Half-breeds at Hogwarts: PART 1 [COMPLETED]

10: The Dark Forest

Easter holiday was approaching, and Lila needed to speak with Tom again. She didn't know if he was leaving school for the holidays, and she wanted to know if he'd uncovered anything significant.

Lila decided she would have to corner Tom in a quiet space. She planned to wait for when he was coming out of class. When Sean was contracted to spy on Tom, Sean had made notes on Tom's timetable. He had deciphered his notes for Lila.

Tom didn't have one free slot on his timetable. Lila trekked to the North Tower and waited under a trap door. Finally, the trap door opened, and a step ladder folded out. Students started descending and when the last student left the attic where Divination class was held, Tom was nowhere to be seen. Lila rushed all the way down to the greenhouses, but he wasn't among the Herbology students.

Hogwarts was a big castle and Lila didn't manage to track down Tom. She had thought so much of Sean's ability as an informant, but his information on Tom's timetable was wildly off. Her wild goose chase was sending her up and down from one end of the grounds to the next.

Lila decided to ditch Sean's notes and used all her free time to tail sixth-year Slytherins. By chance, she spotted Sean coming out of Transfiguration and stopped him. She felt like Sean owed her a proper explanation, or else Lila would have a reason to become suspicious of him. Lila knew she had to play tough ball with Sean.

"Sorry love, I can't stay to chat," Sean said, trying to brush past Lila.

"I'm not asking," Lila said, and twisted his arm behind his back.

"Ouch!" Sean yelled. "Jeez! Are you crazy? What's going on?"

"The intel you gave me was crap," Lila said. "Tom's timetable couldn't be more wrong. Do you think you can take my money and bullshit me?"

"Listen, let me go. It's a simple misunderstanding, I promise. I probably messed up with the code, got some shorthand mixed up or something," Sean said. "I'm sorry alright."

Lila let go of Sean and he backed away from her, rubbing his wrist and watching her warily.

"If you say it's a mistake then I say you owe me," Lila said. "Give me something useful on Tom, or you and I are going to have a big problem."

"I don't know what to say Lila. You need to give me time to get at Tom. He's so closed off. You'll have better luck asking a Ravenclaw. Apparently, they see more of him than any Slytherin does."

"And you're only telling me this now?" Lila asked furiously. "Which Ravenclaws? I want names."#

Besides all of his classes, Tom attended a few extracurricular lessons as well that were made up by a majority of Ravenclaw students. Lila went straight to the library to look for some Ravenclaws. Lila walked up to a table where some girls with their blue and bronze scarves sat.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but do you know where I can find Gigi?" Lila asked.

One girl stared critically at Lila and said, "Maybe. Try at the back."

"Ok, thanks," Lila said and stalked through the library.

Gigi, a fifth-year muggle-born witch, was at a table in front of the last shelf. She was fast asleep using a closed book as a pillow, drooling onto the cover. Lila couldn't bring herself to wake her. The bell rang and Gigi jumped awake, staring around wildly, her eyes wide.

"Hey what... Huh?" Gigi asked.

"That's the bell. Lunch is over. Everyone's leaving the library now," Lila stated.

Gigi nodded and folded her arms on the table and put her head back down.

"Aren't you going to go to class?" Lila asked.

"I can't, I overslept," Gigi mumbled.

Lila hovered awkwardly before blurting out, "Are you friends with Tom? I need to speak with him."

Gigi raised her head and gave Lila a baffled look. "You want to speak to Tom?"

Lila nodded and asked, "Are you close with him?"

"I don't think Tom's close with anybody, but yeah we have a few lessons together and the two of us snuck out to Cornucopia together, just as friends, mind you," Gigi said. 

Gigi pulled out a chair for Lila, who obliging sat down. "We snuck out a different way to you though. We took a tunnel to under Honeydukes and waited out in Hog's Head. Tom got this amazing flying chariot to take us to the party."

"It's a pity about how the night ended," Lila said.

"Yeah it was really weird," Gigi said fervently. "When we got there, Tom and I went straight to the dance floor and danced our faces off. He got really bummed when he found out you were also at the party. He went missing for a while. I thought he went to buy some party treats. The next time I see him, the suits have got him."

"I need to speak to him about that night," Lila said with urgency.

"The last thing Tom told me was he's trying to draw somebody out. He's been getting the word out, so he doesn't mind me telling anybody. I guess that means you too - even if he hates you."

"Did he say where?" Lila asked.

"Down in the Dark Forest."