“The train began to move, and Harry walked alongside it, watching his son’s thin face, already ablaze with excitement. Harry kept smiling, and waving, even though it was like a little bereavement, watching his son glide away from him...”

---

Albus:

I smiled back at my family, waving at my father who walked alongside the train. When the platform ran out and the train picked up speed, he stood at the edge and kept waving until I couldn’t see him anymore. I stared outside the window in silence for many minutes, thinking of Mum and Dad and Lily, who would be on their way back home by now through the Floo Network. It felt strange not to be going home with them as I did last year when James first started at Hogwarts. That was where I was headed now - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The very thought of it made me excited and nervous once more, and I grinned out the window as I was jolted back into reality.

“Albus!” said Rose impatiently, tapping me on the shoulder. “We need to find a compartment. You’ve been staring out that window for ages now, and most of them have filled up already.”

“Alright,” I said, sighing as I followed Rose down the corridors. After ten minutes of searching, it became apparent that we were the last ones to get a compartment. All the others were already filled, and Rose and I definitely wouldn’t sit with the older students. We spotted James and Dominique, another one of my cousins, but they too were in filled compartments. As we reached the end of the carriage, we found an almost empty compartment �“ empty except for one blonde haired boy �“ the one that Uncle Ron had pointed out to Rose at the station. I guess we had no other choice, and hesitating slightly, Rose opened the door.

---

Rose:

“Hi,” I said to the boy as I opened the door, and he jolted his face up at the sound of my voice. He looked a little surprised to see two people in his compartment. I decided I better explain why we were there. “All the other compartments are full �“ do you mind if we sit here?”

“I suppose its fine,” he said, shrugging, and gestured towards the empty bench across from him. Albus and I sat down awkwardly, not exactly sure what to do next. But luckily, the boy opened up the conversation.

“So, do you two have names?” he asked politely, not lifting his eyes up off the book he was reading.

“I’m Rose Weasley, and this is my cousin, Albus Potter. We’re first years. What about you?” As I said “Weasley” and “Potter”, he finally lifted his eyes up from the page and stared at them in a shocked manner.

“Oh.” The boy continued to stare at us avidly, trying to hide his expression. I had a good idea why he knew our names. There were two reasons - it sounded as though Uncle Harry and my father hadn’t been on great terms with his father, from what I heard from Dad. His father must have passed a few of the stories onto his son. Secondly, everyone in the wizarding world knew our names last names - our parents were the ones who defeated the greatest Dark wizard of all time seventeen years ago. Finally, he replied, “My name’s Scorpius �“ Scorpius Malfoy. I’m a first year as well.” I didn’t bother to tell him that Dad had already pointed him out to me.

I glanced at Albus. He hadn’t quite cottoned onto what was going on, but was looking at Scorpius with a puzzled expression on his face. He decided they needed an icebreaker, and attempted to be the one to break the ice.

“So, do you know what house you want to be in at Hogwarts?”

“Slytherin,” replied Scorpius automatically. “My family’s been in there for generations, as long as anyone can remember.”

It was Albus’ turn to say, “Oh”. I could tell he’d finally understood.

“You say ‘Oh’ as if it were a bad thing. Why, is something wrong with wanting to be a Slytherin?” Scorpius challenged. “I suppose you two want to be in Gryffindor?”

“Yeah,” I said. Silence fell again. This was getting really awkward. Scorpius glared at Albus and Albus glared right back. Another icebreaker, I decided. “What are you reading, Scorpius?”

“Quidditch through the Ages” he responded, returning to his book, and becoming immersed in it once more.

“Oh, I love that book! Are you a keen flyer as well, then?” I asked with a little bit of enthusiasm.

“Yeah, I am. I wish we could try out for the school teams.”

“Same with me. They let my dad play Quidditch for Gryffindor in his first year, though,” said Albus, suddenly joining the conversation. Apparently, bringing Uncle Harry into the conversation was a bad idea, because things got awkward again. Scorpius returned back to Quidditch through the Ages and Albus, Scorpius and I sat in relative silence for a long time.

---

Scorpius:

“We’ll be there soon,” said Rose after several quiet hours. Merlin, she was so annoying. Of course we’d be there soon, it was getting dark. The silence in the compartment had been pretty awkward. I guess none of us had much to say to each other. We all knew that they had zero in common with me, besides being first years at Hogwarts. I was soon to become a Slytherin, while they were almost certainly Gryffindor material - and those were two big differences that just couldn’t be ignored. Ever since the Second War ended before I was born, people have treated us like dirt. But not all Slytherins are evil. Some, admittedly, have turned that way. Not everyone, though. Yes, I knew my father was a Death Eater. He told me himself. But he came out of the war without a crime to his name, due to the help that my paternal grandmother, Narcissa, gave to Harry Potter in order for him to defeat Voldemort. Many people still hate it. But he is still prejudiced against Muggle-borns wizards. I have never actually understood why. Discrimination is just so stupid and pointless. Even though I was nothing like my father besides my looks, I still thought I was certain to become a Slytherin. It was natural; my whole family was always sorted into Slytherin. It was all I’d ever known. Why should I be any different?

The train began slowing down. In the distance I could see the twinkling lights of Hogsmeade village. Truth be told, I was glad I was getting away from my parents. My dad was so arrogant �“ I can’t stand him. I loved my mother dearly but she still had prejudices too. She still expected the wizarding world to treat us like first class citizens, rich and influential, with just the right amount of power in the right places. Well, things had changed since then.

“Scorpius,” Rose handed me my copy of Quidditch through the Ages as we disembarked the Hogwarts Express. “You left it on the seat.”

“Thanks.”

“Its okay.” I hadn’t even realised that I’d left it behind. I guess I was too wrapped up in my thoughts.

I actually didn’t mind Rose and Albus’ company. If we were in the same house, we’d probably be friends. But their fathers had probably fed them enough stories about my father for them to stay away from me for seven years. Talk about prejudice.

.....

Claudia:

“Hello, students. My name is Professor Macmillan, and I am the Head of Hufflepuff House at Hogwarts. I will also be teaching you in Transfiguration. Shortly we will be entering the Great Hall where you will assemble for the Sorting of your house �“ Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw or Slytherin. Your house will be like your family here at Hogwarts. Your dormitories and living space will be together. You will be awarded points for your house based on your merits and achievements, while rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of each year, the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup, a great honour for any house. The proceedings will happen in alphabetical order. I will go and inform the Headmistress that you are here. Please be quiet.”

We had just arrived at Hogwarts castle after completing the traditional boat ride across the lake. Many of us were in awe of the castle and its surroundings. From the boat, Hogwarts lit up with thousands of lights, and the interior was warm and toasty, which was really cool (thank Merlin for magic). But now, we were standing in the Entrance Hall, fifty-six nervous first years, a lot of them looking unsure of themselves. I didn’t know about the others, but I was terrified. This was so new. Magic, I mean. I’m what they call a Muggle �“ I didn’t know magic existed until one of the Professors visited my family over a month ago and explained the secret wizarding world to them. My mind drifted back to the day that changed my life...

Ding dong. It was a Monday afternoon during the middle of summer. It was a stinking hot day and I was fed up with it. Leah and I had just come back from the public pool, and I was drying my hair on a towel, dressed in a pair of shorts and a sleeveless shirt. Nothing out of the ordinary.

“Claudia,” my mother shouted from the lounge. “Could you please come downstairs for a moment? You have a guest.”

Sighing, I hung up my towel and walked out of my room. It was probably an aunt or uncle who had forgotten my birthday last week. Or perhaps it was one of my friends. Or maybe it was a neighbour who had found Millicent, my cat, in their yard and wanted to complain in person.

I entered the lounge room. Sitting on a sofa was a stranger, a woman who wore an odd ensemble of clothing. She had on a pair of denim cut-offs that sat above her knees. She also wore a white collared, short sleeved shirt and around her neck was a purple tie. Her brown hair was tied up in a ponytail and she wore black heels on her feet. She was quite young, aged somewhere in her twenties. My mother was sitting opposite her, looking at her with a curious expression on her face. The woman noticed me standing in the doorway, and smiled at me.

“Would you like a drink?” my mother offered politely, her puzzled look still going strong.

“No thank you, Mrs. Kelaney,” she said, her attention focused completely on me now. I sat down next to my mother, mirroring her exact expression now.

“Hello. You must be Claudia. My name is Professor Morgan. As I was just telling your mother, I have something very important to tell you, something that will change your life forever. It will come as a bit of a shock, and it will seem as unbelievable. But first, I’d better explain what it is. Firstly of all, have you noticed that weird things occur when you’re really angry, or scared, or feeling a powerful emotion of sorts?”

My mother and I glanced at each other. Yes, weird things did happen sometimes. So weird that they were unbelievable and of course, nobody believed me.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” smiled Professor Morgan. “Did these things start occurring somewhere between the age of four and eight?”

Yes again. How did she know all this? I wondered.

“You might have already known this, Claudia,” she continued, “but you are special. Not in a bad way though. But what I am about to say next will shock you.”

“You are a witch.”

“I’m a WHAT?” I spluttered.

“I’m not lying. There is a wizarding world, hidden in secret from ordinary people, who have the ability to perform magic. I am a witch too. I am a teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is where young witches and wizards, from the age of 11 to 17 go to learn a magical education. And this is why I’m here today. We would like to offer you a place at our school.”

Professor Morgan went on to explain all about the wizarding world, about witches and wizards in general, Hogwarts, the Ministry of Magic, magical creatures, branches of magic, abilities, customs and someplace called ‘Diagon Alley’ and a secret train platform at King’s Cross. And the whole time my mother and I sat in silence, trying to comprehend it all.

“Excuse me,” said my mother tentatively after an hour, “but how can we actually believe you?”

“By this,” she responded. She pulled out a wooden stick, about twelve inches long. It was beautifully carved and well polished. Was this some kind of wand? It was. Professor Morgan raised her wand, and with a swish and a flick, said in a clear voice, “Wingardium Leviosa”

The fruit bowl, sitting on the coffee table in front of her, began to levitate five feet above us with no visible means of support. This was too much for my mother. She sank back into her chair and closed her eyes. But now, I finally accepted it all. It was all true. Sure, it was unbelievable, but it was true. Professor Morgan went on to tell me that only my immediate family could know about my ‘abilities’. This was okay, because it was only my mother, my eight year old sister, Leah, and I. My father had died two years ago in a car accident. And when Leah found out later that day, she had accepted the news easier than me - it explained that time I had accidentally turned her feet pink. Other than that, everyone else I knew was told that I would be going to a boarding school in Australia. She explained that this was part of something called the Statue of Secrecy, meaning that Muggles (non-magic people) could not know about our secret world unless it was absolutely necessary. After a while, something came into my mind.

“Am I going to behind all the other kids in my year, because I’m a Muggle-born? I asked Professor Morgan. This had been worrying me the whole time I was listening to her.

“No, Claudia, you won’t. Nobody else knows how to do magic yet. They just know about our world. You’ll catch up to them soon enough. Don’t worry about it.”

Now I’m in a totally new world, about to be introduced to my new ‘family’, about to be thrust into a life that I knew zilch about and knew no one. My friends at the local school always told me I was the confident one. Not anymore.

---

Adam:

As Professor Macmillan came back out of the Great Hall, everyone around me started whispering in excited voices. I looked around, bored. I had sat with my twin, Ella and our brother, Zane and the rest of his third year Gryffindor friends �“ Mum’s orders. I was almost 100% confident that I would become a Gryffindor too. Mum and Dad had been in the same year as each other, and had even gone to the Yule Ball together in their fourth year. After Hogwarts, my father Seamus and my mother, Lavender, bumped into each other in London. He asked her out on a date and then, a year later, they became engaged. Two years later, Zane was born. Anyway, I’m getting sidetracked. I just knew I’d be a Gryffindor.

Professor Macmillan reappeared, and he opened the Great Hall doors and led us in. My first glance of it told me that this was... magical. The ceiling was totally transparent, showing the night’s sky �“ clear, with the stars twinkling brightly. Back at home, in London, you couldn’t see the stars at night. There was too much pollution. We walked down the centre aisle of the room, with two long tables on either side of us. When we reached the front of the room, sitting before us on a stool, capturing everyone’s attention was an old witches’ hat. Suddenly, it broke out into song. But my father had told me about this, so it wasn’t much of a surprise. I barely listened and instead, focused my attention on my surroundings.

Sitting at each table were students in their school robes as well. Over at each table were the four house banners �“ Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin. In front of us was one long table, and the staff was sitting there. In the centre was a golden chair, with an elderly yet strict looking witch gazing at the Sorting Hat. Suddenly, the room burst into applause and Professor Macmillan walked up to the stool with a long piece of parchment in his hand. It was time for the Sorting to begin.

“Ackerby, Louise.”

A black haired girl standing nearby timidly stepped forward and walked up to the stool. She sat on the stool and Professor Macmillan placed the hat on her head. After ten seconds or so, the Hat announced to the room, “HUFFLEPUFF!”

The table on the far right burst into applause, and Louise walked quickly to the Hufflepuff table, smiling as she was greeted by her fellow housemates.

“Anderson, Cole.”

The boy on my left made his way up to the Sorting Hat. It took a while to decide which house he would join. After more than thirty seconds sitting there, the hat yelled, “SLYTHERIN!” This time, the table on my immediate right started clapping and cheering. I’d heard too much stories about Slytherin to not notice the sinister things about them �“ such as the Bloody Baron, the Slytherin ghost, covered in transparent blood and wearing a permanent scowl on his face �“ or some of the older boys sitting at the table, looking menacing and tough.

“Boot, Nathan.”

The Sorting Hat went through many more names, but my mind drifted elsewhere. I looked around at the others around me. Standing a few feet away was a boy with jet black hair that stuck up, and had a skinny build. It took a few minutes to realise who I was staring at - Harry Potter’s son. The resemblance of the man who appeared on many Chocolate Frog cards and was constantly in the Daily Prophet to this boy was great �“ he had inherited many of the Chosen One’s looks. My parents had been in the same year as his father and shared the same house, Gryffindor with all four of our parents. His green eyes caught my blue ones staring him. He grinned, and I grinned back. Friendly, I thought.

“Finnegan, Adam.”

It was my turn. I made my way up to Professor Macmillan, who gave me a small smile and gestured for me to sit on the stool. I did, and my legs slightly shook and butterflies raced through my stomach as he placed the hat on my head.

“Look what I have here,” the Hat smirked, and I jumped at the thought that he was only talking to me. “Another Finnegan. Your family’s been in Gryffindor for quite a while, is that right?”

Yes, I thought silently. And that’s where I want to go too.

“Gryffindor, eh?” jeered the Hat. “But I think you have the makings of a Slytherin. You’re so cunning, and resourceful, and have a flair for rule bending. You’d do well there.”

No, please not Slytherin!, I begged silently, wondering what my family would say when they got the owl tomorrow morning.

“Fine, have it your way. Let’s hope I don’t begin to regret this decision. GRYFFINDOR!”

I sighed with relief as the table on my far right burst into applause. I could see my brother and his friends wolf-whistling. I sauntered over to them, and I sat at one of the empty places reserved for the new Gryffindors. Now, it was Ella’s turn. It took all of five seconds from the moment the brim of the hat touched her hair to decide her fate.

“RAVENCLAW!”

My jaw dropped. Fearless Ella, rejected from Gryffindor? It can’t be. But then again, Ella was always bright. She was the smart twin. She didn’t look too fazed by the turn of events, and she walked over to the Ravenclaw table and sat next to “Ellison, Kate.”

The hat went through five or so other people then in quick succession, including “Goyle, Damien” (Slytherin, no surprise) and “Jordan, Nina”. After Nina, a new Gryffindor too, came, “Kelaney, Claudia.”

A girl standing at the front took a few trembling steps towards Professor Macmillan. She looked terrified, but that wasn’t what caught my eye. It was the fact that her light brown hair and creamy complexion made her look... beautiful. Her wide eyes, chocolate brown as well, looked around the room, frightened, and the Sorting Hat was placed above her head. Gryffindor, Gryffindor, I chanted to myself with my fingers crossed.

“GRYFFINDOR!”


Yes! I thought triumphantly, and watched Claudia grin and then make her way over to our table. I smiled at her and she smiled back, and I gestured for her to sit next to me. Suddenly, everything in the room seemed a hundred times more cheerful.

---

Albus:

Cool - Claudia was a Gryffindor. I liked her, she was really nice on the carriage ride up that she shared with Rose, Scorpius and I. She told me she had no idea she was a witch until one of the professors came to her house. She admitted to how terrified she was, and glad she’d found some friendly faces. Scorpius scowled when she said that, and Claudia frowned at him, while Rose and I cracked up. Rose told her ‘our family history’ and Claudia mentioned how one of our school textbooks had already mentioned Harry Potter. I sighed when I had heard this. Even Muggle-borns knew about my father.

“Malfoy, Scorpius.”

Scorpius, on my right, walked up, smirking as the Sorting Hat was placed on his head. Slytherin, I thought bitterly. No doubt. Seconds later, the Sorting Hat cried, “GRYFFINDOR!”

I heard Rose’s gasp of surprise, felt my jaw drop and saw Scorpius freeze up in shock. Around the hall, many whispers were circulating, all saying the same thing. A Malfoy, sorted into Gryffindor? Is that even possible? Professor Macmillan bent down and muttered something into Scorpius’ ear, who was still on the stool, and he got up mechanically and walked over to the Gryffindor table, sat next to Claudia while staring ahead blankly. Claudia attempted to say something to him, but after getting no response, gave up eventually.

“Mitchells, Zoe” was made a Ravenclaw next, and then “Nott, Parker” was declared Slytherin material after that. As “Perks, Imogene” made her way to the Hufflepuff table, it was finally my turn.

“Potter, Albus.”

Whispering students could be heard once more. Phrases like, “Harry Potter’s son” and “defeated You-Know-Who” could be heard around me �“ in other words, the usual. I smiled at Professor Macmillan, who nodded curtly back. I suppose now wouldn’t be the greatest time to mention how James telling me how much of a ‘pansy’ he was. Oh well, I had seven years to tell him.

“Are you another one of Potter’s, eh? Well, I see a good heart, combined with courage and loyalty to your friends. I’m pretty sure you know already what I’m going to do with you.”

A few seconds later, I walked to the Gryffindor with a small spring in my step, amongst a loud applause from my fellow housemates. I could hear a few of my cousins cheering loudly. I sat down with Claudia and Scorpius, who had seemed to recover a bit, and managed a small smile as I was seated next to him. On his left, Claudia flashed me a wide grin and a quick hug, and on her other side I was greeted by Adam Finnegan, the boy I waved at, who gave me a slightly hostile glare, which puzzled me slightly. I turned to the Sorting to watch the few people left.

“Riley, Abigail” was made a Slytherin next, then followed by “Sanders, Dylan” (“RAVENCLAW!”) and then “Stone, Joshua” was declared a Gryffindor. As “Taminara, Kiara” walked to the Hufflepuff table, Rose’s name was announced. Unsurprisingly, the Sorting Hat declared her a “GRYFFINDOR!” She received many grins as she sat down at the Gryffindor table. The last person, “Zeller, Bailey” became a Ravenclaw, and Professor Macmillan picked up the stool and the hat and walked off the platform. The Headmistress stood up and suddenly, all conversations halted as hundreds of pairs of eyes were fixed on her.

“Welcome back to Hogwarts. For those who don’t know, my name is Professor McGonagall and I am Headmistress of this school. I hope everyone had a nice summer. Congratulations to all the new first years. I hope you make your house proud of you, regardless of which one you were sorted into. I have the usual announcements to make. Firstly, under no circumstances are you allowed to enter the Forbidden Forest. Our older students must be reminded constantly, and as for the first years, take this as your only warning. House points will be severely cut if anyone is found near it. Secondly, Madam Hooch has told me to remind everyone about...”

My stomach rumbled loudly. Claudia giggled at me, and Rose hit me over the head. Scorpius sighed and his eyes drifted into space. And I swear, a few places down from me, I could hear James snoring. But unsurprisingly, the feast that followed ten minutes later brought everyone’s attention back.

Rose:

I slept soundly that night. All the hype and excitement of our first day at Hogwarts made everyone exhausted. After eating a delicious feast, one that could top Grandma Weasley’s and then retreating into the dormitories, we all sat in the common room talking a mile a minute about everything. All except one person �“ Scorpius.

He’d been so depressed since he was sorted into Gryffindor. I could sympathise with him �“ if it was me, then I’d be freaking out too. I wondered if he was thinking of the ways to tell his parents that their only son was a traitor in their eyes, even though if it wasn’t his fault.

“Scorpius...” I asked him tentatively, while we were all resting comfortably in front of the fireplace, “Are you alright?”

“For Merlin’s sake, Rose, mind your own business!” he snapped.

“Fine, then,” I said angrily, before turning back to Albus, who was explaining Quidditch to Claudia. She was having difficulties. Claudia was the kind of person who always had a bubbly personality. I could see that Albus, Claudia, and I were going to become good friends. Perhaps Scorpius too, when he dropped the anti-Gryffindor attitude. Also sitting with the four of us was Adam Finnegan. He was okay, I guess, but not the sort of person I would hang around with by choice. He was constantly interrupting Albus and Claudia’s conversation with unhelpful comments of ‘epic Quaffle saves’ and ‘legendary flying expeditions’. As if.

“Bedtime,” called the Head Boy, Mason Wood. “Lights out in twenty minutes.” So Claudia and I said our goodbyes to Adam, Albus, and Scorpius and headed up to the girl’s dormitories.

When we entered our room, we found that all five of our roommates were already there. Jasmine Bell was sitting on the bed closest to the door. She was tiny with porcelain skin, and looked fragile. She greeted us shyly before resuming her unpacking. Next to her was Emma Wilson and Yasmine Depiesse, who both said quick hellos. Michelle Smith, a loud and quite ditzy girl, greeted us next. Her dirty blonde hair didn’t seem to match her large frame. I didn’t like her much. She was a little too rude and in-your-face. And then we met Nina.

Nina Jordan was very... beautiful, at the very least. Her tanned complexion and silky brown hair, teamed with mesmerising brown eyes, could make any girl within a ten mile radius jealous. She smiled when she saw us walk towards her, but the smile did not contain any degree of warmth to it. Nina greeted me first with her soft, silky voice.

