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Chapter Text

Crystal was a well-mannered young girl with much magical potential, neither she nor her mother were surprised when she got her Hogwarts letter. However, the post on the Sunday before the first day of school clearly disagreed, as the headline read: “Sister of Unruly Helenora to Attend Hogwarts”. Crystal’s mother tried to hide the paper from her, but she still found it and took it to her room, where she read the article they wrote on her 17 times. 

The day was going well before too, Crystal was feeling giddy about school so she speculated on what House she could be sorted into. Her mum thought Slytherin or perhaps Hufflepuff, because she saw her daughter as loyal and persistent, if a little stubborn. Crystal herself thought Ravenclaw, solely because that’s where Jacob was sorted. However, now all she could think about was that article, the writing was so flashy and over the top yet it somehow managed to hardly say anything, other than speculating on whether she would follow in her brother’s rule-breaking footsteps. It was very presumptuous too, and she inked a few corrections onto the page as she reread it again. 

Her breathing started to pick up, maybe she should put the paper down and pack some bags. It was already two in the morning, but wouldn’t it be great to not have to pack in the morning? So that’s what she did, putting on her magic record player at the lowest volume and stuffing her suitcase with another woollen jumper and a worn in pair of black converse. 

She heaved in another breath and tried to continue packing, but she caught herself thinking about school again. Deep down, she felt apathetic at the idea of attending Hogwarts, she knew it was the idea of finding her brother that was drawing her towards where he was last seen all those years ago. Maybe the article was right about her, but she believed she was unlikely to make friends at school anyway so it didn’t matter too much. All she had to do was calm herself down, she hadn’t breathed this quickly in years, it used to happen a lot when she was younger and the neighbours were too noisy but her mum would always calm her down and sing to her. Then before she left the room, she would say; “sing yourself to sleep.” Maybe Crystal could try that one now. 

She hummed as she stumbled to the mirror, her jet black hair was frizzy and had so much volume that her parting was hardly visible. Her eyes has this thick, tired circle underneath  that gave the corner of her eyes this purple hue that she kind of liked the look of. Crystal patted her hair and twiddled it in her fingers whilst looking in the mirror, and she spent the next hour fixing it.

By five o’ clock, her appearance had become much cleaner and her bags were fully packed, the only issue was that her alarm was going off and she hadn’t laid in her bed once. Her mum entered her room to see Crystal, fully dressed and ready to go.

”Crys? Proud of you for getting up early for once, we’re setting off in an hour, yeah?” Her mum gently told her and she left the bedroom with a deep yawn before Crystal got the chance to respond. She stared intently at the door that her mum had just left, struggling to keep herself upright and dazed from walking around her room through the night. If she kept her eyes on the door for a moment, maybe she wouldn’t fall over. She fixed her eyes on the handle and massaged her washed-out skin with the palms of her hands. 

It was a nice bus ride into town, and Kings Cross was obviously bustling with wizards and witches starting a new year at school. They were mainly navigated through London by Crystal, while her mum pointed out tourist attractions and talked about all the places she had visited with friends or old partners. Crystal tried to seem interested, but being eleven years old it was hard to keep up with what her mum was saying. 

She wanted to go into Diagon Alley by herself, and her mum reluctantly allowed her to, as she knew how quickly Crystal could figure things out on her own. They hugged tightly and exchanged “I love yous” before parting ways. It was going to be alright, it would all be worth her while to go to Hogwarts and uncover what happened to Jacob, she was sure of it. 

She stepped through the wall alone, and already a few people recognised her. She had that distinct ‘Helenora’ look to her which she shared with her brother and her mum, her face had a soft and tranquil appearance that made her look naturally curious, but her eyes were piercing and stern, and most people meeting her for the first time thought she looked rather unsettled. The people who recognised her did not say anything to her, they just glanced her from a distance and muttered to their friends. Crystal looked down and played with her hands, earlier she had tried to prepare herself for recognition but the reality was more uncomfortable than she anticipated. This was her reality now, she supposed.

She looked back up, trying to ignore everyone so she could figure out which shop to visit first. But there was one person who wasn’t ignorable, not because she was glaring at Crystal in an especially judgemental way, quite the opposite, she was waving. Crystal looked over her shoulder to see nobody behind her, it had to be her who she was waving at. She looked Crystal’s age, and also by herself, and she was beckoning Crystal over to her. Crystal’s cautious thinking told her to stay put and keep to herself, but her whimsical gut instinct let her approach the waving girl. 

Chapter Text

Crystal’s mum reluctantly let Crystal enter Diagon Alley on her own after much convincing, but Crystal regretted soon after. Most of these new students had friend groups or older siblings to browse the street with, leaving her feeling alone and like she had to get used to the feeling of loneliness. 

Then another young girl approached her, seemingly also alone, and she waved. 

“Hello, you look lost. Are you also here by yourself?”

Crystal blankly looked at her, it had been a while since she last socialised and her intuition was telling her to ball up and roll away. 

“Yes, are you as well?” She said a bit too quiet. 

She nodded, “I haven’t made any friends yet but I know my way around, are you lost?” 

It wasn’t easy to get lost here, it was one street and everything was signposted, but this girl clearly wanted to help. Crystal shrugged and nodded a bit. 

“What’s your name?” Crystal asked. 

"Rowan Khanna, yours?" 

Who would've seen that coming? 

"Crystal," She couldn't leave it at that, it would be too weird considering Rowan had just given her full name, "Helenora." 

Rowan paused for a total of three seconds, "Like, Jacob?" 

Rowan seemed like a smart girl, but whatever perception she had of Jacob Helenora could only depend on what newspaper her family preferred. 

"Are you crying?" Rowan tiled her head down to view Crystal's face. 

Am I?!

"No, the sun is really bright. Sorry," Crystal hoped Rowan would ignore the blatant lie. She looked up and try to change Rowan's view on her family history by simply smiling at her. She smiled back, so she couldn't be too unfriendly. She had dark hair, dark skin, thin lips, a naturally curious expression, big semicircle glasses and a book in each hand.

"Jacob broke over fifty school rules right?" Rowan said as if that was the worst of Jacob's behaviour. 

Crystal wasn't too sure how to respond, but she knew that from now on she had to hold her emotions together. You can do no wrong with a blank facial expression.

"I'm also odd." Rowan blurted out. 

"Right. I’m okay with that too.” 

"Precisely," Rowan took note of how surprised Crystal seemed, "You should probably go to Flourish and Blotts, can I recommend some books to you?" She continued without approval, "Well in my opinion, you absolutely need 'Hogwarts; a History', and if you like Quidditch then 'Quidditch Through The Ages' is brilliant. I usually read some of Newt Scamander's work before going to bed. I'm not totally into magical creatures but I love the way he writes, I think it reflects the way he speaks..."

Crystal was dying to interrupt, but she waited for Rowan to finish speaking. She had known this girl for five minutes, but she already found herself happy to see Rowan happy. Her tears faded as though they were never there.

When Crystal entered Flourish and Blotts, she was blown away by the design of the place. Books upon books, neatly placed to give the shop a messy and magical feeling, with long chandeliers that almost touched the books. There was an upstairs, but the stairway was blocked by fifth-years and seventh-years, rushing to get the books they needed for their NEWT and OWL exams, all of them swearing and some on the verge of drawing their wand. That reminded Crystal that she needed to visit Ollivander's, and she knew enough about Ollivander to know he would recognise exactly who she was. Leaving Flourish and Blotts was a challenge, but Crystal could see Rowan waving at her through the window as she finished paying, which was more than enough motivation to leave.

"My mum gave me some extra money to buy something special and I want everyone at Hogwarts to know I’m a student who will become Head Girl. What should I buy, Crystal?" Rowan proudly asked as they walked towards Ollivander's. 

Crystal stopped walking to think, "A smart scarf maybe? Scarfs are smart." 

"Okay, I'll get a scarf while you're in Ollivander's," Rowan took out her purse, flipped it, and shook it until enough loose change fell onto her hand, "Enjoy getting your wand!" 

That's right. Crystal should "enjoy" being recognised by an old man.

This time, it was very difficult entering her next shop. Even if Rowan was stood in the shop, waving, she wouldn't want to go in. 

"Hello there! My name is Garrick Olivander. I will present you with a wand and if that wand does not work, I shall determine what went wrong and base my next decision off of your first twirl."

This was hell. A remarkable and beautifully - if not slightly impractically - designed hell, but hell for Crystal nonetheless. 

"Applewood wand, dragon heartstring core, nine inches, rigid. Here you go!" Ollivander handed Crystal her first wand and she impatiently waved it in an effort to speed up the process. Maybe that action alone would have an effect on what wand she would get. Crystal heard a drawer burst open from behind Ollivander and paper proceeded to fly out, flying directly towards her face.

"Ow!" The paper dropped to the floor with a tiny amount of blood coating it's longest side. Crystal pressed her hand to the side of her face where the impact was.

"Goodness me! Are you alright?" Ollivander loudly asked with a concerned tone. Crystal noticed that his way of speaking reminded her of Rowan's.

"Yes! Yes I'm perfectly fine." Crystal moved a chunk of her black hair to cover the paper cut.

"Well, if you are sure," He cautiously responded, taking note of Crystal's apologetic expression, "And never mind about the draw, I recall your brother exploded my favourite inkpot when he tried his first wand.”

Of course he did.

"You actually remember everyone who's visited this place?" Crystal asked, knowing there were other reasons why he may know Jacob. To her delight, Ollivander chose to stay professional. 

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Miss Helenora. His was maple wood, dragon heartstring core, ten inches. A fine wand, such a shame for it to be snapped." 

Crystal found it intriguing how much Ollivander cared for his wands, treating their losses like the loss of a person. 

"Well, he was expelled."

"Indeed, before running away. If it isn't invasive of my to ask, what impact did that have on you?" Ollivander asked with the intention to use this information to find a better suited wand. Crystal could list many impacts, too many for anyone to hear.

"I was sad and I still think about it all the time. But I don't want a bad reputation at school." She murmured in response. Ollivander muttered to himself in a way that showed his age getting the better of him.

"I admire your passion and determination, as well as your level of maturity at your young age," He actually did seem to admire these traits, "Hornbeam wand, dragon heartstring core, eleven inches, inflexible. My own wand is made of hornbeam." The wand description didn't make Crystal feel overly positive, but still she took it in her right hand and gave it a twirl, with less haste than the first time. Her spine began to feel satisfyingly cooler and the cut on the side of her face stopped hurting for a brief moment. There was a small aura of light surrounding her, and the wand's tip sparkled.

"Splendid! It is perfect for you," Crystal didn't know how to feel about that, "I'll be interested to see what path you choose..."  

She wasted no time in leaving and immediately started frankly spinning her head around in search of Rowan. Rowan appeared from behind her, wearing a rather noticeable scarf. 

"Oh wow..."

"Do you like it?" Rowan asked, turning once clockwise, "I think it really brings out my eyes." Her eyes were brown. The scarf was red, green, yellow, orange and white.

"It... suits you," It did suit her, it was wacky, "You'll certainly look like the smartest first year."

"In that case, I'll be coming to you for all future fashion advice!" She exclaimed, "Is that a hornbeam wand?" 

"How did you know?" 

"My family's tree farm supplied wood for wands and brooms," Rowan replied, "That's why I love staying inside and reading, it keeps me from working on the farm. That, and the fact I don't have any friends..."

"Yet." Crystal affirmed, "I already see you as a friend." 

"Really? Since when?"

“Hm, I don’t know actually.” 

*

"Platform Nine and Three Quarters is just through that wall, Crystal." Rowan pointed to the large wall between Platforms Nine and Ten. Crystal believed for years that her mum was just winding her up when she said she literally had to run through a brick wall to get to the platform. 

"That's terrifying," Crystal stated, "Can we run through together?" Rowan nodded. They both gripped their luggage tightly and ran. Crystal ran slightly faster and appeared at the other side slightly before Rowan did, only to be met with a shoulder to the face.

"What do you want?!" The impacted girl shrieked and clutched her shoulder as though Crystal had just stabbed it.

"I'm so sorry! Did you drop anything?" Crystal asked in a panic, with a sharp pain growing in her nose. Rowan burst out of the wall and started to question what on earth was happening. The girl Crystal had hit was clearly a first year like herself, and a very untidy one. She had a spiky bob of brown hair with a patch at the front dyed blonde, though it looked more ginger than blonde. She also seemed to experiment with makeup, as she had black eyeshadow coating the underneath of her eyes, making her strange purple eyes stand out. The girl stood back and almost complained, but instead smirked. 

"Wow. You're a Helenora, aren't you? It's Jacob Helenora's sister!" She announced, and everyone on the platform looked in their direction, "And already covered in blood too, you're living up to your expectations all right." Her accent was strange, it seemed very forced and posh in the way she shouted, but there was an underlying hint that she was, in fact, northern. 

"Can we just get on the train, please?" Crystal huffed. Rowan froze when the girl looked over at her. She scoffed. 

"Fine, don't sit near me though. Don't attack me again." She stormed off. Rowan ran up to Crystal and picked up her fallen luggage, luckily none of it had fallen out.

"That was Merula Snyde I think, she... your face! Crystal, your nose! Should I get an adult?" Rowan asked, glaring at Crystal's bruised nose with blood rushing out of it. Crystal faced the floor with her hand covering her nose and shook her head. She used her other hand to point to the train, wanting to get on it as soon as possible to avoid more attention. 

When they sat down in an empty carriage, Rowan took a handkerchief out of her pocket and moved it towards Crystal's face. Crystal flinched backwards, but complied and moved her hand out of the way for Rowan to clean her face. 

"I suppose I don't really look ready for Hogwarts like this." Crystal attempted to say under the handkerchief. Rowan nodded.

"We're on this train for ages, so you have time to look presentable," Rowan noticed the paper cut, "God, what did Merula do to you?!"

"Oh this? That was Ollivander." Rowan's jaw dropped, "No! It was in Ollivander's! It happened when I tried my first wand."

"How did you manage to cast diffindo on your first wave?"  

Crystal exhaled a chuckle, "It was a paper cut." Rowan nodded in relief. Then there was silence, as they looked out the window. The train was setting off and parents were waving, which just made Crystal even more happy to have Rowan. Rowan had already taken on a sort of parenting role, teaching her about different books, wearing strange clothing and helping her when she got hurt. When she realised she had made a true friend was when she realised that she would do all of those things for Rowan too. 

"How did your mum come up with your name?" Rowan randomly asked about five minutes into the journey.

"Oh, well, my mum always loved the name. It reminds her of how clear and precious her love for her family is. I don't know if I'm particularly clear, or precious to be honest. She knows it's quite an odd name though, so she calls me Crys to be more casual." Crystal explained. 

"Could I call you Crys? I'd like to practise my casual side before I go to Hogwarts." 

"Absolutely!" 

"Hi Crys."

"Hi Rowan." She tried to march through the awkwardness. This was normal, everything that was happening right now was not an original experience.

"I need to sleep now. Desperately. Wake me up in a few hours if I'm still sleeping." Crystal immediately shut her eyes in relief after saying this and Rowan just nodded, uncontrollably smiling. Rowan admired the view as they were finally leaving London. The train took a lovely route, covering countryside only to avoid muggles. She gasped every time the train went over a bridge and tried to calculate the possibility of falling. It was usually zero percent, but one bridge did look rather old and it scared her quite a bit. Rowan stared out of the window for ages, then got bored of the countryside and read a book.

The trolley lady appeared randomly, offering Rowan some snacks. She emptied the remains of her purse and handed it over, getting as much sweets as she could possibly buy, which wasn't a lot. It was becoming evening now and Rowan knew she should wake Crystal up soon, she wanted to wrap Crystal in her scarf but she knew it would decrease her chances of waking up and also, the scarf was too comfy to remove. She wrapped her scarf around her again and pulled it a bit looser around her neck so that half of her face was buried in it's warmth. She looked out of the window for a little while longer.

Eventually, Rowan tapped Crystal's shoulder.

"Crys, you should probably change into your robes."  

Chapter Text

Crystal was tempted to put her hood up as she walked into the great hall, if it didn't make her stand out more. Rowan even offered to hold her hand as they walked in, to which she graciously declined. There were so many other first years walking along side her, including Merula Snyde, who bumped her shoulder as she walked past, maybe on purpose. The amount of first-years this year was slightly fewer than the average number of students per year, which made Crystal very happy. 

The first-years, most of them eager to be sorted, were blocking the central isle down the middle of the Great Hall and all of the other years rolled their eyes as to say 'here we go again'. Crystal didn't listen to much of Professor McGonagall's speech because she was too distracted by the floating candles and lengthy tables, plus there were some students giving her weird looks before whispering to their friends. One third year had a Daily Prophet from four years ago with Jacob's story on it, Crystal could recognise that Daily Prophet from any distance, she had a copy of it in her wardrobe. She would read it every now and again and she was still trying to figure out how she felt about the section that mentioned her. It was only brief, but it was a very definite mention, it spoke about how "the younger sister's privacy should be respected during this harsh time", which made mentioning her at all feel contradictory to that statement. 

Crystal finally snapped back into reality when the Sorting Hat started speaking, McGonagall had already read out the first name and the Sorting Hat was getting to work. Crystal tried to blur out the overwhelming sound of children getting categorised before their personality had fully developed, but a few names stuck out to her and interested her.

"Copper, Ben." A pale, Muggle-born, boy with shiny blond hair that strapped to his face began to wobble up the steps, shaking so viciously that his ankles looked like they were about to give way. McGonagall looked over to Dumbledore and subtly gestured to this poor boy out of concern, to which Dumbledore just calmly smiled. Ben finally made it to the Sorting Hat and sighed as he sad down, relieved to not have to put effort into standing anymore. Ben knew he would feel a lot less nervous after he was sorted, as long as he wasn't put in Gryffindor or Slytherin, but he knew there was no chance of being put in either of those since he was neither brave nor ambitious. He made eye contact with Crystal for a few seconds and Crystal didn't know how to react, so she just smiled on reflex and nodded. 

"Gryffindor!" 

Ben stood up immediately before the hat had even left his head and ran down the steps once McGonagall removed it, stumbling to the Gryffindor table with a heavy look of surprise and fear covering his face. He buried his head in his arms once he sat down, and stayed that way. 

"Haywood, Penny." Some people cheered as this bright and smiley girl hopped up the steps. Crystal wondered how anyone could possibly be popular already this early into their time at Hogwarts. She noticed how neat Penny's blonde hair was, with the front strands tied back and two plaits from the back of her hair resting in front of her shoulders. She looked like one of those child models seen advertising kid's clothing, as she had clear skin, a sharp jawline and an expressive face. She radiated positivity, even McGonagall felt herself smile at this girl's projection of kindness wherever she stepped. 

"Hufflepuff!"

The Sorting Hat made its decision very quickly. Penny pranced down to the Hufflepuff table and immediately started conversation with those next to her. Crystal decided to zone out again until her name was called. 

"Helenora, Crystal." As Crystal walked up the steps with as much confidence as she could force, people's reactions were either humorous or nervous. Crystal wasn't phased by this, as those two feelings also came to mind when Crystal judged herself. The Sorting Hat seemed confused as soon as it was placed on her head, perhaps it knew the burning hatred that Crystal had for it. He thought for a while and Crystal eventually gave up on trying to read the student's expressions, most of them were vacant, but some of them were disturbed by her presence. Crystal was startled when the Sorting Hat started speaking again.

"Better be... Ravenclaw!" 

Oh?

Crystal could see one immediate positive from this - Rowan would most likely be sorted into Ravenclaw. She smiled at Rowan as she made her way to the Ravenclaw table, and Rowan nervously smiled back. Chester Davies, the prefect who was coincidently sat next to her, stuck his hand out for her to shake it. Of course Crystal had to overthink this simple action, because to her it could mean several things, ranging from a humane greeting to a threat on her life. Crystal did not make eye contact with Chester as she shook his hand, before zoning back out.

"Khanna, Rowan." Rowan kept a stern expression while she walked up the stairs, trying to clear her mind for when the Sorting Hat was placed on her head. The hat did not seem confused, but rather accepting of Rowan's mind.

"Ravenclaw!" 

Rowan and Crystal could finally rest easy, as they were now in the same house for the rest of their time at Hogwarts. Rowan noticed there was a fourth-year sat next to Crystal and she stood and awkwardly looked at him, not knowing how to ask him to budge up so she could be the one sitting next to Crystal. Crystal chuckled to herself at Rowan's stance and tapped the fourth year's shoulder.

"Excuse me, could you shift a bit? My friend wants to sit there." The fourth-year just nodded and moved up a bit, barely enough for Rowan to sit down.

"See?" Rowan pointed out that interaction to Crystal, "Not everyone is blindly disgusted by you."

Before she could respond, Crystal heard a voice from behind her, "I want to talk to you in particular when we arrive at the Ravenclaw common room, Miss Helenora." It was Chester Davies, and he was scary. Crystal just looked over her shoulder and fearfully nodded, turning back to Rowan in an instant, not saying anything.

"At least we're in the same house, right?" Rowan asked.

"Right," Crystal repeated, not sounding too sure of herself. Her head snapped up when she heard McGonagall call out one name in particular. 

"Snyde, Merula." Merula, still viciously smirking, walked up to the hat with a lot of character, strutting with a sort of malicious skip. She appeared to be overly proud as she sat down and allowed the hat to be placed on her head. Crystal had noticed that, like Rowan and herself, Merula arrived at Platform Nine and Three Quarters without her parents. Unlike Rowan and herself, Merula did not speak to anyone on the platform, unless scolding Crystal for bumping into her counts as a conversation. 

"Slytherin!"

Crystal did not care for Merula or Slytherin in general, as long as the two were kept as far away from her as possible. Crystal spoke to Rowan for a bit, but couldn't keep Chester Davies' words out of her mind. One of the final names called out was a name Crystal recognised.

"Weasley, Charlie." Another Weasley. If Crystal looked really hard, she could see his older brother, Bill, sitting at the Gryffindor table. People at Hogwarts sometimes made jokes about how Charlie, and all of the other Weasleys, might be sorted into Gryffindor just like Bill. These same jokesters paused and realised that their joke may be a ridiculous reality when, almost immediately after the hat was placed, the Sorting Hat said:

"Gryffindor!"

Once everyone had been sorted, Dumbledore gave an unremarkable and clearly rehearsed speech that Crystal paid little attention to. Shortly after, Chester Davies directed all the Ravenclaw first years directly to the Ravenclaw common room in the West Towers. 

The Ravenclaw common room is what finally made Crystal truly excited to call Hogwarts her home. There was a blue, purple and white theme and the ceiling was a mix of the three. The ceiling was clearly a magical illusion, but it looked real enough to briefly convince all of the first-year Ravenclaws that it was, in fact, starry night sky in a purply-blue area of space. There were artefacts everywhere, as well as drawers with books stacked on top of them. Behind a statue of some ancient witch, there was a little area with the walls coated in bookshelves. There were evenly placed windows all around the singular wall that circled the entire common room. Crystal eventually realised that this was the very top room of the tower, since in the centre of the common room was the top of a staircase that led down to the dormitories. 

"Welcome to our common room, first-year Ravenclaws," Chester introduced them all, "Girls dorms are downstairs to the left and boys dorms are downstairs to the right, with five people in each room. You are free to wonder, but you must go to bed soon as it is getting late. You'll find your luggage and your timetables are already on your beds," Chester turned directly to Crystal as all the other students scattered off, "Crystal, I will speak with you first thing tomorrow morning. Be stood here fifteen minutes before your first lesson."

Crystal looked muddled, "Can't you just talk to me now?" 

"And I too will be nervous knowing that a relative of Jacob Helenora, the student who briefly ruined Ravenclaw's reputation, will be sleeping just downstairs. You will see me tomorrow, no buts." Chester sternly told her. Crystal shamefully nodded, already being on her Head Boy's bad side. She noticed Rowan had ran directly to the bookshelves and was already browsing, Crystal walked up to her and sighed as she leaned against the shelves. 

"Sorry I ran off, couldn't help myself." Rowan said with little meaning in her voice without looking up from the book she had just picked up. Crystal continued to observe the common room.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Crystal was gawking at the brilliance of the ceiling. Rowan looked up for a second, then back down, then up once more as she stared at the view above them. They stayed like that for a moment until they both looked down at each other at the same time.

"Crys, would you like to hear an exhaustive history of our house, including a comprehensive biography on our house founder?" Rowan genuinely asked.

"Let's just take it all in." 

A new voice was heard loudly calling at them from the other side of the common room, "I can't believe they let you in here after your brother went mental." A third-year boy confidently said to Crystal.

"I didn't choose be be put in Ravenclaw." Crystal deadly responded. 

"And do you think any of us chose you, eh?" He retorted. 

Rowan chimed in, "You neither, so don't act like your special." She coldly said to his face. Crystal wanted to run and hide, but thankfully the third-year boy left in a strop. 

"I know you probably don't want to draw attention, and I'm sorry, but I really did want to say that to him." Rowan said, slightly embarrassed. Crystal nodded and smiled slightly in appreciation for Rowan's actions.

"It's alright, though I'd prefer just to stay silent when being bullied over my brother. They'll realise that there is really nothing I've done for them to bully me if I don't respond," Crystal explained, "Can we go to the dorms? I want to look at our timetable." 

When they got down the stairs, they found out they shared a dorm, which was arguably even better than just being in the same house. They shared a dorm with three other people who they had obviously never met or even heard of before. Tulip Karasu, Badeea Ali and Skye Parkin. Badeea had already unpacked her things and the other two had not even come downstairs yet. Crystal and Rowan noticed that their beds were the nearest to each other compared to the other three, they were both on either side of the large window that they could see a good portion of the Hogwarts Grounds out of. Skye's bed was against the wall opposite the entrance door and the other two were placed in different directions in the different corners of the wall opposite Crystal and Rowan's beds. Once the pair of them were unpacked, they simultaneously sat down on their beds, facing each other. 

It was clear through Rowan's face when a thought came into her mind, "I just remembered, I never actually looked at your wand, I just spoke about my family, can I see it?" 

"Yep. I'm not sure about the description," She handed over the wand, "Apparently I'm inflexible."  

Rowan observed it really close to her face. She made a face that said she had just gained another ounce of knowledge.

"What are you most excited for tomorrow?" Rowan handed back Crystal's wand.

"Potions I think, but Charms is first thing right?" Crystal responded, knowing full well that the truthful response was how much she just wanted to find her brother. 

"Right. I'm in most of your classes, so we'll be seeing a lot of each other. For tomorrow, do you want me to go with you for your talk with our Head Boy?" Rowan asked. 

"No it's fine," Crystal tried to reassure her, "I'll meet you in the classroom."

Rowan seemed slightly on edge over going to her first class solo, "Okay." Crystal and Rowan spoke for a little while longer, until the clock reached eleven and Rowan fell asleep basically mid-sentence. While Crystal found that relatively amusing, she also prayed that she could sleep without being filled with anxiety once again. Forty hours awake, yet her nerves were still reigning triumphant. 

*

"Do you know why I've called you here this morning, Crystal Helenora?" Chester Davies asked.

Why was he even asking? 

"Yes, my brother." 

Chester nodded, "Do you know what your brother did?"

"How could I not?" Crystal barely refrained from rolling her eyes. 

"I just wanted to express how much I hope you do not go down that path. Not just for our reputation, but for yours. You seem very promising, especially since you are a Ravenclaw. As a young Ravenclaw, your role is to show your love for your house by earning house points and using your natural intellect to it's advantage." 

"Thank you. I'll try." Crystal had to grit her teeth slightly. She was going to risk being slightly late to her first ever class, for that? Crystal took off her Ravenclaw jumper before she put on her robe, she wanted to look extra smart with the jumper but it was too hot, it was July after all. She had to navigate the ridiculous staircases and say "thank you" to every irritating portrait that wished her luck on her first day. Thankfully, she was not late to Charms and she even managed to sit next to Rowan, who greeted her with a smile. 

"How did it go?"

"It would've gone awfully if I said what I wanted to say." Crystal placed her Charms book on the desk with a thud and before Rowan could reply, she was abruptly interrupted by Professor Flitwick. Crystal realised quickly that this small man was actually her head of house, not just the professor of Charms.

"Helenora, thought I recognised you! If you're anything like your brother, you will do well in this class. He was one of my most skilled students," His tone proceed to become less playful, "That being said, he was also one of my most rebellious students. Are you going to follow the rules?" 

She was glad that he didn't ask if she wanted to rather than if she was going to, because the honest answers would've been remarkably different, "I will try to. I need to learn the rules first so that I don't accidentally break one trying to find my brother," Crystal folded her arms and rested her body weight against the desk. Who actually knew the school rules other than those who had to enforce them?  Crystal wondered why she couldn't quote a single school rule.

"Very well. I'm sure you'll find a copy of the rules in the library," Even Flitwick wasn't sure. Class begun after that, a lesson on Lumos, the wand-lighting spell. The class was an hour long and most students took roughly forty minutes to cast it; Crystal took twenty. By the end of the lesson, Crystal began lighting up her wand over and over again, not to show off to anyone other than herself. She could do this, Lumos had been her motivation for the morning. When Flitwick dismissed the class, Crystal left with a smile on her face. Rowan was smiling too, as she had already began to look at the next spell in her charms book and she read it on her way out of the class. Rowan felt called out by the potion she was going to be learning in her first potions class with Professor Snape - Cure for Boils. 

Crystal went to the bathroom in the dungeons for a few minutes to focus on her breath for a bit, feeling bad as Rowan walked to her second class alone just like the first one. When she left the bathroom she took one look down the corridor at the entrance to the potions classroom, and sighed deeply. 

"Admit it!" Squealed a very angry Merula. Rowan took a step back.

"I can't." Rowan replied, "There's no way you're the most powerful witch at Hogwarts, it's logically impossible. I've made numerous lists of the most powerful witches at Hogwarts, based on multiple factors. Besides, you're just a first-year like me!" 

"I'm nothing like you!" Merula noticed Crystal walking up beside Rowan.

"Why on earth has this conversation happened?" Crystal asked them both, "Come on Rowan." 

Merula was furious at being ignored, "Who do you think you are?" There was a pause, "Never mind, I know exactly who you are, and I'm relieved. If you were sorted into Slytherin, I'd burn the Sorting Hat. How's your brother?" 

"Who are you again?" Crystal had forgotten Merula's name, which seemed to offend her. 

"Merula Snyde, first-year Slytherin, the best witch at Hogwarts," She responded, making Rowan chuckle under her breath. Crystal could not believe she had heard 'first-year' and 'best witch' used in the same sentence, "I heard the professors whispering about you during the feast, I suppose it's that kind of crap that would make you think you're better than me." Merula added.  

"I don't want any trouble." 

"Too late, you're related to Jacob Helenora." Merula instantly replied. Crystal realised that Merula's reply summed up her entire life, and she also noticed Professor Snape approaching behind her, stand behind her and sigh. He was a tall man with a sharp and stern face, weakened by his poor posture. He seemed young, maybe in his twenties, but his stress-related wrinkles aged him significantly.

"Helenora, do you plan on living up to the atrocity of your reputation?" He rhetorically asked, though is took Crystal a moment to realise Snape was being rhetorical. 

"Merula was bullying my friend, professor." 

"Get to Potions class. Be thankful you're not headed to detention."

Crystal felt as though she should have stayed in the bathroom a while longer, because she knew that the conversation wouldn't have taken such a turn had she not carried her name down the corridor along side her. The three of them entered the classroom behind Snape, Crystal immediately recognising the different in the tone of this classroom compared to the bubbly, scattered atmosphere of Charms with Flitwick. Unlike Charms, Crystal and Rowan were late to potions and could not pick a desired seat, instead having to sit on the dustiest table, beside Merula. 

Chapter Text

"This is your first Potions class. Based on the bewildered look on your expressions, this may just be your last." Snape coldly taunted them. Crystal and Rowan had to share a cauldron with Merula, who took charge and boasted about how skilled she was at Potions, even though Crystal didn't believe that a potion master's go-to would be Cure for Boils. Crystal was in charge on sorting ingredients into test tubes while Rowan researched everything she could find on the potion and once they were done, Crystal was quite proud of the work they had done. That was until the cauldron started shaking and the liquid bubbled, slightly overflowing onto the table. Rowan immediately got to work and analysed the problem.

"From my studies, this looks like the beginnings of the explosive reaction caused by adding Bulbadox powder..." Rowan warned, a bit too late.

"Explosive?!" Crystal stuttered as the cauldron cracked down the middle and the mixture burst all over the table. Crystal jumped back slightly in her seat and almost shrieked and Rowan just looked unimpressed. Merula scoffed to bring her sarky annoyance to the table. 

"Congratulations, you've cured the table of boils." Said Merula with an impassive expression, ignored by the rest of the table even though Crystal found that a bit funny. Snape walked over, slowly, scaring Crystal more and more with every step. 

"Helenora." Snape voiced. His lip slightly curled. Crystal wanted to say 'Snape.' in response. 

"Not since your brother have I seen such a reckless Ravenclaw, ten points from your house." He grimly continued. This was Crystal's first Potions class and second class ever, yet she was being so harshly scolded. As far as Crystal was concerned, she wasn't too bothered by house points, yet she still felt let down by this loss of house points, like she felt the burden of letting her fellow Ravenclaws down. Snape seemed offended that Crystal had not said anything yet.

"And what do you have to say for yourself?" 

She knew it was her fault and she did not want to give any excuse, "Sorry, professor."

"Apologies won't save your potion, nor change my view on you." Snape was cold. She was sure he was provoking an apology, but unfortunately, he was an arsehole.

"Okay." Crystal added, almost completely wordless and slightly nervous. The teacher should not make a student nervous, Crystal knew that much about schools. Rowan scoffed as soon as Snape was out of earshot. Crystal looked to Rowan and raised her eyebrows to question her. 

"Crys, that was absolutely ridiculous. He is absolutely ridiculous." Rowan exclaimed. 

"I know, Rowan. I've got bigger problems than Snape now though." 

"How?" 

Crystal took a tired breath, "Chester Davies expects more of me because of my brother, for whatever reason," Something then clicked in her mind, "I think it's because he wants me to repair the damage that Jacob did to Ravenclaw's reputation."

"That's ridiculous too!" Rowan added.

"I know." Crystal smiled to lighten the mood. It was awkward, until it wasn't anymore. When they left the classroom, Crystal stayed behind to clean the mess of the cauldron. Whatever she could do to help, whatever she could do to make Snape hate her less, whatever she could to do extend the time before she had to see Chester. Crystal thought she must've been out of her mind when she called Merula's name before she left the classroom. Rowan had already left and Merula decided to explain to Snape how the explosion most definitely wasn't her fault before leaving, so she was the last one out of the classroom.

Merula turned around, visibly disturbed by the mention of her name. 

"What." She bluntly said with no tone of question. 

"Could you help me clean up?" 

"Why would I do that?" 

"Because you sabotaged my potion." Crystal calmly accused her. Merula felt physically pushed back by this accusation. 

"It was my potion too, stop blaming your problems on me," Merula sneered, "Besides, you were the one with the ingredients."

"I never had bulbadox powder. Rowan checked that every ingredient I was using was on the potion instructions." 

There was silence, so Crystal took her opportunity, "But it's fine. If you don't want to help, you can go." She managed to hold stern eye contact with Merula. Merula had done it, not only that, but Crystal had also got her feeling guilty about it. Merula walked up to the table and wished she knew a cleaning spell. 

*

Crystal was stopped on her droopy path to the Ravenclaw common room. She recognised him before he even spoke, he was the timid boy who looked at her while being sorted into Gryffindor. He walked in front of her slightly, then shook his head and stood back. 

"Are you alright?" Crystal asked with furrowed eyebrows. The boy seemed out of breath even though he had only walked a few steps to get to her. 

"Yes- yes, I think. You're Crystal Helenora, right?" He couldn't look her in the eye. 

"Yes, hello. Sorry, who are you again?" Unlike the boy, Crystal spoke in a proper manner to try and put him at ease, because he was most certainly not at ease. 

"Ben. Ben C-Copper," Ben took a very deep and shaky breath, "I wanted to thank you for standing up to Merula just now and before your class too." 

"Who told you I did that?" 

Ben was embarrassed, "Well... I saw you before going into class, I was at the end of the corridor, how calmly you avoided her was remarkable! I walked down here after class to tell you that, but you stayed behind, then you really stood up to her. I waited here until you were done cleaning," Ben stuttered at how weird that sounded, "I hid from Merula when she walked out, then I came out from hiding to find you." 

He had said it all so quickly, Crystal had to pause for a moment to process what Ben had just tried to explain. She didn't pause for too long though, as she could see poor Ben looked like he could faint from the silence. 

"Well first, thank you," Crystal noticed how relieved Ben looked when she said that, "Second, why were you at the end of the Potions corridor when you had another class?"

"Well, heh, I've been following her so she can't sneak up on me." Ben explained, not particularly thoroughly. 

"I don't quite follow." 

"If she sees me, I get the chance to run away," Ben's breath was calming down, "She picked on me during the train journey, she just wanted to be mean for the whole trp." 

"I'm sorry Ben. That sounds horrible." Crystal truly sympathised with him.

"Merula is so obsessed with being the best witch, but I don't know why she has to bring others into it," Ben was speaking like a normal human being now, "I'm glad you were able to stand up to her, I certainly can't. It's a joke that I got put in Gryffindor." Crystal used what Ben had said to further prove her point to herself - Hogwarts Houses were full of shit. 

"Everyone's afraid of something, Ben." Crystal told him, sincerely.

"Yeah, unfortunately, I'm afraid of everything. I mean it, everything scares me," Admitting this seemed to scare him too, "I'm also muggle-born, so all of this is new to me, and even more scary." 

"I know I come from a wizard family, but yeah, I understand how you're feeling." Crystal hoped that saying this wasn't insensitive. She added, "I'll try and help you in any way I can, Ben." 

Ben's eyes widened, "Thank you... thank you! I'll see you around then?" 

"Yeah, see you."

There was really no avoiding it now. Ben couldn't multiply and meet her for the first time again, Merula couldn't cause any more disruptions, Rowan couldn't run up from the library and drag her back down with her. What's worse was that Chester Davies absolutely already knew about the loss of house points and that it was all her fault. She just had to walk in, admit her wrongdoing (though she didn't do anything wrong) and listen do what he had to say, even though she really did not want to do any of that. Not one bit. 

"Helenora." Chester Davies said, in a disturbingly similar manner to Snape, as Crystal entered the common room. Crystal couldn't speak, not even apologise, she just stood there waiting for Chester to say more. 

"I should have kept a better eye on you, considering what your brother did to Ravenclaw's reputation." 

Yeah, never mind.

"I am not my brother! And all I did was do something wrong in class, by accident, I never meant to hurt our chances of winning the house cup!" Crystal raved without completely losing her temper, she was getting there though. Chester wasn't phased by this, rather finding it uncalled for and slightly amusing. 

"Alright, bloody hell it's only ten house points, get over yourself. I know that's rich coming from me, but this was bound to happen knowing you're family history. Also, you're only twelve, aren't you?" 

Crystal was quite annoyed at how he referred to her family, showing that he basically ignored everything she said. She messed up and failed to assume that this is how everyone would react, especially at this age. This horrid age. 

"Eleven, actually." Crystal's twelfth birthday was a few months away on November first. Being a '1972 kid' made her one of the older ones in her year. 

"In any case," Chester reached into his robes and pulled out a small, folded letter, "Snape has actually sent a letter to the common room, addressed to you."

Crystal had only been at Hogwarts for half a day but she knew this was unusual, "Why wouldn't he just talk to me?" She asked. 

"Probably because he despises you." 

"Oh." 

"I wouldn't take it personally, he doesn't like many people, so you're normal in that regard. But you should read this letter." Chester wondered if Crystal was actually offended by Snape disliking her. Crystal took the letter and carefully unfolded it, revealing it to be a lot smaller than she thought it would be. The letter read:

Helenora, I have discovered evidence that your potion may have been tampered with. While it does not prove your innocence, it does cast some doubt onto my belief that you are hopelessly incompetent. Bring me a jar of pickled slugs from the potions storeroom and I will consider restoring your house points. 
There are directions to the potions storeroom at the bottom of the letter. 

- Professor Snape

Chester lifted his eyebrows and slightly bowed his head as to say 'what are you waiting for'. 

"Want me to go with you, Crys?" Rowan asked Crystal, not wanting to be left in conversation with Chester. Crystal understood that Rowan was great company and that Rowan certainly knew the layout of the castle better than she did, but she also knew that Snape would be specific if he wanted Crystal to have company on her task. 

"Thanks, but I should probably go alone."

"Go then." Chester pushed. 

"I'll be in the library." Rowan said.

Crystal almost walked off, but jolted to a halt as she remembered something, "Oh, Rowan, I met a boy from our year named Ben Copper, I spoke to him about Merula and his fears, he seems quite nice and I told him I'd see him around. I'm sure he'd be happy to meet you too," Crystal didn't really know what she was asking, "He seemed quite lonely when I met him." 

"That's excellent! But, how do you expect me to just go up to another human being and talk to them?" Rowan expressed. Crystal giggled to herself.

"You could wave at him from the end of the corridor." 

Crystal left the common room and immediately checked the map three times. Then a fourth. Snape was kind enough to have put directions directly from her common room instead of just circling the cupboard on the map, so following those directions was fairly easy. She didn't expect the Potions cupboard to be at the very end of the East Towers, far away from the Dungeons where Potions was, but she was just happy to have found the cupboard in short time. The door was basically twice the height of Crystal, but it swung open easily and she made her way inside the small room, immediately noticing how dark it was, as well as the door slamming behind her. 

"Huh?" She turned around, pulling out her wand despite knowing just a single spell. She heard it was a good reflex to have, which worried her. Suddenly something wrapped around her wrist and she shrieked and dropped her wand as she was yanked backwards towards the back of the cupboard. She reached her free hand behind her, expecting to have to stop herself from hurting her back against the wooden wall, but the back of the cupboard was soft. Weirdly soft. And it moved. Then both her legs and her midsection were wrapped and pulled back too while Crystal wriggled and repeatedly slapped whatever was grabbing her. She had one free hand remaining and used it to stretch forward and grab her wand. While being an unfortunate time to only know one spell, Crystal was glad it was at least a spell that allowed her to see.

Before she could cast her spell, she heard two hands violently slap against the other side of the door followed by the laugher of a familiar screechy voice.

"Merula? This isn't funny, let me out!" Crystal yelled. The wooden door was so thick that Merula could hardly hear her, "You wrote the letter!" 

The hysteric giggling grew louder, "You didn't think that was actually Snape, did you?" 

"I- I-" Her torso was suddenly wrapped again and she shrieked once more. 

"If you're as talented at the wand-lighting charm as Flitwick says, you should get out of there no bother." Merula casually sneered and ran off seconds later, leaving Crystal helpless - almost. Wand in hand, she stretched her arm out and said:

"Lumos!" The cupboard lit up, revealing it to be a lot smaller that Crystal expected, with the strange plant that was trapping her coating the wall like ivy. She tried to relax, to take a deep breath and pretend like her pulse wasn't speeding up by the second. She pointed the light at the end of her wand closer to examine the plant wrapping around her, but when the light came near it, it instantly moved away in a panic, almost freeing her completely.

"Merula! Let me out!" Crystal yelled while she used the light to release her other arm, then her legs, but the plant got a hold of her again in no time, "Someone! Please..." She trailed off as she noticed a small sign on the back of the door, reading: Curly, the friendly Devil's Snare.

Baffled by the ridiculousness, she held off Curly for a little while longer until the door burst open, blowing the hinges off. A large figure appeared, seemingly cautious of where he was treading despite having crushed down a door. As he walked further towards the light of Crystal's spell, Crystal knew who he was. 

