Christmas was an enjoyable time for the group as they didn't have to worry about Umbridge or their fast approaching exams. But all too soon it was time for them to head back to school.

"Did you have a good Christmas Callie?" Natalie asked when the two girls met up in the Entrance Hall upon returning to the castle.

"Oh yes, it was great," Calliope nodded, "how about you?"

"It was horrible," said Natalie, "I signed up to stay here after you left, but my Mum showed up and dragged me home saying that I'm not of age yet so she decides if I come home or not. Then Marcus bought me a book about how to pass NEWTs for Christmas when I've made it very clear to my family that I will be dropping out of Hogwarts at the end of this year-"

"You what?" Calliope demanded.

"I'm dropping out," said Natalie, "I don't care about NEWTs, George has already said that I can work in their shop once they get it up and going, and face it Callie, I don't really have any friends other than you and the twins. I've spent enough time at Hogwarts alone, I'm leaving and there's nothing you can say to stop me."

"But-"

"No."

"Natalie-"

"No."

Calliope let out a frustrated huff and crossed her arms across her chest.

"No matter what you say Callie, I am not coming back here next year," Natalie said stubbornly.

********

As the weeks progressed, Calliope began to wonder more about why Fred was the one who could see her last year. As the shock was beginning to wear off and she was beginning to look back on the previous year with a more rational perspective she began to wonder why it was Fred more and more.

Sure the two were very close now, but previously they had almost no interactions other than brief conversations in the corridor as Fred and George attempted to prank anyone that they could.

The bond that had formed between them was unlike anything that Calliope had ever heard of. There had been no mention of anything like it when Calliope was with the banshees learning about her powers and to her knowledge nothing of the sort had been observed among wizards. To be sure of this Calliope took to the library, in search of anything related to bonds.

"Have you three seen Calliope?" Natalie asked the twins and Lee as she approached them during lunch.

"She said something about the library," said George, looking up from exchanging money for sweets with a small group of first-years gathered beside him, "after that, I stopped listening."

"She's in the library," confirmed Fred, who was far more dependable on the topic of Calliope than George was, "she said something about research."

"Ug, I hate the library," Natalie complained, sitting herself down beside George as the group of first years dispersed.

"So do I," said Lee.

"Same," agreed George.

"It's not that bad," shrugged Fred.

Three pairs of eyes rested on him, and three mouths fell open in shock, "she's changing you," George said in mock horror.

"What, sometimes it's not awful-" Fred began, but George clamped a hand over his twin's mouth to stop him.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," George told Natalie and Lee, both of whom nodded seriously, "I think Fred should take a dunk in the lake."

********

Calliope found nothing in the library and therefore was forced to go to Professor McGonagall to ask for a note so that she could browse the restricted section. As McGonagall was a member of the order, she was fully aware of Calliope's situation and it seemed that she was as intrigued to find the reasoning behind it as Calliope was, and she granted Calliope the signature without much questioning.

A few days later Calliope had waded through all of the leather-bound books and was resorting to leafing through the unbound original manuscripts that were stored right at the back of the restricted section.

These books contained some quite gruesome descriptions of all sorts of dark magic, and even gruesomer descriptions of beasts, creatures and spirits.

A particularly old looking manuscript caught Calliope's attention. It rested on top of one of the piles, and the top piece of aged parchment bore the title 'Observations on Banshees' by Blanche Eggerly. The title could do with some work, thought Calliope, but nevertheless she picked up the pile, which was bound together by a piece of brown cord, and made her way over to one of the empty tables.

The first few chapters were an introduction to banshee culture from Eggerly, who claimed to have spent several years living among a group of them in rural Ireland in the early 10th century. These facts seemed to be largely true, and Calliope was astonished that a wizard could have spent so much time living among banshees, who, as far as she could tell, detested wizards and everything about them. Eggerly went on to talk about abilities that different banshees exhibited and how the banshees could hear 'whispers' which told them a murky future.

It wasn't until the penultimate chapter that Calliope's full attention was given to the manuscript.