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"LISA, ARE YOU OKAY?" Robyn asked, running after her friend who had vanished into the hallway as soon as class let out. Lisa had ducked behind a pillar, into a shadowy corner where she couldn't be seen, wiping away at her reddened eyes, streaked tear stains running down her face. Robyn rubbed her friend's shoulders comfortingly as Flynn caught up to the two of them. The two gave each other a concerned glance, unsure of what else they could do to help.

"That was j-just awful," Lisa sputtered out in between sobs. She patted down her face to try to cool it down and diffuse the redness, but it was still very clear she'd been crying. "But it's fine. You should get to Ancient Runes, Robyn, and I need to get to Divination." Lisa spoke as cheerfully as she could before she slung her book bag over her shoulder and hiccuped softly. She scurried away quickly and quietly down the hall towards Divination, Flynn having to run after her to catch up.

Robyn continued on to Ancient Runes alone, as she was the only one of their group of friends who took the class. As she climbed the stairs and rounded the fifth floor corridor to the classroom, she couldn't stop thinking about her boggart, and how it'd transformed into the helpless figures of her friends. It was terribly unnerving, and she could only imagine what Lisa's terror must have been like to see her only family lying dead in front of her.

Robyn could never fully understand that pain. She had no family.

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AS OCTOBER TRUDGED ON, thoughts of the boggart in the cupboard dwindled, replaced instead with the excitement of the start of Quidditch season. Robyn herself wasn't a part of Gryffindor's team, but Flynn was, having beaten out Alicia Spinnet for her spot as Chaser during tryouts at the start of the month.

And with Quidditch season came the yearly rivalry between Gryffindor's and Hufflepuff's teams; more specifically, between their Beaters. Fred and George for Gryffindor, and Rose for Hufflepuff. The other Hufflepuff Beater, Lucas Edder, wasn't remotely interested in the "friendly" competition between the other three, and probably for good reason. Their rivalry dug deep during Quidditch matches. Off the field, the three couldn't be better friends. But once they donned their Quidditch uniforms and grabbed their clubs and brooms, it was war.

Quidditch-Rose was so ruthless, she went by another name on the field, as if it were another personality, a different branch of herself that was only revealed once she was in the skies with a bat in her hand: Carren. It was her middle name, and one that fit better to her fearless and strong Quidditch personality.

After dinner one evening, Robyn and Lisa trudged down to the Quidditch pitch to watch the Gryffindor team practice. The team had been practicing three nights a week since the season started, and they were curious to see what progress was being made from the rigorous practices Oliver put them through.

The two made it to the pitch, and Robyn flung open the flap into the chilly locker rooms where the Gryffindor Quidditch team was gearing up for practice. Meanwhile, Oliver was giving the other six players a quick pep talk, already in his Quidditch gear.

"This is our last chance - my last chance - to win the Quidditch Cup," he started, pacing back and forth across the locker room floor. "I'll be leaving at the end of this year. I'll never get another shot at it."

Oliver paused, noticing Robyn and Lisa slipping in over to the side. Robyn shot him a wide grin, giving the Quidditch captain a small, sheepish wave. Oliver merely let out an annoyed huff before turning back to continue his speech. He'd given up long ago on trying to stop them from coming into the locker rooms or the stands during practice.

"Gryffindor hasn't won for seven years now," Oliver continued. "Okay, so we've had the worst luck in the world: injuries, the tournament getting called off last year..." he trailed off, glancing at the floor with a disappointed look on his face. "But we also know we've got the best ruddy team in the school." He punched his fist into his other hand as he spoke, a fiery glint in his eye that only appeared when Quidditch was involved.

     "We've got three superb Chasers."

     Oliver gestured towards Flynn and the other two Chasers, Angelina Johnson and Katie Bell, all of which nodded appreciatively.

     "We've got two unbeatable Beaters."

     Oliver's hand turned to Fred and George, who were fanning themselves with their hands and batting their eyelashes, pretending to swoon.

     "Stop it, Oliver, you're embarrassing us," they said at the same time.

     Oliver ignored them. "And we've got a Seeker who has never failed to win us a match!" He finished, glaring at Harry Potter with a look of both admiration and pride.

     He paused. "And me," he added quietly.

     "We think you're very good, too, Oliver," said George.

     "Spanking good Keeper," added Fred.

     "The best bloody Keeper the Gryffindor Quidditch team has ever seen!" Flynn cried. Robyn and Lisa applauded in agreement, hooting and cheering from their spot in the back corner of the locker room. Fred and George shot identical grins back at the two of them.

     "The point is," Oliver pressed on, continuing back to his pacing across the room, "the Quidditch Cup should have had our name on it these last two years. Ever since Harry joined the team, I've thought the thing was in the bag. But we haven't got it, and this year's the last chance we'll get to finally see our name on the thing..."

     He trailed off again, his eyes returning to the floor, the look on his face so dejected that Robyn wasn't surprised that even Fred and George looked sympathetic.