"Bloomin 'eck, Ravenclaw! Step away from that Devil's Snare, yer scarin' it." Hagrid's accent was a lot more aggressively West Country than Crystal was expecting. 

"I'm scaring it?!" Crystal retorted while darting out the door when she got the chance. Hagrid shut the door once Crystal had exited, locking it and stuffing the key into one of his many jacket pockets. He actually seemed annoyed that Crystal had scared the Devil's Snare.

Crystal was relieved and breathless, "Thank you... thank you sir." 

"Rubeus Hagrid, at yer service. I'm the Keeper of the Keys and Grounds at Hogwarts, pleasure to meet yeh." He didn't really smile, his expression was more dopey than gleeful. Crystal stuck out her hand to shake his.

"Crystal Helenora." She ended up using both hands to shake just one of his. 

"Ah, maybe trouble really does run in yer family," He nodded his head for some reason and then looked confused, "How'd yeh end up in there, Crystal?" Hagrid using her first name instantly made Crystal see Hagrid as more down to her level than any of the other teachers, and physically opposite Flitwick's level. 

"A first-year Slytherin locked me inside." Crystal did not want to say Merula's name, as it was not her intention to get Merula into trouble when it would just cause her twice the trouble in return.

"She did?! What are yeh goin' ter do?" 

Crystal hadn't even thought of that, "I don't know, I want to find my friend first. I'll tell her." 

"Alright, well I'd do tha' second if I were you. Yeh might want teh do somethin' about your robes first." 

Crystal hadn't even noticed that yet, but upon looking down, she could see the atrocity of her robes. There were holes, smudges and scrapes covering most of the cloak and some of the holes had gone through her blouse too.

"Thank you, Hagrid. I'll hopefully see you again soon." 

And with that, Crystal marched the walk of shame back to her common room. When she arrived, Chester Davies made a comically blank expression at Crystal as she stumbled through the door, appearing as though she had just survived a shredder. Sighing deeply, Crystal walked up to Chester and stood in front of him.

"What on earth has happened to you." Chester asked in a tone that did not make him sound like he actually wanted to know. 

Crystal mumbled and stuttered, her anxiety and tiredness practically replacing her cerebrum, "Devil's Snare... Curly... Hagrid... Merula..." 

"I'm hearing a lot of names, but not Snape's," Chester wanted to grab and shake the information out of her, "Was the letter a fake, by any chance?" 

Crystal nodded and Chester let out a groan that could've lifted the roof off the tower.

"Bloody hell… well, go and change first. And maybe brush your hair, I'm not one for giving style points, but I'd deduct points if I had to judge your hair right now."

Crystal just nodded again and walked into her room, scanning left and right to see if she was safe to change. She wasn't, a fierce looking girl with a bob of funky, chestnut brown hair was dusting her broomstick. It was one of her dormmates, Skye Parkin. Skye looked up at Crystal and immediately judged her state, stifling a laugh.

"You look hideous mate." She had a soft Scottish accent, catching Crystal slightly off guard. In the past half an hour of meeting new people, she had moved from Cornwall to Fife. Crystal almost forgot to respond to her, but she tiredly nodded just in time. 

"I was just planning on getting changed in here if that's okay." Crystal could hardly be bothered to even try and put forward a tone of conversation, she hoped Skye could understand why, looking at her visual state.

"No bother, I was just on my way out." Skye said with cheerful charm as she took her broom and left the dorm. The second the door shut, Crystal took off her cloak and dumped it beside her bed, the untidiness annoyed her but she just had to look in a mirror. There was one in between the two beds opposite hers and her eyes widened when she saw herself. Her usually tidy black hair had almost completely knotted and looked three inches shorter than it actually was, her hair's parting had vanished, her pale skin was covered in dust, her blouse was certainly not white anymore and her skirt had been sliced above a school-permitted level. 

She fixed her hair first, it took her a while because of how thick it was, but she managed after a full-on session of tugging the brush through her hair over and over again. Crystal noticed how long her hair was getting, it was nearing her elbows and she was considering cutting it a bit shorter. Her clothes were next, she put on a polka-dot shirt and a grandpa jumper on top. For her trousers she wore baggy, black joggers and her shoes were her favourite dark blue Converse. 

Looking in the mirror for the second time, Crystal felt like herself again. She then realised she had no time to find Rowan, as Flying class was about to start.

Walking outside onto the Training Grounds, Crystal quickly realised that she did not share this class with Rowan. This scared her, along with the thought of flying an actual broomstick, she had never been fond of the idea of flying. Slightly detached from the large crowd of students was Ben Copper, quivering at the sight of the broom in front of him. Crystal was happy to see a familiar face and walked up to him. Ben noticed Crystal's arrival and weakly smiled, but his smile faded when Madam Hooch's booming voice filled the Training Grounds.

"Welcome to your first Flying class. If you demonstrate the ability to raise your brooms with confidence, you will be allowed to move on to Basic Hovering," She was very direct in tone, "Well? What are you waiting for, step up to the left side of your broomstick."

Ben turned to face Crystal in fear and spoke in a quiet and quivery voice, "I've been dreading this class all summer..." 

"You're afraid of heights?" Crystal asked. 

"Falling from them, mostly. I come from a Muggle family, the idea of flying on a broom is terrifying." He looked down at his broomstick, preparing himself to stand to the left of it.

"I've never flown on one either," Crystal tried to reason with his fear, "My mum was always very strict about that sort of thing." 

Ben didn't respond for a second while he caught up with his thoughts, "I don't think I can do this, Crys." 

Crystal smiled at him, comfortingly, "Of course you can do this, you just don't want to, not yet anyway- hang on, did you just call me Crys?" She quickly asked. 

"Yeah... that's what your friend Rowan called you." 

She actually spoke to him.

"Oh! When did you two speak? How did she find you?" She asked as if this was a questionnaire. Ben paused to remember.

"She just sort of came up to the big group of first-year Gryffindors in the Great Hall and asked if there was a 'Ben Copper' anywhere. Well, she sort of shouted it really. I just stuck up my hand and she walked up to me. Then she told me about you, that she was quote-on-quote "associated with Crystal Helenora, otherwise known as Crys", and then she took me to the Library and showed me some books, then wondered for a good ten minutes on why you were taking so long at whatever you were doing, I don't know, then she took me to the Courtyard and taught me how to play Gobstones."

Crystal was speechless and sort of jealous of Rowan's 'ways'. She actually sort of admired her, how she could always find a way of doing things that no one else would do. 

"Brilliant." Crystal stated. The pair chatted for a while longer as they tried to pick up their brooms without bending down and lifting it. This took Crystal a good half an hour to do with any sort of confidence, but it did not take Ben long at all, to his own surprise. Just so he didn't have to move on to the flying part, he decided to "cheer Crystal on" while she tried to lift the broom. Crystal quickly found this quite annoying, but preferred Ben happy on the ground than crying in the air, so she stayed quiet. The class was over before they knew it and Ben was very grateful for Crystal's comforting company.

"Thank you for helping me, Crys. Because of you, I could maybe bring myself to fly one day." Ben cheerfully exclaimed. It made Crystal happy to see Ben more cheerful than nervous. Before she could reply, Madam Hooch appeared beside the two of them, strictly smiling at them both. 

"Miss Helenora, you seem to have a knack for helping other students overcome their fears. Ten points to Ravenclaw," She turned to face Ben, which made him slightly jump, "And five points to Gryffindor, Mr Copper, for outstanding development of bravery." 

Ben and Crystal simultaneously said thank you to Hooch, then Crystal added, "I'm sure Rowan has a few books on flying."

"I do like reading books..." 

"I'm not surprised why you two got along so well, then." 

*

A week went by where Crystal took some time to relax and have a "normal" Hogwarts experience, if that was even possible for anyone, let alone her. At lunchtime on the second Monday of term, most students were in the Great Hall, while Crystal and Rowan were in the Courtyard, snacking on their sandwiches. Before meeting Rowan, Crystal had finally decided to write to her mum, the letter consisting of Crystal's insights from her time at Hogwarts, followed by a lengthy apology for not writing to her sooner. She didn't bother mentioning that a Devil's Snare named Curly almost choked her, but she did mention Rowan, her first proper friend ever. Crystal told Rowan about the incident and how she also met Hagrid and Rowan's response was a blank expression with a few blinks, similar to Chester's reaction, except Rowan's reaction was less disappointed and sarky and more genuinely blank. 

"So, Crys," Rowan swallowed the last of her egg and cress sandwich, "Could I teach you how to play Gobstones?" 

"Pardon?" 

"Gobstones! It's a nerd's Quidditch. I taught it to Ben when we hung out last week." Rowan explained.

"I still can't believe that afternoon happened, to be honest. It was quite eventful." Crystal remembered. Rowan reached into her robes and pulled out her bag of Gobstones. 

"C'mon, I'll teach you how to play right now. While I do that, I wanted to tell you some stuff I found out about Merula's family when I was researching dark wizards in the library." Rowan seemed a bit too joyful while saying that and Crystal really just wanted to ignore Merula as much as possible, but she knew she couldn't remove her from her life at this point. Plus, Crystal couldn't deny that she wasn't at least a bit (or even more than a bit) interested to find out the context to why Merula was like this; so aggressively driven. 

When they sat down to play, Crystal got a hold of the basics of Gobstones fairly quick, it was quite similar to Marbles. She also learned that Rowan's ability to research specific families was remarkable. There was no way she just 'happened' upon this detailed information on Merula's parents, she could clearly picture Rowan hastily flicking to the Snyde section of whatever dark wizard book she managed to get her hands on. Thanks to Rowan's research, Crystal learned that Merula's parents were currently locked up in Azkaban for their loyalty to Lord Voldemort during the Wizarding War. She could understand why that would make her angry, but she still couldn't figure out Merula's thought process behind locking her in a Devil's Snare cupboard. 

Speaking of the devil, Merula appeared after their game ended and laughed, because Gobstones is a very humorous game, apparently. 

"Hello Helenora." 

"Merula?"

"You're looking well. I heard you looked a right mess after the Snare incident."

"I'm quite pleased that all it did was ruin my clothes and hair, because it could've killed me if I didn't relax." 

"Relax? I heard you scream for like five minutes, that's why it tried to kill you, dumbass." 

"You know you basically just admitted to attempted murder." 

"I've been doing some research on your brother, Helenora." 

"Why have you told me?"

"Thought you ought to know."

"If you hate me so much, why don't you leave me alone? Or at least explain why you hate me?" 

Rowan didn't know if she should chime in or not, she was sort of enjoying this but it had to end eventually, "Merula, could you leave please?" 

Merula turned her head and looked slightly down on Rowan, "Your friend here is a danger to Hogwarts. I'm doing both of us a favour. My theory is that after Helenora's brother went mad and missing looking for these vaults, he joined Voldemort." 

"Firstly," Rowan began as Crystal tried to zone out looking at her feet, "You shouldn't say that name. Secondly, that's not your theory, that's a crappy conspiracy theory written by Rita Skeeter." 

"Firstly," Merula echoed back to Rowan, "I say what I want. Secondly, my theory is backed up by the fact that the professors were whispering about you a few days ago, Helenora. Probably wondering if you will try and bring Voldemort back one day." 

"Why do you want me to relate to you, Merula?" Crystal asked softly, realising among the silence of her peers that she was still staring down at the floor. Nobody spoke, so Crystal looked up at Merula and continued, "Why do you want my brother to have the same fate as your parents so badly? Is it because you think I'll be better than you? In my opinion, that's not how being 'better' works-" 

"I'm already better than you and that won't change, I'll duel you right now and the only scared person will be you. And Copper, if he's still following you around like a child then he might turn up." 

"Why do you want to duel me?"

"Oh my god stop asking all these philosophical questions as if you're Dumbledore or something." Merula whined. Rowan decided now was the perfect time to chime in.

"Um," She stuttered as both Merula and Crystal snapped their heads towards her, "On the subject of Dumbledore, he won't be too happy if you two duel on school grounds." Merula drew her wand and Crystal almost shrugged at her.

"Rowan's right, this isn't the way we should solve this. I just want to leave and not put up with your nonsense today." Crystal calmly explain, her calmness infuriating Merula.

"You aren't worth our time when you can't have an intellectual discussion without threatening us." Rowan added. 

Merula stamped her foot, "Do not walk away from me!" 

They began to walk away.

"Flipendo!" 

In an instant, Crystal was several feet in the air with her feet swinging above her head, then she came crashing down onto the concrete. She looked up from her painful haze, seeing Merula looking down on her, wand pointed at her face. Rowan walked up to Crystal to help her, but Merula simply shoved her out of her sight the old fashioned Muggle way. 

"Learn a few more spells, Helenora. Maybe next time you'll put up a fight." And with that, Merula marched off. Rowan dashed to Crystal and helped her up.

"I.." Crystal tried to get up and ignore the pain in her back, "I never even wanted a fight." 

"Are you okay?" Rowan asked Crystal as if she hadn't just witnessed her get flipped onto the floor. Crystal simply looked at Rowan, "Yeah okay. Sorry." Rowan added. 

Crystal sighed, "It's alright, but I need to stop acting like I can just avoid her, because she won't leave us alone. Maybe I really should learn some more spells."

"Maybe you should." 

As they walked their way back into the castle, Crystal felt a wave of guilt hit her. Whoever she hung out with, who ever she chose to be friends with, whoever she cared for, they would all be victims of those who torment her because of Jacob. She didn't consider this before, that she was a burden to her new friends because of who she was, as well as a burden to those who despised her because of who she was. 

Chapter Text

"Why did Chester ask us to meet in the training grounds?" Rowan asked on a sunny Friday afternoon. Now that it was nearing Halloween, sunny days were becoming rarer and Crystal had expressed to Rowan how much she loved it, how much she loved Autumn. 

"Maybe I somehow got kicked out of Ravenclaw. Wouldn't be surprised." Crystal replied humorously, though that seemed to give Rowan shivers. Crystal had been acting extra stubborn since the encounter with Merula in the Courtyard and Rowan wanted to ask her about it. She didn't want to seem invasive, she also didn't want to seem stupid since she was there and saw everything, but she felt she didn't know everything. Rowan wanted to know everything, she also wanted to help Crystal. She didn't know how to ask, not one bit.

"Crys." Rowan plainly said. 

"Hm?"

"Would you like to talk about what happened with Merula in the Courtyard?" 

Silence. Rowan had to be more specific. 

"Like, do you want to talk about what she said about your brother? Would you like to talk about your brother?"

There was more silence, Rowan wondered if Crystal was going to talk at all. Crystal noticed Rowan was panicking, so she crafted a sophisticated answer, "Yes."

Crystal almost forgot it was still her turn to speak, "You probably know most of Jacob's true story from the Daily Prophet, Merula clearly doesn't if she actually believes what she said. He never ever worked for Vol- I mean You-Know-Who, but Merula saying it like that almost made me think he did. Maybe that's what she wants, for me to go mad like everyone thinks Jacob did."

"Now that you've told me that, I can remind you of the truth if you start to believe Merula," Rowan assured her, making Crystal finally look up to her and match her smile, "Also, I did read the Daily Prophet when it happened, but I'd like to hear the story from you. As long as telling it wouldn't stress you out, could you tell it to me?" 

Crystal had read the story enough times in the Daily Prophet for it to stop stressing her out, "Jacob was always obsessed with these 'Cursed Vaults' that apparently are all over Hogwarts and hold treasures, he broke countless rules and put people in real danger for the Vaults. He was very loyal and kind, but very scary when he got ambitious. He was expelled at the end of his sixth year... and ran away very soon after." 

"I did guess that the story would be more 'wow' coming from you, but still, wow." Rowan thought this would be a good time to hug her, but she didn't really like hugs and she didn't even know if a hug would help Crystal.

"Some say he unleashed curses onto Hogwarts, others say he was cursed himself, everyone says he's mad. Maybe he was," Crystal paused and slowly blinked, "I think I'm mad."

"I don't," Rowan replied almost instantly, "I think you're brilliant." 

Crystal could feel her eyes becoming slightly watery, never had she ever even considered the possibility of a friendship like this, it seemed too unrealistic. Hearing about all these friendship types, large groups of people and popularity made her feel less ready to make friends, but Rowan was just like her. Rowan wasn't ready to manage a large social network, so she just stuck to hanging out with a few people, and she made Crystal smile every time they hung out. 

The pair saw Chester arrive before Crystal could even think about responding and Rowan remembered her initial question. Chester had asked Crystal and Rowan to meet him and Rowan didn't know why. 

"Do you know why I invited you here?" Chester folded his arms. 

"You ask that question a lot," Crystal also folded her arms, "Do you know about what happened with Merula or something?" 

"Word travels fast at Hogwarts." He was right. Just a few days ago, Ben had spoken to Crystal about the event, saying that he heard every Gryffindor in his common room talking about it. Crystal immediately feared that Chester could have told a teacher about the incident, as it was well within his right and authority to do so. 

"So I guess Dumbledore knows then?"

"I was going to tell him, but I know that getting Professors involved would just make Merula torment you more and you'd just have more eyes on you than you already do, so I will help in other ways." Chester explained feeling slightly amused at how Crystal and Rowan were nodding at him in sync. 

All of a sudden, Chester drew his wand from his robes and Rowan took two steps back as if he was going to attack. Chester was a lanky fifteen-year-old with combed hair and pruned eyebrows; he did not look threatening whatsoever.

"I am going to teach you two how to duel." 

Rowan joined the trend and folded her arms, "But we don't know any duelling spells." 

"I know, and you certainly wont learn many during first-year. Not through classes at least," He paused to let the information sink in, "Ravenclaw keeps a duelling book in the Artefact Room, it's been in there for years untouched. It contains various potions, spells and techniques. Get it." He bluntly added, "Come back to me once you've learned at least one duelling spell, then I'll teach you the rest." 

*

The artefact room was semi-hidden at the far end of the Lower West Floor. It would be fully hidden if it didn't have an absolutely massive door. Crystal and Rowan had to use all four arms between them and all of their strength to push the doors apart, to reveal a small, untidy and cluttered room with large wooden shelves and chests, surrounded by random books and artefacts (hence the name). It instantly reminded Rowan of her bedroom back at home, minus the bed and the owl lamp. She was in awe as she fixed her squint glasses.

"They say untold treasures lie within the Artefact Room. Fascinating." Her eyes raced from left to right. Crystal didn't particularly share Rowan's awe, feeling slightly let down by the unimpressive state and size of the room, as well as the stench.

"Along with untold odours," Crystal pinched her nose, "Can we find the book now?"

Rowan buzzed around the room, lifting up scattered rugs and shifting cobwebs. She was moving so fast that her glasses kept sliding down her nose. She tried to focus, she really did make an attempt, but these artefacts were just too brilliant. 

"Sorry," Rowan was out of breath, "I'm trying to fight the urge to browse every book, I'm good at multitasking though." 

"It's alright, we've got two people on the job so browse all you like." 

"You're the best, Crys."

Crystal approached a shelf and got to work, the shelf was twice her height and she had to climb a bit while simultaneously using Lumos to see. Suddenly, her mind went blank and she froze as her mind was suddenly invaded by one single voice.

"Crystal."

Her foot slipped and she fell off the shelf, tumbling back in a similar fashion to being hit by Merula's Knockback Jinx. It hurt in a similar fashion too. 

"Crys, are you there? Crystal! Crystal!..."

"...Crystal!" Rowan shouted down at Crystal laying on the ground with her eyes wide open.

"Rowan, ouch..." She rubbed her back, "Who- who was that?" She remained awfully calm. 

"Who was what? No one else is here. Also I found the book, look, I found it!" Rowan held up a large, dusty book right before her expression changed instantly as Crystal started yelling and covering her ears.

"Stop it, stop it! Who is this?!"

"Crys! What's happening?"

"Crystal listen to me. The ice is here. The vault will open." There was suddenly a view of a walking suit of armour walking down a misty staircase, ice following its path. The view moved backwards, showing the ice spreading wildly all over Hogwarts, trapping students left and right. "Be careful, I cannot lose you." 

She finally let go of her ears one the voice and the vision stopped, to find Rowan repeatedly shaking her with striking fear in her eyes.

"Rowan..."

"It's okay, it's okay, you're with me, you're in the Artefact Room." Rowan's shaky voice reassured her. 

"I wasn't... I saw armour... and ice, lots of ice. Tons. The vault... the ice was spreading... I thought I heard..."

"The vault? You mean the cursed vault?" 

Crystal shrugged and shivered. Rowan took her arms and pulled her up, helping her stand. 

"Let's not discuss it now, let's just leave. We have the book." Rowan softly said, letting go once Crystal was comfortably standing. Crystal shivered a nod and they both left the Artefact room with the large book of duelling. Despite Crystal's protests, Rowan took her straight to the Ravenclaw Common Room and lay her down on a sofa. She practically pushed Crystal onto the sofa and instructed her to stay there and rest.

"Rowan, I don't think this is necessary-" 

Rowan left the Common Room with the book in hand, leaving Crystal to do nothing productive but sleep. A few hours later, Crystal woke up with a single piece of paper placed ungracefully on her face. She squinted at the paper corners going through her eyelashes and heaved her arm upwards to take the paper and read the recognisable handwriting. 

Come to the Great Hall when you wake up. I have read the entire book.

- Rowan :) 

For five minutes Crystal blankly stared at the smiley faced scribbled beside where Rowan signed her name. Then she wondered if this was another trap from Merula, but realised it would be hard to discreetly prank someone in the most socially packed room at Hogwarts. Crystal plodded her way to the Great Hall, where she was met with Rowan waving from around 20 metres away, sat with the duelling book open in front of her. Rowan starting speaking before Crystal had sat down. 

"How are you feeling, Crys? Have you had any more visions?"

Crystal folded her arms on the table and rested her head against them, mumbling her response through her sleeves, "Nope," She shook her head and then lifted it, "I've heard voices before though. Never seen visions, that was new. And scary." 

"I know you're the one who should be upset, but I'm worried about you."

"We can discuss it over a snack if you'd like." Crystal forced a smile and reached for the neatly piled sandwiches in the centre of the table. Rowan, less enthusiastically, reached for a sandwich too and sighed. She wondered why she felt so glum, but smiled a bit when she saw that the sandwich she picked up contained egg and cress. The sandwiches were massive too, around the size of Rowan's small hands put side by side. 

Rowan spoke with her mouth full, "I've read about visions, they can be dangerous."

"Well, after seeing how you dealt with me in the Artefact Room, I'm less afraid of them knowing I have you. No pressure." Crystal truthfully told her. For someone with trust issues growing up, she was extremely open towards Rowan, having known her for just over a month. 

"I don't feel pressured by that, helping you today was an easy process," This seemed to be Rowan's way of affirming Crystal, "How can I help with all of this?"

Crystal chuckled, "Just keep doing what you're doing, you're doing great at being helpful and knowledgeable. I mean, you helped me in that room and read the entire duelling book in a day!"

Rowan's face lit up, "Oh yeah, the book! I have so much information in my head! There are so many spells I want to learn!"

Crystal gulped the last of her sandwich as Rowan took another one. Crystal appreciated Rowan's insane effort, but didn't feel overly comfortable with how hastily things were progressing.

"What kind of spell do you want to learn first? What do you think is important to know?"

Crystal thought for a good minute on this. What was important to know? What could benefit her, or more importantly, what spell is better to have than to not have? She didn't know many duelling spells off by heart, not humane ones anyway. She read all sorts of gruesome story books that her dad bought her - to her mums disapproval - that mentioned the Unforgivable Curses a bunch of times. Ten-year-old Crystal's mind was blown by these stories.

"One that is more defensive than offensive, but still useful." Crystal answered. 

"Okay, I'll get to work finding the perfect spell for that. You go and find Professor Flitwick, I saw him in the Clocktower Courtyard before I got here, he was a Dueller before he became a teacher and he could teach you another duelling spell in the meantime." 

As Crystal left the Great Hall, she saw out the window that the sun was setting. She wondered why Flitwick would be outside at this hour, but the realised that Flitwick is exactly the type of person who'd put watching the sunset onto his day-planner. According to Penny Haywood, the most popular girl in her year, he had a miniature day-planner behind his desk. Crystal was reminded of Penny Haywood as two girls stood by the door muttered her name. She remembered Penny from the Sorting Ceremony and, just like before, she still wondered how anyone could be remotely popular as a first-year, let alone a first-year who had been at Hogwarts for less than a term. Crystal wondered if Penny was as lovely and 'cool' as everyone said she was.

Entering the Courtyard had felt uncomfortable ever since the incident with Merula, but Flitwick being stood there instead of the scrawny Slytherin was more comforting. 

"Excuse me, Professor Flitwick, I have a question for you." 

He greeted her with a warm smile, "What can I do for you, Miss Helenora?"

"I was wondering if you could teach me some of what you know on duelling."

Flitwick's bright smile fell to a stern gaze, "The Hogwarts curriculum includes several defensive spells, Miss Helenora."

Does it? That's worrying.

"I... I would like some advanced instruction... if that's okay." 

Advanced, that's right, use your big-girl words, Crys.

"Hm. Tell me, why are you so eager to duel?" 

Crystal thought of a realistic and valid response, "I've received tons of threats for being Jacob's sister, I'd like to be able to defend myself if anyone tries to hurt me. I am sort of more at risk." 

"That's understandable," Flitwick agreed and Crystal was smiling hopefully, "Although, duelling should always be a last resort at your age."

Her age. Her horrible age. 

"Please Professor, I won't let you down. Besides, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't important." 

Flitwick sighed, "Very well, I understand things will most likely be more difficult for you here. It wouldn't hurt to teach you Expelliarmus," Flitwick's tone became light again, "I mean that literally. It does not harm, rather disarm. It is the finest self-defence spell I know."

Once all the other students left the Courtyard to return to their Common Rooms, Flitwick and Crystal both drew their wands and pointed it at the wall ahead of them. Flitwick repeated the incantation and showed the wrist movement and gestured to Crystal to try it for herself. 

"Expelliarmus!" She shouted at the wall.

"You should clear your mind of all but the incantation before attempting the spell and you should not rely on the volume of your voice to do so. Clear your mind and softly repeat the incantation, with softer wrist movements." 

Crystal practised for a while until she finally cast the spell with confidence and correctness. 

"Expelliarmus." Crystal spoke, flicking her wrist. 

"Perfect, now try it on me." 

Crystal was hesitant, so Flitwick reminded her, "Don't worry, remember it doesn't cause harm." He assured her as he lay his wand in the palm of his hand for Crystal to point towards. 

"Expelliarmus." She cast the spell decently and it worked, the wand flew out of Professor Flitwick's hand and landed on the floor. 

"You truly do have a gift for charms," He picked up his wand, "Also, you might also consider practising with Mr Copper. He is a hesitant young man, but very skilled." 

"Oh I will, I know Ben is better at Charms than he lets on." 

Crystal turned to leave, but was stopped by Flitwick so he could say one more thing. 

"Promise me you will only duel if you have no other choice." 

"I promise." 

It was 9pm when Crystal arrived back at the Common Room and it was completely dark outside, she wasn't used to it getting dark so quick, but it was a happy reminder that Autumn was truly upon her. When the Common Room entrance closed behind her, Crystal noticed Chester, sat reading a book on the sofa with his legs gracefully crossed. He noticed her with sharp eyes.

"And your excuse is?" He looked back down at his book while asking. 

"Flitwick wanted me." 

"Or was it the other way around? I do know Flitwick is a master dueller and I also know that I  was the one who asked you to learn a duelling spell."

Chester's existence reminded Crystal of why she did not want to become a teenager, "Can I go to bed?"

"You didn't tell Flitwick about what I asked of you, did you?" Chester looked up from his book in slight fear, praying to keep the title of Prefect. 

"No. I told him my own truth, that I'll probably need the spell because of my reputation." And with that, she went downstairs.

Halfway down the stairs Crystal noticed that her breathing had sped up and she was sweating slightly. She felt anxious and faint as she rushed down the rest of the stairway so that she didn't have a potential panic attack while stood on a steep staircase. What was the reason this time? Was it her body punishing her for making it so far without breaking down crying? She couldn't figure it out now, she ran to her dorm and ran to her bed, hiding under the covers in a desperate attempt to sleep. Rowan might've said something to her, she couldn't tell and she couldn't speak either way. She could just sit and wait. 

The following morning was a blur, a usual Saturday morning blur. It stopped being so blurry once she saw Rowan upstairs in the Common Room, reading the duelling book while smiling. 

"Crys! We're you okay last night? You seemed strange." Rowan actually managed to look up from her book, clearly worried for Crystal's mental wellbeing. 

"I wasn't, but I'm fine now." She felt uncomfortable thinking about her panic attacks, let alone actually discussing them with another living, breathing, existing human being. Rowan got the idea and moved on, mostly because she was dying to talk about the book. 

"I found the perfect spell."

Crystal approached the book as Rowan laid it open on the table beside her. It was Rictusempra, the tickling charm. Crystal knew that Rowan had genius intention behind this, but still laughed to herself over seeing a detailed page describing the art of tickling. 

"So..." Crystal managed, "How is tickling useful exactly?" 

Rowan squinted her eyes slightly and was completely serious, "There are literally hundreds of documented cases where witches and wizards saved lives by tickling someone." 

"Alright then, what was the incantation again?" 

Just like with the Disarming Charm, Crystal practised Rictusempra over and over again until she could cast it perfectly, until there was nothing left to do but to test it. She wondered who to test it on, Rowan suggested herself since it wouldn't hurt and Crystal eventually agreed. 

"Alright, brace yourself for tickling I guess. Rictusempra!" She felt uncomfortable pointing her wand directly at Rowan, especially targeting a spell at her. Alas, the casting was perfect and Rowan was laughing half to tears within seconds.

"HA HA- it hurts- HA HA- so bad- HA HA-"

"I'm sorry!" 

"It's okay- HA HA- just imagine- HA HA- Merula's face- HA HA- when you cast this- HA HA- on her-"

There was one last thing to learn before Crystal could comfortably learn to duel, the Wiggenweld Potion, the potion of healing. It was written in the duelling book, but luckily Crystal and Rowan's next Potions class taught that very potion. Or maybe not so lucky, as from experience, the Potions Classroom was not the greatest environment. Rowan assured Crystal that she would make sure Merula didn't tamper with their next potion. 

"Helenora," Merula immediately spoke to her, "How's your back?" 

Crystal knew she was referring to the Courtyard incident, as she tended to do, but Crystal's back was actually extra bruised now from the fall off the shelf in the Artefact Room. For this very reason, she chose to sit down and ignore Merula. An hour was spent brewing the potion, Crystal put her all into the Wiggenweld Potion as she knew it would be helpful. She also wanted to get on Professor Snape's good side, if at all possible. 

"This potion is flawless." Snape commented, addressing Crystal, Rowan and Merula's potion. Crystal looked up and almost said thank you in surprise, only to see that Snape was directly addressing Merula and no one else. Rowan looked like she was about to throw hands. Crystal wanted to try and subtly force Snape to question his unfair view on literally anyone who wasn't Slytherin. 

"Professor?" Snape was displeased to hear Crystal calling him, "How could I get better at Potions?" 

"You could become someone who isn't entirely incompetent, that would be an excellent start." 

Stay calm, it's just a tall man with greasy hair. 

"And how would I do that, Professor?" Snape stayed quiet so Crystal continued, "I know I'll never match your skill because of my incompetence, but I would certainly like to get as close as possible." 

Crystal hoped Snape wouldn't remove House Points for direct mockery. Merula hoped he would.

"Your determination is appreciated. Ten points to Ravenclaw." 

"Eh?!" The entire table exclaimed. Snape walked off.

"Right, so, I hate him right, but he is far too interesting to punch." Rowan said, her emotions conflicted. 

If Crystal wasn't so busy worrying about her brother, Merula and now the Cursed Vaults, she might also have found Snape interesting. 

Chapter Text

Halloween. In the Magical world there were a few reasons why Halloween was so special, to celebrate the holiday of Halloween and its festivities, but also because of The Boy Who Lived, Harry James Potter, and how he stopped Voldemort as a baby on Halloween night three years ago. Crystal, however, had her own reason; Jacob went missing on the night before Halloween 1980. She woke up that following morning without Jacob, and vowed she would never go Trick-or-Treating again. She was only eight years old. She had finally managed to tell Rowan this specific information around a week ago and Rowan actually asked if it was okay for her to still celebrate Halloween when Crystal had bad memories of it. That reassured Crystal that opening up to Rowan was the right thing to do, no bad could come from it and no bad would come from it, Rowan was actually the best. 

On the morning of Halloween 1984, Crystal was practising her new duelling spells at five in the morning, just like she did every morning. Last night had been a sleepless night but Crystal could still perfect her spells, which was when she knew it was time to report back to Chester and learn to duel. When she left Ravenclaw Tower at six o'clock to have breakfast before everyone else, she noticed the unbelievable amount of pumpkins floating around, as well as the occasional poster referring to Harry Potter. Crystal realised something, that when she graduates Hogwarts in her seventh year, Harry Potter would be attending the very next term for his first year. That thought freaked her out and she didn't understand why. 

Crystal took her toast and strolled into the Clocktower Courtyard, but for the first time, she saw someone else there. She recognised him, a boy in her year sorted into her house yet they had never spoken and she didn't know his name. He was sat where she usually sat, which was a personal offence punishable by Tickling Charm. She almost considered it, she was so annoyed, but instead she decided to go and say hi.

Instead, he got there first, but did not say hi. 

"Why are you in my eating spot?" He bluntly asked, basically telling Crystal to leave. 

"I usually eat here, though I'm a bit late this morning. What's your name?" Crystal no longer took this personally, this was clearly his problem. She wanted to talk to him very much, though. 

"If you usually eat here, then you would be here and not me." He was even more properly-spoken than Crystal and Rowan combined, which was a difficult thing to do. Crystal spoke proper and Rowan knew all the fancy words, they thought that if they combined they would create an adult. 

He had basically blocked the conversation, so Crystal decided to respond with the answer to her initial question, "I'm Crystal He-"

"Helenora. Don't act like there's a single person who does not know your name, Crystal." He didn't look up from his sandwich and Crystal noticed that he had not looked up at her at all yet. In fairness, she knew she often did a similar thing when disturbed by a new person. 

Crystal exhaled, "And you are?" And he finally looked up at her.

"Talbott Winger." Then he snapped his head back down, disappointed in himself for losing his focus on his sandwich. 

"Well, Talbott, could I sit down-"

"Absolutely not."

Crystal knew that she should absolutely not have a good first impression of Talbott right now, but deep down she absolutely loved people like this. She loved reading them and figuring out more about them in her mind, it was her dream to talk to someone like Talbott for several hours. But he was still rude and she was unwanted, so she left him to his devices, or more specifically his sandwich. On her way out the Courtyard, she did not expect Chester to be stood right there, making direct eye contact with her. He shook his head in a 'tut tut' manner and stepped closer to her. 

"Helenora. You've been avoiding me. If you don't want to duel then tell me, but remember I have the power to tell Dumbledore directly about what happened with Merula. And I will if you don't communicate with your Prefect when you're given an instruction." He told her, looking down at her with pride in his eyes. Just when Crystal was starting to appreciate Chester, he had to go and be the second dickhead she had spoken to this morning.

Why are all male Ravenclaws terrible in the morning?

"I have been practising my duelling spells, and that's the truth." Crystal's voice wasn't smooth and direct like it usually was, it was very agitated.

"For two weeks?" Chester didn't sound convinced, but Crystal did not hesitate to nod. Chester seemed unconvinced still, but his face tilted and he was impressed, "Did you say spells?"

Crystal mentally rolled her eyes, "Yeah, you said learn at least one, so I learned two. The Disarming Charm and the Tickling Charm. Please don't question the Tickling Charm, Rowan says there are hundreds of documented cases where-"

"This is excellent," Chester was one of those rare people who could say a phrase like that without sounding sarcastic, "Meet me back in the Courtyard in an hour. Bring your dorky little friend with glasses."  

*

"He called me what?" Rowan was baffled, "Between me and him, I'm the dork?" 

"Yes and he wants us both in the Courtyard very soon." Crystal wanted Rowan to see the bigger picture, but Rowan's comment made her reaction easily forgivable.

"I'd better practise my spells then." 

Crystal looked up from her book, "You what?" 

"Isn't it obvious?" Rowan was excited yet incredibly nervous, "He wants me to duel you!" 

For the remainder of the hour before they had to meet Chester, Crystal and Rowan met up with Ben in the Library to do their Potions homework together. Professor Snape gave N.E.W.T.-worthy levels of homework and Crystal had to do all of it, if not a little more, to make her presence bearable to Snape. Ben was not in Crystal's Potions class, but he told her and Rowan about how unnecessarily cruel Snape was to him. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything wrong, but his timid nature annoyed Snape for some reason. Suddenly, while they were silently doing homework, Ben pointed across the Library looking like he had just chugged a Wide-Eye potion. 

"Look!"

"Shhh." Madame Pince hushed. 

"Talbott Winger just let Penny Haywood sit next to him!" Ben said a little quieter, pointing over to Talbott, who was looking up and actually speaking to a very smiley Penny, "He never lets anyone talk to him." Ben added. An entire new layer was added to Crystal's interest in Talbott.

Rowan shrugged, "Maybe he likes how popular she is."

"No. No way." Crystal was fairly sure Talbott had no interest in popularity. He probably liked her for the same reason everyone else did, Penny Haywood was absolutely perfect and there was a reason why she was popular. Crystal was glad that Talbott had at least one person he seemed comfortable around, she never liked seeing people alone, she felt responsible for them somehow. She hated the idea of speaking to people out of pity, yet she did it all the time. 

Eventually Crystal knew it was time to meet Chester in the Courtyard and they could not tell Ben about it. It was already enough that Rowan was involved, it felt like Crystal's personal law to involve Rowan in things. Because they weren't in Ben's house it was fairly easy just to tell Ben that they both had a meeting with their Ravenclaw Prefect, which they technically did. Though Crystal was worried that Ben would see the two of them leaving together and think they didn't want him around - she had perfected her knowledge on the mind of the overthinker, after all. Because of this, she swore to herself that she would spend time with Ben afterwards, telling Ben she would meet him in the Great Hall for lunch after the "meeting". Then the pair left to go and find Chester to finally learn how to duel.

Of course Chester was sat on the fountain with his legs crossed reading a book, it was his signature move. Seeing the pair, he put his book down and addressed Crystal. 

"You brought your friend, also your spell-casting skills I hope." Chester folded his arms and failed to notice Rowan taking offence to not being properly addressed. 

"I brough my spell-casting skills too." Rowan folded her arms and mirrored his stance. Being a short eleven year old and him fifteen, Rowan looked ridiculous. Chester looked at her and nodded, humouring her. 

"That is fitting, as the best way to learn to duel is to have you duel each other."

Rowan pumped her fist, "I knew it!" But then she suddenly went very nervous in realisation, and so did Crystal. 

"I don't want to hurt Rowan."

"I don't want to get hurt." 

Chester smirked slightly, "Believe me, it's not my intention for two first-years to end up crawling in pain at my feet, but you wont learn unless you try." As morbid as that sounded, Crystal and Rowan both felt reasonably reassured, Crystal knew the back pain she got from Merula's jinx, so she wasn't too phased by Rowan. Rowan had been a victim of Crystal's Tickling Charm and while the tickles were brutal, it was a bearable price to pay. 

Rowan was directed by Chester to stand about eight metres away from Crystal, facing her with her wand in hand. It became scary again.

"Right," Chester clasped his hands, "Place your wands on your chest and bow to each other." 

Crystal looked puzzled, "I'm pretty sure Merula won't bow to me if we duel."

"It is a duelling rule, I am teaching you how to duel. Bow." Chester rolled his eyes at the stupidity of the first-year species as Rowan and Crystal awkwardly bowed to each other, Rowan giggling a bit. 

"When I say three, you may start firing spells." 

Rowan and Crystal looked to him in sync, "Eh?!" 

"One, two, three." 

They both stood there fumbling with their wands, sort of pointing them at each other with little confidence. Crystal could hear Chester mumble 'for gods sake' under his breath and that was the boost of motivation she needed. 

"Rictusempra...?" Crystal didn't say it with much meaning and nothing happened to Rowan as a result. The spell wouldn't work because she didn't want to hurt Rowan, but when the time came she knew she would have to duel Merula. She would have to want to cast the spell at Merula. 

Rowan channelled a new kind of energy into her spell casting, "Rictusempra!" 

Crystal had built up a reaction from when Merula fired a spell at her, so she jumped to the side to dodge the spell. Chester gave Crystal a thumbs-up while nodding at her, impressed by her instincts. 

"Rictusempra!" Crystal actually cast it this time, however Rowan learned off of Crystal and quickly jumped to the side. Crystal knew she had to use the opportunity of Rowan focusing on moving instead of casting, so she cast her spell again. It hit Rowan this time. Rowan burst into pained laughter and dropped to the floor in a fit of harsh giggles. Chester cringed, he had forgotten how horrible the Tickling Curse was to witness, painful laughter looked extremely scary from where he was stood.

Crystal directed her wand back to Rowan, focused and ready, "Expelliarmus!" Rowan's wand flew out of her hand, therefore the duel was thankfully over. Rowan's laughter began to die out and turn into a feeling of discomfort. Chester and Crystal both made their way over to her and Crystal lay her hand on Rowan's shoulder. 

"Are you alright Rowan?" Crystal asked, realising she was now in the position Rowan was in when Merula had cast Flipendo on her. Just like Crystal did that day, Rowan looked up to her with a 'duh' face before confirming that she was completely fine, just feeling a bit strange.

Chester clapped his hands slowly, half sarcastically because he had just witnessed two first-years throw the Tickling Charm at each other, but half impressed too. 

"Now, I can't advice you to practise on your own, plus I don't want to. However, keep up that kind of work and you'll be expert Duellers by the time you're my age. Both of you." He finally looked at Rowan, who responded with genuine shock. They thanked Chester for his help as they left the Courtyard, right after Chester quickly reminded them that duelling was banned on school grounds without permission. This incident was fine because it was authorised, but if Crystal was the first one to cast a spell at Merula then she would be in big trouble. 

Crystal and Rowan entered the Great Hall to try and find Ben, noticing how the lunch food was Halloween themed. The bread on the sandwiches were either orange or black and some of the flying pumpkins flew down to the tables, allowing themselves to be eaten by excited students. The second thing Crystal noticed was that Ben was not there at all. She looked at Rowan and sighed, she hoped Ben hadn't left because he felt left out. Hopefully Merula hadn't gotten to him.

Crystal then realised that she had started to mentally refer to Merula as though she were a disease. 

Suddenly, people started flocking out of the Great Hall, running to the Courtyard where Crystal had just been. Surely nothing could've happened in the short time between Crystal leaving the Courtyard and now, right? 

"So many people are going to the Courtyard, maybe Ben's there too?" Rowan mentioned. Crystal nodded nervously, already walking with haste back to where they had just left. Surely, nothing could've happened in such a short space of time, right?

Wrong, so very wrong.

Crystal knew she was wrong when she heard the familiar screech of Merula Snyde. Even worse, it was accompanied by the familiar whimper of Ben Copper. Crystal couldn't see either of them, they were surrounded by roughly eighty first-years and second-years, all talking amongst themselves like scuttering wild animals. This was going to be the second most eventful Halloween Crystal had ever had. 

"Penny Haywood is here, Crys. This must be serious." Rowan commented on seeing Penny in the crowd, looking distressed instead of seeing her usual soft smile. She wasn't talking to anyone, but it looked like people were making comments to her. They approached the crowd, neither of them having the social skills to push past or to ask anyone what was going on. That, and they were both rather short for their age, so even among a crowd where the maximum age was thirteen, they were too short to see anything.

