Turning tables

first round

first round

Sophie's breathing finally steadied. Annabeth and Sydney had fallen asleep an hour ago, at ten o'clock. Silently, Lilith pushed the emerald blanket off herself and swinged her legs on the side of her bed.

She had went to her bed right after diner and closed the curtains, casting some privacy spells. She had taken out some parchment, quills, books and something she had started in fourth year.

A map. It was highly inspired from the Marauder's map, the only differences being that hers didn't move and it was bigger. She thought it would be more practical to have two of them but never continued to work on it after fifth year because of everything that was going on. She had magically glued a few pieces of parchment together so that the whole thing was big enough. It used to show every secret passages in the castle but now, because of the renovations, she had to start again. At least now she had an excuse to wander around the halls at night.

Lilith thought about her new 'mission'. The fact that they chose her for this was flattering in the least. After all there was many qualified wizards out there that could've done a great job. But she understood why they picked her. She was one of Harry's best friends. Even if she hated lying to him, his security went first. She knew his schedule by heart, his habits, where he liked to go if he wanted to be alone. She could almost guess where he would be at any time of he day.

In another case, it would've been creepy. Maybe it was.

But when your friend gets almost killed every year, you worry. And it began to be a coping mechanism, knowing where Harry was. It was calming.

Now, as she opened the door to her dorm, careful not to wake the others up, she told herself her old creepy habits finally paid off.

In her pocket, there was her map, a pencil and her wand. She doubted she would meet any Death Eaters tonight but you never know.

She was still fully clothed, black jeans and a tight purple crop top, and her shoes echoed on the rock steps. She hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, startled by the light of the fire. Cautiously, she looked over.

Of fucking course.

Blond hair were shining in the dim light, the top of a head appearing from over the armrest of the couch. Lilith cursed internally. Really, just her luck that Draco Ferret Malfoy was there. Again.

She took a chance and attempted to sneak out without him noticing her.

"You're not half as discrete as you think you are, Arstend."

Fuck.

"And you're not half as pertinent as you think you are, Malfoy."

He scoffed. "Doesn't being so stupid gets tiring? Don't you ever sleep?"

"Do you?"

"No." He was still looking at the fire, eyes like hypnotized by the dance of the flames.

"Go to sleep, Malfoy." And because that didn't sound rude enough for her taste, she added. "I hope none of the sides of your pillows are cold."

There ya go.

She closed the door of the common room before he got to answer.

The prefects were supposed to finish their rounds in fifteen minutes and it would take fifteen more to come back to the dorms and go to sleep.

Lilith walked silently in the hallway out of the dungeon, the lights on the wall making her shadow grow big and small and big and small. She made her way to the first floor when she heard voices. She jumped behind a curtain and waited as the two Slytherin prefects walked past her.

The cold window pressed on her shoulder blades. She looked at the parc behind herself. Empty.

She got out of her hiding place and kept stalling the halls. McGonagall didn't give her an actual plan on what to do. The Headmaster mostly gave her free card, trusting Lilith's guts and capacities. She was going take a look at all the main entrances, the secret passages leading in and out of the school, walk the halls a bit and then go to the Gryffindor tower before going back to the Slytherin common room. All of that should take two hours. She wouldn't get much sleep but oh, well.

The big front door was locked, the side entry, by witch the boats went in, as well and the doors opening on the parc were closed too. Most of the secret passages were destroyed but the ones still there were closed. Not a noise accompanied her while she made a round of the main halls and the only movements on her way to the Gryffindor tower were those of paintings still awake.

Lilith reached the grand staircases and jumped over a trapped step. She looked at the portraits around her. Most where sleeping. A man further down the hall was extending his head, trying to see who was disturbing his sleep. Two ladies in enormous blue dresses behind her were whispering and laughing silently. The Fat Lady was completely passed out, leaning against the side of her painting.

Lilith particularly didn't want to wake the guardian of the Gryffindor common room up. The painting saw Lilith enough through the years to recognize her and the girl didn't want anyone to know she was snooping around the tower at night.

Lilith slowly pressed a ear to the door of the Gryffindor common room. Silence.

That was enough for tonight. She looked at her watch. She hated watches but she didn't have anything else to know the time in the hallways. One eighteen. Thank god the teachers knew. She won't have to lie about why she'll be dozing off in class.

Lilith remembered the conversation she had the day before with Fleur. They had began by catching up a little bit; it had been a while since they last saw each other. Then, Fleur told her her idea. It was brilliant, really, and yet so simple.

Fleur had told her more about the communication they intercepted. The Death Eaters didn't plan anything big for the first month of school. They wanted to create a false impression of security so that nobody would be prepared. So for this first month, if anyone tried something, they would most likely be alone and extremely underprepared. They wouldn't be a real danger and if they were alone, it meant they were probably malnourished and tired. So there was little to worry about for now. It gave her time to prepare their plan.

The castle was filled with ghosts and paintings. They were almost invisible to most, blending into the background of school life and yet, they saw everything. Places with no paintings were rare in the school and those places, the ghosts could reach easily. So Lilith had to ask for their help. The ghosts didn't sleep ever and always complained about how boring their lives were. Well, Lilith was about to give them something to do. She would ask them to make rounds after she went to sleep and would place a painting in her room. If a ghost saw something, they could alert a painting and then, the constant game of hide and seek in the paintings would finally be of use.

Like she said; brilliant.

Lilith just needed a day without anything to do and with her friends busy elsewhere to take a walk around the castle. She would just ask Fleur if she had to bribe some of them into helping.

She dragged herself back to the Slytherin common room. She had to start calling it her common room. She wasn't a Ravenclaw anyone.

Get used to the idea, a voice said in her head.

Lilith was so tired that she didn't notice the boy still sitting on the couch. She didn't feel his eyes on her back as she yawned, to busy rubbing her own.

She fell like a rock on her bed, not bothering to take her clothes off. In two minutes, she was asleep.