“Hi, you must be Rose. My father talks a lot about your Uncle George. You’ve probably met him at their joke shop?” I didn’t like the way she said ‘their’. It was Uncle George’s joke shop. Almost instantly, I found that I didn’t like her at all. She continued, “I’m Nina Jordan. By the way, your red hair is the obvious trademark of a Weasley.” As if it was a bad thing. So what, not everyone could be natural beauties like Nina, or even Claudia standing next to me. Speaking of Claudia...

“I’m terribly sorry of my rudeness, but who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” she said, the words flowing out of her mouth with ease, with a tone that suggested she was not at all ‘terribly sorry’ of her rudeness.

“I’m Claudia Kelaney,” she replied, glaring slightly at Nina. Claudia had no doubt picked up the superiority in Nina’s voice.

“Oh, I’ve never heard of your family before. What do your parents do?”

“My mother’s a doctor, and my father died two years ago,” she said, still eyeing Nina with an irritated expression on her face.

“Excuse me, but what are doctors? I’ve never heard of them?” said Nina confusedly.

“They’re like Healers, Nina, but they’re not wizards or witches, and heal people without magic,” I interrupted before Claudia could respond.

“Oh... so you’re a Muggle then?”

“Is that a problem, Nina?” challenged Claudia, her eyes still focused upon her.

“No... not at all. Just curious.”

“Whatever, think what you like about me,” said Claudia, who rolled her eyes and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. The rest of us in the dormitory gazed at each other in shock, apart from Nina, who carried on arranging her beauty potions on her nightstand as if nothing had happened.

Merlin, I thought. For someone so tiny (Claudia lacked in the height department), she can be very feisty.

---

Scorpius:

I woke up the next morning, much too early for my liking. I pulled myself out of bed, only to notice my surroundings and groan inwardly as I saw the constant theme of the dormitory �“ red and gold, the colours of Gryffindor. There was no escaping the fact that I was a part of this house now �“ traitor to my family or not. I looked out the window �“ the sky an ominous grey colour. It’d probably rain today. I sat there, thinking about nothing in particular, as I watched the sun rise above the dirty clouds.

“Hey Scorpius,” a voice said from behind me. I turned quickly, startled, only to find Albus standing there, dressed in pinstripe blue pyjamas. “How are you now?”

“I’m fine, I suppose,” I replied, not in an unfriendly way. It was nice of him to be concerned �“ he definitely didn’t need to bother.

“Listen, I’m sorry about... everything. It must suck for you to be waiting for their reaction. Your parents, I mean.”

“Yeah... it does suck,” I sighed.

“Hey, now that we’re both in the same house,” said Albus, his voice choosing his words carefully, “then it’d be no problem if we were friends. It’d be hard if we were both in opposing houses, and I think you’re pretty cool...” His voice trailed off, embarrassed, as he realised what he was saying.

“Thanks, Albus. That would mean a lot.” He grinned as I said those words.

“Friends, then?” I said, smiling, as I lifted my hand in the air. Albus slapped me a high five.

“Yes,” he agreed. “Friends.”

---

Claudia:

Rose and I walked into the Great Hall together the next day for breakfast. We spotted Albus, Scorpius, and Adam sitting down the Gryffindor table towards the staff table, each devouring a large plate of bacon and eggs. They were chatting animatedly, and for once, Scorpius looked pretty happy. That was good �“ he’d snapped out of his self-pitying state. As Rose and I walked down the Gryffindor table past students, we spotted Nina staring at me with a hostile expression in her eyes. Figures �“ I’d just annoyed the new Queen Bee of the first years and I didn’t even know how.

“Morning, boys,” said Rose as we reached where the boys were sitting. I sat down next to Scorpius, across from Adam and Albus while Rose chose to sit next to her cousin. “Did you hear about the little disagreement Claudia may or may not have had with Nina Jordan?”

That was my cue to explain what had happened last night, and when I was finished, Scorpius grinned at me and gave me a high five.

“That girl annoys me too. I could see her staring at me when I was declared a Gryffindork,” teased Scorpius, smiling. While Rose pretended to hit him over the head, I glanced down the table only to find Nina staring at us again. I poked my tongue out at her (childish, I know) and she rolled her eyes, looked away and continued eating her bowl of oatmeal. While we ate our breakfast, chatting about Hogwarts and our first day of classes, Professor Morgan distributed the timetables. Dressed in blue robes, she looked a lot more fashion coordinated than the last time I saw her. Speaking of robes, it was the strangest feeling to wear them. They were so unlike anything I’d worn before. When Professor Morgan reached us she handed the five of us our timetables and she gave me a small smile before walking away to hand out more.

“Let’s see... we have Herbology with Neville first,” said Albus as he glanced down his timetable. “It’d be interesting to see how he is as a teacher.”

“Professor Longbottom is a family friend of ours. He and our parents went to school together, and he was a key part in the defeat of Lord Voldemort. We see him from time to time during the summers, when he’s home from Hogwarts.” As Rose said ‘Longbottom’, Adam snorted into his glass of milk. What a baby.

“Cool,” I said, feeling deflated, trying to not let them see how much this little piece of information annoyed me. I knew nothing about this world, and they were all in the middle of it. How much behind was I going to be from everyone else?

“Transfiguration with Macmillan before lunch,” sighed Adam.

“Then Charms with Professor Morgan,” commented Rose. “And then last is...”

“Potions �“ with Zabini,” said a voice from behind Rose. It was her cousin, Fred. He was a second year, just like Albus’ brother James. “I don’t envy you. Professor Blaise Zabini is the most awful human being to ever walk this planet. He’s mean and vile and cruel and will try to scare the wits out of you guys in your first lesson, I bet you anything.”

“Sure... like he’d try and intimidate a bunch of first years,” scoffed Scorpius, rolling his eyes and turning back to his huge plate of food.

“You’d be surprised. I’m definitely not surprised that he does intimidate first years. He’s mean, but he sort of has a small right to be. Did I ever tell you about the potato joke? It all started back when Teddy Lupin was a first year himself, and Professor Zabini wasn’t having one of his best days...”

---

Adam:

The five of us finished our breakfast cheerily, and then as the bell rang, we got up and headed towards the greenhouses. It was a clear, brisk day with the grass still clinging on to last night’s rain. Carrying our new bags, filled with new schoolbooks and our most prized possessions - our wands, we walked together, chatting about classes and stuff. Combined with the fact that we looked much too small to fit into our new robes, we stood out clearly as first years.

We entered Greenhouse 1, as instructed on our timetables. The five of us gathered around the long bench. We were some of the first students to arrive. Ella was already there, and she greeted me with a smile, which I returned a little sadly, wishing she was in Gryffindor. We’d be sharing the class with Ravenclaw then.

Slowly, the greenhouse began to fill up as more kids began to arrive. Some looked excited, others bored, the majority nervous to some degree. The sound of a door opening, coming from a different direction, made everyone pay attention - Professor Longbottom had arrived.

“Good morning, everyone,” he greeted cheerfully to the twenty-eight kids gathered around the workbench. “I’m Professor Longbottom (seriously - what a stupid name) and I’m going to be your Herbology teacher for the next seven years.” He went on to explain the various plants that they’d be working with, but I let my mind wander, as per usual whenever an adult started a marathon speech. After about ten minutes, we were instructed to get into groups of five. That was no problem for us. We put on our safety gear as Longbottom handed out each group a basket full of items, and a pot with a tiny stem and a brown blot in it �“ it was a disappointment. I’d hoped for Devil’s Snare, like Rose told me her mum saved her dad and uncle in first year from.

“The plant that I’ve put in front of each group is a very basic, non-dangerous example of a garden flower. Can anyone tell me what they are?

Rose put up her hand. “They’re Miamians, sir,” she answered. “Miamians are a magical sunflower, designed to be grown in garden beds and pots.”

“Correct ten points to Gryffindor. Now, can anyone tell me what makes them magical?” Nobody put their hands up besides Rose. “I’ll just show you, how about?”

“Okay, I’ll need a volunteer. He pointed to a boy near the front, whom I recognised as Joshua Stone, a boy in our dormitory. “Touch the middle of the sunflower for me.”

Joshua did, and as he pulled his finger back, the sunflower began to unravel its petals, the stem began shooting up and everything became more colourful, until there was a large yellow sunflower sitting in its pot. And then, suddenly, two eyes and a mouth popped out of nowhere on the sunflower’s centre.

“Miamians �“ they are flowers with human personalities. These are one of the most basic plants to care for. Sometimes,” he said, “they will even talk to you. They gain their nutrients through water...”

---

Albus:

After Transfiguration, which would have to be the most boring subject taught by the most boring, pompous person, we headed off to lunch. Obviously, copying a million words into our books from the board and then spending the last ten minutes staring at a match, willing it to turn into a needle, made people hungry, as Scorpius, Adam, and I dug into the food almost immediately, while Rose and Claudia watched us in disgust.

“Do you boys ever stop eating?” said Rose in a disapproving tone, and she and Claudia began eating their lunch (with considerably less food on their plates) in a dignified manner.

We spent the break trying to work out our way around the school, trying to work out where the Charms classroom was and wondering if we could get back to Gryffindor tower without getting lost. It was easier going from the tower to the Great Hall. You just had to follow other students at mealtimes. All too quickly, the bell rang and it was time for Charms.

Charms wasn’t that bad. Professor Morgan was really nice, and patient. She explained that the first month or so would be learning how to use our wands properly, and the basics of spell casting. Swish and flick. Swish and flick.

Our last lesson for the day, Potions, was held in the dungeons. It took us ten minutes to get there from the second floor. It was really hard finding the classroom too. Eventually, we found it. We were five minutes late.

Professor Zabini looked sideways at the door when the door opened. He was obviously in the middle of a lecture and he was not pleased to be interrupted.

“It’s so very nice of you five to join us. Finally,” he sneered at us, his lip curling. “Five points from Gryffindor, for every minute of my time you’ve wasted. Consider this as a warning. Next time, you won’t be let off so lightly. Sit down.”

The five of us sat down at the table at the front, the only one occupied. Glancing around, I realised we’d be having Potions with the Slytherins. How perfect.

“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted,” said Professor Zabini, emphasizing those last two words, “is that this course is very difficult and I will not tolerate any misbehaving or rudeness. Everyone is to work to the best of their ability. ” He glared at us as if to say, Or else.

Twenty-eight faces, some of them looking scared of out their skins (including Claudia next to me), blinked up at Zabini. We’d all heard the stories regarding this particularly evil Professor, but was he going to live up to his reputation? Suddenly he turned on me.

“Mr. Malfoy,” he said suddenly, acknowledging Scorpius’ presence for the first time. “I have to say, I was incredibly surprised to see you become a Gryffindor. I would have thought you would wish to become a Slytherin.”

“The hat knows best, Professor,” said Scorpius sweetly, sarcasm creeping in his voice at every possible angle.

“Indeed,” he sniffed, obviously not wishing to offend his close friend’s son.

He turned to face the class in one swift, sudden motion, his black robes fluttering at his feet. “Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?” he fired off at the class. Unsurprisingly, Rose’s hand was the first and last to shoot up in the air.

“Miss Weasley,” he regarded Rose with an air of annoying superiority. “Another know-it-all, just like your Muggle-born mother, I suppose. You didn’t even have to give me your name. That flaming red hair is a dead giveaway. Just like your father’s. I didn’t have much patience for him �“ he was a swot, a pest. Just like the rest of your blood traitor family.”

I felt my body tense up as I heard Zabini criticising our family. How dare he? His family was probably just the same... anti-Muggle, no doubt.

“Mr. Potter,” he said with an ominous smile, shifting over so he was facing me. “It’s such a... pleasure... to teach you this year, and the next few after this. I remember your father. He was in my year, did he tell you that?”

“No.” I replied, keeping my voice steady.

“No, sir,” he sneered, glaring down at me.

Suddenly, I don’t know what came over me, but I felt a weird sense of empowerment. I would not let this man torment me or my family and friends. I was a Gryffindor, for Merlin’s sake, I should be able to stand up to him. I came up with a deadly thought.

“There’s no need for you to call me sir, Professor,” I smiled innocently, just as sweetly as Scorpius. I heard everyone in the room gasp, and Claudia made a weird choking noise.

“How dare you, Potter,” he spat quite venomously at me; his eyes, the size of hubcaps, narrowed down at me as his face twisted up in rage.

“FORTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR, AND A WEEK’S WORTH OF DETENTIONS!” he roared at me, his face turning pink like Uncle Ron’s did when he was mad. This was beyond mad; this was immediate hatred and anger. “AND CONSIDER THIS A WARNING. NEXT TIME YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF IN DETENTION FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR!” He turned and faced the class again. “AS FOR THE REST OF YOU,” he suddenly calmed down till his voice was barely over a whisper, but just as dangerous, “I hope you’ve learnt a lesson today. This sort of behaviour IS and WILL NOT BE TOLERATED,” he screamed again, apoplectic with rage, and then hissed, “Or else.” A silence descended upon the dungeon.

I didn’t know about the rest of my classmates, but I had pretty much wet myself by now. Claudia was now shaking, Scorpius’ face was set into stone, Rose was making weird squeaking noises and Adam �“ well, his jaw had been dropped for the last thirty seconds, and it had no intention of lifting in the near future. The rest of the class didn’t look much better, almost every face in the room petrified. Only a handful of Slytherins were relaxed and composed.

“I think,” spat Zabini in a menacing voice, “that we should continue with our lesson. Shall we?”

The few that could nod did so, and he began reading from the textbook, the rest of us barely following in stunned silence.

---

Rose:

Holy mother of Helga, I thought to myself, whimpering as Professor Zabini unleashed his terror at our class of first years, whom hadn’t even been within the castle’s walls for twenty-four hours. What in Merlin’s pants had Albus been thinking? James obviously hadn’t prepped Albus for Zabini’s evilness to this extent. That was... epic. I was almost certain that the rest of the school would be talking about Harry Potter’s son and his outburst at Hogwarts most feared and hated teacher - on his first day, no less. Albus would be regarded as a hero �“ a stupid one, but a hero nonetheless.

After the bell finally rang (it seemed like an eternity), Albus was called back to receive the details of his detentions. The three of us (Adam had opted to head off to the Great Hall with Josh Stone, who were in a heavy conversation about what had happened). When he came out, Albus looked angry about something, and wouldn’t tell us till we rejoined Adam in the Great Hall for dinner.

“What happened in there?” asked Claudia inquiringly, who had seemed to recover a bit from Potions, but still tense nonetheless.

“He... apologised,” growled Albus, shovelling shepherd’s pie into his mouth, staring at his plate. He obviously seemed disgusted by Zabini’s actions.

“Isn’t that a good thing? I don’t get it,” I said, confused. This was definitely the wrong thing to say, and Albus glared up at me.

“Of all people, I thought you would be the one to get it. He was insulting your family �“ our family. And you don’t seem to care less,” he spat at me. I gave him one of my famous Weasley glares, similar to my mother and grandmother’s.

“How on earth could you say that? Of course I care about my family! I know you’re upset about Zabini, but don’t take it out on me!”

“Whatever, Rose,” he sighed. “I know not to argue with you better than anyone else.” I had to give a small smile at this. He went on to explain what Zabini had said to him after class.

“And then,” he said, a few minutes later after explaining, “he let me off detention. Thank Godric - I’ll have enough on my plate with all these new classes this week. And the homework he gave us,” he groaned.

“I’ll second that,” said Adam in agreement, before helping himself to seconds of the curry.

The next morning, at breakfast, we noticed the staff table behaving in a peculiar fashion. Many were reading the Daily Prophet, and those who were reading it wore similar expressions �“ fear. I glanced over at Yasmine Depiesse’s newspaper. The picture was of Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, speaking to several reporters and magical recording devices at one. Behind him was a familiar marble foyer, partially destroyed. The headline bore the chilling words,

“ILLUMINATI STRIKES AGAIN AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC”

Scorpius:

“Have another rock cake, Scorpius, I made them myself,” said Hagrid proudly, offering me the plate of rock cakes. It was three days after the Potions class incident and we were having afternoon tea with Hagrid, the Care of Magical Creatures Professor and who was one of Albus and Rose’s close family friends. Adam, Claudia and I had been invited to his hut to be introduced to him, and I was pretty nervous about meeting a half-giant who would most likely judge me on my surname and my trademark, unavoidable Malfoy hair.

“Relax, Scorpius �“ Albus has explained to Hagrid about you. And Hagrid’s fine about you coming. He wouldn’t dare do anything,” Rose laughed as I’d admitted my initial fears at breakfast that morning.

“Or he’ll have Rose Carmen Weasley here to answer to,” joked Albus, joining in the conversation as he lifted his plate in front of me to reach for seconds of scrambled eggs. Rose grinned, and dove into her bag for her timetable.

“Shoot, we have History of Magic in five minutes. And that’s ages away!”

And that was the end of that conversation. So after lunch, we made our way across the freshly mown lawns of Hogwarts castle. It was a bright, sunny day and there were many students taking full advantage of the little bit of summer we had left, lounging around the lake and being lazy. When we reached Hagrid’s hut, Rose knocked on his front door. I could hear a dog barking wildly, and a deep, gruff voice saying, “Shut yeh trap, Fang.”

My first glance at Hagrid was that he was not someone to cross. Although Albus had informed me this morning that Hagrid was 88 years old, he did not look it. According to Miss Know-It-All Weasley, a giant’s average lifespan was about three hundred years. This was a very scratchy estimation, as not many wizards had ever gotten close enough to a giant civilization long enough to study them - and lived to tell the tale. But it looked as if Hagrid was going to have a longer lifespan than most humans. He was a large man, and even though I’m really tall for my age, I didn’t reach past his elbow. Tiny Claudia couldn’t even reach his waist!

“Al - Rose! Good ter see yers!” he grinned, and opened the door wide enough to let all five of them pass in.

“Hagrid, these are our friends �“ Claudia,” he gestured to her and she waved up at Hagrid, “Adam,” Albus pointed to Adam, who grinned back at Hagrid, “and Scorpius.” I smiled nervously, but Hagrid laughed away at my anxiety.

“Don’t look so ruddy nervous, I know yeh not a bloody ferret like your dad,” he grinned. I had to smile at this. My father had told me some embarrassing stories about his fourth-year DADA professor transfiguring him into a ferret. I’d pay big money to see Draco Malfoy like that.

Anyway, now we were sitting at his oversized table, having tea and rock cakes (which I didn’t touch). We were chatting about normal things �“ how we were enjoying Hogwarts, our classes, what was happening with the rest of the Wizarding World. Then we reached a particularly sensitive topic in the conversation �“ the Illuminati attack on the Ministry of Magic. The Daily Prophet front page article was still lying on the coffee table. As Hagrid went outside to deal with a fourth year’s Care of Magical Creatures problem, I read the article:

“ILLUMINATI STRIKES AGAIN AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC

September 3, 2017.

Thirty-three people died yesterday morning, including five confirmed Illuminati followers when they opened fire on the Ministry through the corridors, using not only their wands but guns too, a handheld Muggle metal contraption that injures and kills people.

Another devastating attack on the wizarding community has occurred at the hands of wizarding terrorist group ‘Illuminati’, this time at the Ministry of Magic, just four weeks after their bombing on The Knight Bus.

They attempted to reach the Minister for Magic’s office, but were thwarted by thirteen Aurors, including Harry Potter, as readers would know from nineteen years previously as the hero of The Battle of Hogwarts, when he defeated Lord Voldemort at the age of seventeen.

Most Ministry workers and other witches and wizards dived for cover under work desks and evacuated the premises, shaken but safe.

However, some were not so lucky. Among the deceased were Head of Muggle Liaison Office Roger Davies, prestigious Auror Archie Long, second-in-command Obliviator Katie Bell and retired Irish Quidditch Seeker Aiden Lynch. Of the twenty eight people (not including the Illuminati casualties), twelve were Muggle-born. However, the attacks have been described as random.

In the past six months, the Illuminati Organisation has been steadily gaining power. Their beliefs are widely known as severely anti-Muggle. However, their organisation has been relatively peaceful until three months ago when raiders stormed into London and murdered seventy innocent Muggles in a shopping centre in London. Ministry officials had received a threatening message from Bellatrix Lestrange, former Death Eater and Illuminati leader, calling for all Muggle-born wizards to be rejected from the wizarding world and treated like second-class citizens, otherwise the attacks would continue. Since that day the attacks have steadily grown worse.

“Its very strange that an anti-Muggle terrorist group would use guns in an attack,” commented Head Psychologist for St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries Ibrahim Quill. “Very out of character.”

Late last night, Head Auror Harry Potter made a statement to the Daily Prophet and other wizarding media. “Today has been another shocking, inhumane attack on the wizarding community. We are facing our worst security crisis since the days of Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters. I urge the magical population to not only keep yourselves and your family safe but also your Muggle neighbours who may be in danger. Every life is worth saving.”

Oh, life was just going peachy for me at Hogwarts so far. Not only did I have to deal with the fact that I was a Malfoy in Gryffindor, but now my Great Aunt Bella had a desire to murder innocent wizards and Muggles. Yep, life was going great.

“Terrible... ruddy terrible,” growled Hagrid as he poured more tea into Albus’ oversized mug.

“I just can’t believe that some wizards would do that just because they don’t like Muggles,” said Claudia in a small, anxious voice.

“Relax, Claudia, the Illuminati won’t reach Hogwarts. They’d probably be too terrified of crossing Minerva McGonagall,” joked Adam as the rest of the group laughed.

“It’s not just that,” Hagrid said in a more serious voice after the laughter died down. “Most people're worried 'bout another generation o’ Death Eaters an’ another Voldemort.”

“So, exactly what are Death Eaters, and what happened during that time?” asked Claudia.

So Hagrid, with occasional inputs from the other four, proceeded to tell Claudia what had happened during the Second War. It went on for hours, and just as they got to the part where Albus’ dad had killed Lord Voldemort, Rose noticed that the sky was getting rather dark.

“We should head off now, Hagrid,” she said, glancing nervously out the window.

