"But how..." Little Black began, totally confused.

"I knew from the first moment you arrived, Miss Black, and your secret may have already come to the knowledge of others," Dumbledore replied.

"What do you mean?" The girl questioned nervously.

"Anyone with a basic Legilimency ability could easily read your thoughts," said the professor.

There was a moment of silence where Calynn just held her left forearm tightly. Apparently, the director noticed that and could not help but be surprised.

"Can you get a little closer, Miss Black?" Asked the old man kindly. The little girl who was almost under the door frame approached cautiously until she was right in front of the principal's desk. "Would you let me?" Asked the man with a gesture of taking the left arm of the Death Eater, who after a little hesitation agreed to show him what she hid so much from reality. Dumbledore easily rolled up the robe and it was when he realized the seriousness of the situation, he carefully observed the skull and snake that formed that mark for a moment until he looked away, disappointed, as he stood up and turned his back for a moment to little Black.

"I'll go for my luggage," the little nostalgic commented, from now on her life would be an eternal hell.

"Luggage?" The old man questioned a little confused.

"You will kick me out of school, right?" A tone of sadness was noticeable in the girl's voice.

"Not necessarily," the man denied mysteriously. Seeing that Calynn did not understand what he meant, he added. "If you were proud of that mark, it could be a possibility," Dumbledore explained. "Are you?"

"No, sir," she replied firmly as she thought about Bellatrix, but quickly deflected that thought.

For a moment they both remained silent until the teacher broke it.

"I wish we meet here every day during the night, at ten to be exact, does this affect your schedule in any way?" The director proposed.

"No, it doesn't affect in any way," she replied, "but if I may ask, for what purpose?" The girl asked.

"A class that will help you to defend yourself, but primarily to learn to close that mind," he explained demandingly.

The little girl nodded as she realized that her excuses to give her friends would run out, she would have to invent something soon.

"When do we start, professor?" Asked Calynn.

"My watch say that is five minutes to ten. Do you have something better to do?" Asked the director with a smile on his face.

She thought for a moment about Galatea's incomplete duties that she had in her trunk a few floors up, but she preferred to spend the evening in the director's office, after all, it is what she had always wanted; help.

"No sir."

"Then we can start," the man told her to sit on the chair in front of the desk while he stood in front. "During the Christmas holidays, did anyone read your thoughts?" the old man continued.

"Voldemort himself," said the little girl, remembering that painful and embarrassing moment at the same time.

"And he saw everything?" A tone of concern rang through his words.

"He only observed some unimportant memories, since the spell did not last long," Calynn recalled

"Would you allow me?" Asked the professor, taking his wand.

The girl nodded slowly, closed her eyes and held on to the chair so as not to fall. The old man pointed to the student and mentioned:

"Legilimens!"

And they spent their experiences once again, but this time the little girl would not make a small effort to avoid it, would end up on the floor and achieve nothing. Classes, the Christmas holiday trip, some moments with Frank and even some fragments of her initiation could be seen; discussions with Bellatrix passed when they came back to nowhere.

Dumbledore looked at her seriously and then added:

"You must learn Occlumency before your next vacation, as soon as possible, your mind is a feast of revelations," the worried director ordered. And it was with those words that the real sessions began, because again the girl's efforts to close her mind sent her back to the ground, creating slight bruises, so they opted to better stay on the floor during practice. "You should not let the opponent observe any memories, do your best," the teacher reminded her before casting each spell.

After an hour, Calynn had a horrible headache caused by the wrong effort she was making. Although she had improved a little in the fact that she was able to last longer, this did not justify the fact that the professor could continue seeing each memory. The little girl began to despair while holding the pangs inside her head.

"You don't have to worry, with the passing of the sessions you will be able to improve," the professor commented positively while Calynn held her head with her eyes closed. The director watched everything, but didn't say a word. They were about forty minutes more practicing until a major advance was reflected when the girl pulled the teacher out of her mind once and for all. "Very good. I think it has improved a lot in a class," Dumbledore congratulated her.

"Thank you," she said as she rose from the ground.

"You can retire if you wish," told the old man.

Calynn thought for a moment about staying, but the pain in her head demanded a rest.

"Thank you, Professor, I see you tomorrow at the same hour." She said goodbye as she headed for the door and walked down the steps silently. On the way to the common room she had her eyes wide open to avoid meeting Filch and having to give some explanations. She was climbing the marble stairs when she realized that she would now have to explain to Frank and Meryl about her secret, and not that she didn't trust them, but how they would take it kept her busy. She arrived at the painting, said the password and entered the common room that was deserted, climbed the steps to the girls' bedroom and met most of the run-up canopies, thus covering who slept on the other side; however, there were still two that were open and of which you could see some lights of the lamps coming from the nearby table. She approached cautiously as Lily startled and began to whisper her questions.

"What did he say? Why have you taken so long? Was it an equitable punishment?" Murmured the impatient redhead.

"Wait," she reassured her, she didn't know how to explain everything with Meryl a few meters away. "I can't say it yet," she explained, pointing to the blonde with her head.

