XXXI

Grega took brisk steps down the corridors, keeping her head down so no one saw her. Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, and at the same time, her mind screamed no over and over. She gritted her teeth. She had no other choice. If anyone could give her answers when no one else could, then she really had no choice than to oblige to the last resort.

"Hey, you!" a voice boomed at the end of the corridor.

Grega cursed silently and spun on her heels, wearing a worried look on her face. It was a Gryffindor prefect, and he was closing the space between them with quick strides. Of course, she had banked on bumping into one of them, but not this early, and especially not him.

"What are you doing here, out of your room?" he looked down at her past his razor-sharp nose, steely eyes seeming to stare past her act. She'd heard of his uncanny ability to unnerve even George and Fred Weasley into sobering up, and was hoping that she would stand her ground.

"I need to get my book back from Hermione Granger. We've got a test tomorrow and my period is before hers." She responded with a tinge of concern in her voice. "She told me I'd get it back right after supper but I haven't seen her since then."

"Hermione's been off since lunch today for a doctor's appointment." His eyes were unmoving. "Didn't she tell you?"

"We don't talk much."

"Of course. Miss Granger does not fraternise outside her little circle." He said quietly. Either Hermione had rejected him, or he definitely had issues.

Silence filled the air and Grega shifted in her feet uncomfortably. "Can I just go get my book?"

"Crossing of dormitories isn't allowed."

"Then can you get it for me?" she said irritably.

"I'd watch your tone if I were you. You could be put in detention for coming out of your room alone, after hours."

He watched her seethe quietly to his amusement and smirked. "Off you go now."

Grega spun on her feet, making sure her hair slapped him across the face, that jerk, and marched off back in the direction she had come. She could have taken him on and incapacitated him, but adding another person to her quest for the truth wasn't worth it.

She slammed the door to her room, still seething, and flopped down miserably on her bed. When she didn't hear an agitated mumble from Cho and Hether's signature' annoyed hiss, she lifted her head and looked about the room in the semi-darkness.

Their beds were empty.

Grega sat up in alarm. Warning bells went off in her head. Was Hether doing something to Cho? She knew the girl disliked her for her truthfully annoying truthfulness, but she didn't think she would act on it and do something to her. The last few weeks had been drama-filled on their own.

Her shoulders slumped. Even if she were to go out and investigate there was no way she would be able to find where they were or even leave the tower in the first place – as long as there were idiots like him patrolling. She couldn't apparate, and there was no rope long enough to help her climb down the side of the tower. In the end she decided it wasn't worth it and drew the curtains. When morning came and whatever had happened had happened, she would claim plausible deniability and exclude herself from the matter.

Grega took off her clothes and slipped into her nightwear, settling down for the night. If she had perhaps stayed awake for thirty more minutes to study for the real test that she had, then she would have seen Cho and Hether apparate into the middle of the room, eyes both wide with tired excitement.

Cho's heart was beating so fast that she felt it would explode and blow up the whole tower. The whole thing had been a rush, like a fast wind whistling through her ear, like the breeze that bundled her hair in it as she rode on her horse. It had been the most exhilaratingly satisfying thing she had ever done, and even though she was tired and sore, her eyes glimmered with the anticipation for more.

The bet part for her, was that her clothes were still as white as fresh paper, as if she had just put on a new set of clothes. She turned to Hether, her mouth open, but the latter was stood with a finger pressed on her lips and another pointed at Grega's sleeping form. Still, her cautiousness could not hide the fact that she was slightly delirious with joy.

Cho nodded and Hether turned her back, settling down to sleep. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out, floating into another night of dreamless, empty sleep, from which she would wake up six hours later to face a very angry Grega.

Hether groaned and turned, placing her pillow over her head.

"Oh, don't do that now," Grega snatched the pillow, letting in bright light which sent a pang of discomfort up Hether's brain.

"Are you nuts?" Hether mumbled and slithered under the eiderdown duvet.

"Yes, I am." Grega said and the duvet was gone. "Until one of you tells me where you were last night."

"What's the big deal? We went for a drink." Cho said, irritated.

"Since when?" Grega scoffed. "You don't drink!"

"Does it matter? Give me back my duvet, you're being insane." Cho lunged tiredly for the spread but missed as Grega tossed it further away from her.

"Guys, this isn't funny, okay? I thought Hether had killed you or worse!"

"Oh, really?" Hether groaned. "Do you really think that little of me? I'm past that stage."

"No, you're not. Stop evading the question." Grega folded her arms across her chest. "Where were you two last night."