“Rose, we won’t get detention for visiting a Professor,” said Adam, rolling his eyes at her. Hagrid chuckled, but insisted that he accompany us back to the castle.

Late that night, I woke up to something tapping at my dormitory window. I jolted out of bed, and my heart sunk as I recognised the owl that was carrying a letter. It was Lautitia, my father’s owl. With shaking hands, I opened the window, took the letter from Lautitia, closed the window and sat down on my bed. It was addressed as;

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy
Gryffindor Tower
Hogwarts School

Crap. He knew. And now, I opened the letter.

Dear Scorpius,

I must say, when I heard from Blaise Zabini this morning that my only son had been sorted into Gryffindor, I was upset to say in the least, and very disappointed. I had thought that you had true Slytherin blood in you, from both your mother and me, but sadly that was not to be the case. But mostly, I was angry at you �“ how could you disrespect our family name?

Then, after a long talk with your mother, I realised that none of this was your fault. You did not ask to be sorted into Gryffindor, but you must have shown Gryffindor attributes to become one. For instance, you are a very courageous, daring, if not stupid, child. But you also had Slytherin blood in you �“ the kind that nobody could ignore. I’m surprised that the Hat did.

Anyway, I decided to write to tell you all this. I realised that you must have been worrying about what would happen when you mother and I would discover this, so I just want to tell you that we forgive you for this, and would hate for us to become estranged over a small matter as this.

You must hate it in Gryffindor. I don’t suppose that you’re with Albus Potter in Gryffindor? It’s an obvious choice for a Potter-Weasley child. He must get annoying �“ and his cousin is also in your year! My deep
regards go out to you, Scorpius. However, I think that you should try and introduce yourself to some of your Slytherin peers �“ they might understand the horrible predicament that you are in.

In other news, I have received that promotion at the Department of International Magical Cooperation. I am now Vice-President of the International Magical Trading Standards Body. I wish you could join your mother and me at home to celebrate, but that cannot obviously happen. Also, your mother sends her love and says that she will send a care package when she can, but it might not be for some time.

Love from,
Your father

So, my father ‘forgives’ me for being in such a ‘horrible predicament’, I thought in anger, as I crumpled up his letter, preparing to go down to the common room fire to burn it. How very convenient. Of course, I was his only child! He couldn’t estrange me! Also, he said ‘regards’. What kind of pompous git says regards to his eleven year old son? On my way through, I heard Adam turn in his sleep and Albus behind me.

“Whazzamatta Scorpius?” he asked groggily behind me, putting on his glasses as he yawned.

“It’s nothing, Al, just go back to sleep. Nothing’s wrong.” I said bitterly. Obviously, my friend realised the emotion behind my voice.

“It’s obviously ‘nothing’, Scorpius. It’s one in the morning, and you’re crumpling up a letter in a rage with a hateful expression on your face.” Damn him for being so observant.

“It’s just my father, the stupid git.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time. We’ll talk in the morning. And if you still want to burn it then, then you can do it. Just go back to sleep.” How did he know I was going to burn it? He knows everything, that kid.

“Yeah, ‘s’pose you’re right,” I grumbled, and got back into my bed.

“Night, Scorpius.”

“Night, Al.”

---

Claudia:

Gradually, I began settling into Hogwarts. Things started to become daily routine. On days when we had classes, I would wake up at seven o’clock or seven-thirty, go down to breakfast with Rose and the others at eight, and begin classes at nine. Then, at break times Albus, Rose, Scorpius, Adam and I would go exploring the castle, or walk around the castle grounds. Sometimes Rose would drag us into the library, but we would all manage to lure her out of there eventually. After dinner, we would all go back up to the common room and do our homework, occasionally playing a game of wizard’s chess (Adam taught me �“ I really suck at it) or Gobstones (which yielded very entertaining results when a player lost a point!). Then, eventually, we would head off to bed and do it all again in the morning.

Even though our classes were very challenging, I was beginning to get the hang of magic. With help occasionally from my friends, I would learn little things about the wizarding world each day that would make adjusting easier. And I liked all of my Gryffindor classmates �“ except for one. No prizes for guessing whom.

Nina Jordan had become very mean and sullen towards Rose and I since the first night at Hogwarts. On the most part, we both just ignored her, but it was still annoying to hear her go on about ‘how cool the wizarding world was’ and that she ‘felt sorry for all those people who had not had the privilege to grow up in it’.

It was five days before Halloween, and our class was in Charms. Professor Morgan was teaching us the levitating spell, and we were sitting at our desks, trying to make a feather rise a few feet up above in the air. And I was having some major difficulties.

“It’s not that hard, once you have the hang of it,” said Rose next to me, her feather high above her head. Easy for her to say that, I thought. She levitated her blooming feather on her second try! I glared at her and attempted to perform the spell again.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” I chanted, pointing my wand at the feather in front of me. It lay still and limp, not even showing the slightest signs of moving. This was the fifteenth try. In frustration, I threw my wand down on the desk, but before I could blink, the desk suddenly caught fire. Morgan came rushing over, and with two flicks of her wand she put out the fire and performed a quick drying spell. The rest of the class was giggling.

“Class, I need to go down to Mr. Filch and get some All-Purpose Magical Mess Remover to clean these stains up. I’ll be five minutes. Do not misbehave. I will know if you do,” said the slightly frazzled professor, and she shut the door behind her as she strode out of the room. Suddenly, the room dissolved into giggles, and Nina Jordan turned around in her chair to face me.

“Next time, maybe you’d like to restrict your pyromaniac urges!” she said in between hysterical laughter, and Michelle beside her joined in.

I scowled my most fierce glare at her, and leaned back in my chair with my arms crossed. Rose glared back at her too.

“I’ve noticed that you’re yet to levitate your feather too, Nina,” she replied smugly, and the class laughed again, this time at someone else

After turning a slight shade of pink, Nina composed herself. “At least I don’t set desks on fire,” she retorted.

“Yet,” chipped in Albus from on Rose’s right, and Scorpius sniggered at this. The class roared with laughter. Nina looked murderous.

“At least I’m not a Mudblood like you!” she replied swiftly. Most of the class stopped laughing, and glared at Nina reproachfully. I got out of my chair and felt ready to punch Nina’s perfect face, but Adam beat me to her. He let it rip, to say in the very least.

“How dare you treat Claudia like that! You have no right to say those things to her. She’s only been in the wizarding world for less than two months! I’m a pureblood too, but you don’t see me saying those sorts of things to Muggleborns!” Here he paused to take a deep breath, and then continued on. “I think that’s just despicable, Nina. Leave her alone!” he yelled at her, towering above her as she sat in her chair, evidently surprised. This wasn’t an overstatement �“ Adam was very tall. But he wasn’t as surprised as me, though.

“Adam, what are you doing? Sit down!” I mumbled to, highly embarrassed. He grudgingly obliged and sat down again.

“So, had to get your boyfriend to do your dirty work?” she smirked at me, and the class dissolved into giggles again.

“Somebody’s in lurrrrve,” Michelle taunted Adam, who turned as red as a tomato, and started fidgeting with his wand, refusing to catch my eye. The class laughed even harder. Did all eleven year olds laugh this much back in the Muggle world? It seemed hard to believe. Just then, Professor Morgan entered the room, wearing a big frown on her face.

“What’s going on? I leave for five minutes and the wolves descend on this place! Nina, was that you causing that entire ruckus? Twenty points from Gryffindor for such despicable language!”

The rest of the class glared at Nina, who for once was lost at words. The room fell very silent.

“Well, what are you waiting for? Back to you feathers!” said Morgan.

“I’ll get you for this, Claudia Kelaney,” hissed Nina from in front of me. “Just you wait.”

Adam:

Well, that was embarrassing. No, that word doesn’t cover it �“ humiliating does the job better. As we all went back to work, attempting to levitate that stupid feather, I sat there with my face as red as a tomato, with Albus and Scorpius sniggering every time they caught my eye, and Claudia deliberately avoiding them. The only positive �“ Nina was equally embarrassed, and kept her head down throughout the rest of the class.

The bell rang mercifully, and I got up out of my seat, gathered my books up and practically flew out of the room. I ran to the common room, where the Fat Lady looked at me, startled, as I reached the entrance, panting and gasping for air. I gave her the password, ran up the spiral stairs to my dormitory and flopped down on my bed, gazing at the ceiling. I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, it was dark and cold. I looked over at the other beds �“ all of them filled. I could hear Albus snoring. I must have been asleep for a long time. I felt hungry �“ maybe if I wandered down to the kitchens, I’d be able to get some food. I made a mental note to thank Zane for telling me exactly how to get there.

I crept out of the dormitory and down the stairs to the common room. I was halfway there before I heard voices �“ familiar ones. I was going to go down there and say hello to Rose and Claudia, but something stopped me dead in my tracks �“ my name.

“Can you believe what Adam did today in Charms?” I heard Rose say. “He so likes you. You could tell.”
“Shut up, Rose!” Claudia grumbled. “What happened was embarrassing. Nina’s an absolute brat, but he didn’t have to do that!”

“Oh, come on! You’ve got to admit, it was cute the way he stuck up for you. Maybe you should go and thank him,” she sniggered, and then I heard her loud “Ouch!” where Claudia must have hit her.

“Oh, get a grip, Rose! I’m not going to go out with him. I’m only eleven �“ and besides, if I wanted a boyfriend, it definitely wouldn’t be Adam... he’s annoying! Sure, he’s alright looking, but all he ever talks about how great at Quidditch he is!” I felt the blood rush to my face, and as corny as its going to sound, my heart broke inside. So, is that what my ‘friends’ thought about me? That I was a stuck-up creep? And Claudia... her, of all people... I really liked her. I thought she was different.

I guess not.

I turned around to head back up the staircase and into the sanctuary of my bed, but it was too late. Rose had seen me.

“Adam...” she said, her voice faltering.

“I can’t believe this.” I said, staring her down.

“I’m really sorry, Adam. Truly sorry,” said Claudia softly. Merlin, her voice was pretty.

“Save it, Claudia. I don’t want to hear it.” I turned away, and left the room.

“But wait... Adam!”

---

Claudia:

Since… that night… in the common room, Adam hadn’t spoken to Rose or me. He pretty much steered clear of Albus and Scorpius too, who were quite puzzled at this, and pressured us to tell them what had happened. I wasn’t going to either; I didn’t want them thinking I was a mean person. Rose and I had tried apologizing to Adam countless times, but he’d just walk away or roll his eyes. It was getting really annoying �“ he couldn’t even stay there and listen. He now spent nights in the common room with Josh Stone, or acting cool around Zane Finnegan and his friends.

Five days later, we all woke up to the smell of baking pumpkin wafting up from the kitchens. It was the thirty-first of October �“ Halloween! Not even Adam could spoil my mood today, I decided firmly as I walked down to breakfast.

Classes just couldn’t hold our attention today. We were all too hyped up for the feast later tonight to really understand about what was happening in Transfiguration or to really care what Zabini was yelling at Albus for this time. We all had Halloween on the brain.

“Are you coming?” asked Rose later that day when the bell rang, signalling the end of lunch, as the Gryffindors made their way towards the DADA classroom.

“Umm… no, I’ll be there soon. I forgot my books. And I really don’t want another detention from Professor Patil,” I told her, and waved goodbye to her, Albus and Scorpius, and started running to the common room so I’d make it to class on time, and found it in record time.

On my way out of the portrait hole, I bumped into someone and fell to my butt with a loud “Ouch!” I looked up, still wincing from the pain. Nina Jordan was smiling at me �“ but surprisingly, not in a hateful way. She offered out her hand to help me get up, and I grudgingly took it.

“Thanks,” I said warily, waiting for her dark side to kick in.

“No problem,” she said, still grinning. Then her expression softened a little. “Hey listen, Claudia… I came up to find you to apologise for what I said to you the other day in Charms, and my behaviour to you the last two months,” she said, her face looking truly apologetic. “I’ve been way out of line, and I promise you, it ends here. Maybe even we could someday be friends… that is, if you forgive me?

“Sure, why not,” I said, now grinning too. She gave me a quick, awkward hug before saying something very interesting.

“Oh, by the way, Claudia,” she said enthusiastically, “I was just down in the grounds with Hagrid… he’s found a baby unicorn!”

“Are you for real?” I squealed, and my face lit up. “Where are they? Can you take me to see it?”

“Umm… Claudia, we’ve got Defence in three minutes. Unless you’re willing to skip it with me?” she said, her face lighting up.

“Better not… my friends are waiting for me there, and Patil will kill us.”

Nina’s face fell, crestfallen. She really looked like she wanted to make nice with me. And what better way than to sneak out of class together and go pat a unicorn? “That’s a shame,” she said, sighing. “Hagrid had told me that it’s a one-in-a-million chance. And they’re so beautiful!”

Did I trust her? Not quite. But it was a freaking unicorn!

“Do you think Hagrid would let me pat it?” I said slyly. She grinned back, and linked my arm with hers.

“Let’s go!”

---

Rose:

Where in Merlin’s name was Claudia? She hadn’t turned up for Defence, even though she told me she was on her way. When Professor Patil enquired about this, I just shrugged and tried my best to look nonchalant.

“Stomach bug, I think,” I said casually. “She didn’t look too well during lunch. She said she’d go up to her dormitory and have a rest.”

“Make sure you persuade her to visit Madam Pomfrey in the Hospital Wing if her symptoms continue,” Patil said in a sympathetic tone, and resumed the lesson. Scorpius and Al looked at me, wanting answers �“ they could tell I was covering for her. I mouthed “Later,” to them, and looked at Adam. He was deliberately one-hundred percent focused on the blackboard, copying down the information on the Knockback Jinx perfectly, as if his life depended on it.

The second the bell rang, signalling the end of class. The second it was over, I filled in my friends (minus Adam and obviously Claudia) on the situation. Al was all for storming up to the girl’s dormitory and checking on Claudia, as that was the last place we’d seen her going. Maybe she was just sick �“ fell asleep, most likely. It just didn’t fit, though.

“Come on, we’re going to be late for Herbology,” I sighed. “Claudia’s a big girl; she can take care of herself.” However, all through class, that anxious feeling did not subside. It was almost halfway through the lesson before I realised another of the Gryffindors was missing �“ Nina Jordan wasn’t there either. Come to think of it, I hadn’t seen her in DADA either. I instantly became suspicious. When I whispered my theory to Al and Scorpius, they agreed with me heartily. Scorpius suggested throwing a bucket of mini Acromantulas in her bed �“ Al wanted to forget about the ‘tiny’ part. But I shuddered �“ spiders just creeped me out.

As soon as the bell rang, signalling the end of classes for the day, the three of us virtually sprinted up to the Common Room. Panting heavily, I instructed Scorpius and Al to wait downstairs as I checked our dormitory. They grudgingly obliged, and I ran up the spiral staircase.

“Claudia?” I called. “Are you in here?” Silence followed. I did a thorough check of the dormitory, and soon it became apparent that nobody was here. I checked Claudia’s trunk to see if she’d collected her books. No �“ The Dark Forces: a Guide to Self Protection by Quentin Trimble and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, Vol. II by Rolf Scamander were still lying messily on top. Her notebook, the one that was decorated with hearts, smiley faces and flowers (I’d tried to convince Claudia to keep her workbook neat, but she just didn’t listen) was sitting beside the textbooks. As I searched further, I realised that her whole book bag �“ wand, notebook, quills and other of Claudia’s useless junk, was there as well. I then went over to Nina’s area. Her bag, as well as her books for DADA and Herbology, were gone. So was her wand. This did not look good �“ Nina was armed and Claudia wasn’t.

I raced back down to the Common Room, and filled in Scorpius and Al again. By now, the Common Room was filling up, packed with people talking animatedly about the feast. Their hats, looking out of place, were sitting on top of their heads. It had been the first time we’d seen the school wearing the hats, as it was only required for feasts and important events.

“We’ve looked top-to-bottom of the Common Room,” Al said worriedly. “She’s not here, that’s for sure.”

“What do you think has happened to her?” Scorpius said, also looking nervous. “Do you think Nina’s somehow got to her? Remember what she said last week in Charms?”

“Oh, come on Scorpius,” I scoffed. “Nina’s a first year �“ what’s the worst that she could do to Claudia? Shoot green sparks at her?”

“I don’t like the look of her cousin, Mia. She’s a cow, seriously. And she’s the biggest sixth-year girl at Hogwarts. Not to mention that she can hex people into next year without lifting a finger.”

“Oh, scared of a girl, are we, Scorpius?” I taunted him, laughing humourlessly. “Are you too frightened to �“”

“SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP, THE PAIR OF YOU!” yelled a new voice. Scorpius and I ceased our bickering immediately, and I turned around to see who it was. It was Adam, looking just as frightened as we did. “CLAUDIA’S MISSING �“ YES, I HEARD EVERY WORD THAT YOU’VE SAID!” he continued, before going hoarse. He continued in a much softer tone. “I say we go and search for her. Nina’s definitely got something to do with this, I can feel it.”

“No kidding,” said Al sarcastically, muttering under his breath. I shot him a look that would make our Nana Molly proud.

"Listen, Adam," I began. "I'm really sorry about-"

“Forget it, Rose,” he said briskly. “Right now, let’s concentrate on the situation at hand. Does everyone have their wands?”

Scorpius and Al nodded, but I shook my head. “I left it back up in the dormitory,” I said. “Let me go up there and get it.”

The room was just as empty as it was five minutes ago. However, while I was digging through my bag for my wand, I noticed a note left on my bed. My heart jumped when I recognised Claudia’s hurried scribble.

Rose �“ I’m down in the grounds, probably at Hagrid’s. Don’t worry; I’ll be back before the feast. It’s really exciting and important, I’m sorry I skipped class. You can lecture me later! �“ Love Claudia xx.

How could I not worry? She was with Nina Jordan, I shuddered to think of the condition we’d find her in afterwards.

“Let’s go down to Hagrid’s,” Scorpius said two minutes later after I’d sprinted back down the stairs, my wand in my pocket, and showed them Claudia’s note. “Then… if she’s not there… we’ll panic then.”

---

Albus:

Nobody looked twice as they saw four first-year Gryffindors sprinting down the marble staircase. Maybe they assumed we were overexcited about Halloween. Perhaps they thought that all first-years were equally as crazy as each other, and this was totally normal. Who knew �“ the important thing was that nobody tried to stop us from running outside the Entrance Hall into the cold, windy autumn air. We shivered in our thin cloaks �“ there was no need to wear thick clothing inside the warm, heated castle. Only Rose looked warm; she had obviously remembered the practical idea of wearing her school jumper as well as her cloak.

“Hagrid’s,” she said briskly, pointing west, where the hill sloped down to reveal Hagrid’s hut nestled down next to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. We ran after her in silence. Once his hut became in full view, it was apparent that nobody was home �“ no lights were blazing through his windows. The sky was becoming very dark; it must be getting near the feast.

“What do we do?” I asked anxiously, mostly because I already knew the answer.

“Let’s poke around a bit near Hagrid’s,” decided Adam. It appeared that he was taking charge for now. Rose nodded fervently with him. And I knew better than to disagree with my cousin.

So that was why, five minutes later, we were trudging in the mud of the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. Rose looked troubled �“ maybe she was scared she’d get caught in the Forbidden Forest.

“What’s up, Rose? Why do you look even more freaked out then us three?” Scorpius said.

“Hasn’t it occurred to… forget it,” she snapped. Obviously, now we couldn’t very well “forget it” now that she’d brought it up.

“It’s just that… haven’t you realised that maybe someone more… sinister… than Nina Jordan… has something to do with this?”

“Huh? I’m not following.” Adam looked confused.

“Well… think about what’s different about us four to Claudia… maybe…” Adam still looked puzzled, but a light switch flicked in my head. I paled, and I wish Rose hadn’t brought this idea in my head. Claudia was a Muggle-born. Crap.

“The Illuminati…” I whispered, trembling. Scorpius and Adam looked freaked out when it clicked in their heads.
“I don’t know, Rosie,” Scorpius said. “Maybe this is just Nina’s idea of a prank… hold on, I’ve found something!”

We all peered over his shoulder to see what he was pointing at. It was footprints �“ two sets of them. One set was very tiny, the other pretty average. We could only guess whose foot was that tiny. And it didn’t look like Hagrid had been the one with Claudia.

“Let’s follow them,” said Adam, attempting a look of nonchalance and failing miserably. Rose just looked like… well, she looked like she was going to vomit, actually.

“There’s… there’s… spiders in there! We can’t go into the Forest! Let’s run to get a teacher!” she whispered.

“Listen Rose… it’d take forever to go and get someone,” said Scorpius softly to her. “They’re all at the feast by now. We need to go save Claudia. She could be in serious trouble. And we’ve got each other… we’ll be fine.”

“Thanks,” she replied, smiling. “Lumos.”

The tip of her wand exploded into a brilliant beam of light, and the three of us followed suit. We began following the footprints, Rose leading the way.

After ten minutes, the footprints still lead deeper and deeper into the heart of the forest. Nobody spoke. The atmosphere was so tense that you could cut a knife through it. I tried to push the thoughts that came to me about what lead to the end of this trail. After another five minutes, Rose stopped abruptly.

“Can you hear that?” she whispered, and the three of us shrugged, although Rose couldn’t see it. We stood silently for a few seconds, before I heard the sound of twigs snapping. They were pretty close. And then, we heard a chilling shriek; a shriek that chilled me to the bone marrow. It was a high-pitched shriek. And it was familiar.

Claudia:

Oh. My. God. Nina and I were walking down to the castle grounds, and we were going to visit a unicorn! Merlin, that beat anything that Patil or Longbottom might teach us in their respective subjects. Knowing that Rose would probably worry about my whereabouts (she was such a worrywart), I left her a quick note on her bed. I really wanted to include her in this, but she’d never skip a class. Never ever. It was probably right up there on her Evil Acts List with boiling live puppies.

Anyway, so Nina and I were chatting the whole way down. She told me a little bit about herself. I’d already known that her dad, Lee, worked in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, Al and Rose’s uncle’s shop. She told me that her mother, Isabella, went to Beauxbatons Academy in France, but was Italian. That explained her olive skin. She’d moved to England after graduation where she met Lee in Diagon Alley one day. It was love at first sight, according to her parents. It sort of sounded a bit like the way… his parents got together. Adam. I made a resolution to forget Adam for now. Maybe, when he was mature enough to listen to my apologies, I’d think about him again.

