Madison excused herself a few moments later and headed to the Gryffindor Common Room. She paused outside the portrait hole and read the Joss’ note, then went inside to think.

Once again, Yvette sat in front of the fireplace. But this time the book she'd bought was resting on her lap, and she was ready to snap her wand in two. She knew that there was an illusion on it...how or why she knew, she had no idea, nor how to break the spell.

"Ollopare." She hissed at the book, and still it didn't break. It was so strong, and beside it she knew her powers were nothing compared to it's...

Blinking groggily, she frowned into the fire. Maybe it was because she hadn't slept for three nights, and she was so tired...the fire was telling her to sleep, to cry, to collapse in front of the fire, to rest and not die from weariness...

NO! She couldn't! She wouldn't! She had to solve this, had to find out what this was hiding. Tears ran down her face and she twisted her mouth in an expression of exhausted weariness. "Plaire?" It was spoken half-heartedly, and the book lifted from her lap. She was so startled she couldn't speak. It had WORKED! She had done something right! "PLAIRE!" She shouted, and the book burst into flames.

It crumbled into ashes in her lap, and with a sob of weariness, she began to cry.

Madison went back to the Common Room after breakfast, and found Yvette in front of the fire. "Hey, whatcha doin'?" she asked. She went closer, and realised that Yvette was crying. A pile of ashes lay on her lap and tears ran down her cheeks. Madison gasped. "Yvette! Are you okay? What happened?"

Nimue had noted that Yvette was in the common room doing something with her wand but hadn't wanted to pry. She had gone upstairs to retrieve some better footwear for her work with Marcus. Coming down she decided she would broach the thorny problem she had with Morticia with Yvette.

Of course, instead she came across Madison comforting Yvette who seems to have had a serious problem. She took in the pile of ashes and the tears and quickly proffered a handkerchief echoing Madison's concern for Yvette's well being.

"Don't cry Yvette, maybe the book had a phoenix charm on it or something?" She wasn't quite sure what a phoenix charm might be but the pile of ashes suggested some sort of transmutation process, as obviously Yvette hadn't thrown her book into the flames. "What was it about?"

"It was...it was...so important! I could feel it, but I couldn't make it WORK!" Yvette scowled into the ashes, roughly wiping the tears away from her face with the offered handkerchief.

'Or perhaps an Illusion?'

The girls jump and spin round to see Marvo standing behind the, arms crossed. He looks concerned at Yvette.

'Remember this motto Yvette... 'Never retreat... Never surrender'. If you want to know what's in the book, being weak won't help. You give up now and you'll never amount to anything'

Although it is obviously Marvo talking, you get the impression he is quoting something said to him sometime in the past.

"But Marvo, it's gone! How can I get it back?" asked Yvette.

"Don't worry. Maybe there is something to what Marvo says and I sense something about it as well. Whatever magic was on it is was obviously very strong. I'd keep the ashes safe just in case!" advised Nimue.

Yvette nodded and scooped them off of her robe onto the handkerchief. Very carefully she wrapped up the sides and placed it in her hand. "Maybe I can find out a way to fix it..."

"I'll..erm... I'll have a look at it when I erm.. get back. I erm... Have someone, erm... something to do in the dinning room." Marvo hurries out feeling quite guilty for leaving Yvette obviously upset. However, he has 'other things' on his mind.

Yvette looked at the handkerchief and nodded. "See you around."

**********

This next bit had been missed out of Hogsmeade transcript so played her in dramatic ‘flashback’ for Kat:

Kat couldn’t get the memory of her encounter with Ceridwyn out of her head: (flashback mode to bookshop)

<Ceridwyn, seeing Kat's giggles and looks, and interpreting them as snobbish, decides that she will comment. She smiles amusedly and says, "Kat, I don't LIKE Marvo, but I do find him intellectually interesting, which is what I thought about you, but... I've come to realise that was a misassumption.

I've already eyed someone else, and he's not quite as ‘popular" as Marvo. But thank you for your unrequested opinion." Ceridwyn looks at Morticia and says, "I thought Ravenclaw was supposed to be known for its intelligent students... I guess standards can't always be upheld", She says coldly, and glances at Kat.>

Kat thinks about this. She's opened her big mouth again. Damn! She can't apologise yet she'd look silly, could she.

"Ok. Ok. I didn't mean to offend you. It just seems that right now there's a lot of it about. Maybe I shouldn't have said what I did. Sorry." Kat looks sheepish, goes all embarrassed. She glances at Marvo regretfully. Marvo can see a brief gleam in her eyes before she runs off.

<end of flashback – back to present time>