Lucy looked up from the cauldron she had been scrubbing for hours. Her gaze turned to the limp haired professor sitting at his desk, grading papers. With a raised eyebrow, Snape turned his gaze on her.

"Professor, I've been scrubbing this pot for hours," she tried to keep the whine out of her voice.

The scowl he sent her way was scary enough, but the slight glint in his eyes that spoke of amusement at her plight was the truly terrifying part, "Yes, I believe I said an hour for each time that idiot hugged me."

"Why am I being punished for Neville hugging you?" She asked.

His eyes narrowed, probably in anger, "Trust me, Ms Ogden, I have absolutely zero doubts that you had something to do with this, and so I am preemptively punishing you."

She looked down at the cauldron and rolled her eyes.

"Another hour for insubordination to a professor!"

She silently huffed and went back to work.

Right up until she heard a knock on the door of Snape's classroom. Both of their heads snapped up at the sound.

Snaps called from his chair, "Come in."

Percy Weasley stepped into the classroom, "Sorry to bother you sir. Professor Dumbledore would like to see Ms Ogden."

Lucy's gaze snapped over to Snape, eyes widening slightly.

She'd known after the incident with the Basilisk earlier that day that she wouldn't be able to avoid Dumbledore. There was no doubt that he would want to see her. Still, there was a slight fear inside of her.

What if he realized something was off about her? What if he decided she would be a good person to serve Harry and tried to put a new loyalty or compulsion charm on her?

She was torn from her questioning thoughts as Snape rose smoothly from his own seat even as she was trying to straighten up from where she had been bent over the cauldrons.

"Sir?" Percy questioned.

"Let's get this over with," Professor Snape said with a scowl.

"But...that is...he only asked for the girl?" Percy said, clearly confused but afraid to outright question the dungeon bat.

"Do I look like a dunderhead to you, Mr. Weasley? I was one of the first to arrive at the scene and I have not yet seen or talked to the Headmaster. Do you not think that he would want to talk to the professor who saw what happened as well as some second year bint?" Professor Snape's voice had not risen, but there was a deadly aspect to his deep tenor that made Percy Weasley start to sweat.

Still, the Gryffindor in the redhead made him straighten his shoulders before replying, "Right, of course sir. Sorry sir."

And then Percy Weasley led them swiftly from the dungeons.

This was now truly it. Undoubtedly Snape would finally reveal everything. The lily Lucy has sent him for Christmas, her weird visions, the thick mental shields around her brain.

Well, actually, Dumbledore was certain to see the shields himself as soon as she made eye contact.

There were few students in the hallways as they passed. All of them stared at the strange trio; Lucy thought Percy may have mouthed that he'd explain later to one of the students they passed. She was sure the fact she was being summoned to the headmaster's office would spread through the Hogwarts gossip train. The pair did pass a few guardian angels who all stared at Lucy with blank expressions; it seemed to the girl that they were mocking her.

They had nearly reached the base of the Headmaster's office when Snape turned to Percy, "Mr. Weasley, you can be on your way now. I have no need of you spreading gossip."

Percy drew up his shoulders in a show of indignation, but a raised eyebrow had him deflating, muttering an "of course sir," and marching out of sight.

Suddenly, Snape's wand cast a charm around them. Lucy felt the familiar buzzing in her ears from Snape's spell.

"Put this on," he demanded, shoving a thin necklace into her hands. As she held it up, she saw the large red amulet at the bottom.

"What is it?" She asked as she slid the necklace over her head and let the amulet nestle on her chest, twinkling in the dancing candlelight against her black robes.

"Say it is from your mother, a family heirloom for luck," Snape commanded. Then the buzzing around her ears stopped as the tall man turned forward. "Move along Miss Ogden, the headmaster should not be kept waiting. I'm sure the portraits would be willing to tell him how you are lagging behind."

Lucy felt righteous indignation fill her until she thought about it. Snape wasn't truly scolding her; he was trying to warn her that the walls had ears at Hogwarts.

She hurried behind him to the gargoyle.

"Mars Bars," Snape pronounced, managing to make the chocolate name sound more like a curse word.

