Since the three friends' talk about Dumbledore's plans, they hadn't seen Meryl again all night. While the students began to return from dinner, Calynn was inside her bed with the canopy around her, everyone would think she would be asleep or not in the bedroom, but the truth was that she had fought the dream to listen the comments of the children of Gryffindor who now knew about her prompt expulsion

"It was time for her to leave," Alice Howell's characteristic voice commented. "Her presence was nothing but disgusting."

"And yet she was Longbottom's girlfriend," Lily's voice was heard.

Alice only made a mocking sound and her steps indicated that she had gone to her bed quite indignantly. Little Black who heard everything from where she was decided to go to bed so as not to give explanations to Lily from whom her steps were heard quite close outside the canopy. She lay on the pillow and tried to fall asleep until she succeeded while she knew she was going into a dream.

Calynn was walking slowly and, apparently, fearful, toward what she pretended to be the Malfoy Manor while following two crestfallen people. They entered the house and the interior was too blurry for it to be visible but, simultaneously, sounds of spells and screams began to be heard around the little girl while she felt she was running into the unknown while behind her a scream that became familiar It was emitted which caused her to turn instinctively but before she could see at least one shadow in the middle of that darkness, she was brought back to reality with Lily's pillows received on her cheek as she woke up quite scared and silence returned to the bedroom . She knew that those kinds of dreams were premonitory and that what she saw would be what would happen and she could not do anything to avoid it, she would only have liked to see a little more of the dream, just a few seconds. But Calynn had realized that with the passing of the months her visions were a little more blurred than they were before and that was what prevented her from observing correctly around her, maybe at some point in her life she would get rid of those dreams forever.

She got up early, had not slept as she would have liked, but hurried down to breakfast without waiting for any of her two friends, wanted to avoid in one way or another the presence of many students in the Great Hall. When she finished and came back down the great steps, she noticed that Lily was just going down with sleepiness.

"Have you seen Meryl?" Asked Lily before giving a yawn.

"No, there is hardly anyone downstairs," the girl replied as she wondered where Meryl could be.

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Asked the redhead, it was impossible to avoid noticing how hurried little Black was.

"With Dumbledore," she said seriously. "We don't have much time left," she finished as she said goodbye to her friend and resumed her way to the principal's office.

As always, Calynn stood in front of that statue and pronounced the password, climbed the steps with agility and opened the door of a rumble while she found the director sitting in front of his desk with a cup of hot chocolate in front of him. His eyes lit up when he saw her arrive, it was obvious that he was waiting for her and that he had some plan in mind.

"Good morning, Miss Black," said Dumbledore, rising from his seat as he approached the little girl as he gave her a mischievous smile, getting another one in response. "I have already planned some strategies for our plan, but I must know that you agree with me and that I have your approval to begin," said the director with a more serious expression. Calynn just nodded, ready to listen. "First of all, we need even more practice in defense spells," he began, "you may refuse to use them once in battle, but knowledge of these is important and also learn the best resistance strategy towards them," he said while Calynn was inferring the answer. "I'm talking about Unforgivable Curses, our first lesson, do you agree?"

Calynn thought about it a little before answering, one of those curses was the one that had provoked her first hatred towards her parents and in spite of so much time she still didn't have enough strength to resist her. But the little girl knew very well that, in the middle of the battle, Druella would not hesitate to use her once more against her daughter, that was what led her to finally decide on her answer.

"Yes, I agree, Professor," she replied, still looking at the professor before looking down at Dumbledore's wand, so characteristic. It was even longer than hers, had some circles carved in a kind of frequency and was a brown color. Dumbledore apparently noticed the little girl's eyes and hurriedly added:

"I'm not going to hurt you, Miss Black," he said before sketching a friendly smile. Having a good resistance to Unforgivable Curses is not easy." He paused, "but it doesn't mean it's impossible."

After a while and a couple of sips of chocolate from Dumbledore, Calynn was in front of the director while they both saw each other.

