Breana had taken to skulking around at night when others were asleep as well as spending all her free time wandering around the school's grounds. The lake had become her favourite place to be, as she was left alone there.

For her exams Breana would slip in, covered head to foot. She was simply this form moving in a large

cloak. That was all people ever saw of her and they were themselves too distracted to talk to her.

Tyris was also good at bringing Breana meals, which Breana received by sending notes to the house elves in the kitchen. The house elves were very generous, and Breana ate better than she ever had since her arrival at Hogwarts.

At this moment, out by the lake Breana had realised that she had left extra pens and notebooks that she needed in the common room. She had run out of them already. They were too heavy for Tyris to carry, and so Breana had to chance going into the school.

With a heavy heart, she sent Tyris ahead of her. Tyris had, after a long and very verbal argument, agreed to keep a lookout for anyone coming Breana's way. She was to scout ahead, to make sure that Breana wouldn't run into anyone. Breana still wanted to stay out of anyone's way.

Climbing up the steps to the door of the school, Breana tugged the cloak around her tighter, so that it would cover her better. She had read, from a book that she had once checked out of the library at the school, that there were such cloaks that could make you invisible.

Breana would have given anything to have one, but as she didn't, she would have to do with this heavy one, which kept her warm during the storms.

Though Breana had sent Tyris ahead, Breana still checked. She did trust the squirrel, but the squirrel couldn't notice everything. She had to be doubly careful if she didn't want to be noticed.

Tiptoeing through the halls, Breana overheard the loud noise coming from the Great Hall where everyone ate. Her stomach grumbled. She would have loved to go in and get something to eat, as she hadn't eaten anything yet that evening. Tyris was helping her go through the castle alone, and then would go down to the house elves to get food.

She thought better of it though, and climbed up the steps, keeping an eye on the small form ahead that was Tyris. Her memory was not very good, and with the way the corridors tended to shift Breana was finding it hard to find her way to her common room. Tyris though, who had gotten some of her smaller belongings before, knew the way though. She had to rely on Tyris to get there. Passing through the first corridor, she continued on.

Breana trusted her squirrel, but the feeling of being watched refused to leave her mind. She constantly had to duck into dark corridors, as there were still a few students who were still moving around the halls. Obviously the call of their stomach had yet to be answered, and this made them even more troublesome. Breana's journey to the Ravenclaw common room was increasingly interrupted, as there seemed to be more people wandering around the halls, then there were in the Great Hall, eating.

She pulled the cloak around her closer, as she tried to disappear behind a black wall. Another string of people were making their way down the other corridor, talking loudly as they screamed that they had to get food now, before they starved. The exams had taken too long in their opinion, and other incidents had kept them away from the food.

'You could go faster,' snarled Breana to them softly, not loud enough for them to hear. One of them must have noticed something, as they turned to look in Breana's direction. Breana pressed herself against the wall, pleading with anyone who directed fate to not allow these people to see her. To her relief, the person continued on after their friends called for them to go on, as their stomach was grumbling non-stop.

Breana whispered a soft thank you once these people disappeared behind the next corner, and let out a soft whistle. The form of her squirrel, which had in the first place warned her of these people making their way towards her, scurried back out into her sight. Breana whispered a few words, which told the squirrel to go on, but Tyris seemed to be offended. It threw a few scolding words at Breana, before going on.

After that point, Tyris on purpose tried to annoy Breana as much as possible. She would take the longest time to disappear if someone was coming, choosing to almost let the person to see her before hiding. After the fifth time this happened, Breana decided that she had had enough. That squirrel had added the last straw.

'Will you stop that?' she hissed, as Tyris rushed ahead.

*Stop? What annoys you?* the squirrel asked, turning her little brown head to look into Breana's piercing eyes and white face.

'You know very well what you are doing that annoys me?' Breana said, her anger boiling.

'Do I?* the squirrel replied, acting as if she was surprised at this thought.

'Tyris!' screamed Breana, stomping one of her feet.

*You may attract unwanted attention* Tyris said softly, as she began to scurry ahead.

'You are the one who is attracting all the unwanted attention!' yelled Breana.

