Ryuu's POV

"Ouch!"

I turned in my chair to see Hermione seated behind me. "Sorry!" she whispered hurriedly.

I was taken aback by the randomness of this situation. Hermione shouldn't be speaking with me. Not here in class. Anyone could see. I cast a nervous look at Draco seated at the front of the room, his back to me. When I spoke, my tone was low and pissed off. "You kicked me!"

"I know, I'm sorry, but I had to tell you something."

"And kicking was the only form of communication?" I hissed. Hermione paused. "Right, sorry..."

Ron's head poked around Hermione's shoulder from the desk behind her. The seats had been moved around so it was only one person per desk. Umbridge thought it would improve our independent learning. I thought that it created an unnecessary thin path maze through the classroom, where there was barely any room to manoeuvre."Oi, Hermione! Have you told her yet?"

"Told me what?" I asked.

"Well, we were thinking-"
Harry's head appeared on the other side of Hermione, from behind Ron.

"Maybe we should talk about this after class."

Both Ron and Hermione ignored him and started to whisper at me. Because of their overlapping speech, I couldn't determine what they were actually saying. I rolled my eyes. Gryffindorks.

"Okay listen," I said keeping my tone low, "tell me later." I said as I threw a nervous glance towards Draco. He hadn't noticed my quiet interactions with the trio. In fact, it seemed like he'd barely been noticing me at all for the past two days. There was something strange about him, he'd barely spoken to me at all. His apparent avoidance made me feel... odd. Like I was failing the job.

I frowned and turned back to my textbook, clearing my head with words.Chapter 8 – Why Defensive Magic is Dangerous... Defensive Magic is completely unnecessary for the wellbeing of young wizards and witches, because they are absolutely and positively safe. The Ministry sees it as top priority that children are safe at school and at home...

I scowled. Did Umbridge write this book?! "Ahem."
My scowl widened, but I quickly adjusted it to a polite smile. The class looked up as Umbridge lowered her spectacles so that they swung on the chain around her short neck. "Miss Veil."

I made my expression go blank as the class continued reading.

"Yes?"

"Were you speaking just now?"

I narrowed my eyes. "Hopefully not, seeing as it is against the class rules..." the toad wiggled her nose "...Professor."

I noticed from the corner of my eye that Draco wasn't watching. Instead he was staring down at his empty desk, completely absorbed in his own thoughts. Good.
"Indeed." Umbridge said. Her voice was primped. Everything she said she considered carefully in her mind first, I'd noticed a slight stillness in her eyes just before she spoke.

I returned my stare to the page in front of me. Magic cannot be used outside of school because of the high risk of injury...

"Ahem."

Her little calls for attention nearly made my eye twitch in frustration. Again, I cleared my face.

"Yes?"

The stare paused. Her lips curled upwards at the ends.

"There is no talking in my classroom, Miss Veil."

"I am well aware of that... Professor." I didn't like how she kept saying my name in a passive aggressive way. It was as if she was reminding me who I was. I threw a cautious glance towards Draco, but he didn't seem to be noticing any of this interaction. I heard Hermione shift uncomfortably behind me.

Umbridge suddenly broke the ebb of silence, speaking slowly and clearly like she was speaking to someone who didn't understand English. "Are you also well aware that you have spoken out of term in my classroom, Miss Veil?" She practically dripped condescension and I itched to dry her off with a cold blast of attitude. A thousand witty responses circled through my head, but I held my tongue – not wanting to attract attention to myself.

Her eyes bored into mine. They were a similar blue to Luna's except devoid of light. And unlike Luna who looked right through you, Umbridge's stare was intently focused on every movement I made.

When I didn't reply, the gargoyle sighed over dramatically, pleased with herself. "Detention Miss Veil. My office, 8 o'clock."

*

"I'm so sorry, Ryuu." Hermione apologised for the third time.

"It's fine. Really." I lied. Unbeknownst to the rest of the class, the four of us had casually slipped into a side hallway that was hardly ever used. It would take us a tad longer to get to Charms, but it gave us some time to talk.

"But, now you've got a detention!"

"Wouldn't be the first time," I lied again. I was getting better at it every day. "Anyway, what did you guys want to talk to me about? – And by the way you all seriously need lessons in subtlety."

