Feast or Famine PV

It had been a week or so since she met with Jack Burnett, who came to her with more information on on the hag situation - and more worrying news. She immediately sent a letter to one Miss Erin Ryan, regarding meeting up and asking her to come to office. Yet, there was no sign of her. Hjørdis even dropped by the dorms to try and catch her after dinner last night but failed to find her. It was worrying, if nothing else. There was only so much patience that someone could take - and when it came to the safety of the students that were under her care, patience was a virtue that she very much lacked. 'Now' was not soon enough.

Hjørdis spotted the purple hair in the sea of students exiting the common room and making their way up the stairs and towards the great hall. It was almost time for breakfast. But Miss Ryan went... right past the Great Hall. Quirking an eyebrow, the Head of Slytherin instantly turned to follow her. With a few minutes to breakfast starting, there was no reason for the third year to be going anywhere else. Especially not outside at this time.

She walked through the grounds, trying to spot her. A dread started to surge through her. Erin could not possibly be going to the Forbidden Forest, right? The nerves started to gnaw at her stomach, a desperate hope that the student was not going to willingly walk into the forest. It would confirm some of what Jack said but she really really wanted to him to be wrong. The idea of students being used in this manner was not one she wanted to entertain but... it was a very real possibility and she had to take it seriously.

A breathe of relief almost escaped her as she noticed the student break into the greenhouse. It was... strange. But it was far better than the forest. Though... she had no idea why Erin needed to be in the greenhouses now. At breakfast time. Quietly, she approached the Herbology classrooms. Well. She had found her. Hjørdis had zero clue on what she wanted to say to her but she had found her. It was time to do this.

Entering the classroom quietly, she spotted Erin inside and quickly closed the door behind her. Standing next to the door, she allowed her eyes to fall onto the student. Who was... wait what? It looked like a dead rat in her hand - which was being put into her mouth. Hjørdis instantly almost vomited at the sight. Gagging slightly, having to hold back the desire to vomit. But her presence was likely established in the room, if it had not been already. There was a gagging noise and a cough that followed it, "Miss Ryan... Why... are you... eating a... rat?" She managed to get out, without actually puking. The rat did not even look cooked. Oh god, she was going to hurl.

Years of masking her emotions did not help in this situation. There were many thing she expected to see. There were things she had seen that were worse than this, in all honesty. But when a student is offered three full meals every day, seeing them eat a raw uncooked rat out of choice was... not something she had ever anticipated witnessing. The pure shock of it was enough to make her want to hurl and it took literally every fibre of control in her body to prevent doing so, "You know... there's breakfast... not too far from here?" She asked, wondering why someone would choose this willing.

It took her a few moments to recover but she managed to do so, sighing softly, "I think, we need to talk..." She repeated the words from her letter, that Ryan had already ignored once. Silently, she locked the door behind her, just in case the girl tried to make a dash for it. Normally, she would not have. But... after multiple incidents of students attacking and running, it seemed smart to - at the very least - delay their exit. She mentally prepared herself for a launch and yet another student deciding to attack her.

Erin had found her quarry, with the snap of its neck the gnawing hunger would be sated for a short time. Rat in hand, she would hear the door of the greenhouse open. She would find nothing to duck behind as her eyes darted to either side of her. Was it fear of detention? No, detention was a state of being. Was it shame? No, the girl did not know pride. It had been stripped from her some time ago. It was instinct, the knowledge that to survive she needed to remain unseen. However there was no place to flee. A dead rat in hand, she took two bites from the fresh corpse and cast aside the mostly meatless remains and wiped the blood from her mouth with her forearm. The action only smeared the sanguine hue. Her lip curled back, her stomach rumbled. Who?

Enter Professor Jensen, the Head of House of Slytherin. It was she who had encroached upon Erin's hunting grounds. She still hungered, but her meal would have to wait.

"Miss Ryan... Why... are you... eating a... rat?"

"Hungry," Erin gave a single word reply.

"You know... there's breakfast... not too far from here?"

"Poison," she answered again with a single word phrase. She girl sounded more like a Cro-Magnon than a wizard. Paranoid, delusional. Oddly enough, in this case despite what appeared to be madness, she was not wrong. Her eyes shifted, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye. A vole. They lacked the meatiness but there was this predatory impulse to pounce upon the unfortunate creature and consume it whole.

"I think, we need to talk..."

Of course she thought so. She had gotten the Professor's letter, she discarded the letter upon reading. She would not choose to enter the domicile or office of a Professor to discuss any matter of interest. Her plan was to avoid where she was outmatched. Professor Jensen was an accomplished wizard in her own right, Erin could not hold a candle to the woman in terms of casting. However, she was ancient. She was probably thirty. An unfathomable number to the teen. She was getting old and tired, she could outrun her. She could run away and hide. She had spent the last year training for this!

