Vega made her way down to McGonagall's office ten minutes before six.  Pansy was, unsurprisingly, late.  When the headmistress came out into the corridor and spotted only Vega waiting patiently on a bench, she gave her a small nod of approval.

"Has Miss Parkinson gone to use the lavatory?" Her question was reasonable, but Vega could tell she already knew the answer.  "No matter," she said, "I'll go and find her.  I trust you know your way to Hagrid's?" Vega nodded.  "Well then, I won't make you wait around.  Hagrid will be expecting you.  Walk with haste, it'll be dark soon."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall." Vega turned to leave.

"Oh, and Miss Candlewood," she called for her to stop.  Vega peered nervously at the headmistress.  "If I've learned anything in my years at Hogwarts it is this," she stood up straight as if giving a presentation, "one cannot possibly hope to overcome a battle without the loyalty and reinforcement of friends."

Vega gave her a quizzical look.  "I'm not sure I understand your meaning, Professor."

"I have seen a plethora of students come and go through those doors, and one thing remains to be the same.  Friends are the core of your time spent here.  Without them, you cannot hope to defeat whatever it is that ails you."  Vega opened her mouth to argue that nothing was wrong, but the wise old woman held up her hand.  "I also know that students, however bright, are hesitant to ask staff for help.  Just know that help will always come to those at Hogwarts who deserve it."  She winked and went back into her office without another word, leaving Vega stunned in the hall.

She shook off the cryptic message and went off in search of Hagrid.  As McGonagall had said, he was waiting just outside of his hut with a large lantern that was half her size, though it didn't seem odd in comparison to his own towering height.  "Evenin' Vega," he greeted.  It made her smile to hear a teacher call her by her first name.

"Hello, Hagrid," she returned his warm smile.

"I see yer scratches are all healed up.  Might get yerself a few more tonight.  Gnomes are feisty creatures," he chuckled deeply.

"That's okay.  Anything beats cleaning with Filch," Vega stated.  "Hagrid," she took a deep breath, "I never got to thank you for helping me that day...at the lake.  Blaise was...well..." Vega trailed off. She rubbed her arms in the chill of the night.

Hagrid stood up from his bottom step and stepped forward to place a rather large hand on her petite shoulder.  "I know.  No thanks needed.  Should be thankin' that dog." His words startled her.

"W-what dog?" she stammered.

His beady eyes twinkled at her from beneath his bushy brown eyebrows.  "I'm not blind.  I saw it.  Saw it run off too," he said fondly.  "Wolves are naturally loyal creatures.  No doubt, you earned it's trust somehow or 'nother."

He started tromping over leaves to the pumpkin patch as the sun began to disappear and make the stars visible.  "Why didn't you say anything?  If you saw it, I mean.  It attacked a student."

"Don't that answer yer question?  Woulda been hunted, it would.  For what?  Bitin' that bad egg?  Nah, couldn't bring meself to say nothin'," he said lowly.

Vega couldn't help but beam up at him in awe.  "I call him Noori," she found herself saying out loud.

"Noori, huh?  I used to have a dragon.  Norbert." She could see him looking up at the stars as if recalling his old pet.  "Had to give him up.  Dumbledore said I couldn't keep a dragon at Hogwarts."

"My dad won't let me have a pet.  Noori is the first animal I've ever even gotten close to," Vega admitted.

Hagrid lifted a brow and smiled down at her.  "Coulda fooled me.  I make it my business to care fir the creatures in these woods." He waved his hand horizontally, pointing at the treeline.  "I seen that pup a time or two, but it never came to me.  Fang won't go to 'im neither.  He's a bloody coward though, he is."  Vega laughed.  "He came to you though.  That means somethin'.  Animals are smart.  Smarter 'en most think.  Wish I had summat what ya got.  Fine thing it is to earn a wolf's favor."

His words resonated within her in a way no one else's ever had.  He was like a father figure, standing over her with a proud look on his face and admiration in his tone.  For a fleeting moment, she forgot all about her troubles and the pug faced bully in Slytherin, but they came rushing back when she heard a rustling in the bushes. "That'll be the gnomes," grunted Hagrid.  "Been scarin' Fang an' makin' the faires upset."

"Are we using the disorienting method?" Vega checked and Hagrid nodded. 

She rifled through the pumpkins until she came up with a horn footed little gnome that nipped at her without success.  Spinning it around in circles, she let go and tossed it it in the air.  The gnome screeched as it flew off into the forest and landed with a loud smack on the dirt floor.  It stood up on shaky legs and wandered aimlessly like a drunkard before disappearing farther back.

"Yer a natural!" Hagrid beamed at her.

"Thanks," she said with her hands on her hips.  She had a question on the tip of her tongue, but she didn't know how to ask it without him seeing right through her.  "Hagrid?" She looked up at him warily.  He glanced over expectantly.  "Did you hear what everyone was saying...about Draco and I?  Is that why you told him I was in the hospital?"  She wanted to know how far the slander had spread.  The thought of the staff hearing about Draco's little ploy with her made her skin crawl.