We smoothly separated, me on my own and the others as a trio when a young Ravenclaw girl entered our vision. Noticing Ron's Prefect Badge, she paused. "Excuse me, but do you know the way to the main staircases?"

"Err- sure." Ron said uncomfortably. As he stumbled through a rough explanation I could tell that he wasn't good with kids – even though the girl was probably only a few years younger than him. As she walked away, we merged together again.

"Well," said Harry. "We think we should have a meeting. About, you know..."

"Right..." I said evenly, my mind groaning on the inside. So far my progress in the mission had not brought forth many results. Contrary to popular belief, Slytherins didn't just prance around the Dungeons yelling about their clandestine Death Eater training to the world – or perform secret You-Know-Who worship sessions on Sundays. Two days ago, I'd sat in the Slytherin Common Room all afternoon and well into the night, pretending to read a book and listening to what people were saying. After hours I heard nothing of interest and nearly got caught by Filch on the way back to the Prefect's Dormitories.
Hermione interjected, "I think that if we're going to do this regularly, we should have specific meeting place and should meet at the same time every week."

"How about Wednesdays?" I asked.

"Okay, firstly it should be at night," said Ron.
"Well," I flicked my hair out of my eyes. "I'm going to be out tonight after my detention. How about...10pm?"

They guiltily nodded in agreement, as we passed a portrait of a Giant Squid. When it saw us, its singular eye widened and we had to avoid the spray of ink splattered in our direction as it swam back to the far reaches of the painting.

Hermione easily removed a large ink stain from Ron's sleeve, and I quickly copied the spell on myself. A particularly excessive amount of ink had latched onto a curl of my hair and I was relieved to see that Hermione's incantation worked. "I don't think we should discuss anything further here. Let's decide on a location."

Hermione returned her wand to her pocket. "What about the Great Hall?"

"Nice and inconspicuous, Hermione," I said.

"But it is, kind of..." Ron began. His head was tilted to the right as if he was trying to see around a corner. "I mean, it's the last place anyone would expect. And, if people go snooping around at night why would they go to a place where they can visit three times a day?"
"Exactly," said Hermione.

I narrowed my eyes. I was going to suggest that we meet outside the castle, perhaps in the courtyard. That way, the prospect of Filch finding us would be less likely. But for some reason – maybe I'd been hanging around Gryffindorks too much – their logic made a bit of sense.

Harry nodded as we came towards the main hallway leading to Charms. I could see a fair amount of students walking along. "That's settled then," he said. "The Great Hall, 10pm tonight."

"But, wait," I said. "If you guys all go together, won't you get caught?"

The three of them shared a grin. "Oh, there's no need to worry about that," Harry said mischievously. "I guarantee we won't be caught."

*

I waited until the second hand on my watch ticked exactly onto 8pm before I knocked on Umbridge's door. "Come in, Miss Veil." When I entered, I was hardly surprised. I had assumed Umbridge was the type of person to inflict herself on the world around her. However, her office was still too pink and lacy for my liking.

Ornate china plates hung on strands of silk around the walls, displaying the imprinted images of kittens and cats. I was a cat person, but something about these particular felines unnerved me. It was obvious that all drawings and pictures in Hogwarts were alive - to some extent at least - but these cats seemed too alive. It was almost as if they were real cats and Umbridge was a large pink crazy cat lady who'd imprisoned them in plates.

The office was disturbingly small, but had a few windows to withhold my panic. The walls were tinged pink, and smoother than the normal walls of Hogwarts castle. A domineering cupboard towered over me on the left side of the room. Umbridge sat at her desk in the centre of a circular carpet, looking at me expectantly. Her eyes shifted to rest on a small desk in front of her own that displayed a singular piece of parchment and a black feathered quill. I frowned at the dramatic difference in colour.
It was obvious that I was supposed to sit at the desk, but I waited until she told me to, because I knew it would annoy her more. It struck me as I stood in her office just how much I disliked the woman. She was just so... condescending. I could take mean, bossy and stern – these were daily for me from Slytherin. But someone treating me like an ignorant child really angered me.

"Tea?" She chirped.

I kept a fluid face, making sure not to smile in case she thought I was being cocky. "No thank you."
A shadow of a grin hovered on her lips as she poured the rosy pink liquid into her own tea cup. There was a brief silence as she took her first sip. The chair I was sitting in was extremely uncomfortable, and a part of me considered that Umbridge had done this purposefully.