"How will be this practice, professor?" Asked the girl without a facial expression.

"We will begin with the curse you know best and for what I think will be the easiest to control," he said as he ran the wand between his fingers. "In order to be resistant to the Cruciatus curse, it is important that you mentalize that you should not suffer any pain, just imagine that you are not under some spell and you will achieve it, Miss Black," he explained as the director observed the gesture of insecurity of the little Death Eater while she was only giving her an expression of sadness, it was clear that Dumbledore had no intention of harming Calynn, but had not found any other way. "I won't let it last long, Miss Black," he finished as the girl nodded and tried to calm down while breathing slowly. On the other hand, Dumbledore took the wand and pointed it at her while closing his eyes.

"Crucio!" Dumbledore's words pierced the little girl's ears, those words were the least she wanted to hear at that moment. In an instant she felt that characteristic pain throughout her body as she fell to the ground and try to avoid screaming, but it was impossible. It was less than five seconds and the spell vanished. Calynn opened her eyes and watched the director sitting on the floor of the room as he pulled a handkerchief from his tunic bag. The little girl sat up and watched the old man carefully while he only gave her a look of guilt wiping away tears. "I thought this would be a little easier," he commented. "Forgive me, Miss Black, but as much as you study the Unforgivable Curses theory you will never know enough to be able to resist them, Miss Black, I have no choice." His voice had changed, it wasn't worry or fear, it was a deep sadness. "You can decide whether to do this or not."

Calynn, quite sore, thought about it a little, but one way or another it was better to practice this with Dumbledore himself than to try once with her mother. In spite of everything, the little girl still had an awkward question that could not be answered.

"Professor," she began, "I know that in order to conjure a good Cruciatus, the desire to cause pain to the victim is necessary, how is it..." Dumbledore interrupted her when he realized where that question was going.

"That is why I close my eyes, Miss Black, to imagine someone I really don't esteem as much as you," Dumbledore said, still discouraged.

The little girl was silent, she wondered who Dumbledore might want to make suffer, was its Voldemort himself? But what Calynn didn't know is that the character who went through the director's mind was a wizard by the name of Gellert Grindelwald, quite unknown to the little girl.

After a few seconds, they both prepared again, but this time Dumbledore put away the wand. The look of confusion on the part of the girl were the reasons why the director was quick to explain what they would do next.

"We're going to practice the force of thoughts, you'll see that having the ability to close your mind will make it easier for you to create thoughts," said the old man. "So, repeat after me: I don't feel pain." He finished while waiting for Calynn to repeat it next to his, facing each other. The little girl not only repeated it, applied the same technique she used to prevent her thoughts from being read to it, the one that was carved inside her mind to never forget it and make that thought more and more resistant.

After twenty minutes and a short rest, they both felt quite sure to try that torture again for both of them, but it was the only way to dominate the Unforgivable Curses.

"It won't last more than five seconds, Miss Black," the professor said in a gesture of anguish as he had never seen in his life. "Do not expect not to feel any pain, I do not know any magician who is immune to the Cruciatus curse, but some who manage to degrade their effects by up to eighty percent and for the same reason, you must be patient. Maybe it will improve a little more this time, but it won't be perfect," he commented in a trembling voice as his gesture turned to a pity, but he decided to continue as seriously as he could. "If you manage to get up from the ground we will complete the first curse, if in those five seconds you need to stop just raise your hand, and know that I will not bother if you decide not to learn this, Miss Black," he finished as he looked into her eyes, tired and sad as she had found them since they had practiced the first time.

Calynn just nodded as she prepared for the impact, five seconds of hell. When it happened, everything was almost the same as the first time, except that Calynn's screams had reduced its intensity.

After almost four minutes, after a break they had decided to take because of the fatigue they both brought; Calynn who was on the ground prepared to continue with that torturing spell and, although she had already improved a lot, they had practiced the same thing almost fifty times in less than five minutes. The little girl's red eyes revealed her tears, her sore throat only reflected her pain and the barely noticeable headache showed her perseverance.

