Professor McKevin's Chambers (Located on the third floor...however they appear to shift locations...)

Eglantine hurried forward, blocking the door. "I will not let you do it, Kiara. I've killed one before, let me. Please!" There was pure terror and fear in her green eyes and her shaking hands reached out to grip Kiara's arms.

Kiara was tempted by the offer, but the Centuars would be a problem, they would try to kill her and she would in turn use Excessum.

She would not be the reason Eglantine had to use that horrible wand.

The unicorn and centuars trusted her, all she had to do was fire travel out with one and no one would notice.

"I will and can do it Eglantine, the animals trust me it is safer if I go" she said her eyes still darkened.

Eglantine shook her head. "They will lose their trust." she whispered. "And even if they don't. I do not want this on your head. Burdening you. If you let me go, I will leave Excessum in the Door Beneath the Door..."

Sighing Kiara looked at Eglantine sadly "The Centuars while try to kill you Eglantine.... without a wand what will you do?" she said as she shook her head.

"I can get in and out quickly without their notice, and so be it if it burdens me Eglantine, Hogwarts and everyone I care about is at risk. If a unicore has to die to keep everyone I care about safe then I willl do it"

"I will do it, Kiara." Horatio stated. "It will be a lighter burden on me and we will not have to worry about Eglantine turning the Forbidden forest into ash." It was meant to be slightly humorous, but Eglantine looked away nonetheless.

Kiara sighed and sent Horatio a look as if to say "Not funny Horatio..." as she shook her head. For his statment was far to ture to be funny.

And the fact Eglantine had killed a unicorn before did nothing to sooth her, it would not burden her any less if Eglantine went that much she knew for certain. She didn't much like the idea of Horatio doing it either. Anyone for that matter is was a unicorn, univeral law you simply don't kill one.

"I don't know Horatio..... " she said not entriely convinced even though him doing it seemed like the best option she didn't like it one bit.

"Kiara, we can do it together. It'll make it easier." Horatio stated. He already regretted the attempted levity. "I hate the idea of killing any creature, especially a unicorn. But we are talking about Hogwarts. And the safety of our students. Let me help you, okay." Eglantine said nothing as she levitated to her wheelchair.

"I will begin to make the line... Edwin should be asleep for an hour at least." she murmured.

Kiara sighed "Oh very well" and nodded to Horatio grimly

Then Kiara looked over at Eglantine, she didn't know what to say to her, but for some reason she really didn't want Eglantine be the one to kill it, not again.

"I am sorry Eglantine, as much as you don't want me to do it I don't want you to do it either. Having killed one before does not make it any better....." she eyes darkened again as she thought of the things going through Eglantines mind.

"I am so sorry!" she said turning for the door once again.

Eglantine said nothing as Horatio opened the door for Kiara and stepped into the hallway.

((continued from Guest quarters))

Kiara sighed as she looked at the door way to Horatio's quarters. Really how many shocks was she going to get today.

She glanced at Ciaran worriedly, how would this effect him? She hadn't know Horatio had kept it a secret... well maybe she had but... He was in the list now and with Ciaran being his nephew he had the right to know, he could be in the list to.

It wasn't like she told him anything about Excessum or something.

"Are you alright? Your uncle isn't a bad man Ciaran.... He is not proud of his past at all so much so he has avoided it..... " she trailed off as she rasied her hand to knock on the door.

Ciaran nodded, his blue eyes boring into the wood of the door. He knew his uncle was a good man, despite whatever his past was. Still it hurt to think that he had been lied to.

"I know, lass. It hardly comforts though." he muttered, taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently.

The door opened with a soft click to reveal a paint splattered Horatio. He was wearing jeans and had apparently discarded his shirt as he was not wearing it. For his age, he was well formed and muscular, hardly thin, but not fat either. An asp tattoo was imprinted on his left shoulder while a gaelic phrase was tattooed on his right.

"What do I owe this immense pleasure to?" he asked, stepping aside so they could enter.

Kiara squeezed Ciarans hand, and placed her other on his shoulder, she hated being lied to as well. But she hated to admit she was used to it now, and it hurt her less.

Looking at Horatio she gave him a tired smile before glancing at Ciaran and back at Horatio.

"Ummm Horatio, we wanted to ask you something, How long have you known Eglantine?"

Horatio blinked before closing the door.
"I've known her for a while now. Why do you ask?" he smiled and began to pick up various scattered paints and papers.

