Story: The Titans of Secrets
Chapter Fifteen: 16

The next day was spent keenly observing all the teachers. Ginny did not find any suspicious or noticeable difference in the teaching staff's behavior, causing her to grow frustrated.

There was no hint of any attempts to maim or murder. It seemed that Confusion had entirely disappeared.

With a heavy heart, she retreated to the common room after her classes were done for the day. Gilligan waved her over and with no other better thing to do, she approached him.

"Hey, Ginny! How was your day today?" he asked. Although his voice seemed cheerful, Ginny could sense the underlying depression.

"Good." Besides the confusion about Confusion part, her day had gone just fine. "How was your day? Anything to be happy about?" she asked. Gilligan gave her a rather sad smile.

"Mum wrote me. She wants me to make sure Harry is safe. Y'know, after all this Hogsmeade drama, she's worried but hey! I'm younger than him and can't even use magic outside Hogwarts," he added with a sigh. Ginny reached out to pat his shoulder.

"I suppose Mrs Potter would have written Harry to take care of you. That's what all mothers do. Mum writes Fred and George to take care of Ron and me but she also writes me to keep the twins in line," Ginny comforted. Gilligan chuckled lightly.

"That's Mrs Weasley for you." Ginny grinned. "Ginny, will you clarify my DADA doubt?" he asked suddenly, showing her his essay. It was about the differences between an Inferius and a ghost.

"Um, I suppose yeah. I can't tell for sure as I have skipped my sixth year," she joked. Gilligan laughed this time.

"Oh, c'mon! I want to skip my sixth year too!" he said, grinning. Ginny smirked.

"You must be as smart as me for that, Potter."

"For what?" Both Ginny and Gilligan tensed at that voice. They wheeled around in their sofa to meet a confused yet smiling Harry. "Mind if I sit here? After all, I am a Potter too."

"Of course not, come here," Ginny managed to say in one breath. She moved a little bit and Harry took the seat. Gilligan huffed incoherently but it did not go unnoticed by the redhead. There still seemed to be some sort of tension between the two brothers and she could feel it. She looked at Gilligan who seemed to have gone back to his DADA essay. Harry, on the other hand, was humming to himself as he leant back into the seat.

Deciding to cut the tension, she started talking. "So, how was your day today, Harry?"

Harry did not move; but he answered her. "Alright, I s'pose. It's sort of boring without seeing D–" he interrupted himself and opened his eyes in a jolt.

"Seeing whom?" Gilligan asked, his homework abandoned on his lap.

"Dumbledore! Yes, Headmaster Dumbledore," he exclaimed. Ginny personally thought his exclamation was cute; but it remained a silent compliment. However, a nasty thought creeped to her mind. Surely Dumbledore was not someone Harry would really look forward to meeting: did he have any girl in mind?

"Dumbledore? Why would you meet him?" the younger Potter questioned. Ginny pushed her suspicions hard and tried to pay attention to Harry's behaviour.

"Meet? No, I just told I didn't see Dumbledore at the meal times. You see, he's amusing to watch. Have you seen him eat the mince pies? He literally gobbles them down. And the other day, I saw him having a chocolate cake at the kitchens," Harry explained.

"Do you worship him?" Ginny asked suddenly, surprising herself. Harry turned pink.

"Of course not! I mean, he's great and all and for Merlin's sake, he's our Headmaster but no."

"Good because if you do, then you are probably insane. He's insane at times!"

"At times? Are you kidding me, Ginny? He's always insane!" Gilligan contradicted her causing her to laugh. He smiled at her and went back to his homework.

A comfortable silence fell around them for a while and Ginny internally fist pumped air for being successful in easing the tension.

However, her happiness was short lived. A black owl pecked at the window, surprising all three of them. Mail was sent only during the mealtimes unless it was an emergency.

Harry got up and opened the window. Several heads turned to witness the owl fly to Gilligan and drop a letter to him. He looked at the address, which was invisible to the peeking Ginny, then got up.

"I'm sorry but I need to get going," he said hastily and collected his books and the homework parchment.

"Is anything wrong?" Harry asked, dropping back to his seat.

"No." Gilligan's eyes showed otherwise as he left with a haste goodnight.

"I know it isn't, Gil," Harry mumbled under his breath. Ginny turned around to look at him.

"It's okay, Harry. I'm sure he'll start trusting you soon enough," she reassured. Harry smiled sadly at her.

"You are the only one who ever tells that to me, Gin. Thanks." Ginny felt her cheeks warm up and she gave him a lopsided smile. "So, how was your day?"

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" The reason for using the particular adverb was because of his compliment and she knew it although she would deny it when asked by Hermione.

__________________

The moonlight shone softly, illuminating her ginger, plaited hair as she waited for her partner who was late as usual.

It was half past ten when her hairband burned and she teleported to a rooftop. After inspecting the nearby areas, she came to the conclusion that Confusion, whoever the bloke was, was present in the locality with another person. The footprints imprinted on the wet, rain drenched soil told her we much.

"Good evening, Miss Fly!" Dragonfly frowned. Not a new nickname, again.

"Shade, be serious! Confusion has been here with another person!"

Shade winced as he came into view. "Really? Then we have two mystery mortals who intrigue and annoy the hell out of us. Brilliant!"

Dragonfly hit his arm playfully. "Oh come on, I'm sure you are brilliant enough to identify who's footprint this is." She pointed at the smallest of the two footprints. Shade bent lower to inspect it. After a while of staring at it, he met her eyes.

"How do you know the other one is Confusion's footprints?" he asked.

"Well, I got a letter from Blackburn stating that Confusion was spotted here, a few minutes ago."

"He didn't say who the other person was?" Shade asked. Dragonfly shook her head.

"No. Apparently, both of them were wearing hoods. One of Silverflight's department Unspeakable found them talking and overheard the other person mentioning Confusion's name," she explained. Shade nodded, scratching his chin.

"Is there a spell to reveal the owner of a particular mark?" he asked after a while. A spell she learnt for her OWLs came to her mind and she nodded. He grinned. "Do the honours, Miss Fly!"

Dragonfly took a deep breath and pointed her wand at the place. "Signum Revelio!"

The footprint glowed before two words shot up to her eyes. "16."

"Sixteen?" Shade asked.

"That's what it told me. I think this mystery man is either named 16 or he is after a sixteen year old or he himself is a sixteen year old," Dragonfly suggested.

"A sixteen year old. . ." Shade's whisper was the only words uttered for the night.

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Thank you for reading!

Miyoko x