Nina also had two younger sisters �“ Sophia, who was eight and little Kirrilee, who was only four. She gushed on about how adorable they were �“ she was most likely right. They were probably miniature versions of Nina and her mother.

There wasn’t much to tell with me. I just told her about my little sister, Leah. When I told her that she was eight years old as well, she gushed about how great it’d be if Leah and Sophia would become friends.

“I suppose that would be nice if it weren’t for the fact that my sisters a Muggle,” I said pointedly.

“What, you don’t think she’s going to be a witch?” Nina replied.

“I don’t know. She hasn’t exactly shown any signs yet. You’d think that she would have. I started blowing up toasters by the time I was five.”

“Hmm… she still has potential. A lot of young wizards and witches don’t show any magical powers until they’re about eight or nine.” She flashed a grin at me. Why did I hate Nina before? She was so nice! It was only when we reached Hagrid’s empty hut that I started doubting myself.

“Where’s Hagrid?” I said, puzzled. Nina just shrugged.

“I don’t know. He said something about feeding the unicorns… yes, that’s probably what he’s doing. Tell you what, I know where the unicorn was. How about we go in and I’ll show you?”

I hesitated for a moment. “Umm… I don’t know, Nina. We aren’t allowed in. And it probably isn’t safe in there.”

“Aww... come on, Claudia! Hagrid’s only about a hundred metres into the forest away. It’ll take us five minutes, max, to get there! And its not like it’s Acromantula or anything that we’re visiting! Its just unicorns. And they’re so pretty… ooh, did I tell you they’re pure gold?”

That last sentence did it. “Gold? What are we waiting for!” I exclaimed. Nina led the way.

Ten minutes later, I got worried again. We were no closer to finding Hagrid than discovering the thirteenth use of dragon’s blood.

“Are you sure that Hagrid took the left fork back there? Maybe it was the right fork. They both looked the same to me,” I gabbled nervously. Nina just rolled her eyes.

“Claudia, trust me, I know where we’re going.”

Deeper and deeper we walked into the heart of the forest. I considered turning back many times, but then realised that I’d never be able to find my way out again. Where in Merlin’s beard was Nina going? I had no choice, however, but to follow her. I kept walking, mud dripping from my shoes.

About four minutes later, however, we stopped. I gazed around, expectantly, to see where Hagrid or the unicorn was. But there was a significant absence of both. I turned on Nina angrily.

“What the hell are you playing at?” I growled, annoyed. “There was no unicorn, was there? You’ve just taken me out here to… to… to �“”

“To what, Claudia?” she smiled.

“To… I don’t bloody well know!” Even though I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do much, I thought it might put her off for a few seconds. I reached for my wand, but when I realised it wasn’t there, I panicked. My enemy grinned triumphantly, before an absolute look of horror became plastered upon her face. She pointed behind me, and I turned quickly, my arms in front of me, ninja style. Which would have been totally cool, but nobody was there to see it. Not a single living thing.

“What the hell, Nina. There’s nothing there!” I said impatiently, but before I could turn around to glare at her, she got to me first.

“Flippendo!” she cried, and I suddenly fell twelve feet backwards. Stupid Knockback Jinx. I braced myself for the impact of solid ground, but it didn’t come. Instead, I fell through a thick undercover of fallen leaves and mud. Down I went, about fifteen feet, before that hard impact came. On my leg. I screamed in pain, and faced up to where Nina Jordan now stood with her head looking down at mine.

“You sneaky, rotten, two-faced cow!” I hollered up at her. “You realise you’re going to pay for this, right? The second I get back up to the school…”

“Listen, Claudia, I don’t exactly care what you want to say to me. But let me just say this… I’m not sure whether you’ll end up getting back to the castle at all tonight. You have no wand, and nobody but me knows you’re here. I might just leave you here all night. But don’t worry, I’ll come out in the morning and get you… I’ll be the hero who saved Miss Kelaney from a terrible fate. But… just for argument’s sake, if you do decide you want to tell somebody why… well, then, it's not going to end up happily ever after for you.”

Oh, as if. Nina Jordan was no better at magic than me. We were first-year students. How much damage could she do? With a wave of her fingers and a taunting smile, she disappeared. I listened to her footsteps get softer and softer, before ceasing completely.

How could I be so stupid to think she’d changed? I really needed to stop being so gullible. Honestly, it was going to kill me one day. I paused momentarily to think that maybe that that day had come. I didn’t dwell on it; I couldn’t dwell on it. My leg hurt too much. The stabbing pains every second were proof. It was probably broken. I guess Madam Pomfrey would be able to heal it instantly with a wave of her wand. But I didn’t have a Madam Pomfrey here. So I made do with propping it up on a pile of leaves I fashioned. I decided to try and get some sleep since I had no idea how long I would be out here.

Hours later, I was woken up by a scream.

---

Adam:

The four of us automatically turned, our illuminated wands pointed directly in front of us, to greet our newcomer. Nina Jordan was standing in the middle of a small clearing some thirty feet away, and had a look of complete and utter horror on her face. I charged at her; the sound of leaves and twigs breaking behind me rapidly told me that Rose, Al and Scorpius were following suit.

“Where is she?” I screamed at Nina when we reached her. I must have looked like a complete maniac. Maybe because by that stage, I was. “What have you done with �“”

“Adam…” Rose said in a trembling, breaking voice. “Look up…”

“Oh, shut up Rose! We need to find Claudia! Where is she?”

“Adam… I’m serious… look over here. This is urgent… ADAM! QUICK, RUN!” And before I knew it, I saw a very large, hairy creature with eight legs and lethal pincers heading in Nina and my direction. It was twice the size of me. I didn’t need Rose Weasley and her books to tell me what it was. It was a spider, and it was hungry.

“HOLY CRAP, LET’S GO!” yelled Albus, and he and Scorpius both grabbed one of Rose’s hands, who had now stood rooted to the spot in fear. They tugged her until she obliged and they ran through a gap between the trees.

“COME ON, NINA! YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!” It was heading straight towards her. She stayed just as still as Rose.

“YOU DON’T GET IT, DO YOU? IT WANTS TO EAT US FOR TEA!” I screamed. “LET’S GO, YOU IDIOT!”

Finally she got the message. She grabbed my hand, and before I could react, she sprinted out of the clearing, with me in tow. She followed the path that the other three had gone, and I couldn’t do anything but tag along �“ literally. Two minutes later, we stopped; Al, Rose and Scorpius were standing in another clearing, their backs together in a triangle formation, and their wands held out. It was a very intimidating sight.

“Oh, thank Merlin. Its just you two.” They relaxed their faces but didn’t lower their wands. I drew mine out as well. Before Nina could react, all four of us pointed our wands directly at her.

“What. Have. You. Done. With. Claudia?” Scorpius Malfoy looked menacing under the wandlit glare as he gritted his teeth and growled those words at Nina. Apparently, she agreed with my opinion.

“I… well, I don’t exactly… she could be anywhere…” she began, stuttering. This was the first time in my life I’d seen her speechless. If the situation wasn’t so bloody serious, I would have been amused.

“TELL US! TELL US, NOW!” screamed Rose, moving closer. I seriously wouldn’t piss off Rose Weasley voluntarily. If Nina valued her life, she’d start talking very, very soon. It seemed to have done the trick �“ Nina began fessing up.

“Well… I sort of persuaded her to come out into the Forbidden Forest with a promise of a baby unicorn…”

Merlin, only Claudia would be that dense. But it was that density she had that I loved… Okay, back to the situation at hand, I told myself.

“So where is she now?” I spat at Nina.

“I don’t know… she’s in a pit somewhere… she fell down, I think her leg’s broken. It was an accident, I swear. I was trying to get out of the forest for help, but I got really lost… I kept stumbling through the forest. And then a few hours later, I came across you four and the Acromantula.”

“What the hell was Claudia �“” I began, but Rose cut me off.

“We need to find Claudia, right?” she said. The others nodded in agreement. “I know how we can do it.” She extinguished the light out of her wand; it made no difference with the other three still shining. Nobody trusted Nina with her wand. She took something out of her robes �“ it was a notebook, with hearts, smiley faces and flowers over it. Embossed on the front was the words ‘Claudia Kelaney’ in fancy script. But what was Rose doing with her workbook? She pointed her wand at the name.

“Reperio alio,” she said in a clear voice, and a pink beam of light shot out towards the east. Whatever she did worked. We all stared in awe.

“What is that?” Al asked. “Will it help find Claudia?”

Rose looked pleased with herself. “Yep �“ this is a person locator spell. It will locate anyone if you repeat the incantation while pointing your wand at that person’s name. That pink beam will lead us directly to her. Pretty neat, huh?”

“Does anyone feel like they’re Nancy Drew right now?” said Nina, trying to lighten the mood.

“Who in Merlin’s bead is Nancy Drew?” said Al impatiently.

“Oh, she’s a Muggle �“ never mind.”

---

Claudia:

Why in Merlin’s name was I so freaking gullible? I knew that I wasn’t very smart, but I didn’t think I was this dumb. How could I have trusted Nina? Rose was right; I needed to get my head out of the clouds and start acting my age. I was such a baby. I needed to become smarter. For Christ’s sake, I was at boarding school! I needed to look out for myself better. And get myself out of this freaking Forest.

Suddenly, I could hear many sets of footsteps, rapidly approaching. Above me, I could faintly see a pink light. It was a miracle, hallelujah!

“Down here!” I cried, and those footsteps came right up to me. I heard a heartwarmingly, familiar voice call down to me. I could have burst into tears of happiness at hearing him.

“Claudia! Are you alright?” yelled Albus Potter back. “Is your leg alright?”

“No, not really… wait, how do you know my leg’s bad?”

“Oh �“ its not important right now. I’ll tell you later. Let’s just get you out of here, okay?”

“Spongify,” said another voice. Rose! Thank god she was here too, I smiled. Shame that spell had no effect whatsoever.

“We’re about to get you out of here, Claudia,” called Scorpius. I grinned at the sound of his voice as well. “Rose is just going to �“”

“Wingardium Leviosa,” she said calmly, pointing at me, and suddenly I was levitating two feet above the ground. With another flick of her wand, Rose brought me above the surface slowly. I felt like Jesus, rising above my little pit. It was officially the coolest thing ever. When I broke the surface, Rose set me down on a giant cushion. That explained the first charm.

“Thank GOD you came �“” the words came out of my mouth, but then I looked around and noticed the two least likely people that I would have thought to come to my rescue.

Adam grinned sheepishly at me, while Nina just scowled.

“You,” I growled at the traitor; Rose took an automatic step backwards at my facial expression. “What the hell are you still doing here?”

“Umm….” Nina and Adam replied in union.

“Which one?” Scorpius said.

“The cow, first,” I replied.

“Oh. Okay, then.”

I stared as menacing as I could manage up at Nina. If my leg had been mobile, or if I wasn’t the average height of a pigeon, I’d probably stand up and put my hands on my hips.

“What the hell, Nina?” I shouted. “You can’t just abandon me on purpose in the middle of the Forbidden Forest, with a broken leg and stuck in a ditch, and then decide to join the rescue mission that my friends are on. By the way,” I added towards my friends, “why are you on a rescue mission. Even if you’d known I was in danger, why didn’t you go get a teacher or something? Why risk your lives for me?”

Silence. Except for…

“Cause,” Adam said, “you’re our friend. Friends don’t ditch friends in trouble.” An awkward silence followed.

“Still…” I said hesitantly, “why would you come. You hate me now.”

“I don’t hate you,” he said, looking truly bewildered. “What gave you that idea?”

Hmm, I don’t know. Maybe its because you spent five days ignoring me? I thought.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” I said, faking a look of confusion. “Maybe its because you spent five days ignoring me?”

Nobody had any comeback for that.

“Stop it, guys,” Rose butted in, ever the mother. “Let’s concentrate on getting out of here.”

“Will that pink spell work again?” asked Al.

“No, its only designed to find people… wait, hang on a second.”

She dug something out of her pocket. I recognised it as the note that I’d left Rose. So that’s how she knew I was gone. And here I was, thinking she was psychic. “You put Hagrid’s name on it. If I perform the spell again, it’ll lead us straight out of here, right to his hut!” She beamed, and so did everyone else, even Nina. Although I hadn’t understood a word of that, it sounded like we were going to get out of here.

“Reperio alio,” she repeated, and the same pink beam of light that I’d seen in the hole now shone brilliantly in one direction.

“Let’s go!” Scorpius grinned, and turned to leave the clearing. Something stopped him in his tracks. “How do we get Claudia out of here, though? She can’t walk.”

“Nice observation,” I gritted through my teeth. The pain was becoming unbearable.

“I’d use the Levitation Charm, but there’s no way in hell I could carry her to the castle like that,” Rose fretted. “So its going to have to be the Muggle way, I’m afraid. Adam, Al? Want to do the honours?”

Before I could react, the two boys walked over to me, arms stretched out together in a cradle formation. With a flick of Rose’s wand (“Wingardium Leviosa!”), I suddenly became hoisted up between them, as if I were sitting on a human swing. Not to mention that it was Adam who was carrying me. Awkward much?

He grinned at me apologetically. I couldn’t help but conform and smile back.

“Its lucky you’re so light.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Let’s go,” said Rose. To give us a little more light, Nina lit her wand up as well, and her and Scorpius walked on either side of the rescue party; the magical lanterns. Rose led the way, and Adam and Al brought up the rear, with me in tow.

---

Scorpius:

The trees started thinning, and before we knew it, we were at the edge of the forest, the sweeping lawns of Hogwarts Castle before us. It was now very dark, and the castle lights shone brightly. The pink beam, however, wasn’t pointing towards Hagrid’s hut; it headed straight up to the castle doors.

“Can we extinguish the beam yet?” Al asked Rose. “Only I just don’t want to look like a complete nutter in the castle.”

“No, we can’t. Until we’re in visual sight of Hagrid, it’ll stay.”

So that was why, ten minutes later, we found ourselves bursting into the middle of the Great Hall. The entire population of Hogwarts had been enjoying their desert course of the Halloween feast. The Great Hall looked magnificent; a hundred, live bats circled the ceiling above and dozens of illuminated pumpkins floated around. The food looked good too. However, everything was abandoned and the school could only sit in stunned silence as they absorbed the sight of six first-year students; some whose robes were torn, most of whom who had crazy hair and one that was being carried by two of the boys.

James Potter broke the silence. “Sup, Al?” he called from the Gryffindor table. At least the pink beam had gone; Hagrid was sitting at the staff table, looking just as puzzled as the others. Al ignored his brother. All we could do was stand there sheepishly.

“Potter, Weasley, Malfoy, Kelaney, Finnegan, Jordan,” called Professor McGonagall from across the Hall. “My office �“ now!”

She didn’t sound too angry. But then again, who knew what went through teachers' brains? She got up from her chair and walked down the centre aisle. She beckoned for us to follow.

“Oh, wait a second,” she said, stopping as soon as they were outside the Great Hall; the surprised faces of the students now invisible. “Hold still, Miss Kelaney.”

She conjured a stretcher for Claudia, and Adam and Al released their hold on her as she floated mid-air, lying on her back. We trudged up through the empty corridors. Instead of going through a doorway to McGonagall’s office, we were led towards the Hospital Wing. Of course �“ Claudia needed medical care. Madam Pomfrey came running out of her office as she saw us come into the wing, and two minutes later Claudia was lying in one of the beds; her leg propped up while Madam Pomfrey fussed over her and fed her numerous potions.

“Does anyone want to explain to me how six first year students burst into the Great Hall during the Halloween Feast, when they should have already been there?” said Professor McGonagall as soon as Claudia was drugged up on Pain-Relief Potion and couldn’t feel her leg.
I was about to say something along the lines of “Nina Jordan is a cow,” but before I could, Nina herself cut me off.

“Its my fault, Professor,” she said in a sweet, sincere tone that not even McGonagall could help but believe. “I’d thought I’d seen a unicorn on the edge of the Forbidden Forest from the Owlery �“ I’d gone up there at the lunchbreak to send an owl home to my mother. Claudia was the first person I saw afterwards �“ she agreed to come down and see it with me. However, it wasn’t there. I had then assumed it had moved a little further in, and we kept going in. However, Claudia fell into a ditch �“ it was like a Muggle bear trap or something. She couldn’t get out �“ her leg had broken. I left to go find help, but I ended up getting lost myself. Hours later, these four (she gestured at Rose, Al, Adam and I), found me, and with help from Rose (she smiled briefly at Rose. Rose didn’t return the smile), we managed to get out of there.”

“Is this true, Miss Kelaney?” she asked Claudia, who was lying on the bed, looking very out of it.

“Sure, it sounds about right,” she replied dizzily. It sure didn’t sound right to me though.

“And how in the world did four first-year students get into the middle of the Forbidden Forest and live?” McGonagall asked us four faintly, still uncomprehending the situation.

“Claudia had left me a note,” Rose explained. “She said she’d be back before Herbology; it was afterwards and she hadn’t turned up. We got worried. It was only when we realised Nina hadn’t shown up for both classes either that we figured something fishy had gone on.”

“So then we went down to Hagrid’s �“ that’s where Claudia said she’d be near. We found two sets of footsteps,” continued Al. “We followed them in, but we heard a scream. It was Nina �“ she had stumbled upon a nest of Acromantula.”

“You five survived a colony of Acromantula?” said McGonagall in a disbelieving tone. Even Claudia looked surprised at this, and she probably couldn’t feel half of her body.

“Yes �“ we did the sensible thing and ran,” Adam added. “Rose then did this amazing spell which took us directly to Claudia with some pink beam thingy.” Everyone looked at Rose and she smiled, embarrassed.

“The Person Locator spell,” said Professor McGonagall understandingly.

“That’s when we found Claudia. We levitated her out of the ditch, and brought her back up to the castle,” I finished.

“This is the story you all agree on?” she said. Everyone nodded except Claudia, who had seemingly dozed off. “But why didn’t you four come and get a teacher?”

“We don’t know… it seemed pretty urgent, and Hagrid wasn’t at home �“ we didn’t know how much time we had left,” Adam said.

“Well… so be it… Acromantula, oh my Lord…” McGonagall trailed off. She composed herself and then adopted a business-like tone to her voice.

“First things first �“ cutting class, Miss Jordan, Miss Kelaney,” she paused and then realised Claudia was asleep, “is a very serious offense. Fifteen points �“ each �“ are to be taken from Gryffindor. Another five points off for serious lack of judgement, Miss Jordan.” Nina winced.

“However, I have never seen as much bravery, not to mention stupidity,” she continued, “from first-year students such as yourselves,” looking at Al, Rose, Adam and I, “than you four since… well, since your parents,” she gestured to Al and Rose. They both grinned at the obvious level of praise.

“Fifteen points each are now awarded to Gryffindor. Count yourself lucky, all of you, that you are barely unscathed. Now,” she said, sounding maternal, “if you are hurt, in any way, then stay here with Madam Pomfrey. I’m afraid Claudia must have to stay here the night. Otherwise, you may go.”

The five of us turned to leave the Hospital Wing, not looking back. Nina went in a different direction to us, but my friends and I were left to head up the staircase to Gryffindor Tower.

“What a load of rubbish,” said Rose angrily. “Like hell Nina’s story is true.”

“I know,” I agreed. “I would bet you a hundred Galleons that Claudia would have a very different story if she wasn’t so drugged up.”

“Convenient,” Adam said bitterly.

We had reached the tower. As we entered through the portrait hole, everyone turned to gawk at us. No wonder, really. Victorie Weasley was the first to reach us.

“Albus! Rose!” the Head Girl cried as her cousins became smothered in hugs and kisses. “Dieu merci, tu vas bien! What happened?”

“Gerrof, Tori!” grumbled Al, attempting to push his eldest cousin away.

The next day was a Saturday, and the four of us were sitting by the fire. Adam and Al were having a fierce game of wizard chess; Adam had just claimed Al’s last bishop when the portrait hole opened and Claudia entered.

“Hey guys!” she grinned, and Rose ran over to her and enveloped her in a hug. “Hope you weren’t having fun without me, now?” Al and I rushed over to her. Only Adam was left. Claudia looked past us to gaze at him.

“Listen, Adam… everyone… I can’t thank you enough for what you did. You saved my life.”

“No problem,” I grinned.

Adam was still sitting down, gazing at us. Suddenly, he smiled, made his way over to us and held out his arms to Claudia. “What are friends for?” She smiled and he wrapped her in a bear hug.

“Group hug!” cried Claudia, and the three of us had no other option but to join in �“ mainly due to the fact that Claudia would have killed us otherwise.

Rose:

Christmas was coming. We could all feel it in the air; it was infectious. Wherever we went in the castle, we could see the signs. Two weeks before the end of term, the Prefects, teachers and their helpers began the decoration of Hogwarts Castle for Christmas. Real, unmelting icicles hung from the corridor ceilings, wreaths of holly and ivy filled with nests of doves were draped along the walls, and the suits of armour were bewitched to sing Christmas carols. In the Great Hall, twelve massive Christmas fir trees were decorated in the hall, brightening up the room, and in the Entrance Hall and intertwined along the marble staircase were multicoloured fairy lights (with real fairies, obviously). Peeves the poltergeist was more of a hindrance than a help in this process �“ he’d be constantly shouted at by Bastian Jones, the school caretaker. It was all very festive, anyway.

Ever since the fiasco at Halloween, the five of us �“ Al, Adam, Claudia, Scorpius and I �“ had been as close as ever. Adam seemed to forgive Claudia and me easily, and we were all virtually inseparable. Throughout November, nothing bad happened. Classes were interesting and fun now that we’d mastered the basics (everyone scoffed at me when I said this), and nobody was mean to anyone. We’d been very suspicious about Nina’s involvement in Claudia’s accident at Halloween, but when we had asked Claudia, she’d told us she didn’t remember much, she’d been too drugged up afterwards.

As December came around, Scorpius had started becoming moody and depressed. Nobody could work it out until one morning when Neville came around with a sign-up sheet for those who’d be staying at Hogwarts over the winter break. Scorpius was just about to wave Neville over when Al realised why he’d been so miserable.