Up the round steps they went. Into that room filled with trinkets and bobbles, shiny golden instruments and large purple machines that let out little puffs of smoke.

She spotted the Sorting Hat sitting on its stool which reminded her that she needed to try to figure out a way to get the sword of Gryffindor. It was time to start destroying Horcruxes, but she would need a method to destroy them.

"Severus, my boy! I did not mean you had to accompany Miss Ogden here," Dumbledore said from behind his desk, before turning to Lucy, "Miss Ogden please have a seat. Severus, you as well."

Lucy settled into one of the seats, but Severus remained standing.

"I assumed you would be more interested in hearing the reports of the first professor at the sight rather than the words of some Hufflepuff," Snape said with a sneer at Lucy.

She glared back at him.

Dumbledore waved a hand at the man, "Now, now, of course I was going to call you later to hear, but I was interested in Miss Ogden's story. Quite a fanciful thing I hear."

The old man turned his attention on Lucy who forced herself to meet his eyes.

She started to tell the same story she had been telling the teachers and the students, "I was using the bathroom went I went to wash my hands. I wasn't paying the most attention because my hair had fallen across my face. As I pushed it back, I was suddenly falling down into a slide thing. It slid down into this giant chamber. I called for help, but no one answered, so I had to walk into it looking for another way out. That's when I found the Basilisk, and I think it would've eaten me, but then I could understand it. It decided to follow me back up into the castle, and actually gave me the lift I needed to get back out of the sinks."

If she hadn't been watching for it, she might even have missed the confusion that flashed across his eyes in a second as his probes went up against Carver's impenetrable shields. Then Dumbledore's bright blue eyes must have caught the glint reflecting off the necklace, for his eyes dropped down to the red amulet Snape had only just handed her.

"Ahh, my dear, where did you get that amulet from?" he asked in a seemingly random change of topics.

Her hand grasped lightly at the red amulet, "Oh this? Just something my mum gave me when I started school. She said every Ogden child received one for good luck when they went off to school."

He smiled at her, but it sent shivers down her spine rather than reassuring her, "I'm sure it will bring you plenty of luck. Speaking of your family, is the Parseltongue gift common?"

Her leg started to bounce in front of her, "Oh, no, not common. Why my dad told me growing up that the last one with the gift was my Great-Uncle Alvin. So my grandparents generation."

Dumbledore nodded, "Oh but it does run in the family?"

"Yes."

Lucy hadn't realized how hard it would be to be in a room alone with the man. Suddenly, memories of her past life and the ways he had manipulated her were filling her mind. Thoughts of the compulsion charm ran through her mind.

The worst part, the thing that scared her the most was that even now, a part of her didn't want to believe that Dumbledore was so bad.

There was a part of her, even if it was small, that still wanted to trust the man who looked so much like a grandfather. A part that said she needed to come clean with everything and just ask him for an explanation. That if she just trusted him, he'd explain to her why things had been necessary and how it had all been for her good.

That was what scared her.

That he would realize the truth and find a way to take away her freedom. To make her a puppet again.

Her chest felt tight as she tried to listen to Dumbledore and Snape talking. After her answer, Snape had gone into his viewpoint of the events and then they started to discuss how it might affect the school.

The entire time, she felt like she might die.

Her chest was so tight, and it was starting to get hard to breath.

Her left leg was shaking up and down as fast as anything.

In her lap, her hands were clenched and twisted around each other.

Then Dumbledore turned his attention to her, "My dear, you look so nervous. I understand of course, visiting the Headmaster's office might be quite a concern for someone so young. But do not fear, I just needed to hear from you so I can find the person who originally opened the Chamber."

She nodded a swift jerk of her head, "Of course. But it is getting close to curfew…"

The two men looked to the clock on the wall.

"Why so it is. Severus, my boy, if you would be so kind as to escort young Miss. Ogden to her dorm. I wouldn't want her to get in trouble with curfew when I was the one keeping her out," Dumbledore said.

As they descended from the steps, the lock of anxiety around her chest wouldn't let go. The fear was suddenly front and center. Emotions she had been pushing down for years were welling up without warning, and she had no idea how to handle them.

A potion was being pushed into her hands.