He said nothing for a moment and then, making a thoughtful sound, he said, "I never talk te Malfoy.  Can't says I ever have.  He threatened me with his father once." He shrugged, marching towards a particularly vicious looking gnome and spinning it around.

"Draco came to visit me in the hospital wing.  He said you told him I was there." Vega furrowed her brows.

"I don't know what te tell yer, Vega.  I ain't spoke to Malfoy in over a year." 

"Why?" she wondered aloud.

"Mutual dislike, I spose." Hagrid replied, misreading her question. 

She spent the rest of the evening with Hagrid, in a comfortable silence, tossing gnomes into the forest and sticking to topics like magical creatures.  The hour seemed to fly by and before she knew it, Hagrid was telling her goodnight and sending her back to the castle with a large piece of smoked salmon as her reward. 

After making sure that Hagrid had gone back inside, she slipped away to the edge of the lake to see if Noori was there.  She waited around until the only light left was the moon before she finally gave up and went on her way to the castle.  It put a knot in her stomach to do so without seeing the wolf.  Truthfully, she considered the creature her only real friend at Hogwarts.  Luna was sweet, but in a sort of way that all acquaintances were.  Draco, well, he'd proved he was no more than a fling.  A fling that she would undoubtedly have to rid herself of before she got her heart broken any further.

As she walked up the steps to her common room, something inside her told her to go past it.  Like a whisper carried down the corridor that only she could hear, it bade her to keep going.  A lovely place to sit and read alone without worrying about putting on a false smile for her roommates.  She quietly slipped up to the seventh floor and paused.

Sensing her inner thoughts, the same magical doors she'd found in her first week had begun to reappear.  Sucking in a breath, she opened the door and shut it behind her without so much as a creak.  She always carried a book with her, and detention was no different.  A copy of her current novel was tucked in her Ravenclaw robes, ready to provide her with the kind of magic only words could.

She walked down a ways, past rows of stacked chairs and bins of goblets, until she reached a dusty little space beneath curved, unlit lanterns.  There were two lumpy cushions covered in a thin film of ashes that she lightly dusted off with her sleeve to reveal the crimson and gold colors beneath.

She gathered her robe about her before sitting down and cracking open the hardback, but froze when she heard whispers.

"You have no idea," came Draco's cold tone.

"I know enough to tell McGonagall!" Blaise shouted at him.

Vega shrank back into the cushions, not wanting to be seen.  "You don't know anything," Draco spat back.

"Is that why you weren't in Potions?  Because you-"

"Crucio!" Vega covered her mouth as the agonizing screams from Blaise echoed around the room.  They only lasted a few seconds before they turned into desperate pants.  "If I were you," Draco spoke in a low voice, "I'd think carefully about what you do next.  I'm not the only one keeping it secret."

Vega raised herself up to a crouch and tried to peek over the twisted lanterns.  She could just barely make out the brilliant blond back of Draco's head.  She couldn't see Blaise, but she assumed he was writhing on the floor somewhere.  She could hear his bated breaths as he panted out, "You've gone mad!"

"You didn't know that already?" Draco countered.  "Get out of my sight," he commanded.  Blaise stood up and bolted from the room, running right past Vega without stopping.  He slammed the door behind him, rattling the objects around her.  Draco didn't move right away, he stood fixed in the room not looking at anything particular.

Vega decided it was too risky to leave without him seeing her, so she lowered herself carefully back onto the cushions and grabbed her book.  The first chance she got, she was going to run.

Draco sounded like he was pacing, though she could no longer see him.  She stood up to see if he was farther and smacked her head on one of the lanterns.  Her eyes widened as she heard the echoing clang as it crashed onto the floor.

"Who's there!" Draco called out.  "Evanesco!" She heard him cry and the piles of junk hiding her began to dissappear.  She dropped her book, stooping low to keep hidden as she ran for the door.  "Incarcerous!" Ropes shot out just in front of her but she leapt over them.  

The door was right in front of her and she paled when Draco cried out, "Bombarda!"  The shelves of books beside her exploded and knocked her aside.  She scrambled up and ripped open the door, racing down the two flights of stairs and not stopping to catch her breath until she was in her dorm.  Luna was unquestionably doing her rounds, as her bed was made up and she was nowhere to be found, but Arabelle bolted up when Vega burst into the room.

"You look like you've just had a run in with the whomping willow," she said, crossing the room to pluck debris from Vega's curls.

"I-" she thought of something quick, "I was in detention with Hagrid.  De-gnoming."

Arabelle nodded her spiky, brown head in understanding.  "Little pests," she laughed.  "Better that than what I saw Parkinson doing.  I walked in on her scrubbing toilets in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom."  Vega let out a half forced laugh with the girl.

"I'd rather spend time with Hagrid any day over Filch,"  Vega confided, thinking back on how kind the giant of a man had been.