CHAPTER SEVEN - Midnight Visit

Hermione had been antsy about the upcoming flying classes the moment the notice was posted in the common room. It was already Thursday morning, the day of the very first flying class, and she was still freaking out.

"You see it's not like I had a chance to learn to fly beforehand, after all I am muggle-born," Hermione rambled at the breakfast table.

All the Gryffindor first-years sat together this morning, eagerly discussing the details of the flying lessons. But the conversation died when Hermione started spewing out useless flying tips she'd read from a Quidditch book at the library. No one was really listening to her except for Neville, who was even more nervous.

"Attuoria, have you ever flown before?" Hermione asked. Everyone at the table turned their head towards the only girl who hadn't yet talked about her experience with flying.

"No." Attuoria replied curtly, stirring her bowl of porridge.

"Oh. Aren't you worried, then?"

"No." She said again, in the same mundane tone as the previous one.

"You aren't?" Hermione frowned. Attuoria shook her head.

"Say, Attuoria," Dean Thomas, a fellow Gryffindor, piped up. "Are you muggle-born or half-blood or pure-"

Before he could finish his sentence, the fluttering sound of hundreds of owls echoed across the room, signalling the arrival of the post again. Attuoria was nearly thankful that Eylense hadn't appeared. She didn't want her clumsy bird to ruin breakfast again (as funny as it was).

Neville, however, received a small package from his grandmother containing a small glass ball. Apparently it's a Remembrall, which tells you if there's something you've forgotten.

Attuoria had to remind herself that humans forget things and don't have a constant archive of thoughts following their conscious mind everywhere.

Just as she thought the frenzy for the post was over, a barn owl fluttered past Attuoria and dropped a small envelope onto her lap. She picked it up but before she could read it, Draco Malfoy appeared and caused commotion at the Gryffindor table by grabbing the Remembrall out of Neville's hand. Harry and Ron immediately jumped to their feet, looking ready to fight. Professor McGonagall appeared right at that moment, calming things down immediately.

"What's going on?"

Malfoy's eyes widened and his eyes flickered over to Attuoria's for a brief second before looking away.

"Malfoy's got my Remembrall, Professor."

"Oh shoot Longbottom's tattling gotta go fast before McGonagall gives me detention-" Attuoria heard Malfoy's thoughts say before he scowled and quickly dropped the glass ball back on the table. "Just looking," he said as he sloped away with his cronies. A sentence echoed in his thoughts as he left: "Stupid Gryffindorks."

Attuoria bit back a laugh as she watched them leave. That's weird. She found his reaction funny. Why it was funny, she couldn't quite explain. It just was.

She glanced back down at the envelope in her hand. It had her name written on it. She tore it open and read it under the table:

Dear Attuoria,

I would like you to come to my office tonight at half past ten to discuss a topic that has been troubling me for the past few days. Keep this note with you in case people ask you why you are out of bed. I know this might seem to be quite an odd request, but I will explain more about it tonight.

- Albus Dumbledore

Did she just receive a personal note from the Headmaster himself? Attuoria was confused as to why the headmaster wanted to talk to her, especially so late at night. What topic was he talking about? A topic that troubles the headmaster himself? How was she going to help him with that?

She tucked the note into the inner pocket of her robe and continued eating breakfast.

***

At three thirty in the afternoon, the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years gathered down at the school grounds, which was a large open grass field. It was a sunny day with a slight breeze, quite good weather for a flying class.

Their teacher, Madam Hooch, was a lady with short, grey hair and yellows eyes like a hawk. She had a loud, authoritative voice as she barked out orders to the students.

"Well, what are you all waiting for? Everyone, stand by a broomstick. Come on, hurry up."

The Gryffindors got in one line and the Slytherins stood across from them. Attuoria found herself next to Hermione and the boy named Seamus.

"Stick your right hand over your broom and say, 'Up!'" Madam Hooch ordered.

A flurry of voices were heard as everyone began yelling at their broom. Harry's broom jumped into his hand at once, while basically everyone else's broom had barely lifted up into the air.

Attuoria took a glance at her broom. It was any average broom, except the end of the broom was rather disheveled and clearly lost its ability to clean.