She started to turn and run away but a hand with long pale fingers grabbed onto her arm and held her in place.

"Drink this," a soft, but not gentle voice commanded her as the potion was raised to her lips.

She tried to shake her head and get away, but one hand held her arm and the other was unrelenting as it pushed the vial to her lips, two fingers reaching up to pinch her nose. Eventually, a lack of air forced her to swallow the potion.

As the potion slid down her throat, she could feel calm start to slide over her mind. Her muscles were still shaking slightly, but she no longer felt out of control.

She looked up to where Snape towered over her, face emotionless as one hand still gripped her arm too tightly, probably enough to leave a bruise.

"Sorry, professor, I don't...I don't know what came over me," she mumbled as she stared at the ground, first feeling sick but then starting to feel anger welling up inside of her. Whatever just happened, she could have lived without Snape being the one to see it.

Then, thinking of how he had responded, she had to concede that a former spy and current Slytherin Head of House who already knew some of her secrets was probably better than some other professors seeing it.

Once he was certain she was not planning on running away in a panic, he released her arm before waving his wand. Immediately the pain in her arm dissipated, and she knew there would be no bruise.

"Come," he commanded simply and with a swirl of robes, started on the way back to the ground floor and the Hufflepuff dorms.

When they had nearly reached it, they came across their first student.

The rush of footsteps from a side corridor off the main hallway reached their ears first. Then, Cedric, a stack of books in his arms, came running into the hallway. He came to stuttering, slippery stop as his feet tried to gain purchase on the smooth stone floor.

"Professor!" he said. "Lucy! I was just on my way back from the library. Professor McGonagall assigned a big essay and I-"

"Ten points from Hufflepuff for running in the halls," Professor Snape interrupted, "Take Miss Ogden to the kitchens. She has had what is referred to as an anxiety attack. I have already given her a calming draught, but the recommendation is to only take them on a full stomach."

With a wave of his wand, Professor Snape had a note appearing giving permission for the two to be out after curfew. This was sent over to Cedric who grabbed it seemingly off of instinct as his mouth dropped open.

Snape's eyes swept over the small gathering, the still trembling second year and the open mouthed fourth year who was confused at not getting in more trouble, before nodding once, sharply, turning on his heel, and marching away with a whirl of his long black robes.

Cedric eyes danced over to Lucy where he immediately took in the slight continued tremble and the defiant face cast down at the ground.

"Come'on, have you been to the kitchens yet?" Cedric started talking, using the same technique he did when handling a homesick young student. "If Professor Snape, of all people, are gonna give us a pass to visit it, we'd be stupid not to."

He led the way to the picture of the pear, talking the entire time about anything and everything. Inside the kitchen, his books were deposited on a side table as the pair found themselves pushed over to the four long tables that mirrored the tables at the Great Hall.

"Dixie! Good to see you, could we please have two cups of warm milk with honey, cinnamon, and a touch of vanilla, and a plate of crackers," Cedric greeted the elf by name, clearly no stranger to them.

After the elves had pushed cups into each of their hands, and finally gone over to other parts of the kitchen, Lucy just sat there staring into her cup.

"What happened?" Cedric finally asked.

There was silence for a second. Lucy tried to think of the best way to write it off, to distract him. She opened her mouth to make a joke about Snape's detentions.

"I'm afraid of Dumbledore," is what slipped out instead.

She closed her jaw with a snap and sat there.

Cedric leaned back slightly, clearly not expecting that answer.

"You're so scared of him that you had a panic attack?" he finally asked.

She shrugged her shoulders, "Don' know. Snape called it a panic attack, but I've never had one before."

Cedric was quiet for what felt like a long time.

But he didn't ask any more questions that she wouldn't have been able to answer anyway. He did make her drink the entire cup, though it seemed to disappear pretty quickly once she took the first sip and realized how good it was.

"Not hot chocolate?" she finally asked.

He smiled and shrugged a shoulder, "Nah, I've always preferred vanilla myself. And this is what my mum used to make so I might be biased, but I figured it would work better.

"I prefer vanilla too," she admitted, "Well, caramel mostly."