She didn't wait for another word from the squirrel, and she stomped ahead. She expected the squirrel to follow as she stormed ahead, and to tell her if she went wrong. Blindly, Breana made choices along the ends of corridors and where two halls met. She didn't run into anyone else, which she was thankful for.

Her luck though, in being able to continue her journey, was finished half an hour later. Breana followed a corridor, and found when she turned to her right, that there was a dead end. Angrily, she swung around to yell at Tyris for letting her get lost and stuck at a dead end. She found though, to her surprise, that Tyris was no longer there.

It seemed that Tyris had reached the end of her rope with her sanity, and had left Breana, just as everyone else had done. Leaving Breana alone with her anger. Breana felt a sob rise in her throat and hastily she tried to get rid of it. She was not going to cry. She was not going to tear up and bawl like a baby. She was Edmond's sister, the girl who was a complete tomboy.

Yet here, no one knew who she really was. Breana was not known by anybody here. She was beginning to miss home, even though her stepfather resided there, and wanted to see her brothers. She knew that she should be angry at them, trying to order her around, but this school was so different. She no longer had her brothers around her.

Breana raised her head to let out a howl, as she wished so badly that she was home. She wanted to be home. She wanted it to be summer. She wanted to be surrounded by her brothers, who always understood. Even if they didn't this one time about her wanting to stay at school, as she enjoyed finding out all the surprises of magic.

Her screams began sounding extremely like a wolf letting out its dying howl, and Breana pulled at her cloak around her. She threw it over her head and closed it tighter around her body. Her eyes staring at the ceiling, Breana let out one more sob before burying her head into her lap. Her arms closed around her, as she curled herself into a ball on the floor. With another scream of absolute fury, Breana closed her eyes, and continued to cry. This time softly.

Suddenly a squeaky little voice was heard near Breana, "Oh my dear, my dear, whatever can be the matter."

Tiny Professor Flitwick, Charms Teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House had been making his way back to his seventh floor office from the Great Hall and had heard strange noises. He had followed them to their source and found Breana wrapped in her cloak. Indeed, he had almost fallen over her but had seen her just in time.

He handed her an enormous handkerchief with which to dry her tears. "Miss Ayila, isn't it?" He seemed almost in tears himself at the thought of Breana being so upset.

'Nothing anyone could do about it. My life's just topsy-turvy, inside out and all the sharp points has come out to graze against my skin.'

Breana sounded slightly hoarse, but she spoke in an almost singsong voice. It would have been almost as if she had gone mad. Which she actually felt that she had in the first place. 'Have you ever wondered if people are making the choices for you just to keep you safe, or if they are just trying to annoy you?' she whispered softly, sticking to her curled up position. 'Or if they have a hidden agenda which you don't know about? Has that ever happened to you?'

This is when she did raise her head, and she gazed with her teary eyes into the professor's. Her skin had become moist with tears, and patched with red blushes, where her temperature had risen due to the force her body was taking by her sobs. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she wanted to continue on with something, or may it was just simply to breathe. Her nose had become stuffed up in the process, but she ignored the constant sniffles she had to make.

She took the professor's handkerchief, and dabbed her eyes lightly, as if there were other things on her mind than her complexion. If she had been anyone else, she would have probably hidden her head in shame. She looked close to those people you saw on the street, living homeless; with dirt smudged into their skin, and those haunted eyes. Breana now possessed those aspects.

"Oh, that sounds a very painful condition to be in.," said Professor Flitwick.

"Now I think that aside from guiding you safely back to your Common Room that I should teach you a 'Cheering Charm'. It will not put the world back to rights but it will help you to gain a better perspective on the situation and often with a better perspective the world manages to right itself very quickly."

The Professor was so small himself and yet so obviously brimming with good intentions it would be hard not to feel cheered up in his presence even without a cheering charm.

"Now as for people making choices, I am a very old wizard and it has been a very long time since anyone has tried to make a choice for me. Though we did have a teacher here a few years back who decided she was going to look after my diet - kept ordering me the most atrocious healthy meals. I finally had to insist she mind her own business and move to the other end of the staff table!"