"As a penalty for chatting in class, you will be writing lines this evening, Miss Veil."

No shit. I picked up the quill and readied it above the paper. "What would you like me to write?"

Something in her expression twitched and her eyes glinted. "You will write the word Outlier, Miss Veil."
My eyes instantly narrowed in suspicion and I raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?" My voice had more of an edge to it than I'd intended. "Did I not make myself clear, Miss Veil?"

Nothing about you is clear. And that's why I don't like you. I rephrased myself. "It just seems strange to me... Professor." I said, putting emphasis on her title. "I'm here for speaking in class, and yet you want me to write a word completely unrelated to the situation." I was sick of her speaking to me like I didn't understand her. Two could play at that game.
Her face produced a satisfying flicker of annoyance.

"This word does not relate to this particular problem Miss Veil, but rather a more significant one." She stood and turned her back to me. "I have noticed something, Miss Veil. Something that troubles me, as I feel it most certainly must trouble you..." She turned to face me. "It appears that Slytherin house hasn't taken to you very well." She flashed a psychiatrist's
'It's going to be just fine' smile.

I rolled my eyes. Why is it that everyone is only starting to realise this now?

*

Draco's POV

I jumped as I heard the unexpected sound.

Meow!

I slowly lowered the book to see the cat sitting stubbornly on top of my O.W.L notes. Dusk was staring directly at me, and I grimaced.

"Go away. Go on, shoo!"

The cat continued to stare at me.

"Leave." I pointed towards Ryuu's room, which was separated from my own by a short passageway.
He ignored my order and lifted his paw to its mouth. A pink tongue slid from its jaw to slide over his sunset coloured fur. I frowned, folding down the corner of my page. Leaning in close, I watched in fascination as the kitten's eyes found mine and the pupil spread like ink to reach to the circumference of its eyeball.

"Get out of my sight. I demand you." I said in my coldest voice. The cat's ears flicked backwards and it hissed at me.

Why isn't it obeying me?! I thought in frustration.

"Right, then." I said as I quickly latched my hands around the kitten's middle and pressed him to my side. The feline squirmed and struggled in my grasp, but I held it steady. I walked through the small connection between the two rooms and opened the door to Ryuu's dormitory. Normally, I wouldn't enter a lady's room without knocking, as my mother had always instructed me to, but I knew for a fact that Ryuu was in detention, plus it hardly mattered now.

She's a mudblood, Draco. That's it.

The room was quite similar to mine, except for the occasional splatters of female residence here and there. A black jewellery box sat on top of her desk, but it was empty except for a gold chain sprawled across the satin inside. The bathroom door was ajar, and I quickly averted my gaze. It was already invasive enough that I was in her bedroom; it would be creepy if I looked inside her bathroom.

Upon her bedside table was a picture frame that displayed a still image. This must be a muggle portrait... I thought in curiosity as I studied it. It was very strange to see none of the people moving, but once I had gotten over that, I recognised Ryuu standing in front of a woman who was probably in her mid thirties. The woman had olive skin and long straight black hair. Then I saw her bright green eyes. Ryuu's eyes. But of course, that's her mother. Their faces were almost identical, but their smiles were completely different somehow. Ryuu was sickly pale in comparison to her mother, and obviously had failed to inherit her skin tone. They were standing on the side of the street in the rain, underneath a bright red umbrella. Ryuu didn't look any different, so I assumed that the picture couldn't have been taken too long ago.

The cat continued to wriggle in my grip and I drew my gaze away from the picture. Ignoring Dusk's protests, I placed him on a chair and hurriedly left the room, closing the door behind me. That'll take care of him.
I frowned as I remembered the picture on Ryuu's bedside table. Both of them were... happy. My father had always said that muggles were like an entire different species from wizards, but they had looked... well, normal.

I grimaced as I entered my room. Dusk was curled up on top of my notes once more. "How did you-?!" I sighed. Accursed cat...

*

Ryuu's POV

"And?" I said almost instantly.

She paused for a moment, surprised at my unexpected acceptance of her statement. Her eyes stilled for a beat longer than normal before she found her infuriating voice. "Teamwork and cooperation are essential to the workings of a school. Without it, disruptions and disloyalty can occur." She said, as if she were reading from a textbook.

I froze. Disloyalty? Does she... know? No, there's no way she could. Calm down.