He nodded, "Ahh, yes, that grand chocolate versus vanilla debate. Good to know you're on my side, we have to do something about Alex."

She tried to act outraged, "Are you saying he prefers chocolate?"

"I know right, I can't believe it either," Cedric gave an exaggerated huff and pretended to flip his hair with his hand.

Suddenly they were both laughing.

"Come on kid, let's get back to the dorms," Cedric muttered as he pulled her to her feet. They both thanked the house elves, Cedric teaching her several of their names before leading the way back to the Hufflepuff dormitory.

Cedric didn't linger in the common room, but pushed the second year straight to her dorm.

Lucy fell onto the bed and was out quickly.

The feelings hadn't faded when she woke up the next morning, but, in the light of a new morning, she was better at suppressing the fear again.

At lunch, she sat with Hermione and Neville who were complaining about Professor Lockhart.

As she sat down, Harry, who was a few seats down from her, nodded and said, "Hey, tiny."

"Bedhead," she threw back at him.

"He released Cornish Pixies on us!" Hermione's voice always went to high octaves when she was upset, and Lucy couldn't help but wince a bit. "And he used this spell, "Peskipiksi Pesternomi," which I looked up even though Charlie had once told me a story about a time that Cornish Pixies had invaded the attic of the Burrow, which is apparently what they call the Weasley House, and his mum had used a shielding charm, but I thought maybe there were other ways to stop them, but I looked it up, and its fake! As fake as that ridiculous spell that Ronald tried on the train first year."

"Wait, Ron actually tried it?" Fred was suddenly leaning over Hermione, face split with the wide grin. "Gred, did you hear that? Ron actually tried to use that fake spell we gave him first year!"

"You're kidding me!" George yelled back, from directly across the table.

Hermione was trying to shove Fred off as Ron walked towards his normal seat next to Harry, face already turning red.

"Yeah because you lot are a bunch of-" Fred's hand was over his mouth, muffling his words.

"Now, now, Ronnikins, there are ladies at the table. Our mother didn't raise you to talk like that," Fred singsong said.

"Get off me!" Ron pushed his larger brother off of him and went to sit down, but there wasn't much room with Lucy there. "Move it short stuff."

Lucy bristled, turning to give a good tongue lashing to a Weasley that she actually couldn't stand, but she didn't even get a chance.

"Hey, don't talk to her like that!" Harry said, turning to his best friend, seemingly forgetting the fact that he had basically called her the same thing moments before.

Ron looked as bewildered as the rest of the table as Harry realized that he had just defended Lucy from his best friend and tried to play it off. Hermione and Lucy shared a bemused look before Lucy just rolled her eyes.

"Boys," Hermione muttered under her breath.

That evening, as they started to spar, Lucy asked Carver if she should try to return the amulet to Snape. He quickly shook his head.

"That amulet is designed as a mind protection. Professor Snape gave it to you as an explanation for the shields around your mind," Carver explained.

Lucy's mouth opened into an O, "And if I gave it back-"

"Professor Dumbledore would probably be fairly confused as to why you still had shields around your mind," Carver said without pause as he swept a wooden sword at Lucy. He caught her fingers, making her hand spasm and her own wooden sword fall to the ground.

Before she could respond, he tapped her shoulder, not softly, and said, "First blood. This time, try to light your sword on fire as you swing."

"Alright," she moved into a defensive position, watching his hips for cues of which way he was going to move. He had taught her that it was easy to fake a direction with his face and arms, but his hips were more likely to point the way he would actually move.

As she watched, he started to move to the left.

She held up the sword and managed to block his swing even though it made her feel like being hit with steel.

Then, he moved back slightly and gave her an opening to attack.

She held the sword high, and came down into a beautiful arch. As she swung, she willed her magic to burst into flames as she had often seen other angel's swords so as they practiced.

But, absolutely nothing happened.

Her sword came down in a smooth arch without even a little puff of smoke. Carver easily blocked it and then flipped her sword out of her hands. She huffed slightly and turned towards her bag, frustrated more at herself. She scowled at Carver, though, as she grabbed her water bottle and took a sip.