Merula's tone started to become legitimately frightening rather than just annoying, so Crystal decided to push past the crowd in a hurry, leaving Rowan at the back. It was remarkably easy to tear through the crowd, because no one cared about this in the same way the Crystal did. She reached the gap in the crowd, seeing that her hearing had not failed her and that Ben was actually being threatened by Merula. 

"Don't come near me. You shouldn't go near anyone, you're an embarrassment. To your miserable house of fakes and to everyone else." She was ferocious, this was unlike even Merula, she had not yet been this cruel. 

"Leave me be! I don't want to come near you, no one does!" Ben whined. Ben walked backwards, Merula walked forwards.

Crystal shouted out in a blur of adrenaline. 

"You got what you wanted, Merula. You scared him now leave him." Crystal rarely did this, saying something without planning her words first.

Merula's wand pointed to Crystal, Crystal did not point her wand too but instead just looked directly at her face. Her mum had always mentioned how intimidating her stare was, as well as Jacob's. They were scary together when they wanted to be, but at this moment Crystal had to be intimidating all by herself. She really was intimidating, her face was obviously very youthful and sweet, but her angry eyes made her young features spooky, she sort of looked like a murder-child from a horror movie.

"I hoped you didn't actually want to hurt him, or anyone. That's too far, even for someone like you."

"You never learn, do you Helenora?" She fired a warning jinx at the floor making everyone gasp except for Crystal, and Rowan, who was now at the front watching very intensely, "Just go missing like your brother." There was too much anger in her words, like a projection of a lifetime's worth of emotions. 

"I think that more people want you to go away than me." 

She scoffed, "Don't make me duel you."

Crystal took her wand out of her robes and did not point it at her, "I wont." She waited, making sure not to cast the first spell or be anything other than self-defending. 

"Flipendo!" Crystal smiled broadly at Merula casting the first spell while she stood to the side and let the spell fly past her, hitting some random second-year. Everyone looked towards him as he tried to pick himself up and ignore the pain growing in his back. Crystal looked back at Merula.

"Stop this now, Merula. Look what you're doing." Crystal was now pointing her wand at Merula, feeling the self-inflicted responsibility for all of her fellow students rush through her. Merula cast Flipendo again, Crystal dodged it again, it didn't hit anyone this time. This was brilliant, Merula hadn't just cast the first spell, she had cast the first two. 

"Rictusempra." Crystal's spell worked perfectly, hitting Merula with more force than it hit Rowan before. Merula felt shivers of ticklish discomfort shoot up her spine as the spell took its effect and she squirmed around on the spot in giggles, absolutely refusing to drop to the floor.

"The- HA HA- Tickling Charm?- HA HA- You'll have- HA HA- to do so much- HA HA- better than that- HA HA..." Eventually the laughter went away and she angrily fired another Knockback Jinx that narrowly missed her, a bit too narrowly. She heard a "Be careful Crys!" come from Rowan in the crowd and she nodded at that without looking away from Merula.

"Expelliarmus!" Crystal finally shouted, seeing Merula's wand spring out of her hand and land onto the concrete behind the crowd. The crowd was quite funny at that moment, all of their heads followed the wand as it flew through the sky. 

Merula was raging, but Crystal noticed that she was also panicking since her eyes were watering and her hands and ankles were quivering. She was actually upset, it wasn't just her ego that shattered, but it seemed like her barrier of bullying had too.

Merula stomped her shaky foot in her black, studded boot on the floor and yelled, "No fair! How do- how do you know that spell already?" 

"That was amazing Crys!" Rowan shouted.

"Thank- thank you Crys." Ben stood up straight and nervously thanked her. 

Merula was livid, "You, you can't be better... you just can't! No one can!"

Crystal remained as calm as she was at the beginning of the duel, her forceful stare turning into a stern look mixed with wonder, she wondered why Merula was acting like this. 

"I beat you, Merula. Apologise to Ben Copper and stop bullying us."

"Or what? You'll tickle me again? I can- I will learn more spells," Rowan could faintly see Snape and Flitwick approaching, but Merula clearly did not notice, "I want to. So I will. I'll run this school if I have to," The crowd was parting to let the teachers through now, but Merula still had yet to notice, she was so caught up in what had just happened, "I can do what I want when I want, I can-"

"Are you quite finished Miss Snyde?" Professor Snape snarled, which made the whole Courtyard go silent. Even the birds were quiet.

Snape continued, "I suspect this is your fault, Miss Helenora. Are you aware that unauthorised duelling goes against several school rules?"

Crystal remembered she still had yet to read that damn rule book. 

"Yes, sir." She tried to ignore how Merula was not being spoken to at all. 

Flitwick finally chimed in.

"Did you cast the first spell in this duel, Miss Helenora?" 

"No, sir." 

"Nor the second." Ben added, peeking over Crystal's shoulder to give this information.

Crystal had friends and she loved it, she loved how they were there and they stuck up for her when everyone else was either against her or ignoring her struggle entirely. Ben proved this point, just as Rowan was about to as well.

"Merula also used the Knockback Jinx several times, which is a harmful spell. Crystal Helenora here only used Rictusempra, the Tickling Charm. As well as the Disarming Charm." Rowan explained with no fear of Snape's glare. She had to tell him everything. 

Snape looked down at Flitwick, "And I wonder how she learned the Disarming Charm so early..." He accusingly commented. Before Flitwick could respond, another girl spoke.

"Merula was also threatening Ben Copper!" Penny Haywood said loudly and proudly among the crowd. The crowd responded to her with a few people shouting "yeah" and "she's right". Crystal could not thank Penny enough for this act and she hadn't even met her yet. 

Flitwick looked like he was genuinely considering what the people were saying and taking it all into account, Snape on the other hand just looked increasingly more pissed off for every child that spoke. 

"Get yourselves cleaned up and meet me in the West Corridor outside the Headmaster's office in exactly two hours. Both of you." Snape instructed, then he and Flitwick walked off and the crowd scattered.

Merula just stood there, she looked taken aback by everyone's actions, including her own. She felt her chest racing and her eyes moving from side to side to make sure this was real, that this was happening. She had been beaten and everyone was so casual about it, she actually couldn't believe it, she had been told all her life that this wouldn't happen, right up to when her parents went to Azkaban. Her parents couldn't be wrong, they were her parents no matter where or who they were. 

"You two go without me." Crystal said to Rowan, who was trying and failing to calm Ben. They eventually left after minimal protest from Rowan, leaving Crystal to approach Merula, who looked paralyzed. 

"Merula?" Crystal called upon a frozen Merula.

"What did I do on the train journey that was so bad?" She managed.

"I don't really know, but Ben is scared of you now. You scared a muggleborn, who only found out about magic days before you did that to him." Crystal calmly explained, trying her best not to squeak her teeth off of one another.

"I didn't know he was-"

"Yes you did. He was too nervous on the train, so you must have known." She stated at her. Her instincts wanted to be more comforting towards Merula, who was shaking and pale, "Don't do it again."

Merula went quiet for a few seconds, "I won't then. I want to be powerful, I didn't want... that. I can't..." 

Crystal was not impressed, but she was pleasantly surprised. Also slightly concerned. 

"Merula, what is wrong." 

Merula looked offended that Crystal would even asked that, running off in an instant, leaving Crystal to think about it all. 

And she really did think. 

*

Rowan walked with Crystal up to the West Corridor ten minutes before Crystal was due to speak with Snape. Crystal was speaking about the new Charms textbook they had handed out. 

"..I honestly didn't find it as dull as everyone else does, but I have to agree that..."

While Crystal was ranting, Rowan noticed that Penny Haywood was at the end of the corridor, waving. Rowan's eyes grew a centimetre in diameter and she slowly gasped as she realised Penny was actually waving at Crystal. She slowly grabbed a small chunk of Crystal's robe sleeve and tugged it, as if she would set off an alarm by moving too quickly. 

"Crys."

"...I found the third sentence of that chapter absolutely ridiculous..." 

She tugged on Crystal's sleeved repeatedly, and repeated, "Crys. Look."

"What?"

She didn't stop tugging the sleeve over and over again, "Penny Haywood is waving at you. Eyes up, head down. Penny Haywood is waving at you, Crys."

"Oh, I guess I can speak to her before I need to meet with Snape." Crystal wasn't really following the tone Rowan was trying to set, "Do you want to come with me?"

"No- no, Penny is requesting you, not me. I'll go find Ben." 

"Oh, okay..."

Rowan was gone before Crystal realised she wasn't tugging her sleeve anymore. She finally waved back to Penny and they walked up to each other. Crystal saw no reason to be more afraid to talk to someone because of their popularity, but maybe she was just ignorant. 

Penny spoke first, "Hello Crystal Helenora." She politely said. 

"You know me?" Crystal asked as if everyone didn't know who she was at this point, as if Penny didn't help her with Merula. 

"Does that surprise you?" Her voice was so silky, if that's even possible.

"I guess so, I'm just surprised you're talking to me, I'm not very popular." Crystal replied, alarmed by Penny chuckling in response.

"Oh I disagree, Crystal. Everyone's talking about how you stood up to Merula, I saw her reaction to being beaten, I think she'll leave everyone alone for a while. Not to mention the rumours surrounding your brother." 

Just the reminder I needed.

"Did you want something?" Crystal did have to see Snape shortly. She'd be on death's door if she was late. 

"I wanted to say thank you. Merula wasn't making Hogwarts fun, she was making it the opposite. In my opinion, Hogwarts is supposed to be fun." 

Crystal shrugged, "Someone had to so something." 

"But only you were brave enough, out of all of the people in that Courtyard only you did something. I hope Snape doesn't punish you," Penny realised how much she was speaking and stopped herself, "Well, if there's anything at all you need help with, please let me know. I know about gossip in Hogwarts, plus I'm pretty good with potions if I do say so myself." 

Crystal smiled at her, this girl was truly lovely. 

"Thank you! I will, Penny." 

"See you around, and good luck with Snape!" She called over her shoulder while walking away. She was walking in the same direction that Rowan had gone. Crystal hoped Rowan wouldn't faint if Penny got too close. 

Merula was already stood beside Snape, her eyes puffy and her hair even more messy than usual. She looked very tired and Crystal understood why. 

"Now that Miss Helenora is here, I can discuss your punishment. Firstly, what do you both have to say for yourselves?" Snape mockingly asked, which Crystal hated. He turned his head to Merula first, she shrugged in response. He then turned to Crystal.

"I don't know what to say, sir." She really didn't know what to say in this situation without losing house points.

"Five points from Ravenclaw."

Oh lovely. 

"Expulsion is the only logical answer to duelling on school grounds. Unfortunately our Headmaster is illogical and believes it is unfair to expel in this case," His eyebrows tightened, "If either of you are every caught duelling on school grounds again, I can assure you will not be so fortunate." 

Mr Filch was walking down the corridor towards Snape. Snape spoke to him without turning to see him walking. It could've been anyone or anything, but he knew it was Filch. He had a phenomenal intuition.

"What is it, Mr Filch." He did not ask this objective question, he stated it. 

Filch exhaled a snarl, "You must come with me right away, it's about the Vaults." 

Snape turned to face Crystal in particular.

"Return to your common rooms." And with that, they walked off.

Crystal and Merula glanced at one another unpleasantly. The duel had really drained Merula of physical and mental battery, she felt like she could feel her brain in her skull. However, the talk of vaults woke her up just a bit. She smirked and sneakily followed Snape and Filch down the corridor, but stopped halfway down to look back at Crystal.

"I thought you'd be interested in the Cursed Vaults, Helenora." Merula taunted. Crystal really wanted to go with her and find out more, but that would just press her further into her family's stereotype, which is what Merula expected to happen. 

Was she willing to follow that stereotype to find out information on these vaults?

She stood there and thought, as Merula rolled her eyes in boredom.

Was she?

Yes, yes she was. 

Chapter Text

Following Merula's strange sneaking pattern proved to be a challenge, one that Crystal accepted a bit too quickly for her liking. To stay hidden from Snape and Filch, the two enemies had to hide behind five fire decorations, three conveniently open doors and one pumpkin. Snape and Filch made their way into a corridor that students did not usually go into, quickly followed by Merula and Crystal scuttling through the door.

When the door shut behind them, Merula dropped and hid behind a bench. She then reached up and grabbed the same part of Crystal's sleeve that Rowan had grabbed before and pulled her down too. 

"Get down." Merula hissed. Crystal peeked over the bench slightly, trying to listen to whatever Filch wanted to say to Snape.

Snape could be seen looking at Filch, then looking down, then looking back up at Filch. Very insightful stuff, but Crystal could not hear a word. 

"I'm going to get closer." 

Merula grabbed her and yanked her back, "No you are not. Stay there and shut up, Helenora." The feeling of being grabbed by Merula almost felt worse than the Knockback Jinx. And Merula telling her to be quiet felt hypocritical. If Crystal listened extremely hard, she could just about hear Snape.

"Who else knows about this?" Snape asked with a small amount of urgency in his tone. 

"Only me and Mrs Norris, sir." Filch held his cat close and stroked her ears. 

Snape considered whether now was an appropriate time to make this comment. He quickly decided it was.

"Mrs Norris and I." Snape had successfully corrected Filch's grammar, and wanted a medal for it, "I will alert Professor Dumbledore, as this may be intertwined with the Helenora situation."

Merula side-eyed Crystal, "What have you done now?" 

Crystal shrugged, but was very interested to know that she was now part of yet another 'situation', as they were now called. 

Filch looked at the wall and sighed, "I don't blame the Helenora boy for losing his mind over those vaults. Who wouldn't want the treasure, eh?" 

"Well we can only hope Crystal Helenora doesn't want it. And don't worry about what's inside the Vaults, just keep people out of them. Lock this door and keep it guarded."

"Just a man, I am, Severus."

"I was not under the impression you were a woman, Argus." Snape turned to walk away after that comment was stylishly made.

Crystal and Merula sat in silence for a minute after the two men left, just to make sure they were really gone. Crystal thought to herself, she was part of a 'situation' now, which for some reason came as a surprise to her. Merula was sat thinking about how she had just forcefully grabbed Crystal Helenora's arm. Finally the silence was broken by Crystal.

"What's the 'Helenora situation'?" 

"Who cares, now I know the Cursed Vaults are real, I can start my search."

Whoa. Hold on. What.

"You call my brother mad and you're off doing the same thing he did?" 

Merula actually scoffed at that. 

"I don't have to explain myself to an idiot." Merula responded.

Either Merula believed she was an unchallengeable lord, or she knew she was a hypocrite. Either one seemed plausible in Crystal's view of Merula. However, Merula was right in saying she didn't have to explain herself. Crystal didn't care that she wanted to recklessly search for the Vaults, she just wanted to find her brother.

*Elsewhere*

Penny did in fact run into Rowan, and Rowan did in fact almost faint. Penny waved politely at Rowan with the intention of walking past, but as Rowan stopped and stared in sheer disbelief, Penny took that to mean conversation.

"Er, hello... Rowan Khanna, is it? Crystal's friend?" Penny put forward a very simple introduction, one which Rowan found too complex to understand. Rowan was a little genius, a logical one. Socially, she was not a genius. 

"Yes, that- that is certainly me." Rowan stammered. Penny slowly began to walk along side her, helping her continue her journey down the corridor by accompanying her. 

"So where are you headed off to?" Penny questioned, intertwining her fingers behind her and gliding down the corridor with grace. 

Rowan hoped that Ben would be in the Library again, so that she wouldn't have to potentially hang out with Penny Haywood all by herself. 

"I'm going to find my friend Ben," She finally turned to look at Penny, or question her more like, "Did you speak to Crystal?" 

"Yes! She's very lovely, and very brave. I offered her my help and she said she'll hang out with me soon." Penny cheerfully responded. Rowan was amazed that Crystal was the only who made the hanging out decision between the two of them. Her internalised popularity hierarchy was so strong. 

Penny looked back and smiled, "Could I come and sit with the two of you?" 

Rowan now had heart palpitations. The answer, of course, was yes, but she couldn't bring herself to be so direct.

"If you want. I'm sure Ben would want to see you." 

From the moment Ben had met Penny in their carriage on the Express, it became clear to anyone with eyes that Ben was nervous around her. Rowan then realised that letting Penny sit with them maybe wasn't the best idea. Ben might cry.

When the two girls arrived at the library, Ben reacted almost instantly to the addition, Rowan could see sweat forming on his forehead just from looking at Penny approaching him with a smile. He composed himself quickly and resisted the temptation to frizz up his bland, blond hair. Ben quite liked how bland his hair was, it made him feel connected to his muggle life while he was at Hogwarts, in the magical world. 

Rowan sat where she was before, opposite Ben. This allowed Penny to sit next to Ben, beaming a smile at him. Ben suddenly felt so small and insignificant, because Penny was just so much to comprehend. He smiled back of course, before Rowan noticed Ben's silence and lack of honest nervousness and she understood just what she had done by sitting where she was. She also understood that either she or Penny had to say something, she had no clue what to say, so she looked to Penny with raised eyebrows. Penny understood Rowan's plead far too quickly for Rowan's liking. 

"So!" Penny began, "I heard not many people like the Potions homework?"

"It's quite bad," Ben stared at his copy of 'The Requirements of the Preteen Potioneer', "Made worse by how much Snape hates me."

Penny sympathetically laughed, which Ben responded to by flinching his head upwards in confusion. 

"I'm sure he doesn't hate you! That's just how he is."

"Well, he smiled when I burned off a piece of my hair, so, y'know..." 

Rowan stopped intensely reading to find herself actually enjoying the silence that followed Ben's comment. She had proved her previous mindset wrong, friendship groups were fun. Maybe not fun for her in the traditional sense, but the same could be said for many of Rowan's enjoyments. Just as Rowan was beginning to panic over the silence, Crystal was finally noticed pulling out the chair next to Rowan and sitting in it with a quiet huff. 

Rowan was so glad to see her, she had so many questions, "So, Crys-"

"'The Helenora Situation.'" Crystal cut Rowan off as she let her face drop to the table. She then noticed Penny, "Oh, hi Penny."

"Hi!" 

Rowan quickly shook her head in confusion, "Whoa, Crys, slow all the way down and go all the way from the start, kay? What's 'The Helenora Situation?'" 

Crystal twisted her head and rested her forehead on the table, "Something to do with the Cursed Vaults." 

Ben, Penny and Rowan all looked at Crystal, startled. Rowan rolled her eyes.

"All the way from the start, Crystal." 

Crystal groaned, she had already experienced the event and now she needed to practically relive it by verbalising the experience.

"So," Crystal finally sat up and it hit her that three entire people were paying their full attention to her, "After we basically got no punishment, I followed Merula who was following Snape who was following Filch to a corridor with no classrooms. Filch said it was about the Vaults and Snape said something about 'The Helenora Situation'. I didn't hear much else because Merula talked over them." 

Silence again. Crystal wondered if she had overshared to a group of people she couldn't trust yet, and Rowan. Penny did say that she would help with anything, so maybe that was a sign that Crystal attracted the right people. Then she remembered Merula, then realised that Merula was actually the reason why Crystal met both Ben and Penny. 

"What do you think it all means?" Rowan was almost excitedly invested, in contrast to Crystal's exhaustion. Even so, Crystal thought this was the best question anyone could've asked her. 

"That there is something that links me, my brother and the Cursed Vaults." Crystal didn't know how to feel about this link, but she was glad to have discovered it. 

"Sorry for asking a personal question, but have you seen your brother at all since he left?" Penny politely asked. Crystal shook her head and sighed.

"Not even my mum knows where he is."

Ben had a question now, "What about your Dad, Crys?" 

Crystal had a father. Her mum rarely spoke about him. Jacob seemed to always have something against him. Crystal was confused about it from day one and resented her lack of involvement, despite her innocent age. 

"Well, he sort of left too. Not in a bad way, just for business reasons." Crystal fiddled with her sleeves. 

"So, in a bad way then." Rowan stated, which made Crystal jolt her head to face her.

"Yeah, I suppose." Crystal tugged her sleeves over her hands and pulled them up just to tug them down again. 

Ben coughed, "Sorry for asking Crys." 

"It's fine, don't worry. Besides, it's quite nice having a girls-only house." Crystal tried to lighten the mood.

Rowan seemed to be the only person still focussed on the topic at hand. 

"So, do you recon we should do something about it?"

Crystal paused to wonder what Penny's stance was when it came to school rules, "Penny... would you tell a teacher if I did something Dumbledore wouldn't really like?"

Penny still managed to smile at that, "I said I would help. If not telling a teacher counts as helping then I will stay quiet."

Crystal smiled, extremely reassured by that. Rowan looked giddy now, excited at what Crystal was potentially planning. Crystal had a very distinct 'planning face', not easy to read but you could tell her mind was at work. 

"I have to investigate the Upstairs Corridor. The one with no classrooms." Crystal finally said.

"You mean we," Rowan quickly added, "Crys, I am so coming with you."

Crystal knew there was no point in arguing this, especially because she didn't really want to, "Alright Rowan, we'll go tonight." 

For the next hour, the four of them were silently doing their Potions homework, which Penny completed long before the others. Crystal completed hers next and encouraged Rowan to finish her own homework. It turns out that Rowan was hardly doing the homework, instead she was glued to her Potions book because it was a good read. Once they had all finished, Crystal and Rowan headed back to the Ravenclaw Common Room to go over the very loose plan they had made. By 'investigate', Crystal meant that she basically wanted to understand why Filch was so interested in the wall of the Upstairs Corridor and why Snape linked this to her family. 

Eventually, it was time to investigate. Fortunately for them, their common room was very close to the corridor they needed to enter, both places being located by the West Towers. They left the Ravenclaw Common Room unnoticed and with little fear, but when they reached the Upstairs Corridor, Rowan's nerves were starting to get the better of her.

"So... this is w- where you followed Filch and Snape to?" Rowan's voice slightly shivered, along with her fingertips. 

"Yes just through here, are you alright?" Crystal placed a semi-comforting hand on Rowan's shoulder. Rowan unconvincingly nodded.

"I'm not scared of what we're doing, it's just Filch might be around here if this place is important. You can't be caught breaking school rules, not twice in the same day." 

Yep. She's completely right. I am reckless. 

Crystal peaked through the door, luckily it wasn't too creaky to open. 

"If we hurry, we should be able to find out useful information and not get caught. Filch is just one person." Crystal tried to ignore her inner conscience telling her not to involve others in her problems. 

Rowan nodded, feeling slightly more secure. She also couldn't miss an opportunity to explore a hidden corridor. 

Then there was a thud. A strange thud. 

"Did you hear-"

"Yes," But Crystal still opened the door, "Let's hurry." They made their way into the corridor. The first thing Crystal noticed was a large door, one that she realised Filch must've been stood beside with Snape. From where Crystal and Merula were hidden earlier, they could not have seen this door. They both tried the door, neither of them expecting it to open. It was indeed locked, and very old too. This door looked like it was creaky.

The corridor itself looked incredibly dusty and old compared to the rest of the school, which led Crystal to believe there really was something 'cursed' going on in this particular corridor. She was no Curse-Breaker, nor did she have any intention of being one, but she would happily become one to find Jacob. She feared that this commitment may actually become a reality, because she felt like this hypothetical curse was already inside her. 

"It's locked." Rowan felt the need to comment. Crystal examined the door further, noticing the actual lock below the doorknob. 

"We'll find a way to open it- wait I can hear something!" 

The most haunting 'meow' Crystal had ever heard echoed down the corridor, followed by an underwhelming cat turning the corner of the corridor to face Crystal and Rowan. It became less underwhelming again once the pair noticed the cat's red eyes.

"Is that..."

"Mrs Norris!" 

"Run! Quick!"

They ran off to their common room, leaving Mrs Norris stood proudly at the end of the corridor, seemingly yet strangely aware of the intimidating shadow she was casting onto the wall behind her.  

Chapter Text

The balcony of Ravenclaw tower was always cold, even during the day. But now it was nearing midnight on the final night of October and all of Crystal's fellow first-year dormmates were in bed, apart from Crystal herself, and Rowan of course. They occupied the balcony after wordlessly confirming to each other that they weren't tired, plus Rowan had a constellation book from the Library that she was dying to put into use.

"I still don't see it Rowan." Crystal shuffled closer to Rowan to try and look through her line of sight. Rowan aggressively pointed to the same spot she'd been pointing at for ten minutes. 

"It's right there, look! Actually look." Rowan's voice was getting louder, it was quite lucky that they hadn't woken anyone up. Her smile was wide but her tone was aggressive. Crystal squinted her eyes, as if that would help, as looked at the patch of stars Rowan was longingly gazing at. 

After a long look, Crystal dropped her posture and sighed, "I am looking, I don't see it! What is it I'm looking for again?" She glanced at the book, "Okay so there's a funny line going vertically, then this strange pattern and..." Crystal looked up and pointed, "I see it!" 

Crystal's eyes fixed on a beautiful, starry pattern in the sky. Her gazing face was soft, while Rowan's was more zany.

"Eh?" Rowan tilted her glasses down, "You're pointing in completely the wrong direction." 

"Well, I can see something." 

Rowan got on her feet, walked to the edge of the balcony and grabbed the railing, leaning forward. Crystal's heartrate soared in fear of Rowan's clear blindness to the 70 feet drop below her, so she got up and followed her to the railing. The sky wasn't cloudy for once, which made it the perfect night for Rowan's academic stargazing. Rowan thought the sky was fascinating, Crystal thought it was beautiful.

"That's not the one I was pointing at," Rowan leaned further, so Crystal grabbed her shoulders and held her while she looked, "You found another one."

"What! Seriously?" Crystal almost completely let go of Rowan in surprise. She hadn't even seen the first one yet, but she could tell hers was different. 

"Yeah, that's amazing!" Rowan delightfully said. She moved away from the edge, to Crystal's relief, and flicked through her book. Crystal looked back out to the stars and thought to herself. Could Jacob see the stars too? She remembered that he wouldn't care even if he could, because he hated astrology more than any other subject. 

'just boring dots innit - nothing much to see when you look up.'

Crystal herself was fascinated, but not like Rowan was, she just thought the Moon and the stars were a beautiful sight. She then realised the time, she didn't know the time but she knew the two of them had been up for hours. 

"Midnight." Crystal didn't realise she had said that out loud, but Rowan heard and understood what the significance was. She reached into her pyjama chest pocket and pulled out her old family pocket-watch, which only still worked because its quality had been sustained by magic. It read a few minutes past twelve. 

Rowan stood up and waved the watch in front of Crystal's pensive face, "It's your birthday!" She said, and Crystal just smiled at Rowan's excitement. 

Before Crystal could process her new age, there was a knock at the door. Crystal and Rowan both responded by eyeing the door in horror, but Crystal quickly came to her senses and crept off of the balcony to answer. 

"Wonder who it is?" Crystal wondered on her way to the door.

"What do you mean 'wonder who it is'? It's obviously-" 

Crystal opened the door to see Chester, in pyjamas of a similar style to Rowan's, looking rather on edge. Rowan leapt off the balcony and stood a few feet behind Crystal; a safe distance.

"Thought it was you two making that noise," Chester grumbled as if he was a teacher, "It's a mystery how your dormmates are still asleep." 

"Maybe you're just a bit more sensitive to loud sounds." Rowan felt like mentioning. Both Crystal and Chester looked at Rowan with the same blank, slightly threatening, expression. Rowan raised her eyebrows and slowly turned her head away. Crystal turned back and started to apologise, but Chester butted in.

"Look, either be quiet enough for me to believe you're asleep, or actually go to bed." Chester now seemed more tired than angry, which Crystal thought was fair enough. She nodded and Chester was about to walk away, but Rowan walked up to them.

"It's Crystal's birthday now that it's midnight. Say happy birthday to her." Rowan proudly declared. Chester almost felt like patting Crystal on the shoulder out of second-hand embarrassment. 

Chester slightly smirked, but it turned into somewhat of a tired smile, then back to a dead gaze, "Well Khanna, I too would like to have a happy birthday, which - despite my status' reputation - involves a lot of sleep," He raised his hands and pinched his fingers to emphasise his point, "and also-"

Crystal's eyes widened and she couldn't help but interrupt, "It's your birthday too? Happy birthday." 

Chester's gaze did not change, nor did his pinched fingers, and he continued as if Crystal hadn't spoken, "...and also, a full English breakfast at two o'clock in the afternoon. I am very glad my birthday is on a Saturday, as you should be too." 

Both girls nodded understandingly, and Chester shut the door and plodded to his room. They looked at each other and had to muffle their laughter, which proved extremely difficult. To Rowan, the existence of Chester Davies was the height of comedy, let alone the things he said. They both decided to have a "sleepover" in Crystal's bed, where Crystal fell asleep shortly after getting comfortable, and Rowan stayed up another hour reading her book. At half past one, Rowan wished another happy birthday to a sleeping Crystal curled up next to her, and finally went to sleep. 

*

"Ang, what are you doing in here?" Chester tried to exclaim at the same time as trying to look more presentable than he currently did.

The female Gryffindor Prefect, Angelica Cole, had just climbed through the Ravenclaw Common-Room portrait and made her way to Chester's room, where she knocked the door and greeted a rather unprepared Chester Davies at almost three o'clock in the afternoon. She leaned politely against the doorframe and smiled at his change in body-language. 

"Answered the riddle, didn't I? Considering the riddles have to be easy enough for first-years to answer, I'd say this is the easiest common room to get into," Her eyes scanned Chester's bedroom and empty food-tray on his bed, "Not like you to be up this late... like this." 

Chester looked where Angelica looked, "I know it's a bit of a mess, it's my birthday and it's a Saturday, so, you know."

She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, and his gaze became a lot less difficult to watch.

"You smell like egg."

"Full English breakfast, Ang. Nothing less than the best." He replied trying not to smirk. 

"You're such a Tory." Angelica assertively muttered. Chester rolled his eyes. 

"I'm literally not." 

"I know you're literally not, but you are by every other definition. I'll forgive you for being a posh twat on your birthday though." 

Chester laughed to himself, "So, dinner later? Madame Puddyfoots?" He suggested, even though they had never been anywhere else the last fifteen times they'd went out.

"Could we go somewhere else? I think it's getting a bit too cliché, even for us." 

Chester paused to think. He knew Puddyfoots was getting old but he'd still never considered anywhere else. Was there anywhere else? He then noticed than Angelica had a small present sticking out of her tote bag, and he wanted to know what could be inside it. He loved how even on weekends, she still had her Prefect badge either pinned to her bag or to her beanie - it was quite stylish.

"What about in the Astrology Tower? No one will be there and there will be a nice view of the sunset." Chester was going to continue arguing the points for the location, but he realised the time. Crystal Helenora and Rowan Khanna would be waiting upstairs under his orders right now. 

"Sounds lovely, let's do that. Oh also, there's two girls waiting upstairs, I think one of them is the Helenora girl, did you-" 

"Yeah... shit, they're waiting for me." Chester rubbed his forehead, "I'll get dressed and see you later, okay?" 

Angelica squeezed his hands and smiled, "Yep. Love you."

"Love you too." 

Angelica strode past Rowan and Crystal, who stared at her awkwardly as she walked by. She responded to them by waving politely, making her the first Prefect to be openly kind to Crystal on first impression. Maybe Chester was just a special case, or maybe Angelica was the special one. 

Rowan turned to Crystal and asked a question with her eyes, to which Crystal shrugged. Chester then appeared shortly after, and Rowan asked the same question, out loud this time.

"What's a Gryffindor Prefect doing in here?" Rowan's naïve eyes looked up at Chester.

"Um..." Chester didn't take much time deciding whether or not to explain the Prefect-romance scandal to this first-year, "Just Prefect business." 

Crystal nodded passively, "What was it you wanted?" She hoped that wasn't impolite, she didn't make much effort in tone. Chester's expression suddenly went guilty, but still stubborn. 

"I wanted to apologise," Chester managed, "I got you both into duelling when you should've been focusing on your schoolwork. I thought it would just be for harmless defence, but you got into trouble and lost Ravenclaw more house points." 

The Common Room went silent, because Crystal and Rowan were taken aback.

"But- but I'd be injured if you didn't teach me how to duel! Plus, I got to defend one of my friends..."

"No, now that," Chester snappishly interrupted, "That is not the route to go down. Taking charge of every situation, showing your anger to people you disagree with. It makes you valiant now, but you'll be a Death Eater before you know it."

He eventually glanced at the pair, nervously looking up at him. 

"Shit... you're children. I'll not say that to you just yet." 

The pair still didn't say anything.

"Okay, say something now. Prefect's orders." 

Crystal quietly spoke up, "What do you want me to do?" 

"Just- okay. I snapped like that just then because think recklessness is a strong form of evil. But you're a good person, both of you, which means you have good intentions behind your stupidness. And you're young, so now's the best time to start being a good person. What I'm saying is, defend yourself if you have to, though I think that Snyde girl is going to give it a rest by the looks of things. Also, just spend a bit of time focussing on school work and being good students."

A loud bird squawked just outside the window, it was probably a crow. The three of them found the sudden sound quite relieving. There was silent for a few seconds more until Rowan's head became too full with questions, as well as answers to her own questions. 

"You seem on edge." Rowan stated.

"Do I, Khanna." Chester rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Good observation. Look, just do your best in your classes and and earn back some house points. Also, since Christmas time is approaching, I want to tell you that Christmas here at Hogwarts is truly excellent. If you decide to stay here over the holidays, just enjoy it, it's really not worth your time to be focussed on rule-breaking and duelling during the holidays." 

And with that, Crystal and Rowan were dismissed. 

Later in the evening, the pair met up with Ben and Penny in the Courtyard, where the four of them had a birthday picnic that Penny had been secretly planning with Ben since Crystal and Rowan left to explore the corridor. All was well and good, all was calm, Crystal was calm. She didn't feel any different being twelve, if anything, she wanted to be thirteen. Twelve felt like such a pathetic age, as if it felt younger than being eleven. 

Penny had made egg and cress sandwiches for Rowan, who took them politely while clearly squealing on the inside. During the picnic, Rowan lost a lot of respect for Penny, but only because she respected Penny an abnormal amount beforehand, all for her popularity. Now, she just respected Penny a normal amount. Penny was a kind, polite and clever young girl; not much else to it. At the same time, Penny gained some respect for Rowan. This zany girl with funny glasses turned out to be funny, charming and intelligent the more Penny got to know her. 

When the picnic was almost over, Crystal spotted a small, brown bird with mail in its talons, then quickly realised the bird was flying towards her. 

"Do you think that owl's mail is for me?" Crystal asked the others, pointing at the bird swooping down to them. 

Rowan lowered her glasses, "That's not an owl, Crys. That's an eagle." 

Crystal was now a bit scared. Ben, however, was now curled up on the floor, shivering in fear. 

"Eagles don't usually deliver mail, do they?" Penny asked, calmly. Rowan shook her head, but there was no point denying anything. The eagle had just landed beside Crystal and dropped a small parcel on her lap, before hastily flying away. Crystal didn't think birds could have social anxiety, but if they could then this one definitely would. It seemed like it was trying to compose itself while giving her the gift. 

Crystal then looked up to see three of the same facial expressions darted towards her. 

"What?" Crystal timidly asked, feeling the same kind of nervousness that she thought the eagle felt. 

"Well, open it!" Penny exclaimed. 

The parcel was very small, but tightly wrapped and hard to open. The sun was already setting and it was hard to see, so Crystal cast Lumos on the parcel to see what she was doing. Once it was finally open, Crystal revealed the present to be a long necklace, with a light, golden key on the bottom. Rowan was buzzing with excitement over this mysterious present, and Crystal sort of was as well.

"Oh it's beautiful!" Penny gasped, reaching forward and lightly touching the key with her palm, "Do you think it's a necklace?" 

"Maybe, though I'd quite like to know who sent that eagle." Crystal said whilst observing the key with the light at the end of her wand. 

"I can't decide whether I'd want to stay up all night figuring out bit-by-bit who sent it, or if I'd want to keep it a mystery forever." Rowan said, like a wise old woman. 

"I'd find out who sent it. The key could be cursed and the person who sent it could be evil." Ben timidly and honestly added. Crystal no longer wanted to try on the necklace.

"Sorry." Ben added. Crystal smiled at him. 

Rowan looked at the key closer, "Ben has a point, best make sure it's not actually deadly. Just to be on the safe side." 

A few more minutes were spent observing the key, until the sun had fully set. The nights were now November nights, meaning the sun would now be set by 6pm at the latest. Crystal quite liked this, it made it easier to sleep at night. Penny and Ben both stayed behind together to sort out all the blankets and baskets they each donated towards this picnic, which ended up being a really amazing picnic from start to finish. Crystal had gone to the Transfiguration classroom on her way back to the Ravenclaw Common Room to ask McGonagall about the key, while Rowan had gone to quickly view the stars from the Astronomy Tower with her new book.

There was quite an awkward silence between Ben and Penny as they packed away, which was strange because silences were uncommon when you were friends with Penny Haywood. Ben wondered if this made him special. He then realised it probably just made him awkward.

"Can't wait for when we learn the packing charm!" Penny finally said. Ben just politely chuckled in response. It wasn't too long before everything was packed away, and they were ready to go to their separate common rooms. 

"Wait, Penny!" Ben called before she could walk off. 

Penny walked back up to Ben, slightly confused, "Yeah? What's up?" 

Ben didn't really know any other way to ask this.

"Why us?" He took an unnecessary pause, "Out of everyone who wants to be your friend, why choose us?" 

Penny thankfully smiled, comfortingly and calmly. She noticed Ben's sigh of relief, so she walked up to him more and allowed him to relax into this conversation. 

"Well, I didn't want people to be friends with me because of my nice hair, y'know?" They both giggled, "When making friends, I just chose to ignore the fact that a lot of people like me and try to see who I end up sticking with."

"And it was us?" 

"Yeah! And Talbott Winger of course, but he's awfully quiet. I know I became friends with Crys because of what she did to defend you from Merula, but I didn't expect to fully join your group afterwards."

"What made you join?" Ben was really invested now. 

"Well I met up with Rowan shortly after I spoke with Crys, and she was so, well, different to Crys. And you, and me. We're all so different to each other. People who are exactly the same find it easy to get along with each other, and that's totally fine. But people who are different have to put in that extra effort to click together, which means that when it eventually works, you already have a strong friendship. That's why I found becoming friends with you guys so wonderful." 

Ben really liked that answer. 

Elsewhere, in the Transfiguration classroom, Crystal had presented the key to a tired Professor McGonagall, who's tight hairstyle was starting to come loose. She observed the key closely and used some revealing charms to make sure there were no curses. 

"You say an eagle gave this to you?" She asked without looking up from the key.

"Yes, professor, that's why I was curious if there was anything wrong with it."

"Well, you made the mature decision coming to me for assurance," She handed the key back to Crystal and smiled at her, "But this key is completely ordinary."

Crystal thanked the professor and began to walk out the door, until she was stopped by McGonagall having one last thing to say. 

"Bye the way Miss Helenora, that key is not an antique. It definitely opens something." 

Crystal looked down at the key. She then loosened it so she could finally put it around her neck safely, knowing she wouldn't be cursed, "Thank you professor." 

There was another picnic taking place within the Hogwarts grounds. Chester Davies and Angelica Cole were sat together at the height of the Astrology Tower, having somehow made this mess of a spontaneous date idea work brilliantly. They knew they had to leave soon, Chester especially was worried about staying out too late, but eating biscuits and staring at the stars from the navy turret turned out to be the most beautiful thing the pair of them had ever done. Angelica finished her final biscuit and randomly wrapped her arms around Chester's shoulders. Chester reflexively held her, but was confused at this sudden outburst of affection.

"You okay?" Chester rather unromantically patted Angelica's shoulders. She nodded weakly.

"Just feeling clingy." 

"That's fine." 

There was a blurry three seconds between the two of them breaking apart the hug and leaning in. Chester didn't like the teenage stereotypes he was fitting himself into, but he liked this. There was something so refreshing about putting responsibilities to one side, something so freeing about not having to worry about absolutely everything. 

Rowan was treading up the Astrology stairs with her constellation book in hand, pleased that it was another cloudless night. Almost at the top of the turret, she started skimming through some of the constellations she had bookmarked, wondering if she was going to find any of them. She jolted to a halt when she heard something peculiar, some sort of fast-paced breathing, but there were two. Rowan ducked slightly and made her already small body even harder to find, before investigating further up the stairs. The stairs were steep, which meant that peering over the top step was like peering over the top of a bookshelf. She could faintly make out two bodies, both of them familiar. She make a risky climb up another step to see Chester Davies with the Gryffindor Female Prefect, together. Rowan's heartrate almost came to a stop when she caught eyes with Angelica, who definitely now knew they were being watched. 

Angelica tapped Chester and muttered something Rowan couldn't hear. Both of them got off each other and scrambled to their feet, coming face to face with little Rowan Khanna, who was now past the top step. 

And... silence.

Chester was so close to allowing himself to fall backwards, off the Astronomy Tower. 

"Umm, I'll just be going." Rowan was prepared to dart down the stairs at an unsafe speed. 

"Wait, Khanna." Chester bellowed, freezing Rowan in her place. 

Angelica rolled her eyes, "Bloody hell, don't scare the poor thing to death. Hello Rowan Khanna, we're sorry about that, did you need anything?" 

Rowan just continued to make fearful, incoherent blubbers. 

"Khanna," Chester continued, "You're not in trouble. If anything, we should be, but we'll leave that there. Just promise us that you won't go telling people what you just saw." 

Rowan shook her head from side to side, "Wouldn't dream of it, not at all, can I go please?" 

Angelica smiled and nodded, "Of course. We're so sorry about this."

Rowan scuttled back down the stairs in disbelief. She realised something, the thought that had been spiralling her mind throughout her childhood was confirmed by this very incident. Rowan never wanted to kiss anyone, ever. 

*

A good few weeks had gone by without any kind of commotion, which gave Crystal enough time to focus on school work and actually learn some valuable things. It was now mid-December and the holidays started in just one week. Crystal decided a while ago, without even realising, that she wanted to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays.

She sent her Mum an owl, telling her all about how good her friendship with Rowan was going. She said that things started hectic, but they weren't bad at the moment. She also mentioned that she'd like to stay in Hogwarts for Christmas, but would happily go home if company was needed. Her mum replied as quick as she always promised she would and confirmed that it was more than okay for Crystal to spend Christmas in Hogwarts, and that if she were Crystal's age, she would also want to stay in Hogwarts for the holidays. This made Crystal slightly envious of her mum, she imagined it would be quite nice having their little bungalow all to herself for Christmas.

But there was still one week left of school, so Christmas could wait. 

Crystal didn't have to worry about sitting next to Merula in Potions just yet, because Charms was first. This Charms class was going to be interesting, as it was for teaching Flipendo, which would put Crystal on the same level as Merula in terms of spells. She just had to be allowed in the classroom first. 

"Given your history, it's best I don't teach you another duelling spell at this moment. You're dismissed." Flitwick announced to Crystal before she had even sat down. Crystal was getting sick of people who initially gave her duelling advice now completely backtracking in regret. First Chester, now Flitwick. 

Before she could leave through the classroom door, Crystal stopped in fear at the sound of Rowan amplifying her voice towards Flitwick.

"Have you said that for safety reasons, or as a punishment?" Rowan loudly asked. Before Flitwick could open his mouth, she continued, "If it's for safety reasons, isn't this the safest place she can learn a spell like Flipendo? She might learn it from somewhere more dangerous otherwise." 

Crystal shot a quick smile at Rowan, who shot one back to her. Then they both stopped as they heard a voice they didn't expect to hear; Ben Copper. 

"Also," Ben tried not to stammer, "If it's as punishment, then Crystal already got a punishment off of Snape, so... yeah." 

Flitwick didn't really expect the foundations of a mutiny in his Monday morning first-year classroom, so he put his foot down before things went downhill, "All right, you each make a fair point. Miss Helenora, please take your seat." 