     "Oliver," George said, cutting the silence that had settled in the locker room. Oliver looked up.

     "This year's our year," said Fred, and smiles spread across the twins' faces.

     "We'll do it, Oliver!" said Angelina, and Flynn nodded, raising her broomstick in the air.

     "The Quidditch Cup is ours!" Flynn yelled.

     Soon the locker room was filled with hoots and hollers, cheering for the Gryffindor team. Robyn couldn't help but laugh. She could feel everyone filling up with determination, sharing an excited and hopeful glance with Lisa.

     The team filed out onto the Quidditch pitch, and Robyn and Lisa ran up into the stands to watch practice.

     The air outside was frigid and bitingly cold in the evening October air. Robyn found herself wrapping her red jumper tighter around herself as they made their way up to the stands. Though it was still early in the evening, the sun was already beginning to set as the sky lit up in shades of amber and gold. Robyn and Lisa took their seats in the empty stands and watched as the team lifted off into the sky on their broomsticks.

     Fred and George were hitting the two Bludgers back and forth to each other across the width of the field, all the while Angelina, Katie, and Flynn bobbed and weaved to avoid the Bludgers, carrying and passing the Quaffle down the length of the field. Oliver was off on one end of the pitch working with Harry on reflex exercises, but that was far less interesting to watch.

     The practice lasted long after the sun had slipped beneath the horizon, the reds and golds fading into the dark purples and blues of night. Little pinpricks of stars littered the sky, and the night greeted them with cold, whirling winds. Robyn found herself shuddering, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

     To her surprise, one of her hands grasped a tiny, pebble-sized object in her pocket. She pulled it out. It was the Ton-Tongue Toffee prototype Fred had given her earlier in the term. She'd completely forgotten about it. They were supposed to have worked on it together, but classes and the threat of Sirius Black had distracted them from it, and eventually it was forgotten about, lost in the flurry of the last several weeks.

     "Hey, Lise," Robyn said, leaning over to her friend, who was curled up in a blanket she'd smartly brought, following George's silhouette with her eyes as he passed by above them in the sky. Lisa's gaze broke for a moment to glance at Robyn, acknowledging her, before returning her eyes to her boyfriend.

     "Yeah, what's up?" She replied sweetly, a small smile creeping up on her lips as she watched the practice.

     "Wanna work on this Ton-Tongue Toffee with me, Fred, George, and Flynn after they get done with practice?" Robyn asked, holding out the faded-rainbow-colored sweet.

     "This what?" Lisa asked, finally diverting her full attention away from George and to Robyn. She glanced down at Robyn's hand and raised an eyebrow.

     "Fred and George were working on it, it's supposed to enlarge the tongue of the person who eats it," she explained. "But the colors aren't vibrant enough, which means it's not quite right yet. It's Friday, we don't have classes tomorrow, why don't we work on it a bit tonight?"

     The truth was, Robyn was itching to do something. Between her ever-growing pile of homework in preparing for the O.W.L.s in the spring and the constant threat of Sirius Black looming over her shoulder, her free time had fallen on her list of priorities. Robyn didn't know if the twins had worked on the Toffee at all since her first conversation with Fred, but she was dying to do something, and honestly, without her, they probably hadn't gotten much progress made on it anyways.

     Lisa eyed the candy warily, as if it would jump up and attack her. She hesitated for a second, then nodded, flashing Robyn a large smile. "You know, school has gotten pretty dull. Let's do it."

     After the Quidditch team finished their practice, Robyn walked with Lisa, Flynn, Fred, and George back up to the castle. Lisa was still wrapped up in her blanket, though it was trailing on the ground behind her, collecting various twigs and grass from the ground. George grabbed the tail end of the blanket, but instead of just carrying it, he began patting at his sweaty face with it. Lisa looked back over her shoulder, and upon realizing what George was doing, stopped dead in her tracks, ripping the blanket out of his hands and yelling at him that he was being "absolutely disgusting," though the smile on her face and laughter in her voice said that she didn't really mind. George just grinned, slinging an arm around Lisa's shoulders and pulling her into him as they continued their trek.

    Robyn rolled her eyes jokingly. "You two should just get a room," she said. Next to her, Fred snickered. 

     Flynn spoke up from behind them, staring at Fred. "While we're at it, why don't we get one for you and Jackie, too?" She asked sarcastically, but her voice was laced with bitterness. It wasn't joking and lighthearted, no, Robyn could tell Flynn was trying to push his buttons.

     Lisa paused. "Flynn, that wasn't cool," she said softly.

     "Yeah, what's your deal, Flynn?" Robyn snapped. She didn't like Jackie either, that was obvious, but she didn't understand why Flynn was taking it out on Fred. 

     "What the hell, Robyn, I thought you were on my side about Jackie," Flynn shot back. She huffed in annoyance before pushing past Robyn and Fred, shrugging her Quidditch bag up on her shoulder and storming off ahead of them. As she passed, Robyn noticed heavy bags under Flynn's eyes, and her shoulders hung low, as though she was incredibly tired.