Dumbledore raised his wand, causing little Black to close her eyes, breathe and begin to concentrate. She was so isolated from her surroundings that she did not even listen when the old man recited the curse, she only felt the curse impact with her. Then the torture ran through her from head to toe, clenching her teeth and fists to avoid screaming. She began to concentrate, repeated the phrase even as she moved her lips. She got on her knees telling Dumbledore to prolong the spell, this time she had already managed to keep her balance while the pain became a little more tolerable; she put a foot with enough force while staggering and placed one of her hands to avoid going back to the ground, some tears slid down her cheeks, as a result of pain resistance, she dared not open her eyes. She got up and managed to squat with enough difficulty, trying to keep her balance, she was only one step away from getting it. Without thinking too much and without omitting the phrase inside her head, she straightened with agitated breathing, perhaps she had managed to reduce the pain by fifty percent, but no more, it took a great force to be able to stand there. She dared to open her eyes to meet Dumbledore's, amazed, when at that moment Professor McGonagall broke into the room and the director instantly cut the spell.

McGonagall looked at both of them, her concern when she saw little Black was more than obvious, so Calynn supposed she should look really bad.

"Dumbledore..." the teacher began in disbelief, apparently assumed what the professor had been teaching Calynn. "The Cruciatus curse?" McGonagall continued in shock as she passed the girl's gaze to the old man. "But she's just a girl, did you really think she could resist it?" Minerva snapped with a disapproving gesture. However, Dumbledore's smile changed McGonagall's countenance in just a few seconds. "Have you got it?" She questioned with a print in her voice as she turned to look at Calynn who bore a gesture of joy and pride without being able to avoid imminent fatigue, was exhausted. Minerva's gesture was ineffable, little Black had never seen her like that in her entire life at school. "I think Miss Black has learned to occupy the powers of Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in a more subtle way," added the professor, dedicating a smile to Calynn who analyzed her words. They were totally true, she had somehow managed to bring that force and those powers in her favor, a part of her past acting in a pleasant way towards her, that was something out of the ordinary.

Dumbledore gave her an energetic hug and invited her to rest in her common room if she preferred, to which Calynn simply could not refuse, she felt as if a curse was on her that caused her extreme tiredness all the time, she wanted rest and forget the world a little; to be able to dream how in the future she was immune to her mother's Cruciatus curse and, for the first time, she would know that that would not be impossible.

She reached the common room and was surprised that she had not found Meryl or Lily anywhere. She had looked for them downstairs and inside the Gryffindor tower, but her exhaustion won over her curiosity, so she decided to go up to the bedroom while feeling all the missiles of hatred thrown from the eyes of her housemates.

Fortunately, inside the bedroom there were only two third year girls looking for a fairly concentrated book. Calynn was already heading to her bed when she stopped right in front of the room's mirror and realized how she really was. Her eyes red and swollen by her constant tears, her lips slightly red, her chin in constant pain thanks to the clenching of her teeth and her reddish hands for clenching her fists; but in the end she knew it was worth it.

She went to bed and prepared to get up in a couple of hours, she knew they didn't have much time left and she had to go back to Dumbledore in just a few hours.

"Calynn." Meryl's voice began to sneak through her ears. "Calynn!"

Little Black only moved slightly without opening her eyes as the blonde began to exasperate herself and decided to move her friend to wake her up. The girl opened her eyes a little while trying to get incorporated without avoiding a grimace of pain, the curse had left her quite sore.

"What time is it?" She exclaimed altered while observing the entrance of light through the window that had been hidden behind the canopy of her bed.

"You've been asleep for about four hours," said Lily, who was behind the blonde.

"Oh no! I must go with Dumbledore and..." she exasperated as she began to get up with the eyes of her friends until Meryl interrupted her.

"Dumbledore has said that you can go to lunch and meet him later, that he prefers you to go with nutrients," Meryl began. "He almost requires me to force you to get fat," she finished with her usual sense of humor.