There was only one exit, Nora had already entered the room. Erin would make a run for it, for the door. She would dart for the door with incredible speed and agility, the girl was physically strong but magically an incompetent. Her hand would grip the door, the intention to rip it open and rush into the grounds. There were many hiding places, she would find one. She would try to turn the knob, the door was locked.

She had no interest in fighting the Professor. She let go of the knob as if it was on fire and scrambled away from Hjørdis. She would trip and fall, scraping her knee as she tried to run away. Get some distance between herself and Jensen. "I don't want to get involved," she announced when she was satisfied (that being a strong word) for the distance between herself and Nora.

Hjørdis gaped at the third year who claimed to be eating a rat out of hunger when there was a giant feast of a breakfast not more than ten minutes away. Erin literally had to pass by the Great Hall in order to get to the herbology classroom. She had to walk by the smell of freshly cooked breakfast to get here. Poison. Poison was the answer that the student gave. She frowned. Breakfast was more poisoned than eating a raw rat that she presumably just picked up from the greenhouse?

She watched Ryan make a mad dash towards the exit before realising it was locked, seemingly giving up and backing away from her. She frowned as she watched her scrape her knee just trying to get away. All Hjørdis wanted to do was talk. That was all she asked for. Ryan's reaction was far too extreme for it to be anything against talking. There was clearly much more at stake here, much more that happened. It was worrying but every second was confirming the words that Jack had said. Whatever this girl had gone through - was going through - it was serious and it was bad.

"You think the food in the Great Hall has been poisoned? Why? What makes you think that?" She asked, wondering what led her to stop eating it and opt to willingly survive of wild rats - literally vermin. There had to be a reason. This was not an easy or a pleasant choice for anyone to make.

Sighing softly, Hjørdis kept her eyes on her, "I know... None of us want to be involved... But it seems you are already involved? Let's try and get you out of that, shall we?" She asked, trying to reason with her. But... was there really any reason left at this point? The girl was no older than fourteen and she looked crazy.

Ryan looked paranoid. It was clear that the professor would not be trusted. There was likely no point in saying the words she wanted to say but she said it anyway, "Look, Erin, I'm trying to help you... Let me help you. I need to know what's going on and what you know to help you..." She added, opting for her first name for once and dropping the formalities. At this point, she was not trying to force her to answer the questions as her teacher, she genuinely just wanted to understand and help.

There were far too many questions that Hjørdis wanted to ask her. She could start bombarding on the student. This could, quite easily, turn into an interrogation. And if needed, it could be forced out of her. But those were resorts that Hjørdis did not want to put on a child. It was clear that whatever Erin had gone through, it had been far too much for any one to have to deal with.

Erin backed away from Professor Jensen, while human in form she could be more likened to a wild animal watching a potential predator enter their den. She wanted distance,more than the modern social distancing muggles participated in. Her head twitching to either side, her eyes darting in either direction. She was seeking a route of escape.

The ill-prepared Professor had but one question to start. Why?

To which the Professor received a rumbling response. "Don't trust-- Never. No," she shook her head back and forth and took another step back.

Jensen's pleas for something were met with resistance. Not that Erin thought she was keeping any secrets, why tell the Professor what she already know. "As I have told Healy, leave what is mine and take the rest," she did not want much. In fact she had nothing that was hers any longer less her brother who was absent. Without Jack or Thomas, all that was left was Oliver and thus far she was the only one to want him but she was content to have him. "I am aware I won't win, but I can be more trouble than I am worth," it was the best she had in terms of threats. She was out-numbered, out-matched in terms of strength and magic. All she could be was a thorn in their side, not an easy meal, not a silent one either.

She wanted to help her. "I don't trust you!" The part-Veela shouted, her voice like the cawing of a bird. "They are all gone. Eaten... or something," she had no clue what they did to LeStrange. If they were even involved. She continued to back away, she was making slow purposeful steps towards the wall of the greenhouse. Made of glass, she would punch through a pane and rush away to freedom. She just needed to keep talking. Exactly what Nora wanted.

"Are you a death witch?" A term Nora may or may not have heard before. Kaegen Deathmote had been obsessed with this imaginary order for some time. Kaegen was paranoid and violent, lashing out at various adults and the occasional inanimate object. "I've been told..." her voice trailed off as she furrowed her brow. Don't say too much. "...enough about them." Another few paces back, her hip brushed against a pot that almost fell to the ground but she caught the clay planter without turning in her hand. The girl was perceptive, it was a shame she was also a bit mad. She was close to a number of truths, but in her absurdity her claims sounded unreal. "Or are you a midget giant?" It would have sounded like a joke had the girl's tone not been so serious, her face so stern.