"So..." I began, "you're going to make me write lines because I'm unpopular?"

Her lip curled and she advanced to stand before me. "Slytherin house is very important to this school. It is essential that all its occupants work together."

I frowned, not letting it show too much. Does she honestly think that writing lines will persuade me to join Slytherin? And why is she so crazy about Slytherin working as a team? I thought over everything she had said as she turned to seat herself at her desk once more. I concealed my gasp with a muffled cough as a thought occurred to me.
Could she be... a Death Eater?!

"Please begin." Umbridge said in her high pitched voice.

I lowered the quill to the parchment, focusing on keeping my expression blank and my movements
natural. I could be right. She could be working secretly for the Dark Lord. Outlier... Outlier... Outlier...

The Ministry wouldn't know of course... Or would they? Maybe the Ministry is just one big organisation of Death Eaters...

Outlier... Outlier... Outlier...

I felt a tingling feeling in my arm as my pulse quickened. Maybe that's why Fudge is acting so strangely. Maybe he's under the imperious curse! Or, surely he isn't a Death Eater as well?

Outlier... Outlier... Out-

I flinched. A painful jab had pricked at the inside of my arm.

Outlier...

"Argh!" I breathed, so that Umbridge couldn't hear me. My arm hurt and it felt hot, like I had just pressed a flaming needle against my flesh. Unbidden, my mother's explanations of cardiac arrest symptoms flashed to the front of my mind. The pain dulled after a minute, but I could still feel it tingling, waiting...

Outlier... Outlier... Outlier...

The pain was increasing as I wrote. What the-?!
I lifted the quill from the parchment as I saw a strand of maroon liquid run down from the back of my wrist across my palm. My eyes widened. It couldn't be... blood... I stared at the quill that rested in my right palm. The feather was jet black and the nib, which I had failed to notice before, was a deep crimson red.

"Miss Veil?"

I met Umbridge's gaze knowing that my eyes looked shocked. I hastily plastered a pleasant smile on my face and kept my tone light, but sincere, unconsciously mirroring her body movements to improve her attitude towards me.

"I've been considering what you said, Professor."

Keep calm.

Her face brightened, "And?"
"And, I think you're right. Teamwork is important." I strengthened my pretend smile.

"Wonderful, Miss Veil!"

"Yes, I think my school years will be much more enjoyable if I bond with my peers." Now I sounded like I was reading a script. Tell her what she wants to hear, Ryuu.

Keep control.

"Well, Miss Veil, I'm very happy with our progress here tonight," She said as she lowered her teacup to balance delicately on its saucer. "You may leave now; I will see you in class next week."

I smiled again, lowering my head in a small bow before standing and walking towards the open door. I kept my pace normal.

Keep calm. Keep in control.

I walked down the stairs and into the classroom, holding my head high and listening to the eerie silence broken only by the sound of my footsteps echoing off the stone walls.

Calm, control.

I entered the hallway and allowed myself to breathe. I quickly stumbled towards a light source and flung the sleeve of my robe aside. A crimson stain was spread over the white cloth. I slowly unbuttoned it and let it fall away. Rolling it up, I winced as it brushed against the wound.

*

The light from the full moon flooded the hallway as I tied my sock around the scars. The blood flow had eased, but was still stinging. It was difficult to tie the sock around my wrist with only one hand, but I knew I had to apply pressure to the wound. Ron was right. I hadn't seen Filch at all on my way towards the Great Hall. It was completely empty now, as I sat on the Slytherin table, on the outskirts of the light protruding from the flames of the lantern.
One thing was for sure. Umbridge was clearly demented. What kind of a sadist used that form of punishment on children? There must be something in the water at the Ministry... But something else made me feel increasingly uncomfortable about her. The things she'd spoken about gave me a horrible indication that she knew things about me. Perhaps she was spying on me. Like the hypocrite I was, this made me very angry. I'd have to be more careful.
I hastily covered my now bound wrist as I heard a noise from behind me. I reached for my wand and pointed it into the darkness around me. I wouldn't usually be so edgy, but because of my recent physical abuse, I deemed the precaution necessary.

"Don't panic," said a voice from next to my shoulder.
I gasped in shock and I was about to scream when Hermione appeared from nowhere beside me. The scream caught in my throat as she hastily placed a finger to her lips and said "Shhh!"

"It's us." Harry and Ron appeared behind her, again from nowhere.