Crystal took her seat next to Rowan and in front of Ben, before thanking them both. She'd be lying if she said she wasn't slightly embarrassed, but Rowan was right, she would've just learned the spell elsewhere. Best to learn it here. It was quite a difficult spell to learn, Crystal had no idea how Merula learned it early. Speaking of which, Potions was next. Merula had been out of school for a few weeks for some reason, but she was back today, meaning that she was going to be back on the Potions table. Crystal had not spoken to Merula since they went into the corridor together. 

Merula was already sat down and had her head in her arms when Crystal and Rowan walked into Potions. Snape was clearly already done with this term of school and just wanted to get this lesson over with. It was a first-year class, after all. Crystal didn't yet know why first-years were so awful to older people, but she understood that first years were hated as a year group, and having to teach them on the last week of term was essentially torture. The absolute second Crystal sat down at the table, Merula's head shot up. Crystal didn't know why Merula had left for those few weeks, but she was not happy to see her back. 

"So." Merula began, "Did you investigate the corridor again without me?"

No point lying, it's not like they found much.

"Yeah, we did."

"Did you find anything?"

"The door that Snape and Filch were talking about. It was locked."

"That all?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe you."

"Why ask then?" 

Rowan's eyes rolled to the sky, "So, Merula, are you planning on staying at Hogwarts for Christmas?" Rowan asked like a teacher pretending to care about the wellbeing of their student. 

Merula paused for a moment, "I am." 

Crystal and Rowan looked at each other, with eyes that said: Oh no.

Chapter Text

Crystal had spent most of the first day of the holiday in bed, while reading, studying, spell-casting, talking to Rowan and getting a long night's sleep. She wrote a few letters to her mum, but writing for the person she missed the most became difficult. She tried to put things into perspective, surely her Christmas couldn't be worse that Jacob's, right? He was missing, and probably alone. She woke up at eleven in the morning to the chilling atmosphere of being in a castle in the snowy fields of the Scottish Highlands. Right when Crystal needed her the most, Rowan walked through the door, looking quite bewildered. She was in her father's old fleece, which suited her quite well, though going down to her knees.

"There are people in the Great Hall," She grit her teeth slightly.

Crystal jumped out of bed and put a woollen jumper over her pyjamas; dressed for the day. No one was in the Common Rooms, not even any of the Prefects. It just hit Crystal and Rowan that they would be Chester-less for the next two weeks. "I thought basically no one was staying behind?" Crystal was surprised to say the least, "How many are there?" *

Rowan began counting with her fingers, slowly. One finger went up, followed by another, then a third, - she paused to think - then two more went up, "Five."

Crystal exhaled, "I thought you meant there were lots of people."

"Crystal, that's five entire people! I'm staying in here." She dropped down to the floor and sat cross legged. She was prepared not to move for the rest of the day.

The snow outside was turning from beautiful to scary, it was definitely at least reaching a foot deep by now. Christmas at Hogwarts was famously like this, the kind of Christmas that you see on the front of Christmas cards, or the ones you visualise when you read old Christmas stories. The tree in the Great Hall was magnificently festive, but Crystal had yet to see it. She kind of wanted to see it.

To Rowan's utter horror, Crystal made her way to the door. "Shouldn't we say hello? They're probably wondering if there's anyone else still in the castle."

Rowan stuck out her arm, for Crystal to help her to her feet. "Fine, but when we walk into the hall, I will be stood two feet behind you at all times."

"Whatever, Rowan."

The Great Hall was atmospheric, to say the least. The tree twice the size of Hagrid and the rows and rows of ribbon and floating baubles made the few children that were sat by the fire look even smaller, but they fit perfectly into Crystal's view from the entrance. Merula was in the hall too, but sat as far away from everyone else as possible, and consequently, being distant from the fire place meant she was in the coldest part of the hall. She didn't look grumpy or defensive like usual, but rather pensive. 

Crystal recognised everyone sat by the fire as people in first-year like herself, apart from Bill Weasley, who was in third-year, staying behind with his brother Charlie. Despite Charlie being in her year, the only things Crystal knew about the Weasley's were them being Gryffindor, ginger, and plentiful. Penny was also there, thankfully, meaning the girls would have someone to rely on to start a conversation. One other person was there too, sat closest to the fire, whom Crystal only remembered slightly from the Sorting Ceremony. Her spiky pixie cut of vibrant pink hair made her stick out. Her Hufflepuff shirt was stylishly ripped up and her shoes were a similar pair of Doc Martins as Merula's, only with sparkly gems and glitter stuck all over them. 

Bill Weasley, being the oldest, stood up to greet the two girls. Upon seeing such a popular Gryffindor, Rowan stepped forward to Crystal's side and shook his hand first, using both her hands. She was so much shorter than he was, it furthered the image of Rowan being an excited fan of his. Bill was just fourteen, but has already mastered the art of composed and respectful first impressions. He managed to appear mature and professional despite having a shaggy, grown out short mullet and a woolen jumper with a big 'W' on the front. 

"Hiya, I'm Bill. We're you're only company for the next two weeks, so lets hope we all get along," He lightheartedly welcomed, "That's my brother Charlie over there, you know Penny of course, and that chihuahua in human form over there is Nymphadora Tonks."

"Although!" She jumped to stand, "If you ever call me Nymphadora, I will wish terrible, awful things upon you." 

Her and Crystal shook hands, and Tonks didn't give Crystal the chance to speak first, "Wotcher Crys, I'm Tonks." 

That South London accent was a welcome surprise which made Crystal feel right at home, as if she were back in the suburbs of her hometown. Tonks' boisterous energy brightened Crystal's mood slightly, as she felt grateful for Tonks taking one for the team and carrying the burden of being the only energetic member of the group. Crystal barely got her own greeting out before Tonks moved onto Rowan, who appeared to find Tonks jarring, but still settled into the bouncy handshake. 

They were guided to the fireplace, but Crystal had to look over her shoulder to see if Merula was still there. For once, she was the one glaring at Merula, not the contrary. Crystal snapped her head back to the front at the sound of Bill asking if she was okay. Crystal knew she wasn't smiling much and didn't want to fake it, but didn't want to be a downer and ruin people's Christmas.

"Yes, just missing my mum." She softly replied. 

Bill quickly sympathised, "Yeah I can imagine it's not fun. I miss my family around this time of year too." 

Charlie dramatically coughed. Crystal knew Jacob would do something similar if he was in Charlie's position. 

"You know what I mean. If you're wondering why Charlie and I aren't at the Burrow this year, it's because our younger twin brothers wrecked the place."

Charlie butted in with excited eyes, "You should've seen what they did, part of the roof came off and smashed through baby Ginny's floor. Mum and Dad's faces..." He noticed the horror on everyone's faces, and the side-eye from Bill, "You had to be there." 

"Anyway," Bill looked back to Crystal, "What could we do to cheer you up, Crys?" 

When Crystal spent time thinking about solutions to her problems, she tended to let her mind wander to think about things that would indeed help, but could never realistically happen. It was just the thought of these extremely positive ideas that helped. Fantasising had become one of her most powerful coping mechanisms because of this, and she much preferred it to requesting help from others. 

"Well I wanted to come downstairs to see the tree to be honest, and it has cheered me up. Oh, and so have all of you of course." She almost forgot to add, even though they had arguably cheered her up more than the tree did. 

Tonks stood up again, "D'you want to go outside?"

Crystal's face lit up, but was shut down by Bill being annoyingly responsible, "The snow is the deepest it's been up here in years. It is not safe." 

"What would happen though? We'd drown? Sure." Tonks rolled her eyes.

Rowan spoke before Bill could, "Well if you get trapped under the snow, it would melt around your face and-"

"Rowan, I only like your logic if you use it against things that aren't fun. Okay?" Tonks replied. Rowan nodded and stood up with her, not understanding why she ever contested in the first place, as going outside sounded awesome. 

"Alright. But go to your rooms first and properly wrap up warm. And don't let Filch see you do anything dangerous," Bill cupped his hand beside his mouth to shout, "You coming along, Merula?"

Crystal and Rowan looked at each other and couldn't help but laugh slightly at Bill's naivety. It would be daunting to play in the snow with Merula Snyde, but Crystal did not accept any possibility of her agreeing. And she was right.

Merula mockingly imitated Bill's cupped hand and yelled, "Piss off!" 

                                                                                                                                                       *

The untouched snow spanned from the castle entrance beneath the children's feet, all the way to the frozen Black Lake. Rowan insisted she was wearing only four layers, but she looked almost egg shaped in all her winter gear. Tonks, on the other hand, was arguably wearing less clothes than before, opting to wear her even more ripped, off the shoulder Hufflepuff jumper. Despite the vast range in clothing, the only thing vaster were the hills in the distance, coated in snow which must've been deeper than the snow outside Hogwarts. Penny was scavenging across the castle walls for mistletoe berries. Briefly, it was a lovely, calm, moment. 

"Tonks, I specifically looked at you when I said to wrap up warm." Bill pointed at her. 

"Oh c'mon, it's not like the paperwork is your responsibility if I die." Tonks retorted, before tugging on Rowan's sleeve, "Rowan Khanna, I assume in your extreme study sessions you've come across the snowball charm?"

"I haven't, I'm mainly looking at astrology at the minute." 

Tonks drew her wand and waved it in a peculiar way, which levitated small flakes of snow from the ground, and merged them together to create a perfectly spherical snowball.

"I've not figured out how to make them cubed yet."

Crystal observed the floating snowball, "Could you teach me that spell?" 

Elsewhere

Merula left the Great Hall to return to the Slytherin Common Room with three books in hand. None of them contained any of the information she needed. Just before she could reach the end of the Grand Staircases to enter the Dungeons, she was met with someone who made her wish she was face-to-face with a Weasley instead. 

"Peeves. No." 

"Oh, but I have a Christmas present!"

Merula sighed, "I hate you, though."

"Harsh."

"I've had a harsh day. Let me guess, the present is you?"

Peeves flew in circles around her six times in under three seconds, freaking Merula out to her core. She dropped a book, and as she leaned to pick it up, she dropped the other two. Peeves then picked up one book, threw it down the last flight of stairs, and it tumbled down and off the end of the stairs while they were in the middle of moving to another platform. Merula looked back at Peeves with the intention of screaming, but he was gone, and she found herself looking down an empty flight of stairs. She fell to her knees to pick up the books she had left, but found herself unable to get back up again, her legs felt too exhausted despite how long she had sat down earlier. She tried to shake off this unusual feeling, but it kept coming back. It annoyed her. 

Elsewhere

Crystal couldn't claim to have mastered the snowball charm, but she certainly got the hang of it. Rowan on the other hand had figured out how to form snow-cubes, somehow. Tonks asked her how she managed to accomplish such a feat, but Rowan claimed that it just happened instead of forming regular spheres. 

Charlie flung regular snow balls at his brother, who responded by playfully smiling at him, which just made him throw more. Tonks and Crystal were practising by casting the snow at each other. Rowan had made a wall out of snow-cubes, and Penny had decorated it with the mistletoe berries she had found.

"Are you cheered up yet?" Penny quietly asked Crystal when she got the chance. Crystal didn't know how to say that she didn't mind, and that the last thing she wanted was for their activities together to be centred around her. But instead, she just nodded.

"Crys?" Tonks shouted.

"Yeah?" 

"Can we go inside? I'm cold."

"Of course you're cold, you're hardly wearing even a jumper!"

"Professor Sprout called it resilience last term."

Crystal liked Tonks, she found her to be rather cool. 

Usually, the common rooms of Hogwarts were out of bounds to those who did not belong it that house, but considering there were seven people left in the castle, of a diverse house split, they disregarded this rule. With the common rooms now being free real estate, Bill was serving hot chocolates in the cosy Gryffindor Common Room. Charlie drank three cups in under ten minutes, and it appeared as though he was wearing brown lipstick, while Bill didn't have any, so that he could continue to provide. Their common room was like a cottage within a castle, the dark shades of red and comforting yellow were homely. 

Penny was elsewhere, working on a potion of some sorts, and Rowan had gone with her. This meant that Crystal was currently with people she had only met that day, and it wasn't too bad. She had quickly befriended two Weasleys, which many people would've seen as highly embarrassing, but Crystal liked their dynamic. That was until she found out that there were five more of them, all younger, and only one girl - the youngest. While Crystal avoided concerning herself with irrelevant matters like gender, she had to admit that Ginny Weasley is both special, and extremely unlucky to grow up in such an environment. 

Crystal went downstairs to find Penny, understanding that her and Rowan were in the Artefact Room; the place where she heard Jacob's voice. As comforting as it was to hear him, it was also a sign that he could be anywhere, or nowhere. It was just a voice, after all. 

"Isn't eggnog for adults?" Crystal questioned upon seeing Penny and Rowan brewing jars of a milky, sugary drink. 

"Yes! We found stashes of it under Professor Snape's desk." Penny gleefully said. Crystal froze, but Rowan snorted a laugh.

"I believed her too, Crys. Don't worry." Rowan assured her. Crystal forced a concerned laugh and sat with them, shivering at the contact with the stone floor. 

Penny handed her a cup, "It's a non-alcohol recipe my mum made for me so that I could enjoy eggnog with her," Crystal did not like the look of it, "There was no need of course, I love orange juice, but even so, it's better than I thought it would be-"

Penny was cut off by the splattered sound of Rowan almost choking on her own saliva while trying to swallow the drink. Rowan gave Crystal an expression which came across as 'don't let me put you off.' Crystal took a cup from Penny and politely sipped it, trying to keep the thought of orange juice present in the mind. 

"Do you like it?" Penny asked in such a sweet manner than Crystal practically tugged upwards on her face muscles to smile back.

"Yes, sure." 

Rowan laughed, out loud. Penny changed the subject.

"Do you like Rowan's hair? I did it like mine!" 

Crystal felt ashamed that she didn't notice Rowan's hair being half up, with a braid swooping over her shoulder. She didn't suit it like Penny did - Crystal actually preferred Rowan's hair being simple and straight - but it was certainly different. 

"I suppose if you do that hairstyle every day, then you're bound to be able to do it anytime, to anyone." Crystal commented, lightly touching the braid on Rowan's shoulder. Penny nodded, modestly, but proud of herself.

"I'm going to go and drink more hot chocolate upstairs, but I'll see you two later in the Great Hall." Crystal desperately needed to filter her mouth with chocolate, but also felt like she was intruding on what may have been a nice conversation between the two of them. 

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Rowan?" Penny asked after Crystal had shut the door behind her and left. Rowan shook her head, "I've got Beatrice." Penny humorously said, "She's not exactly a handful, but she's very, you know..."

"Stubborn?"

"Yes! And she's only seven!”

Rowan pulled out some sandwiches she had stuffed in her large pockets from earlier. She took a bite out of one to check whether they could still be considered tasty after being in her pocket for hours, and then handed another one over to Penny. 

"Oh... thank you... I really shouldn't." Penny stammered with her hands up slightly. 

"Come on, you made me eggnog, it's only fair."

"You didn't like it!"

"Doesn't matter, dinner's not for hours, so have a sandwich." She pushed the sandwich further towards her face, causing Penny to giggle and reluctantly accept. While they were eating their food, Rowan pulled on her hair ties and let her hair go back to its usual thick straightness. 

Another two hours went by before everyone - of course except for Merula - gathered round the fire in the Great Hall to eat dinner. Bill brought in a magical gramophone to play some relaxed background music while they ate. Everyone - of course except for Merula - was getting along. The atmosphere was serene. 

"Are we all getting each other presents?" Penny asked with contained excitement. 

Bill and Charlie nervously looked at each other.

Charlie jumped in, "Well we're so unbelievably broke-"

"How about," Bill cut him off and lightly kicked him under the table, "We each buy a present for one other person? That way we all equally get something from someone else here." Everyone nodded at each other in agreement, and then the calm energy was broken.

"I'm getting for Penny." Rowan sharply stated without looking up from her food.

"Damn it!" Tonks cried. Even Charlie looked annoyed that Rowan had called Penny. Penny laughed in a thankful manner, hiding any feeling of being overwhelmed. Penny understood, as she was on the same page as everyone; you can get her anything, and she'll be grateful. 

"Don't worry Penny, I promise I'll get you something nice." Rowan assured, so that Penny wouldn't think she'd bagsied her for a cheap present. 

Penny laughed and crossed her legs, "Haha, you don't have to, Rowan."

Tonks wasn't getting any less pissed off by this. 

"Well, I'll buy for Charlie." Bill said, bringing the tone of the conversation down, "And you could buy for me, Charlie?" He asked, to which Charlie understood, and nodded, eliminating them from the greater gifting network. 

Penny had recognised Tonks' frustration and knew how to resolve it, "Tonks, I'll get one for you." 

Tonks jumped to her feet and cheered, wrapping her arms heavily around Penny's fragile body. Penny, a lover of hugs, attempted to match Tonks' high energy by hugging her back. Tonks was one of those fellow Hufflepuffs who never hassled Penny because of her popularity, but never ignored an opportunity to joke about her fame, at night time when the two of them were in their dormitory. They were an odd sort of pairing, Penny had no idea how to behave within it, but still found herself appreciating Tonks as a person.

"Tonks, who're you getting one for?" Charlie asked. 

"Oh, Crys? Yeah, Crys." 

"Okay, thank you. So then I'll get one for Rowan," Everyone smiled until, "And Merula."

Everyone stared directly at her.

"What? She's a lot sadder than us this Christmas, I want to do something." Something so blunt could sound rather soft with Crystal's voice.

"But what about all the things she's done?" Penny questioned. 

Crystal shrugged, "I don't like her, not at all, but I wouldn't want anyone to be so alone on Christmas. Even if she would prefer nothing to a present from me."

Rowan shook her head from side to side, "I disapprove."

"So do I, sort of," Crystal replied, "But I'm still doing it."

It wasn't like any of them could stop her, apart from herself, and Crystal really was fighting an urge just to forget it and forget her, but she knew better. Merula didn't deserve it, but Crystal had always been above that, she knew she was kind and caring and she was going to show Merula that her actions wouldn't change that fact. The only problem was, the only thing Crystal knew Merula to be fond of was fame, but fame wasn't something easily wrapped in a box.

*
Thirty-six! Counted them myself.
Thirty-six?! But last year, last year, I had thirty-seven!

Chapter Text

Christmas was tomorrow, which was scary for those who hadn't yet got their present sorted out. This included Tonks, who still didn't know what to chose for Crystal, and Crystal, who had got something for Rowan immediately but was struggling on her pledge to definitely buy Merula something. Christmas Eve served as an example of Crystal's procrastination tendencies, as she was sat by the fire in the Great Hall, simply thinking about the prospect of buying Merula a gift. What an illogical idea, she would think, before brainstorming which presents she would hate the least.

The younger Weasley in the castle approached the fire, with his burgundy pyjamas still on his body, and he sat himself next to Crystal, unannounced. 

"My brother got dressed for some reason?" Charlie began the conversation with a shocking statement. 

"Oh, why on Earth has he done that?" Replied Crystal half-seriously, as she was also in her pyjamas.

"So he can feel better looking in that ginormous mirror. Or maybe he believes our mum is always watching him somehow, which is fair." Charlie smugly replied, which made Crystal laugh a bit. 

There was silence between the pair for what didn't feel as long as a minute, but was. 

"If it's okay for me to ask, are the things the Daily Prophet said about your brother true?" Charlie softly asked her. 

Lifting her chin up from her knees, Crystal looked in Charlie's general direction and sighed. It wasn't like she got asked this too much - people don't care for sincerity when an article can suffice. But people were rarely so brave as to ask her such thought provoking questions directly, and with a tone of good faith. She must validate Charlie with a decent answer, but how? 

"Well, hmm," Crystal unfolded her legs, "I'm not too sure if the story is true, I've not read many newspaper stories about him. He left about four years ago and it's just been me and mum since." She saw Charlie's eyes widen, "Sorry - depressing - anyway, mum and I get along well most of the time, but we're taking time apart this Christmas because I like Hogwarts without any lessons, and mum wants to see family in America. I thought she was going to see Dad, but no..." She trailed off, "What's your home like?" 

They heard the sound of Tonks running around the corridors, procrastinating her present-finding in a more energized way. Or maybe she was running around looking for a present, but it was not as if anyone knew what she was doing. Then they heard the sound of Merula, who had seemingly been sat at the back of the hall for the whole night and morning, turn a page of her spell-casting book. Crystal did not want to have to duel her again, so she hoped Merula was simply reading for enjoyment. 

"Don't apologise for being 'depressing', or whatever that means, you're fine," Crystal smiled and looked back to the fire as he continued, "Well, you won't believe me, but I'm the second oldest of seven.  Fred and George, like I said, caused a lot of chaos earlier this month, and the house is not ready for us to come home yet. We don't have a lot of money, so they had to do the mending themselves. Oh yeah, about that, I found out recently that it's not normal to have to wear and own literally everything second-hand? It makes me a bit sadder to be in my family, but I wouldn't trade it for some other strange family. Can you imagine if I was a Malfoy? Eugh." A slightly small shiver went down Crystal's spine as well as Charlie's, Crystal didn't know much of the Malfoys, other than that they were snobbish, and possibly Death Eaters. They were found not-guilty amid accusations of working with the Dark Lord, but many of the public who weren't as fortunate as them in their wealth knew that there was foul play somewhere in that court case. 

"I'm glad you like your family. I like how close you and Bill are, it's really funny seeing you talk." Crystal quietly said. 

"Maybe funny for you!" Charlie span round to fully face her, "He thinks I'm so childish, when he has the hair of some musician that you hear played on the radio." 

Crystal thought about some of her favourite musicians of her time to see if she could picture that hair. She thought about David Bowie, whom she quite fancied - in many ways - but his hair was always so neatly kept. When Bowie's music first gave her butterflies, at the age of 6, she cut her hair to be just like how it was during his Ziggy Stardust phase, also because she loved how that album was only a few months older than herself. Or she tried to cut her hair at least, it just looked uneven and messy and hard to style given how thick, wavy and dark her hair was. Eventually it grew out, but Crystal sometimes got the urge to do that again, just for a laugh. 

"Don't you have to get a present for Merula or something?" Charlie realised, and Crystal kind of wished he didn't. 

She nodded, "Yes, I do. I should do that now. Nice speaking to you though!"

"See you Crys, if you find Tonks then tell her to hurry up with her present too!" 

As Crystal left the room, she called back, "I would, but she's getting a present for me!" 

She made her way down to the small room where her and Rowan had found that spellcasting book, and where Penny hopefully hadn't left a stench of eggnog floating about. On the way, she realised Peeves was following her, so she walked faster. Peeves could float most gracefully however, but sped up just enough to merely worry Crystal. Before Crystal could place her hand on the doorknob, she was pushed to the side by Peeves, who crashed the door open for her, and cackled with insufferable laughter. 

"Careful!" Crystal scolded while following him into the room, "The shelves in here will fall if you don't calm down." 

"Goodness wouldn't that be a sight!" He screeched. At least Crystal was now sure that no one would come near this room while she was looking for a present. 

Peeves continued without being asked, "You still have not got a present for your Secret Santa pick? Tut tut Helenora." 

"I do. I got Rowan a new telescope. It's just... Merula Snyde." Crystal hesitantly corrected him.

Peeves laughed even louder than before.

"That little girl haaates you! Incredibly so! She might take your gift and throw it at your ribs!"

"You think a twelve-year-old can hate someone?" Crystal questioned as calm as she could. 

"If any twelve-year-old is, it's her! Most definitely."

I still have not done anything to her without her starting something first. Maybe Peeves is right, that is hate. I wont think about that though. 

Peeves once again continued without being asked, "You clearly seem to be in a hopeless situation though, so I shall give you help."

Crystal shrugged, as though to encourage him to continue, but he didn't. Crystal turned towards a shelf instead and tried to ignore him. 

Peeves responded to this by pointing and yelling, "Warmer!" Crystal jumped back in shock and Peeves responded with, "Ohhh, cooler."

Now she understood. 

She moved back to the shelf; warmer. She reached a hand up; cooler. She reached down; also cooler? She went back to her first shelf - warmer - and moved towards a big box; boiling. She reached inside the box; scorching. She pulled out a book; cooler. She pulled out another book; cooler. She pulled out another; burnt!

"This one? Really?" Crystal held up the book she had succeeded in finding, which was a song book for choir students, "How would you know Merula is into music?" 

"I spy, Helenora, I really do." And he left. She was actually going to say thank you to him as well. 

Crystal skimmed the pages, knowing that if Peeves was correct, then she had just learned her first positive fact about Merula's life; she liked choir music. She might even like to sing. And if not, then its objectively a nice present which is hard to criticise, so it was worth giving to her anyway. But first, she had to picture Merula smiling when she got the book, just so she could envision a best-case scenario. Then she imagined her ribs dented - worst-case scenario.

Elsewhere

Tonks had finally done it, she had finally got Crystal the perfect present, one that would surely cheer her up, but not overwhelm her. One that she may even keep, if she is the sentimental type. Tonks herself was not that type, but even she could acknowledge that she would certainly keep this present in her possession. She showed the gift to Bill, who gave his immediate approval that it was indeed a thoughtful gift, and she later found Charlie asleep by the fire in the Great Hall, and decided against waking him up. Instead, she curled up beside him and quickly fell asleep too, for she had finally depleted her energy. 

                                                                                                                                                       *

Christmas morning came around all too quickly, and the sting of the cold air woke everyone up early enough for a traditional Christmas morning of present opening. First was the presents that everyone - other than Merula - got from their parents, arriving by owl and landing at the foot of the bed. Rowan and Crystal shared a bed last night, which make their near-empty dorm room feel less spacious. Rowan's parents' owl arrived early with her present from her parents, which was a book on wand wood, and it arrived at midnight. Rowan stayed up for a few hours reading it, even though she didn't have nearly as much interest in her family's farm compared to her mum. It was a good read, at least. 

Everyone - again other than Merula - had agreed to meet by the same fire place in the Great Hall in the morning to exchange the gifts. Merula was curled up on the table she was sat up all throughout the previous day, but as she saw people coming in, she adjusted herself back into her reading position. 

The exchange took place in an orderly fashion, and there were smiles and hugs all round. Crystal's turn to give her gift was second last, behind Tonks' turn. Rowan wasn't the hugest fan of hugging as a form of appreciation, but she made an exception when Crystal gave her the telescope and wrapped her arms around Crystal as lovingly as she could. Just before Crystal could get out Merula's song book, Tonks interrupted in a clear display of how Crystal was clearly the only person to have remembered Merula, but in all fairness it was really hard to forget such a person. Tonks handed Crystal a nicely wrapped, cuboid-shaped parcel, which Crystal gently opened, and revealed a framed photograph of Tonks with her arm stretched out to hold the camera, Crystal and Rowan joking with each other just behind her, Penny picking plants by the walls, and Bill dragging Charlie out of a particularly deep bit of snow. 

"How did you get this photo, Tonks?" Crystal wondered as she squinted her eyes to look closely at how authentic and nice everyone's expressions were.

"I got a magic camera which works inside Hogwarts, and took a photo while you all looked happy at the same time. Do you like it?" Tonks peered over Crystal's shoulder to look at the photo. Her face in it looked less empty than her usual bland stare. She looked rather pleased in it. 

"Yes... yes it's wonderful, thank you." 

All happy at the same time. All?

Crystal looked over to Merula and frowned at how smug she looked by herself. She felt a sudden nasty urge to cast a violent spell to get her attention. Merula looked over to Crystal, scowling, before just sulking. Then every single person in the room - this time including Merula - gasped as Crystal began to walk over to Merula, which was an uncomfortably long and silent walk from one end of the hall to the other. 

"I got you a present, Merula."

Merula slammed her book shut and straightened her posture, which Crystal responded by calmly placing the wrapped gift on the table in front of her. 

"I don't want you to pity me with a present," She resentfully spoke, "And stop staring at me all the time from over there. I get it, you think I'm the worst." 

Crystal looked at Merula with confusion.  

"Just open the present, Merula. It's only fair that you get one too."

"Oh so you're doing this for the sake of justice. How very heroic. You could even say the Hat should've put you in Gryffindor."

"Merula." She softly snapped, "It's just a present." She nudged it closer to her. 

After scanning all of the edges and sides of the parcel, Merula began to slowly tear open the parcel, then quicker, then she was shredding it open. Then she stopped upon reading the title, and ran a cold finger down the spine of the book. 

Crystal instantly filled her mind with regret. Why would she ever trust Peeves? 

"How did you know I wanted a song book?" Merula uttered. 

And just like that, Crystal could now safely exhale, then continued with a well-deserved explanation. 

"Peeves told me." 

"Oh yeah, that bloody psycho follows me around a lot." 

"Maybe he wouldn't if you weren't by yourself?" 

"I have friends, Helenora. Just not with me. I don't care if you want to pretend to like me just because it's Christmas, because your lovely friends definitely don't want to do the same." 

Suddenly, Bill's voice echoed across the room, "We're going outside, do you two want to come?" 

"He said two. Are you coming?" Crystal asked while she began to walk away. 

Merula had three options; to stay alone, to go with a Helenora, or to go with a Weasley. She settled for the second. 

It had stopped snowing where Hogwarts was, but that didn't change the fact that there were still multiple inches of snow piled up around the castle grounds, some bits even a few feet deep. The children in the castle were restricted to a few safe areas, where the snow was no danger, but still fun. Or in Tonks' case, slightly less fun. 

The two of them walked almost side by side behind the others past the magnificent Clocktower, and outside. This was where Merula and Crystal had there duel, and where Crystal won. Merula found it hard to ignore that when it seemed like Crystal had forgotten it happened. She didn't want whatever Crystal was offering, she didn't want help or support from someone whom she rejected entirely. 

"Why are you with me right now? Like, really, why?" Merula finally asked as she stopped walking, bringing Crystal to a halt too while the others continued to wonder. 

Crystal sighed, for she knew deep down that it wasn't simply because Merula shouldn't be alone on Christmas, even if that were a fine enough reason on its own. 

"Maybe if you don't hate me anymore, then you will leave my friends alone." She was sure that was the right answer, but she still didn't fully know her reasons. 

Merula scoffed, "I don't hate you. I just think you're a danger because of the way your brother acted. You're so interested in the Cursed Vaults, so I'm probably right, but you wont admit it, will you?" 

Crystal already regretted snapping earlier when Merula frustrated her, so she replied softly, "Well what about your family," She saw Merula stiffen, "and the fact that you are already looking up violent spells in your free time? Are you going to end up like them?" She wanted to apologise the moment she said this, but Merula clearly wasn't going to do the same thing, so it wouldn't be right to say sorry - perhaps because of that 'justice' apparently running through her veins.

It went silent for a few seconds, so Crystal turned her head to face Merula, and they both came to a halt. Merula eventually responded by shaking her head quickly, moving her dry, messy bob from side to side. 

"If you don't want me to talk to you about your family, I don't want you to talk about my brother. Is that okay?" She explained. 

"Oh please... I'm not embarrassed like you are. My parents were sentenced to Azkaban after Harry Potter defeated Voldemort. They didn't abandon me." Merula snarled. Crystal didn't like to think her brother abandoned her, rather he just had to leave, and would explain why in the - ideally near - future.

Crystal thought that Death Eaters were sickening monsters who couldn't love, because that's what her mum told her. However now she was standing before a child of two Death Eaters. 

"Were your parents nice to you?" 

Silence again, and then a shrug in response. What more did Crystal expect? 

"Merula made Crystal flinch by drawing her wand, and Crystal reached for her own wand in preparation to cast the tickling charm. Merula lifted her wand to the sky and moved it in a circle, but from the way she aggressively shifted her arms it was more like a rectangle. At first, nothing happened, but then small snowflakes appeared from the sky and fell lightly on the both of them. The snowflakes became more plentiful and wide the more Merula thrashed her wand around, to the point where Crystal could actually feel the flakes land on her hair. 

The white snowflake specs were noticeable on Crystal's black hair. Merula thought it looked like dandruff. 

"Could you show me how to do that?" 

Merula instinctively urged to say no, but Crystal did get her a song book, "Fine. Watch very closely because I don't think you'll get it." 

Elsewhere

Tonks and Charlie had split off from the rest, leaving Bill, Rowan and Penny to have a semi-civilised discussion between the three of them, largely consisting of magic literature, spell-casting techniques, and that time Penny accidentally half-brewed a Polyjuice potion at the age of eight. 

The other two had long past the grounds limit for students staying at Hogwarts, so much so that muggles could probably see them. They weren't planning on casting magic, but just talking and laughing. Tonks and Charlie were never one to constantly indulge in their magical abilities, rather preferring to enjoy the beauty of what Hogwarts itself had to offer. For example, Tonks much preferred the joy of magical prank items compared to her own magical spells. For this reason, they saw this boundaries rule as entirely worth breaking. The pair of them met each other for the first time on the Hogwarts Express, and had been inseparable up until the Sorting Hat did separate them, and they didn't find time to speak much with discovering Hogwarts and settling into their houses being their priorities, so thankfully they could catch up during the holidays. They hoped not to stop talking again after the holidays. 

Elsewhere

"I think you have it Helenora, try it."

She lifted her wand exactly as Merula had demonstrated, and swished her wand in that strange way that was necessary to produce the snowflake in the right shape. It worked, arguably better than how Merula had done it herself, but neither of them wished to point that out.

"Is this what you were really researching in the Great Hall?" She realised this may have been the case all along. 

Merula scoffed, "Among other spells, but my parents taught this to me so I figured I'd relearn it." 

"Did your parents teach you anything else?" Crystal asked. 

Merula scoffed again, but this time not in a smug way, but an annoyed manner, "None of your business. That was just cause you got me a book, so goodbye."

And she suddenly walked off back inside, leaving Crystal alone underneath the falling snowflakes created by the pair of them. At least Crystal was sure she at least got what she wanted - Merula was likely not going to harass people around her anymore. She might not even burn the book Crystal got her. 

Crystal watched everyone else walk inside the castle as the day went on, but she did not follow them into the castle until her snowflakes had stopped falling. 

                                                                                                                                                   *

Merula was nowhere to be see for the rest of the day, which gave Crystal the impression she may have struck a nerve, but it didn't stay on her mind too long because she couldn't stop looking at the picture Tonks had got her, which was now perched on Crystal's bedside table, between her and Rowan's bed. Later on in the afternoon, when the sun started to make the clouds go pink, and Rowan began to play her melancholy music records on the magical turntable, Bill came to meet Crystal just outside the Ravenclaw Common Room, with a medium-sized parcel. 

"Don't tell the others Crys," He said in a humorously exaggerated stealth voice, "But I got you a present too." 

Crystal took it sceptically, as this did defeat the whole point of the Secret Santa, but it made sense since Bill was the only older student. Crystal theorised that, given his position in his family, it might be only natural for him to have to get presents for six other people. 

She opened the maroon coloured wrapping in her room to reveal a woolen jumper with the letter 'W' on the front. Her theory was probably correct. She loved woolen jumpers anyway, but she couldn't take off her brother's hand-me-down jumper on Christmas, so the 'W' jumper would have to wait until boxing day. 

Rowan came back to the dorm room later that evening. It was always obvious to tell when Rowan was walking into an area with the intention to ask a question; her eyebrows were furrowed and she occasionally pointed a finger upwards if she was truly bamboozled. 

"Crystal," She begun, "Did you also get a jumper from Bill?" 

Ah, now I understand.

"Were you supposed to tell me that, Rowan?"

"You did get one though, right?" 

Crystal laughed against the back of her hand, "Yes. I did." 

The sun melted a few inches off the piled-up snow on its way down, and had set fully by 7pm. Some - Tonks, Charlie, Penny and Rowan - had already fallen asleep by 8pm due to the overbearing darkness, while others - Crystal, Merula and Bill - stayed awake long past midnight. For all of them, however, it was a comfortable night. 

Chapter Text

A plan had finally been constructed to enter the locked room, all thanks to Crystal and Rowan's combined efforts. All they needed now was for their other friends to be somewhat on board, but they had the impression that this may be difficult. The plan came in three parts; they needed a Sleeping Draught, they needed to be able to use Alohomora, and they already had part three - the Knockback Jinx. 

"The Sleeping Draught isn't on the curriculum for this year, and there's no way we can get Snape to teach it to us early." Rowan expressed, sinking down onto her stomach. The pair of them had set up a visual mind-map in between their beds for their plan, and they intensively worked on it for all of that Saturday morning and early afternoon. They could be expelled for doing this plan, which is why they took considerable care in making sure they were both on the same page.

Crystal rested her chin on her palm and sighed, "I suppose our best shot is Penny."

Rowan sprang to a well-postured sit, "That is not how I was planning on telling Penny about our plan."

"Well how else? We were going to ask her to help us anyway."

Rowan exhaled, "Fine." And she wrote 'Penny Haywood' underneath the 'Sleeping Draught' headline. 

Penny was nowhere to be found in the Great Hall, nor the library, nor the Courtyard. Talbott Winger, the grumpy first-year Ravenclaw, was also nowhere to be found, so he would likely be with her. That would make involving Penny slightly more challenging if Talbott were to stick around. 

But where could she be?

Oh, right. It is obvious.

Crystal promptly made her way down to the Potions classroom, where Penny, and indeed Talbott, were sat chatting. The chatter was rather one-sided, but Talbott seemed content with just listening to Penny talk. 

"Crys, hi!" Penny called when she saw Crystal shut the classroom door behind her. Talbott, looked over and raised his eyebrows at her, but didn't say anything, "Take a seat, do you need anything?" 

"Is this a good time?" Crystal looked over to Talbott, who looked up at her and back down at the table within seconds. 

Penny understood, "Talbott wont tell anyone what you tell me, don't worry." 

Talbott quietly spoke, "I really wont." 

"It is quite private though..."

Talbott stood up and tucked his chair in, "I understand. I'll be back in a few minutes." And just like that, he was out of the classroom. Crystal awkwardly twiddled her thumbs at her act of making someone leave the room to make way for her. 

"It's okay, Crys. He's a very private person himself, and he probably needs some alone time anyway," Penny reassured her, "Besides, when Talbott and I hang out, he always leaves for five minutes every now and then to 'recharge'. I don't really understand it."

"I think I do." Crystal calmly responded before sitting down and explaining the gist of the plan to Penny, about how her and Rowan were going into the locked room to see if there was a Cursed Vault, and how they needed to put the cat to sleep. 

Penny seemed initially excited at being able to help Crystal by making a potion, but her smile faded as she explained the plan further. 

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"No, but, we're just investigating. We don't plan on doing anything other than looking around."

Penny scratched her chin. She said that she would be willing to help Crystal when they first became friends, but she didn't realise how much Crystal had signed herself up to the horrors of the Cursed Vaults. It was okay. All she had to do was brew a potion. 

"Okay. I will make the potion for you. It's the least I could do after you stopped Merula Snyde from hurting Ben Copper."

Oh yes, Merula. No student had really spoken with Merula since Christmas, and she only showed up to the classes which she didn't share with Crystal. A couple of staff had been to see her, but couldn't get anywhere with her blunt answers and short temper. At least she was out of people's way.

Talbott came back into the room when the potion was half-brewed. He didn't question anything, and sat himself between Crystal and Penny, before Penny resumed her chat with him. The way she spoke almost seemed... like gossip? Like how the girls who followed her around always spoke to her, but she never responded with the same energy, rather opting to be polite and accommodating. But with this reserved Ravenclaw boy, she talked shit. 

The potion was done ten minutes later, which Penny commented was a record time for her making a Sleeping Draught. Crystal had wholly enjoyed her trip to the potions classroom, but had to prepare herself to speak to Ben about potentially visiting a Cursed Vault. 

Alohomora was a relatively simple spell to learn, and it was a calmer lesson compared to the Flipendo class, because Flitwick didn't suspect anything risky about teaching Crystal the Unlocking Charm. It made her want to smirk. The Charms classroom had become more crowded with books that were mostly burgundy or brown, and the wooden walls had scratches on them, largely of profanities written by small children who sat at the back of the classroom. 

"Well done, class, you have unlocked another piece of Hogwarts knowledge." Flitwick closed off the lesson brightly. 

"And I'm one step closer to unlocking that cursed door." Crystal didn't realise she had muttered this out loud. The only person who just about heard this was Rowan, who sharply elbowed her, which made Crystal stop looking blankly at the wooden chips peeling off the desk.

"Crys. You are absolutely not going to say things like that out loud again." 

                                       *                                                                

Someone in the Great Hall shouted to his friend; "It feels like I haven't seen Dumbledore in ages" as Crystal walked past all of the populated tables. Ben saw her approaching and could tell that she meant business walking towards him. He was also disappointed that she hadn't brought Penny with her. 

"Sandwiches?" 

"Thank you."

Ben grinned as best as he could with a mouth full of bread, "No worries, you're one of the people I'm least uncomfortable around after all." 

The compliment wasn't even back-handed, it was just peculiar. 

"I need your help, Ben..."

"Anything, as long as it isn't too dangerous," He picked up on Crystal looking sheepishly downwards, "Oh." 

Crystal looked up at him through the strands of hair blocking most of Ben from her view, "We're planning on using a Sleeping Draught on Mrs Norris to sneak into the mysterious room in the forbidden corridor." 

Ten seconds passed while Ben chewed and swallowed his food, and Crystal did not blink once in that time. 

"Crys," He swallowed, as did Crystal, "I am proof that the Gryffindor stereotype makes zero sense. Take Penny instead." 

"I'm not the Ravenclaw stereotype either, because I'm walking into a Cursed Vault with nothing but Flipendo." She giggled under her breath and took a bite out of her sandwich. It was egg and cress - oh how she wished Rowan could be there to eat it instead. Ben didn't seem to think Crystal's comment was particularly helpful, "You're my friend. I trust you more than you trust you."

"So you're saying I should trust myself?" 

"All you need to do really is watch a cat fall asleep and walk into a room. You can trust yourself to do that, especially since you can trust yourself to fly in Flying Class now."

Ben lowered his usually raised eyebrows, "How is that related?" 

"I'm not really sure."

Ben hummed to himself. 

"What if we get caught?" 

"We wont." 

Ben hummed a second time, there was tune to this hum. 

"Okay, I'll think about it."

Chapter Text

For a pure-blood family the Helenora's lived in an unusually populated place, with no other wizarding families within a five mile radius. This is how Alexis Helenora preferred to live, she did not want to indulge in the typical pure-blooded lifestyle, as it had connotations of being grossly prejudiced. Besides, she did not have the funds to leave suburban South London, and what if Jacob were to return? His home should not move until he is aware of it. 

Alexis fell immediately in love with Rowan the second she saw the little girl adjust her glasses and wave 'hello'. She offered Rowan biscuits, cake, walnuts, orange juice and more, but she only accepted the walnuts with an awkward thanking. 

"So, Rowan tell me, where did you grow up?" Alexis leaned forward over the wooden table and put her head eagerly on her open palm that leant on her elbow. Crystal, who sat beside both of them on the table, seemed to no longer be in the room in the eyes of the other two. 

Rowan munched on her walnuts and made a perfect pile of shells in the bowl in front of her, "A wand farm in the Lake District; it's lovely."

"Blimey that's quite the distance, how did you get down here?" 

"Dad took me by portkey down to Westminster, then he took it back and I got the bus here." 

"And do you help him out on the farm at all?"

Rowan laughed because this was funny to her, "Not really. I help if I have to, but I'm not going to inherit the farm or anything."

"Who will inherit the farm?"

"Probably my little brother?" Crystal's head snapped up because Rowan had never mentioned her brother before, "He's only two but he's excited on the farm already."

The back and fourth questionnaire continued for quite sometime with Crystal spending most of it staring at the clock. Eventually, Crystal got to show Rowan her bedroom and give her the tour. Her room was sparsely decorated, with the main attractions being the bed, the bookshelf, the long woolen, burgundy rug, and of course the glorious record player. 

"Can I pick a record?" Rowan asked, pointing assertively at the machine. 