“You’re not going back home for Christmas, are you?” he said, not as a question but more like a statement. Scorpius nodded.

“I just don’t think I want to face my dad yet,” Scorpius replied. “I’m not ready for that one yet. I think Christmas at Hogwarts would be a whole lot more pleasant than a Malfoy family affair.”

“Hang on a second, don’t sign up yet! Come stay with me!” said Al excitedly. “You can come to the Weasley family Christmas at my grandparent’s house �“ Rose will be there too!” he said, gesturing at me.

“No offense Al… but would your parents really want a Malfoy spending Christmas with them? I don’t know what your father has told you, but from the way mine tells it, they HATED each other.”

Al just waved his comment away. “Nah, Dad’s into the whole ‘forgiving past rivalries and wizarding world peace’ thing now. And my mum wouldn’t care if you had five ears and two noses, she’d still treat you the same as anyone else.”

Scorpius looked hesitant. “Well… if you’re sure then…”

“Course I am,” said Al, his mouth now full of scrambled eggs. “I’ll write home tonight.”

Three days later, Aunt Ginny wrote back to Al, who confirmed that they’d be happy to have Scorpius for Christmas and the whole winter break. Scorpius looked delighted at spending the holidays with his friends, and not his family.

Personally, I couldn’t wait to see my family. I was missing Mum, Dad and Hugo terribly; it was a shock to be without my family every day. Actually, scratch that �“ there were so many Weasleys at Hogwarts that it seemed like I’d never left home. And… well, Hogwarts was becoming more like home with every passing day.

Claudia was also very excited to be going home, to “the normal world” as she dubbed it. I knew that she couldn’t write home as much as she’d like, mostly because that too many owls flying into her street and dropping letters at her doorstep would cause unnecessary problems for her mother. She said that she was going to catch up with some of her Muggle friends and do Muggle things. I’d gone to a Muggle primary school too, which my mother had insisted upon, so I could understand what Claudia talked about, unlike Scorpius, ever the pureblood, who asked us one day why Muggles had telephones. Only he pronounced it “fellytone”. Needless to say, we all got a kick out of that one, even Adam and Al who hadn’t attended a Muggle school. When we asked Adam what he’d be doing he told us that his family were going to Spain after the New Year.

Finally, the last bell of the term rang, and we were free! We stampeded out of the dungeons, leaving a disgruntled Zabini in our wake. I’d begun to detest Zabini along with the rest of the Gryffindors. Stupid, prejudiced git. And he made me pick up a spider three days ago.

The next day, with our trunks, owls (well, owl �“ Marmite, Adam’s bird, looked a bit put-off to be in his cage again) and other bits and pieces, boarded the Hogwarts Express. We claimed a carriage together, and chatted happily while playing several games of Exploding Snap.

“I can’t wait to show my mum the Wizarding World!” exclaimed Claudia as we played. Along with Adam and his family, they’d been invited to the Potter’s big New Years’ annual party at Godric’s Hollow. I loved going to those, it was one of the highlights of the holidays. And this year, it’d be especially fun, because all five of us would be there! Hundreds of witches and wizards, all friends of the Potter’s, would turn up. And obviously, the whole Weasley clan.

“Your mum will love it, trust me,” I said. “So, you’ll drive over to our house, and we’ll all Floo to the Potter’s?”

“Yep,” she replied. Because Claudia only lived half hour from me, and her mum wouldn’t be able to drive to Godric’s Hollow (it was Unplottable), they were going to come to my house, which was in a Muggle suburb. I think Claudia’s mum was nervous to do just that.

As it got darker, the surroundings of the landscape became more and more suburban as we edged nearer and nearer to London. As much as I loved Hogwarts and the countryside, there was something about London that I loved �“ and not the wizarding half of it either. Magic couldn’t touch the chaos of the city, and that’s what I loved.

The train started slowing down, and a voice acknowledged this, magically magnified to carry across the carriages. “We will be pulling up at King’s Cross Station in five minutes. Please disembark with decorum. Have a lovely winter break!”

---

Albus:

The five of us all got off the train, subject to the chaos that was now happening on Platform Nine and Three Quarters. Students, parents and trunks were flying left and right, and through it all, we were trying to find our parents.

“Albus!” cried a voice to my left. Suddenly, I found myself enveloped in a smothering hug from Ginny Potter, my mum. I hugged her back, happy and relieved to see my mum again.

“Where’s Dad?” I asked when we broke apart, “and Lily?”

“He had to go into the office unexpectedly,” Mum replied. “Apparently Cormac McLaggen arrested a Muggle in Wiltshire for use of the Imperius Curse.” Her distaste for the man was evident in her tone. “So your Dad, along with the Obliviator Squad, had to smooth things over. I hope Harry fires that…”

“Mum,” I said hurriedly, “this is Scorpius,” I introduced Scorpius to my mum, who had been standing by my side awkwardly.

“Hello, Scorpius,” she grinned.

“Mrs. Potter,” he said formally, holding out his hand. I smirked.

“Please, call me Ginny,” she said, shaking Scorpius’ hand. “Mrs. Potter makes me feel old. And in response to your other question, Al, Lily’s at Nana and Pop’s house. She and Hugo are spending the day there.”

“Oh, Mum, this is Claudia,” I said, realising that Claudia was still there. Rose and Adam had gone off to find their own parents. But obviously, Claudia’s mum would be waiting outside in the Muggle platform.

“Hi, Ginny,” she grinned.

“So you’re the one who my son and my niece and their friends saved in the Forbidden Forest?” she grinned. Crap, they told her about that?

“Yes, Albus, the school told me,” Mum said, laughing as she saw the look on my face. “Professor McGonagall sent a letter to your father and I, and also one to your aunt and uncle. Merlin, you’re getting more like your father every day! Always saving the world!”

I smiled as Claudia and Scorpius laughed with Mum, but I was pretty fed up, to tell you the truth. I wasn’t like my father �“ why did everyone assume this? Was it the hair, or the eyes? James was more like Dad �“ we needed more than one hand to count the number of times James had been in trouble with the school. However, my brother looked different to Dad; his hair was lighter and he’d inherited Mum’s eyes, a cinnamon brown colour. Anyway, I tried to let none of this bother me.

James joined the reunion party, and after Mum had smothered him in a hug as well (James had kept checking behind his back to make sure none of his friends were watching), we joined the queue of families waiting to get back to the Muggle world, and said goodbye to Claudia, who’d found Ron, Hermione and Rose to cut in the queue with. None of us really understood why the Granger-Weasleys (it’s easier at times to group our Weasley relatives like that) had decided to live in the heart of Muggle London, but they seemed to love it.

Thirty minutes later (the line was long), I stepped into the sitting room of our family home at Godric’s Hollow. James was already there, and he had already sprawled himself across one of our beige lounges, his trunk lay forgotten beside him. I couldn’t see this scene, however, until I’d taken my glasses off and cleaned them quickly against my travelling cloak. Not a day went by when I cursed my father for giving me his poor vision gene to me. I dragged my trunk away from the fireplace just in time as ten seconds later, Scorpius appeared there in a blaze of green flames.

“This is the sitting room,” I said, gesturing around the room, which was decorated rather simply, but nicely. Mum had gone for a more modern look when she’d decorated this room. We had a large beige lounge suite at the back of the room, accompanied by a few matching armchairs. These all centred a glass coffee table. A Quidditch book, entitled Quentin’s Quidditch Collection, sat on top of it. A small Japanese Zen garden was placed in the middle. When I was little, Mum had had to hide the Zen garden from James and I as we’d spill sand everywhere on the carpet. Now that the three of us were older, she’d deemed us more trustworthy. Lily had never touched this without permission �“ she was the golden child of us.

On the cream-coloured walls, assortments of family photos were displayed. There were three baby photos, one for each of us Potter children. There was a picture of Mum and Dad’s wedding, where the happy couple, the maid of honour, Hermione, and the best man, Ron, waved happily at the camera. There was a photo of the five of us last year on James’ first day of Hogwarts, and a large one taken three years ago at the Weasley family Christmas, with all of our relatives in it together. And last, but not least, my favourite �“ a collection of three small photos. The top one was a photo of the First Wizarding War’s Order of the Phoenix, and the Second War’s group at the bottom. In the centre was a photo of Dumbledore’s Army, the rebel group that Mum, Dad and their friends started at Hogwarts. I constantly marvelled at how young my parents looked in that photo and how much Dad really did look like me at that age. Anyway, back to Scorpius.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” Scorpius said, rolling his eyes. “I can tell that this is the sitting room.”

Ginny Potter appeared behind me, stepping out of the fireplace much more gracefully than us. “Why don’t you show Scorpius up to the guest room, and let him have a chance to unpack?” she said.

“My room’s up this way,” I said, pointing up the staircase, as we stepped into the hallway. It was quite a struggle for us to get our trunks up the staircase. I really wished that we could magic them up.

“Muuuuuuuuum!” I hollered, “Can you levitate our trunks upstairs, please?”

“No, some Muggle labour would do you good,” she replied, equally as loud. “I’m going to start making dinner.” I sighed, and took the other end of Scorpius’ trunk as we lifted them up, one by one.

We visited the spare bedroom first. Nothing special about it; it just contained basic timber furniture, cream walls and beige carpet. The bedspread was a moss green colour, and Scorpius just chucked his things on his bed, with the promise of “I’ll unpack later”.

“Okay, let’s go to my room,” I said.

For the first time in nearly six months, I opened my bedroom door. My bedroom was spacious, just like every other room in the Potter household. Our house was one of the largest in Godric’s Hollow, but we weren’t that rich. Not as rich as Scorpius, anyhow. But seeing his reaction to my bedroom, you’d think that he lived in a housing commission.

“Wow, your room’s so cool, Al!” he exclaimed.

It was, actually. I’d decorated it in sky blue and navy, the colours of the Tutshill Tornadoes, my favourite Quidditch team, much to the dismay of certain members of the Weasley clan. Ron once joked that he was going to disown me because I’d told him that the Tornadoes were my favourite team. I cried for a week because I thought he’d been serious. I had simple, timber furniture �“ a bed, a matching beside table, a chest of drawers and a desk. The walls were painted blue, matching the theme. However, every inch of the walls was covered in Tornadoes posters of their star players and team game play. Aries Kashia, the Tornadoes’ star Seeker, zoomed around in his picture, almost invisible with the speed of the Firebolt.

“Tornadoes supporter then, Al?” said Scorpius, clearly stating the obvious.

“Yep, the coolest team in the world!” I replied proudly. “Second on the league, too!”

“Yeah, but they’re not as cool as Puddlemere United, who are winning!”

“You have the worst Seeker in the world! Devon Bentley’s only made two catches out of six this season, and if it wasn’t for their new Chasers, they’d still be at the bottom of the table like a few years ago, where they belong!” This Quidditch talk continued for a good hour or so. We were still discussing Seeking tactics when Mum called us down for dinner.

“Al, can you set the table for dinner?” said a new voice. I turned around to face my father, who held his arms open as I gave him a hug. “It’s good to have you home.”

A nine year old witch stood behind Dad, her flaming Weasley hair hanging down to her waist.

“Lily!” I exclaimed as I saw my baby sister, and rushed over to hug her too. She looked delighted to see me, which was always nice.

“Al! I’ve missed you!” she said. “Guess what? Hugo and I made a cubby at the Burrow! It’s so cool; I can’t wait to show you it at Christmas!”

I laughed. “Sounds great. Lily, this is Scorpius, a friend from school.”

“Hey, Scorpius! Can I call you Scorpy?”

“No.”

---

Scorpius:

I had to give to give the Potters credit �“ everything they did, whether it was their interested, but not intrusive questions about my life that Harry and Ginny asked, or simply letting me have the last roll at dinner, made me feel more at home. Lily was the cutest little thing; I could tell that Al and James simply adored her. James was nice to me as well; I had thought that he might’ve had a grudge against me, but instead he laughed, talked, joked and played backyard Quidditch with me and Al. It was nice to have company with people my own age, anyway. I’d always resented the fact that my parents had only chose to have one child. It was a lonely life.

“Scorpius, do you want second helpings of spaghetti?” Ginny asked me at dinner the night before Christmas Eve. I noticed that her plate was barely touched, her food growing cold.

“Mum, are you alright?” James asked, worried. Al looked up from his plate, anxious also.

“Yeah, just not feeling that hungry,” she replied. James and Al looked happy enough with that answer and returned to their meals, but I noticed the knowing look that Ginny Potter gave her husband. Something was up.

“Albus! James! Look at you, you’ve both grown so much!” cried an old woman’s voice as we arrived at the Burrow, Al’s grandparent’s family home, the next day. We’d all brought overnight bags with us; we’d be staying the night as a family tradition. I felt a little nervous, being the newcomer, but Al’s Nana Molly was welcoming enough.

“And you must be Scorpius,” she said after she’d stopped smothering her grandkids in hugs and kisses. She hugged me and then held me out arm’s length, studying me critically. “My god, do you ever eat? You’re skin and bones!”

“Just a family trait,” I replied, shrugging.

“Well, no matter, we’ll feed you up while we have the chance!” she replied. “Anyway, George, Angelina and the kids are the only others here, and they’re in the sitting room. Kids, put your bags to the side in the sitting room. You’ll be sleeping there tonight, of course, as per usual.”

We went inside, for which I was grateful for, as the chilly air was starting to get through my thick cloak to my body. It had also begun to snow.

“A white Christmas!” exclaimed Lily in delight. “Race you guys!” James, Al and I had no choice but to follow the redhead to the front door at a sprint. We weren’t going to let our pride be beaten by a little nine year old girl.

Fred and Roxanne Weasley were sitting on the old sofa, looking bored and clearly waiting for some of their cousins. Fred greeted me with a grin, but Roxanne, who was ten and wasn’t at Hogwarts yet, looked at me quizzically. “Who’re you?” she said, staring up at me.

“Roxy, this is Scorpius. He’s my friend from school.”

“You have friends?” she said teasingly at her cousin, who playfully whacked her over the head while I laughed.

“Shut up, Scorpius!” he said, seeing my grin. I was already starting to love these Weasleys already.

“Yoohoo!” cried an annoying woman’s voice, and a lavishly dressed woman appeared in the sitting room. She had far too much make-up on her face, dangly earrings and was hanging her leopard-print cloak and matching witch’s hat up on the stand. “We’re here!”

“Hello Audrey,” replied Al mechanically as he was subjected to the woman’s kisses, along with the other Weasley children. Two shy-looking girls stood behind their mother, both with blonde, curly hair similar to Audrey.

“Scorpius, this is my aunt, Audrey, who’s married to my uncle, Percy,” Al introduced. “And this is Molly and Lucy, their daughters. You might know Molly, she’s a second-year Ravenclaw?”

Truthfully, I didn’t, but I waved hello to Molly, who ducked behind Audrey in fright, and her sister did the same when I greeted her in the same way. Talk about shy.

“Where’s your parents?” she asked Fred, Roxy, James, Lily and Al. They all pointed to the kitchen, where voices were coming from and dishes, pots and pans were clanking loudly.

“Urgh,” Fred grumbled as soon as Audrey had left the room, the girls trailing behind her. “She’s a little overbearing, isn’t she?”

“Bit annoying, actually,” I replied. “But she’s just like my mother, mention Beauford D’Aubigne, the robe designer, and she’ll probably squeal too.”

“That’s a good one, Scorpius,” grinned Rose as she came into the room as well, her overnight bag and little brother in tow. Hugo Weasley looked mortified to be found holding hands with his sister, and quickly dropped her hand as if it were on fire.

Another woman entered the Burrow. She was older; about the age of Al’s nana. Her long, flowing black hair was recognisable anywhere. I hadn’t seen her for years; Grandmother Narcissa and her hadn’t spoken much in years.

“My word, it’s Scorpius Malfoy!” cried Andromeda Tonks as she dusted off her snowy jacket. I gave her a hug. She was one of the only Malfoy relatives I could actually stand. My other great aunt, Bellatrix, was currently one of Britain’s Most Wanted wizards and witches. I didn’t know why Aunt Meda was here though. That was to be explained later.

Two hours later, the entire Weasley clan had arrived. All in all, there were twelve Weasley kids. Not only were there James, Lily, Al, Fred, Roxy, Molly, Lucy, Rose and Hugo, but there were also the French Weasleys, the Delacour-Weasleys. They arrived much later than everyone else.

“Blasted traffic,” grumbled Bill Weasley as his family was ushered inside by Molly, who was fussing over the lot of them. The family looked cold, wet and disgruntled; the snow was falling fast and thick now, leaving a pretty white carpet over the lawns outside.

Victoire Weasley, or Tori as she preferred, I’d already met. She was extremely pretty, just like her mother, Fleur. Her long, silver hair flowed as she spoke, swishing it around. She was the Head Girl at Hogwarts, much to her parent’s delight. Tori’s eyes swept the room as soon as she entered, apparently searching for someone. Aunt Meda gave her a knowing, kind look.

“He and Charlie’s flight got delayed, they’ll be here later this afternoon,” she told her. I had no idea what they were referring to, but the rest of the Weasley clan did - Molly beamed proudly at her first grandchild, while Dominique caught Fred’s eye and rolled her own.

Dominique, or Dom as most people called her, was Tori’s sister, and she couldn’t be any more different to her. She had the flaming Weasley hair instead of the silver Delacour kind, and was hardly the girly, goody-two-shoes type that her sister was. Dom was one of the Gryffindor Beaters on our house team, the other one being her cousin and fellow third year, Fred. She was notoriously known as a rebellious tomboy with no regard for the rules, and she and Fred were known as the biggest pair of troublemakers to hit Hogwarts since Fred’s father and his namesake. Her hair was just as flowing and pretty as her sister’s, but she wore it no further than her shoulders, her hair sticking out in all directions.

Louis Weasley was a little pest of a seven year old, just like every other boy his age. He was the baby cousin of the family, and resented it. His hair was silver also, but he had a real Weasley look to his face. He followed his older boy cousins �“ James, Al and Fred �“ everywhere. And me, of course, although I wasn’t a Weasley.

Arthur Weasley cleared his voice loudly as soon as everyone was sitting comfortably. “Alright, we have a lot to do before we can celebrate, so why don’t you listen to �“”

His wife cut him off and took charge. “Okay, I want all the men outside, setting up the outdoor area �“ tables, chairs, the lot! You know where to find them!” She pointed outside as Harry, Ron, Percy, George and Bill trudged out the door, grumbling. Arthur smirked at them until Molly wagged her finger, instructing her husband to follow as well.

“Anyway,” she continued, “I want Meda, Fleur, Hermione and Victoire in the kitchen with me.”

“Why not me and Angie?” asked Ginny, her nose flaring.

“Ginny, dear, do you remember what happened last year?” she sighed.

“Hey!” she cried, “that was all Angie’s fault!”

“Was not!” replied Fred and Roxy’s mother.

“You were the one who enchanted the turkey!”

“Girls!” cried Molly, although the two women were far too old to be considered ‘girls’, “you can do the outside decorating.” They left, smiling at their good fortune not to be stuck in the kitchen.

“What can I do to help, Molly?” Audrey asked chirpily.

“Umm… whatever you feel like, Audrey dear,” replied Molly half-heartedly.

“And, kids �“ you know the drill!”

“CHRISTMAS TREE TIME!” cried Lily as the younger children all squealed.

“Fred, James �“ go and get the stuff from the attic. Dom, go help them.”

We all set to work, decorating the sitting room and the Christmas tree. “I know you probably think this is lame and stuff…” said Al nervously.

“No, this is fun! I’ve never done this before! At home, we normally get house-elves to do the work for us.”

It was starting to get dark by the time we heard another knock at the door. Molly opened it to reveal two men, standing in the cold.

“Hey, Mum,” greeted one of them, as he was kissed and hugged by his mother. This was Charlie, Al’s cool dragon-taming uncle. I could see a fresh scratch mark on his face as he stepped into the light of the warm, cosy room. The other man was now being given the Molly Weasley greeting, and had barely stepped into the sitting room when Tori had jumped up from where she had been sitting, ran over to the young man, who looked fresh out of Hogwarts, and kissed him full on the mouth. Wolf whistling and averting eyes followed this public display of affection.

“Scorpius, this is Teddy Lupin,” Al said, introducing me to him after he and Tori were done. “He’s Meda’s grandson, and Tori’s boyfriend. He just graduated Hogwarts and is studying dragons in Romania. Teddy, this is my friend, Scorpius Malfoy.”

I did some quick thinking in my head. “So, you’d be my…”

“Second cousin, I guess,” replied Teddy, and grinned and held out his hand, which I shook. Up close, I realised that Teddy’s hair was a bright shade of purple. But I could have sworn that two seconds ago…

“Yep, I’m a Metemorphagus,” he said, smiling at my puzzled expression.

“He inherited it from his mum,” said Aunt Meda proudly as she got up to greet her grandson, who bent down to kiss her.

“Dinner’s ready in twenty minutes!” cried Molly, her voice slightly frantic. “Alright, I want everyone everybody setting the table. Outside, now!”

“Are we eating outside?” I asked Al, confused.

“Course we are �“ can you imagine us fitting all of us in the dining room?” he said, shaking his head as if I was stupid.

“But it’s snowing outside!” I cried.

“Thank you, Captain Obvious,” he replied. “No, we’ve enchanted it so the eating area outside is thermal controlled; in other words, it’ll be just as warm out there as it is in here.”

“Cool!” I exclaimed. Merlin, I loved magic.

Exactly twenty minutes later, we were all seated at the longest table I’d ever seen. The twenty-eight of us sat down, which was groaning in Molly’s Christmas dishes. My stomach rumbled loudly, and believe me, mine wasn’t the only one.

The area had been done up very festively. Fairy lights (Muggle ones, not the type that Hogwarts had) were draped around every possible wall and post. Candles were lit as well, and wreaths of holly and mistletoe were hanging from the invisible ceiling, similar to Hogwarts’. A floating Santa, enchanted by George Weasley, was drifting above our heads, shouting random Christmas phrases, such as “Merry Christmas!” and “Ho Ho Ho!” I felt very much at home here as well. As we all ate the lovely courses, everyone chatted about absolutely everything �“ Hogwarts, Quidditch, family friends, Quidditch, George’s shop and… you guessed it, Quidditch.