When they said flying, I didn't think I'd actually have to ride a broom. Only witches ride brooms- Oh wait, I am a witch.

Attuoria sighed and grimaced at her broom.

"Up!" She demanded. And all of a sudden, she heard a faint voice coming from the broom.

"No," it said.

"No?" Attuoria raised her eyebrows at the broom. Did the broom just talk to her? "I said, up!"

"And I said no." The same voice echoed into her mind. Okay, this broom was literally talking to her.

"I don't care what you said. I need you to obey so I can pass this class. Now get up!"

"What's in it for me?"

Attuoria groaned. Great. A sassy, exigent broom was messing with her.

"Up, before I break you." She threatened. Immediately, the broom shot up into her hand. "Thank you."

Wow, that worked. I should threaten people more, Attuoria thought to herself.

She was surprised to see that she was one of the first few people who succeeded in getting the broom up, despite the fact that she straight up had an argument with the broom.

Madam Hooch then showed them how to mount their brooms without sliding off the end. As they got ready to take off, Neville lost control of his broom and flew out before Madam Hooch finished counting down. He flew higher and higher until suddenly he fell off and landed on the ground with a loud thud. It didn't sound good.

Madam Hooch quickly hurried Neville over to the hospital wing, leaving the class on their own out on the field.

"Did you see his face, the great lump?" Malfoy spoke the moment they were out of view. The Slytherins poked fun at Neville and the other Gryffindors.

Malfoy grabbed Neville's Remembrall from off the ground and flew off with it. The whole group immediately erupted into a gigantic mess as Harry followed Malfoy up in the air as well, despite having never ridden a broom.

From down on the ground, Attuoria quietly watched all the events unfold. The boys were up in the air by now, clearly quarrelling before Malfoy jerked his arm forward and threw the ball out. Gasps rose from the crowd as Harry dove towards the ball, stopping right before he could crash into the ground.

He'd caught the Remembrall.

But before anyone could cheer for him, Professor McGonagall's voice boomed across the field and dragged Harry away.

Malfoy returned to the group, escaping the eyes of McGonagall.

"Potter's done it now, hasn't he?" He said gloatingly, arms across his chest. Every Gryffindor student glared at him with hatred. Well, all except Attuoria. She found the interaction quite amusing. Harry really proved himself there. His flying was phenomenal.

"Watch him get expelled - he's only lasted 2 weeks! Famous Harry Potter," Malfoy spat the name. "He'll be gone in no time."

Shouts rose amongst the Gryffindors, all of them directing mean insults at Malfoy, who just smirked whilst standing next to Crabbe and Goyle.

Attuoria stood off to the side, not saying anything.

Malfoy's eyes floated around for a while before noticing Attuoria.

"You," he suddenly said, pointing at her. "Why aren't you defending your boyfriend, huh?" He sneered.

Attuoria stared back at him blankly. She listened in to his thoughts for a while: "She hangs out with Potter all the time. How did Potter become friends with her anyways? She's so quiet, nothing like her other friends, Weasley, Granger or any of the stupid Gryffindors."

"So? You can talk, can't you?" Malfoy said again, snapping his fingers in her face.

Attuoria blinked once before her gaze hardened on the blonde boy. "I just don't really think it's worth wasting my time and energy to argue with you."

The Gryffindors heard her reply and roared with laughter, hooting and shouting. Attuoria swore she saw Malfoy's pale face turn pink for a second before he responded. "I don't think you're worth my time, either."

"I never asked." Attuoria replied, annoyed that he was still talking to her. More ecstatic shouts (and applause) rose from the other students , and Malfoy finally turned away, his cheek tinged bright pink. Attuoria frowned. Did he have fun insulting people? She didn't think that was very fun.

***

Attuoria pretty much became a first-year celebrity after that, but she had no idea why. They all seemed to be impressed by what she said to Malfoy, but Attuoria thought she just gave honest answers. Both statements were true. She didn't think it was worth her time to talk to Malfoy, and she never asked for his rude opinion of her. There wasn't any other meaning to that.

At dinner, Attuoria sat with Harry and Ron as Harry shared his news of becoming Gryffindor's new Seeker for Quidditch. Apparently he's the only first-year on the Quidditch team in the past century. Fred and George came to congratulate him quietly. It wasn't known news yet, so they kept their voices hushed.