She swallowed hard. She did not expect the woman to admit what she was. She did not expect anything, she was only buying herself a little more time, a little more distance. If either earned she would simply speak louder so that she could be heard. "I don't care which you are. Fawley and Avery already told me enough," yes she was throwing those death witches under the metaphorical bus. "And I dunno" or care for that matter "how high up this goes..." But she was certain that the Prefects were in on it or were purposefully choosing to turn a blind eye.

She was almost there, almost to the far side of the greenhouse. Shift to the side a bit, get around that table that terminates the aisle. Get as close as possible to the glass. "I already told Mr. Browne," was he even a Professor? "About the missing people. Quinn eating them," did she tell him that part? She thought she did. Well, if not now Jensen knows that Erin knows. She knew everything! Well, perhaps not everything but most things. "That Thomas was taken and broken. That Marcus was taken and is a damn liar," She was referring to LeStrange and DeWynter, both disappeared for a year only to return out of nowhere. LeStrange refused to talk about it, but he arrived soaking wet and freezing with a scar on his arm in the shape of a trident. He had allied himself with another coven of hags she had later discovered making him a dangerous enemy rather than supposed ally. DeWynter claimed to be dealing with 'family matters' that kept him from his lessons for the better part of the year. He was back briefly and then *poof* he was gone again. They were not the only ones, there were dozens that were there and now were no longer.

"I am not crazy!" Yes, she really was. "I know I was not..." she was going to say alone but that was not the right term. She is alone for the most part, but there were other people. So many others. They were here and now they were not. There was a mere handful of children in her year, the numbers in the years before exponentially higher. "There were more of us," she insisted with incredible resolve but her words made no sense. Professor Jensen would never overlook the loss of her flock. She would never shrug something so important off. Perhaps she should return to the dorms and count the number of beds. Look for trunks with no owner.

Her hand would rest on a pane of glass, it felt cool under her fingertips. It was still the early morning, the heat would be stifling in here in a few hours. She did not have time to wrap her hand, she would make a small fist and then attempt to strike not Professor Jensen but rather the pane of glass. if successful it would shatter, raining down hundreds of shards of sharp glass. She would close her eyes, protect her sight. The glass would land in her hair, cut her knuckles and slice her skin if she was not prevented. Indeed it was self harm but only for the sake of self-preservation.

TLDR;
- Quinn eats people
- Deathwitches and midget giants
- Caradoc knows about the missing people
- Attempting (can be stopped, no roll needed) to break the window to escape

There was something rather heartbreaking about watching the young third year. Every reaction was chaotic. Mumbles of fear, a lack of trust, resistance, anger... The words that were sprouted out of the younger Slytherin's mouth were absurd in some ways but also said with so much conviction, confusion perhaps. Erin Ryan looked crazy, as a result. But she also looked like someone who was scared. Someone who had seen, heard or just been through far too much. No older than fourteen, the information that Burnett had even Hjørdis was not something anyone should go through - let alone someone that young. The teenager had resorted to eating a rat. A raw wild rat... The amount of germs that were likely on the rat made Hjørdis want to vomit. It was horrific. This whole thing was so horrific that it was heartbreaking.

It was no surprise that Erin mumbled out something about not trusting. Hjørdis could not blame her. She also had no real way of earning her trust. Trust was a complicated thing. It was far easier to lose than it was to gain and it was not something that could be gained unless the other person was willing to open up. That... took time. Time that Hjørdis did not have.

A 'Healy' was mentioned. Quinn Healy? People were gone... eaten?! The choice of words caused a dread to fill her. A few months ago, if someone claimed that people had been eaten, she would quirk an eyebrow and look at them like they were ridiculous. Right now, knowing that there were multiple covens of hags on the grounds and the student in front of them had some sort of connection to one of the covens... Well, it just made sense. It was a horrific thought but... it could have been true.

'Death Witch' she said. Hjørdis had heard the term before. Not recently, by any means. But... a student had said the term to her multiple times when she first arrived in the castle, almost two years ago. It was a strange comment he had made but one that she could not push for information from. Like Erin was now... that student had been far too vulnerable to explain. Erin seemed to know more about them than Hjørdis did. The death witch... It could not be the hags. Surely... Deathmote had told her about them back in her first month at Hogwarts. It must have been October 2018... The first sightings of the coven was a year later... Right?

More names were thrown at her. 'Fawley', 'Avery'... There were likely a few students by those surnames. Browne knew, apparently. About Healy... eating people... Hjørdis blinked. Erin thought... Quinn was eating people?! That... seemed... wrong. Unless he was being possessed into helping the hags or someone took his appearance. The Quinn Healy she knew would not have...

