She had thought she would manage to get herself—her rages under control by now. But no... Instead, they were growing more frequent and it was becoming harder and harder to keep them under control. The nightmares had started bleeding into the day and she was no longer safe from them not even when conscious. And the pull—the hunger to touch, to see, to feel the Dark was stronger and ran deeper than ever. And even if she received note that the Maleficium will be unlocked completely, it was not enough, not nearly enough and she needed it now.

Every time she passed by that dreadful corridor, she could feel the shelves vibrating, the books calling to her in sweet, whispered voices, her entire being being drawn towards it. Even Rózsa was acting out. Whenever she was near a source of the Dark Arts she could hear a buzz slowly ringing into her ears, feel the wood almost cracking under the call. She had to do something, else she was afraid of how she would react. And, after all, it was everything the elders had wanted for her? The only reason she had not succumbed was her. And she was gone now and Victor was no longer a factor in her life. No. Along with Emi went her own shackles, her restraint, her dreams, her beliefs, her everything.

She decided she'll fulfill her destiny, as far as the Báthorys expected of her. What she'd do with the power, the title and the fortune once she was of age, she still did not know. But she would become a force to be reckoned with and nothing, nothing, would ever stand in her way without suffering lethal consequences. With that thought in mind she had waited for her morning classes to end and quickly walked to the fourth floor, blessing the stairs for cooperating, at least once, in her life. She walked assuredly through the aisles, blind to everything else, calmly looking around in hopes of spotting the librarian. She was gambling a lot on this choice and she hoped it would not turn out to be a complete mistake. Because it would have dreadful consequences.

"Good afternoon, Mister Morgan. Pardon me if I'm interrupting, sir" she said in a calm voice and a stern face, no actual sign of remorse or apology as she absentmindedly watched him levitate a book back to its place. She turned to look at him, straightened her back and clasped her hands behind her back. "I was hoping you could lend me a few minutes of your time, sir. I require some assistance with a project of a more—personal nature" she said with a bit of effort.

Having to weave an intricate web of half truths had never been easy for her, but, surprisingly, deceit and manipulation seemed to come much more easily to her now. And this was it. It was all or nothing. And the man was more of a mystery than other humans were for her, she had no idea how he'd react. If he did agree, she hoped he would not make the connection with Emilia's death. And if he did not agree—well, she preferred not to think of the consequences to that.

Between the combined forces of his student helpers and the tracking spell he had developed, rarely did Landis have to shelve books himself. However, the morning was still and he was alone. The library was near empty, and he had always liked to stay busy. Now he directed with the flick of his wand a dozen books to lift themselves from his level and slot themselves back into place.

He had not been at it long when he was interrupted by a student. This was a common and expected occurrence. Once he turned and saw that the student was a Slytherin he could hardly mind. He glanced down at Amara, neither expectation nor irritation animating his cool, hard face. Though the girl had not been in his house, her living sister was, and so he had been alerted of the recent death in the Báthory family. Amara seemed composed enough, though Landis never expected his students to come to him for comfort if they weren't.

"Yes, Ms. Báthory?" he asked, ceasing his attentions to shelving the books. The texts that had floated all obediently above settled to join the other unsorted ones on the cart behind him.

Amara hadn't really interacted with Mister Morgan as her Head of House along the years, never out of her own volition and never without it being compulsory. She never really knew what the post implied or why such a position existed in the first place, she saw no academical reason for it. On the other hand, however, Amara spent most of her time at Hogwarts in the library, so she had seen far more of Mister Morgan as the librarian. She always saluted him politely and always respected the library as the sanctuary of knowledge it was, so she hoped, there was a sort of mutual respect there. But mostly, she was flying blindly.

"My internal grades in Defense Against the Dark Arts have not been satisfactory, sir" Amara started her explanation, because, yes, an Exceeds Expectations was indeed not satisfactory at all. She felt assured once more that she was not lying, not really. "I find I have been struggling" she said the word with some disgust "with the subject for quite some time, Mister Morgan and I'd like to rectify the situation before it will permanently reflect poor on my overall performance" she said analyzing a title from the corner of her eye before turning her head upwards to look directly at the man's eyes and for a second she dreaded her height and the dress code of Hogwarts regarding heels.

"I believe my problem lies with the—logical order of things. I am of the opinion that in order to learn to defend yourself against something, one must first learn everything there is about said something" she said eying the man intently. "And I found most of the library... lacking in this certain area" she continued, eyes still on Mister Morgan's face. She tensed for a second and let out a calm breath. "I would like to request permission to the Restricted Section, sir" she said curtly.

"My internal grades in Defense Against the Dark Arts have not been satisfactory, sir. I find I have been struggling with the subject for quite some time, Mister Morgan and I'd like to rectify the situation before it will permanently reflect poor on my overall performance."