"And Attuoria," Fred said, catching Attuoria's attention. He and George exchanged looks before they both said at the same time, "Nice going with Malfoy."

Attuoria flashed them a small smile. "Thanks, but I'm not sure what I did."

"See?" Ron said, pointing at Attuoria while looking at his brothers. "She has no idea! She wasn't even trying!"

"Trying what?" Attuoria asked, confused.

Fred and George gave her a mischievous grin but said nothing else. "Anyway, we've got to go. Lee Jordan reckons he found a new secret passageway out of the school. See you." The two left side by side.

Barely after they'd left, Malfoy appeared with his two idiots, Crabbe and Goyle.

"Having a last meal, Potter? When are you getting the train back to the Muggles?" He sneered, carefully avoiding Attuoria's gaze.

"You're a lot braver now you're back on the ground and you've got your little friends with you. Oh, and I heard Attuoria here absolutely slaughtered you after I left?" said Harry coolly. Ron forced back a snicker, earning himself a glare from Malfoy.

"I'd take you on any time on my own," said Malfoy. "Tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only - no contact. What's the matter? Never heard of a wizard's duel before, I suppose?"

"Of course he has," said Ron. "I'm his second, who's yours?"

Malfoy sized up his two friends. "Crabbe."

"Bad choice," she coughed, but Malfoy didn't even look at her.

"Midnight, all right? We'll meet you in the trophy room, that's always unlocked." Malfoy finished. He was just about to leave before he decided to look at Attuoria. She stared at him blankly and he scurried away before she could say anything else.

But as he left, she heard one thought from him: "Hopefully they fell for it."

Harry and Ron immediately began discussing the duel. Malfoy clearly said "no contact", and Ron's best advice to Harry was to punch Malfoy in the nose.

"Excuse me," a voice interrupted. It was Hermione. "I couldn't help overhearing what you and Malfoy were saying, and you mustn't go wandering around the school at night, think of the points you'll lose Gryffindor if you're caught, and you're bound to be. It's really very selfish of you."

"And it's really none of your business," said Harry.

"Goodbye." Ron said curtly.

"Although I must say," Attuoria interrupted, raising a finger in the air. She looked Harry in the eye. "Malfoy really isn't worth the time."

The boys immediately began cracking up and Hermione rolled her eyes, giving Attuoria a quick smile before walking away.

***

It was fifteen past ten when Attuoria decided to head out. Most people were either already in bed or getting ready for bed. Hermione, however, was missing.

On her way out into the common room, she noticed a few older students still studying under dim candlelight. The fireplace was flickering, but still bright enough to light up the room with a red-orange hue. Attuoria found Hermione sitting on a chair near the exit of the common room.

"Hermione?" She asked, approaching the girl.

"Attuoria!" Hermione replied with a smile. "What are you doing up?"

"What are you doing up?" Attuoria returned her question.

"Just making sure that the boys don't actually go out to find Malfoy at midnight. I doubt they will, but maybe they're more moronic than I thought." said Hermione matter-of-factly. "You?"

"Apparently I have to go talk to Dumbledore." Attuoria shrugged.

"Talk to Dumbledore? It's ten!"

"I know. I don't know why." Attuoria made her way towards the portrait. "Good luck with the boys." She gave Hermione a small smile, knowing very well that the boys were a hundred percent serious when they agreed to the duel with Malfoy. Hermione was going to have a hard time stopping them.

The halls were eerily quiet as she walked, the sound of her footsteps bouncing off the walls and leaving long echoes behind her. At a certain point, a cat started trailing behind her. It was Ms Norris, the caretaker's cat. Attuoria heard that she was his eyes, always on the lookout for students out of bed.

And sure enough, she had just made a turn towards the Headmaster's tower when Filch stopped her. His crooked teeth gleamed in an oddly malicious way under the moonlight that shone through the window next to him.

"Student out of bed, aye?" He snarled, a wicked smile on his face. "Heading towards the Headmaster's office? What tricks are you hiding under your sleeve?"

"Nothing." Attuoria replied truthfully, unsure to why the caretaker was being so nasty towards her. "Professor Dumbledore asked me to come see him."