As she looked around the training room that Hogwarts had provided for her, she couldn't help but to scowl at the assorted guardian angels also standing around watching her fight. Most of them had blank expressions, but more and more they were starting to watch her with amusement, like a puppy one could only indulge. It only got worse the longer she trained without showing any signs of being able to do angel magic again.

Others looked at her with contempt, as though annoyed that she was even allowed to try to learn angel magic.

As she took another sip, she whispered out of the side of her mouth, "Maybe my doing angel magic was a fluke?"

Carver shook his head though, "No, if you could perform it once, it means you have the capacity for it. Now is just a question of getting you to be able to do it again. I apologize, it is probably my fault. I have never tried to teach angel magic before."

"Are angels born able to fight?" Lucy asked.

Several of the angels snorted around the room, however, when her head whipped to glare at them, they were all staring in other directions, back to pretending like they weren't eavesdropping.

Carver even had a slight smile, "We are not born. Remember, angels are created, fully grown like Adam or Eve."

"Plus, there are no female angels to be born from," a large, dark skinned angel said from one wall.

Lucy turned to him, "What?! There are no females anywhere?"

Amusement was evident on his face, "You were not curious at never having seen any?"

Lucy blushed, "Well I just figured they were safe in Heaven or something."

Carver laughed, "No, they are not hidden away. Female angels don't exist. Still, angels were created to do only one task, so that ability comes easily, but does still have to be taught. I am simply not one who teaches."

Lucy did not perform angel magic that night or any time during the next three weeks. She enjoyed her wizarding classes, because there she was in the top five or ten students, depending on which course. In defense, it would be fair to say she was truly the top student. It took a lot of practice, but she was well above grade level on the practical side. It made it slightly better that she was an absolutely horrible angel.

It was getting close to Halloween when Riddle made his first move.

Lucy had felt tense over the three weeks, waiting for when Riddle would finally make his move. Despite her issues with Ginny, she had made sure the girl wouldn't be the one possessed. Regardless, she knew someone must have the diary.

She just wished Neville hadn't been the one affected.

It had happened in between classes, at 2 in the afternoon when almost every class was switching and moving in the hallways. Lucy heard the screams and then the gasps.

She pushed her way through the crowd, trying to be able to see over the other students to know what was going on.

Finally, she worked her way nearly to the front.

Hanging on the wall, pinned through his stomach with a knife, was Trevor, Neville's pet toad.

Then she heard the sound of other second years, and turned on instinct. She tried to get to him in time, but the crowd had realized who was approaching and separated on instinct. Neville was almost immediately brought face to face with his dead toad.

The chubby boy's face turned pale, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Neville dropped in a dead faint.

Lucy felt sick to her stomach, but saw that Hermione was already bent over trying to help him, so she turned back to the scene.

Above the toad, written in red letters were the words:

Secret no more,

No Chamber for a lair,

But the heir is still here,

Mudbloods beware.

Even with the seriousness of the situation, she couldn't help but to roll her eyes. The dramatics that Tom Riddle would go to.

"It's blood!" Some girl shrieked.

Lucy took a closer look at the red letters and couldn't help but to agree with that opinion.

"Let me through, let me through," Flitwick's voice sounded through the crowd before he managed to make his way to the front.

His gasp could be heard throughout the quiet hallway.

More professors started to arrive, pushing through the students to make their way directly to the scene.

Snape did what most of the teachers and students avoided, and briskly walked over and touched the front. Removing the knife, he held the frog in his hand, turning it and using his wand to run diagnosis.

He opened his mouth to say something, but then his eyes swept over the crowd around him. He turned to McGonagall who immediately nodded and started directing students.

"Back to your dorms! Prefects, guide all students back to the dorms. Perform head counts in the common rooms. The Heads of House will stop by in a moment to check the head counts," she directed and then the students unleashed their questions on each other.

The noise level in the hallway rose to mammoth levels as the prefects tried to yell directions over the sounds of hundreds of students talking to each other plus all those feet starting to walk on the stone floors.

Still, Lucy had cast a small spell to listen in to the professors conversation, and she heard Snape say that Trevor had been poisoned.

But by what? What was Riddle going to use with the Basilisk safely moved to the forest without loyalty charms forcing it to obey him?