Thomas was mentioned... In a similar fashion to how Burnett had described him. A 'Marcus' that could have been anyone. Someone who was taken, and apparently lying about it.

None of this made any sense... And yet... parts of it might have. Thomas had been taken, something had happened to him. And the hags... could have been eating people. It could not have been students, though. Surely. People would notice them missing. Classes would go empty. Right...?

"I believe you, Erin." That was all that escaped her mouth. Before she had a chance to really say anything else, the girl launched for the window. Hjørdis quickly went to grab her by the arm and push it away from hitting the glass. It was a rough attempt, most likely resulting accidentally pushing Erin back a little or taking some of the force behind the punch herself but it would prevent the window from breaking, "Listen to me, Erin!" Her voice was raised. It was not as loud as most people's screams but it was far louder than her usual quiet tone, "I believe you. Something happened to Lestrange. I don't know what but I will find out. He's been acting differently right? And he has some sort of weird scar now? Like a trident or something?" She threw in a bit of information, trying to show the student that she was attempting to actually understand and help.

"And people getting eaten... You might be right... You know what a hag is right? We recently found out there's a hag coven in the school. Hags eat people." She repeated some of what they spoke about in the Great Hall not too long ago, as they informed the students of the new curfew and rules. Given how she did not trust the food, she likely was not even there, "We have to stop them. Together." She added, pausing for a second as she tried to recall anything that Burnett said that might be useful, "I heard about the old crones... They gave you a pendant of some sort. Do you still have it? In exchange of a favour? Do you know where they are? Do you know what they are, Erin?" She asked. It was a complete guess, a stab in the dark. But they were suspecting that the old crones that Erin had made some sort of 'deal' with - a favour in exchange for a pendant of some sort - was a coven of hags. If she had to hazard a guess, it would be the one deep within the dungeons of the castle, if Thomas was likely taken by the forest coven.

A part of her was really hoping that Erin had absolutely nothing to do with any coven of hags. But... she had to verify. She needed to know what Erin knew but there was a good chance that Erin did not even remember what happened when she wore the pendant or had her memory wiped or had started to go crazy from all of the horrific things that she may have witnessed, if there was any truth to any of this.

"Can you tell me about the deathwitches, the midget giants and how you know it's Healy who is eating people?" She asked. She did not believe the last part - about Quinn - but she would entertain the idea if it gave any chance of finding out more information that may have helped.

Erin had no issue with her memory. Had she, the girl might be more complacent. But she knew too much and her reckless paranoia filled in the rest. The cruelty of children and the indifference of superiors only compounded the issue. While she had the truth at the tip of her tongue, her mind will filled with irrelevant facts, lies and jumps in logic.

It was a terrible shame because the world was scary enough as is.

"I believe you, Erin."

Jensen claimed. She didn't, Erin stubbornly assumed as the part-Veela launched herself at the window. Hjørdis quickly went to grab her by the arm and push it away from hitting the glass. It was a crude attempt at deflection. She might be surprised at how powerful the young girl was physically. It was not normal. However, Erin's fist would miss the pane of glass and hit the frame. The wall would rattle and she would feel the sting of the unyeilding sill.

"Listen to me, Erin!"

Jensen persisted. Watch. Look. Know. Hear. The word listen contains the same letters as the word silent. Had the fearless youth not been so overcome with panic, a sense of self-preservation, she might have but she was rattled. Her heart did not pound, she did not feel fear. She lacked the biological response but she understood the concept of self-preservation. The fact that she had no friends, less one. That she could trust none, this included her so-called friend that she did not deserve.

That she was not one to be sought, only caught.

She would glance at the pane out of the corner of her eye. Her bloodied knuckles on her right hand remained clenched at her side. She would twist, with the heel of her hand try to strike the wall. "I believe you."

She repeated and Erin hesitated. Why did she hesitate?

"Something happened to Lestrange."

The answer simple, she wanted to be heard.

"I don't know what but I will find out."

She had been screaming into the abyss for over a year.

"He's been acting differently right?"

She stopped. She let out a sigh, mentally cursing her repetitive stupidity. Her right she opened and closed, the stretch and the ache keeping her in the now. The only reminder that this was real, a visceral one.

"And he has some sort of weird scar now? Like a trident or something?"

The last part was concerning. How did she know about the scar the bled? "Stand back," Erin announced. "I don't like corners," corners like a wall to her back and a Professor in front of her. That sense of confinement, of being trapped. Hardly a phobia, it was survival instinct. Something ingrained into all humans, the basic code necessary to survive.

If the Professor gave her a few feet, Erin's stiff posture would not relax. Her eyes would still dart between the woman and the door. A silent calculation of how fast and how far. Could she make it there and if so what would be necessary. "How do you know about him?"