"Sure, I'll judge your choice though."

Rowan played Elton John's 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road' album, which Crystal got for her 10th birthday and forgot she owned, but Rowan had said on a fair few occasions that it was her favourite album, so Crystal didn't sell it. Nor did she actually judge this choice, as it was predictable. 

"Heard from Ben yet?" Rowan eventually asked after plopping down on Crystal's creaky bed. She shook her head, "Have you even wrote to him?" She added. 

"Twice," Crystal replied, "I think he didn't reply so that he wouldn't have to say if he's coming on the mission."

"You asked him in the letter?!" Rowan asked, startled, to which Crystal nodded, "In both letters?" Crystal nodded again, "Crystal!"

Crystal reminded Rowan how important their trip to potentially find a Cursed Vault was, especially since she heard Jacob's voice when she first attempted to pursue her own findings. Over the past month, this was something she said on a frequent basis, much to Rowan's understanding and concern. 

"I don't want to be rude, but do we actually need Ben? Why can't the two of us go if he doesn't want to?" Rowan questioned while she looked at the books on the old shelf above Crystal's bed. 

"I can tell he wants to, he's just new to magic and I want to give him time. I've already got help from Penny making me that potion, it's only fair that Ben helps too."

"I don't think 'fair' is the right word, it's just equal." 

Alexis Helenora interrupted this by walking in with more walnuts in a wooden bowl and placing them on the bed frame. She then walked out with an awkward apology and a poorly-spoken 'goodbye'. The room was silent for a few more seconds until Crystal reminded herself of what Rowan had just said, and formed a half-response. 

"I do that sort of thing a lot, I don't know why." She sat on the bed next to Rowan, because she was dizzy from pacing her bedroom while Rowan watched both her and her shelf. 

"It's fair enough, I get that it feels nice to give everyone something to do, but you keep saying how important this is, so we shouldn't wait too long just for..." She cut herself off to hum to the chorus of the song playing. 

Oh, I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

For the next hour, Rowan read Crystal's books while Crystal set up Rowan's bed next to hers, despite knowing they would most likely end up both sleeping in the same bed. Regardless, it was always nice to make an area for the guest, even if it would just serve to be a bag and blanket holder.

They had planned to go on the bus to Leicester Square to go to Waterstones mainly, and a cafe if they had time. When they eventually caught the bus, they settled down for an extremely long journey despite only being a few miles, because the roads were flooded with cars, bikes, other busses, and obnoxiously placed people. They hurried to the second floor and debated whether the seat right at the front or right at the back was better, but their decision was made when they heard a familiar voice from the back seat. 

Tonks, with both feet on her seat and her bag taking up another seat, called, "The back is better, come up here." 

They all said their hellos and where they were going. Tonks was going to meet Charlie Weasley at Buckingham Palace to take photos beside the guards with a disposable camera. That was their ideal afternoon of hanging out. Bill was told to accompany them by Molly Weasley, which he agreed to, only with full intention to leave them at the palace to do some personal shopping. 

Tonks spoke almost the entire journey and Crystal gave her full attention and provided a response when necessary, while Rowan was glued to the book she brought with her. It had to be a fiction book because nearly all of her non-fiction books were magic-based, which wouldn't bode well on a bus full of muggles. The only muggle non-fiction books she owned were 'The World As I See It' by Albert Einstein, and 'The Communist Manifesto'. 

Upon stepping off the bus, Crystal and Rowan were met with a sea of adults who were all taller than them, like a wall blocking their view of what was supposedly a beautiful place. They went to a cafe first to settle down, but that was only after ten minutes of pushing past people and apologising to said people. It was a Saturday and it was quite possibly the first truly sunny day of the year, which adequately explained the number of people. Both of them were too anxious to order food off the menu, so they just got coffee and one large milkshake with two straws placed in it. 

"How well can you see with out your glasses?" Crystal brought the coffee cup delicately to her mouth. 

"Not well. My vision started getting bad at five years old, and it's started getting worse again." She proceeded to remove her glasses and hand them to Crystal. She tried them on carefully after acknowledging how unusually heavy they were - indicating a thick lens - and Rowan and all her surroundings became a smudge. She moved the menu close to her face and couldn't see that either.

"Are you both long and short sighted?" Crystal took off the glasses and inspected the lens, as if she knew anything about lenses. 

"Yup." Rowan frustratingly replied, emphasising the 'y' in 'yup'.

They paid an extortionate amount of money for the coffee and left to visit Waterstones.

They went to Piccadilly Waterstones, which was the largest Waterstones in Europe with 8 floors and multiple kilometers of bookshelves. Rowan could have gone into cardiac arrest in that shop. She had gone to Gringotts to transfer literally all of her money into muggle pounds - a useful exchange service provided by Gringotts - and it was all for this very shop. 

"Do you read much, Crys?" 

"Not as much as you," She sighed a laugh, "But yeah I enjoy reading." 

"Fiction or non-fiction?"

"That's tricky, they're so different. Fiction? I suppose?" 

"Favourite fictional book?" Rowan was on a pursuit.

Crystal stopped and thought, "Jane Eyre."

"Romantic? I didn't think you'd to be into that." 

Rowan had never been to any Waterstones, but Crystal had been to this exact one three times. It perhaps wasn't the most realistic introduction to Waterstones for Rowan, because with this being the largest one in the continent, it could categorically only go downhill from there.

Rowan got eight books over the two hours she was there. Crystal stuck to one book she found and liked the look of, and managed to read a quarter of it in the time Rowan was browsing. It was a romance novel, because she had accepted her fate as a future romantic. 

"Are you ever going to read those?" Crystal asked when she saw Rowan whizz past her having just made her purchase.

"At some point, Crys, at some point. I have a 'to read' list." 

"So, in the next five years?"

"About that, yes."

They got home a lot later than intended, as they got on the bus home during rush-hour. Alexis Helenora opened the door and responded to their lateness by taking four of the eight books Rowan was blocking her view with and helped them inside. She had prepared them pizza for dinner, which was homemade from scratch - base and toppings - and laid out nicely on the table for them. Rowan said she loved it more than any other pizza she had eaten in her life. Crystal thought it was good, but the crusts were a bit too crusty. 

Bedtime was fairly early, but sleeptime on the other hand was not, in that neither of them slept very much. Just as Rowan was about to doze off (in Crystal's bed, as already predicted), Crystal leapt out of bed at the sound of an owl on her shelf. She let in a flash of cold air by opening the window to creep her hand out towards the owl, the Copper family owl, which they purchased shortly after being informed of Ben's abilities. The sound of Rowan's teeth chattering was projecting across the room with a tone of frustration. 

"That better be from Ben." 

"It is!"

The letter was stamped first-class, as if that hurried the pace of the owl. The envelope looked perfectly normal, as though it should have come through the post. Letters sent by magical families were usually yellow or even regal looking; if they were modern looking, they usually opened by itself. 

To Crystal Helenora

Sorry for not replying sooner. You sent your owl to my family home, but I'm staying at Hogwarts over Easter, so my mum sent the letters over here as quick as possible. I'm having a good holiday thank you, I hope you are too.
I wanted to stay here so I could get used to Hogwarts without having to go to classes. It's made me realise that magic is not as scary as I thought, but I am still very scared of going back to learning it. At least I'll have you, Rowan or Penny with me. 
I won't ignore your big question, especially since you asked it twice, I can tell this means a lot to you. I understand why you need to explore the Cursed Vaults, and why you're taking your friends with you. In return, I hope you understand why the Cursed Vaults terrify me. They are cursed, and the word 'vault' makes it seem like I'll be locked inside forever. Even so, I have decided I WILL go with you, as long as you really think I will be helpful. 

Yours sincerely, Ben Copper

P.S. Unless you're in a hurry, could we do it in the second week back? I would like the first week to be for getting used to classes again.

Chapter Text

Ben wasn't usually the procrastinating type, but the second week of term has dawned on him all before he had even approached Crystal and Rowan about their plan yet, rather spending the entire week with Penny. Hanging out with her furthered his desire to be re-sorted into Hufflepuff, as did the alleged coziness of their common room and the unmatched heat of its fireplace. As first-years, they weren't quite prepared to sneak into each other's common rooms, even though it was something the older students did all the time. Ben would often sit down on the Gryffindor sofas and find himself sat next to a fifth-year Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, but rarely a Slytherin, to his confusion and relief. Penny and Ben weren't quite confident to stride into the other's common room yet, so they elected to stick with reading together in the library and seeing each other over dinner. 

On Monday evening of that week, Penny noticed that Ben's eyes were constantly checking the library entrance whenever he heard someone walk in. 

"You can just tell Crys that you don't want to do it." Penny commented, smiling bright as always. 

Ben shook his head, because he had promised to help and he did want to be involved. Penny shrugged and continued reading her potions book, which was quite an advanced read for a first-year student. It was really no wonder why Snape was so fond of her.

Around twenty minutes later, Ben packed up his stuff to head back to the Common Room, but upon turning right after leaving the library, he nearly bumped head-first into Crystal. She wasn't too startled, her eyebrows just raised slightly over her, more pail than ever, forehead. On the other hand, Ben nearly jumped out of his skin and responded by turning his back to her and mumbling something incoherent. He then turned back towards her and said hello. 

"Hello..." Crystal calmly responded, "Sorry, I don't wanna bother you, but I've not really seen you since we came back?" 

Ben apologised twice and kept 'umming' to himself. 

"Are you alright?" 

His mouth pursed, "Yeah, I can help with you and Rowan's plan by the way."

"Well, yes, I know, you said the second week so it's okay," Her eyebrows lowered, "I didn't think that meant you weren't going to talk to me in the first week though." 

"Neither!"

She nodded slowly, it was all fine then, "Okay so we we're thinking of doing it tomorrow, so we can go over everything tomorrow lunch if you want?" 

"Why a Tuesday? Why not Friday?"

"I think Rowan went through all each of our timetables, she said the three of us have the least amount of homework due Wednesday morning." 

Ben looked away to picture his timetable, looking quite surprised when he realised that Rowan was very much correct, which he found impressive. 

Crystal looked amused, "I've not checked, I just believe her," The pair of them began to walk down the corridor, "So we'll see you tomorrow?"

She exhaled a small sigh of relief before returning to her room, down the winding staircase in the tower and through the splintering wooden door. Badeea Ali and Skye Parkin were the only two who had returned so far; Tulip Karasu never returned from the library or Transfiguration classroom until she was hassled by a teacher, but Rowan was usually back at this time. 

However, as she walked towards her bed, Crystal could see Rowan sat on the balcony doing her usual astrology studying. She was perfectly happy out there, if a little too awake for this time of night, but Crystal went to bed without distracting her regardless. 

The next morning was covered with noticeably grey skies and an obvious chance of rain. Crystal sat up to immediately check if Rowan had returned safely to her bed last night, and thankfully she had. Crystal then got up and changed into her robes. She noticed she was having to pull a lot more hair out of her collar then usual, because her hair was getting far too long for her liking. She could hardly tame it's thickness when it was shoulder-length, but at her elbows it was a nightmare. Looking into the mirror over her dresser, she noticed a pair of scissors in Badeea's pot of supplies beside her bed. 

She approached Badeea's bedside and gently asked her, though she was half asleep, "Do you mind if I borrow your art scissors for two minutes?" To which Badeea lazily nodded. Good enough. 

Only a short moment had passed before five inches of frizzy, black hair covered the floor surrounding Crystal's feet, making her hair comfortably sat at chest-length. She didn't notice Rowan's record player quietly starting. 

She looked at herself and hoped it would look okay. 

"Oh my god Crys?" Rowan appeared behind her, making her jump with scissors in her hand. 

"Never, ever do that again." Crystal exclaimed. 

Rowan laughed, "Are you talking to yourself?" 

"Probably," She started fluffing her hair, "Does it look okay?"

Of course Rowan nodded, partly because it did look fine, but also because Crystal would likely have a nervous breakdown and start writing a tear-stained letter to her mother if it didn't look even.

The pair of them shortly went to their classes, and immediately Ben was a lot less reserved towards the pair of them in the classes they shared, but no less nervous. The three of them met at lunch, alongside Penny who was there to provide the Sleeping Draught, as well as moral support for Ben. 

"Crys, I like your hair!" Penny commented. Crystal thanked her very much. 

The plan really wasn't confusing; knock out the cat, unlock the door, expect the worst - that was all. They were to meet in the forbidden corridor at five o' clock in dark clothing. It was perhaps a good thing Penny wasn't coming, as she couldn't recall owning any dark clothing other than her uniform. Ben owned reasonably dark clothing, but nothing baggy enough to make himself (or his blond hair) undetectable. While nothing Crystal wore was brightly coloured, the colours of her wardrobe were warm and cozy, however, she owned this remarkably dark hooded coat that belonged to Jacob, so incredibly black that it blended in with her hair and made her look like a shadow. But their outfits were really the least of their concerns, as they had an angry cat to get by, somehow undetected. 

Rowan and Ben got to the door at the agreed time unnoticed, but Crystal had been stopped by Filch, which was a bit unnerving as they had never spoke one-to-one, and at that moment he was not making a pleasant impression. 

"Where do you think you're going?" He snarled as he looked down over his nose. 

"Nowhere I'm not supposed to be going."

The worst answer I could've given

The filthy man peered at her, "You're Jacob Helenora's sister, aren't you?" 

She looked away from him. From the age of twelve, Jacob always the unwavering ability to come up with witty retorts when being talked down to by adults, especially of Filch's kind. Crystal had reached that age, but unfortunately didn't have that ability thus far. 

"Mrs Norris saw two Ravenclaws lurking in the forbidden corridor, which you just so happen to be near right now." He stepped closer to her, "I was sad to see your brother expelled, deserved worse, he did. But maybe you'll finish whatever he got himself into, and trust me, I will know." 

Crystal was disturbed, but not frightened. It was obvious that Filch was a man who replaced any meaningful intelligence with his nasty threats.

"Have you heard of Peeves?" She looked up at him innocently.

He scoffed, "He's caused me more trouble than every student put together. Why?"

"I heard him say something about breaking into your office."

Filch raised an eyebrow.

"I think he's going to set all the confiscated traps off when you walk in."

"And why would he do that?"

She looked up at him as if he had said something silly, which seemed to affect his demeanor, "Because he's Peeves?" 

He began to walk back to his office, and shouted "If I find out you're lying..." but his voice faded away as the door slammed behind him. Crystal took the chance and sprinted away to the forbidden corridor, leaving Filch's office behind. 

"You're here! Where have you been?" Rowan said, exaggeratedly tapping her wrist. Crystal explained in minimal detail that she was held up by Filch, and with little time to spare, ushered them into the corridor. Ben nearly fell over on his way in, but managed to carry his timid body past the door that Rowan was holding open. 

Rowan had researched this place well, in more detail than necessary, and she was safely prepared to drop a potion next to a cat. Ben was to keep watch by the end of the corridor and hurry to the cursed door once Crystal had unlocked it. 

The draught had been mixed with milk to ensure the cat would be at least interested in it. There was no real backup plan if the cat didn't drink the milk, other than physically hurting her, which none of them were prepared to do. 

As Rowan poured the draught, she noticed it had a worryingly purple tint to it and she hoped it wouldn't affect the smell. She ducked behind the bench as the cat came up and licked the milky potion almost instantly, leaving Crystal plenty of space to unlock the door. Rowan thought to herself that if wizarding didn't work out, her and Crystal should go into the burglary industry. The three of them approached the door, with even Ben feeling confident about how smooth things were going.

Crystal calmly chanted, "Alohomora." And there was a click.

However, something had to go wrong. 

"Flipendo!" An aggressive voice screeched. Then again, then again, and all of a sudden, all three of them were on the floor in considerable pain. 

Merula walked up to them, and stepped her way over them to the door. 

"Move. You aren't getting in there before I am." Her voice sounded more raw than Crystal had ever heard it, because it didn't sound like her normal extravagance. She opened the newly unlocked door and it slammed behind her with concerning force. The three of them rose to their feet and paused in shock of what had just occurred.

There was ice on the handle of the door, and it seemed to be spreading. 

"Oh god," Ben breathed, "What if this is a Cursed Vault." 

'Good.' Was Crystal's initial thought, but she stayed quiet and inspected the door. 

"What are we going to do?" Rowan while grabbing Crystal's wrist before her hand touched the door handle, "Don't do that."

Crystal knew she could use the Knockback Jinx to crash open the door, and could always run the other direction if it was beyond their abilities, but that was really all she had planned. She had certainly not planned for Merula to waltz in like a madwoman. 

"We're going in to look, only look." 

Rowan nodded firmly, and gestured to Ben to follow them. 

"Flipendo." 

The door crashed open, leaving splinters and icicles in its wake. The room was not a Cursed Vault, but it was clearly not supposed to be found. It was small and coated in a thin sheet of freezing, hard ice, and in the corner, Merula could be seen stuck to the floor by her ankles, which were frozen and swollen under a mound of ice, creeping up her legs like it was doing to the door handle. 

Crystal turned to Rowan, "I don't think this was the room I saw, but I definitely saw this exact ice in my vision." 

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Merula started squealing and Ben was swarming around her, trying to figure out what to do. It was pretty remarkable considering Ben didn't believe at all that Merula would show the same concern for him. 

"Ben, stand back." Crystal pointer her wand toward Merula.

"Point that thing away from me! You're gonna hurt me!" She shouted, with no filter on her voice other than fear. 

"I knew you were northern!" Rowan realised, hearing that distinctive manner accent come from Merula now that she wasn't trying to sound posh.

Crystal stepped forward, "Flipendo." But it didn't work well enough. Ben joined in, "Flipendo," and with both their charms skills combined, the ice around Merula's ankles cracked open and allowed Merula to stand up in tremendous pain. The pain didn't lesson when she tried to walk it off, it only intensified, and she was vocal about it. Crystal resisted the urge to shush her, and told her to help them blast the ice off the door. She acquiesced despite her pain, and started frantically shooting the only jinxes she knew at the door. 

The broken ice shards revealed a code of sorts scratched into the wood of the door, seemingly by a nail.

"Is that English?" Ben wondered. 

Rowan shook her head, "No, looks similar to our alphabet though... I have it memorised. Let's go." 

Crystal looked at her unconvinced. 

"Come on Crys, let's go." 

They all ran out the the room and allowed the heavy door to slam shut behind them. Merula was already hobbling away, though she could hardly walk, "I should've known better than to think you lot had a good plan."

Crystal felt like stopping her for a moment, but allowed herself to lean back against the wall and catch her breath like the other two were doing. 

"That wasn't a Cursed Vault, was it?" Ben panted. 

Crystal shook her head, "Could be protecting one... it looked cursed." 

"How much ice did you see in your vision?" Rowan asked.

"A lot more than in that room."

"Maybe your vision was a prophecy, like it was telling you the ice will spread around Hogwarts."

Crystal nodded in response, breathing and breathing, trying to collect herself. 

"Oh and by the way," Rowan continued, "O, R, D, space, C, F, D, space, R, D, Y, D, H, II - in Roman Numerals - E, F, space-"

"Right, yes, I believe you. Thank you."

"We should probably go back to our rooms." Ben said. They all nodded. 

Crystal spent the night replaying her vision in her head. Reliving Jacob's voice and picturing something she was not comfortable with was putting her under almost unbearable stress, and she was shivering right to the bone, but not just out of the cold she had endured. She was desperate to find a connection, even if she had to bring every lasting memory she had of Jacob to the front of her mind. Even if she had to remember the few things his best friends said to her. Any of it could be helpful for reaching this one target, the only target she cared about. The sense of foreboding that she was going to spend the night awake and anxious dawned on her, just like the sunset eventually would in a few hours. She just had to wait, and think, and hope she didn't think too hard. 

"You've been asked to see Chester at dinner." Rowan said, sat at the end of Crystal's bed at an unknown time of day. It already looked like the sun was setting - god knows what time she went to sleep. She had missed the entire day of school, but at least she didn't have much homework due. 

She felt like crying over how much she didn't want to get out of bed and never attend a class again, she didn't even want Rowan there at that moment. She just nodded against her pillow with her eyes still firmly closed. Rowan patted her shoulder and quietly left the room. 

Eventually she got up and decided to get dressed for dinner, even if there was only a few hours before she had to get back into her pyjamas again. She wore a pair of dark orange leggings, a white polo and her least favourite brown jumper with weird white lines all over it. To top it off, she put on a pair of black slippers and no socks, which was not something people did often when going to the Great Hall, much to Crystal's surprise. 

She didn't have much to eat, she was too nervous about speaking with Chester that she could only stomach some pasta and a side salad. It didn't help that while she was eating, Chester was standing by the wall waiting for her. There was already people talking about the cursed ice, and spreading rumours about who saw it. That explained why Chester did not look happy, but Crystal would've at least liked to have enjoyed her meal without the overbearing glare. 

"You know word travels fast here." Chester crossed his arms as Crystal approached him sheepishly, "Is it true you entered the forbidden corridor yesterday evening with Rowan, Ben Copper, and Merula Snyde?" He seemed particularly unhappy at having to mention Merula's name, "Do not lie to me, Crystal. It will damage our relationship."

Crystal could no longer believe that she disliked Chester, she looked up to him and appreciated him for his help earlier in the school year. However, she couldn't bring herself to share the blame with people, even Merula, who would not be involved had it not been for her search for Jacob. 

"I went alone. I was hoping to find something connected to my brother."

He squinted his eyes at her. There was a pause.

"At least you're the only one hurting our chances at winning the House Cup," He replied, "Professor Dumbledore has requested to see you in the Courtyard ."

"Huh? Now?" 

"No, in the next few weeks probably. He is away at the minute." 

"Right, okay. Thank you."

And with that, she wasted no time in hurrying away. Chester looked across the hall, seeing Angelica Cole giving him thumbs up from the fireplace. He smiled slightly and walked over to her, as there was only so much time the pair of them could spend together before the summer holidays. 

*

"Crys," Rowan ran down the corridor, "I wanted to talk with you before you meet with Dumbledore." 

Crystal didn't stop her fast walk down the corridor, as she couldn't be late, "Sorry Rowan but I'm about to be punished, I can't ask if he'll hire you as a professor some day."

Rowan stumbled trying to keep up with her, "No, listen, I've figured out what that code from the ice room says." And Crystal stopped walking, "'The Ice Knight stands guard past the Vanished Stairs.' Do you think your brother wrote that message?" 

A shiver went up Crystal's spine at the thought of Jacob being in Hogwarts somewhere, or the idea that he may have been stuck in that room at some point.

"I saw stairs and armour in my vision."

"Okay, that's enough information. I'll spend the summer trying to find out what I can on the armour and stairs."

Crystal shook her head, "You don't have to." She felt a wave of guilt over how involved Rowan had become. 

"I don't think you understand Crys, I enjoy this." She stammered a bit, "No, I mean, I don't like why we're doing this, but I like figuring it all out."

Crystal understood, and was glad that she had a friend who enjoyed the process of decoding more than she did. It was helpful in times like this. But all of this could amount to nothing if she were to be expelled by Dumbledore in the upcoming meeting. 

Dumbledore was stood wistfully under the stars, smiling at nothing. Crystal approached, but he did not look down from the sky when acknowledging her.

"Thank you for meeting me, Crystal."

She found it refreshing to hear a professor not use her full name.

"Of course, I-"

"The sky is beautiful, isn't it?"

They were both looking up now. The usual cloudy sky had been clearing away in recent nights, perhaps preparing for summer. Crystal hoped that Rowan would take full advantage of her astrology in nights like these.

He continued, "The quiet night, the crisp air, it really puts all your problems into perspective, doesn't it?"

Does it really?

"I often times come here when I need to make an important decision." He continued. 

"My prefect said I had to see you about everything I'd done wrong this year."

He looked down at her, "Did he use those words exactly?"

"Well... no."

"That's a relief." He looked back up, "You are expecting a lecture, but I'm sure there's something you wish to ask me." 

Crystal pondered over how much she should share. It was only right to share as much as she was okay with, as she might be putting the school in danger.

"I had a vision, professor. Of my brother's voice, and armour, and knights." She said amongst panicked breathing.

Dumbledore hummed calmly, "Interesting. I'm sure those visions will become clearer in your future years at Hogwarts."

I'm not expelled?

"You are a promising student, Crystal. I don't want you using up your time trying to fix things that are out of your control. You are very young. But despite your natural abilities, the only thing you really have to prove your worth is what choices you make. I want you to think about how your choices may affect others, compassionate and brave as you may be." 

She couldn't properly figure out what Professor Dumbledore meant at that moment, but she wasn't expelled, nor was she in trouble. 

"Thank you professor, but what about the cursed ice? Can we talk more about that?"

"We can, and we will. Next year. For now, study, socialise and enjoy your summer holidays."

Chapter Text

It had been nearly a month since Crystal and Merula had last interacted, or since Merula had interacted with anyone. She had this strange tendency to sulk by herself for days on end and say unpleasant things anytime someone checked in on her, which only made her more alone, as no one other than teachers tended to check on her anymore. This behaviour had lost Slytherin many house points, but Merula didn't care too much about this, house points were too childish for her. 

But the silence broke when Crystal saw Merula curled up on the floor by herself at the end of the corridor in the Dungeons, a mere thirty minutes before the House Cup was to start and the year was to end. 

"What are you doing down there?" 

Merula shuffled to face away from her, robes dragging through the dust on the cold floor.

"I wanted to ask you something," Crystal walked up and stood in front of her, looking over her nose. Merula weakly looked up to her with a grim expression and attempted to sit up straight, making her black leggings roll up slightly, revealing two bandages wrapped around each one of her ankles. The skin around the bandages looked cracked, sore and cold although Merula didn't show signs of pain anymore, but even at the time of injury Crystal didn't expect Merula to actually be hurt, rather just exaggerating. 

Crystal spoke down to her, "Why are you so interested in the Cursed Vaults, Merula?"

Merula got the immediate impression that this was invasive and incredibly strange. But to Crystal's surprise, she didn't tell her it was none of her business. 

"They have treasure in them." 

"That sounds selfish."

"Bugger off then." 

Crystal was going to, but didn't want to end the year with the worst person on the worst possible note. She stood there for a moment before crouching down to nearly reach her level. 

"Why do you care?" Merula asked.

"You followed us into a dangerous room and got hurt, and I wanted to ask why."

"Because you feel guilty?" She mocked.

She shrugged, "No. And also, there might not be any treasure in the Vaults." 

"Your brother might not be in the vaults."

Silence for a few seconds. Crystal sat all the way down, "That's true." And more silence followed as the pair of them tucked their knees into their chests. 

"Could you do something for me." Merula said.

"Sure."

"Tell Copper that I'm sorry for threatening him," She shuffled her feet against the floor and sighed, "I don't want to do that anymore, it's stupid. It doesn't get me closer to the Cursed Vaults and it wont make me powerful." 

"And it scared him?"

"Hm. And that."

There were many reasons why Crystal should tell Ben that Merula didn’t want to bully him, and there were many reasons why Merula shouldn't be the one to do it. But did it mean anything coming from anyone but Merula? 

"Well, even so," Crystal replied, "I wont tell him that, you have to apologise yourself if you really want to," She raised her voice, "Although, maybe don't do it until after the holidays, because he really doesn't like you, and doesn't want you to approach him."

Merula mocked her again, "Yet here you are, Helenora." 

"You dislike me don't you?" Crystal knew this seemed like a ridiculous question.

"Yes."

"Do you hate me?"

"I don't care." Merula stated, leaving Crystal unconvinced, "Do you dislike me?"

She shrugged, "Maybe."

"Do you hate me?"

She shook her head, "No, no. I don't think I hate anyone." 

Merula let out an amplified scoff, "Well good for you." She hissed. Crystal got to her feet and brushed her robes. 

"Have a good summer." She managed, as she tied her hair back in a pony tail. 

Merula curled herself away from Crystal's gaze and bluntly grumbled, "Bye."

As Crystal walked up the stairs from the Dungeons to the Great Hall, she ran into a concerned looking Ben Copper in the corridor, looking at her with a troubled face. She asked him if he was okay, and he nodded. 

"Why were you talking to Merula Snyde down there?" He asked. 

"Oh, I just wanted to know why she followed us into the ice room. That's all," She smiled, "I wasn't going to write to her over the holidays Ben." 

He nodded, maybe assured.

"I don't think she's going to bother you anymore though."

"Really? Okay. Well that's one less worry in my life." He smiled meekly. The two of them began walking to the House Cup Ceremony. Ravenclaw was expected to win, much to Chester Davies' relief, Crystal was sure. Slytherin was to come in second place marginally, they missed out on the top spot due to the delinquency of the new first-years, including people such as Ismelda Murk, Barnaby Lee, and of course, Merula Snyde, who had lost the most points that year in the whole house, and had only gained points from Professor Snape. 

Ben started walking more cheerily, "I wish I spoke to you more this year, Crys."

She laughed, "Why?"

"You don't judge me, so I feel relaxed with you."

"None of your friends judge you, especially not Penny." 

"Yeah, she's lovely, I've spent tons of time in the library with her but I still don't feel like I can talk to her easily. She's so good at talking, and magic, and most things." 

As he said this, the pair noticed Rowan, accompanied by Penny, at the end of the corridor by the entrance to the Great Hall. "Have you two got anything fun planned over the Summer?" Penny asked as they reached the entrance. 

"I'm going to Crys' house next week." Rowan said. 

"I'm going to see my friends from primary school." Ben said. Crystal wondered how Ben would be able to stop himself talking about Hogwarts, and even worse, pretend that he was going to a regular, muggle boarding school - as if any boarding school in the country was regular. 

The ceremony was starting, and through the doors, Ravenclaw-coloured banners could be seen.

"Crys are you ready to win?" Rowan did a half-hearted fist pump. 

"I didn't think you cared about the House Cup."

"Not until I found out we're winning."

Dumbledore was already making his speech as the two of them sat opposite each other at the table closest to the front and Crystal found herself sat next to Talbott Winger, who was reading a book and didn't look like he was going to stop reading during the speech.

"Another school year comes to an end," Dumbledore began, "I hope you have all learned much, because I certainly feel like I have learned a lot from you. But enough of that, there is a House Cup to award and a feast to enjoy." The students were paying full attention now, "In fourth place, Hufflepuff with 621 points, in third place, Gryffindor with 626, in second place, Slytherin with 710, and with 730 points, Ravenclaw!" 

Crystal and Rowan looked at one another, equally startled by the noise that erupted from their quarter of the room. Over one hundred students were cheering and standing up, the seventh-year Ravenclaws waving their papers. 

*

Obviously, all of the students' stuff was magically packed and waiting downstairs, but many students still went to their dormitories to tidy up and spend time with their friends before the holidays. Crystal and Rowan didn't speak to the other people in their dorm too much, but they all spent a bit of time together before leaving to go on the Hogwarts Express. Badeea Ali and Skye Parkin were excited to go home, but Tulip Karasu would rather stay in school and only spend time with her pet toad, Dennis. 

Leaving wasn't too bittersweet, Rowan would be coming to see Crystal in a matter of day, and would be writing to each other at least weekly. Ben needed a break to be with his family in the non-magical world, and Penny had as many friends back at home as she did in school, though admittedly none she enjoyed being around as much as her Hogwarts friends. 

The train journey was fine, it didn't feel as long as it did the first time, and Crystal's nose wasn't bleeding this time around. Her and Rowan had a lot more to say to each other this time, but didn't go on for too long because they seemed to be irritating the other students in their compartment. Penny and Ben were in another compartment together, alongside Bill and Charlie Weasley, who informed them that in the next few years, Hogwarts would be accommodating several more Weasley's, but thankfully not next year. 

As she got off the train, Crystal immediately found her mother and hugged her, and they walked through the wall together to get a cab back home. 

Chapter Text

The first Daily Prophet of the month had been released and Crystal had made the front page. 'Erratic Helenora follows in the footsteps of her missing brother.' Charming, but painting a negative image of a young child was not past the Prophet's ethical boundary, most people knew that but didn't care until it affected them. This was what Alexis Helenora experienced, as the papers never made her angry until they villainised her children and defamed her family name. The worst part was that it technically would not have happened had Jacob or Crystal been perfectly well-behaved. It wasn't like the paper invented that situation. 

Crystal herself knew she couldn't go on being reckless and emotional when her and her mother's image was so poor. She was already more level-headed than most kids her age, but even compared to that she became noticeably quiet over the summer and her facial expressions were more dry than before. Alexis questioned her daughter on her actions at the end of the school year and was met with a full and honest recount of the situation, including her conversation with Dumbledore afterwards. Alexis was disappointed but understood the motivation of finding Jacob. She tried to remind Crystal that she didn't have to find him on her own, that there would be people investigating the Cursed Vaults who would eventually find him, because Dumbledore would hopefully be on top of things and she had no reason do doubt that. 

It was a warm summer for London, even in July it wasn't usually this warm. This disappointed Crystal as she wanted to wear her favourite thick cardigan to go out with Rowan for the day, but it was simply too hot to wear. She also didn't like wearing short sleeves because she thought it made her arms look too bare and she liked the feeling of wearing cozy clothes, which was a big reason why she preferred winter over summer. 

The hang out with Rowan was a lot of fun, they went to the cafe they visited last time and did some book shopping. They ran into Tonks and Charlie Weasley in Waterstones, which made Crystal believe that Tonks had planned to run into them when she heard that they would be hanging out that day, because she wouldn't put it passed Tonks to do something like that. The four of them got milkshakes together and went to a restaurant that had nice folk music playing. They sat for a bit, chatted, shared a bowl of chips, left as soon as they saw a group of other kids their age walk in and then the two pairs parted from each other. Tonks and Charlie had a funny relationship, they were smiley and touchy with one another, but nobody at all assumed they had a crush on each other, which was strange because they were getting to that age where you start to become attracted to people, and before now, Tonks and Charlie had only ever had friends of the same gender, but still nobody thought they liked each other like that. It was quite pleasant to watch them interact really, they were so different in how they were raised but their outlook on life was incredibly similar. 

Even though they had a great time with each other, Rowan did ask Crystal if she was okay a few times due to her quietness and near-minutely daydreaming. Crystal didn't want to annoy Rowan and she was convinced that she was acting normal - whatever that means - so she didn't understand what made Rowan ask this. 

Crystal told herself the Daily Prophet article didn't make her feel ashamed, but over the holidays the words were slowly filling up space in her mind. She still tried to not let it affect her, she had much better things to do than dwell on someone else's opinion and, more importantly, she had to read everything she could about the Cursed Vaults and the ice room. 

*

As a half-blood, Penny had an entire section of her family with no knowledge of her, her little sister, or her muggle-born mother's magical abilities. This was crucial to remember this summer holiday as they were visiting that very section for an entire week and could not, under any circumstances, reveal that Penny had gone to Hogwarts. Her younger sister, Beatrice, also had to hide her excitement over eventually going to Hogwarts. 

Penny found being in the muggle world with her non-magical family refreshing after a year surrounded by magic, it reminded her that her Hogwarts studies were not more important than her relationship with her family. Also, she noticed that when she was surrounded by other wizards and witches, the conversation tended to revolve around magic, but when she was around muggles she had to find other things to talk about, which she thought was a good thing to do. 

She missed Hogwarts a lot while she was on holiday, but Beatrice had missed her more. They spent most of their time together, where Penny would perform simple spells to Beatrice's unwavering fascination. Penny didn't want to overdo it though, she knew how important experiencing magic at Hogwarts was for the first time and she couldn't take away the experience. 

She also enjoyed wearing her own clothes every day again, as while the Hufflepuff yellow was the brightest of the four houses, it couldn't beat her frilly t-shirts and flowery dresses. Penny loved summer and she loved family, for different reasons to why she loved magic. They fulfilled different needs, and having different parts of the year designated for those needs made the experiences more satisfying. 

*

Merula Snyde woke up again. She stood up and picked up the jumper she had thrown off in the night when the heat made her sweat, but before putting it back on, she looked herself up and down in her wall mirror with a gothic frame. Her body was changing; she didn't like it. Although, she had gotten slightly taller since the start of the holidays, which she couldn't complain about. 

She noticed her shaggy hair was almost touching her shoulders now, it was time for a cut. She went to her kitchen and picked a pair of stained, rusty kitchen scissors and sliced it across her hair a few times without looking in a mirror - she couldn't even see her hair due to its shortness. When she 'trimmed' her fringe, she noticed that she had fully grown out the bleach patch on the right side of her fringe, which meant that it was time to retrieve the hair bleach from the depths of her dusty bathroom cupboard. 

After half an hour, she had washed out the bleach and took a look in the, slightly cracked, bathroom mirror. Her hair was uneven and shaggy and the bleach patch was blotched and coppery. She hadn't been this happy with her hair in years. 

Chapter Text

It was nice to see everyone back in the dorm room again before the feast began. The five, now second-year, girls didn't all know each other too well as they had their own friends and only encountered each other in the morning and at night, so the first day back gave them the opportunity to say hello and talk about the holidays. The holidays were a good safety net to fall back on in conversation, even if Crystal's wasn't too eventful she could still find some specific event to make a story out of. Crystal had spoken before to Skye Parkin, a sparky girl and the youngest Ravenclaw on the Quidditch team, only a few times, but had never had a full conversation with either Badeea Ali or Tulip Karasu. Badeea seemed shy and gentle while Tulip had quite the stern resting face. 

Taking their seats in the Great Hall, Crystal and Rowan continued to talk before Dumbledore showed up. They could discuss more secret matters now that they were just talking to each other. 

"So," Crystal placed her palms flat on the table, "I finally decided to read what was said about my brother in the Daily Prophet." Rowan looked puzzled already, "It was only because that article written about me a few weeks ago made me want to know what they said about him. Also I wondered if it had any information on the Cursed Vaults that we don't know."

"And?"

She shook her head, "Nothing important."

"Exactly. It's not like the Prophet says anything useful about what's in their stories." 

"However," Crystal interjected, "I learned about what people thought of him and about his obsessions. Anything could be a clue." 

Rowan didn't agree with that last part, but didn't say it out loud. The Daily Prophet was not going to be Crystal's primary source for the investigation, but she decided that if she saw her name show up in the papers, then she would now read every word of what they had to say. And probably stay up all night thinking about it. 

"Well," Rowan began, "I read as much as I could on that secret message we found in the ice room."

"The Ice Knight stands guard past the Vanished Stairs..." Crystal repeated the message, staring blankly over Rowan's shoulder.

Rowan explained that she didn't find anything on the Ice Knights, maybe the ones that Crystal saw in her vision, but she did find descriptions of staircases in Hogwarts that no longer exist. However, there were 142 known staircases in the castle, it would be near impossible to find all the exposed ones, let alone the ones that were invisible. 

Well, they had to start somewhere. It was worth asking Ben and Penny for some help. 

Dumbledore was approaching his stand to make his speech, "Welcome to our first year student. For all our returning students, welcome back!"

Crystal liked being a returning student for the first time, she could join the majority of students in only being at the feast for food and friends. 

Dumbledore continued his speech as normal, but put a special emphasis on instructing the students to absolutely tell a professor if they saw anything out of the ordinary. Crystal felt like this was directed at her, but maybe she was being a little egotistical for assuming that. Maybe. Definitely. Hopefully. 

The speech wrapped itself up naturally, as Dumbledore always had a way with flowing his sentences together naturally, making his speeches rather satisfying, if not occasionally vague. At least they were open to interpretation.

All of the students, even the seventh-years, gasped in awe when the mountains of food appeared from thin air on the dining plates in front of them. All, that is, apart from Crystal, who had silently risen to her feet to make her way to the Gryffindor table. 

Where is Ben?

She didn't hear Rowan confusingly call her name as she then made her way over to the Hufflepuff table. 

"Crys! How was your summer?" Penny cheerfully greeted her. 

"Have you seen Ben?" Crystal's voice was less delicate than usual. 

Penny seemed to completely understand why she would ask this, "I wanted to ask you the same thing. We sat on the Express together and I've not seen him since!"

"Oh..." She looked away but still stood their amongst the Hufflepuffs, who were now starting to look at her funny. Her head snapped back, "My holidays were good, thank you for asking."

A soft pair of hands maternally grabbed Crystal's upper arms as Rowan appeared behind her, "Sorry about her, enjoy your meal." Rowan awkwardly said, taking her back to the Ravenclaws while Penny giggled politely with her hand over her mouth.

"Rowan, Ben's not here."

She stopped walking and let Crystal go, "Was he on the Express?"

"Yeah."

"Oh. Well we'll ask McGonagall about it after the feast." She continued to walk and Crystal followed. 

"Um, why?"

"Because she's his head of house?" 

"Oh, right. That makes sense. Thank you."

A large chunk of Crystal's appetite had unfortunately been lost from not knowing where Ben was. Knowing Ben, he could be anywhere. Anything could have scared him, he could have ran to any cupboard, he could get lost or hurt easily. 

As the feast was wrapping up, Rowan elbowed Crystal out of a daydream. She looked at Rowan puzzled.

"McGonagall is getting up right now and leaving. Do you want to follow her?" 

Crystal nodded hastily while scrambling to stand. She walked quickly, weaving around hundreds of excited children to get to the exit and follow the professor, who had already exited as people made space for her to do so. 

Must be nice to have people stand to the side as you walk past them

The door was finally in sight, she just had to slide past the last group of people and then she could run down the corridor. Just a few more steps, she'd made it. Now she just had to turn left and-

"Watch where you're going!"

Once again, Crystal's first interaction of the school year with Merula had been crashing directly into her. Thankfully it didn't give her a nosebleed this time around.

"You look worried, Helenora." She didn't sound at all concerned or sincere asking this. 

She caught her breath, "Have you seen Ben?" She asked on autopilot, forgetting her audience. 

Merula looked at her with furrowed eyebrows, "Still no one's found him? Good luck finding the coward, he could've hidden anywhere."

Apart from the unappreciated insult to her friend, Crystal did indeed think the same thing; it was Ben, he could be hiding in any corner. 

"And if you're looking for McGonagall, she's gone to her room by now. You were far too slow," She smirked at Crystal clearly trying to hide her annoyance behind a twinged gazed, "And as for Copper, do people around you always disappear? Better stay away from you before I'm next."

"You know that's not true."

"Maybe that's why you like the Cursed Vaults so much, you're cursed too."

"If you're not going to help find Ben, just leave me alone." Before Merula could respond, she walked passed her, intending to go to the Ravenclaw Common Room for an early night. Not too early though, it was already 8pm, but the sun was still shining and students were planning on staying up and chatting most of the night. She had a hunch that her and Rowan would do that anyway, but it was nice to pretend that she would be totally responsible. 

Luckily, Crystal's first class of the morning was Transfiguration, so she could catch McGonagall at the end of the lesson. 

"Welcome to your first Transfiguration class of your second year. I expect concentration and absolute attention to detail. I realise, however, that you are learning and mistakes will be made."

Rowan and Crystal had managed to find an empty double desk despite how packed the class was. It was filled with mostly Ravenclaws, with a few Gryffindors.

Professor McGonagall continued, "One such mistake is this failed attempt to turn a cat into a cauldron." She directed the class' attention to an unusually furry cauldron on her desk, with a long tail hanging off the rim, "Thankfully a spell exists that can undo such mistakes," She drew her wand, "Reparifarge."

The cauldron started slowly morphing smoothly back into a cat, slimming up and growing a small, cute head. 

"Now then, this is the spell you will spend the following hour learning. Ideally you will be able to cast this spell by the end of the lesson, but it may not be perfect. If your spell goes wrong, I will complete the transformation. Off you go."

Crystal read a small chapter on the spell for ten minutes before attempting the spell. The class were handed out more poorly transformed objects, Crystal's was a hedgehog turned into a pin cushion, except the hedgehog pricks hadn't become pins, so the cushion was covered in sharp hedgehog spikes. 