Surprised by how adept his uncle was at evading the truth, Ciaran sat down. "Uncle, ya have known her longer than Hogwarts. We know so."

Kiara sighed, "Why the act Horatio? why the elaborite lie? I can see if it was because o purgers....., but even from me, everything you and Eglantine told me was an act... a lie. Why?" she asked.

Did she really have a big sign on her head that said "miss gulible, i will believe everything you say? she was begining to think so.

It was tiresum, and it showed.

Horatio sighed and turned, so that he didn't have to look Ciaran and Kiara in the eye. A rather impressive tattoo of wings on either side of his back caused his nephew to raise his eyebrows, as he was both impressed an bewildered by the artwork he had never seen before.

"Eglantine and I wanted to tell you Kiara... we almost did. But then we were cowards and I mainly refused to tell. Eglantine left this very room one day to tell you everything. But she never got the chance. That was the day the purger attacked her." he sighed, wearily.

"Ciaran, lad. There is much I've kept from you. To protect you and your family."

Kiara paled... "Of course" she mumbled as the pecies clicked in to place.

"Wouldn't have just been easier to tell me the truth from the being? wasn't difficult acting all the time? Why were you afraid to hide it?" she questioned.

She sent a sideways glance at Ciaran, her thoughts on him, and Tav. she could see why Horatio hid the turth from him. The more he knew the more danger he would be in.

Yet she understood perfectly well where Ciaran came from, she was constantly in that as well.

It hurt to find out the person you thought you knew was slightly someone else, and you feel untrusted.

Yes she felt she understood where both Ciaran and Horatio were coming from.

She sighed.

"My dear, Eglantine and I have known each other since before she was a teacher at Beauxbatons. We met briefly when I visited her father." he smiled remembering the shy little blonde who had refused to come out from behind the washing machine. He had coaxed her out after her father and mother had left the room.
"We corresponded through letters after that. She needed someone to write to who didn't desire her to do the dark arts and I needed someone to talk to period." He settled himself on the couch.
"I was overjoyed when she married Richard. I had met him that summer as well and deemed him a man worthy of her affections. Of course, I had already deemed myself off as an old man too many decades her senior." His pipe slid into his mouth and he sighed.
"I attended their wedding, even walked her down the aisle as her father was too busy to attend. And then I visited off and on as they went about with their muggle lives. Then suddenly, the letters stopped."

Horatio closed his eyes. "I thought she had merely become to busy to write an old friend. And so I patiently waited for word. Finally I became concerned and wrote her cousin, Lachesis. It was then I learned of Richard's death and Eglantine's depression. I wrote her several letters in hopes of comforting her and I visited her at her brother's house. She was devastated, crushed both physically and emotionally. Kiara, you yourself, would not have recognized her. It was then, in the complete despair that I fell in love with her."

He leaned back against the couch. "Then she finally moved on... came here to Hogwarts. We were a secret couple and she refused to do anything with me in public. I suppose she was terrified of anything happening to me. And Richard's death was imprinted on her memory. So she came without me and we sent letters back and forth...as colleagues. Sometimes I almost even came close to forgetting I knew Eglantine." he chuckled.

"Then she sent word that it was "safe" for me to come. I came under the guise of searching out a "stolen" bit of research. It was not so, but it was necessary for our...deception. It had to be a total facade, so well crafted that no one would ever suspect... and then we could pretend to fall in love all over again and start our new lives."

Kiara nodded but her eyes were bright with mosture. "I see"

"So everything was faked..." said to no one in paticular as she swallowed the lump in her throat.

All those times she "helped" Horatio and Eglantine work out their feelings, it was a act and played right along with it like some puppet. It was all a ruse.

And try as she might she couldn't help but feel a bit betrayed, and foolish to think she had helped them any. Just lead on...

"I supose I should be used to this by now... why am I surprised?" she asked seemingly to her self.But she knew why she was shocked.

She expected this from Eglantine, it was their thing, but not Horatio.

She held on to Ciarans hand slighlt tighter in a effort to hide the fact they were shaking.

Other then that she didn't know what to say she was speachless.

"I told you we should have told her earlier." Eglantine muttered, levitating in from the other room. Her hair was down in soft waves and she looked exhausted. Horatio sighed and took the shirt she offered him. He forgot about the painting he had been doing and slid the clean material over his stained torso.

"I know..." he sighed. It hurt him beyond words to see the hurt in both his nephew and Kiara's eyes. Both he loved too much to hurt and he was not accustomed to deception and its end result.