He smiled kindly, "Yet in your case I understand that you came to an awareness of your magical talents quite late and that there is some difficulty with the rest of your family. That can be a very difficult position to be in. I think it very likely that your family is trying to help you in their own way. They probably miss you being with them very much. No need to postulate a hidden agenda on their part more than a wish to see you happy and settled. You seem to be a bit caught between two worlds and not properly part of either as yet."

Breana gave a slight smile to the professor, as she felt that his smile was contagious. She had no right to be smiling, as the predicament she was in was painful, but for now...she was actually glad to find someone who might be able to give her a clue of what to do. An adult always seemed to have more answers than another child does.

'Thanks professor,' she whispered, getting up and handing him his slightly stained with tears handkerchief.

Then after a thought, she asked, 'Professor? Do you think its possible to exist in two different worlds and keep them balanced? Manage to live one life as a...a..uh, Muggle I think you call them, and...as a student trying to survive in a school with students who have four more years experience than you do? Can you keep both sides equal, so that one does not override the other? Or will I eventually have to make a choice, and chose one? I...am not sure if any ideas put before me will ever work, and I'll end up going back to the world I once knew, and be trained there...but, to have people who are able to do the same things you can do mostly....that, is different than being at home....'

She paused, half lost in thought, and half waiting for the professor to answer.

Professor Flitwick took a moment to think about Breana's question.

"Well over the years I have been teaching here the ratio of students who either are muggle born or with one parent who is a muggle has grown considerably to those whose families live completely in the wizarding world. So there are a fair number of students who have faced very similar dilemmas about being in two worlds and choices about them. Experience also shows that each person has to tackle this for themselves. Alas, there is no easy solution.

A few do choose to turn their back on our world to return to completely living in the muggle world but it can be hard once you know magic not to use it and very lonely! We have a whole Department within the Ministry of Magic dedicated to making sure that our world remains hidden from that of ordinary folk - the muggles.

You see muggles tend to fear what they don't understand and what they fear they often seek to destroy. It was because of this that our worlds separated though there are still those who are sympathetic hence all those mixed marriages I mentioned.

Your Mother was a witch I understand - was there no one else in your family magically gifted? There is a great deal of magic in your country that is accepted by ordinary folk. You may not even have been aware of this as you had grown up because it seemed so much part of everyday life."

The tiny Professor smiled, "You seem a very bright young woman, which is why the Sorting Hat placed you in Ravenclaw. Now I know that you have come what two and 2/3rd Years later into the school than your classmates but your teachers are aware of the fact that you were notified late of your admittance here and are taking that into account. As to whether these ideas work, have your tried much magic yet or are you waiting for all this theory to sink in?"

Breana muttered, 'I've only tried bits and pieces. Breana whispered softly, 'I've been trying to learn. I've learnt about half the book for the first years. I'll learn the rest during the summer. And try the others.'

She paused, trying to hold back her tears. 'How do you make people understand? My brother's don't realise anything. They don't seem to think that I like being here. I am homesick, but I want to stay in school...they don't understand, as they are Muggles. They want me home. But I couldn't study at home... then it would be harder for me to learn. I need to watch others do it, and it's helpful if people help now and then. I couldn't do it with just one professor. I want to stay here, but I can't convince them....'

She nearly let out a sob, but managed to keep it back. Then in a slight howl, she asked, 'How can you make them understand?'

"Well you are being very sensible in my opinion looking to cover the background and you'll make good headway over the summer I am sure."

He pondered Breana's question, "Well, I think your brothers must miss you very much and want you to be happy which at present you are obviously not. You are quite right that learning magic here surrounded by over a thousand years of spells and the like is a definite 'boost' for any student. Plus, there are hundreds of other young witches and wizards and this again can be of great assistance."

He paused and thought, "Well the solution is simple - you want to stay in school and learn from a range of teachers and wish your family to accept this so we must find a way to convince them this is the best course for your future. Now this wizard you spoke of who has offered to teach you can you send him an owl?"

Professor Flitwick had a plan. He himself loved the South of Ireland. His interest in the all species of the fairies (the insect sized ones which are humanoid in appearence) had often led him there on holidays in search of little snippets of lore. The idea of calling upon Breana's wizard friend or neighbour and speaking with him and her brothers appeared the least he could do for a member of his own House.