Arthur Weasley stood up after the last of the pudding had disappeared. “I’d like to propose a toast,” he said. “To family �“ may we always be together.”

“To family,” replied everyone, and we raised our glasses. I saw Harry shoot his wife a look, who got up slowly.

“Everyone, I have an announcement to make!” she said. Everyone looked surprised; even her own children had no idea what was going on.

“It’s really unexpected, and we didn’t exactly plan it, but…”

“Oh, spit it out!” grumbled George.

“I’m pregnant.”

Albus:

If it was your mum who was pregnant, you’d assume that she’d tell you and your immediate family first, before telling all your grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, wouldn’t you? Apparently, this doesn’t happen in the Weasley family.

Pandemonium erupted immediately after this announcement. I sat there, shocked, as Nana Molly, predictably, rushed over to Mum and hugged her, crying, “That’s wonderful, Ginny dear! My word, yet another grandchild!”

Ron thumped Dad on his back in congratulations and Percy pompously shook his hand. My older cousins grinned at James, Lily and I, who both looked as bewildered as me.

“Aren’t you too old for a kid?” Roxy asked Mum, and Angie scolded her daughter. Grandad looked happy, and took another sip of his wine, while Charlie laughed at Tori, as she gave Teddy a soppy grin about the news.

“How did she get that baby inside of her?” Louis asked his dad, causing George to spray his drink over those near him. Lucy and Molly said nothing, as per usual. And Scorpius just looked like he didn’t quite belong here right now.

Unfortunately, this is as normal as the Weasley family gets.

“I must give you my pregnancy books, Ginny, they helped me so much when I was pregnant with the girls!” exclaimed Audrey excitedly. Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Audrey, I’ve been pregnant before,” sighed my mum irritably.

“How come you didn’t tell us, Mum?” yelled James.

“Yeah, we’re your own kids!” joined in Lily.

“Wait a second,” Charlie butted in, “you didn’t tell them first �“”

“SHUT UP!” Mum yelled, silencing everyone. We all turned to stare at her; even Nana Molly stopped fussing over her daughter.

“James, Al, Lily, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys before,” she began. “We just thought it’d be better to get it done in one go.” Lily looked satisfied with that answer.

“I’m gonna have a baby sister!” she squealed.

“It could be a boy, you know,” said cousin Molly, finally speaking.

“It’s not going to be!” my sister retorted. “It’s obvious that it’s going to be a girl; there are already two boys.”

“It still might be a boy.”

“You’re so dumb, Molly!” cried Lily angrily. “Don’t you know anything? IT’S A GIRL!”

“Girls, please!” Audrey reprimanded.

“Ginny, how far along are you?” Hermione asked.

“Anyway,” Mum said, frustrated, “the reason Harry and I told nobody is that we weren’t sure that the baby would make it past the first trimester. We didn’t want anyone getting disappointed. As Roxy put it, I am getting too old to have another child. But now, I’m now twelve weeks pregnant, and our Healer said it would be safe to tell people.”

“Well, it’s wonderful news, dear!” cried Nana Molly. “Now, let’s start cleaning up. Then we can do Christmas presents!”

All of my little cousins grinned happily, and enthusiastically started ‘helping’ with the cleaning up process. The rest of us did the job properly, slightly less enthusiastically.

I still couldn’t believe it. My mum was going to have another kid. I barely remembered my mum giving birth to Lily; I was only two at the time. This time, I was old enough to understand exactly what was going on. I started getting excited. I was going to get a little brother or sister!

“This is so cool!” I said to Scorpius. He grinned at me.

“I know!” he said to me back.

An hour later, we were all settled in the sitting room comfortably, right by the fire. The Christmas gifts had been placed under the decorated tree throughout the night. As usual, there was squabbling as to who got their gifts first. We only did the Weasley gifts at Christmas Eve; our family gifts were always done with our immediate families on Christmas Day.

From Nana and Grandad I got the usual Weasley jumper, this year’s one red with a gold lion, in tribute to my Sorting at Hogwarts. From the Delacour-Weasleys I got a Tornadoes poster of Tyrone Sydney and Rowan Kingston, the two Beaters. Charlie and Teddy gave me a miniature model dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback. From the Johnson-Weasleys I was given a bag of the latest Weasley Wizard Wheezes products. The Granger-Weasleys gave me a Tornadoes hat, which had knitted versions of the seven players flying around it. From the Milton-Weasleys I was given a horribly boring book about magical animals and Aunt Meda, bless her, gave me sweets. Even Scorpius got a fair amount of gifts, and looked shocked at getting one. His first Weasley jumper was plain black with a silver ‘S’ emboldened on it. He couldn’t stop stammering his thanks.

“Bedtime!” cried Nana Molly after the gift giving was over. The adults went to bed upstairs; exhausted. However, the kids were sleeping in the sitting room, and we were pretty hyper. It was Christmas, after all.

“I love your family, Al,” Scorpius told me as Rose, him and I rolled our sleeping bags out on the floor.

“It must be boring, having no brothers or sisters or cousins,” Rose commented thoughtfully.

“Well, I actually do have two cousins on my mum’s side, but they live in France now, so we hardly ever see them. They both go to Beauxbatons �“ Julienne and Angus.”

“Cool,” I said sleepily.

“Lights out, kids!” came Grandad’s voice from down the hall.

“How’s Santa getting here?” Lucy asked timidly.

“He’s not,” was Dom’s short reply.

“It’ll be so fun to have all five of us at the New Year’s party!” I said to my friends.

Tori caught me. “You heard Grandad, just go to sleep!” she said, ever the Head Girl.

---

Claudia:

My mum was normally an easygoing, carefree woman. Everything she did, she did with ease. Everyone loved her, and she was normally so bright and bubbly; a trait that I’d inherited from her.

Visiting the wizarding world, however, was way out of her comfort zone.

Her hand shook with nerves as she drove us to Rose’s house in London on New Year’s Eve. The sky was just getting dark, and the full moon grew hazy as we drove closer and closer towards the city. Leah sat in the backseat, quite scared as well. She’d been very understanding, along with Mum, about the whole magic thing. And when I asked her if she’d like to come to the Potter’s on New Year’s Eve, she jumped at the chance to see magic (I wasn’t allowed to use it during the holidays) and not have to have a babysitter. I think she was regretting her decision. She probably thought we were all freaks.

We pulled up outside Rose’s house. It was a modern, white building; two stories high. It looked cosy. We wandered up to her front door, locking the car behind us. Leah looked so frightened that I took her hand, and she clung onto mine for dear life. My mum knocked on the door of Number 8.

“Hello!” greeted a friendly woman at the door. She had brown hair waving down to her shoulders, and she had a pretty face that didn’t need much makeup on it. This must be Rose’s mother.

“I’m Hermione, Rose’s mother,” she said. “Come in!” She gestured inside the door for us to come inside.

We entered their house, into their hallway. It was a nice, normal Muggle house. In fact, I wouldn’t have been able to tell that a family of wizards and witches lived there if I didn’t already know it. Hermione saw my face.

“We try to blend in as best as possible,” she told us. “Plus, if the Muggles next door saw moving photos… who knows what mess we’d be cleaning up then?” She said it with a giggle, and Mum chuckled with her. She was apparently relieved that it was a ‘regular’ place. Hermione led us into the sitting room.

“Hiya, Claudia!” greeted Rose as we entered the room. She had a pretty yellow dress on, which brought out her lovely waist-length red hair beautifully. I looked down at my outfit; a sky blue dress with black tights underneath. I didn’t look half as pretty as she did. She waltzed over to where my family and I were standing.

“I’m Rose,” she said, introducing herself to my mum. “I’m one of Claudia’s best friends at school.”

“Hello, Rose, it’s lovely to meet you,” Mum greeted her warmly. “This is Claudia’s eight year old sister, Leah.”

“Hi, Leah!” she said, bending down low (why in Merlin’s name were both Leah and I so short?). Leah gave her a quick smile, and looked down, scared.

A boy of about nine or ten years of age came into the room. He looked like his mother; he had curly, brown locks that seemed to go well with his fair skin. He had a boyish grin on his face. Seeing that they had visitors, he came over to us.

“This is my brother, Hugo,” she told us.

“Hi,” he said, waving.

I noticed that my little sister was now suddenly very interested in the floor, now that Hugo had came into the room. Hugo also looked away when he saw Leah. My sister was so pretty, I didn’t blame him. She’d inherited my dad’s wavy, blonde hair, while I got stuck with my mum’s boring colour. Rose and I exchanged a smirk, and so did both of our mothers.

“Umm, I’m Leah,” she said, her face turning red.

Hugo blushed. “How old are you? You look around my age.”

“I’m eight years old.”

“Oh, I’m turning ten in February. That means you’ll be in the year below me at Hogwarts!”

Leah blushed as well. “Sounds like it.” She didn’t mention that she had no idea whether she’d be a witch or not.

Hermione cleared her throat. “Anyway, we’re almost ready; we’re just waiting for my husband, Ron, to finish �“”

“My ears are burning!”

A man entered the room, his vivid red hair matching his daughter’s. “These must be the Kelaneys!” he said, noticing us.

After the introductions were over again, Hermione spoke again. “As I was saying, the fireplace is this way,” she said, pointing over to their sitting room.

“Okay, so travelling by Floo powder is pretty weird the first time, but it’s not dangerous in any way,” she assured my mum. Leah grabbed Mum’s hand again. “Just take a small handful of this stuff, throw it in the fireplace, and walk into the green flames. Sounds crazy, but you can’t even feel the flames. Then say your destination clearly, and you’ll be taken there! Watch my daughter do it now.”

Rose stepped into the fireplace, taking a handful of Floo powder. The flames turned an emerald green, and she said clearly, “The Potter House, Godric’s Hollow.” A second later, she had disappeared.

“It’s not uncomfortable at all!” said Ron brightly, following his daughter. “Just keep your elbows tucked in.”

Hugo went after him, and then I volunteered myself to go next with my Mum, who was having a slight panic attack by now. Leah and Hermione would bring up the rear.

I took the powder from the pot on the ledge, and threw it in. Taking my mum’s hand, I gingerly stepped forwards into the flames. It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling; in fact, it was really cool. My mum looked at me, as if to say “Just do it now!”

“The Potter House, Godric’s Hollow.”

We whizzed down the flames and into the Floo system. Everything was rushing past so quickly, and I shut my eyes so I wouldn’t get motion sickness. It was over really quickly; twenty seconds later, we emerged from the fireplace in what appeared to be a very lively party.

The three Weasleys were standing by it, waiting for us. Rose grinned up at me. My mum gave me an awestruck look. I nodded my head as if to say, “Yeah. Welcome to my world.”

Leah and Hermione came whizzing in very shortly afterwards. I’d expected Leah to be absolutely hysterical, but on the contrary, she was grinning, saying “Can we do that again? That was awesome!” I had a feeling she’d be really well-suited to the wizarding world.

“Hey guys!” cried a voice. Scorpius and Al were walking towards us, Butterbeers in their hands. “Had a nice trip?”

---

Adam:

The party was in full swing by the time Mum, Dad, Zane, Ella and I got there. None of us liked Flooing much, so instead, Mum and Dad took us Side-Along Apparation. Outside, we could see the shining lights and the blaring music. It was a huge house, too, but we already knew that the Potters were fairly rich. It was the Boy Who Lived’s house, for Merlin’s sake. Across the front of the house read a huge, massive banner, with the words “HAPPY NEW YEAR!” emblazoned on it. It was a floating banner, too. It looked like the Potters had casted an Anti-Muggle spell on their property. Well, at least I hope they did!

The house was packed to the rafters; people were swarming together left and right. In the main room, a big dance party had started. Throughout the rest of the gigantic house, adults were chatting and drinking and kids were running around, playing tag. It was pretty cool.

The second we got inside, Zane saw one of his Gryffindor friends, Liam Wood, and with a quick “Later” to my parents, he joined him. Ella looked slightly out of place; she didn’t know that many people here. I let her tag along with me as I tried to find my friends.

“Adam! Over here!” shouted a voice, and I saw Claudia waving to me, chatting and laughing with our other three friends.

“Happy New Year!” I grinned.

“Can’t say that ‘till midnight, you idiot!” she laughed.

“Now that we’re all here…” Rose said, her eyes scheming, “let’s play a massive game of Truth or Dare!” Everyone grinned with her.

“Okay everyone, go find as many of the kids as you can! Meet me in the back garden!”

Ten minutes later, twenty-two kids, ranging from eight years old to thirteen years old, sat in the thermal-controlled garden. Along with us five, James and Lily, Al’s siblings, Hugo, Rose’s brother, Leah, Claudia’s sister, Fred, Dom, Roxy, Molly, Lucy, Zane, Liam and Ella were there, along with five other kids I didn’t know, but probably went to Hogwarts.

“I’ll go first, shall I?” said Rose. She scanned her eyes around the crowd.

“Hmm, Alice, Truth or Dare?” she asked a sweet-looking blonde girl. I recognised her as Alice Longbottom, a second year Hufflepuff, and Professor Longbottom’s daughter.

“Dare!” she grinned wickedly, and I was reminded of the fact that she and James Potter had shared the highest number of detentions this year so far in second year. She wasn’t as sweet as she looked, but she was certainly a lot of fun!

“Okay…” Rose thought for a minute, and grinned evilly to herself. She beckoned for Alice to come over, and she whispered something in her ear. The other girl laughed.

“Piece of cake!” she said, and walked inside with Rose. We all crowded around one of the large windows, trying to see what was happening.

Alice and Rose had started a conversation with none other than Professor Macmillan! Alice said something, and Macmillan looked offended. The two girls burst into giggles and ran out the door.

“What did you say?” asked Dom.

“I asked him if I could borrow his ear hair removal cream!” squealed Alice, doubling over in laugher. The rest of us joined in. We sat down in a circle again. Alice looked around, trying to find a victim.

“Molly Weasley! Truth or Dare?” she asked her fellow second-year.

Molly gulped. Why she was even playing this game was a mystery to me. “Truth,” she said timidly.

“Okay then… who do you have a crush on at school?”

Molly turned a bright shade of red, looking like a true Weasley. It was common knowledge in the school that Molly was crazy about Liam Wood, Zane’s third year friend. All the girls liked him. Liam started blushing too, and both of them refused to let their eyes meet.

“No-one,” said Molly unconvincingly. “Umm… Roxy, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare,” she said confidently.

“I dare you to… sing the national anthem while upside down!”

She rolled her eyes. “Molly, that’s not a proper dare! You’re so dumb at this game.” She did it anyway, though.

Roxy continued the game. “Hugo, Truth or Dare?”

Hugo looked up. “Dare,” he replied.

Rose and Claudia exchanged a very knowing look, and immediately went over to Roxy and whispered something in her ear. A devious grin appeared on Roxy Weasley’s face. Hugo waited nervously for the three girls to stop scheming.

“Hugo Arthur Weasley,” Roxy began, “we dare you to kiss Leah Kelaney!”

The look on both Hugo and Leah’s faces was priceless as Hugo, blushing furiously, came over to where Leah sat and kissed her on the cheek. Somebody wolf-whistled and everyone cheered.

“Alright, it’s my turn!” Hugo stated when everyone had calmed down. “James, Truth or Dare?”

“Dare, of course!”

After James had declared to his mum, Ginny Potter, that he was joining the Weird Sister’s roadie group, much to the giggles of everyone present, the next victim appeared to be his younger brother.

“Al, Truth or Dare?”

Al narrowed his eyes. “Dare, I suppose.”

“Alright… I dare you to…” More whispers followed, and Al looked horrified.

“Are you insane, James?” he demanded. “There’s no way I can do that!”

“It’s not term time, is it now, Albie?”

Al glared at his brother for using his hated nickname. “No.”

“You can’t back out of a dare, little brother!” James grinned triumphantly.

His brother sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He and James wandered inside, and like before, we all crowded up to the window. Pushing and shoving followed to get a good view.

“Why are James and Al going over to the buffet?” Lily asked to no-one in particular. However, the boys looked over at a very familiar man; an intimidating, dark-skinned Potions Professor who was chatting to another familiar face, our Charms Professor. And both of the Potter boys were standing by the…

“Potatoes,” said Fred simply, admiring his cousin’s genius plan.

I’ve told you about the potato joke, right? It all started eight years ago. Someone had… well, now isn’t probably the best time to get into it. But let’s just say, Zabini will never look at that particular vegetable with nothing but contempt ever again. It’s now a school-wide legend, the Zabini/potato joke.

James got out of his pocket a quill and some ink, and handed it to Al. He picked one up off the bowl, and bent over the potato, drawing something on it. Then, they walked over to Zabini.

Zabini greeted Al as pleasantly as he could; after all, he was in his house. It was the perfect plan. And there wasn’t much he could do when Al handed him the potato, the smiley face standing out brightly on the pale complexion of the potato, except clench his jaw and glare at Al. The two boys started laughing like maniacs, and burst out the back door, victory etched upon their faces.

“The best thing was… he had to take it, because it’s our house! And he couldn’t even dock points off Gryffindor, cause it’s not term time!

“Why’s Zabini even here?” Dom asked contemptuously. She’d obviously gotten her fair share of detentions from the Potions Professor.

“Mum’s friends with him, for god-knows what reason. They went to school together, I think,” James replied.

“Yeah, but he’s a Slytherin!”

James shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Anyway, who should I pick… Adam, Truth or Dare?”

I gulped. But before I could give him my answer, the back door opened and a hassled Ginny Potter glared down at the kids.

“Albus Severus and James Sirius Potter, come here now!”

Merlin, they were in trouble. And I was going to tease Al for his middle name later.

A few hours later saw the whole party standing somewhere in the house, silently listening to the Wizarding Wireless Network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast. And then the countdown began.

“TEN, NINE, EIGHT…” we all shouted collectively.

“…THREE, TWO, ONE... HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Everyone clapped and cheered. A few of the adults kissed their partners. I saw Dad kiss Mum on the lips, who blushed and giggled. Yuck. Teddy Lupin started snogging Victoire Weasley, our Head Girl, both of them trying to suck each other’s faces off. We all began singing “Auld Lang Syne”, many of the grown-ups noticeably drunk.

“For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.”

Scorpius:

Dear Scorpius,

I must say, I was very upset to learn that you wouldn’t be coming home for Christmas. I’m sure that the holidays weren’t nearly as pleasant at Hogwarts as they could have been. However, it was your choice. It would have been nice to get a decent letter home, though, not just a quick owl telling us this.

Everything’s fine and well at home, besides your Grandmother Narcissa recently falling ill to a stomach bug. She’s fine now, though. Your father is enjoying his new Vice Presidential position; we’ve already been invited to dinner with the Romanian Head of Department of Magical Co-operation. I’m sure you can tell this is a big honour!

Middy took the time to bake you this care package. Lemon tarts are your favourite, are they not? Anyway, I don’t think they’re very good. It’s so hard to find good house elves these days!

Love from,
Mother.

“Thanks, Scorpius!” my friends said as I handed them the professionally-wrapped food package.

“Sure you don’t want any?” Rose asked me.

“Nah, I’m allergic to lemon,” I replied. Thanks for remembering, Mummy Dearest.

…..

Dear Scorpius,

I never did mention in my last letter about your friends. Have you been keeping your Slytherin acquaintances as I instructed? Quillon Flint and Parker Nott are in your year at Hogwarts, are they not? I have tea with their mothers on Wednesday mornings. It’s a wonder that you haven’t mentioned them in a letter. I hope you three are becoming fast friends.

Also, you should think about befriending some of the older, influential Slytherins. Parker’s cousin, Sean, is a sixth year Prefect. He has fabulous connections; in fact, there are already talks of you becoming betrothed to his sister, Louise! How wonderful would that be, to see our families united?

Hope that you’re well and that your studies are progressing well. Its February, you should know a lot of magic by now! Your father says hello.

Love from
Mother.

…..

Dear Scorpius

I understand that these days you might be busy, but it doesn’t mean you can just simply ignore letters from home! You’d think that once in a while, you’d write back home to check up on your mother and I. She’s simply crushed that you’re not writing home! Your Grandfather Lucius recently found out you were sorted into Gryffindor �“ he was positively livid! All this nonsense of disowning you �“ however, you’ll be pleased to know that I put my foot down on that one. You’re still family.

I’m guessing by the long absence of contact that you’re mad at your mother and me. What did we do wrong? It’d be nice to know why if we’re getting the silent treatment.

Love from
Father.

.….

Scorpius

Please. Write back. We’re getting worried. Is everything okay? Just tell us what we did wrong, and we’ll fix it! Are your friends �“

“Just reply to them,” Rose sighed one morning over breakfast. It was March, and I hadn’t been in contact with my parents since November, when I told them I wasn’t coming home. I was reading my latest letter from my parents, which had been delivered into the Great Hall a few minutes ago by Lautitia, Dad’s owl.

“No,” I replied stubbornly.

“Scorpius, do it,” said Al, ganging up on me with his cousin. “We’ve all watched you grow steadily more miserable since January over this. They probably don’t even know why you’re upset.”

“Al, I see it only one way. They don’t want anything to do with me, because I’m the Gryffindor in their family of pureblood Slytherins. I don’t want to be rich, influential and powerful. I want to be normal. They don’t care what I do!”

“Apparently, they do,” Claudia pointed out. “They’ve been really worried; you only have to see it in your parents’ handwriting.”

“I agree with these three,” Adam joined in, gulping down some eggs. “You’ll feel better when you answer to your parents.”

“No I won’t! I’ll feel worse!”

“Fine,” Rose said, slamming down her books. “Be a baby about this, then.”

“Maybe I will,” I replied childishly, before picking up my book bag and storming off to our first class, History of Magic, alone. I was so frustrated that I didn’t watch where I was going and crashed into someone as I rounded the corner in the fifth floor corridor. It was James Potter.

“Hey Scorpius!” he greeted cheerfully.

“Hi, James,” I replied less enthusiastically. He studied my gloomy expression, frowning.

“Why so gloomy, kid?” he asked. I scoffed. Kid? He was only a year older than me!