Filch chuckled. "You're lying. It's ten thirty, and you should be in bed. Or should I report this to your head of house?"

Just then, someone cleared their throat from behind Filch. He turned around quickly and spotted the headmaster. He had a white beard that trailed down to his knees, matched with silvery hair that was just as long. His blue eyes twinkled curiously under the same moonlight that made Filch look menacing. Argus Filch immediately backed away to reveal Attuoria.

"Sorry for disturbing you sir, this student was out of bed. I will escort her back-"

"No worries, Argus," Dumbledore interrupted, holding his hand up. "I asked her to come. Attuoria, would you please follow me?"

Attuoria didn't spare Filch a second glance as she walked up the tower with Professor Dumbledore. He didn't say a word until they reached his office, where he beckoned for her to sit down in front of his desk. It was a comfortable chair, despite the old looks of it, and Attuoria sat facing the headmaster.

He stared at her for a few seconds before he spoke.

"I believe we haven't met before. I'm Albus Dumbledore, nice to meet you, Attuoria." He held out his hand for her to shake.

Attuoria hesitantly shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, professor. I'm Attuoria... Knight."

Dumbledore smiled a gentle smile. "Ah, but you're not really, are you?"

"Sorry?"

"Your name is not Attuoria Knight."

Attuoria swallowed a large mouthful of saliva. God, she hated this salivating thing humans did.

"That's alright, no need to be nervous."

Nervous? Attuoria raised her eyebrows. She was nervous? All this time when people were suspicious of her identity and she wasn't sure what to say, that was nervousness?

"Let me tell you what I know." Dumbledore cleared his throat again, leaned back against his chair and laid his arms gently in front of him.

"July thirty-first, two minutes past midnight: A name spelled out in ancient runes appeared on the Book of Admittance, where we keep a record of all the magical children in Europe. 'A-T-T-U-O-R-I-A'. Your name. The rest of the information included your gender, age and family. While it specified that you're a girl and eleven-years-old, the family section was empty. There was an address to a location, which was the same as Harry Potter's, so I sent an owl knowing Hagrid would be there in case something happened. I knew you would get acquainted with Harry, so I arranged for you to stay with Mrs Figg, who is a friend of mine.

"However, apart from that, there are no records of you whatsoever. Nothing. You don't have any family history, no last name, no birthday - the world does not know you exist. Yet you are here. Tell me, where did you come from?" Dumbledore leaned forwards, resting his arm on the table.

As persuasive and trustworthy Professor Dumbledore seemed, Attuoria was reminded of a promise she had made to the Elder Nightmare Demons back in the spiritual dimension:

"Whatever happens down there, you must face your own consequences. Do not bring the business to the spiritual dimension. If anything happens, we wipe you from our records."

She wasn't going to give up her promise so easily. Whatever happened in the mortal dimension stayed in the mortal dimension. Humans were not supposed to know of the existence of the spiritual dimension, and Attuoria was determined to keep it that way.

"I'm from Romania."

"No, no, no." Dumbledore immediately stopped her, sensing the lie. "I understand you tell that story to other students to make it easier for yourself, but I would like you to tell me the truth."

"How do you know I'm not-"

"We have records of every witch and wizard alive."

Attuoria stared at Professor Dumbledore blankly. There was nothing she could say now. Her cover story was broken.

"I am not condemning you for anything, Attuoria," said Dumbledore kindly, noticing Attuoria's struggle. "I am simply asking for the truth. You will not be expelled from school and I will not reveal this information to anyone."

Attuoria kept her mouth shut.

The two stared at each other in silence for a good minute before Dumbledore spoke up again. "For a first-year, you are incredibly skilled in Occlumency."

"Occlu - what?" said Attuoria, uttering her first sentence in the past five minutes.

"Occlumency."

"I'm sorry, Professor, I have no idea what that is." Attuoria said honestly. She had never heard that word before in her life.

"Really?" A suspicious look grew onto Dumbledore's face. "You're very good at blocking others from reading your thoughts, because your mind is completely empty."

Attuoria let out a gasp of surprise. "You can read minds, too?"

Dumbledore looked just as surprised as her. "You can?"

"Yes. Whenever I make eye contact with people, I can hear their thoughts. Harry thought I was crazy. I never knew other people could do it, too."