When she did attempt the spell, the hedgehog stood innocently in front of her with no resemblance to the pin cushion left. Crystal's first attempt at magic had never gone so successful.

"Well done Helenora, your magic belies your years. I believe the only person in the class to cast a smoother reparifarge was Mr. Winger."

Crystal looked over her shoulder to see Talbott Winger and his transformed hedgehog. Somehow he managed to get a double desk to himself at the back of the class. 

"As your natural Transfiguration abilities exceed your level, would you be interested in taking advanced lessons outside of class?"

Crystal was surprised that McGonagall was so quick to present such an offer, but she couldn't doubt McGonagall's natural ability to detect skill. 

"That would be an honour professor!" She was happy to have to opportunity to learn as much as possible. The class was now starting to pack up and Crystal had the professor right in front of her and had her attention. Now was the time to ask about Ben. 

"I also think it's important we discuss your friend Copper." McGonagall added.

Oh, she had the same thought?

"Have you seen him professor?"

"I have not. Was he on the Hogwarts Express?"

"Penny said she was with him but hadn't seen him since they got off."

McGonagall nodded sternly, "And had he been behaving strangely at the end of last year?"

"No, nothing different from how he usually acts. Maybe he was a bit more relaxed, but is that not a good thing?" 

"Well, he joined you on your ill advised trip to the ice room. That ice is known to have strange affects on people," Most of the class had left now and Rowan was waiting by the door, so McGonagall continued, "Did you find anything of note in that room? A clue or a warning about potential threats?" 

Crystal stared plainly at her, unsure of how honest to be.

"It is critical you be honest with me, Miss Helenora. The ice wont just affect you, but all of Hogwarts. I understand you have an interest in the vaults because of your older brother, and for that I greatly sympathise with your motives, but I strongly urge you to go about this more responsibly than he or his friends did."

"We found a secret message. It said 'The Ice Knight stands guard past the Vanished Stairs."

The professor scratched her chin, "I will report this information to the Headmaster. Lets hope the ice remains in the room."

"Why? Has it left the room before?" 

She paused, "It's not important right now. You are dismissed, tell your next professor that you are late because I had to keep you behind. And, while the faculty will likely find Mr. Copper first, please search all of his known hiding spots and report to me if you know of his whereabouts."

Crystal agreed and thanked the professor before leaving the classroom with Rowan.

Later on, the pair met up in the Artefact Room to look for clues on where Ben might be. He had now been missing for a full day and the staff and his prefects were majorly concerned. Crystal felt a shiver of heat in her chest upon entering this room. She didn't fear getting a vision on the average day, but this room was tainted with the feeling of a vision being imminent. It made her believe that the feeling wouldn't leave her, that she'd leave the room with the foreboding feeling stuck in her mind. At any moment, she could topple to the ground and be invaded by her brother's distant voice. 

"Are you sure you want to be in here?" 

"I don't, but we need to find Ben," She wandered around the room, glancing up and down the shelves, "And I learned so much from that vision. I almost want to have another."

"I admire your bravery." Rowan walked to the other side of the room and, in contrast to Crystal calmly scanning the shelves, she immediately delved into the draws.

They searched, but it was hard to tell the difference between which objects could be clues and which were just random bits and bobs. Nothing in the room was explainable. 

Crystal eventually came across a locked cabinet. 

"Alohomora."

She carefully opened the door, seeing a few random objects and a small piece of paper that lacked dust.

"Ooh, what does it say?" Rowan noticed her pick up the note. 

"I can't tell, it's in another alphabet again, but it doesn't look like the same message as the ice room."

Rowan stuck out her palm in response and Crystal handed it to her, sure she would have it solved soon. 

Rowan inspected it closer, "Do you think this is Ben's?"

"Probably. Ben hangs out in here a lot and this paper looks new. But we don't know anything until we can read it. Are you sure you can work it out?" 

"Yes, I know which book to read to figure it out now so I'll have it done by the end of today."

Crystal smiled, "Aw, I thought you'd have memorised the language." She poked fun at Rowan.

"Give me time, Crys, give me time." Rowan smirked, and with that, they had no reason to stay in the Artefact Room any longer. 

It turned out that Rowan had drastically underestimated herself by saying she would decipher the code by the end of the day, because she was finished within half an hour of returning to the Ravenclaw Common Room. The note read:

Your next instructions have been transfigured into a black quill and hidden in the Gryffindor Common Room. Failure to follow your instructions will result in severe punishment. - R

"'R' is unclear," Rowan said, "Felix Rosier? Rubeus Hagrid? Argus Filch? Can't imagine any of them writing this."

Rowan quickly hid the note behind her back as Chester Davies walked past. He professionally nodded at the two girls and continued walking without seeming skeptical. 

"I have no idea who R is, but we have to find that quill and we know where it is, which is helpful," Crystal stared at the letter 'R'. What kind of person would refer to themselves with just a letter? 

Rowan nodded, "Well it's a good thing you're a master at reparifarge."

This was true, but the only problem was how to get into the Gryffindor Common Room. Non-Gryffindors weren't allowed in, even though older students frequently snuck into other common rooms for parties, but for two second-years it wouldn't be possible to walk in. They had to come up with a way to get past the door without the password. 

Chapter Text

Crystal walked round the circular Common Room to the gem-studded, navy bookshelves to meet up with Rowan, who had supposedly come up with a plan to enter the Gryffindor Common Room and retrieve the black quill.

Rowan explained how well-timed their plan was, because they were learning the Shrinking Charm in the same week as the big Gryffindor versus Slytherin match, Crystal didn't quite follow, until Rowan emphasised that everyone would be at that match. She would stand guard while Crystal shrunk herself and entered the common room, enlarge herself, find the quill, shrink herself and leave. It was quite brilliant, because everyone in Gryffindor would either be playing in the match, helping out in the match, or watching the match, giving them a solid few hours to get the job done. 

She thanked Rowan for doing all of this, but Crystal was feeling a little uneasy. It wasn't because of Rowan's plan, but over how quick she was to trust Rowan without hesitation. 

Rowan pulled out her timetable from her robe pocket, "So we have Charms first thing tomorrow, and I believe we're beginning to learn Reducio."

The Shrinking Charm was a tricky spell, unwise to perform on humans as much could go wrong. You could shrink yourself too little and be unable to return to normal size without medical assistance, you could shrink one body part quicker than all the others, or you could simply overestimate your ability to cast Engorgio afterwards. But if Rowan performed the spell on Crystal and made sure to cover her entire body with the charm, then nothing should go wrong. And besides, worst case scenario was a trip to the Hospital Wing, Reducio was almost never irreversible.  

"One more thing Crys," Rowan almost forgot, "The Gryffindor Prefect is really nice, but she takes her role very seriously and will be expecting people to sabotage the Common Room while the match is happening. I really don't want to be on her bad side."

Crystal nodded understandingly, "Right, okay. I can distract her on the day."

"Okay! But be careful, we want to avoid punishment, and she can be strict."

"So she wouldn't break the rules?"

That question instantaneously transported Rowan's mind back to that night in the Astrology Tower last November. A bewildering sight, equally so when coupled with the demand to never tell a soul. After careful consideration and a bit too long a pause, Rowan replied, "No, never!" 

*Elsewhere*

Chester hadn't realised how late it was. The Hufflepuff Common Room was still a mess from the ridiculous Tuesday-night party and he was still laying down on the comfy, yellow sofa with a book in his right hand and an empty wine glass in his left, just like he had been for the last two hours. At around 7am, he was startled by the sound of a turntable's volume being turned up behind him.

"Morning sunshine!" Otis Edward, a popular sixth-year Hufflepuff, called teasingly at Chester, "Didn't think you'd show up at all let alone be the last one to leave."

Chester laughed defeatedly to himself and stood up, "Almost," He pointed in the vague direction of the girls' dormitories, "Angelica's in there somewhere." 

"Oh, none of the girls in that room are in there right now so you're fine to go in." Otis replied. Chester nodded and cautiously made his way to what he hoped was the correct room. He definitely remembered her going into this one. 

Angelica wasn't fully asleep, but her eyes looked drowsy and beaten. 

"Ange," He propped himself at the end of the bed, "It's maybe time to get up now. It's nearly time for school." He placed his hand on her ankle over the duvet and lightly shook her. 

She responded by shuffling slowly underneath the covers and grunting, "I have free periods until ten. That's why I'm here." She groaned.

"Who's bed are you in anyway?"

"Not sure," She managed, "She said I could sleep here though, before she went off with some Ravenclaw boy."

Meanwhile, this Ravenclaw boy had just spent the night on a sofa waiting for Angelica to eventually make her way out so they could leave the Hufflepuff Common Room. Angelica loosely reached her arms out and let Chester pull her to up to stand. She wasn't going to get changed just yet, she would put a Gryffindor robe on top of her pyjamas and hope nobody looked too closely.  

The only thing that had been on Angela's mind in the last week was the upcoming Gryffindor vs Slytherin match, so it was nice to have a night where she could relax and reminisce at the start of a new school year with her friends. She was a busy girl, her mind a beehive, with a reputation to uphold. She faced much prejudice at school, but was nonetheless remarkably optimistic. 

*Elsewhere*

Second-year Charms felt noticeably trickier than the previous year for Crystal and Rowan, and today was no different as they were learning the Shrinking Charm, a spell that could be easily misused and hard to reverse. Flitwick explained how the spell should be used carefully as to not over-shrink, and he made it clear that it should never, ever be used on oneself. 

Crystal found it hard to listen to that and still go along with Rowan's plan, but the situation she was in was serious enough to justify a small risk. They had been at Hogwarts for over 24 hours now and Ben still hadn't been found, and there were no traces of his disappearance, nor was he in any of his usual hiding spots. If this carried on any longer, the school would have to notify his parents and alert them that his life may be at risk. 

"You have a question, Helenora?" Professor Flitwick called out to Crystal's raised hand. Flitwick then endured multiple oddly specific questions on the different uses of the Shrinking Charm, from its reversibility, to how safe it is to use on people. Why on earth would she asked such things? She told him that a lot of her clothes were too big. 

Flitwick sighed and called her to his desk, and when she did so he asked, "I am going to ask you a question, and I strongly suggest you tell the truth if you wish to avoid getting into trouble," He leaned in, "Are you, once again, planning on breaking the rules Miss Helenora?" 

The sincerity in his voice felt persuasive. Crystal wondered what the worst thing that could happen was if she answered honestly; she would most likely be sent to Dumbledore's office, which could mean a lot of things. Some outcomes wouldn't affect her plan. Most would. 

"No, professor." She looked at the floor. 

Flitwick leaned back and slumped his shoulders slightly, with slight but noticeable disappointment in his eyes. 

"I'll choose to trust you for now, for your sake. I hope that trust isn't misplaced." He allowed her to return to her desk where Rowan was nervously hoping that Crystal hadn't just given away their plan. 

During the lesson, it was made clear that the charm could easily be misused, and that this could have unfortunate consequences. This did in fact mean potential permanent disability, but Hogwarts professors had always possessed the habit of undermining the impact of various dangerous spells. However, in this case the chances of the spell going wrong were very little, even if you used it on a human being, but it still wasn't designed to be used on humans. 

There were many simple examples of uses of the Shrinking Charm, such as packing a suitcase, or when you're stuck behind a large object. Rowan beautifully bullet-pointed all of these notes onto her paper, but Crystal only had two things written on hers: that the incantation was 'Reducio' and that you had to make a 'lesser than' symbol motion with your wrist when casting. 

With one last reminder not to misuse the spell and a slight glance at Crystal, the class was dismissed for lunch. 

On their way into the Great Hall, the pair saw Penny holding a cheese and ham sandwich and pacing in front of the door, seemingly unable to enjoy her food while seated. 

"Penny? How are you?" Crystal asked when she caught her eye.

She stopped pacing and briskly walked over to them, "I'm worried Crys, Ben still hasn't showed up. People keep telling me they swear they've seen Ben in the corridors, and then I go and check every corridor again and he's not anywhere!" She took a bit out of her sandwich that was so small that it wasn't enough to swallow before dissolving in her mouth. 

"It's okay, we have a clue." Rowan said, and Penny's head perked up. 

"Yes, we found a letter in the corridor where Ben hid last year," Crystal continued,

"And it instructed us to go to the Gryffindor Common Room." Rowan finished. The two of them were on a giddy wavelength over the clues they had found. 

Penny was stumped by the amount of information revealed to her all at once by two rather intensely mannered girls. 

"You won't tell anyone we're sneaking in, right?" Crystal asked, realising maybe she shared too much. 

"No," Penny smiled and took a deep breath, "I promised you both I would help after you stopped Merula bullying Ben. It's a shame he isn't a Hufflepuff, because, well, you wouldn't have to sneak into his common room." 

"Thank you, but we're not even sure that this letter is even about Ben..."

"...And if it is about him then we don't know if it's to him, or from him." Rowan finished. 

The three of them sat down together to eat lunch properly. Penny found it easier to settle once she had her friends beside her. 

"Who wrote the letter?"

"We didn't understand what the signature said." 

Rowan shook her head to confirm that Crystal was rightfully speaking for both of them. Penny glanced over her shoulder to observe the Slytherin table, and turned back to them with concern covering her face. 

"Careful, you two. Remember what happened last year when Merula sent you a fake letter."

Crystal too looked at the Slytherin table, anticipating the sight of some great evil, but simply being met with children in green robes. 

"I remember." Crystal turned back to face her, leaving the Slytherin table free of her Ravenclaw gaze. 

Penny finished her lunch early and left to distract herself in the Library. Rowan was being more quiet than usual, and less excited than usual to eat her egg and cress sandwich. 

"Are you alright?" 

"I'm okay." 

Crystal responded as though Rowan said the opposite, "Is our plan worrying you?" 

"No. It's a good plan. It's mad, and Flitwick will hate is for it, but it's good." She stopped until she realised Crystal wasn't going to say anything in response to that, "It's just, I have this horrible feeling about Ben. Like, no staff or students have seen him and it's been a day." 

Rowan was confused why the room was so calm. An entire child was missing, yet students and staff were tucking into their meals like it was just another day at school. She wanted everyone to be panicking, desperately searching for Ben, because if they were then all of this planning and searching wouldn't be needed. 

"Ben will be fine, I promise." Crystal assured her.

At that moment, just as Rowan was about to believe her friend, she almost choked on her sandwich in surprise. 

"Wait, but I haven't enough thought about why he's missing yet. What situation could someone like Ben possibly be in? What if he has a secret that he's been hiding from us this whole time? That would explain his constant nervousness." 

Crystal made downward pressing motions with her hands, "Woah slow down, are you saying someone Ben knows has made him disappear?" 

"Why else would he be a target?"

"Bad luck? Ben's filled with that." 

"Ben is a muggleborn in a magic school, it's not just bad luck."

There was silence between the two of them, as Crystal didn't know how to respond to that. 

"Sorry, I uh, I didn't mean it like that. It was new to him so he was nervous, that's all."

Crystal and Rowan were both purebloods, so was the majority of the school. They had grown up very different lives, but they had always been acquainted with magic and couldn't imagine a world without it affecting them. 

"Rowan, if you ever have a secret like that, that's so bad you could go missing, would you tell me?" 

"I'd tell you anything, I think. It wouldn't have to get to the point of me being captured." She tried to laugh away her fears. Crystal joined in because it was better than not. 

Chapter Text

Prefect and aspiring Head Girl, Angelica Cole walked down the corridor in the West Towers of the castle with just one thing on her busy mind; her beloved house was playing against Slytherin in today's Quidditch match. She liked being so focussed on this, as worrying about Quidditch was one of the only things that could take her mind off her studies, her prefect duties, her gossip-filled friend group and her tumultuous relationship. Just for today, the only thing that mattered was cheering her house on. 

There was only one thing detracting from this excitement however, and that was Slytherin's history of sabotaging their opponent during a match. Nobody knew why it was always them, but Professor Snape didn't always punish this behaviour accordingly, so there was no reason to stop. 

That was where Crystal came in, as while she had good intentions, desperate confusion sometimes called for immoral actions. 

"Angelica Cole!" Crystal made her voice sound livelier than its usual dry sound, "I just wanted to wish you good luck on the game." 

Angelica stopped in her tracks and tilted her head, "Is everything alright, Helenora?" 

"I just wanted to warn you about some things I heard the Slytherin's whispering about." 

Genuine fear crossed Angelica's face. Crystal felt terrible, it would've been much easier to do this with her own Prefect, but unfortunately Ben's house happened to have arguably the friendliest Prefect of them all. The thought of Ben reminded her of why she was doing this, it was nothing against Angelica, and if she knew she would certainly understand. 

"Are they going to damage our bloody door again?" Angelica asked. Slytherin's would often aim for the door whilst sabotaging, but the Fat Lady could hardly take any more distress this time. 

"Uh, worse than that." Crystal felt her legs stiffen in panic as she thought of the next thing to say, "They're going to cast the Full Body-Bind on the Seeker!" 

Angelica looked as though she had lost a relative. Crystal hoped that her being so eager to warn the Gryffindor's as a Ravenclaw was believable, but fortunately her house did tend to prefer Gryffindors. 

"I'll go and tell Professor McGonagall, thank you." 

That wasn't good, she would be too nearby, "I will do that for you if you want to watch over the Slytherins in the stands."

"Good idea, thank you. Worth asking, why're you so eager to help though, Helenora?"

Crystal came up with the most believable thing she could say as a second-year Ravenclaw, "I hate Slytherins." 

As Angelica was leaving, a relieved face poked round the corner of the corridor, hoping that she was okay to come out from her hiding spot. Rowan, upon seeing Angelica hastily run away, ran towards Crystal in a similar fashion. 

"That was quite scary." Rowan nervously said the moment she was in earshot. 

"Really? I though she was quite nice." 

"No, I mean you! That was so convincing, I'm now wondering if you're secretly conspiring against all of us." Rowan timidly laughed to herself. Crystal fiddled with her sleeves and checked around her incase there were any people who weren't Quidditch fans still roaming about, "Maybe this is why the Hat put you in Ravenclaw," Rowan continued her nervous tangent, "It could see you tricking one Prefect while making another one look like a murderer." Crystal hadn't noticed this comment, too busy remembering how to properly cast the Shrinking Charm. It had to be performed well to work on objects, but humans? It had to be performed to exceed its own ability. 

Rowan could tell when Crystal had finished thinking, and asked, "Are you ready?" 

She nodded, smiling at Rowan, helping to calm the both of them down. The only preparation needed was the Shrinking Charm and a good eye for small feathers. Crystal was excited to see the Gryffindor Common Room for the first time, Ben had described it as one of the most relaxing places in the castle, with a fireplace, comfy sofas and soothing crimson red wallpapers. That description made her feel better, but it wasn't helpful for having to closely inspect the room. 

Just as Crystal was about to cast the charm, the Gryffindor Common Room door opened, and two excited second-year fans appeared hurriedly rushing down the corridor, desperate not to miss the start of the match. After the two girls got over their initial panic, Rowan jabbed Crystal's arm. 

"Quickly, go now while the door's open!" 

"Wait, now?" She could procrastinate no longer. 

Rowan made hurried motions with her hands to get her to leave. 

"Reducio!" Crystal flicked her wand round to face her chest - she wasn't too sure where to point it - and hoped for the best. She saw some glittery figures in her vision, and the world was starting to get a lot larger. It felt as though everything was growing rather than she was shrinking, like she was in a lucid dream where her surroundings were recognisable but she couldn't quite call them the same. As she approached the size of a small squirrel, she began to feel nauseous, and the corridor became unrecognisable. 

The game had started and cheers could already be heard from the pitch. Crystal tried to move forward but even moving her leg only for it to travel a few inches felt too strange, so it was up to Rowan to get Crystal in, or even near the door. Crystal looked up at her, like an especially small toddler, with plea in her eyes that was quite humorous. It reminded Rowan of her little brother as a baby, when he wanted to be carried but was too humble to say so. 

To Crystal's horror and relief, Rowan lifted her. With her best friend in the palm of her hands, she quickly arrived at the Common Room entrance, and placed her inside moments before the shoor slammed shut. 

The first question Crystal asked herself once she was inside was whether or not staying tiny would be beneficial to her search. It might have been, but the advantages would have been cancelled out by her unease. 

"Engorgio!" 

The Common Room was even better than Ben had described, with both space and coziness, it's red colour scheme was a delight to look at. But she couldn't look at it for long, she had to search. 

There were many draws and cupboards in the room, which Crystal searched through carefully, one by one. Some cupboards had books, some had plates and stylishly gold cutlery, and some smaller cupboards had various types of alcohol hidden inside. She had never seen such bottles before, some of them looked muggle-made, maybe a muggleborn senior student snuck it in. She hadn't seen secret stashes in her own common room before, but then again, she hadn't had a reason to search every cupboard in there yet. One particularly nice looking bottle caught Crystal's attention, and while she knew it was wrong and not what she was here for, she quickly snuck it into her robes out of curiosity. 

Then she found something both brilliant and horrible - a drawer full of black quills. One by one, Crystal casted Reparifarge on each quill, getting more desperate and hurried with each quill unsuccessfully transfigured. Rowan started fidgeting in her hiding spot outside, and began quietly tapping on the door to get her to hurry up, but it couldn't be heard. The Fat Lady began to question why she, a young Ravenclaw, was lingering about her door, and her complaints only got louder the longer Rowan stayed - Crystal had to hurry up. 

Crystal got through every single quill with no luck, but then, right at the back of the smallest cupboard, she found a much larger and glamourous black quill. She knew that this must be the one, and it was, as when she cast Reparifarge it transfigured into a beautiful looking letter, rolled up neatly to a pocket-sized width. 

"Reducio!" She hastily cast herself back to being tiny and ran for the exit. She tried to fit underneath the door, but it wasn't working, the door was firmly shut and she was slightly to big to manoeuvre across the frame. Rowan, hearing the scrapes and panicked breathing, had to conjure a plan. Footsteps could be heard from the other end of the corridor and Rowan didn't know what to do. 

"Excuse me, ma'am, part of my notebook got wedged into your door, could you open slightly so I can collect it?"

The Fat Lady operatically cackled, "Nice try, girl," She shut the door even tighter, "Not so smart to match your robes are you?" 

"Oddsbodikins." A stern voice from behind Rowan calmly called out, sending a shiver up her spine. The door obliged and a small Crystal hobbled her way out of the door, looking up to see the horrifying glare of McGonagall peering down at her from far above. 

McGonagall pointed her wand at Crystal, which Crystal found scarier than her visit to the ice room, this professor who was fierce at the best of times now looked twenty times taller, "Engorgio." 

Crystal slowly watched as McGonagall's angry face got closer and closer until she was finally back to normal size. McGonagall was stood next to a very angry Angelica, and Rowan was shivering. 

"Miss Cole here informed me you were supposed to be asking me for help? And we come back to find you leaving a place where you are forbidden," She looked at Angelica, who folded her arms and nodded, "Explain yourself, Miss Helenora." 

Rowan wondered if Crystal was going to answer honestly. It was probably better to be honest in this situation, as they did sneak in for good reason. But there was a difference between telling the truth, and the whole truth.

"I was trying to find Ben Copper, professor. He's been missing for over a day and he's a Gryffindor."

McGonagall tilted her head down, "And why would searching his common room help you?" It was a good point, if Ben was in his common room he would be found by now. Crystal had to come up with something, while also hoping that she remembered to put the draw of quills back properly. 

"It sounds stupid, professor," Crystal looked at the floor and sadly sighed, "I was hoping he was hiding somewhere. I have to check everywhere, incase he's hurt."

A moment of silence followed before her response, "And did you find Mr Copper?" 

"No." 

"Very well, you and Khanna may go." 

Crystal looked up in shock and Angelica's face was disgraced. 

"You're not going to take away House Points?" Angelica asked, upset. 

"You can if you wish to exercise that power, but no, I will not be taking away House Points. Although she made an ill-advised decision," (Rowan took some offence to this comment), "She was doing it in service of a friend, her Gryffindor friend, and would not have broken this rule otherwise." 

Angelica's voice stuttered, like she was about to complain. Then she looked at Crystal, and looked at Rowan, and just about came to the conclusion that there were bigger problems facing the world that two children who cared for their friend, and therefore decided not to remove house points herself. 

*

It was another night without Ben, which kept both girls awake and talking to each other. They were both shocked at getting away without punishment, and that they hoped Angelica Cole didn't hate them. Rowan thought to herself that if worst comes to worst, I do have pretty good blackmail on her. 

Once they were sure the others in the room were asleep, Rowan asked Crystal to read her the letter. Crystal shuffled out of her bed as Rowan simultaneously shuffled across hers to allow Crystal a bit of space. 

"Crys, be honest," Rowan whispered once they were both under her duvet, propping it up like a mini-blanket fort, "Is it bad?" 

"I haven't read it yet, I saved it to read together." Crystal took out her wand and cast Lumos.

Proceed to the farthest corridor at the east end of the fifth floor. Transfigure this scroll into a black quill, and return it to the Gryffindor Common Room. Failure to follow your instructions will result in severe punishment. - R

Rowan's voice trembled, "I'm really worried about Ben." Crystal could almost hear Rowan's heart palpitations, but couldn't quite because her own were simply too loud, "Why was he supposed to put it back where he found it? And this 'R' person again?"

Crystal took a few deep breaths to try to calm her rising panic-induced nausea. This is not what she signed up for when she committed to finding Jacob, or maybe it was, maybe Jacob knew about these letters. What if Ben had gone missing just like Jacob had? Jacob had been missing for years now. 

"I want to go to this corridor." She finally said. 

"I don't know if that's a good idea. Maybe we should just tell Dumbledore." 

Crystal didn't respond, now considering if she was willing to go herself. 

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Rowan said.

She could always ask Penny to go with her, except that might be worse. It was best to have Rowan with her, she understood better than anyone else what was at risk, she read the letters. It was either Crystal by herself, or Crystal and Rowan. Rowan knew this, she could already tell Crystal was prepared to go on her own. 

"Ben could be in trouble. There's no time to waste." Rowan concluded. 

Crystal climbed out of bed in her starry pink pyjamas that she got when she was ten, and Rowan followed in her black pyjamas with simple impact-font text on the front spelling "It's a wand-making reference, you wouldn't understand." 

They stealthily made their way down the east wing to the farthest corridor, which nobody ever went in and that Rowan was pretty sure was forbidden for students. It reminded Crystal of the place where she discovered the Ice Room; an old wooden door that took both pairs of hands to heave open and a grandiose interior, with stained windows and benches that stretched down the corridor. 

Stained windows couldn't be the main focus unfortunately, as when Crystal and Rowan managed to quietly push the door just open enough for them to slide their small bodies past, there was only one thing on their minds. 

It was cold. The entire corridor felt like being inside an ice block, or a cloud that was cooled to sub-zero and latched onto the closest person it could find. The air hit them like a truck, it was so heavy but not at all moist or dense, it was sharp. 

"Crys." Rowan hissed, tugging at her sleeve, "Hide!" 

Crystal looked up, only just noticing the piles of thick ice coating parts of the corridor, and in the distance the faint picture of Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape could be made out. They could hear something, however, that sounded like a childish whimper that simply couldn't be produced by either adult. It was so faint, but after a few moments Crystal could tell she was listening to Ben. He was weakened, pale and frozen, his body was shivering within the ice that restrained him to try and keep him going. 

The two girls made their way closer with caution, inching before another huge block of ice and cowering behind it. They could hear more clearly now. 

"Flipendo." McGonagall's spell didn't budge or crack the ice. She was stunned, as the Knockback Jinx always used to work against the ice, but the ice had become impervious. 

Snape inspected the ice around Ben's body closer, taking note of how thick it was. Crystal grew frustrated with how long this was taking and how calm Snape was being around Ben. The girls made fearful eye contact, unsure what to do or how to help. But one thing was clear, they had found him. 

"Incendio would melt it away." Snape respond in his usual monotone way. McGonagall didn't seem too fond of the idea of potentially burning him alive, but their options were looking slim, and they were both talented wizards who would be able to perform the spell safely. 

"The Cursed Ice has been tampered with. At this rate the ice will spread." McGonagall said. 

Rowan looked at Crystal, but Crystal only blinked at the floor, her hair helping her by falling over her face. She didn't know what she had done, but she now had to accept the possibility of Ben's disappearance being her doing. 

"It would be helpful if our Headmaster were at Hogwarts for this." Snape snarled. 

"We don't need Albus to safely free this boy. Cast incendio at the same time as me, and be careful not to hurt him." 

Crystal almost shrieked when she saw flames bursting towards Ben. She and Rowan began to back away. 

"What are they going to do?" Crystal muttered, her feet wobbling about on the ice. 

"He's been nearly two days with no food and stuck in ice, he'll be very ill. But it'll be okay, they'll take him to the Hospital Wing when they free him. We can ask him questions when he feels better." 

As they approached the wooden door, they left the corridor and were immediately shocked by the change in temperature from freezing to normal, although the sharp sting of the cold still lingered in their bodies. 

Chapter Text

It took multiple weeks for Ben to wake up, and an extra week for visitors to be allowed. His body was cold and weak and his appetite only came in short bursts, and he wouldn't talk for multiple days at a time. His sleep was inconsistent and he seemed horrified every time he woke up. Even though Madame Pomfrey was only qualified to tend to his physical needs - and there were a fair few - she became increasingly worried for Ben's psychological state and sent worried multiple messages to his Head of House. This was the reason why visitors were allowed earlier than they would have been otherwise. 

The first visitor was of course Crystal, who wanted to see him, but was also summoned at the request of Madame Pomfrey. She explained how Ben had been asking several times to see Crystal, but to be careful around him as he was paranoid and his memory was erratic, and was making other strange requests that suggested he was in a state of delirium. 

Ben weakly turned his head to face Crystal, pulling his face across his pillow. He was wearing his own stripy pyjamas with a little fancy breast pocket, which he sometimes put a hankey in. He projected a quiet 'hello' in her direction as she approached. 

"How are you feeling, Ben?" She solemnly spoke. 

"Cold, tired, sore." He looked up at the white ceiling above him.

Crystal gestured to the edge of the bed and Ben nodded to permit her to sit herself down. 

"Is there anything I can do to cheer you up?" 

"If you would stay and talk to me for a while. The only company I've had has been Madame Pomfrey and she's usually too busy to talk." 

"Yes of course." She gently responded, "You asked to see me, I heard." 

"Did I?" He shivered, "I probably did, I don't know. That ice has made me lose it." 

So Ben knew what had happened to him, which was fair, as even if he didn't know at first, the constant chill in his bones would have made him realise eventually. He must remember something, the harsh senses in his body should be evoking memories, but his mind wasn't showing them to him.

"Ben, how did you get trapped in that ice?" 

He started repeating the word 'ice' until the word descended into blubbers. Crystal stood up slowly and backed away, almost into Madame Pomfrey. 

"I think I will have to cut your meeting short, Miss Helenora. I think Ben Copper needs his rest."

But she had only just got there! The staff clearly overestimated how able he was to talk to people. His mind was all over the place, he was upset and scared. 

There was only one place that was clearly sensible to visit next - the place where Ben disappeared. There might be clues there, and besides, Crystal hadn't seen Rowan all morning, she could be in that very corridor with the same idea. If Ben couldn't make sense of what happened in that corridor then Rowan might be able to figure it out, doing what she doesn't best. 

"How's Ben?" Rowan did indeed get to the corridor first. 

"He's still recovering, and he's acting strange. He remembers the ice but can't remember exactly what happened." 

Rowan scratched her chin and hummed while turning to face the wall to inspect it. The ice covering the corridor was already spreading up the brick wall which made the girls aware that they shouldn't stay for too long. Rowan looked the wall up and down.

"There's something strange about this wall." She nearly reached out to touch it but after a quick noise of disapproval from Crystal she put her hand back by her side. There were a few moments of silence before Crystal realised Rowan was a bit too honed in on that wall, like it was giving her a dirty look.

"Are you going to visit Ben?" Crystal asked, realising Rowan had sort of changed the subject. 

Rowan turned away from the wall finally, "I will once I know what to say to him. I think he's hiding something."

Crystal stopped every other potential thought and answer she had prepared in her head, because she did not expect that. How could Ben, of all people in the whole of Hogwarts, a young muggleborn who was vocally scared of everything in front of him, be hiding anything?

"Think about it, Crys," Rowan continued, "He might be afraid of whoever sent those instructions."

"Rowan this is crazy! He would've told us, you know he would've." Crystal was sure of it. 

Rowan shook her head skeptically, "He wouldn't want to get us captured too, maybe his instructions were only for him to see." She looked back to that same spot on the wall and scratched her chin again. 

"He would've told Penny, one hundred percent." 

"Then maybe we need to talk to Penny next." 

This was all all going a bit too fast and Crystal knew that it wasn't worth doubting Rowan when she was on a train of thought as strong as this one, best to let it go. 

"Before we talk to anyone we need to properly think about what we are doing. And why do you keep staring at that wall?" 

Rowan leaned forward to put her face closer to the wall. A few strands of her hair started blowing back from a small gust of wind coming from a crack in the wall. 

"Is that a draught... coming from the wall?" Crystal carefully crept closer. 

"Listen too, I can hear something." 

"How do we see what it is?" 

"We could cast Revelio, but we don't learn that spell this year." 

Crystal quickly understood that she needed to persuade a professor into teaching her yet another spell ahead of time. Then she remembered something, she had agreed to private lessons with McGonagall. She could learn that spell with her, but she hadn't even been told when her lessons were yet. 

The next day, Crystal rushed down to Transfiguration to speak with McGonagall about these private lessons. The students she passed on the way all whispered about her, and many muttered something about Ben too. 

McGonagall gave 20 House Points to her upon her arrival, for her dedicated search for Ben Copper and concern for his recovery, which Crystal awkwardly thanked her for. Then she asked what Crystal was there for, and Crystal suddenly regretted coming. 

"I was wondering if I could have the first private Transfiguration lesson this afternoon?" Crystal hopefully asked. 

"You will receive an owl when it is time for your lesson."

"Of course." She lightened her tone slightly, "It's just, I've become really interested in the Revelio Charm recently, Professor."  

McGonagall raised one eyebrow and tilted her head down so she could peer at Crystal over her glasses, "And why is that, Helenora?"

"Because I want to learn a harder spell to improve my skills." 

"Revelio will be your next lesson, but you will receive an owl when I deem you are ready to learn it." 

Crystal smiled sadly and began to walk away, but came to a jolted halt the moment she heard McGonagall speak. 

"Because your work ethic in my class has been impressive so far, I will give you one lesson this evening at 5 o'clock." For some reason, Crystal wasn't surprised that McGonagall deemed 5 o'clock to be evening," I'm giving you one chance here, if you do not grasp the spell tonight I will not be extending your lesson."

"Thank you very much Professor!" And with that, she left before McGonagall could say anything more. 

Her next class was Potions, which was not going well so far due to the combination of the intimidating teaching style, Potions not being her strong suite, and having to sit next to Merula Snyde. She had not been bothered by Merula too much so far, but she would still glare at her on their Potions table, and sometimes make a snarky comment. She no longer proudly proclaimed her brilliance though, and seemed to have taken a more relaxed approach to her undeniable greatness. 

Except for today, because today, Merula chose revenge. As Crystal took her seat and made minimal eye contact with anyone other than Rowan, she heard Merula's screechy voice - still attempting to hide her real accent behind a facade of poshness -, asking her to a rematch. 

It took Crystal a moment to remember what it was a rematch for, then realised that the two of them had that hugely popular duel the previous year. 

"Did you enjoy the song book I got you?" Crystal plainly asked. 

"Stop avoiding the question, Helenora."

"Why do you care about duelling me?" 

"Because when somebody in our year brings up duelling, they talk about how you beat me, which isn't fair because I'm stronger than you." 

"How about," Crystal crossed her legs, "I say you are stronger than me and then you leave me alone?" 

"That makes you a coward." 

Oh. Well, Crystal didn't really like the sound of that. She snapped her book shut and sucked in a breath. She could maybe fit a second win against Merula in after her private Transfiguration Lesson - which may have been the most privileged thought Crystal had ever had. 

"Fine. How about six o'clock this evening?"

*

The Transfiguration classroom was cold this time in the afternoon and the breeze from outdoors bounced off the stone walls. Crystal had been practising Revelio to no avail thus far, it really was a difficult spell after all, but Crystal needed to ideally have it ready for tonight. 

Crystal tried the spell on simple transfigurations first, to find the true form of a cauldron as a grey cat - she couldn't even do that. How on earth was she supposed to reveal the true form of an entire brick wall? And if she thought the temperatures in the class were cold at that moment, she had forgotten just how cold the corridor was. 

She walked away from that class having performed the spell correctly just once on a very simple transfiguration. Maybe it was the tiredness or Ben's condition or a mix of the two, but it didn't help to dwell at the moment, as it wasn't as though she would be making up for lost sleep that night. Rowan didn't have to know how unsuccessful the class had been however, hopefully it would work on the wall this evening. 

*

"Finally decided to join me, Helenora?" 

"I still don't know if you liked that book or not." Crystal drew her wand, slightly terrified due to the dark, starry night, but willing to win so that Merula would leave her be.

Merula on the other hand was determined to succeed. She was more powerful, she was the Most Powerful Witch in Hogwarts and Crystal was only something because of her brother. And everyone loved her for it? Why, because it gives her more personality than the average twelve year old? Merula simply didn't understand, but she hadn't spent all summer alone in her boxy house just to be beaten the moment she walked out of it. 

Crystal's only game plan was that she was absolutely not going to cast the first spell. Luckily for her, there wasn't much of a waiting game. 

"Flipendo." Merula jabbed her wand at Crystal and shot a spell, narrowly missing her. 

"Expelliar-"

Merula cut her off, "Flipendo." 

Crystal nearly jumped out of the way, but the part of the spell caught her foot and flung her into the air and quickly back down again. The landing wasn't too painful, and after a few deep breaths she picked herself back up. 

"Expelliarmus!" Crystal retaliated. It worked immediately, flinging Merula's wand into the air, followed by a faint splash coming from the well. 

"Rictusempra." 

Merula burst out laughing, falling to the floor in a fit of painful giggles. For a moment, Crystal was tempted to cast the Knockback Jinx then and there. When Merula calmed down, she looked up helplessly and bowed her head in shame. 

"How did you do that so fast?" She snarled, her tone as grim as ever. 

Crystal had many answers, the first one that came to mind was that she had good friends and teachers who helped her learn and practise, but some instinct within her told her not to tell Merula that. Instead, she walked slowly up to Merula and looked down at her past her nose with cold eyes, "Maybe you just aren't as powerful as you think you are, Merula." 

Something about Merula's blank expression told Crystal that they would not be duelling again any time soon. 

Crystal made her way to the corridor with a semi-prepared spell in hand to find Rowan already stood there, inspecting the wall. 

"Rowan..." Crystal quietly asked, "What if, just hypothetically, this is a Cursed Vault?" 

The question stumped both of them for a moment. They could be about to find a serious clue on Jacob's whereabouts, and if they were going into hypotheticals, what if Jacob was in there? Waiting to speak to Crystal in a way that wasn't just a voice? What would he have to say to her? 

"Then we will be careful." Rowan smiled, "And besides, isn't a Cursed Vault a positive thing for us? Even if it is dangerous, nothing else will be as good a find, right?" 

She was right, but Crystal was still scared of them - she was scared of something she had never seen before. 

They looked at each other and nodded, then Crystal said "Revelio" and nothing appeared to happen. She tried again, and nothing. She didn't know if it was her inability or if the wall was completely normal, but Rowan had an idea. 

"I've read about this spell, I can give it a go at the same time as you." 

"Revelio!" They both declared, their childish voices slightly echoing down the corridor. Slowly, the bricks began to fade into this yellowish colour, and mist emerged from the wall. Crystal was hit with a flood of anxiety, seeing the exact staircase she saw in her vision. Her knees went wobbly and she had to spread her arms slightly to balance. 

The stairs were shrouded in mist and the bricks were yellow. They couldn't see where the stairs let to, but it didn't look difficult to find out. 

"These are the same stairs I saw in my vision." Crystal muttered. 

Rowan snapped her head to her, "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I, uh, I just want to go in." 

"Maybe it's she same staircase from the message in the ice room too." 

They began to tread up the stairs and saw less and less as it began to get noticeably darker. The yellow pavement stopped once they had reached the top of the stairs and transformed into this deep red carpet floor. Rowan stopped for a moment to observe, until noticing that Crystal had already wandered ahead. 

"Wait!" 

Crystal pointed to dark foot-shaped marks on the floor, "There were no footprints in my vision." She kept wondering. 

There was a large stone arch before the next area, with even thicker mist than before covering the passageway. The mist was unbearably cold, they could tell that as much and they hadn't even walked through it yet. 

"I don't know if we can walk through this, Crys." 

Without thought, Crystal drew her wand, "Flipendo." The mist was blasted apart and the cold stopped being concentrated in that one area and began to spread around the room, slowly cooling down the young girls' bodies. 

Just behind the mist was a door about twice the height of them, surrounded in sharp ice, the same cursed ice that was currently covering the castle. This had to be it, Crystal was convinced Jacob was near. 

"Incredible," Rowan dragged out the word in awe, "What is it?" 

"It's one of them. A Cursed Vault." Crystal confidently replied. She walked closer to the door, "Why would someone create this? Who was it for?" 

There was an almost unnoticeable fizzle coming from the door, and sprinkles of snow fell off the snowflake symbol carved in the middle of the door. 

An exceptionally large shiver ran up Rowan's small spine, "I think we should go, Crys. We can come back later when we're more prepared." 

It was as though she didn't hear Rowan. She was perplexed by the Vault, entranced by its mystery and its 'hidden in plain sight' behaviour. She walked closer, reaching out a hand, lightly brushing the deadly ice with her fingertips-

Rowan's hand clenched around her best friend's arm.

"Crystal snap out of it, I understand how important this is to you, but we don't know what is going on here and I don't think it's a good idea to be here without a plan, or at least some warmer clothing."

Crystal blinked at her and looked at Rowan's cold hands with cracked knuckles from the cold. She took a deep breath, feeling the ground beneath her feet, and nodded. 

They turned around, clinging to each other's arm as they prepared to navigate down icy stairs - down was always worse than up when it comes to ice. 

A fizzle was heard from behind them and it got louder as they turned around to look at where it was coming from. The snowflake symbol on the front of the door was illuminated and before the girls could react, a sharp bolt of ice came shooting out of the door. The girls shrieked and frantically ducked, just about avoiding the attack. 

"What's going on?!" Crystal shouted.

"The door's enchanted!" Rowan replied, quickly trying to figure out the best way to rush down the stairs. 

The door was lighting up again, fizzling loudly. 

"Crys look out!" Rowan saw the bolt pointed directly at Crystal's chest. Desperate, Rowan grabbed Crystal and pushed her to the side, safely out of the way. 

"Rowan!" 

Rowan didn't have a quick enough reaction time for the both of them, and within a fraction of a second she screamed as she felt herself be thrust backwards from a bolt of ice. She flew back, shrieking as she tumbled down the steps, and came to a stop at the bottom. 

The enchanted door was already powering up another bolt. Crystal frantically made a run for it, a bolt of ice narrowly missing her in her trail. She ran down the icy stairs without a care, not wobbling once as her vision was locked on Rowan. 

When she reached her, she pulled Rowan aside so they were definitely clear of the door. She brushed the dark hair out of Rowan's face and stared down at her unconscious expression. She placed her hand on Rowan's back to lift her onto her lap for warmth - her skin was ice cold - and when she removed her hand she almost vomited from its coating of blood. 

"Rowan? Rowan can you hear me?" Rowan was breathing normally but still out cold, with her back bleeding and her head bruised from the fall, "Rowan I'm sorry," She pulled her in closer to her chest, "I will get you to the hospital, don't worry. We're getting out of here." 