“Nothing important, really,” I sighed.

“Not to worry, Scorpius. You’ll feel better soon. In fact, I’m organising a little meeting in the common room tonight for all the Gryffindors. Be there at eight sharp. We have vital issues to discuss.”

This could only mean bad things for the Hogwarts staff.

The news of the meeting had spread like wildfire amongst the Gryffindors throughout the day, and when eight o’clock came, the Tower was packed to the rafters of students waiting excitedly for what would happen. I sat with my friends near the fire; everything was forgiven and forgotten between us.

Suddenly, the lights in the common room were extinguished. A few people screamed, but most of the crowd laughed. Suddenly, we heard a mutter.

“Blasted wand… Lumos, there we go,” the voice said, and suddenly, James Potter’s face was now solely illuminated by the light of his wand.

“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls…” he began mystically, much to the giggles of everyone present.

“The special day is approaching…” another voice joined in, and when they lit their wand as well, it appeared to be Dom speaking. Fred mimicked her actions.

“The one you wait all of March for.”

“The day we practical jokers love,” an unfamiliar face said.

“And the one that Prefects, Heads and teachers hate,” James added.

“Sign up for the biggest, most epic practical joke that Hogwarts has seen! It’s an unofficial house unity project that you don’t want to miss!”

“Just come up to James, Dom, Tyrone or myself if you’re interested,” Fred said.

“And… yeah, we’re done,” Dom added. With a flick of her wand, the lights came back on. There was a stampede of people who wanted to sign up, and a general level of excited chatter spread throughout the Tower.

“What do you reckon?” Albus asked us.

“I’m in, for sure!” Adam grinned, and jumped up to join the queue of Gryffindors.

“Ditto!” squealed Claudia, and she ran after Adam.

“Rose?” Al asked his cousin warily.

“Umm… I’m not sure. We could get in trouble for this…”

“Come on!” I urged her.

“Does this mean you’re in, Scorpius?” Al asked, facing me. I grinned at him excitedly.

“Course! I wouldn’t miss it for the world!” I replied, my enthusiasm growing with each passing second. This was going to be epic…

“Rose, please?” Al gave her his puppy dog eyes. Merlin, he looked ridiculous, but it seemed to work on her. She smiled broadly.

“I’ll do it!”

Laughing, she went and stood behind Claudia and Adam, who looked like they were wetting themselves with glee. Albus and I chuckled and followed after her.

---

Claudia

There were ten of us out of the fourteen Gryffindor first-years. Apart from us five, Emma Wilson and Yasmine Depiesse, two of my roomies, joined in, as well as Josh Stone, Ricky Cartwright and Jayson Chang. Strangely, Nina didn’t join in. She’d been very quiet since Halloween. In fact, I barely saw her at all. Not that I was complaining.

We were given our assignment two days before April Fool’s Day. When James told us what we’d have to do, Josh practically fainted.

“Are you insane?” he asked James, his voice full of concern and doubt about the situation at hand, as well as James’ mental health.

“It’s so insane that it might just work!” he replied gleefully, his hands dancing in his lap. “Is everyone still in it?” The ten of us nodded our heads; Rose reluctantly. “Good. So, we need you guys to get the following things…”

I woke up on the first morning in April full of determination and nerves. The sun was shining brilliantly into the dormitory; I was surprised that I had only woken up just now. It was still pretty early, and my six other roomies were all still fast asleep. Randomly, I realised a very important fact �“ I’d been at Hogwarts for seven months already! Time really did fly by when you’re having fun. The strange thing was that all these strange things were normal.

After Rose had awakened and the two of us had gotten dressed, we went down to breakfast to find the Gryffindor table alert and suspicious. They were all waiting for something to happen, and those who were involved with the planning looked very pleased with themselves. I grinned and sat down next to Al, grabbing a piece of toast and the marmalade jar.

“Alright, Al?” I grinned.

“Never been better, Claudia.”

It was then where James, Dom, Tyrone and Fred came into the hall, looking triumphant about something. No guesses as to what. Our whole house looked liked they wanted to burst into applause. However, we abstained from doing it, simply because our targets would become suspicious.

“Phase One is a go,” James said quickly to Al as he passed us. He slid into a seat beside Fred and helped himself to some porridge.

Breakfast went on as normal. The Gryffindors all knew something was about to happen, but most of us had no clue what would happen. We were all beginning to get slightly bored when some strange things were occurring over at the Slytherin table…

“Aaaarrghhhh!”

Everyone turned to look over at the source of the noise. A fifth year Slytherin was now currently standing on the bench she was sitting in, pointing to the floor and looking absolutely petrified.

“SNAKE! ARGH!” she squealed.

Pandemonium erupted. Slytherins ran left and right, or else sprinted out of the Great Hall. Some of them stood on the bench like the fifth year, but the Slytherin table was strangely empty. Come on, I thought. It was one snake, what’s the big deal?

It wasn’t one snake. It was one hundred. Oh yes, James Potter and his friends set loose one hundred snakes upon the Slytherin table.

How cool is that?

By now, most of the school were aware of the huge problem and were running after the Slytherins. The snakes were starting to slither their way towards the Gryffindor table; Adam and Albus promptly got the hell out of there. Rose, Scorpius and I stood on the seats, not wanting to go near them but not wanting to miss out on thing. James, Fred, Dom and Tyrone were dancing for joy on the seats, relishing in the success of their prank.

The teachers kicked into action. They, along with Victoire Weasley and Mason Wood, the Head Girl and Boy, started to Vanish the snakes with their wands. After about five minutes, they were confident that the Great Hall was serpent-free. Professor McGonagall stood in the middle of the Hall and muttered “Sonorus” and her voice was magically magnified.

“All students must return to the Great Hall, which is clear of any snakes.”

Slowly, waves of students came back in, cautiously checking that the coast was clear. When everyone had reassembled back in the Hall, Professor McGonagall began angrily addressing us, her voice back to normal, and her temper still fierce.

“I understand that this was an April Fool’s joke,” she began, her nostrils flaring, “but it does not give you the right to get away with it. We’ll be investigating as to who performed this dangerous prank, and they’ll be severely dealt with.” She sighed. “Let this be a warning to all students �“ beware of what you might be planning today.” James, Tyrone, Fred, Dom and all of the other Gryffindors kept a straight face, although the Headmistress’ comments seemed to be directed to them.

And on that happy note, we all went to first period, ready to play another prank that afternoon.

Albus:

Phase 2.1 began shortly after lunch. I say 2.1 because this was the second phase in our three-phase plan, but it was the first offset of Phase Two. Do you understand that? Phase One was just a warm up compared to what was going to happen soon.

Lunch was actually quite funny; people kept checking underneath the table for any creatures that might just happen to bite and poison them. The funny thing was that the snakes that James and his friends set off had no fangs, and were purely harmless. But why tell people these things? They should figure them out for themselves.

Professor Zabini was on alert from this morning, waiting for something bad to happen. The Potions dungeon seemed even drearier than usual. The Gryffindors that were involved in our mastermind plan were even more nervous. What was even funnier was the Slytherin’s anxiety �“ they could feel the air of April Fools in the room.

“Professor,” Adam called from the student supply closet. “I can’t seem to find the dead spiders.”

“Let me take a look then, Finnigan. It should be there.” He wandered over to Adam, not realising his huge mistake.

Rose gave me the signal when Zabini’s back was turned. Reaching into my bag discreetly under my desk, I pulled out my weapons �“ Weasley’s Wildfire Whiz-bangs �“ the most successful Weasley product ever, with U-No-Poo coming in a close second. That reminds me of a funny story �“ when I was seven, George gave me a batch of U-No-Poo. That night at tea, I put some in my brother’s pumpkin juice. He now hates pumpkin juice.

Anyway, everyone was busy making their Colour Change Potion and nobody was paying attention to me, but half of the class were waiting for what was going to happen.

“Wingardium Leviosa!” I muttered with my wand, and I levitated the Whiz-bangs into Adam’s cauldron. A few seconds passed without anything happening, and then…

“BANG!”

A huge, ear-splitting noise came from his cauldron. The cauldron shattered into a million pieces, splattering bits of potion everywhere and suddenly, Adam’s half finished Colour Change Potion was pouring over the sides of his scorched, burnt desk and onto the floor. Everything that the potion touched was now becoming a different colour of the rainbow �“ the stone, grey floor was now neon green and Josh Stone’s brown hair was now a lurid shade of pink. Screams, laughter and giggles were echoing off the walls, and the previously silent classroom was now deafening.

Meanwhile, the fireworks were trying to escape the small, cramped dungeon. As we’d planned, Claudia ran over to the door and flung it open. It took only a split second for the loud, ricocheting fireworks to make their way outside. Breaking into a run, and praying that the other Gryffindor’s plans were successful as well, all the Gryffindors sprinted up to the Entrance Hall. Noticing that a huge scene was going to follow, the other Slytherins followed us.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang! Bang! BANG!

A sea of humanity was pouring out of various hallways, corridors and staircases. Everyone was coming down. Along with our batch of Weasley Wildfire Whiz-bangs, nine other batches were joining ours. Almost every single class with a Gryffindor in it was now partially destroyed.

People were ducking, screaming, hiding and in some cases, laughing, as the fireworks collided and multiplied. Teachers were trying desperately to halt the noise. It was freaking awesome.

Twenty minutes later, we were in the Great Hall again, but no food was being served. The after smell of today’s lunch, steak-and-kidney pie, could be smelt, and my stomach rumbled with hunger. Professor McGonagall was standing before us, her face positively livid.

“This has gotten OUT OF HAND!” she screamed. “FIREWORKS? Really! This is a place of learning, NOT an exhibition!”

Someone let out a muffled snigger.

“Fortunately, nobody was injured. That is so incredibly lucky! Also, all property that was damaged in the incident has been repaired. However, SERIOUS damage and destruction could have occurred!” Her throat became hoarse.

“Let’s hope that that was your last prank, for all your sakes. Back to class, NOW!”

We trouped out of the Great Hall to collect our belongings. The next class was Charms, but it was no fun as Professor Morgan had us doing theory and kept an extremely close eye on us to ensure no other incidents would occur.

Dinner that night was far from normal. Everyone was on edge, either anticipating or fearing another ‘attack’. Even the weather - a stormy, overcast night �“ seemed tense. The teacher’s faces were tight-lipped and anxious, expecting the worst �“ more loud explosions. What they actually received was something much stranger.

“Teachers and fellow students,” said a voice, and James Potter got up from his seat, followed by his three other comrades. They all stood on the Gryffindor table. Everyone paused from eating their dinners.

“It may not surprise you much,” he began, “but the two incidents that occurred today were the work of Alfred, Dominique, Tyrone and myself.” Fred gave his cousin a filthy glare for using his full name.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Dom spoke, “we assure you that no harm was intended for both pranks. They were little, harmless April Fool’s Day jokes.”

Fred cleared his throat. “The snakes were non-venomous and were trained to not bite a single human.” A few Slytherins seemed to be disgusted now with their antics. “The Weasley Wildfire Whiz-bangs were designed to reverse the damage thirty minutes later. However, our wonderful, superb Hogwarts staff managed to manually repair everything by themselves.”

“However, we feel it is time to step down from our campaign. It was a brave fight, but we wish to not cause any more damage to our wonderful school or harass our teachers.” Tyrone finished. In total silence, they sat down again. I swear I heard a cricket chirping.

Professor McGonagall got up. “Well, I’m shocked. This is…” Her words trailed off at the sight before her.

Every single Gryffindor had taken their wand out of their pockets or robes and were now pointing up at the ceiling, including Rose, Scorpius, Claudia, Adam and I. It looked pretty darn impressive. As we’d be told, we just posed there for a few seconds.

Suddenly, the Great Hall’s invisible roof malfunctioned, and a great roar of thunder rippled through the ceiling. A cold breeze fluttered through, making me shiver. And then, the high heavens opened up.

Thick, heavy rain poured down at lightning-fast speeds, causing everyone to become drenched within seconds. People laughed, screamed and shrieked with joy. The teachers ducked and most of them ran out of the Great Hall. A few students followed.

The rain only lasted for thirty or so seconds, and the roof magically closed up with a subtle flick of Dom’s wand. The four of them stood back on the table, clasped hands and to a deafening roar of applause, bowed to their audience, proudly beaming at their success and praise. It was one of those rare times when everyone in the school was united and happy.

“Thank you! Thank you, everyone!” James cried, blowing kissed to the other Houses.

After everything had died down, we all turned to look at the staff table. Professor McGonagall, soaked and disgruntled, stood to address the students. The four masterminds became worried, but were happy to take any punishment offered. They knew they wouldn’t be expelled, but surely she would scream at them all hoarse…

She laughed. She actually laughed. At first, it was more of a hoarse chuckle, but it turned quickly into bursts of laughter. Nobody, nobody was prepared for this. The teachers looked at her as if she’d gone mad. James, Dom, Tyrone and Fred couldn’t believe their luck. But soon, everyone was joining in.

“Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone!” James cried again, and another round of applause came their way.

That’s probably the most school spirit we’ve shown all year.

Adam:

As the five of us entered the Great Hall for breakfast, over a week later, we could tell immediately from the expressions on our Professors’ faces that something bad had happened. They were all wearing identical masks of grimness, and were attempting to be normal. I saw McGonagall smash a butter dish by accident. With a quick “Reparo!”, she kept muttering to the other staff members, who seemed to be arguing amongst themselves.

“What’s going on, do you think?” Albus asked me.

“Dunno. Maybe Voldemort has a son?”

“Haha, very funny,” he replied sarcastically.

It didn’t take us long to find out what had happened. Victoire Weasley gasped when she read the Daily Prophet headline, and she wasn’t the only one. Rose snatched the article from her cousin after she’d finished reading it.

Rose gave a startled cry when she saw it too, and her eyes got bigger and bigger as she read the page. Wordlessly, she handed the paper over to the four of us so we could read it, too.

ILLUMINATI TERRORISES HOGSMEADE

April 10, 2018

The wizarding community has received another terror threat at the hands of the Illuminati, when last night, twenty confirmed followers held the village of Hogsmeade under siege.

At approximately eight o’clock pm, the Illuminati Apparated, directed by leader Bellatrix Lestrange, into the busy town centre during Thursday night shopping. Wizards and witches ran for their lives, but only a lucky few were able to escape. All exits were blocked, and an anti-Apparation charm was placed under the entire village.

Miraculously, no-one was killed. However, several people were placed under the Cruciatus Curse and many more were threatened with the Killing Curse. After an hour, the Illuminati left, leaving shaken shoppers and residents to alert the authorities. They did not Disapparate, instead leaving on foot. It is unsure as to which direction they went.

They escaped with many hundreds of Galleons in money, as well as several other objects from shopkeepers or civilians.

“It was simply terrifying,” said Honeydukes shopowner Ambrosius Flume. “We all did what we were told to, otherwise we would have all been killed.”

“I was in the town centre, waiting for my husband,” Polly Blume told reporters last night. “They Apparated right in front of me. I was told to get down on the ground. I did that, and then they bound me up. I watched as someone was tortured under my own eyes.”

It is unknown what the Illuminati’s intention was. Many say it was to “give the wizarding world another scare”, while others say they were bored. However, there is one unconfirmed theory surrounding the attack �“ that Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry could have been the objective.

By the time I had finished this article, my eyes were every bit as wide as Rose’s. I waited for the other three to catch up, and watched as their expressions turned from grim to worse.

“Holy mother of �“” shouted Scorpius, gaining the attention from everyone around him. I glanced at my friends, and we gave each other identical, horrified looks.

“Hogwarts?” Claudia asked in a small voice. “Do you really think they were trying to reach the castle?”

“Who knows?” sighed Al. “They might have, they might not.”

Suddenly, Professor McGonagall stood up, trying to get everyone’s attention. This was unusual �“ she never made announcements at breakfast, unless something very wrong had gone on. The Great Hall silenced itself immediately, feeling the tension in the air.

“Students, I must address a serious issue at hand,” she said solemnly. “As you are probably are all aware by now, the terror group ‘Illuminati’ have attacked Hogsmeade.”

This was news to only a small handful of people, and their gasps of horror were shushed quickly by their friends.

“As you might have read, there is some speculation as to whether Hogwarts was in danger or not. We are not sure about this yet,” she had to quieten down the Hall, as the noise had broken out into nervous whispers, “but we have decided to set up some precautions to ensure each and every one of you safety at all times.”

“All future Hogsmeade trips will be cancelled until further notice.” This received quite a lot of angry outburst from students. She ploughed on. “Quidditch will not be cancelled, but all training sessions must be patrolled by a staff member. Any students moving from class-to-class outside the Hogwarts grounds must be escorted by a teacher.” None of the staff were too pleased about this arrangement.

“Security will be watertight. As of this afternoon, a team of Aurors will be stationed around the castle to ensure no Illuminati members can infiltrate Hogwarts.” She took a deep breath. “That is all. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter. Enjoy your day.”

How could we bloody well enjoy our day now? I thought. “This is scary,” I admitted.

“I know,” replied Scorpius, looking shaken.

The bell rang, and we all gathered up our stuff in silence. For once, the Great Hall was relatively quiet. Everyone seemed to have been silenced by this terrible news. The five of us went to our first class of the day (Defence), where Professor Patil mused on the quietness of her pupils today.

The end of the day couldn’t come quicker enough.

---

Albus:

I didn’t like it when Victoire was in a bad mood.

“JAMES SIRIUS POTTER!” she yelled, storming into the Common Room, stomping her feet and fuming. It was about eight o’clock at night, a few days after the latest Illuminati attack. The tower was alive and busy. She glared around at all the Gryffindor students, who were now staring at her in silence, and she screamed in frustration when she realised that the boy in question wasn’t there. Noticing that his brother, however, was present, she sat down in an armchair opposite me, where I sat trying to complete my Herbology homework. Now that she was up close, I could tell that she absolutely stunk.

“Hey Victoire,” I greeted. “What do you know about Devil’s Sn-”

“Get. Your. Brother. Down. Here. Now.” She stressed each word individually.

I was startled by her fierce expression. “What’s he done now?” I sighed.

“Nothing at all… except for the fact that he DUNGBOMBED THE LIBRARY!” she growled.

“How do you know it was him?” Claudia piped up.

“I saw him running away when I was patrolling the library. He sprints off in this direction, and BAM! I smell like a skunk!” Her eyes narrowed in anger.

“Alright, alright, I’ll go see if he’s upstairs,” I sighed, and threw down my parchment and ink on the table beside me.

“James?” I called, entering the second year Boys’ dormitory. “Victoire’s absolutely furious at you. You better get down there now.”

I checked around the room, but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t hiding anywhere, either. Where had he gone? I was just about to leave when something moving on James’ bed caught my eye.

I shouldn’t pry in James’ stuff, I thought to myself. But curiosity got the better of me �“ one little peek couldn’t hurt?

Upon a closer look, I realised it was an old scrap of parchment. It was frayed, musty and slightly torn in places. However, it was what was on the parchment that caught my eye.

It was a smattering of inked lines, sprawling in every direction. Words were shown everywhere, and tiny little footprints were running across it slowly. At first, none of it made sense… and then I realised what it was.

“It’s a map!” I said incredulously.

“Guys! Guys! You have to take a look at this!” I whispered excitedly a few minutes later, having bounded down the spiral staircase and given Victoire a quick “Not there.” She stormed off angrily, most likely thinking of ways to kill her cousin.

“Yeah, what?” Claudia asked, looking at my empty hands. I plonked down in front of my friends, who were all in various stages of their Herbology essays as well. Predictably, Rose had almost finished while Adam hadn’t even finished the first sentence.

“I’m not going to show you here. I’m fairly sure I’ll get in trouble. Let’s go somewhere else.”

We exited the Common Room into the dark, torch-lit corridor. Everyone crowded around me. “So what is it, Al? What’s this mysterious thing you’ve got?” Scorpius asked.

“Yeah, it better be important. Rose was helping me with my essay!” This came from Claudia.

“Trust me,” I replied. “You’re going to want to see this.”

I showed them the map. At first, it didn’t get the reaction that I’d quite wanted. However, after a while, my friends started to see what I was seeing.

“Merlin, Al. Where did you get this from?” Scorpius wondered in awe.

“Nicked it from James’ room.”

“And where did he get it?”

“No clue.”

“Look, there’s us!” Claudia cried. She was right; at our exact position, there were five names - Albus Potter, Claudia Kelaney, Adam Finnigan, Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy.

“This is so bloody brilliant,” sighed Adam. “No wonder your brother’s so good at not getting caught.”

We simply stared at the map for ages. I could see McGonagall sitting at her desk. Behind us

Rose frowned. “I don’t think you should be keeping this, Al.”

“Why the bloody hell not?”

“Because it’s against the school rules!”

“Rose,” sighed Adam. “I don’t think the Hogwarts rulebook has anything about magical maps being banned.”

“It’s the principle of the thing!” she shot back.

“Well, I don’t care what you think,” I said. “I’m going to have a little fun with this. Anyone want to take a walk with me?”

Claudia, Adam and Scorpius accepted eagerly, but Rose looked very apprehensive. Not wanting to be left behind, she gave it.

“I suppose someone’s got to be there to stop you lot breaking more rules,” she grumbled.

“Lighten up, Rose,” Claudia smiled. “We’ve trekked through the Forbidden Forest �“ it’s not like we’re new to rulebreaking.”

---

Claudia:

We crept along the passageways of Hogwarts, following Al, who had the map held out in front of him. Occasionally, we’d crowd around it, noticing someone on the map that we knew, realising that somebody was nearby or just simply musing at its awesomeness. We were on the fifth floor corridor.

“Take a look at this,” Al said quietly. He pointed his finger to one point on the map, somewhere near where we were standing. There was a word �“ Dissendium - which is what Al was pointing to.

“What do you think that does?” I asked him.

“Only one way to find out,” Rose said, whipping out her wand. “Dissendium,” she said, pointing in the direction that the map instructed.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of moving stone. A statue, to the left of Adam, was now shifting. It was quite an ugly thing �“ under it read a plaque entitled Gunhilda of Goosemoor. It was made out of stone, and featured a one-eyed hump witch. Peering closely, Rose let out gasp of surprise.

