' Harry said interrupting their thoughts.
'What's wrong now?' Hermsy asked, starting to sound impatient.
'If we don't know what May looks like, then how are we supposed to know what we're looking for?' Harry asked matter-of-factly.
Hermsy frowned. 'I hadn't really thought of that. Even I haven't seen the picture. The only thing I know is that she has green eyes.'
'But,' said Draco slowly. 'Hadn't you said that Dean had made a picture of her?'
'Yeah, but I doubt that Cecilia's gonna tell us where it is and by the looks of her side of her room it would be nearly impossible to find it.'
The three boys chuckled faintly.
'Everything all right?' said a voice from behind them. They turned around surprised to find Dean smiling pleasantly at them.
'I was looking for Ceci but I can't find her anywhere. Do you know where she is?' Draco, Ron and Harry looked at him shocked.
Only Hermsy returned his smile. 'Well, she's at our room sleeping. Why?' she asked politely.
Dean's face fell. He pulled himself a chair and flopped down.
'I think she's mad at me or something. I'm not sure what I did wrong.' he said looking helpless.
'Aftershave?' Draco asked.
'Eucalypt.' Dean responded.
'Perfume?' Ron asked.
'None.' Dean answered immediately.
'Roses?' Harry asked.
'Um, no but I did her a big favor. As a matter of fact two.' Dean amended.
Hermsy looked from one to the other in confusion. 'What the hell are you talking about?' she asked. They waved her questions away and returned to their conversation.
'What kind of favors?' they inquired.
'Well, she asked me to do a picture...' Dean started.
'Yeah, we know about that one. The other?' Draco interrupted.
'She asked me to open a kind of magical book. You know, she can't open them cause she isn't a witch... ' Dean drifted off.
'What?' Hermsy asked looking disbelieving at the four boys. 'Do you have rules to pick up girls or something like that?' she asked, before realizing what Dean had said. Her eyes widened. 'Were there a lot of pictures of people in them with information about their birth and everything at the bottom?'
'Yes,' said Dean suspiciously.
'Ok. Good. If that's not a Finder then I'm Madonna. But, eh, do you by any chance remember how the person you drew looked like?' Hermsy asked Dean, adopting a business like posture.
'Yeah, but I'm not gonna tell you,' he answered looking at her defiantly.
Hermsy was about to retort something but Draco stopped her with a restraining squeeze and a warning look. 'Dean...' Draco said warningly. Dean gulped.
'Er, yeah, ok,' Dean answered looking down. Harry and Ron looked at Dean in amusement and had a hard time fighting their laughter under the hard stare of a perplexed Hermsy.
'Ok, ok. I'll show you just... just forget about the 23ºC, ok?' Dean said pleadingly.
Draco looked at him with an air of superiority. 'We'll see...'
Dean nodded. 'Ok. Now, uh, we gotta get to the library somehow without getting caught.'
'Huh? Can't you just tell us what she looked like?' Harry asked. He knew how they could get out without being seen but he wasn't to keen on letting Dean and the rest of Gryffindor Tower find out about the Invisibility Cloak.
Dean opened his mouth to answer but McGonagall's voice, magically magnified, cut him short. 'Valenti has not been found within the school. You may all resume your comings and goings around the school, but please be careful...' she said as the first-years sighed with relief.
'What about classes?' Seamus interrupted.
'Yeah, do we still have the day off?' Parvati asked, to the amusement of many.
McGonagall smiled faintly. 'Yes, you do, since...' A loud 'Hooray' from the students stopped her from finishing whatever she wanted to say.
'Party!!' yelled Seamus, taking Lavender by the waist. And several other couples followed their example and went to find secluded places to have their own private party. McGonagall gave them a severe look and then left the Tower.
'Ok then, no sneaking is needed,' said Hermsy with obvious relief. Taking Draco's arm she led him out the door and headed towards the library.
'Good thing she didn't find out about 'Gryffindor Boy's Law Book', or she would never had let us forget about it.' Ron whispered at Harry. Harry nodded in agreement. Dean looked at them weirdly but didn't say anything.
'Better catch up to that pair or Hermsy'll get mad,' Harry commented. All three boys quickened up their pace.

***

'So what does a Finder look like exactly?' Ron asked sneezing due to all the dust.
Harry sighed and closed a book and put it on top of an already very large pile of books on the table. 'This is getting very little entertaining.' Harry said.
'Yeah, where's my reward?' Draco asked looking at Hermsy with a pout on his face.
'Are you sure there is more than one Finder in this school?' Dean asked bringing several heavy looking books to the table.
'There has to be more than one.' Hermsy said rubbing her eyes, leaving dust on her face. 'I'm not sure what they look like, though I know exactly what they do and all that. Sorry but there weren't any pictures in the book I found,' she sneezed. 'Oh god! All this dust is getting very annoying!' she looked up from the book she was reading to find Draco grinning maliciously at her.
'What?' she asked.
'You got dirt on your face,' he answered still grinning. 'Right there on your nose... no, a little more to the right... go up a little, and slightly to the left... oh, you still got some on your cheek... no, the other cheek.... let me,' he said standing up and walking towards her now completely dust-covered face. He sat down next to her and pulled her face to him kissing her deeply on the lips. 'Now that's what I call reward!' he said smiling at her.
'You haven't received even half of it.' Hermsy answered getting up from her own chair and sitting on his lap, her legs wrapped around his hips. She pulled him to her. He put his arms on her waist and slipped them under her shirt as their lips met again in a passionate kiss.
'Uh, I'm getting several ideas I'd like to try!' said Ron softly in Harry's ear.
'Oh, really?' said Harry turning to face Ron. 'Like what, for example?' he asked cattily. Dean looked at them with wide eyes.
'Like this... ' Ron took Harry's face in his hand and kissed him first on one closed eye then on the other, then on the nose, and near the mouth and ...
'Ugh!!' came Dean's voice as he ran out the door as fast as he could.
'Think we scared him?' Harry asked.
'For life!' said Ron laughing and kissed Harry soundly on the mouth.

***

'So you really love him?' Ceci asked softly trying to understand the pang of jealousy she felt.
Hermsy giggled. Both were sitting on Cecilia's bed painting their nails, talking about what was happening between her and Draco. 'Yeah, I guess I do.' she said happily.
'God, you're so lucky!' Ceci said hugging her friend, trying to kill her envy at the same time.
'Thanks,' Hermsy said looking dreamily at the ceiling. 'Can you imagine little babies with Draco's silky hair and gorgeous eyes?' she asked, showing Cecilia her feet.
'Good color. Hermsy? You do realize that your only 16 years old don't you?' Ceci said doubtfully. 'I mean it's not as if I doubt your feelings, or his for that matter, but don't you think it's a bit too soon to think about babies?' Hermsy giggled.
'Nope!' and smiled happily at Ceci. 'Besides, if you had felt what it's like to kiss him! I could see sparks! It was like in fairy-tales! And he's so sweet!' Hermsy plopped herself on her own bed with a sigh and a dreamy smile on her face as both of them got in bed after a quick drying charm on their toes.
'Oh, god!' Ceci said shaking her head, but glad that the phantom of the giggling four-year-old in the picture seemed to have dissipated, for a while...
...End Chapter Eleven...