"Uh –huh." I said. "Since when can you appear suddenly behind me in the darkness!?"

Harry threw nothing towards me and I felt it brush over my head. I tore it off and inspected it. It felt like spider webs in my fingers. The outside of the cloth was as non-existent as Zacharias's balls, but the inside was patterned and silky, an ivory colour.

"It's an invisibility cloak," said Ron as he sat down beside me.

"You don't say?" I muttered half heartedly, before realising what a great asset it was. "Could I borrow it some time?"

"No." Harry snapped a little too quickly and harshly.

"Sorry about the shock," said Hermione. "I was hoping you wouldn't panic."

I shrugged. "Oh, don't worry. Happens all the time..."
"Well, enough chit-chat," said Ron, as he retrieved a packet of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans from his robes and offered them around. "Let's get to business."

I told them about what I had learned from Draco, which was annoyingly little. So I quickly went on to what I'd learned from my afternoon of eavesdropping. They were particularly interested to hear that Theodore Nott was the only Slytherin who dared say the Dark Lord's true name. I had heard this from Pansy Parkinson, who was usually excited with gossip, but this had left her panting with hysteria. Once I had gone through my entire spiel about Reeah Noseworthy and how she'd said that their father often spoke to the fading imprint of his Death Eater tattoo, Harry asked me about my detention with Umbridge.
At first I hesitated, thinking about what I should tell them. Something in the way they were looking at me was unusual. It was as if they knew. I decided it was probably best to tell the truth.

When I had recounted the entire event, Hermione demanded that I show her my scars. As she inspected them, she shook her head, sighing.

"This is Murtlap Essence. It sooths and heals cuts..." she said as she retrieved a small blue bottle from her pocket and poured the contents onto a cloth. The liquid steamed slightly as it dissolved into the fabric, but was pleasantly cool when Hermione began to dab it against my wounds. The scars closed up and stopped bleeding. I could already see them begin to fade.

"Umbridge is mental. She did the same thing to Harry, you know."

I met Harry's eyes. "Really?"

He nodded gravely, and released his own arm from his sleeve to show to me. Awkwardly I leaned over to see a faint outline of the words that used to be so prominent.

I must not tell lies.

There was a silence and I munched distractedly on my apple pie flavoured bean. "This is going to sound crazy, but... I think she might be a Death Eater."
Three pairs of eyes widened as I explained my theory. We went into deep discussion about the possibilities and Hermione even pulled out a parchment and quill and began to hastily write a letter to the Order.

"I'll post this tomorrow," she said, "Harry, do you mind if I borrow Hedwig?"

"Of course."

I stammered. "Wait, so Hermione can borrow your owl – your living, breathing bird – but you can't lend me your cloak?"

Harry nodded. "That's right."

I opened my mouth to retort, but couldn't think of an argument. I glanced at Ron and he shrugged in answer. I crossed my arms in front of me, slightly peeved. I was only doing all of their dirty work for them. I wouldn't have minded a hint of gratitude.

"Well everyone, I think that this has been a very successful week," Ron said with a grin, "And it's only our first official TFT meeting."

Everyone looked at him with confused expressions and he grinned wickedly. "TFT. I thought it would be a cool group nickname."

"What does it mean?" I asked.

Ron stood up dramatically and said, "Team Ferret Takedown."

In the same moment Harry and Ron burst into fits of hysterics. Hermione rolled her eyes at their immaturity and grabbed the invisibility cloak. I shook my head, remembering the Amazing Bouncing Ferret incident. Draco had received taunts from the other houses for weeks and it had resulted in severe wounds to his pride. Since then, it was common to hear some of the braver Gryffindors refer to him as 'Ferret Boy'.

"That," I said, "is so cruel." But a smirk still threatened my frown.

Ron shrugged and walked over towards Hermione with Harry close behind him. "Call it whatever you want to call it, Ryuu. But really, great job this week."
Oh, there's the gratitude. I mentally thanked the darkness as I felt my cheeks tinge pink. Praise.

"Thanks."

The three of them disappeared under the cloak. I could hear the footsteps walking past me, and watched as Ron stuck his head into visibility.

"Well, off you go then. Keep up the good work in Operation Ferret!"

I sighed as the trio walked away, invisible once more. Harry's and Ron's laughter was eventually suppressed by Hermione scolding them into silence.