Looking for Dumbledore seemed nothing more than a great distraction to Gwen. As always, she had something else to think about. The three friends picked their way around the forest as a tight knit group, but had no luck on the first day. They returned to the castle with a firm confirmation of the scout�s findings. Dumbledore was haunting the Forbidden Forest and Gwen figured that she knew why. He was looking for Voldemort.

She didn�t voice this opinion to anyone, but Harry and Graves both silently agreed. They could feel it in the air and Corwin�s forearm had burned while in the forest. That was a sure sign that the Dark Lord was near.

Gwen didn�t tell the boys about the rest of her exchange with Gemma. She was still too hurt, still too stricken that a wall had been built between her and her supposed great-great-grandmother over something so silly as blood. She didn�t yet have any firm proof that Henry LeFey was not her father, but she had more than one verbal confirmation that it was so.

All she really wanted to do was curl up on her window bench in her little room at Hogwarts and sleep it off, soaking up the rays of sun. She would have been there just now but Graves had insisted that she stay in the Great Hall with everyone else, so he could keep close and keep watch for her.

It was a good idea, but Gwen couldn�t get comfortable with all the noise. People kept shifting all around, there was the low droning of the sick folks in hospital, the occasional clang of dishes from the kitchens down below and on more than one occasion a messenger would run in out of breath and pant out a dispatch to someone standing close by. There was no break from the monotonous noise of living, breathing people on every side.

So it was that Gwen ended up wandering around the Forbidden Forest accompanied by the dogged Graves. She had tried, ardently so to slip past his attention, but as she couldn�t tell if he was sleeping or not underneath his invisibility cloak she picked the wrong time to stage a revolution. He grabbed her ankle and if it wasn�t for her presence of mind she would have screamed and leapt out of her skin.

As it was he practically dragged her out into the hall to have a word, but it was occupied which led to Gwen leading Graves into the forest. It was the one place no one else would go, so they were safe in the knowledge that they would be left to their own devices out here.

�What�s the big deal?� He asked only mildly disappointed. He had realized long ago that the fey part of herself hated to be tied down.

�I just needed some air.� She said, crossing her arms over her chest.

�Something�s going on with you.�

She sighed and looked sideways into the trees. �Yeah, but it�s not anything I�m ready to talk about just yet.�

There was a light mist rolling over the ground and the late morning sun looked peaked as it streamed through the trees, as if it would rather just set now and save itself the trouble later. Graves squatted down to the moist earth and picked up a loose handful. He shook it about gently, watching it stream from his fingers. Somehow, that simple act eased the troubled knot in his gut.

�Do you think we�ll find Dumbledore?� He asked.

�I don�t know.� She replied deeply. �I don�t know anything anymore.�

To be continued in Episode One Hundred and Four