"When did you start developing this ability?"

"Literally the moment I appeared in this realm-" Attuoria immediately shut her mouth once she realised she'd said too much. Dumbledore had a way with words and managed to direct the conversation to exactly what he wanted to hear. Attuoria was impressed, but scolded herself for not being more careful.

Professor Dumbledore hummed to himself quietly as a sign that he was thinking. "So you appeared out of nowhere, you're a natural Legilimens, you're extremely talented in Occlumency, and from what I heard from your teachers, you're a talented witch as well."

"I am?"

"Yes. Professor McGonagall told me that you're the only first-year that ever managed to perfectly transfigure an object in the first lesson. Professor Sprout said you managed to completely stop your mandrake from screeching, something she'd never seen before, especially from a first-year. Professor Flitwick said you managed to perform all the charms whilst he was still going over the movement and incantation with the class. Professor Snape told me you stared at him excessively in class and was definitely up to something."

Attuoria smiled awkwardly at the last sentence. Dumbledore smiled back at her. "You were trying to read Professor Snape's mind, weren't you? He's very skilled in both Occlumency and Legilimency, so it's natural that you didn't succeed."

What? Attuoria thought to herself. But I read Snape's thoughts perfectly. It wasn't difficult at all. Maybe there is something wrong with me.

"Ah, it's getting quite late." Dumbledore said, glancing at his pocket watch. "You should go to bed. I can excuse you from your classes tomorrow, if you would like to catch up on sleep?"

Attuoria shook her head, knowing that as a Nightmare demon, she didn't need sleep at all. "It's okay. I'll be fine."

Dumbledore nodded slowly, as if still thinking about something. Attuoria decided against reading Professor Dumbledore's thoughts while she was here, because if Snape could detect something fishy, then Dumbledore was ten times more likely to immediately catch her trying to snoop into his mind.

"I would like you to keep our conversation private, Attuoria." Dumbledore said. "It's a topic I believe we may still need to discuss in the future. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course, Professor. I'm not going to tell anyone." Attuoria promised. She bid goodnight to the headmaster and headed back towards her dorm in the echoing silence of the halls.

That is, until she heard loud footsteps and panting as she neared towards the portrait of the fat lady. She decided to ignore it.

"Where've you been?" The portrait asked Attuoria. Attuoria didn't reply, and went straight to the password.

"Pi-"

"Pig snout, pig snout!" Harry's voice panted from behind Attuoria. Just as she was about to turn around, the portrait swung open and Harry rammed straight into her, the two of them rolling into the common room with Ron, Hermione and Neville behind them.

"Harry, what the-" Attuoria stood up off the ground and noticed her fellow Gryffindors lying on the armchairs, trembling and panting with their eyes wide.

"What do they think they're doing, keeping a thing like that locked up in a school? If any dog needs exercise, that one does." Ron spoke up.

Realising she wasn't going to be getting an explanation any time soon, she decided to resort to the easy way: mind reading.

"Hey Ron?" She asked, and Ron looked at her.

"Bloody hell, that three headed dog was absolutely nasty. Who knew Dumbledore meant a monster when he said the third floor corridor was off-limits? I wish I hadn't gone out tonight, I'd do anything to remove that image from my brain."

Attuoria frowned. They went to the forbidden corridor that Dumbledore had mentioned at the beginning of the year? What happened to the Midnight Duel Malfoy challenged them to? Attuoria gasped in realisation. She heard Malfoy think to himself "I hope they fell for it," which clearly meant that he was trying to trick Harry and Ron all along.

"You don't use your eyes, any of you, do you?" Hermione snapped. "Didn't you see what it was standing on?"

"The floor?" Harry suggested. "I wasn't looking at its feet. I was too busy with its heads,"

"No, not the floor. It was standing on a trapdoor. It's obviously guarding something." Hermione stood up angrily. "Now if you two don't mind, I'm going to bed. Before either of you come up with another clever way to get us killed - or worse, expelled." She was about to turn around and head up the stairs before glancing at Attuoria, signalling for her to come up with her.

Attuoria shrugged at the guys before following her.

"Wait why was Attuoria out-" She heard Ron's voice exclaim loudly before the door to the girls dormitory clicked shut behind her.