The redhead understood the message.

"Tomorrow, okay?" Lily proposed.

"Okay, now to sleep," Little Black mentioned as she headed to her bed to lie on her bed without even changing, falling asleep in that day's uniform.

"Good morning, sleepy, I think we should hurry, most have already gone down to breakfast," the redhead woke her. Little Black thanked her for having a quiet, dream-free night and got up in a good mood. When she had put on clean clothes, Lily headed towards her. "I met Frank when I went down to the common room for a pair of shoes that I had forgotten and he asked me to give you this," the girl mentioned as she pulled out an envelope that was illustrated with a heart.

Calynn smiled at the sight of the letter while her eyes lit up until she decided it was time to go down to breakfast.

"What about Meryl?" Black asked, surprised that her friend was not with them.

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since last night," Lily replied as they went down more steps. "By the way, what did Dumbledore tell you?"

"True. I will take self-defense classes with him every night and he will teach me to close my mind," the girl said excitedly.

"Apparently this is improving, what better than private classes with the principal?" Lily was amazed.

"You're right," Calynn reflected when they reached the lower floor. Some students watched little Black with fear and others with disgust, but in the end the girl could not do anything.

They sat in the usual places while they served some of their favorite dishes. Calynn took the moment to open the letter that Frank had left her, she was quite impatient.

Dear Calynn:

I would like to give you something in person. Do you think we could meet on Friday afternoon by the same lake?

I leave you a little taste of what I will take this Friday.

Frank

The envelope contained a magician's chrome and a delicious chocolate frog.

She smiled with joy, it only took less than a week to meet her beloved Frank who was always looking for her and with whom she shared unforgettable moments.

"That is a yes?" Asked the boy who watched from the distance the mischievous smile of his friend. The girl corresponded with a nod and turned her gaze to the egg that lay on her plate with a couple of potatoes.

"Sorry I'm late," the blonde explained, leaving two books by her side.

"We had Charms homework?" Asked Calynn worriedly.

"No, calm down, I've just taken them down so I don't have to go for them," Meryl confessed.

"Merlin's beard! You gave me a good scare anyway," the girl replied.

They continued having breakfast while an arrogant voice approached behind them:

"Have you seen the new photo provided by The Daily Prophet?" Asked Lucius, surprised. "They have placed their daughters, but they have not even named her, it is a pity," they talked as they walked farther away and that was where she observed that The Daily Prophet who had their companions offered a front page photo with their parents and their three sisters, missing one way or another little Black, something that really calmed her. It was now when she stood up to be able to look more easily between the heads of the students when she located her sister at the snake table surrounded by some classmates with whom she seemed to have an argument.

"May I have a moment?" Calynn commented before getting up from the table, leaving the fork embedded in one of the sausages. She sped up until she reached the opposite corner of where she was, running into the Slytherin's eyes on her. She reached the side of her sister, passing Severus totally long and called her with her hand, Andromeda was surprised to leave the place, leaving her companions fighting to attend to her younger sister.

"What happened?" Asked the girl when they reached a safer place.

"Have you seen the cover of The Daily Prophet?" Asked the little girl quickly.

Given this, Andromeda thought where she could get a copy until she asked one of the girls sitting at the nearest table.

"How lucky are you not to appear. Look at us, in this picture it seems that we are the ideal family, while it is quite the opposite," the chestnut exploded. "But thanks, it will help us a lot."

Calynn walked away from where she had come, leaving sarcastic comments behind her.

The day went perfectly well, in Charms began to occupy a little more the wand. As she had promised, the little girl attended her classes in the principal's office, and she notified her that until she mastered the art of Legilimency and Occlumency they would not go on to anything else, which was a motivation for the Death Eater.

At the end of her class she won an applause because the teacher could observe fewer and fewer memories than before. The last ten minutes were dedicated to talk about the article of The Daily Prophet while the little girl listened to the old man's recommendations.

"We must hurry, sooner or later your name will also be part of this newspaper and your life will be in danger, by then you must know how to close your mind as you did today," he finished with a smile. "Congratulations, you can retire."

She said goodbye to the man to later leave the office and take the usual path to her common room. She was careful as she watched each corridor before passing in search of Filch, who at night wandered the halls in search of students out of bed. She was only one floor from her common room when she saw a person sitting in a hallway. Before she continued walking, she tried to see who he was, when she saw that he was hugging his knees while crying. She moved a little closer without making any noise and identified him by his greasy black hair that was lit by the nearest torch. The boy looked up and the little girl could see that his left forearm, where the mark could be seen, had been injured because he had scratches and some cuts that began to close and that had been generated by Severus himself, who had a small knife by his side.

"What are you doing here?" the boy asked seriously as soon as he saw his friend while covering the mark and the knife with the tunic.

"I'm sorry," the girl stammered, "I didn't want to interrupt," she apologized.

"Well, you've done it," Severus replied as he stood up annoyed, "but you won't tell anyone about what you've seen."

The girl thought about it for a moment and then added:

"Only if you tell me why you do it."