With each day my collection of rune magic, charm-works, curses and more grew. I was determined to find a way to get out of all this without fighting. I just needed something, anything that could warn me or protect me and the people I wanted to keep safe. Passing day after day I grew more restless. I knew what was to come, what had to happen. I couldn't risk straining the timeline any further. I still didn't know why I was here, if it was even possible to change the ending of my story and no research had told me the answer to my trip either. That magic, that brooch it was if it shouldn't – couldn't – exist. It was infuriating.

Angry at the world and anxious what I would have to face in a few days after the tournament, I stepped into the Defence against the Darks Arts classroom. Like every time the door locked behind me as the spells settled into place. However there was no trace of my Professor in the room. Stepping up to the board, studying the written lecture of some other year, I began to clean it. The distraction didn't stop my senses from raisin an alarm as the magic shifted barely perceptible. Instinctive I charged an petrificus totalus to my right side at the wall not 10 feet away from me and saw it bouncing off. Startled I got in an defensive position, my heart pumping. I couldn't see anything unusual. My mind worked overtime. It had to be either a desilusion charm or an for invisibility charmed object, so I quickly cast revelio, just to feel a wand at me neck.

"You are dead. Quick thinking but you forgot your defensive. You shouldn't leave your back open and always keep your guard up." His breath tickled over my cheek as he leaned in to lecture me, wand still on my neck. I didn't think it would be possible form my heart to beat any faster, but it did. I just hoped that he didn't notice. "If I wanted to harm you, I could now do anything to you..." Scratching his wand slowly along my neck to my throat, raising my chin he grinned madly. "Torture you, kill you ... extract your deepest secrets..." His eyes shining with intrigue as I involuntarily twitched. "Oh yes... And you seem to have so many secrets... Always on guard, always behind a barrier. Isn't that right? That's the only thing I don't need to teach you. You're mind is already a fortress of occlumency. Makes me wonder what you are hiding. How a child can use such a powerful spell seemingly without effort..."

My hands grew clammy. A bitter taste spread in my mouth. Always being on guard, my arse...

I felt too safe and ignored the greatest danger in my proximity. Him. He was well versed in Legimancy and Occlumancy, I should have thought more about the possibility of him noticing, especially as close as we were working. Defiantly, I hardened my gaze and fixed it on his eyes.

"That's none of your concern. I get what you are trying to do, but you won't accomplish anything. My thoughts, memories and emotions are private and I will rather die than show them to you."

My words seemed to amuse him as he started to laugh, his wand not moving an inch. I gritted my teeth. And I had begun to like that man. Good thing he finally showed his true colors before I had lost my grip on reality completely. He stopped abruptly, his grin back to boyish not cruel. Giving me a light tap against the underside of my chin and winking he withdrew.

"That's a good answer. I like your courage, keep it that way. If I wanted to crack you open I would use other methods. Keep your secrets for now. As long as you play your part, I won't harm you. I promised, didn't I?" Flabbergasted I stared at his back. "But..."

"Ahah! I wasn't finished. Take it as a lesson. You need to up you casting speed and your powerful enough to utilise more than one spell at one. Your occlumency skills that are in perfect shape all the time while casting is proof enough. But you need to not only shield your emotions but also not let them cloud your judgement. I never took your wand, you still could have defended yourself."

Rubbing the phantom pain from my neck, I scowled at him. "So was this all just a test of how well I do under pressure?"

Setting of a small firework he turned his head and smiled. "Sure! And you passed. You have a long way to go but that's nothing training can't fix."

Groaning I sank down on one of the benches. I just didn't get this guy! Was he evil? Was he an opportunist? Why was he doing all this? I could feel his eyes on me, analysing my every move. Ok, sure... I would go with opportunist. That's what I could work with, what I was as well. Pulling myself together, I walked over to him again. "Whatever, you said something about casting more than one spell? Does this lesson include wandless magic?"

I could see how keen he was for me to follow his methods. And for the first time today I smiled. He may be a tad mad and would possibly be the death of me but that didn't diminish his sometimes surprisingly positive radiance. Like a flickering light in the darkness... I was happy that he couldn't see my thoughts and emotions. It wouldn't do me any good if he found out I was sad on his behalf. God, I really needed to get my priorities straight. I couldn't keep thinking that way about him. He was a death eater, he killed people, he would assist in bringing the dark lord back to life and he would be sentenced to death by the dementors kiss. These were facts, there was no way I could change any of it... or was there?