“Guys… it’s a passageway.”

We clambered around her for a better look. Sure enough, there was a gap behind the statue large enough to squeeze through. Beyond it, I could see a strange light infiltrating the tunnel.

“So, who’s going first?” Scorpius asked.

Before anyone could comment, Adam shushed us. He was staring at the map.

“Head Boy and Girl, twelve o’clock!” he hissed, and, sure enough, two dots labelled Victoire Weasley and Mason Wood were heading in our direction, and were about to round the corner to find us!

“Everyone, get in here!” whispered Al, and, quite reluctantly, we all squeezed through the gap one at a time. Miraculously, Rose, being the last to get in, was hidden just as we heard footsteps coming closer, and slowly fading away.

“Merlin, that was close,” I sighed after I was totally sure that they had gone. “I thought that we were goners for sure.”

“Yeah,” replied Al distractedly. He was examining the passageway. You could just tell he was itching to go down it…

“No,” replied Rose firmly.

“Aww, come on, Rosie! Please!” he begged.

This time, though, I put my foot down as well. “Al, we’re all tired. It’s almost ten o’clock. Who knows what time we’ll get back?”

Thankfully, Adam and Scorpius nodded in agreement. “Maybe another time,” Scorpius suggested.

Al sighed, but reluctantly agreed to leave. Checking that the coast was clear, the five of us exited the secret passageway and made our way back to Gryffindor Tower. Apart from Peeves lurking around, we had no trouble at all.

“G’night,” Rose and I said to the boys, who trudged up to their own dormitory.

“I know you guys think that I was being a chicken,” Rose said to me as we climbed the spiral staircase. “But I had a really bad feeling about that secret passageway.”

Upon entering ours, we realised the other girls were all asleep. We quickly changed into our pyjamas, brushed our teeth and hopped into bed. I fell asleep almost instantly, and fell into a dreamless slumber.

It could have been hours or minutes later, but I was awoken by a strange occurrence in the dormitory. I sat up in bed when I heard a rustling noise, and the sound of floorboards creaking. It seemed just like those creepy Muggle horror movies.

You’re being stupid, Claudia, I thought to myself. Hogwarts is an old place. Things creak all the time.

I rested my head back down on the pillow. I almost fell back asleep again, when I heard someone mutter an incantation.

“Muffliato,” the person whispered, their voice strangely familiar. I couldn’t quite place a name to it, but it was feminine.

I bolted up in bed.

“What the hell?” I said, but no sound came out of my mouth. I had been silenced. Suddenly, another spell was sent directly at my eyes, causing me blindness. A pair of hands roughly pulled me out of bed, leaving behind the comfort of my four-poster. They dragged me out of the dormitory, making sure that nobody could hear us. I could hear Rose’s snoring in the bed next to mine, and realised that none of the other girls knew what was happening.

Nobody heard my silent shriek of terror.

---

Rose:

The sun was shining into the dormitory. The birds were chirping happily. It was warm for a change; it seemed that the winter weather was finally leaving. I woke up feeling happy, refreshed and ready to learn.

“Morning, Claudia,” I greeted happily, turning to the bed next to me. However, I found that it was empty. The bedclothes were thrown back messily. Bloody hell, I thought as I fixed her bed up as well as my own. That girl is a grub!

After I’d gotten dressed and gathered my books up for the day, I went downstairs into the Common Room. It was mostly empty except for a few lazy students waiting for their friends. I saw Scorpius resting on one of the armchairs, hastily scribbling something down for Professor Zabini.

“Hey,” I said, giving him a quick little wave.

“Morning, Rose.” He smiled quickly before going back to his essay.

“Seen Claudia yet?” I asked him. “She’s not in our dormitory.”

“Nope, we’re the only ones up,” he replied.

“Hmm… maybe she’s already at breakfast.”

“Yeah…” he said, trailing off. His mind was obviously still on the assignment. He looked up from his quill and parchment. “That’s strange �“ you normally have to wake her up at the last minute.”

“Hmm… not like Claudia at all. Stranger things have happened, though.”

“Sure have,” I answered, sinking into the chair next to Scorpius to wait for Adam and Al. Somehow, I couldn’t shake that foreboding feeling. It was exactly like the feeling that I got last night in the secret passageway. I worry far too much.

When they finally came downstairs, having obviously overslept, we all went down to breakfast. Upon entering the Great Hall, I scanned the Gryffindor table for Claudia. She wasn’t there. However, it was pretty late by now. If she had come down to breakfast so early, she would have already been finished by now. I sat down with the boys, helping myself to some toast. However, I was still a little worried.

“What do we have first, Rosie?” Adam asked me.

“We have Charms, as you should already know,” I scolded. “The bell’s about to ring. Have you guys stuffed your faces enough yet?”

A collective ‘yes’ came from the three boys, and we left the Great Hall together. We were only a corridor away from class when we ran straight into a very familiar face.

“Dad!” Al shouted, smiling from ear to ear as Harry Potter, my uncle, strolled into sight. He was wearing his official Auror robes and had a reminiscing gleam in his eyes. He grinned as he saw his youngest son run over to him and hugged him tightly.

“Albus!” he said. Students that were passing by were staring at the pair. This happened wherever Harry went anywhere �“ it came with having the title as The Boy Who Lived and saving the wizarding world. People were muttering and pointing, and as usual, the words ‘Potter’, ‘Voldemort’ and ‘scar’ were tossed around a bit.

“Rosie,” he said as he broke away from Al, noticing me. “How’s it going?”

“Pretty good, Uncle Harry,” I said, hugging him as well.

“You remember Scorpius and Adam?” Al said, gesturing to our friends, who seemed to stand there a bit awkwardly.

“Of course I do,” he replied. “How are you boys?”

They told him that they were fine.

“Hey, where’s that other girl. Claudia, I think her name is?” Harry asked.

“Dunno,” I replied truthfully.

“How’s Mum?” Al asked. That’s right �“ Auntie Ginny was having a baby! It had completely slipped my mind.

“Craving food and always very hormonal,” Harry said, laughing. “I have to pick up some more ice-cream after work.”

We spent the next five minutes chatting to him until the bell rang. Harry told us that he had to go, and we made our goodbyes to each other.

“Hang on a second, Dad,” Al said, just as we were about to walk away. “How come you’re here anyway?”

Harry’s face fell slightly. “For the protection of Hogwarts against the Illuminati. I’m in charge of the Aurors here.” His reminiscing expression came back on his face. “Just like my third year…” He wandered away.

“Bye, Uncle Harry!” I called, and we all hurried to Charms where we were now most certainly late.

“Finnigan. Malfoy. Potter. Weasley. Class started three minutes ago,” Professor Morgan scolded.

“Sorry,” Adam said as we sat down at our desks. “We were talking to Al’s dad and lost track of the time.”

“Don’t let it happen again,” Morgan replied, remembering who exactly “Al’s dad” was, and went on with the lesson. I turned to my desk, expecting to see Claudia sitting there. However, with a pang in my stomach, I realised she wasn’t. Adam, Al and Scorpius seemed to notice this as well. We gave each other puzzled expressions.

Where could she be? I wondered.

At break time, after Claudia hadn’t shown up for History of Magic either, we made a mutual decision to start searching for her. First place was the Hospital Wing. However, that was empty, except for a third year that had obviously been in a Potions accident, because his face now sported boils the size of my fist. Madam Pomfrey came over and confirmed that Claudia wasn’t here, and, indeed, hadn’t been there all morning.

“Thanks for your help,” I said, and we all went back outside, much more anxious than we were before.

“Where else could she be?” Scorpius asked as we started wandering around the castle.

“The library?” I suggested half-heartedly. To ease our nerves, we checked there, but she wasn’t there either.

“What do we do now?” Al said, his face paling.

“We tell a teacher,” was Adam’s short reply.

As we headed towards the staff room, we saw Neville rounding a corner. I pointed him out to the others, and we all raced over to our favourite teacher.

“Hey, kids,” he said, greeting us warmly. “What can I do for you?”

“Neville! Claudia’s missing!” I exclaimed.

The four of us poured out the story of what had gone on all morning. After we done, Neville gave us a worried expression.

“Come on,” he said, walking away. We followed him. “We’re going to tell Professor McGonagall about this.”

“What do you think’s happened?” Adam said nervously.

“It could be nothing. Maybe she just tripped over and can’t walk. Maybe she fell asleep somewhere.” And then his expression darkened. “Or the Illuminati could be involved.”

Scorpius

The conversation that happened in McGonagall’s office was possibly one of the scariest, most urgent conversations that I’ve heard.

“�“ disappeared, without a trace �“”

“�“ possibly since last night �“”

“�“ absent from classes this morning �“”

“�“ she’s gone �“”

The four of us just watched in fear as Professors Longbottom and McGonagall had this hurried discussion. McGonagall asked us to recount our morning, which we did. After we’d finished, she moaned and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

“Neville, can you fetch Arana, Blaise, Padma and Ernie? Tell them that it’s a matter of urgency that they come to my office at once.” Longbottom nodded his head briefly at his superior’s words and exited the room swiftly, his dirt-covered robes swishing at his feet.

“As for you four, I suggest you return to class,” McGonagall said firmly. “Professor Binns will be wondering where you’ve gone. Class started five minutes ago, but give him this note �“” she wrote something on a piece of parchment with her quill and handed it to Rose �“ “and you’ll be excused.”

“�“ but �“”

"�“ Professor, you can’t simply expect us to �“”

“Now!” she said harshly, silencing us. In a kinder voice, she added, “I know that this must be hard on you, but there’s nothing you can do right now.” In a very quick, fluid motion for someone her age, she stood up and ushered us out the door, slamming it close behind us.

“Perfect,” Adam muttered. “How are we going to know what happens now?” He looked at the three of us, searching for answers, but Rose and I just shrugged our shoulders.

However, Al had a gleam in his eyes, something that could only mean that he had a good idea. “I know what to do. Follow me!”

He bolted off, leaving us no choice but to hurry after him, confused and anxious. He led us straight through the empty corridors, up the many staircases and through many different doors before we finally reached our destination �“ the Gryffindor tower.

“Quadpot!” Al said to the Fat Lady urgently, and she had no choice but to let us into the Common Room, her puzzled expression clear upon her painted face. He rushed up to our dormitory, threw open his trunk and started digging madly to find something.

“What on earth are you looking for?” Rose asked him impatiently.

“I know I shouldn’t have taken it… but it was just sitting there… I didn’t think that anyone would notice it was missing…”

“Spit it out!” I sighed.

“This,” he said dramatically, brandishing a shimmery piece of cloth from the realms of his trunk.

Adam let out a long whistle. “Well, I’ll be damned.”

“Language, Adam!” Rose scolded, but she herself looked impressed. “I can’t believe you stole Uncle Harry’s Invisibility Cloak!”

“You did what? I said incredulously. “When?”

“During Christmas break,” he replied, slightly ashamed.

“I was staying with you! How come you never told me about this?”

“I was going to… can we talk about this later? We need to get going!” We all rushed out of the dormitory.

“We can use this to listen to the Professors!” Adam said excitedly as we ran out of the portrait hole, heading in the direction that we came in minutes ago.

“Can we all fit under it?” Rose said worriedly. That stumped us. However, being the bright little witch she is, she whipped out her wand.

“Engorgio!” she chanted, swishing and flicking her wand at the cloak in Al’s hands. It expanded to almost double its size.

“Merlin, Rosie, you’re a genius!” Al said, giving his cousin a huge smile. Rose beamed back.

We were a corner away from the Headmistress’ office when Al stopped us.

“We’ll put this on now,” he said quietly. We all huddled together tightly and Adam and Al covered us all in the cloak.

“Alright, we’ll wait until a teacher goes in and sneak in behind them before the door closes.” This sound extremely risky, but we rounded the corner pretty confidently anyway.

“Ouch, that was my foot, Scorpius!” Rose whispered.

“Sorry.”

“Shh!” That was Adam; he’d spotted Professor Morgan hurrying towards the Head’s office, and nodded his head in her direction to alert us. She stopped at an ugly stone gargoyle.

“Cockroach cluster!” she said clearly, admitting the same password that Neville had done. The gargoyle moved aside as the wall behind him split in two. Behind the wall was a spiral staircase, which Morgan headed towards. The four of us crept up the stairs behind her, letting a gap of about eight or so feet hover between us. We didn’t want to accidentally step on her toes or something.

The steps ran out to a small, stone foyer, boasting nothing but a gleaming oak door. Morgan rapped on the door with the brass knocker, which was in the shape of a griffon. A few seconds passed before someone opened it. It was Professor Macmillan.

“Come in,” he said shortly, fortunately opening the door wide enough to admit us four as well. He shut the door behind us.

The scene looked very serious. Professors Longbottom, Patil and Zabini were sitting in various types of armchairs, crowded around McGonagall’s desk, who looked very worried, indeed. Nobody was smiling. Professor Patil conjured up another chair for the newcomer, and Ernie sank back down into his own.

“Arana, I’m glad you could come at such short notice,” McGonagall said, nodding at Professor Morgan. “I was just explaining the situation to the others.”

“What situation, Minerva?” she asked, frowning.

“We have a missing student,” she said sombrely.

Morgan gasped in shock. “Who?”

“Claudia Kelaney,” Professor Patil replied.

“I was supposed to have her for Charms this morning!” Morgan exclaimed. “She was absent. Albus Potter, Scorpius Malfoy, Rose Weasley and Adam Finnigan all came into class late, claiming to have stopped to talk to Albus’ dad. It struck me as odd that she wasn’t with them. They’re normally inseparable!”

“Hang on a second,” Zabini said. “Are we sure that it’s only Miss Kelaney missing? Is it possible that we’re searching for two missing students?”

Morgan’s face paled. “Now that you mention it… Nina Jordan was absent, too.”

McGonagall looked ready to pass out. “It’s highly possible that she’s gone as well,” she said shakily.

“So, what are we to do?” Patil asked in a small voice.

“Firstly, we need to alert the Auror team. Get Harry Potter in my office at once.” Patil nodded, and stood up to leave. However, McGonagall stopped her. “I’ll get Arana to do it, Padma. As Head of Ravenclaw, you need to do a head count of your students.” Morgan swept out of the office, her footsteps sounding urgent.

“As you just heard me say,” the Headmistress continued to the four staff members remaining, “I will need you four to do a head check of your students at lunch. You are not to disclose the reason behind it, but assure the students that there’s no danger to worry about.” She paused, her thoughts consuming her. “And we need to start searching for Claudia, and possibly Nina.”

“What on earth could have caused such a thing?” Macmillan wondered out loud, sinking back into his chair.

“The question, Ernie, is not what, but who,” Zabini replied curtly. “And I’m fairly sure that we all know who is capable of this.”

Beside me, Rose muffled a sharp cry. Although Longbottom had already mentioned how this was a possibility, it made it sound even realer when a highly intelligent, albeit prejudiced, man like Zabini confirmed this theory.

“The Illuminati,” Patil sighed.

“Yes.”

Suddenly, an owl flew into the office and landed on a golden perch, carrying a letter in its claws. This was singlehandedly the strangest, most coincidental moments that I have had and will witness. Why is that? Oh, no reason. Just that the letter turned out to be a ransom note. From the Illuminati, that arrived just as our Professors were discussing it.

McGonagall gasped in shock once she untied the letter and had read the contents. To answer the confused looks of her staff, she read it out loud in a shaky voice.

The Mudbloods are safe. If you want to keep it that way, give me the Elder Wand. Give me it and they are released. Do not try to come after us. As you know, the Illuminati have no hesitation in disposing of filth, magical or not. You have 24 hours.

McGonagall finished with an edge of panic in her voice.

Longbottom started to speak, but he was cut off abruptly by McGonagall’s hand instructing him not to speak.

“Give me a moment to think,” she said quietly.

And so she did. She took a long moment to think. A minute or two must have passed before she voiced her plan of action.

“Firstly, we need to make sure that nobody finds out unless absolutely necessary. At lunch,” she said, checking her watch, “which should be very soon, I want you to do a head count of your students.” As if on cue, the bell rang, signalling the beginning of lunch. I heard Adam’s stomach rumble softly, and I momentarily panicked �“ what if the teachers heard us? Fortunately, they were too preoccupied.

“We better go do those head counts,” Longbottom sighed, getting to his feet. Patil, Macmillan and Zabini rose to theirs as well.

“Leave the door open on your way out,” said the Headmistress after them.

McGonagall sighed and went off into another room of her office, presumably her private quarters. I heard Albus sigh in relief, and start to head to the door. However, Rose held him back.

“Your dad’s coming, remember?” she whispered.

“So?”

“We’ll be able to find out what’s exactly happening.”

“Good idea,” I muttered.

Suddenly, we heard noise below us as the stone gargoyle was once again admitting someone up. We heard a murmur of voices coming up the staircase, and the unmistakeable looks of Harry Potter came into view, who was deep in conversation with Professor Morgan.

“Anyone here?” he called as they entered the empty office.

“Coming!” McGonagall called, and seconds later, she re-entered the office. “Sit down,” she said gesturing towards the recently vacated armchairs.

“Thank you, Minerva,” Harry said, and he and Morgan sank into one each.

“Would you like a Ginger Newt?” she said, offering a tin of biscuits to them.

“Just like old times,” he sighed reminiscently, giving a small chuckle. She smiled grimly.

“So, Arana told me that a girl, possibly two, has mysteriously disappeared,” he said, his voice business-like.

“It’s not so mysterious now, I’m afraid,” she sighed wearily. “They’ve been abducted by the Illuminati.” McGonagall gestured towards the ransom note that had been tossed carelessly down on her desk.

“May I?” he asked, holding out his hand to the letter.

“Of course,” McGonagall replied.

I watched Harry’s jaw drop as he read the brief note. After he finished, he groaned. “I can’t believe her. Actually, I can. That evil bitch!”

I was quite impressed �“ I didn’t know that the famous Harry Potter could swear! I’d never heard him do that, and I stayed at his house for two weeks, for Merlin’s sake! You’d think I would have heard him utter a profanity by now.

“Who are the girls?” he asked.

“Claudia Kelaney and Nina Jordan,” replied McGonagall.

Harry looked pained by that news. “Claudia is one of my son’s best friends… how am I going to break this to him?”

“No need,” she said. “Albus and his friends were the ones who reported her missing.”

“Where is he now?” Harry asked.

“At lunch, I presume.”

Harry reread the note. “It says here ‘the Mudbloods.’ Not ‘Mudblood’, but the plural form. I knew that Claudia was Muggleborn, but I know Nina’s father and he’s certainly not a Muggle.” He seemed confused.

“Actually,” she replied, “it’s not a well-known fact, but Nina Jordan is, in fact, adopted.”

If my jaw wasn’t already on the floor, it was now. Nina was adopted?

“Yes, she is,” McGonagall said, noticing Harry’s stunned expression. “Nina’s biological parents, who were Italian Muggles, gave her up for adoption once her magical skills were displayed. They didn’t understand, and dumped her at an orphanage when she was three years old. Lee was in Italy at the time with his new wife, and they didn’t think they could have kids. So… they adopted her as their own. And now Nina has two sisters, both the biological daughters of Lee and Isabella Jordan. But technically, she’s Muggleborn.”

“That’s terrible!” Harry said, shaking his head. “How Nina must feel to know that her parents gave her up because they thought she was a freak… I can sympathise.” His expression turned sad.

“Harry, what exactly is the Elder Wand? And why is Bellatrix Lestrange so interested in it?”

Al’s dad sighed. “This is a ridiculously long story, so I’m just going to keep it brief. Do you remember, a month or two before the Battle of Hogwarts, when Voldemort broke into Dumbledore’s tomb?”

McGonagall looked confused. “How do you know about that? Severus Snape hushed that up very nicely.”

“It doesn’t matter,” he replied quickly, “but do you know what Voldemort stole from him?”

“The Elder Wand?” she guessed.

“Correct.”

“So… the Elder Wand… was Albus’ wand?” she said, trying to understand.

“Yes. It wasn’t just an ordinary wand, though. It had special magical powers that only you and I could dream of. It basically makes the carrier… unbeatable.”

“But Albus… he was killed?”

“Dumbledore died of his own free will. It just happens that Snape was the person who physically did it.”

“And the Elder Wand has this immense power that can basically do anything?”

“Yes.”

“Let me get this straight. Bellatrix wants this Elder Wand to strengthen her powers, and she’ll give us back the girls, presumably unharmed, if we give it to her?”

“Yes.”

“But if we give her the Elder Wand, she’ll grow even more stronger?”

“Yes.”

“And if we don’t, she’ll… kill the girls.” McGonagall choked on her words.

“It sounds like it,” Harry replied with a nervous sigh. “She’s literally insane, and will have no qualms in doing the unthinkable.”

“Where is the Elder Wand, anyway?” she asked.

Harry looked sheepish. “Well… it’s in Dumbledore’s tomb.”

“But �“ ”

“I put it back in there after the battle.”

“Oh.”

The pair sat in silence for a while. “So… what do we do now?”

Harry replied, “Give me a while to think. I need to consult with Ron and the other Aurors, and Kingsley needs to be debriefed about the situation. However, I assure you, Minerva, this will be kept as secretive as possible.”

“Thank you, Harry,” McGonagall replied, and stood up to usher Harry out the office.

I was jolted back into reality when Adam tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed to the door. We tiptoed out as quickly as we could and waited in the foyer. We waited there until Harry came out and exited directly behind him. When we were back in the corridor, we waited until Harry had rounded the corner before we took off the Invisibility Cloak at last.

“Oh my Godric,” was all Rose was able to utter.

---

Rose

Whispers circulated the castle all afternoon. Why did the Professors do a head count? Why do they look so anxious? Why is Harry Potter in the castle?

There was nothing else that we could do. The lessons for the rest of the day were long and strenuous. For the first time in my life, I did not give my full, undivided attention to the teacher. I sat there and moped. The empty seat next to me in Transfiguration brought too many thoughts in my head.

Although I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I wasn’t hungry at dinner and I barely touched my food. For once, the boys didn’t eat. It just goes to show how serious the situation was.

This was like a horrible repeat of Halloween. Claudia had gone missing, again.