Lily gave a slight smile while Calynn sat down again and looked for her shoes more calmly, at least she would have time to eat a little, she was starving.

"Where have you been?" Calynn asked her friends as they descended the steps.

"We are not lucky enough to be expelled," Meryl began with a slight laugh. "We had to go back to class."

Calynn laughed, if something she had always admired about Meryl was her great sense of humor because, regardless of the situation, it never vanished.

They arrived at the Great Hall while the group of friends was flooded with looks of discomfort and disagreement. They sat while they watched the teacher's table completely empty, little Black wondered where everyone could be while serving wallflower as usual.

They talked about school classes and homework while Calynn was grateful for not having to explain what she had practiced with Dumbledore.

They were almost finished eating when the footsteps of three children running inside the Great Hall drew their attention; these arrived at the place where the three girls were while Calynn noticed the presence of Lucius Malfoy and his two friends: Avery and Mulciber.

"Black! You are in the newspapers!" The blond shouted as he held a page of The Daily Prophet where an image of her, of almost a full page, was seen while, in the photograph, the girl walked with the wand and the dark mark under her uniform. "Have you seen the title?" He continued as he pointed to huge letters. "Dumbledore protects Hogwarts: Death Eater Calynn Black will be handed over to the Ministry of Magic," read Malfoy. "Not even Dumbledore can stand you, just a few days and you won't be here," he exclaimed before letting out a laugh and approaching the little girl , "moreover, in a couple of days you may not see a new day again." He commented maliciously as he decided for retiring from the place with his friends behind emitting a loud laugh accompanied by some of the students of the other houses until the blond collapsed and fell to the ground, thus becoming the new mockery. The boy looked up to meet Meryl, who had put her foot to cause that fall.

"But what..." the blond began as he started to get up and was interrupted by the girl.

"That's because of your comments," she said as she pulled out her wand, "and this..." She cast a spell directly at Malfoy without saying a word," for a favor I owed you," she completed the sentence and then, below the Lucius's lips were able to see how his teeth began to grow out of control and, with his face flushed to his ears, he ran out of the dining room covering his mouth.

The laughter died as soon as Malfoy and his friends left the place, the fear of that group of friends returned imminently, although it did not bother them, it was even better to stay away from the problems. They talked about what Meryl had just done and were joking about Lucius' gestures while eating a little happier; although deep down, Calynn knew that one day Lucius would not only threaten, but he would fulfill them once and for all.

When they finished, the girls separated as Calynn had to return to the director. She said goodbye to them and went to the office thinking about what they would learn this time; she said the password, climbed the steps and, as soon as she opened the door, was flooded by a large number of adult glances that were next to Dumbledore. She recognized Galatea from a corner with a gesture of surprise and sadness at the same time, while Binns limited him to an expression of confusion. Silence reigned the room as soon as she entered, she decided to start moving towards Dumbledore who was in the middle of the room, the only teacher missing was McGonagall.

"Miss Black, I'm glad to see you," Dumbledore said, but the girl only gave him a look of discomfort. "Teachers," he mentioned in the direction of adults, "we are done with today's meeting, I hope this have solution your doubts." He finished as the teachers began to get up. They left one by one while emptying the office, Professor Galatea stopped in front of both of them as if she were adding something, but simply placed one of her hands on Calynn's shoulder while giving her a sidelong glance and then she left the place in total silence.

The little girl and the director looked at each other for a moment, it was evident that the principal had summoned all the professors to tell them about Calynn's situation and tell them the whole truth, it was surely something that Dumbledore had been required of.

"What was that, professor?" Asked the girl.

"Since the minister can appear at any time, I felt that it would be best to inform the teachers about what will happen now, Miss Black," said the principal. "Have you rested enough?"

The little girl just nodded her head, even though the Cruciatus curse had left her quite down, the purpose was hurrying up with this plan, they only had a few days left.

"What will we do this time?" Asked Calynn, earning a smile of pride from Dumbledore.

