When I got there, I was greeted by a worried looking Madam Pomfrey.
"What happened to you?" she asked, sounding slightly scared.
I sighed.
"You need to swear you won't tell anyone," I demanded. "It's important nobody knows."
"Of — of course," she promised quickly, looking at the bandages on my arm.

I pulled them off, revealing the many scars that I'd acquired over the years, and Madam Pomfrey gasped.
I pointed to the really long cut and the cut which said scum, then said, "Professor Dumbledore told me to come to you about these. I've had a Blood-Replenishing potion and a Draught of Peace, and I really need something to stop the blood soaking into my clothes," I explained. "It's impossible to heal the cuts or stop them from bleeding, they'll stop naturally in a day or two."

Madam Pomfrey quickly cleaned up the blood, got some clean bandages and wrapped them around my arm. I winced slightly as she put pressure on the cuts, but stayed still.
"There," she said when she was done. "I'm only sorry I can't heal them for you."
"It's fine, don't worry," I said, looking at my bloodstained jumper.
I need to change this, otherwise people will be suspicious.
I clicked my fingers and was wearing the same jumper, only it was one without any blood on it.

Thanking Madam Pomfrey, I walked out of the hospital wing and down to the great hall, hoping Harry, Ron, and Hermione would still be there. They were.
"Ivory!" Hermione exclaimed, running up to me and hugging me.
I gave a small gasp of pain — she was squeezing my arm.
"I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?" she asked anxiously, pulling away.
"Just a little," I replied, somewhat truthfully, walking with her to Harry and Ron.
"Sorry," she said again, "but we were really worried! You said you'd be forty-five minutes; you were gone for nearly two hours!"
"I was? I didn't realise it was that long..."

"Ivory, thank Merlin you're ok," Ron said as I sat down.
"I'm fine, guys! You all worry too much!" I said, touching my right arm lightly.
"What do you want to do now?" Harry asked me. "We couldn't really think of anything, we've done all our homework thanks to that little trick you taught us."
"Well..." I started, wondering if I could trust them to keep a secret.
Of course you can trust them! Just tell them already!
"I've got something to show you, if you'd like," I said. Then I quickly added, "But you have to promise you'll keep it a secret."
"Of course!" they said at the same time.
"Right, wanna see now?" I asked, and they nodded. "Ok, we need to go to the common room."

I led the way up to the common room where, to my frustration, there were quite a few students.
"Can't show you here, it's too crowded," I said. "Let's go up to your dorm, Harry and Ron."
We walked up to the boys' dorm quickly. When we got there I got out my purse, opened it, and put it on the floor.
"Go on, get in it," I said, smirking at the confused looks on their faces. "Just climb in. Oh, but be careful — I knocked over the potions shelves earlier."
I watched as the confusion on their faces turned to bewilderment.
"I'll go first, if you like," I offered, then I climbed into the purse and down the ladder inside.

I sighed in exasperation as I saw the vials of potions scattered across the floor. Thankfully, I had taken precautions and enchanted them so they couldn't break, but it was still going to take me a while to tidy up.
"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed, climbing down the ladder after me.
I smiled to myself. Evidently he hadn't expected to climb into a room that was a mixture of a storeroom, living room, and kitchen, with doors leading into yet more rooms. It had been a big project that I had worked on almost every night at the Manor; I'd created almost everything with magic, mainly by transfiguring small stones and insects that had come into my cell.

"Wow," said Harry as he followed after Ron. "Ivory, this is amazing!"
"Thanks Harry," I said as I started to stand the shelves for the potions up. "Could you give me a hand?"

Hermione came down the ladder as Harry, Ron and I had just got the shelves back to their normal place.
"That was some really complex magic, Ivory," Hermione said, looking impressed.
"Ridiculously complicated to do," I agreed. "Can you help me put these back on the shelves? They go in alphabetical order, the vials are all labelled."

After about thirty-five minutes, we had finally finished.
"Thanks guys," I said, smiling. "Do you want to have a look around?"
"Yeah!" said Ron, and Harry and Hermione both nodded.
"Go ahead, but try not to break anything. If you need me, I'll be through there."
I pointed to a light grey door and headed into the room that lay behind it — the library. It was at least twice the size of the great hall, with shelves of books covering every inch of the walls. In the middle of the room were soft, squishy armchairs, much like the ones in the Gryffindor common room.
"Hermione, I think you'll like what's in here!" I said loudly.

Hermione walked in and gasped as she saw all the books.
"Wow, there's so many!"
"Feel free to read them," I offered, grinning.
"Thanks!"
I grabbed a copy of Moste Potente Potions, sat in one of the armchairs, and started to read. I smiled. For the first time in a long time, I felt like there were people who cared about me.