| HIDDEN IN SECRETS |

chapter fifty-six

ONE LAST DANCE

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Damien was on the couch in front of the fireplace. He couldn't be in the same room as Adrian without wanting to punch him again. He had found a bottle of firewhisky in the common room and poured himself a drink. As he thought, he held a cigarette in his hand, blowing smoke into the air. When he closed his eyes, he saw the girl with dark hair and a beautiful smile.

"This is absolute nonsense," Damien complained. "Why teach us this stuff when we'll never use it or even remember it the next year?"

"This is important," Daphne told him. "Look, let's make it a game, okay? Like Quidditch."

"But I'm not actually on a broom, am I?" Damien retorted.

"Could you at least try?" Daphne spat.

"Okay, fine," Damien said, sitting up.

"Think of the Thimblerig Shuffle and Porskoff Ploy," Daphne told him. "Let's say the Quaffle is Deliverance Dane and you, the players, are her helpers. The opponents are the muggles trying to kill her."

"I'm not following," said Damien.

"The three hoops are the witch's freedom, okay? The Quaffle – Deliverance Dane – escapes those after her by scoring. In this scene here, Deliverance Dane is in hiding. She chooses where to spend one night, and the next night, she chooses another. In the Thimblerig Shuffle, you pass the Quaffle to your other teammates to confuse your opponents, right?"

"So... we are hiding her?" Damien said. "We shuffle the Quaffle – her – to confuse our opponents – the Muggles – of who has it. So she moves from place to place each night, confusing the Muggles about where she is so they can't get to her."

"Right," Daphne said with a smile. "Now there is a traitor who tells the Muggles where Deliverance Dane is staying for the night. Deliverance Dane already suspected her as a traitor, so she tells her the wrong thing. As night comes, through the window, she sees the men heading for the house she told the traitor."

"It's a fake!" Damien said proudly. "So Deliverance Dane escapes the Muggles for that night. A player only pretends to have the Quaffle when they actually don't, drawing the opponents' attention, and leaving the one with it to score. So first, Dane switches houses every night to avoid the muggles, and then she tricks them by thinking they've got her but they don't."

Daphne nodded. "Just remember the traitor. I'm not sure if the fine details matter, but you have the summary of what happened."

A week later, Damien had come into the Great Hall for lunch, slamming his exam paper onto the table.

"Best score I've ever gotten!" he exclaimed happily. "I remembered the Thimblerig Shuffle and Porskoff Ploy!"

"This is History of Magic, Damien," Viola said, confused.

Damien hugged Viola, and he looked at Daphne and smiled.

"Salvador," said a voice.

Damien opened his eyes and sat up, startled by Professor Moody as he sat down in the chair beside him.

"What are you doing here?" Damien asked. "How did you get in?"

"All the professors know the passwords to the common rooms – except Ravenclaw," Professor Moody said. "That one is all just riddles. I'm not here to lecture you, don't worry. I'm just interested in what the fight was about. Sure had a lot of good fights back in my days. So?"