Crystal heaved Rowan's limp arm over her back and began the slow and gruelling process of walking her away from the Vault. 

Chapter Text

Jacob Helenora's endless pursuit of the Cursed Vaults had consequences, namely his little sister now being involved with them. Now Crystal was involved, her search for the Vaults had resulted in the hospitalisation of her two closest friends, and the subsequent guilt that creeped through her every morning she woke up and Rowan wasn't in her bed. It was a chain reaction of consequences, rooted in good intentions and loyalty. As terrible as Crystal felt, she did not for one second consider backing away from finding the Cursed Vaults, she couldn't. 

Penny visited Ben daily, and when she could, she visited Rowan too from time to time. Her conversations with Ben really cheered him up, because she would always have some story to tell him, whether it was her overhearing two teachers talk bad about another teacher, or her witnessing drama in the Hufflepuff Common Room, Ben was always excited to hear it. 

Crystal told Penny what happened outside the Vault before they visited Rowan, and blamed herself entirely. She made them continue walking up the stairs even when Rowan felt uncomfortable, and she should've listened to her, because Rowan was right in being afraid. Penny wished that Crystal had told her about the plan, she could've made them a potion that would heat them up, or provided them with more supplies, or anything useful. There was this overwhelming sense of understanding that they should have never gone in the first place. 

Potions class was as lively as ever even without Rowan. Professor Snape was setting more homework and Merula looked more visibly agitated than ever. 

"Did you hear that they found cursed ice in the Astronomy Tower, Helenora?"

Crystal flinched at the news, but held her head down facing her desk. She unpacked her potion supplies and opened her book to the correct page. 

Merula smirked, "Haven't seen you much this year. What you been doing?" She cupper her chin with her hands and rested her elbows on the desk, smiling grimly. 

"Avoiding you." She flicked to the wrong page for dramatic effect, "What do you think I've been doing?" 

"Found one yet?"

Crystal finally looked up at her and looked at her stern. She had two options, to lie or to tell the truth. One option she didn't have was bragging rights - Rowan was in the Hospital Wing because of her spontaneous adventure. She should own up to it.

"Yep." She looked at her with a blank, yet piercing face. 

Merula's smile fell. She blinked twice and her upper lip twitched. Crystal had never seen anyone's expression change that suddenly from confidence to fear, as though someone's head had just blown off. She stuttered - it was the first time Crystal had seen her stutter - and her nail scraped the desk. 

"I- is that true?"  

Crystal tried not to smile and looked back at her book, flicking it back to the right page, "Maybe." She shrugged. 

Later on, Professor Snape walked by to the girls' desk glaring slightly worse than usual. He peered down at Crystal. 

"Helenora, I have received information that you have been stealing supplies from my classroom."

Her book slammed shut, "What? That's ridiculous!" 

"I asked your prefect to examine your dormitory this morning," He pulled a few different herbs out of the inside of his robes, "Explain why these stolen ingredients were in your drawer-"

Crystal cut him off, "Merula sabotaged me-"

He cut her off in a similar manner, "And how would Miss Snyde even enter the Common Room in the first place?"

Somehow she was more angry at Chester Davies at this moment, and the threat of detention from the Professor seemed preferable to sitting at this table with Merula. 

"She's framed me before, sir. Unless the note last year really was you." She looked up at him with faux confusion. He peered at her past his nose with grim eyes, disgusted that an adolescent could treat him in such a disgraceful way, "Did you send me into the Devil's Snare cupboard, sir?" He raised his eyebrows, waiting to see if she had anything more to say, "Did you?"

The silence became what looked like a staring contest, until Snape nodded down slightly and then turned his gaze towards Merula, "Is this true, Miss Snyde?" 

"Uh, well Professor Snape," Merula put on a performative smile, "You and I both know that she should be expelled! But I would never break the rules to achieve that." 

Crystal's eyes darted between Merula and Snape, wondering how this was going to pan out. 

"You are an atrocious liar Miss Snyde, particularly for a Slytherin," Then he turned his head back to Crystal, "But you, never before has a student treated me with such disrespect. I want both of you to leave my classroom this instant." 

This wasn't exactly a bad thing for either of them, they were equally fed up with that class by this point; it was almost as though Rowan was helpful for the both of them in that class. It turned out that Rowan seemed to be on Merula's mind as well. 

"I heard Khanna ended up in the hospital wing?" 

This struck a huge nerve, "Do not pretend like you care about my friends."

"I don't, but I do care if she got hurt in a Cursed Vault."

Crystal remained silent and folded her arms, leaning her shoulder against the cold dungeon wall. 

Merula's eyes widened with excitement, "So you did find a Vault!" 

"Okay, If we're not going back to Potions, I'm going to see Rowan." She began to walk away from Merula, until she heard Merula call out her surname, "What?"

"Why do you think your brother was so obsessed with the Vaults." 

Crystal reused her earlier response, "What do you think?" 

"Its treasure?"

She shrugged, "You're probably right." 

"You know, I know what happened to him." 

Crystal turned around fully and froze in her spot. 

"Yeah," Merula continued, "My auntie told me." 

"Are you serious?"

Merula walked up to her and stood inches away from her with a challenging stance. Any previous composure Crystal had was vanished in an instant and she began to shake, shaking harder the longer Merula chose to stay quiet. Eventually, Merula simply shrugged. 

"Maybe." 

Crystal stumbled backwards and tried to speak, but kept tripping over her own words. This was evil, Merula was evil, worse than any Death Eater. 

Merula scoffed, "So it's okay when you do it to me?" 

"That was different."

Instantly upon hearing this, Merula yanked at the sides of Crystal's hood in a sudden fit of rage. Crystal tripped over her own feet as this happened, shakily balancing on her toes and wide-eye staring at Merula. 

"How would you know?" Merula snarled. 

"Because... because that was about family!" Crystal's ankles wobbled. 

Merula's face relaxed, she chuckled to herself and let Crystal go, less out of kindness and seemingly more out of mercy. Then she passed Crystal, knocking her shoulder with her own, and ran up the dungeon stairs. 

Crystal was startled, but quick to make her way to the Hospital Wing. She checked her robes to make sure Merula hadn't crushed the chocolate frog she got Rowan. 

Rowan was happy to see her friend again, as always, and almost happier to see that she was gifted chocolate. Crystal asked her how she was doing, even know she knew the answer was going to be the same; "so so". It was always "so so". Crystal didn't know if that meant she was doing better than the last time they spoke. Rowan always seemed happy until Crystal brought up the Cursed Vault visit, so she tried to bring it up as little as possible. 

When Rowan asked how Crystal was doing, she did not answer "so so". She began to explain the events of the Potions class, and how Merula had shaken her up by making the comment about Jacob and then grabbing her robes. Rowan offered Crystal to lay down next to her, because even though Madame Pomfrey would expressly forbid two people sharing her bed, she was away for ten minutes collecting more medicine from outside storage, so Crystal hopped into Rowan's bed. 

"Are you sure you don't need space?" 

"It's fine, I'm hardly cold anymore, just very tired. Oh, and my head's kind of sore, but you're laying on my head so it's okay." 

"So," Rowan turned over and propped herself on her elbow, like they were on a girly sleepover, "Did Snape say the classic 'never before in my something years of teaching' so on so fourth?" 

Crystal giggled over Rowan saying 'so on so fourth' because it was a very 'Rowan' thing to say, and also because she was spot on, "He did actually. But I don't know if that's true, Jacob must've said worse stuff to Snape when he was at Hogwarts."

Rowan raised an eyebrow, "I'm sorry?"

"Well, you know, he talked back to teachers at school." 

"No, not that. How old do you think Snape is?" 

"I know he's younger than he looks."

"But how old do you think he is though."

Crystal took a cautious pause, "Forty?" 

Rowan simply looked at her and blinked. 

"Is that wrong?" 

Rowan broke and burst into laughter, "He's twenty-five, Crys!" 

Crystal was so shocked that she jumped off the bed and stared at the floor. She then began counting with her fingers. One... two... three... 

"He's three years older than Jacob!" Crystal exclaimed. 

Rowan coughed, "That's so strange." 

Suddenly, a stern voice was telling them to be quiet. Madame Pomfrey appeared behind Crystal, and Crystal began to question everything. She looks fifty to me. Could she secretly be fourteen? 

Crystal assured Madame Pomfrey that she would only be a few more minutes. She had to wrap up the conversation by bringing up the Cursed Vault with Rowan, something she had been nervous about all day. 

"So, I was thinking, next time we go to the Cursed Vault, what do you think we should do differently?" Crystal spoke lower as to not be heard by Madame Pomfrey. 

Rowan's smiled faded, "Uhh, I suppose you should learn Incendio and wear warmer clothing?" 

"Okay." Crystal had prepared this question, "Do you think you'll be able to go back to the Vault with me when you're released?" 

Rowan paused, looking at her feet and sighing a heavy exhale, "I'm not going back." 

The lights in the hospital felt a lot brighter in that moment, shining through Crystal's icy eyes. She felt the urge to hold her jaw up to prevent it from hanging open. She expected resistance, perhaps even an uncomfortable conversation, but Rowan was rarely that blunt. 

"I want to help you in any way that I can, but I'm not going back to a Vault. I'm not strong enough."

"Of course you're strong enough, we were caught off guard!"

"No, Crys. I like researching and putting the puzzle pieces together, but I can't go back. It's just not for me." 

Crystal needed a moment to process. She had an intrusive thought of going back by herself and the ice hitting her, but because she was alone, there was no one there to pick her up and take her back to safety. She was on the floor, freezing to death. 

But of course this was going to happen. She pushed Rowan too far and now she had reached her limit, her kindness and willingness to help was wrung dry. 

"I hope you're not annoyed, Crys." 

Crystal snapped out of her haze, "No! Of course not, you can help however you want to. I understand why you don't want to go back." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Yes. Honestly. My only problem is, who am I going to go with?" 

Rowan understood straight away why Crystal couldn't go by herself, "You need someone trustworthy and powerful." 

"And willing to go with me without telling them my life story." 

"True." 

They thought for a moment. Madame Pomfrey approached them again, about to hurry Crystal out of the Hospital Wing. Rowan knew her answer, but didn't know how good it was. 

"Do you remember Bill Weasley? We were with him at Christmas." 

"Charlie's brother? Isn't he a fourth-year?" She was already backing out the room, cowering under Pomfrey's demanding look. 

Rowan tried to sit up to call to her, "He's very popular now, but he's kind, and fights at the duelling club!" 

Crystal continued to back out of the room while thinking. Bill Weasley hit both criteria, strong and loyal, and they had met before. Plus, after him, the next realistic option was Merula, and she wasn't exactly trustworthy. 

In a last try to convince Crystal, Rowan shouted, "Get him a gift!" 

Chapter Text

Finally, Ben was released from the Hospital Wing after weeks of recovery. He was still sore and occasionally felt a shiver in his spine, but Madame Pomfrey assured him that these symptoms would disappear within days. The boys in his dorm room greeted him when he returned, but they were clearly distracted by something else, in fact, everyone in the school seemed distracted at the minute by something that had happened and Ben was out of the loop. 

"What's happened?" He worriedly asked, and when he found out, his fear of Hogwarts and of magic in general hit him like it did the first time he found out he was a Wizard. As if the threat of Cursed Ice wasn't bad enough, he now had something else to be scared of. It was okay thought - he told himself - he knew who to confide in.  

He hurried to the Hufflepuff Common Room and started knocking on the door, saying Penny's name over and over again. The huge door heaved open and Ben saw Penny anxiously stood behind it, as well as a glimpse of the beautiful Common Room behind her, honey-coloured and cozy. Ben thought his own Common Room was revolting in comparison, in both looks and smell.

"Penny, have you heard-"

"Ben, you're back!" She exclaimed. She wrapped her arms around him and tightly hugged him, which caught him majorly off-guard. They had hung out almost every day for two years without hugging, but it was strangely normal. 

She pulled away from him but kept a hand on his arm, "Have I heard what?"

Ben forgot what he was going to say, "I'm back? Oh yes, from hospital. Have you heard about the rumour?" 

Penny tried not to laugh over Ben being too preoccupied to discuss his life-threatening incident, "Wait hold on, are you feeling better?" 

"Well I'm not in pain anymore... I'm scared. I'll talk to you about it later." He stammered. He didn't feel ashamed to say this to her, because no matter how many times Ben told Penny he was scared, Penny would never take him less seriously. 

She smiled, "Okay, yes I've heard about it, are you talking about the werewolf attack?"

"Yes. Does Crys know?" 

"I have no idea, I've not seen her much since Rowan got hurt." 

"Can we go find her?" 

They checked the Hospital Wing first, then the Courtyard, then the Great Hall and didn't find her. Then Penny remembered that Crystal was finishing her Potions homework in that classroom as detention for talking back to Snape in class. As it turned out when Ben and Penny arrived, Merula had the same detention. 

"What are you two running about the corridors for?" Snape greeted them at his door. 

"We need to talk to Crystal, sir." 

"Miss Helenora will have finished her detention in half an hour." With that, he slammed the door. 

The pair decided to wait outside the door for the full half an hour. Penny asked Ben lots of thoughtful questions about his hospital visit and listened intently as he answered. She asked him nothing on what happened to get him there though, she thought that would make him feel worse, and besides, he had said multiple times that he didn't remember a thing. 

Merula left the classroom first, and scoffed as she saw them sat against the wall together, before strutting away. Then Crystal followed thirty seconds later, and Ben and Penny stood up at the same time, then said her name at the same time. Crystal thought it was some sort of jump-scare. 

"What- oh, you two? Ben! How are you?" 

"There's no time for that now, I've got a new thing to be worried about. Have you heard of the werewolf attack?" Ben frantically told her. 

"No?" Crystal froze, "What happened?"

"A girl in third-year was attacked by a white werewolf last night. That's all I know." Ben shivered. 

It couldn't happen again tonight as there was not going to be a full moon, but the idea that there was a werewolf on the school grounds was enough to make every student paranoid. Werewolves were highly feared creatures, looked down upon by the Ministry of Magic and average citizens alike. 

"Do you know any more information, Penny?" Crystal calmly asked after having a think. 

"I don't, no. But I know a girl in our year is investigating the attack. Her name's Chiara Lobosca, I don't think you've met her, she's really sweet."

Crystal knew this was far from her responsibility, she had no place in this investigation, no right to intervene. However, the idea that one second-year girl was doing more to investigate the attack than any teacher reminded her of the Cursed Vaults. Maybe, before she went looking for Bill Weasley's help, she could try and help out with this werewolf attack. 

"Do you know where she would be right now?" 

Penny nodded, "Probably the Great Hall, but you should know that she's not being her usual self at the minute." 

Crystal nodded and began walking down the corridor. Ben's eyes widened and he worriedly turned his head to look at Penny and then back to Crystal. He called after her before she got too far away. 

"Crys, you're not actually getting involved, are you mental?" Ben cried. 

Crystal didn't stop walking, she turned around and walked backwards in the same direction, shrugging in response, "Maybe... hey Ben, I'll catch up with you later?" Before he could respond, she had already disappeared down the corridor. 

She'd seen Chiara Lobosca before - it was hard to miss her striking silver hair - but had never spoken to her before. She seemed quiet and reserved, but always smiled at people who walked past. Penny had said she wasn't being herself though, so she may be harder to talk to, but Crystal was confident she could find a way. As introverted as Crystal was, her mum had always told her she had a remarkable ability to charm people just by talking to them. 

Chiara was sat at the very back of the Great Hall, with papers and notebooks splayed out in front of her and a concerned expression seemingly frozen onto her face. It took a few attempts of saying 'hello' for Chiara to even notice she was there. 

"Oh! Are you Crystal Helenora? Penny's told me all about you!" Her voice was very quiet and slightly raspy, her voice cracked in at least one word in every sentence she spoke. Her eyes contrasted her pale face with their incredible, deep brown look, but everything else about her was light; her t-shirt was white, her satchel was a pale, misty shade of brown, and the pendant around her neck was white and light blue, "Can I help you with something?"

"Call me Crys. You're investigating the werewolf attack on the student, right?" 

"How did you know?" Chiara's postured sharply straightened. Crystal smiled and took a seat opposite her. 

"Penny told me, and I want to investigate what happened too."

"Why?" Chiara's expression was increasingly cautious. 

"An attack like this could be related to the Cursed Vaults." Crystal almost believed what she was saying, as every mystery in the school so far seemed to somehow link back to the Vaults, all she had to do was find out what the Vaults themselves linked to, "I want to question the victim directly, but I don't know who she is. I was hoping you might know her name?"

Chiara made eye contact with Crystal for around two seconds before looking down. She pulled in some of her scattered papers closer to her body, protectively, and sighed. 

"I wish I knew, but I don't. Sorry." 

"Well," Crystal made her voice extra friendly, "Since we're both investigating the same thing anyway..."

But Chiara saw right through it, "I want to work on this alone, sorry." 

Crystal was stumped, "Why? Have I done anything wrong?" 

"No of course not!" Chiara's voice was louder, but then it went back to being quiet, "I have my reasons, that's all." 

Crystal didn't want to leave but didn't know what to say, and Chiara couldn't leave but also didn't know what to say, so they both sat in silence for a moment. Chiara's mind was racing, she found Crystal quiet pleasant, which might not be a good thing for her. 

"Just one question, do you think the werewolf should go to Azkaban?" Chiara kept her gaze focussed on her papers. 

Crystal was thrown off by this personal question and took a moment to think about it. On the one hand, the werewolf committed a crime and attacked a young person, but on the other hand, werewolves aren't always in control when they turn, and the fact that they are a werewolf wasn't their fault - regardless of what the Daily Prophet liked to say.

"No, no I wouldn't go that far. I don't see how that would help, and we don't know the details of the attack."

"Does the context really matter if someone got hurt?" Chiara asked. 

Crystal nodded in acknowledgment, "Well we can decide what we do with the werewolf after we figure out what happened," Chiara sighed because she knew what was coming next, "Which we can do quicker if we teamed up."

"I don't know... it's nothing personal..." She sheepishly looked up at her, "Do you really think we'll get it done faster if we team up?" 

"Absolutely."

"Why do you want to team up so much?" 

The funny thing was Crystal didn't have a definite answer to that question. It could be because she wanted to help, or she wanted a distraction from the Cursed Vaults and the fact her best friend was in the hospital, and in that case, the reasons could have been selfish. However, it was like what Chiara had just said, did the context really matter if she was going to save the school? Did releasing the cursed ice matter if she was saving her brother? 

"Honestly, I just want to help. There's no other reason, I almost wish there was, I just think we could solve this mystery if we do it together, seeing as we're the only people who are investigating the attack." Crystal said. On its own, that sentence would have made Chiara more suspicious of her, but the way she said it was so earnest that Chiara couldn't help believing her compassion was real. 

"You're right. Getting to the bottom of this is more important than what I want." 

Crystal grinned, "Brilliant."

"Where should we start?" 

"We need to find the girl who was attacked, she'll be in the hospital wing."

"Madame Pomfrey wont let me anywhere near her." 

"We don't need her," Crystal assured her, "We need her medical record."

Chiara was anxious to be sure, but was starting to realise why having a natural problem-solver like Crystal helping would be useful to her investigation. 

The plan was simple, Crystal would distract Madame Pomfrey while Chiara looked for the records. It was better that way than the other way around, as Chiara was not socially confident enough to distract, and Crystal wasn't the most observant thirteen-year-old in the world. 

It took a while to convince Chiara she was capable of searching through the records, but she eventually came round to the idea, as comparatively speaking, Crystal's job of distracting sounded much, much worse. Crystal walked in first, asking questions about the werewolf attack, and when she ran out of things to say, she asked when Rowan would be released in a much more genuine manner. She found out a lot more than expected taking to Madame Pomfrey - the attack took place in the Forbidden Forrest, and that the werewolf had never been sighted on the school grounds before - but Pomfrey kept the name of the victim successfully hidden. Thankfully, after just two minutes, Chiara signalled to Crystal and they both left the room. 

"Pippa MacMillan. Pureblood. Werewolf cut her arm and her back but no serious injuries. Expected to be released this evening." Chiara read off the form and then smiled weakly at Crystal. 

Crystal smiled back, "Great, thank you. So I suppose we'll have to wait until the evening. Would you like to go on a walk around the grounds?" 

"Sorry, I'm not really interested in making friends." Chiara's smiled faded and she looked down, "It's nothing against you.. just a personal thing." 

Chiara's attitude reminded Crystal of how she felt on her first day at Hogwarts, convinced that she was better on her own. If it wasn't for Rowan's forwardness and brutal honesty, she might still be feeling that way. Crystal wasn't Rowan though, she couldn't pull that kind of attitude on Chiara and have it go well. She had to empathise and be the opposite of forward. 

"I just wanted to pass the time, I never said anything about friends." Crystal calmly told her. 

"Oh. Well in that case, you should probably change out of your school robes first." Chiara replied. This was true, Chiara was already in her normal clothes, but Crystal hadn't been back to her Common Room since leaving Potions earlier. 

They agreed to meet each other in the Quidditch Stands for the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match in thirty minutes, which gave Crystal time to get changed. Watching Quidditch to pass the time was helpful as it meant the awkward girls weren't obligated to talk to one another. 

Looking through her wardrobe, Crystal tried to find something at least a bit blue for her outfit, she didn't care much for Quidditch but she didn't want to be a downer on the mood by not being blue. It was a cold November evening, so she put on a thick, navy, woollen jumper, and the only blue bottoms she could find was this pale blue skirt that was floaty and ankle-length. She didn't know if the two things went together but at least the outfit was themed. 

She looked at her hair in the mirror of her dormitory. It was getting rather long again, but she didn't have time to cut it now, so she tied it up into pigtails because she didn't like the way ponytails looked on her. Besides, her hair was so thick it was hard to get it all into one hair tie. 

On Skye Parkins' dressing table, Crystal saw a stamper that had Ravenclaw-coloured paint striped on it, next to a note that read 'help yourself'. Skye would be playing today, she was the youngest player on the Ravenclaw team, but a very talented one nonetheless. Crystal picked up the stamp and cautiously pressed it to her face. She looked in the mirror to see a messy smudge of blue and bronze that could sort of be made out as the Ravenclaw colours, so it was good enough. 

"Your outfit looks lovely." Chiara exclaimed as she sat next to Crystal in the stands. Crystal thanked her, even though she didn't necessarily agree - she didn't look lovely, she just looked blue. As blue as possible. 

"It looks like we're playing against each other today." Crystal observed.

"I was going to put on more yellow but I thought it might be a bad idea since I'm sitting in the Ravenclaw stands today. Though I suppose your house's fans aren't as rough as the Gryffindor and Slytherin Quidditch enjoyers." She pulled her silver hair to the side, revealing a tiny, yellow badger that she had painted onto her upper cheek. 

The match started shortly after, and they didn't say a word to each other the whole time. In fairness, it wasn't just because of Chiara's unwillingness to be friends, the match itself was much more entertaining than Crystal had anticipating. She felt bad for ever calling Quidditch boring, it was one of the coolest things she'd ever seen. Kids flying around, tackling each other and trying to throw Bludgers through a hoop while two Seekers were whizzing up and down, trying to find the Golden Snitch. There was so much going on, Crystal could hardly look away. 

Until Chiara tapped her shoulder, so lightly that Crystal wasn't sure anything had touched her at first. 

"Pippa should be released by now." Chiara tried to tell her over the noise of fans shouting. Crystal tried to hide her disappointment over having to leave, which wasn't hard as Chiara hadn't looked like she had enjoyed the match at all. 

After failing to catch Pippa MacMillan leaving the Hospital Wing, Crystal commented that she often saw her in Charms, doing extra homework at the back of the class, so they went their next. Luckily, Pippa was stood right there in the class, catching up with Professor Flitwick. When Flitwick began to walk back to his desk, Crystal stepped in. 

"Pippa MacMillan?" Crystal asked after her. Pippa was slightly taller than her, and visibly older even though there was just a year between the two of them. Pippa looked up at her and raised her eyebrows, nodding. 

"This is Chiara Lobosca, and I'm-"

"Crystal Helenora, I know. What is it you want?" Pippa could hardly be blamed for this attitude, she had just come out of hospital and had suffered a werewolf attack the previous night.

"We're investigating what happened the night of your werewolf attack. Do you mind if we ask you a few questions?" Crystal hoped that the more professional she sounded, Pippa would be more likely to tell them information. This was not helped by the fact that Chiara couldn't bring herself to make eye contact with Pippa. 

Pippa sighed, "I don't know, I've already been asked plenty..."

"I can imagine so, this must be really hard for you." Crystal was as softly spoken as ever, "But we're trying to figure out what happened so that this never happens again."

"You two are investigating? How old are you again?" Pippa rhetorically remarked. 

Crystal sometimes forgot how young she was, and especially how young in the face she was. She had big eyes and soft cheeks, with a resting blank expression that made it look like she was constantly daydreaming. She hoped she would one day grow out of that. 

But she still knew what to say, "I don't see any teachers investigating right now." 

"No, very true," Pippa nodded, "But I'm not sure I feel comfortable saying." 

"Why not?" 

"Because, I can't remember what happened properly. If I'm being totally honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure I was even attacked by a werewolf. I can't picture the werewolf." 

"You're not?" Chiara finally spoke, "But that's what you've been saying to everyone."

"I was very sure it was when it happened, but it was dark, there were trees everywhere and everything happened so fast - I can't be sure it was a werewolf, or another creature, or just a nasty tree..." She mumbled a bit, "I was going to accept it was a werewolf until everyone started panicking over it. Now if it ends up not being a werewolf, all the blame for the rumour will fall onto me."

"Do you think the attack gave you memory loss? Did you hit your head?" 

Pippa shook her head with her eyes closed, "No nothing like that, I'm just not sure if I can trust what I remember." 

The room was silent as Crystal was trying to come up with ideas. She looked to Chiara, who was still looking at the floor, then looked back to Pippa having formed an idea. 

"We could get you a memory potion?" Crystal suggested. 

"That's a great idea, except," She sighed heavily, "I'm not sure if I want to reexperience the attack."

Chiara spoke so quietly that her broken voice could hardly be heard, "What do you remember hearing during the attack?"

"Oh," Pippa thought carefully about what to say next, "I definitely heard a howl, and something that sounded like footsteps. I know this isn't what you asked, but I definitely saw something white."

"That sounds like a werewolf to me." Crystal affirmed. She hadn't seen many werewolves in her life, but if she had to describe one, she would use the description Pippa just gave. 

Pippa smiled, "Then I'm not mad for assuming it was a werewolf. Thank you, Helenora, maybe you're not as mad as they say you are." 

Suddenly, Crystal heard Chiara's breath start to quicken, becoming louder and shakier with every breath. She looked frozen, her eyes were wide and twitching. Her pulse quickened, her vision became fuzzy and all of the noise around her started muffling away, overrun by the boom of her heart desperately beating. 

"Is everything alright?" A sharp voice cut through the muffled barrier in Chiara's head. She hated it, it made her sweat. 

Chiara stuttered the word 'I' over and over again, her ankles shaking, her arms wrapped around her middle. Her thin hair fell over her face as she looked even more downwards, hoping she would just disappear or disapperate out of the room. 

"I- I- I'm sorry for everything you went through, Pippa," Chiara mumbled, "I've got to go." And with that, she ran out of the room before Pippa could tell her not to apologise. 

"What happened to her?" Pippa asked rather half-heartedly. Crystal didn't respond, too busy following Chiara out of the Charms Classroom. 

When Crystal left the room, she looked up and down the corridor to find that Chiara had vanished entirely, she must've been running extraordinarily fast. She ran down the corridor, turning her head to check every room as she ran past them. When she reached the Grand Staircase, she saw Chiara much lower than her, running towards the first floor to get some fresh air. Crystal impatiently waited for the next staircase to reach her platform - they moved very slowly - and when it did, she raced down the huge, stone stairs, trying to match Chiara's pace. 

The person she was chasing was somebody she had just met today, somebody who outwardly expressed she didn't want a friend. Even so, Crystal ignored this wish in this moment, running after Chiara like she would for Rowan, Ben or Penny. She had to make sure she didn't trip up on her maxi skirt as she ran down steep stairs, as the 100-foot drop onto cold stone would be hard to recover from. 

If what Chiara was having was a panic attack then Crystal would immediately empathise, because she used to get them frequently when she was younger, and small flushed of indescribable panic would sometimes still hit her. But if it was something else, or caused by something Crystal couldn't understand, then she didn't know what she could do. 

When Crystal finally caught up with Chiara, they were outside in the Training Grounds. It looked much more peaceful in the evening when all the brooms and tables were packed away, and of course when there weren't any screaming children. 

Surprisingly, Chiara was no longer breathing quickly like she was upstairs, even though she had just sprinted across the castle. Crystal on the other hand was panting and leaning against her knees, taking a moment to catch her breath. Chiara just stood there, blankly staring at the bright stars scattered across the pitch black. Crystal looked at her and didn't want to talk just yet, so she let Chiara stare at the sky for a few more moments, silently. 

"What are you doing here?" Chiara softly spoke. 

"Checking on you." Crystal gently responded, keeping a straight face, not smiling or frowning. 

"You were worried about me?" 

"Anyone would be worried after seeing their friend panic like that."

"Crystal, we talked about this, you don't want a friend like me." Chiara called her 'Crystal' even though Crystal said she could call her 'Crys'. 

Crystal couldn't help but smile a little bit, because she understood how Chiara felt. How could she tell Chiara that wasn't true when she had the same guilty feeling about herself so often? Telling her she was wrong would be hypocritical, even if it was true. 

Instead, Crystal just sat down cross legged on the grass, allowing her skirt to spread out over the dirt. 

"If anything, it's the other way around," Crystal responded, "I put my friends in danger all the time." 

"You're not selling yourself very well." Chiara still sat down next to her however. 

"I'm just being open with you. I don't think people want to be my friend because of my brother. Why don't you think you'd be a good friend?" Crystal picked at the grass.

"I can't say." 

"You don't have to. It's okay." Crystal simply continued to pick and pull at the ground.

"That's never happened to me before, I felt like I couldn't breath." Chiara told her. 

"It's happened to me a few times when I was little." 

"How do you know?" It was a valid question, how was Crystal so certain that the anxiety she felt as a child was comparable to what Chiara was feeling right now? She wasn't certain, but she certainly recognised the behaviour.

"The symptoms were the same, I guess. It's a normal thing that happens to lots of people." Crystal answered. 

"What can you do about it?" Chiara was now worried that it could happen to her again, if it was so 'normal'. 

"Your response was fine to be honest. Sometimes it's better to leave than stay in the place that's making you feel anxious. Sometimes you might need water." 

Chiara nodded in acknowledgement. She knew what caused it, and she assumed that Crystal was wondering what caused it. Being scared over a potential werewolf was normal, but Chiara looked petrified, like the werewolf was right in front of her, like she was running from a werewolf. 

Then, a little dog appeared in the distance, running happily towards the pair. It was tiny and grey, and it looked friendly. Crystal looked at it, puzzled, wondering why there was a random dog at this exact spot, so late at night. 

"This isn't Hagrid's dog." Crystal commented. The dog hopped onto Chiara's lap. 

"Borf is no dog, he's a werewolf pup." Chiara handed Borf over to Crystal, placing him gently on her lap, "He seems to like you, maybe you should go and play together."

Crystal patted his head, "Maybe some other time, right now I'm still worried about you." 

Chiara sighed in a sort of accepting manner, "You are genuinely concerned, aren't you? I suppose Borf has a good judge of character."

"What's the matter, Chiara?"

"I am a werewolf," Chiara breathed, "I'm a white werewolf, that hides in the Forbidden Forest during the full moon." 

For the next hour, Chiara and Crystal had a thorough conversation about this. Chiara was bitten by Fenrir Greyback when she was just seven while sleeping peacefully in her bed back at home. Her parents managed to pull her away before she was killed, but they couldn't stop her infection. Crystal pieced together that Chiara believed she was the werewolf that attacked Pippa, as her werewolf had white fur and she hadn't taken her Wolfsbane Potion beforehand, for some reason. The only evidence against this self-accusation was that Chiara remembered nothing, whereas werewolves typically remember their entire transformation. The idea that she hurt someone terrified her so intensely that she had to consider it a possibility and that thought became buried so deep inside her mind that it became the only possibility. 

Crystal walked Chiara back to the Hufflepuff Common Room, as it was very late and the castle was mostly silent. They needed to wake up early to ask Professor Snape for a Memory Potion before classes began. Chiara felt weirdly calm after revealing her darkest secret, possibly because Crystal showed no signs of judgement. Not one. She sat their and listened to Chiara frantically recount her life, her biggest fear of hurting people, and her guilt over potentially injuring Pippa, and said little other than 'I understand'.  

Crystal told her to wait by her Common Room door for a few minutes while she ran to the Great Hall, and when she returned, she had a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and marshmallows ready for Chiara to drink before she went to bed. Chiara thanked her dearly, trying her best to erase any doubt that Crystal truly cared about her, yet she still found herself unable to see Crystal  as a friend. 

*

Crystal and Chiara met up outside the Potion's classroom at 7:30am to make sure they caught Snape in time. Chiara explained that Snape knew of her being a werewolf, as he was the one who supplied her with Wolfsbane potion every month. She was worried that Snape would think Chiara was behind the attack, but Crystal reassured her that even though Snape was quite terrible, he wouldn't make such an accusation without evidence. 

"To what do I owe the disruption of my work?" 

"Hello Professor Snape," Crystal lightheartedly said, "We were wondering if you could brew us a Memory Potion." 

Snape was capable of feeling many things, but he was rarely genuinely caught off-guard by a student's sheer temerity. 

"Of course, let me drop everything I'm doing and get started at once." He said in perhaps the most monotone voice humanly possible. 

Chiara's eyes sparkled, "That would be great, thank you-"

"He's being sarcastic." Crystal cut in before Chiara could make a complete fool of herself. 

"You really must learn to be less gullible, Lobosca, or someone's bound to take advantage of you." He turned his back to them to face his desk. 

"Please sir," Crystal said, "We wouldn't ask if it wasn't important."

"I'll be the judge of what is important." He did not turn around. 

Crystal swore to Chiara that she wouldn't reveal why they needed the potion, but she had failed to come up with a story to replace it with. She needed something convincing, but she had no idea what would resonate with Professor Snape, would more personal or less personal work better? 

"It's for old memories of my and my brother, I think they're starting to fade, and I want to make sure I don't forget them."

Snape snarled, his tone colder than usual, "And how could any of us forget your brother?" 

"That's not very nice, Professor." Chiara suddenly said. Snape and Crystal were both equally stunned by this, her innocent honesty silencing them, "Surely you must understand how important memories with loved ones are?" 

Snape peered down at her, "I will check my storage. If I do not have a Memory Potion, you will have to brew one yourself." 

Fortunately, Snape had a stock of Memory Potions remaining, and he carefully handed a bottle to Crystal. Before the pair left, Snape retrieved something else from his storage. 

"Before you go, Lobosca, take this." He told her with a flicker of concern.

"What is it?" Crystal asked as Chiara quickly swiped it into her satchel. 

"Nothing that concerns you, Helenora."

"It's alright, Professor, Crys knows I'm a werewolf." Chiara assured. Crystal noticed that Chiara was using her nickname, "It's Wolfsbane," Chiara added, "The potion I was telling you about last night."

"Do you provide this every month, Professor Snape?" Crystal asked with a surprised tone. She didn't know much about these potions except they were hard to make and required many rare ingredients. 

"Yes, fortunately Hogwarts has just enough resources to do so. Wolfsbane potions require prohibitively expensive items, especially now during the Aconite shortages, we've hardly had enough even for Lobosca's dosages." 

Crystal wondered what the school would do if there were any other werewolf students, but she didn't have time to think about it too hard, not while the werewolf in front of her needed to know if she'd hurt someone. 

Pippa MacMillan said to them that she wanted to take the potion at nighttime, so that she didn't have to spend the day thinking about what had happened to her. Crystal and Chiara had to get to class anyway and they shared zero classes together, so they agreed to meet up in the Courtyard that night. Chiara didn't want to hang out much during the evening, as she said she was busy with something important.

Instead, Crystal hung out with Ben and Penny on the Training Grounds for most of the evening, chatting about their classes and sharing sweets between them. 

"Penny, how do you get your braid to look the exact same every day?" Crystal asked. 

"Not sure," Penny put another sweet in her mouth, "I've got used to doing it every day."

"But it's always in the exact same spot in your hair as well." Ben added. 

"If I'm being completely honest, I sometimes sleep in it and tidy it in the morning." Penny admitted as though this was some sort of serious crime. 

"That section of your hair must be really wavy." Crystal commented. Penny's blonde hair was very straight, but she always had that one section of hair braided over her shoulder, and Crystal was convinced that repeating that process every day must've done something to the hair texture of that one section. 

"So, are you two going home for Christmas?" Ben asked them. He knew he was going home, but he remembered that Penny and Crystal stayed at Hogwarts last year with a few other people. It sounded nice, having the whole castle to themselves, if not a little lonely.

Penny nodded her head quickly, she was excited to go home and see her parents and her little sister. From the way Penny described her family, it sounded a bit hectic but lovable all the same. 

"I'm staying here, I think. Mum will probably visit family in America again." Crystal answered. 

"Does your mum not miss you?" Penny asked, concerned. 

Crystal nodded, "Very much so, but Christmas at home isn't the same when it's only us two. Mum knows it as well." 

Ben hated to stop this conversation, but he saw something in the distance, what looked like a student stood next to an adult who was not a teacher. 

"Guys, look over there!" Ben pointed at the two people at the other end of the field. 

"It's Chiara!" Crystal noticed Chiara immediately, but couldn't recognise the man she was with. What could she be doing out at night on her own, when it wasn't even a full moon? 

"Whoever that man is," Penny whispered, "It looks like she's giving him a bottle of something."

Crystal knew, but of course didn't say it out loud. It was her Wolfsbane Potion, her only supply, and she was giving it away to this random man. After she handed it to him, she disappeared into the castle, and the man disappeared in the opposite direction; into the forest.

Chapter Text

Later that morning, Crystal and Chiara were patiently waiting for Pippa MacMillan in the Clocktower Courtyard, sat on the wall with their legs dangling above the cobblestone. They were making good conversation, a skill that neither of them had with most other people, it just turned out they had a lot to talk about with each other. Crystal didn't know when to bring up the incident the night before, when her, Ben and Penny saw her with a mystery man, who disappeared into the Forbidden Forest. 

Was it appropriate to bring it up? Chiara already had much stress on her much, she was about to find out if she had injured Pippa and was clearly nervous. The fact she was talking so openly to Crystal while being under this much stress felt like an honour she didn't want to lose. However, this man could be putting Chiara in danger, and if he wasn't, then surely there was no harm in asking. 

Before she could overthink this any further, Crystal asked, "There's something I need to tell you before Pippa gets here," Chiara looked up at her, "I saw you last night on the training grounds. Who was that man you were with? He can't be a student." 

Chiara hopped to a stand immediately. 

"You did? Why were you following me?" She was jumping to all sorts of conclusions in her mind, mainly that Crystal was lying when she said she was okay with her being a werewolf. 

"No! I was with Ben and Penny and-"

"They saw as well?!" For once, Chiara's sweet voice was projecting more volume. 

"I didn't tell them anything, they were much more confused than I was. Let me explain-"

"You wanted to talk?" Suddenly Pippa appeared in front of them. Crystal jumped off the wall to stand in front of Chiara. 

"Sorry, could you give us a minute? Chiara and I were just discussing-"

"No Pippa, it's fine, Crystal and I were done talking." 

Crystal felt like the loose piece of string holding onto Chiara's trust had just snapped from excessive weight. Pippa looked at both of them in a funny manner, but came to the conclusion that she didn't particularly care about their clearly unresolved dramatics. She simply raised an eyebrow and continued talking about why they were there. 

"Just so you know, I don't remember anything new about my attack, and now more people think it was definitely a werewolf." 

Crystal knew that she was going to resolve her matter with Chiara later, which made her able to put it to the side for now. Chiara was clearly more concerned with the outcome of this Memory Potion experiment anyway. 

"Do you remember me mentioning a memory potion?" Crystal reached into her satchel that used to belong to her brother. 

"Yeah... oh don't tell me..." Pippa couldn't finish her exclamation before Crystal had whipped the bottle out, "If there's one thing they got right about you, Helenora, you really don't let anything go." 

How is everything I do something 'they' say about me? Who is 'they'? 

Crystal brushed the comment off with desensitised ease, "If you drink this, you will remember the night clearly." 

Pippa cautiously took the bottle from Crystal and looked at it while idly swirling the liquid around the inside of the glass. She looked at the potion as though it had insulted her, and then gave Crystal the same cautious look. 

"What if I don't want to see what happened to me?" 

"I'm not making you." Crystal replied with no hesitation, her voice without tone. 

"Good to know," Pippa remarked, then spontaneously she threw the contents of the potion down her throat and swallowed it quickly, like a bad tasting medicine that she had to get out of the way. The sound of the swallow was impactful, as it was followed by deafening silence from the three of them. Crystal noticed Chiara was looking at her, but when she looked at her in response, Chiara had already snapped her head to face Pippa. 

Pippa's eyes widened. Still no comment. 

"Well?" Chiara practically whispered. 

"It was a..."

"A what?" Chiara and Crystal said at the same time, but only Crystal could be heard. 

"A... Hippogriff?" 

Chiara let out the biggest sigh of her life and tried to hide how personally relieved she was coming across. 

"I saw a Hippogriff, and a tree with sharp branches. The tree must've scratched me!" Straight away, Pippa was already more cheerful now. 

"So it was all a misunderstanding!" Crystal matched her tone.

Pippa excitedly nodded, "Yes! There's no werewolf threat." 

Chiara let out another breathy sigh after this comment. 

"I'm so relieved," She said," I- you must be so relieved, Pippa." 

Pippa raised an eyebrow but was too happy to read into Chiara's wording, "Yes, so so so happy. I can't believe I thought it was a bloody werewolf, I'm so stupid." She laughed and put her hands over her face, uncontrollably giggling, "Guys, I started a werewolf rumour, over a Hippogriff!" She shakily laughed, "I feel terrible!"

"Pippa?" Crystal carefully got her attention. 

Pippa controlled her giggling, realising how uncomfortable the two second-years looked, "It's fine, Helenora. I don't mind feeling a bit guilty if it means people aren't scared of a werewolf. I'll go and tell Madame Pomfrey to correct her records right now." And with that, Pippa fled the scene. 

Crystal didn't know when to say something, the silence was getting longer as Chiara was staring at the ground, massaging her hands together. Through gap in her silver hair, beads of tears could be seen forming under her eyes. 

"Chiara, did you hear her? You didn't do anything, you're not guilty!" Crystal gently reminded, "Is everything okay?" She noticed the tears. 

"I- I-" She snivelled, "I'm so selfish... I'm crying over myself... I'm so happy I didn't hurt her. Can you believe that?" 

This was getting ridiculous. Chiara's worst fear that had caused her sleepless nights and near-isolation had been completely disproved, and she was still finding things to be upset with herself over. Crystal reached out to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but she flinched away. Chiara looked up at Crystal through the corner of her eye and took a deep breath. She looked slightly annoyed now, remembering what they had been talking about before. 

"Inside, if you want to talk."

"I just want to know why you gave him your only-"

"Inside." She hissed. 

The pair made their way in silence inside the castle. They went round corridors to try and find an empty spot, but it was the beginning of the day and the corridors were lively. Chiara was starting to get less sure about speaking of the incident at all, so Crystal knew she had to come up with something. 

"I could sneak you into my Common Room. I don't think anyone's in there right now." Crystal offered. 

"I've never snuck into another house before," Chiara warily said. 

"I've never snuck someone into my house before, but this feels important." 