"And people getting eaten... You might be right... You know what a hag is right? We recently found out there's a hag coven in the school. Hags eat people."

Erin nodded her head. Erin was not in the Great Hall, she never heard the speech or the newest restrictions on students - their curfews. Not that she would have abided had she known. She did not trust the food, she did not trust anything. She had not seen the hags eat anybody but she knew the stories about them. How if you were bad, the hags would get you. If you wandered too far alone, the hags would get you. The childhood boogeymen.

"We have to stop them. Together."

Erin had no desire to fight the hags. They are dangerous, she was well-aware of that fact but this was not her fight.

"I heard about the old crones... They gave you a pendant of some sort. Do you still have it? In exchange of a favour? Do you know where they are? Do you know what they are, Erin?"

Erin would try to take a step back. Very specific questions. Wanting to know where they are. The rusted gears in the girl's brain had started to turn. Why? "Who do you work for?" She could not help but look over her shoulder in case there was somebody standing there. "They sent you didn't they?" They being the coven of hags in the woods. The ones that Thomas had made a deal with. The ones that she was lured to. The one that she should have let have Paracelsus Jack. She knew enough about crones to know they came in threes. That a coven was a trinity - the maiden, the mother and the crone. That they all appeared haggard in appearance. That they were powerful, but their powers were not the same as that of wizards. That they do not play nice.

"Can you tell me about the deathwitches, the midget giants and how you know it's Healy who is eating people?"

Did it really matter? Matter who Miss Jensen worked for. Why she had taken a keen interest in the hags. If she belonged to one coven or the other. It mattered but it was ephemeral really. What she once valued she had discovered to be worthless. What she had worked for and endeavored was left in ruin. All she had left was her resentment.

"Kaegen Deathmote warned me about the death witches. Eris Fawley and Max Avery admitted to being death witches. All I know is that they are dangerous, maybe hags," she shrugged. Her head hurt. She needed to calm her chaotic thoughts. Give facts and lace her words with misdirection. "Thomas maybe," she added suddenly feeling more talkative. "I confronted Quinn months ago, I accused him of eating people..." she did not even have to lie. "He laughed, not the sort of laugh where what I said was ridiculous. The mad sort. Then he fled." They have had altercations since, he broke her hand once. He might not have eaten Thomas but he was still on her shit-list. Had he eaten Thomas now, maybe they would be on better terms. Maybe.

"They live in the woods, near the Groundskeeper Cabin. You should ask Jack," yeah let's throw that little b**** under the bus. "And Thomas if you want to know more."

Hjørdis knew very well that Erin would likely make another run for it. Seeing how little she trusted things now made it clear. Cornering the student into a greenhouse is not what she wanted to do. It was frustrating being a professor at times. Right now, she wanted nothing more than to be able to help the younger girl in front of her. The one who was so scared, so paranoid, so worried that she was eating raw rats for breakfast and wasting away her childhood in fear - potentially with no one but hags as companions. To help her physically, it would be better to lock her away from the hags, force her to eat better food and do whatever they could to remove the hags from the grounds. But emotionally and mentally, that would only cause more harm than help.

Stepping back, she raised her hands as though in surrender to show she was unarmed and not going to do anything to hurt her. She gave her some space, despite knowing how she would likely come to regret that decision in seconds, she did it anyway. No one wanted to be trapped. Trapping a snake in the corner causes it to turn around and lash out. Erin was strong. Too strong. She knew that when she tried to stop the student from escaping. The way the wall rattled was telling.

When the student questioned who she worked for, she knew that there was no answer that would change what Erin thought. Being accused of working with the hags was not something you could convince someone of otherwise. It did not matter what she said, Erin would not believe her. Denying it would not help.

"I work for you, Erin," Hjørdis replied with a sigh, it was literally her job to help the students but she knew that Erin had absolutely no reason to trust or believe that. She had not been there for her when the girl needed her the most and it might have been far too late not to earn that trust, "My job is to help you - and the other students. We have to stop the hags from eating another student or hurting anyone." She reinforced, seriously hoping that Erin was wrong about the eating of students. But... they were dealing with multiple covens of hags and the possibility of that happening was higher than a zero percent chance.

If there was one thing she had learned over the months, it was that students deserved to know the truth. They had questions and she had to answer them. Erin had a few. Though... The professor had a feeling she was just asking for the sake of it, perhaps to distract her again. "I spoke to Burnett already. He told me about Thomas, the scar and the incident that happened in March," She explained, referring to the incident that took place near the Groundskeeper Cabin with Thomas, Erin, Jack and a Gryffindor student, "He also told me about you had a pendant, given to you by old crones... The ones in the dungeons..." Hjørdis watched her face for a reaction, trying to find any sign as she spoke.