Ciaran rose from the couch, taking a deep breath as if to control himself. "Ya two have been lying ta Kiara since ya first entered Hogwarts. She deserves better from ya. Kiara wouldn't have been telling ya bloody secret. If ya love lies and deception so mighty, ya might be wanting ta look and see if ya really love anyone." His words although hurtful, carried his own pain more so than anger.

Regardless, Eglantine dissolved into sobs at his words. Horatio gently caught her and held her tightly. His own eyes were watery and soon tears dripped down his weathered cheeks. In those brief moments of grief and guilt he seemed to age a century. The lines under his eyes were more defined, the bags enlarged and his whole countenance was that of a weary beaten man.

Stricken, Ciaran closed his eyes and reached out to comfort his uncle. His hand never reached his shoulder though as he pulled back. Instead he returned to the couch and took Kiara's hand in his.

Kiara sighed and looked at the sobbing forms of the two people she concidered her parents.

She took a deep breath, now she could not afford to have an attack.

She sqeezed Ciarans hand, not blaming him for being angry and hurt, but she couldn't stand to see Horatio and Eglantine in such a state, it hurt more then the truth Horatio had told them.

She kissed Ciaran on the cheek and whispered in his ear, "Its alright, I know why they did what they did, it may hurt but.." she paused to look at both of them. and she continued to whisper. "It hurts more to see them like this though"

With that said she rose to her feet, and walked over to Eglantine and Horatio's weeping forms.

She placed one hand on Horatio's shoulder and other anround Eglantines hand.

Her eyes still bright with the tears she held back, "It is alright, I love you both no matter what you say.... I will get over it, not to worry" she whispered tightning her grip slightly on both of them.

Ciaran nodded, he himself was greatly disconcerted watching his uncle cry. He had only seen the normally energetic happy man cry once in his life and that had been at Meagan's funeral. Rising soon after Kiara, he approached his uncle.

Horatio sighed and wiped his face dry with his shirt sleeve. "Ciaran is right, my dear." he murmured. "You deserved better than either of us have ever given you." Eglantine said nothing, her face still buried in Horatio's chest. She was obviously perfectly happy with Horatio speaking for both of them.

Placing his hand over Kiara's on Horatio's shoulder, Ciaran sighed deeply. "Forgive me, Uncle. I was harsh, and wrongly so."

Kiara sighed not being able to stop the tear down her face, she quickly wipped it away and closed her eyes. Keeping at bay the hundreds others trapped behind her eye lids.

"Horatio, Eglantine listen to me... both of you have given me a thousend times more then my birth parents ever did. If you seen my life before this you would see a difference. Both of you have given me a lot. I understand why you lied, I may not like it but that doesn't stop me from caring about either of you"

She then looked Eglantine, "Please no more lies.... If you're going to keep some thing from me just say so... I am not a child, I will understand. But Please no more lies.. see where it gets us? Hurt, angry and mirserable."

She looked from Ciaran to Horatio to Eglantine.

"Promise please?" she asked looked Horatio striaght in the eyes, leting him see what she said was the truth.

Horatio nodded, silently. "I swear, Kiara, Ciaran." the red glow signified he had indeed sworn. Eglantine said nothing.

Wiping away a tear from his eye, Ciaran sniffed back a few more and handed Kiara his handkerchief.

Kiara nodded to Ciaran "Thanks Love" she whispered wipping her eyes.

She looked at Eglantine and and sighed when she realized she hadn't said anything.

Oh well, Eglantine would tell her eventually, weather she wanted to risk another episode like this was up to her.

"Thank you Horatio" she said with a smiled, but she still continued to look at Eglantine... wanting her to say something... anything.

"Eglantine?"

Horatio turned his own concerned blue orbs down at the witch in his arms. "Eglantine?" he asked, lifting her back. Her eyes were open, but although tears streamed down her pale cheeks, here made no movement.

"Ciaran, could you go to the cupboard in the bathroom? There is a silver vial in it. Please bring that back to me." Horatio gently laid Eglantine's limp body on the couch and took her hands in his.
"Kiara, could you get a cold pad, please?"

Ciaran dashed off to the bathroom and quickly located the vial bringing it back posthaste. Horatio took the vial and opened it, gently lifting Eglantine's head as he poured the potion down her throat.

Slowly her unblinking eyes closed and then opened. Eglantine gasped softly, as if she had been holding her breath and Horatio helped her sit up.
"I... swear." she murmured. The glow that followed proved she had made an oath.