The two of them sobered up from their sleepy drunkenness and gave Grega long stares.

"We had a bonfire-"

"We sailed on the lake-"

There was silence as the two of them cursed and frowned at each other.

"Guys." Grega sighed. "I'm your roommate. You can tell me the truth. Literally, it's not that hard."

"Why don't you just obliviate her?" Cho climbed out of bed and grabbed her housecoat.

"Are you serious?" Grega snapped. "Now you're what, Team Weson and Chang? A few weeks ago, you wanted to report Hether to Dumbledore, and now you're ganging up on me?"

"I'm not going to obliviate you, Grega. We went for a stroll in the forest, that's all. Me, her and Draco. We would have called you but we couldn't find you."

"That's not everything."

"Well, that's all you're getting. It's seven in the morning and I bet you haven't had your tea." Hether grumbled and followed Cho out the room, shutting the door firmly behind her.

"Do you think she knows?" Cho asked.

"Oh no, she's clueless but she'll find out when I want her to. We can tell her after we've all had something to eat. And Blaise too."

"Blaise Zabini?" Cho frowned. "What does he have to do with any of this?"

"Well, nothing yet." Hether sighed.

Anyone who glanced at Grega for the remainder of that day would assume that she was furious. And she was, indeed. It had been her and Hether, and suddenly now it was Cho and Hether. Both had taken on ridiculous airs and graces and were treating her as if she were beneath them; as if they were being plagued by her presence. The very thought of it made her seethe and boil with rage. Especially for Cho Chang. That sniveling creature was just as people described her; like a snake poised as a flower looking for where to strike.

"Are you alright?"

Grega found a cold and small hand on her arm and looked up to trace it to its owner. She scowled. "Come to mock me even further? Haven't you done enough?"

It was Anice. She blinked, brown eyes falling with sadness. She hesitated as if to decide what she was going to say. "You've snapped your quill."

Grega looked down at her hands. Sure enough, the one holding the quill had clutched it so tightly that the pen had snapped, spraying ink all over her notebook to her dismay. The other hand was placed flat on the desk, shielding what she had been writing, trembling slightly.

Grega flared her nostrils in annoyance and took out her wand. "Reparo."

"That won't work." Anice butted in. "It's a magic one so you'll have to get another."

Grega's head snapped up and she stood abruptly, pushing her chair back so sharply that it fell over. "You've got a lot of nerve talking to me, slag."

"That's enough!" A voice boomed from the other end of the classroom. Heads turned sharply as Professor Snape barged back into the room slamming the door behind him. He marched up to her desk and glared at the two girls. "Ten points from Ravenclaw. If you cannot work in my absence, Miss Geydon, then I suggest you take another elective. Insults will not be tolerated in this class." He looked down at the mess on the desk and wrinkled his nose. "And clean up this mess."

Grega shut her eyes and sat back down, blocking out the quiet groans from Ravenclaws and the snickers from other houses. The voice of reason within her warned her to swallow it down and move on; after all it was Bradley who had made the move on Anice and not the other way round.

She let out a small sigh of frustration and brought out a handkerchief, wiping away the mess as she struggled to pay attention to the professor's instructions. Still, she could not avoid the fact that Cho was like a serpent poisoning her and Hether's friendship. Maybe that was why no one else liked her, after what had happened in the room of requirement. Grega bit her lip bitterly. She was a fool to think Cho had changed. Even when she first came to their room; even when she had been there when her and Veja had tumbled over the tower; even when the two of them had stumbled upon Hether and Draco's secret; even when –

Grega's lips parted slightly and she inhaled. What was that thought? Where was it – what was that thought? Her hands scrambled desperately at the edges of her mind, trying to find that fleeting memory that she could not remember. And then she found it. There it was; her and Veja, the girl currently still shut within the infirmary, had tumbled over the edge of a tower.

That was it. Grega flung her hand up. "Professor!"

Snape sighed and lifted his eyes to her. "Yes, Miss Geydon?"

"May I go to the bathroom?" Grega's eyes darted down to her ink-stained hands. "The ink isn't rubbing off."

"Are you that inept, child?" he frowned. "Surely you can wait till the end of the lesson." He returned his gaze back to his book.

"I can't, sir," her heart pounded furiously. "The ink causes my skin to break out in hives, sir."

A loud groan spread to the class. Snape's eyes flashed furiously and the class fell back into silence. "Then take yourself to the infirmary and stop disrupting my class." He said through clenched teeth.

"Thank you professor." She mumbled and stuffed her books in her bag, and disappeared from the class in a flash.