The death witches that Kaegen and now Erin spoke of gave her no real information. Thoughts that made little sense. Fawley and Avery admitted to being one though. Dangerous. And then a Quinn Healy that was accused of eating people. Accusations thrown one after another, it was a lot. Jack had been the one who told Hjørdis about all of this to start with - the reason she was here in the first place. Thomas was the next and last of the trio. She would have to speak to him too. If her suspicions were correct... Erin had made some sort of contract with the hags in the dungeons. She was likely being controlled by them or working for them - perhaps without even realising it. Thomas might have done the same with the coven in the forest. The priority was the dungeon coven. They had to be forced out. Perhaps... if they were forced into the forest, the two covens could eliminate each other.

"Yes. You're right, I should speak to Thomas," She had intended to do that anyway but she would agree with Erin, to show she listened and took her words on board, "Erin... What sort of contract did you make with the crones?" She asked bluntly, trying to see what Erin was giving up in exchange for this pendant that she supposedly got. She had asked about the pendant already, which Erin had not answered but she was going to try again, in the hopes she would.

Nora lifted her hands, she could see the Professor's palms. Nothing in them, no wand or hatchet. Not that Erin believed that Jensen was crude enough for the later. A bit of space, fresh air. She could breathe. The gears in the girl's paranoid head were turning -- why? Was this a trick? What was her plan?

"My job is to help you - and the other students. We have to stop the hags from eating another student or hurting anyone."

Erin knew that hags ate children but she was not a child, she was a teenager. That was her reasoning. As if hags were worried about such technicalities. In fact, most of the student population was teenagers. As far as she was concerned, there was the possibility that a hag would eat one of her peers but "it would be like eating mutton rather than lamb." The last part of her thoughts became words. She, they were not palatable, a lie she had told herself a thousand times over. A lie she said until she believed it. "It is the giants," she insisted. The giants being a fixture of her delusion and preoccupation. A lie she needed to be able to live with herself but there was a sinking part of her soul that knew otherwise.

However, Erin was calming. Nora had given her space. Precious space. A means of escape more viable. Her eyes fixed on the mark still, the door which served as the only means of ingress and egress. Erin was more like a beast capable of speech, she was driven by instinct. Survival was her imperative, not manipulation or coercion until Burnett's name came up.

"I spoke to Burnett already. He told me about Thomas, the scar and the incident that happened in March."

Of course he, he being Jack, was involved. In her paranoid mind there was a complicated conspiracy. That he had planned this, played on her emotions and her confusion. On her want for something, someone to... be hers? No, affection went deeper than possession. She wanted someone that wanted to be around her, that would notice and care if she was gone. Had she disappeared like so many others had, nobody would look for her. Nobody would even take notice. She was irrelevant. Unloved. Unmissed. She could not love and therefore she could never be loved in return. She could never care for another person and it was for that reason she could never be cared for in turn. Perhaps it was all a farce, everyone was as empty and as shallow as her. They felt nothing and the difference between them was that they also wanted nothing. She wanted to fallacy, the fantasy that there was more to people. A truth and a chance that there could be a reason to live because she had none, just the biological imperative that she must. That not society but evolution dictated such.

"Jack likes to talk it would seem," a phrase she would say again to Flash weeks from now. Thomas was right, that one phrase he had said to her was the same truth she realized in her earliest memories. It was foolish to believe that someone could care for her. That included Jack, the liar. Paracelsus, the boy who hid. He owed her nothing, not even the decency to say that there was nothing between them.

People did things because they could. Because it benefited them. Not for some mutual accomplishment. Not for some love of their fellow person, love for someone specific. The only person that mattered was ones self. A hard lesson to learn. A regrettable one to finally accept. Ultimately he did it for the sake of doing so. To sate his curiosity. Because it was easier that day for him to 'go along with it' until when? Until she figured it out and understood the concept of sorrow rather than hate the short time she could feel anything. It was a convoluted excuse he could give himself and his peers, something they could accept. In the end it have given her a lesson -- that she was best alone.

"He also told me about you had a pendant, given to you by old crones... The ones in the dungeons..."

Then Nora referenced the other coven, the one Erin had omitted mentioning. Nora also mentioned the pendant. The foolish choice Erin made to trust Jack had come to bite her in the ass. In the future she would be more guarded. Lesson two learned. What loyalty did she have to the crones? More than she had to Thomas or Jack. Still she nodded, a lie would be seen through. A lie would make everything worse.

She deflected to Thomas. The villain of her story. A boy who would have a multi-year crusade against her in response to an offense -- she had insulted his mother. The very woman he had abandoned to come here to take on his father's legacy. It was an excuse. The boy was hardly the sensitive or the sentimental sort, she was merely a lightning rod for his teenage angst and aggression. Something she used to revel in.