"Commendable," Landis said simply, a little surprised. Generally he had low Slytherin grades reported to him by the professors if there was cause for concern, so that he might meet with the students and discuss their academic standing. He hadn't been alerted as to any poor performance on Báthory's part, and he made a mental note to inquire about current grades to Ignan later.

As she continued he saw her explanation for what it really was, a well-worded unfolding of her true intent. His surprise eased. If there were unsatisfactory grades, they were likely not quite so bad as he'd first surmised and in fact might be quite satisfactory for everyone but Báthory herself. This was not about the grades at all. This was about her access to the Restricted Section to study the Dark Arts.

Whether it be his own impoverished morals or that it was the traditional pastime of Slytherin house, Landis had no objections to his students learning the Dark Arts. His own education would have been much quicker had Hogwarts followed in the footsteps of Durmstrang; as it were he too had had to skulk about the Restricted Section and pick up what he could from his peers. Going through school during the War, it had been easier to learn than he imagined it was now. The half a year the Carrows ruled had been particularly educational... but that was one experience Landis would not wish upon his students, no matter how eager they were to learn.

The long and short of it - he was hardly opposed. In fact he rather admired Amara's wording, that artful formal phrasing. Still, he could not let her off so easily. However proper she'd been, she was also vague. "What topic are you particularly interested in?" he asked. "The subject is broad, as I'm sure you're aware."

Well, this is were things got a bit tricky and Amara cleared her throat before shifting a big on the heels of her shoes. She knew she was being rather transparent but she hoped whatever had made her turn to Mister Morgan with this problem, was not just in her imagination. For some reason, she thought the librarian more indulgent with the matter at hand. There was only one way to find out, however. And she hoped she could, at least once more veil her intent with half truths.

"My problem lies mostly with defensive or counteractive spells, I believe researching more into what exactly I am defending against would be of great assistance, sir" she said politely, before taking a breath and letting her shoulders slump down for a second. Surely, it sounded better than curses, jinxes and hexes she thought briefly. She realized she was being more than vague so on a whim she decided she could throw in some cover-up. "I've also been thinking about joining the Dueling Club to further attempt to work on my defense. I would like to be better prepared when the instance arises, sir" she said frowning for a second. She knew the age gaps in the current list of members could prove difficult and Amara knew some of the older members were rather vicious. She could hold her own easily with those in her same category. Maybe O'Doherty might prove a challenge, but nonetheless. "I would rather make my House proud" she continued with a semblance of a smile, internally cringing.

She couldn't care less about House pride. The entire House system was nothing but a constant power struggle and it only encouraged cliques and petty fighting. Still, out of the four Houses, she could never see herself anywhere but in Slytherin. In the end, embellished half-truths trumped anything else that was actually going through her mind right now.

However well she thought she had veiled her intent with half-truths and cover-ups, Amara's explanation wouldn't have fooled any professor in the school and it certainly didn't fool Landis. He looked at her skeptically, even a bit exasperated. No one in the dueling club would be throwing Dark magic at her to defend against. That was a ridiculous excuse.

"If I had a galleon for every Slytherin that wanted to learn Dark curses to threaten their little schoolyard enemies with, Ms. Báthory, I'd be a very rich man," Landis said dryly. But at the very least, they were probably only threatening mudbloods. After a certain extent all the Slytherin posturing canceled each other out, so there was rarely much chance of only one student holding some knowledge other another's head for long. "Give me the real reason you want this knowledge." That he would judge and deem satisfactory or not. He did wonder if it had something to do with her sister's death, but didn't volunteer his opinion; if it wasn't the reason, she might seize on it thinking he'd find that most believable.

Landis hardly advertised the extent of his own beliefs or knowledge of Dark magic, but those few students who had dared approach him with questions usually found to their surprise and satisfaction that their Head of House could answer them coldly, completely, without blinking or threat of punishment for what other staff would recoil from. This had lent him a certain admiration amongst his Slytherins. Little did they know their daring exploits were terribly predictable and nothing special, certainly nothing Landis hadn't heard or seen before. Teenagers always thought their concerns of the greatest importance and originality.

Amara was actually outraged at the thought of using the Dark arts for petty little fighting with other children. It wasn't only an insult to herself, but it was an insult to the study and art of Dark magic. Her nostrils flared for a second, before she balled her hands into fists, sinking her nails deeply into the flesh of her palm to will herself to remain calm and polite.

She thought Mister Morgan had asked for her real reason as if there should be a reason to turn to the Dark arts, as something of a last resort. And this time she actually frowned and her nose twitched, disapprovingly. Was it the pastime of little Slytherins to just jump on the Dark Arts wagon as soon as something went wrong in their petty little lives? Was this how she appeared now? She mentally cringed and finally loosened her hand around her body and clasped them behind her back again. It was all or nothing at this point.