It was important, and it wasn't hard to sneak students of other houses in, everyone knew that. The only drawback was that it was against school rules, but Crystal hardly thought meeting up with random men to deal Wolfsbane Potions was exactly teacher's pet behaviour. 

Crystal opened the Ravenclaw door while Chiara was out of sight, and then Chiara hoped through the portrait while the door was open - it really was that easy. Chiara was immediately a fan of the Ravenclaw Common Room, it wasn't as homely as Hufflepuff, but it was relaxing and spacious, but not overwhelmingly so. The bedrooms being below the Common Room rather than above was a nice touch too. Crystal saw Chiara's eyes light up when she walked in for the first time, reminiscent of Crystal's own first time being here. 

There were some people floating about the Common Room, so Crystal offered Chiara to come into her dorm, to which she reluctantly agreed. Chiara still did not see a friend in Crystal, against what may be her best interests. She didn't know what was best for her. 

"This is a lovely room." Chiara loved the blue curtains and the beautiful view of the Scottish Highlands, "I'm sorry, I know you brough me all the way here, but I can't tell you about what happened yesterday."

"Why not?" Crystal calmly responded. 

"Some things have to stay a secret." 

Chiara wondered about the room, examining every bed and the dressing table. 

"Is this where Rowan Khanna sleeps?" She pointed to an un-made bed with Astrology books scattered across it. 

Crystal still felt a shot of guilt upon hearing Rowan's name. Surely she should be released soon.

"How could you tell?" 

"She spoke to me in astrology about this book." She pointed at the book laying on Rowan's pillow, it was the the only one that was closed, the only one she had actually finished reading of the ten-or-so books that were on the bed. 

"I'm guessing she started that conversation," Crystal lazily chuckled, "Could you grab me my quill from that cloak?" Crystal pointed to the Ravenclaw robes nearest to Chiara. She nodded, reaching into the wrong pocket first. They both froze as they heard a clank. Chiara curiously took out the bottle that Crystal took from the Gryffindor Common Room while she was looking for Ben. 

"This doesn't look like a potion..." 

"Could you put that back?" 

Chiara didn't hear her, squinting at the tiny print on the label. She could just about make out '25%' and 'not for breastfeeding mothers'. 

"It's a long story, I didn't buy it of course. I don't really know what it is." Crystal answered as though Chiara had asked anything in the first place. She simply continued to silently read the bottle. 

Then she finally spoke, "Could I try some?" Chiara innocently asked. 

Crystal was baffled, "Um, that's probably not a good idea. I shouldn't have it in the first place."

"The teenager you've stolen it from hasn't noticed, have they?" 

Crystal shook her head. 

"So can I have some?" 

"Have you drunk alcohol before?" 

"Only wine at Christmas. I'm just interested to see what it tastes like, I'll probably hate it." 

Crystal was the same, she had only had alcohol at family gatherings. She didn't know what went through her mind when she took the bottle that day, it was right there and so easy to take, surrounded by so many other drinks, this little bottle couldn't have made a difference. 

Chiara unscrewed the lid and poured a few drops into it. It was a clear liquid, rather boring really. Chiara imagined alcohol would look more exciting. She drank the lid, it was only a few millimeters but the taste was so sharp it felt like a blade to a tongue. She winced and coughed.

"Is it that bad?" Crystal was very intrigued, "Let me try some." 

Crystal poured around the same amount of drops into the lid and sipped it so slowly that it felt pathetic. Her reaction wasn't quite as strong as Chiara's, but it was clear she didn't enjoy the taste. 

"I know," Chiara said, catching the grimace on Crystal's face. 

"I can't believe people drink this stuff. Being drunk must be great."  

Crystal closed the bottle and put it under her pillow before Chiara could ask for any more. 

"So, if you're not going to talk about last night, what else do you wanna do?" Crystal prompted her. 

Chiara sighed, still wincing from the taste of the drink. She thought that maybe if she had more she would be able to say. That was when she decided drinking was a bad idea. 

"I do want to tell you, it's just too serious." 

"But you told me you were a werewolf-"

"Look." Chiara's voice rose slightly, "I don't understand why you care. I want to understand, but I just don't, and now I hear you've been following me and I don't know if I feel comfortable telling you."

Crystal's voice rose slightly too after hearing this, "I wasn't following you Chiara, I was just hanging out with my friends, we hang out there all the time."

"Then you should've seen me there before." 

Crystal paused, "You've met up before? Who is he?" 

"It's none of your business!" Chiara finally exclaimed. It was true, it was, but Chiara could be in danger. 

"You're meeting with a random adult at night and I'm worried you're in danger." 

Chiara smirked, lowering her head to allow her hair to fall over her face.

"Pippa was right, you really don't let things go." 

Crystal was initially offended, because she couldn't see what was wrong with doing the right thing to help other people. It was normal, it should be normal. Crystal didn't know what it was like to have secrets, everyone who read the news knew about her story and everyone seemed to have an opinion of it. But she did know what it was like to have thoughts that no one else knew about, worried that no one else could imagine, hope even if other people gave her none. Right now, her hope was for Chiara to confide in her. 

"You're right, I don't. It's true." Crystal confirmed to both herself and Chiara. 

Chiara glanced over at her, "You really weren't spying on me?" 

"No, I was just talking to Ben and Penny. Ben has just come out of the Hospital, he's been wanting to go on walks outside for ages."

Chiara nodded, "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions."

"I understand why you did."

"Have your friends told other people about what happened?"

Ah, there was a problem there, because there was a strong chance Ben could have. 

"Penny won't tell anyone, but now you mention it, Ben gets really scared sometimes and might have told someone because he was worried." 

Chiara looked panicked, "No one can find out about him, Crystal." 

"Why?" 

It was the one thing she had to keep a secret from Crystal, but the urge to just tell her was too strong. Crystal didn't have bad intentions, she just wanted to know if Chiara was safe. The problem was, it wasn't just her secret to tell, it was his too. 

"If I told you about him, how can I be sure you wont tell?" 

"Because I care about you?" Crystal responded calmly, as though it were obvious. Crystal cared about Chiara. There wasn't much else to it. 

Chiara had to laugh, why did Crystal care about her when all she had done was push her away? She giggled into her hands as she sat next to Crystal on the bed, tucking her knees to her chest. Crystal didn't know why Chiara was laughing, but somehow she understood why she had to laugh. 

"Forget about me trusting you, how do you trust me when I'm keeping so many secrets?" Chiara couldn't stop giggling in her soft raspy tone. 

"It's okay if you want to keep secrets, and it's also okay to tell me things. I'm sorry if I've been too pushy, Chiara." 

Chiara finally settled down after this and ceased her laughter, "You've put so much trust in me these last few days, I think I should return the favour." 

"So you'll tell me your secret?"

"No, but I can show you." 

*

Chiara couldn't show Crystal her secret until nighttime, which was ideal as they had classes - of which they shared none - and they had to eat something. They had lunch together in the Great Hall, and they didn't speak of Chiara's secret once, rather talking about music they liked. Chiara had only gotten into music recently and mainly liked artists that her parents were fans of, but one new album she was a fan of was 'Hounds of Love' by Kate Bush which had only come out two months prior. Crystal remembered that some random Ravenclaw had bought that record for their Common Room record player, and Crystal invited Chiara back to her house after lunch so they could listen to it. 

And I'm ashamed of running away
From nothing real, I just can't deal
I'm still afraid to be there
Among your hounds of love
And feel your arms surround me
I've always been a coward

*

"Quick question; how does this man know to meet us? Did you send him a letter?" Crystal asked, looking over her shoulder for the fifth time that minute. They had successfully snuck out onto the Training Grounds after hours to discover what Chiara was hiding from everyone. 

"No, he knows because it's full moon." 

It was indeed full moon tonight - the moon always looked so clear from the Hogwarts castle, brightly reflecting over the castle at night. 

Crystal flinched as she heard a bark, but it didn't sound like a adult werewolf, rather Borf the werewolf pup. He wasn't alone though, as behind him followed the man that Chiara had been meeting up with. Crystal could now see him for what he was, rather that as a silhouette running into the forest. 

He was young, probably in his early to mid twenties, but he didn't look fresh, he looked fragile and tired. His hair was misty brown and flopped over his eyes, his clothes were ripped and scruffy and his face was coated in scars and devoid of joy. 

"Have you been waiting long, Remus?" Chiara approached him. 

"Not at all, I just left the Shack. Were you followed?" He noticed Crystal timidly follow up behind Chiara. 

"No, uh, hello," Crystal remembered her manners, "I'm Crystal Helenora."

The man looked cautiously at Chiara.

"It's okay, you can trust her, she knows I'm a werewolf." 

The man turned back to Crystal and examined her, "Well then, very nice to meet you. I'm Remus Lupin. You've never brought a friend of yours, Chiara?" 

"I wouldn't call us friends exactly, but Crys has been helping me out. I've brought her here to show her she can trust me." 

Remus nodded and wrapped his arms around his ribcage. Crystal couldn't tell if he was cold, hungry, uncomfortable, or all three. 

"Well?" He asked, "Do you trust her?" He spoke to Crystal. 

"I think I do." Crystal softly smiled at her. 

"Well there's no reason not to is there? Anyway, are you explaining this, Chiara, or am I?" 

Chiara didn't think that far ahead, as so far, Crystal had no idea what was going on and was wondering why this man was stood in front of them, pleasant as he may be. 

"Remus is a werewolf like me. I give him his Wolfsbane Potions because he can't get any himself." 

Remus explained that he had been searching for a way to make this potion every since it was created, but Potions was never his strong suit and the ingredients were simply too expensive. Chiara, however, gets the potions free of charge from the school. He ran into her while looking for potion ingredients in the Forbidden Forest, they were both in their werewolf form at the time, and they spent the whole evening scavenging the forest together. 

"How did you manage to get onto the Hogwarts Grounds unnoticed?" Was the first question Crystal asked. 

"Let's just say I've remembered a safe passage through the woods." 

"So you were a Hogwarts student?"

"I was indeed." 

Chiara was smiling, as Crystal wasn't repulsed by meeting Remus, she was simply curious about his background, and seemingly empathetic towards him. 

"Crys, meeting Lupin has made me realise that when I grow older, I want to create a more accessible way for werewolves to treat their condition."

"You've never told me this before, Chiara. Is this a new aspiration you have?" Remus asked. 

"Yes, I just thought of it now. Right now." 

Crystal smiled, "Well if anyone can do it, it's you." 

Chiara was overwhelmed with relief over how well this was going. Crystal wasn't disgusted, Remus wasn't angry, she wasn't freaking out. It couldn't be going better, really. 

"Thanks. And to think, this all started because I gave Remus my Wolfsbane Potions." 

Remus looked incredibly startled, his posture straightening, "'Your'? I thought you said those were spare potions?"

Chiara looked at the grass. 

"Chiara, what have you done? Be honest."

"They were my... only supply." Chiara admitted with her fingers laced behind her back.

Crystal realised that must've been why Chiara was so worried about potentially attacking Pippa on the last full moon, because she knew she was out of control. 

"Chiara," Remus tried to remain cool, "Do you know how dangerous it is to go without Wolfsbane, especially at your age?" 

"I know, but when you told me your story, I had to help." Chiara was swinging her torso left to right, gritting her teeth, "I figured you needed it more than I did, " She turned to face Crystal, almost completely turning her back to Remus, "You must think I'm irresponsible, Crystal." She lowly said. 

Funnily enough, while Crystal knew it was objectively wrong for Remus to be taking a child's medication, she couldn't bring herself to see Chiara as anything less than a hero. 

"I think it was selfless." Crystal replied. 

"I second that," Remus added, "But that doesn't change the fact that it was reckless."

"Are you mad at me?" Chiara asked while looking down. 

Remus crouched slightly so he could get to her eye level, and he forced a smile, "How could I be mad after such a sacrifice? I'm grateful that this will be our last meeting." 

She looked at him, "What do you mean?" 

"I can't keep accepting Wolfsbane from you," He put a hand on her shoulder to stand up, "It's best we don't continue to meet up from now on."

"What? Why?!" She frantically questioned, but he remained calm.

"It's not safe for me to be around you, or anyone for that matter." 

"But- but-" She spluttered, "What if I promise I will take my potion, I'll be extra cautious from now on!" 

"I'm afraid you can't change my mind on this Chiara." 

Chiara's mood had gone from being relieved to confused and upset. Tears formed quickly and fell down her cheeks, as she put her hands over her face and turned around to run away in despair, leaving Crystal, Remus and Borf together. Crystal looked up to Remus, astonished by how externally calm she was managing to be. 

"What will you do now, Remus?" Crystal thoughtfully asked. 

"There are worse things to lose than control." 

Crystal didn't understand at all, she couldn't imagine anything more categorically useful to her than her sanity. 

"Could I talk to you for a moment? Then you're free to chase after Chiara." 

Crystal nodded.

"I know I'm in no position to ask, but could you watch over Chiara after I'm gone? I think she could use someone like you."

"I wish I could be that person, but you heard her, she doesn't want to be my friend."

"Oh, she'll come around, trust me." He leaned back against the wall and took in a deep breath of crisp, Autumn air as the sun was setting, dawning a fresh full moon, "I cannot believe I've been taking that young girl's potions." 

"I wont tell my Potions teacher." Crystal joked in a dry tone. 

Remus, still looking up at the sky, asked, "Who's teaching Potions now that Slughorn's gone?" 

"He's called Professor Snape." 

Remus almost slipped and bashed his head against the wall, "Him? Dumbledore gave Sniv- uh- Severus a job?" 

Crystal didn't know what to say. She watched as Remus tiredly pressed his frail back to the wall and slid down to sit on the grass. 

"So, Snape's been making me Wolfsbane Potions?" He rested his hands between his bent knees. 

"Yes, I suppose he has." 

"That's... that's funny. Thanks for telling me that."  

He eventually heaved himself to stand and nodded at Crystal, surprised she was still stood there with him, "You should check on Chiara before the full moon rises. Makes sure she drinks that bloody potion of hers. Goodbye, Crystal." 

Just as he began to walk into the Forbidden Forest again, Crystal called after him, "Remus?"

He turned around idly, "What's wrong?" 

"Good luck, I hope the night will go okay for you." 

He nodded appreciatively, and continued walking into the thick woodlands. 

Chapter Text

Chiara was sat on the stale ground of the Courtyard, the cold numbing her body and drying her tears, only feeling occasional water splashes from the fountain behind her. She was sad and it was all her fault, Remus was broken and disappointed because of her, she knew it. She had made a young man feel guilty for something he didn't know he was doing - it was her, all her fault. Except Crystal disagreed, and was already on her way to the Courtyard. 

Crystal longingly looked at Chiara, who had her back turned to her, noticing how she was staring at the Moon emerging from the clouds. She brushed her fingers through her hair, the same silver colour as her fur, it was knotted and blowing gently in the breeze. She wiped away the last of her tears when she saw Crystal approaching. 

"Are you sure now's the right time to hang out?" 

"I'm here to make sure you're okay." Crystal sat down next to her and crossed her legs. 

They chatted for a few minutes, about anything other than the transformation. It was a nice distraction and the two girls learned much about each other. Chiara learned that Crystal's black hair was naturally that dark, and Crystal learned that Chiara was into punk music - which was not something Crystal had stereotyped about Chiara. 

Then, with no prompt or warning, Chiara pulled the bottle Crystal stole from the Gryffindor Common Room out of her satchel. She had taken it before she left Crystal's dorm, presumably, for whatever reason. 

"I don't think drinking that is a good idea." Crystal warned. 

"It might be fun. Besides it's only a small bottle." 

Crystal didn't put up much of a fight, it was indeed a tiny bottle to be fair, if the small sip didn't make them feel much in the dorm, surely the rest of the bottle would be fine. Crystal was fascinated by this girl she previously presumed was sweet and cautious, now smirking at a bottle in her hands knowing she was going to transform in just a few minutes. 

"I'm going to write to Remus, I'm not never going to see him again." Chiara held back more tears over losing the only person she had ever been able to relate to. 

"I'm sure he's only doing it to protect you." 

"He needs protecting too." She put her hand over her mouth, choked up over the thought of him alone in the woods with no potion or company. 

Chiara took an overly-bold gulp of the bottle, only to spit most of it out when she felt the harsh burn on her tongue. 

"Sorry, I just wasted like half of your drink." 

Crystal smiled, "It's not mine, I forget why I stole it in the first place," She gently offered her hand to the bottle, "Let me try some." Chiara gladly handed it over with one hand while wiping her face with her other arm. Crystal took a more conservative sip and felt the strength of the drink screw her eyes shut, "It's horrible!" 

Chiara spluttered a laugh, "Guess we're not getting drunk tonight." She jokingly make a 'rock-and-roll' gesture with her hands, and they both laughed. 

The moon was growing brighter, Chiara felt a tingle in her upper neck - a common feeling - but it was often just anxiousness and not the beginning of the transformation. Even so, she couldn't take any chances, and without saying anything she jumped to standing and dashed to the Training Grounds. Crystal, of course, followed closely behind. 

The moon was looming over the clouds, positioned fittingly above the trees of the Forbidden Forrest. The Training Grounds had never looked this sparse, this barren of life. Where there was usually children bustling around with their broomsticks, there was now damaged grass being trampled by the harsh footsteps of a werewolf. 

Chiara wasn't scary in the conventional werewolf sense, she was small and her fur looked neat and silvery, not dissimilar to her hair. It was her face that provoked fear within Crystal as it had a striking similarity to her normal face, but coated in fur and horror in her gaze. 

Why did I come here, Crystal thought, why didn't I leave her alone because now she'll have a worse time. 

Chiara approached her, slowly at first, but then a low rumbling sound emerged from her. 

She shouldn't be angry, surely, she had the potion this time. The potion always works, right? 

Then Crystal saw Chiara's abandoned satchel helplessly splayed on the grass. A small potion bottle had rolled out of the bag, and it was not empty, not even opened. 

"Chiara!" Crystal cried out to her, "Why didn't you drink your potion?" Trying to reach out to her mind was futile at this point, the transformation was complete and Chiara couldn't possibly be in control of her state - nor could she speak English. The only sounds that emerged from her were whimpers and pitiful cries. She tried to howl but somehow couldn't bring herself to do the one thing a werewolf was built to do. 

All she could do was run, she felt her body uncontrollably charge towards Crystal. Mentally, deep down, she wanted to hug her and thank her dearly for her unwavering compassion and selflessness whilst sobbing in her arms. It was too little too late, she was ruining any chance of Crystal staying by her side now. 

She swung her claws at her, to which Crystal shrieked and ducked. Before Crystal could regain focus, a paw slammed into her side and she was sent flying backwards a few metres. She crashed into the grass and instinctively rolled to break her fall. She pictured her visit to the Ice Vault with Rowan, seeing Rowan sent flying down the harsh stairs only because she wanted to help her friend. Karmic justice could be so cruel. 

The pain of the impact fizzled through her back and arms, her vision was fuzzy and her mind was dazed. She had to leave, Chiara would never forgive her if she didn't leave, but would she forgive herself? The one thing she had learned about Chiara over the last few days was that she was not better off alone. Isolation becomes normalised to those who never had a friend, they can't realise they need support on their own.

Crystal was thirteen-years-old, she didn't think she was old enough to be smart or to know the difference between right and wrong, but she could try. After all the guilt she internalised over Rowan and Ben being in hospital, she could try to do the right thing now while she had the chance. 

She drew her wand and steadied her hand, "Flipendo!" 

The Knockback Jinx wouldn't normally be powerful enough to throw off a werewolf, it was Crystal's compassion that made it work. Chiara was blasted into the air, and firmly landed in a way that made Crystal wince and run over to her against her best interests. 

"Chiara." She acted in desperation, "I know you wont hurt me, or yourself. You won't! I won't let you. You don't need to feel guilty anymore. It doesn't matter if I'm not your friend, you're still my friend and I want to help," She clutched at the sharp pain appearing in her side where the paw impacted her, taking shaky steps back as Chiara rose to her four feet. Their eyes met one another and Crystal's white face went even more pale, any redness in her face vanished. 

Chiara finally howled just inches away from Crystal's face, and Crystal screamed and reflexively crouched to curl up into a ball, shielding her head with her frail arms as her thick hair collapsed over her face. 

Crystal froze for what felt like the whole night, but when she finally felt comfortable peeking up past her knees, she saw Chiara already thirty feet away, running towards the Forbidden Forest. Crystal collapsed in relief, her muscles went from contracted to relaxed and she softly smiled as she saw Chiara run to her safety. 

"Maybe she'll find Remus in there." She softly said to herself. She collected the contents of Chiara's satchel that had spilled and noticed a picture, not of anything personal, just of a beautiful sunrise behind the Hogwarts Castle. It looked old, it was faded and scratched, probably too old for Chiara to have taken it herself. She put it back inside the satchel and took it inside to keep it safe while Chiara was away. 

*

Crystal awoke with a throbbing pain under the bandages she wrapped around her cut skin before she went to bed. She planned on keeping her injury a secret from Chiara, it would only make the mood worse if she knew. 

They met up in the Artefact Room later that morning to hand over the satchel, and to hopefully unpack the insanity of the night before and to answer some unanswered queries - but Crystal didn't want to overstep. Chiara looked strangely calm and Crystal didn't ask why, instead she welcomed it. 

They exchanged greetings, and Crystal handed over the satchel. It was slightly awkward and a bit too quiet, maybe Chiara was waiting for Crystal to ask more questions. 

"By the way, I didn't mean to spy, but I saw a lovely photo in your satchel of the sunrise and I thought it was really pretty," Crystal said, "But I have to ask, why didn't you take your potion?" Crystal's face was pointed downwards, but her wide eyes gently peered up towards Chiara. 

Chiara covered her face in her hands, but didn't cry this time, "It was all my fault, I forgot completely, I was too occupied thinking about Remus and feeling horrible about everything that was happening, it just slipped my mind." She laughed softly at her own agony, "At least Professor Snape wont have to make another potion this month, right?" 

"Right," Crystal nearly whispered as she twiddled her cold thumbs. The pain in her side suddenly shot through the wound and she tried to compose herself without wincing or clutching her skin. Her ankles wobbled slightly. 

"Are you okay? Were you hurt yesterday?" Panic began to rise in Chiara's voice. 

Crystal had to fix this quickly, "Yeah, fine, just slept funny."

Her voice returned to normal, "I don't remember much, by the way. But... I remember what you said. Your words must've knocked some sense into me, somehow. Maybe you have a gift for calming me down."

Crystal just smiled, for she couldn't think of any appropriate words. 

"But that means," Chiara wore her thinking face, "You didn't run when you saw me as a werewolf. Weren't you afraid?" 

Crystal sighed, "Yes, to be honest, but I couldn't leave and I knew deep down you wouldn't hurt me." It was mostly truthful. 

"Wow, but... what if it happens again and I hurt you?" Chiara liked to theorise, it was a habit that kept her safe. 

"What if anything? I'll still be your friend." 

Crystal forgot that she couldn't call Chiara her friend until after she said it. They looked at each other in silence for a moment, which was different from Chiara usually rejecting her straight away. 

"There's something I need to tell you Crys, about why I kept pushing you away. It's not easy to say and it's probably not easy for you to hear, but will you listen?" 

Crystal nodded. 

~

When Chiara was ten, she was running through the woodlands outside her family home at night with her best friend Selina. Selina knew she was a werewolf, but assured her in the most convincing manner that she did not care and that it wouldn't change the way she saw her best friend. It was pleasant, as all of the other children who knew Chiara would bully her for her condition. The muggle children she knew would call her "Grandma Chiara" due to her abnormal silver hair. 

As they ran together, Chiara didn't even think about the fact that she was a werewolf, a welcome rarity. In fact, she was so distracted that she had forgotten to check if it was a full moon that night. 

When it rose, they were already deep within the forest with no time to turn back. Chiara tried to explain that Selina was about to see her transform for the first time, and that she should run away or take shelter. Selina recklessly decided to stay with her friend, much to Chiara's protest, but Chiara couldn't argue for long before she began to transform. At such a young age, the transformation was much more painful and scarring - literally and emotionally - for Chiara. 

Sufficed to say, Selina was horrified by Chiara's werewolf form and quickly decided she no longer wanted to stay with her friend. Before she could run, however, Chiara swiped an uncontrolled claw at her and slashed her arm. 

The next thing Chiara remembered was Selina's memory being wiped the next morning at Chiara's request, and from that point on, Chiara cut off all contact from her. She spent from that point up until arriving at Hogwarts hiding away in her bedroom. 

~

"I still remember the fear in her eyes. She wouldn't go near me in the morning, so I asked mum to obliviate her. That was the last time I saw her." 

Crystal took a cold moment to process what she had just heard. She had the horrible thought that had she walked away last night or revealed her injury, Chiara may never see her again. 

"That must've been devastating. I'm so sorry that happened to you, you didn't deserve that. You were both so young, after all." Crystal said in a gentle tone, stepping closer towards her. 

"Then there was the scare with Pippa," Chiara gestured her palm out, "And then the fear of hurting you."

"It brought that fear back?"

"Yes, sort of. I feel that fear all of the time though, it's why I've decided not to make friends." 

"I understand. I'm still happy you're comfortable telling me all of this." Crystal looked down, deciding if it was the right moment to leave. 

"But I was wrong."

Crystal snapped her head up and she blinked. 

"You saw me at my worst and still stuck by my side!" 

She did, Crystal realised that was what she had done. She had only done it last night and could remember it much better than Chiara, yet she had to be reminded that she did that. Maybe it was because she cared, maybe it was because between fight/flight/freeze she picked freeze, maybe she wanted to compensate for the guilt she still felt over Rowan and Ben. It didn't matter. What mattered was that she stayed. Well, what would've happened if she didn't? 

"You mentioned that photograph of the sunrise that I dropped, right?" Chiara added. 

Crystal curiously nodded. 

"It was Lupin's, he said his friend Prongs took the picture. He gave it to me to remind me that no matter how difficult the full moon is, the morning will always arrive."

Crystal smiled, "That explains why you keep it in your satchel, it clearly means a lot to you." 

Chiara took the photo out of her satchel and smiled solemnly at it, "Maybe it did, but I don't need this to remind me things will be alright anymore, not now that I have you." 

"I'm sorry?" Crystal's eyes widened. 

"I want you to keep the photo." Chiara confidently handed it over to Crystal, who reluctantly took it and looked at it a second time. The sun looked much more pretty now she knew the meaning behind the photo. 

"I'm grateful, I promise, but are you sure?" Crystal felt like handing it back even though she already loved the gift dearly. 

Chiara steadily walked forward and for a moment and lifted her arms slightly, Crystal didn't understand what she was doing at first but eventually realised that she should raise her arms too. Chiara wrapped her shaky arms around her and Crystal held her tight whilst holding the picture against Chiara's back, not letting go until she did. It was a warm, trustful hug, but it was also evident that this was the first time Chiara had hugged anybody in a long time. Eventually Chiara pulled away, but Crystal could've happily hugged her for much longer. 

"Am I still not allowed to be your friend?" Crystal asked in a half-joking tone. 

Chiara giggled and shook her head, "No! No I want to be your friend."

"You already are, but can I be yours? Is that okay?" 

Chiara paused, but then affirmed with a strong nod, "Yeah that's okay!" She felt like crying again, and she almost did, but she managed to swallow her tears back. 

"So," Crystal looked up to think, "Do you wanna sneak into the Ravenclaw Common Room with me to help me put this photo up on my wall?" She held up the sunrise image. 

"Let's do it!" 

With that, the pair left the Artefact Room together as two people who understood one another. 

Chapter Text

Patricia Rakepick was a cunning spectacle of curse-breaking, an outlier among a fearful population, a cunning hero to all who were graced with her effortless charisma and wit. Or at least she was according to 'One Woman's Battle With Curses', a book which Crystal was carrying to the Training Grounds to meet Bill Weasley. 

She had sent him an owl a few days before asking him to meet, except she didn't say why incase the letter got picked up by one of his dormmates, but she said it was important. She thought that coming from her it would seem believable. To her surprise, there he was with five training dummies set up around him as he cast aggressive spells at them while making challenging noises after each fire. Maybe he was trying to simulate an attack of five evil ice-monsters trying to spread a curse; she hoped so. 

"Bill Weasley?" 

"WHACK!" Another spell fired. 

"Did you get my owl?" She repeated louder.

He paused and his arms dropped to his sides, he looked over his shoulder to see a small girl with skin that was nearly absent of colour and hair that would give the night sky a run for its money. He took a second and quickly recognised her as the girl he met at Christmas who his brother, Charlie, spoke about sometimes. 

"Ah! I did, you said you had something for me?" He walked with a confident swagger and a bold smile, impressively unembarrassed by being caught shouting at stuffed cotton. 

"Yeah, I got you a book about a famous curse-breaker, I thought you might like it." Crystal looked down at the book as she showed it to him. He took it from her and flipped it over straight away to read the blurb. He leaned his weight onto one leg and rested the other on its heel as he read with care, unbothered by the silence he created by reading the whole passage. 

Eventually he looked up at her and smiled with one corner of his mouth, "Oh this is brilliant," He flicked the first few pages to look at the font and the length of the chapters, his interest seemingly rising, "So, are you going to ask me a favour?" 

If Crystal's nervousness was lessened by Bill's demeanor, it had now returned. When Crystal was little, her mum told her she had the ability to see through people's actions and find out what they were really up to, she did it with other children in her neighbourhood when she would accuse them of being nice just so they could have one of her crisps. She never knew why it made the children so wary around her, until now when Bill had put her on the receiving end of that ability. 

"How did you know?" She asked. 

Bill chuckled, "You know, if you wanted help you could just ask." He smoothed his hand over the book, "Regardless, thank you very much for the book. Been meaning to read this one."

"Do you already have it?" Crystal understood that Bill wasn't annoyed with her and relaxed her shoulders. 

"Nah, got a lot of curse-breaker books but not this one. Now, what d'you need help with?" 

Crystal now regretted not mentioning this in the letter, maybe he would be much less relaxed if he knew how serious what she needed was. What if he was under the impression she wanted to know his haircare routine? Nearly everyone in the school was curious as to how his hair grew so fast. 

"Well, it's the Cursed Vaults." She practically mumbled, but Bill heard loud and clear and his manner didn't change, like he had assumed she would say that. 

"Do you know what they are?" Crystal followed on. 

"Well, if you're asking if I've seen the ice, then yeah, but beyond that not much, no." He tucked the book away in his robes, "I heard about your little hospital trip though, how's Rowan Khanna?" 

"She's just been released." Crystal swallowed and looked at her feet. Rowan had just been released the day before, and they spoke for a while about school work and Crystal caught her up on what happened with Chiara, as Rowan had questions after seeing them steal medical records in the Hospital Wing. However, they didn't touch on the subject of the Vaults whatsoever. 

"So... she's not feeling brilliant on going to getting shot in the chest again?" 

Seriously, how does he do that? Also this cannot be where I ask him to come with me. 'Yeah, she nearly died. Wanna be my next victim?' Use your brain. 

"Not especially, she doesn't want to back to the Vault." 

"Why do you?"  

She sceptically looked up at him, thinking the answer must already by obvious, "My brother?"

"I'll help you." 

It wasn't just her eyes, but her whole head now shot up in awe, "What?!" 

"I'll help you!" He repeated more bright than the first time, "It'll be a good distraction from studying, and besides, the ice is putting students in danger and I want Charlie to be safe."

Crystal empathised with his sentiment, she wondered how Jacob would feel if he knew the danger she was putting herself in. 

"That's... amazing! I was wondering if you could teach me how to duel?" Her voice pitched up.

"What, even after your death-defying duel with Merula Snyde?" 

Crystal laughed, she felt refreshed, it was nice to hear someone who didn't treat that altercation like Dumbledore versus Grindelwald, "That door is a lot more dangerous than her, trust me." 

"Right, well, it's a good thing the dummies are already set up." He started walking back to the dummies and Crystal sharply followed with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Thank you!" 

"Don't thank me yet, this'll take effort. Right, show me your duelling stance." 

Crystal had no idea what that meant, Chester never mentioned that part of duelling, but it couldn't be too hard right? She stepped her left foot forward and pulled her wand out of her robe in a comedically dramatic fashion. Bill turned his head away to gracefully hide his laugh. 

"Okay, you can intimidate the ice," He walked between her and the dummy and pointed at her arm, "Could you straighten your arm?" She thrust her arm and her elbow clicked, "Okay, maybe not that aggressive, also straighten your posture." 

"My what?" 

"Your back is a bit hunched I'm afraid." 

"Oh," She tried to move her shoulders back but just ended up looking like a duck. 

Bill shook his head, "Okay, how about you perform the most powerful spell you know on that dummy," He pointed to the dummy facing her. 

Crystal pointed her wand at the dummy's empty, beige face, "Flipendo." The spell zipped out and hit the dummy's face like a cricket bat slapping a face - Bill and Crystal even winced a bit when they saw the dummy fly backwards and hit the floor.

"Impressive, you could be taking Flitwick's job soon." 

"But the Knockback Jinx doesn't work against the ice, I need to learn a better spell." 

Bill nodded sadly, "True, but keep that on hand in case there's more than just ice in that Vault," A shiver went up Crystal's spine, "Do you know Incendio?" 

"No I've not learned that one yet." 

"I'll teach you, but you'll have to do some reading first, that okay?" 

She nodded, "Rowan will probably have a book on it somewhere." 

"Is there anything you'd like me to read up on?"

Crystal forgot that despite him being two years older than her, he knew a lot less than her about the Cursed Vaults, like most people. She didn't know much herself, but she had seen the door with her own eyes and knew that her brother probably had too.

"Maybe you could read about curses? I don't think there's any books on the Vaults but there will probably be helpful books on how dangerous curses are." 

Bill patted the pocked of his robes where he put his book, "Well, I know where to start!" 

Crystal smiled as they began to walk inside together after a remarkably successful first meeting. They talked a bit about what each of their year groups were like; Crystal commented on how her year was fond of starting rumours and dropping them when they stopped being interesting, and Bill was surprised at how thoughtful this small observation was. He spoke about how his year group was starting to introduce themselves to alcohol and partying, he'd been to a few parties himself and fit in well but found people rather stressful when they were yelling about absolutely nothing. 

"So, you talk to Rowan and I'll give this book a try. Then we'll meet tomorrow, say, in the Great Hall?" Bill said once they reached the Ravenclaw Common Room. 

"Why the Great Hall?" 

"So we can grab a bite before we train?" He replied as though it were obvious. 

Crystal laughed to herself and folded her arms, "Is being seen eating lunch with a second-year not embarrassing?" She said in a half-mocking tone, directed mainly at herself. 

Bill rolled his eyes, "Crys, I'm the oldest of seven. That ship has sailed, believe me." 

With that, they said their goodbyes and Crystal hastily went through the portrait, excited to rush to her dorm and talk to tell her best friend everything. On her way through the Common Room she heard a whispers from others as she walked past, and one girl who openly asked her if she was friends with Bill Weasley. 

Rowan asked pretty much every question about Bill that was available to her: if they learned any advanced magic, if they talked about the weather, if his hair was really quite as long as the girls in second-year said it was - the answers were 'no', 'no' and 'kind of'. 

"He knows about my duel with Merula, though." Crystal mentioned after Rowan's voice got less jittery. She sounded like another bolt of ice hit her, but no, it was simply over the idea of talking to a fourth-year boy.

"Well of course! Charlie will have told him." Rowan sat on the edge of her bed and planted her hands on either side of her hips. Crystal walked over to the window where she could grab a clear view of the training grounds and gazed upon it for a moment, "Did he ask about me?" Rowan asked as Crystal perched herself on the windowsill to face Rowan's bed. 

Crystal chucked, "He did, actually. He wondered if you were alright after your hospital visit. I said that you'd been released, and he immediately figured out that you didn't want to go back to the Cursed Vault." 

This was the first time that topic had been brough up between the pair since Rowan told Crystal about her doubts. 

"Oh," Rowan pulled her legs onto the bed and hugged them to her chest, "So does he want to go with you?" 

Crystal jumped up off the sill and hopped onto Rowan's bed, smiling, "He agreed straight away!"

"Well that makes sense. He probably wants to protect Charlie." 

"Yeah exactly, but I also think he wants to be a curse-breaker." 

Rowan didn't think Bill could get any more awesome until Crystal dropped that bombshell. 

"You have the first edition of 'The Standard Book of Spells', right?" 

"I have all six editions, Crys." 

"Would you help me study Incendio?" 

Rowan's big brown eyes lit up, "Yes! Yes please. Right now?" 

"Well, we have until tomorrow. I was wondering if you wanted to play Gobstones with me first?" 

Rowan agreed to this as long as she could tell her fun facts about the writing of 'The Standard Book of Spells' whilst they played. After all, Gobstones was always better when played alongside a good conversation, and Rowan excelled in thinking of things to talk about. 

*

The sister of Jacob Helenora and a Weasley going to lunch together seemed strangely fitting, but it didn't stop students in Crystal and Bill's respective year groups staring at them as they took their sandwiches to their table. The pair didn't say much to each other at first, Bill asked a few questions about how much Crystal knew on the Fire Making Spell and Crystal responded by complimenting Rowan's teaching skills and saying she makes a good study partner - she thought Rowan would appreciate this. 

"It's a useful charm, but it can be dangerous. We'll need to make sure we don't set fire to anything when training." Bill said after finishing his first sandwich. 

Crystal nodded, taking another bite out of her cheese and pickle sandwich. It was a Sunday, so the Great Hall wasn't too crowded. It had a few groups of friends scattered across the long tables, giving it a calm, friendly atmosphere. Crystal didn't often have lunch there, but it was admittedly always pleasant on a Sunday. Once the other people in the room had finally got tired of glancing at Bill and Crystal, the two of them could talk to each other in peace. 

"Are you popular in your year?" Crystal asked in a break in conversation.

Bill smirked, "Suppose so, I have popular friends." 

"Are you a popular friend though?" 

"Nah I don't have enough galleons for that, all I had to do was linger around cool people for three years and I was in." Bill laughed to himself and took another bite, "What about you?" 

Crystal looked at him with concerned eyes, "People talk about me a lot, but I only have a few friends." 

"Give it time, soon everyone'll want to be your friend." 

Crystal shrugged and took a big bite out of her sandwich. The Great Hall served these huge plates with bread that was bigger than most of the students' hands, all of the meals were filling. Crystal asked some questions about Bill's family, Charlie was in Crystal's year of course, and his four other brothers and his sister, Ginny, would eventually come to Hogwarts too. They all displayed signs of being magical already, whether that be burning their blanket by sneezing or making their food disappear. 

Just a few minutes later they had finished their meal. Bill was right, he really didn't feel embarrassed over eating with a second-year. In fact, Crystal had looked around the Hall to see if others were glaring a lot more than Bill did. 

"So, is there anything you want to warn me about before we go into the Cursed Vault? Anything you wished you knew last time?" Bill brushed the crumbs off his lap and stood up. 

"Um, maybe wear something warm? I don't know why I didn't last time, I knew it would be cold. I was just so..."

"You just wanted to get inside, huh?" 

"Yeah. That. Rowan didn't, she wanted to take her time. I feel bad about that." 

"Is she still talking to you?" 

"What? Of course, she's my best friend." 

"Well you can't have done much wrong then."

On their way back to the Training Grounds, they ran into Charlie and Tonks walking down the corridor together, though Tonks was more hopping while Charlie laughed at her. Bill laughed and shook his head, waving modestly at his brother as he walked past. Charlie didn't notice Bill, but he stopped when he saw Crystal. 

"Crys! Not seen you in ages, how are you?" 

"Hi! I'm fine, thanks. What are you doing Tonks?" 

Tonks' face was contorted and yellow, her mouth was stretched outwards and looked like a beak. 

"I'm doing my duck impression. Charlie's doing his Weasley impression." 

"I can do quite a good Weasley impression." Charlie retorted and Tonks laughed. 

"Not as good as mine," Bill jokingly remarked, "I am here, by the way, Charlie." 

"I see you all the time and I never get to see Crys. Therefore, I say hi to her first. Deal," Charlie turned back to face Crystal and deliberately livened up his face when he faced away from Bill, "So, what's new?" 

Crystal folded her arms and looked sheepishly at Bill, "Now's a bad time, sorry. We're kind of in the middle of something."

Charlie furrowed his eyebrows at bill, looking rather confused, then vacant... then it clicked, "Oh mum is going to kill you! No way are you going into the Vaults."

"She wont, because you're not gonna tell her, are you Charlie?" 

The two brothers had an unofficial staring competition as they waited to see if either one of then was going to talk first. Charlie was under the impression this was all one big joke, but when he realised through Crystal and Bill's serious expressions that they were actually going to the Ice Vault, the beaming smile on Charlie's face faded. His brother was going to an immensely dangerous place, and taking Crystal with him. 

"It'll be fine, we have a plan." Crystal reassured him. 

"Oh, okay... if you're sure." Charlie responded. 

"Why's Rowan not going?" Tonks chimed in. 

Crystal looked down, "She doesn't want to. We really have to get going." 

"Okay," Tonks patted Charlie's shoulder, "How about we sneak into my Common Room and play Gobstones?" 

Charlie acquiesced and Tonks empathetically led him away from the other pair. Bill rolled his eyes and shook his head. 

"Is everything okay?" Crystal looked up at Bill with just her eyes, her head still firmly glued to the floor. 

Bill quickly but frantically shook his head and his shoulders, as though he was shaking any negative energy out of his system, "I just wish he would be serious for one moment... and he better bloody not tell mum." 

"I think if you spend enough time with me then your parents could just assume you're investigating the Vaults, so you know, sorry." 

Bill let out a breathy laugh, "You've done nothing wrong. Come on, that spell's not gonna learn itself."

They went out to the Courtyard so they could direct the spell at the fountain water and avoid setting the place on fire. It was late November and the water had some specs of ice glistening through it, giving it a sparkly tint. The cold air contrasted sharply with the feeling of casting Incendio, which made it easier to hone the spell within the wand. This was going to bode well for the trip to the Vault, as the cold in the air was similarly harsh, but much heavier. 

Crystal successfully cast the spell after the first eight or so tries. She corrected her stance and posture, just how Bill told her to, and created rings of warm flames around the fountain. Embers shot from the magical flames and sizzled into the water of the fountain. 

"Good control over the flames." Bill commented in slight surprise as he watched Crystal casually swirl fire around the surface of the chilling water. She did it with this deep interest in her eyes, her pupils following the flames as they moved, but the rest of her body staying perfectly calm. In a time where ice was threatening students in the school and the weather was only getting colder, the sight of graceful fire evoked a sense of peace in Crystal. 

The fire circled calmly around the fountain before gently being reabsorbed back into her wand.

"That was brilliant!" Bill said. 

"I made the fire look pretty, but what if that's not enough to fight the Vault?" 

"The fire was probably calm because you're at ease right now, but if a huge bolt of ice charges at you then your spell will be more aggressive."

"Oh, that makes sense, thank you." 

"No worries, anyway I've got to take care of some things at my Common Room, but send me an owl when you're ready to go to the Vault," Bill noticed Crystal's eyebrows raise, "Unless you want another meeting before we go?" 

Crystal shook her head, "No, we shouldn't delay it. Besides, I think we're ready."

"That's the spirit." Bill smiled and Crystal smiled back, "See you soon!"

"See you!" Crystal replied. She did a few laps of the fountain before she headed inside to also return to her Common Room. The Autumn air was beautiful in its own way, it made people wrap up warm and get cozy. 

She strolled up the stairs and through her house portrait, hearing chattering, footsteps and gentle music coming from the Common Room, fading into earshot. 

Reel around the fountain
Slap me on the patio
I'll take it now

Fifteen minutes with you
Well, I wouldn't say no
Oh, people said that you were virtually dead
And they were so wrong