"Yes. You're right, I should speak to Thomas,"

The deflection towards Thomas had minimal benefit, if anything he would be thrilled to have an evening alone with the Professor. If anything she had done the hormonal teen a favor and scarred Professor Jensen for life. Maybe he could show her his collection of Thomas the Train britches.

"Erin... What sort of contract did you make with the crones?"

Erin extended her neck. It was long and thin. The little girl was taller than her hunkered down posture would suggest. Like a turtle coming from its' shell a bit. So be it Thomas and Jack. "A cure," it made no difference admitting what the woman already knew. There was no sympathy for her condition. A condition far too tedious to explain but she would save the woman the question. "I don't feel anything. It is as if I am living in someone else's skin. Everything is numb, like I am feeling it through a barrier. Not if it is sharp or if it is cold, but if it is kind and soothing or fearsome and bold." Her reason. "Not feeling it does not mean I do not know it, that I lack the very biological imperative that keeps us alive. That helps us thrive. Allows us to propagate our race. That I should and that I do not. When I should... that it is what I want," as if the Professor could understand this. Understand her 'condition.' "It is not that I feel numb, there is nothing there," she clarified. "I lack what you take for granted when you see someone you find handsome or charming. That dread that give you the adrenaline you need to run, to survive. I lack the most basic biological impulse." And for that reason she was broken but nobody had broken her until she could feel that relevant break.

The Professor might ask how or why. It did not make sense. Was Erin mentally ill? Very much so, but unlike those that suffer from ailments such as depression or anxiety hers had a known root cause. There was no pill to make her right, even believe it. There was no amount of therapy that would ameliorate this feeling that she was lingering in an abyss. "My father studied dementors, an academic that failed to consider would would happen to a child within the proximity of them. I suppose they never developed," making her a psychopath if they wanted to mince words. It wasn't abuse, it was a lack of consideration. A facet of human nature that has effected her over and over again.

"They offered me a 'fix,'" something Jensen could not provide as far as Erin could tell. "A pendant that would serve as the heart I apparently lack," it almost sounded poetic. "It was a good few months," but no bargain from a hag ever goes well. "Then Jack broke my heart," her metaphorical one. "Claimed for months to be someone else... someone he strongly resembled until I finally figured it out on my own." Kids can sure be cruel, he was no exception. Although he would likely tell himself and others that technically he never lied. That technically he just let her believe what she wanted. But he did more than accept her advances, he played the role. He drained her of information, the very information he had shared with Nora and weeks from now she would discover with others. "I was better with nothing," her face was stoic as she gave the unusual tale. "Thomas had once said," she shook her head never-mind. To think someone actually gave a fuck about you. It was funny, really had she possessed a sense of humor. Some residual effect of that charm. "He was right," she confessed.

"In exchange..." her voice trailed off. What had they required of her? Her brow furrowed. She was uncertain, she shook her head side to side. "They just helped me," she concluded with a frown. "I shown them people I wanted to be more like," the people she envied but would never admit that facet. "They were not nice but they helped them too," from her perspective they were not the villains in this story. However she had cared about Howard, despite the fact that he was more a rival than a friend. Not a friend, she did not have those. Those closest thing she had were people that wanted to humiliate or defeat her more than others.

Of course she was wrong, she had done their bidding without ever realizing. It was not that her recollection was foggy, it was her perception that was critically skewed. She had let them into the castle, into the very dungeons that they had infested. It was her efforts to make the very pendant that they gifted her that facilitated their corruption. It was her own flesh that was ripped from her and something left in its wake to make what she most prized. She had given but had been left to believe it was for free. That if anything, she owed them a favor. "They had done nothing wrong."

"By your own analogy... Some people prefer mutton rather than lamb... And if you're hungry, food is food..." She added, her eyes flickering towards the rat that Erin had been eating. If anyone should know that, it's Erin. It did not matter which meat was tastier. A hag did not care for the age of their food. If they were hungry, they ate. It was that simple. And that thought was horrifying.

Hjørdis sighed as Erin insisted it was the giants. She had no idea where this had come from. Of course, it could easily be true that Healy had something to do with the whole situation but the idea of him eating someone was ridiculous. At least, it went against everything the Slytherin professor knew about him. Though she had not spent a lot of time with him, she had spoken to him a few times. Hell, he had dressed up as a knight and told her a whole story just to make her smile. If he was working with the hags, it was unknowingly. Or... he was an excellent liar, who had manipulated the situation into making everyone think he was kind. "What makes you think it's the giants? I'll watch Healy but... I need to know what to look out for," She replied, trying to understand where this whole concept had come from. Perhaps, if Erin had seen Quinn coming out of the forest or seen him with the coven of hags, there was something to go off. But right now, this was a serious accusation that had very little to back it up.