"I see no reason why our access to the knowledge in question is barred. Any ordinary spell can do just as much damage or even worse, than what some consider Dark magic today—if used accordingly" she added in a calm, almost bored tone. "Just as we are trusted to use magic on a daily basis responsibly, the choice to delve into the Dark arts or not, should lie with each individual. Any and every spell, potion or enchantment can be used to harm. And while the Dark arts can be more—seducing than all other sorts of magic, if one individual considers him or herself strong enough to handle it, he or she should have the option to study to their heart's content without having to go through any sort of protocol, without being judged and without immediately being labeled with such a vague and rather absurd term as 'evil'" she finished her rant with a deep sigh before hastily adding a "sir."

"I want the knowledge. There is nothing more priceless than knowledge, regardless of the course of study" she said seriously, determination in her eyes. Because that was her only weapon in life. She was small and frail, she could never outmatch anyone in bodily strength. Rid of her wand, she was barely able to use daggers. In the end, it all came down to knowledge.

For a moment the girl looked at him with fire in her eyes, then visibly schooled herself to calmness again with the clenching of her fists. He had pricked her pride. While he had not intended to do so, it did change his private opinion as to why she wanted to study the Dark Arts just a bit. Landis was torn between amusement and irritation at her deluded, if pretty, speech. He'd asked her for her reasons, not a speech on the morality of the field, and he did not keep students from the Restricted Section because he feared they'd turn evil. He also disagreed completely with her assessment of inherently damaging spells, but that was neither here nor there.

"You have missed the point of the Restricted Section," he replied, lacing his arms over his chest. Whatever Landis felt inwardly, on the outside he did not look amused. "While the decision to pursue the Darker branch of the magical arts should indeed lie with the individual, the fact remains that you are in a school for children which is built on protocol. I would not suggest the Board of Governors is staffed by fools who would feel an automatic prejudice towards any mention of the Dark Arts, nor would I imply that the recent war left many with misguided opinions of such a field. However, I would certainly agree that one could pave the walk from here to Hogsmeade with the bodies of those who felt themselves ''strong enough' to attempt more advanced magic than they could handle. In that vein, this school is filled with hormone-addled little idiots who think themselves invincible, untouchable, or worse - scholars. The books in that section are not restricted because I am concerned with petty moral quandaries over their content. They are restricted because they are dangerous if not handled with the proper caution and respect. I will not allow anyone who does not display at least the same amount of common sense as your average garden gnome to touch them. If you cannot see why your access to the knowledge in question might possibly be barred, I am inclined to believe you lack even that."

By the end of Mister Morgan's speech, Amara was torn between laughing, feeling oddly offended, but all in all she was rather unimpressed. She wondered if maybe, some more interaction with her Head of House should've been advisable... Surely, if you asked any Professor at Hogwarts, there was almost nothing she could identify with from the librarian's speech. By some standards, if  really pushed, she supposed she could consider herself a scholar. But if anything, Christmas' events had showed her that she was neither invincible nor untouchable. She settled on merely raising an eyebrow as if to ask 'really'?

"Seeing as I am neither a hormone addled little idiot, nor consider myself invincible, untouchable or a scholar, I cannot see how that might apply to me, sir" she dead-panned, face schooled in a calm, serious expression. "And while I may be ambitious, my self preservation instincts would not allow me to attempt any sort of magic that is beyond my level. Study it in theory, maybe, attempt it—no" she continued, adding a small smile. Any man that did not preserve his or her survival above anything else was a fool, or a Gryffindor, if she listened to her housemates.

"Perhaps I should've chosen my words better" she said, squinting her eyes for a second. "I do not see why my access should be barred from the Restricted Section" she said slowly, drawing each word carefully. "I am disciplined, prudent and my grades show that I can be trusted with knowledge beyond what is considered standard for my age. And I believe any sort of knowledge should be treated with caution and respect, sir." Well, that was an outright lie... In Amara's mind Divination should be altogether banned from being taught in schools.

"You will forgive me if I do not take you automatically at your word," he said shortly. Landis did not know the Báthory girl well. From her declaration of the priceless nature of knowledge, he certainly would have placed her in the third group. But his reply made her consider her next words more carefully, and she responded more thoughtfully than her previous attempts. Had she presented such reasoning to begin with then she might have saved them both some time.

Slytherins could be assured of preferential treatment from their dispassionate Head of House. Instead of harrying her further, gracefully he acquiesced now. "One week," Landis said. "Then you will report to me what you have found and I will judge whether your education deserves continuing."

Amara understood that given the current situation,her word did not mean much, so she settled for nodding.  Perhaps this was actually a great opportunity and besides knowledge she could also gain a connection that, surely,  would be only for her advantage.

"Very well, sir, in a week's time I shall report back with my progress" she said calmly, adding a polite little smile.  The deal was fair and also beneficial to her in the sense that having someone to guide her or even just check on her progress was preferable to going in blindly. "Thank you,  mister Morgan."

And with that she gave a slight nod and turned on the spot, walking away with small steps. She wouldn't  disappoint.