"We're going to practice resistance to the Imperius curse," he said as he paused slightly, "we don't want a simple spell to stop our full plan," he continued as he walked through the office. "I guess they'll have used it on you a couple of times, isn't it?"

"That's right," the girl replied as she remembered that pleasant feeling, she had received from the curse launched by her sister, Bellatrix. "Although it doesn't cause pain, at least," she concluded with a tone of relief.

"Exactly, that is the main reason why managing to avoid the effects of this curse is a difficult task," Dumbledore explained.

"Does it mean that to resist the Cruciatus curse I have to try to eliminate the pain, while here I have to look for it?" Asked the girl, quite confused.

"Not exactly. You must have control over your body, completely," the old man began. "You should try to forget that you are under a curse and try to act under your will as you usually do," the director said.

"How are we going to practice that?" Calynn questioned curiously and confused at the same time, just hearing it in words was really impossible.

"Do you see that jug of tea and the cup over there?" Asked the director, pointing to one end of the room. There was a slightly old table that held a fine porcelain from which a steaming steam came out. "I have more than a dozen of them inside that showcase," he added, pointing to a tall wooden cabinet that showed his interior through seemingly fragile windows, "while under my curse you will have to serve a cup of tea and bring it to me. Up here," the man said as Calynn watched the great distance between the desk and that table. "With this you will have enough time to try to resist the curse." He paused before sketching a smile. "In addition, we will have tea for a while."

Calynn walked towards the table and then turned to Dumbledore.

"Any words I can repeat to avoid the curse as we did before?" The girl questioned before beginning the practice.

"You can repeat: You must not control me. But first try to escape from that sweet sensation given by the spell, once the phrase will be more useful," the director finished as he pulled out his wand. "Let's start, Miss Black"

Calynn just nodded and then heard the spell come out of the teacher's lips. Once the spell was received, a feeling of happiness and tranquility seized her without her noticing. She served the cup of tea quickly and perfectionism as she began to walk towards the director, arrived at the desk and left the cup right in his hand with a smile on her face. Out of nowhere, the whole sensation vanished and she returned to reality, realizing where she was and how in a few seconds she managed to reach almost the other end of the room without flinching a little.

"It's a feeling that brings great happiness to want to break it," said the girl.

"Exactly. As I said before, it is the most difficult point to resist the curse," said the old man, having some tea.

Calynn walked back to that table to try again, she had in mind the idea of ​​getting out of that trance as quickly as possible and then starting to repeat that phrase. But, when the spell fell back on her, that feeling prevented her from thinking about what she should do, she really didn't want to get out of there. And once again the little girl, when she returned to reality, stood by the director offering her the cup.

"It is not something that will come out perfectly the first few times, Miss Black," Dumbledore said, observing the girl's frustration. "If being controlled is something that frustrates you too much you can think about it to refuse to move forward, we must continue practicing and then you will see your progress and maybe in a few days this curse has no effect on you." He finished as Calynn retraced her steps to try one more time

They practiced a large number of times, even little Black had to replace the tea jar twice and the director began to set aside the tea cups, apparently, they had been too many.

The third time she closed the showcase with the jug of tea in her hands, she decided to end that class as soon as possible, after all, it was only a curse. She arrived at the table and placed it and then turned to the teacher and indicated that she was ready.

Immediately, that tranquility flooded her once more as she watched with her own eyes how she was serving the tea cup once more for what she tried to transform, all that frustration to continue practicing the same for so long, to a willpower of slightly slow down the director. Calynn watched in amazement at her sudden pause on the way to the desk, felt the impatient look of the teacher on her while she was dealing with the movement of her feet, she still felt deprived of her freedom to move naturally. She took a step forward, which did not take away that look of Dumbledore, while she was staggering trying to resist the passage of the other, the pleasant sensation had not disappeared completely, and every time the curse tried to beat her this was done again. Because of the effort she almost staggered so abruptly to risk falling and, in that tiny moment of doubt, took another step forward and the relaxing sensation fell back on her, reaching the desk naturally.