It was heartbreaking listening to the beautiful teenager speak. People often thought Hjørdis felt nothing because she portrayed a blank emotionless expression on her face but she had emotions, she just chose to hide them from others where she could. This was... very different. Erin explained genuinely not feeling anything. Perhaps due to mental ill-health, perhaps due to something else. She could not help but wonder what it was. But more than that, she wanted to know how to help. No one deserved to go through what the purple haired teenager was experiencing.

There was nothing there... The curse? Could it be related to the darkness, perhaps? A void of emotions. Everything sucked out of you, thrown into a dark abyss. A lack of normal biological impulses... Hjørdis frowned as she continued, speaking about dementors. A kiss from one of them would leave her in such a state.

Hjørdis watched her quietly, contemplating. If Erin was truly an empty-shell of a person, then she was not angry or frustrated when she shouted at her... Perhaps she did not feel as scared as the professor had thought she was. She hated this... She wanted nothing more than to help the student but she did not even know if that was possible. A pendant seemed to do the trick but the cost was too high. She could not promise Erin that she could fix this... Because she probably could not. She stared at her, listening quietly to the words that the student was saying, "Who did they help?" She asked, wondering if there were any other students being manipulated in this way.

She sighed, "Erin... Nothing they give you comes without cost. Listen to me very carefully... Someone told me that when you wore this pendant, your behaviour changed. You spoke of eating another student. But you then took it off. And as soon as you did, you returned back to normal and apparently did not realise what it did to you. Now I don't know how much of that is true or what this pendant is doing to you but it's more than giving you emotions. It is changing you, without your consent." She explained, though she was not entirely sure if the latter was true.

Perhaps Erin wanted to eat Jake. But given how she seemed to be now, she did not willingly exhibit hag like behaviours, "I know you do not trust me. You have no reason to. But please... don't trust them either. You might not see it but they are taking more away from you, from everyone here, than you realise..." It was a hope. A very small hope. She could not force Erin to obey. Well... technically, she could if she used magic on her but she did not want to. There was many ethical issues behind that. But more than that, this was not someone who deserved it... This was a student who just wanted to feel something. That was all...

"For what it's worth..." She started, knowing that it was likely not worth anything to Erin but saying it anyway, "I don't know if you do lack a heart... If you did lack one entirely, you would not feel hurt or betrayed or angry or scared... You would not feel lonely, if you were truly devoid of all emotion... If, for even a second, you feel something... then maybe, we can find a way to cure you without it taking away everything..." She added. If there was even a small part of Erin that left irritated, terrified, heartbroken... Even if it was negative, there was hope. It was not much to go off but it was all she had.

The Head of House shook her head, "By the way... Jack doesn't realise what he knows." She admitted. He did not know about the dungeons but he suspected a second coven and Hjørdis already suspected the same, including where it was. Erin's reaction, sadly, confirmed that it was likely the case. Too close for comfort. Within the castle itself... A horrifying thought. That attack in the common room had been the start. If a coven of hags marched down those corridors, there was nothing the students could do... The dark was one thing... the hags were another game altogether, and they were not going to be easy, "But the attack that happened on the Slytherin common room a few months ago? Whatever is in the dungeons did that." She explained. It was another guess that she was hazarding but all of the evidence that she had found pointed towards that. The darkness that attacked the common room lurked in the dungeons, "And now that they have found their way into the castle... There's nothing stopping them. Those missing students you spoke of? There could be many more now..."

She hated this with every fiber of her being. There was nothing she could say or do that would earn Erin's trust. Nothing that would make Erin realise that she was working with the other coven of hags or that she genuinely just wanted to do what was best for the students. She would believe a lot of things Erin said but this? This was not one of them she could afford to believe. Hell, she would entertain the idea of Healy eating students if needed but a coven of hags moving into the dungeons with the intention of helping people and doing nothing wrong? That was bullshit and the saddest part was that Erin did not realise it.

"Hey... The food served in the great hall. You said it was poisoned. How about if you pick some vegetables from the garden and I help you cook something? You can watch, so you will know that I am not poisoning it. I'll eat it too, if you want. Just... that rat is probably not very filling or tasty and I want you to eat properly. You need to eat to stay strong, to be able to protect yourself better. Eating raw rats that you find from the ground might make you sick." She offered, trying not to look at the disgusting half eaten carcass of the vermin. It made her feel sick just seeing Erin eating it... She could not imagine how bad it must have be for the girl. "You don't have to agree to this... I just... I want to help you. What can I do for you?" She asked her, hoping there was something realistic that she could actually do. Judging by the rest of the conversation, though, it would likely be something that Hjørdis could not promise, if anything at all.