     Once she passed, George looked over at Robyn, his arm still wrapped around Lisa. "Flynn was weird at practice, too," he said.

     Fred nodded. "She was really out of it," he added. "Thought it was just girl stuff."

     "Yeah, I don't think it's girl stuff," said Robyn, scoffing. "I think it's dad stuff."

     The group fell silent. 

     The rest of the walk up to the Gryffindor common room was quiet, with only the occasional nod from a teacher passing by. They reached the portrait hole and clambered inside. The common room was mostly empty, save for a few first years huddled in a corner.

     Robyn led the way up the stairs to the boys' dormitories, taking the steps two at a time as the others followed closely behind. Once she reached the fifth years' room, she knocked twice on the door, paused, then swung the door open.

     Lee Jordan was sitting on his bed, a book open in his hands. He glanced up and waved at the group before looking back down to whatever he was reading.

     "Lee's been a bit preoccupied lately," Fred explained.

     "Likes to read romance novels," said George.

     "We think he gets off on it," Fred added.

     Lee looked up again, an impatient look on his face. He sighed, setting the book down and pulling out of the book what he had actually been looking at: the Marauder's Map.

     Immediately, everyone's eyebrows shot up to the ceiling.

     "It's nothing significant, really," Lee said, "but I think the map might have a malfunction in it. Says Peter Pettigrew's wandering the castle, but that's ridiculous."

     Robyn shook her head lightly. "Yeah, that's not possible," she muttered.

     Her adoptive father, Johnathan Fray, had told her the story of Peter Pettigrew before; how he was friends with Sirius Black and the Potters, how he went to try to stop Sirius after he betrayed the Potters, and how Sirius murdered Peter in cold blood, completely destroying him, leaving nothing behind except a single finger. It's what got Black landed in Azkaban in the first place.

     "Don't worry about it," Fred said reassuringly. "I'm sure it's nothing."

     Lee looked at Fred for a moment, as though he didn't believe him, but eventually nodded and grabbed his wand from his nightstand, tapping the paper and muttering "mischief managed." The map faded away, leaving nothing but a harmless piece of parchment. Lee tossed the map to Fred, who stuffed it away in his trunk.

     "Alright, now where were we?" said Fred.

     Soon, the five of them were spread out across the room. Lisa was with George, scanning various books, taking notes here and there as they found useful information. Fred was working on prototype Charms, testing them on several test Toffees they had made. Lee was acting as head supervisor, making sure everyone maintained communications with each other while they worked. This was primarily because of Robyn, who was manning the cauldron. When Robyn was heavily concentrated on something, she would frequently block out everything around her. This proved difficult when working together on products.

     In fact, Robyn found herself stuck on a step of the potion and was so engrossed in investigating what went wrong that she didn't hear Lee repeating her name over and over again until he tapped her on the head with a quill.

     "Robyn," Lee said again, and Robyn quickly looked up to see Lisa sitting in front of her, holding a piece of parchment with a scribbled note on it, the look on her face sour.

     "We need Boomslang skin, don't we?" Robyn asked.

     Lisa looked at Robyn quizzically, then nodded. "I guess so? We just need something that will 'delay the initial inflation, but increase the maximum size of the inflation,'" she said, reading off of her note.

     Robyn hopped up to her feet. "Yeah, that'll be Boomslang skin, then," she said, confirming her own thoughts. She slipped on her shoes and grabbed her wand. "I'll be back."

     "Where are you going?" Asked Lisa. 

     "Snape's private storeroom. He'll have some in there," Robyn said, slinging the door to the dormitory open and stepping out.

     "It's after hours, so be careful," Lee said, a warning, but impressed tone in his voice. Robyn nodded in reply before shutting the door behind her.

     Robyn slipped quickly and quietly out of the portrait hole and into the dark hallways of the school. Snape's storeroom was in the dungeons, so she just had to sneak down there, get what she needed, and sneak back up to Gryffindor Tower, all without getting caught.

     Easy.

     Step by step, Robyn snuck her way down the stairs to the Main Hall. She ducked behind a tapestry, just narrowly missing Professor McGonagall, who was walking down the same stairs she had just come from.

     Once she heard McGonagall pass, Robyn peeked around the tapestry to make sure all was clear, then slipped out and tip-toed her way across a corridor and down another set of stairs, where she was almost caught by Gryffindor's ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, who was engaged in a deep conversation with the Fat Friar, the Hufflepuff ghost.

     How she managed to slip past a ghost in the dead of night, Robyn will never know. But she did, and continued down yet another set of stairs into the dungeons, followed another long corridor, and finally rounded the corner to the door to Snape's private storeroom.

     She'd made it.

     Robyn rushed up to the storeroom door, grabbing the handle with her hand, when suddenly the corridor was flooded with a bright, white light, and a stern voice spoke out from behind her:

     "Now, just what do you think you're doing?"