"This time you have improved a lot, Miss Black," the old man began. "But despite that I think you could still avoid moving forward here, try to fade the curse at least after serving tea," said the director as the little girl concentrated again.

They were a large number of times, even the little girl took the eighth jug of tea from the cabinet and returned to that table. Until after several attempts and dozens of cups around Dumbledore, the little girl improved markedly.

She was once again with the jug of tea in her hands while she was under that curse while thinking about how tired she was that the director controlled her, she felt quite tired and ashamed for not being able to achieve at least once the goal of that class. She took the cup and served it, but she did not intend to move, she was too upset to relax with the sensation she struggled to fall on her once more. It was extremely difficult for her to stay in that firm position, so the slight drag of one of her feet was inevitable while she repressed himself mentally.

She turned her face to Dumbledore trying to get out of that trance while, as if her body was completely rigid, she took the cup harder and put it to her lips, ignored the director's look of surprise and, in a single swallow, emptied that cup as she left it at her side with complete freedom, there was no trace of the curse on her.

"Impressive," Dumbledore exclaimed, her eyes wide open.

The girl gave her a slight smile, she was not able to thank her because for hours she felt a great hatred towards the director, she simply wanted him to leave her alone. Deep down she knew that he was only doing these workouts for her own well-being, although that did not take away the frustration of not being able to act according to her will and, above all, of feeling useless and at the same time weak by not being able to resist a simple spell in such a long period of time.

"Anything else we go to practice?" Calynn asked seriously as there was only the image of the dinner waiting for her downstairs in her mind.

"I just wish you would give me a few minutes of your time after dinner," the director commented slowly. "You know that time flies and it's time to start making our plan," he commented with concern and seriousness in his voice. "I'll wait for you here, as soon as possible after dinner."

Little Black only nodded as she left the office, completely silent.

She went down to the Great Hall trying to avoid the looks of hate and, at the same time, looking for Lily or Meryl somewhere but without luck. Because of this, she rushed to eat some pudding and some chocolate to quickly get back to the principal's office, she knew that the sooner she arrived, the sooner she could sleep, she was very tired.

She opened the office door and stopped dead when she looked at the people present in that room. In a chair, next to the director, was Professor McGonagall and, in front of them, Severus, Lily and Meryl sat talking with each other.

"Glad to see you again, Miss Black," the old man began, "you can sit down," he said, pointing to a free chair right next to the blonde.

Calynn obeyed and then interrogated quite confusedly.

"But, professor, what is all this?"

"Your most trusted companions have agreed to help in whatever is necessary to save you from the Malfoy Manor," Dumbledore explained, but before he could continue little Black interrupted him.

"No, of course not," Calynn denied with a slight tone of anger in her words.

"But, Miss Black, they have already accepted the risk that this entails," said the professor. "If they have agreed to go through this there is nothing I can do to change their decisions," explained the director trying not to provoke little Black.

"But they can't come with me, I don't want to involve anyone else in this," Calynn snapped rather anguished.

"You didn't involve us, we have been there from the beginning," Meryl began. "Thana has left without having been at your side all the time, that has nothing to do with it." She finished with a serious intonation like she had never done before.

"Besides, you can't avoid us to help you, you need us," Lily added, almost pleading that little Black wouldn't affect the professor's plan.

Calynn did not answer for a moment as she reflected on what had just happened. Since Thana's death she no longer wanted to see any person she loved fade away, but she could not control the will of her friends, she could not stop them forever.

"And what is the purpose of meeting everyone here, professor?" Little Black questioned as she mentally began to accept her friends' participation in that plan.

"This is to reveal something that they may have known many months ago, but considering the situations was postponed," Dumbledore began, leaving a gesture of confusion on the part of three of the children, except one. "Meryl, if you do us the favor," Dumbledore said as the blonde pulled a small jar from her robe and in less than a second took its content in a single drink, just when she left the bottle on the principal's desk, little Black managed to read the word: "Veritaserum".