❝ If you feel like you're losing everything, remember that trees lose their leaves every year and they still stand tall and wait for better days to come. ❞

   The first thing I felt when I woke up that morning was a pillow whacking me right in the face. I groaned. My back ached terribly and my feet were freezing.

   "Wake up, sleepyhead," Sibi said. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes.

   "Was that really necessary?" I grumbled. I grabbed the pillow and threw it back at her. "It's Saturday. You could've let me sleep for a little longer."

   "Well, I decided not to give you that luxury because thanks to your owl, I woke up with a headache," she replied, rolling her eyes. Suddenly, I remembered how I had fallen asleep the previous night—sitting by the window with Greg resting on my shoulder. "Besides, it didn't seem like you were sleeping in a very comfortable position. Since when are you a sleepwalker, anyway?"

   "I wasn't sleepwalking," I replied. Rochelle's note still clutched in my hand. "I was just sitting here last night and fell asleep without even realizing it."

   I realized at that moment I'd never talked to Sibi about my old life. She had no knowledge of how I'd felt all those years in California; my relationship with mom and aunt Camilla, who was the only living relative I thought I had; Rochelle; my obsession with magic, and how I'd known of the wizarding world before I even received my letter.

   So I decided to open up and tell her everything. It felt both refreshing and strange to revisit old memories that now felt a thousand miles away. When I was finished, I showed her Rochelle's letter and the locket.

   "Oh, Polly," Sibi whispered. Her hazel eyes shone with tears. "I didn't know about any of this. I'm so sorry you've been through so much."

   She embraced me in a hug and I hugged her back, not saying anything. I didn't feel like crying because I had already shed enough tears the previous night. But I knew the bitterness in my chest would remain there like an open wound that only time would heal.

   Sibi broke the hug and quickly wiped the corners of her eyes.

   "Remember the first time we met this summer?" she asked. I gave her a nod. "I was such a mean person to you back then. Professor McBon came to talk to us a few days earlier. She said we should keep an eye out for you because she knew you'd be running away from home. She also told us to be kind and welcoming because you had no friends and would just be transferring to Hogwarts.

   "But as soon as I found out whose daughter you really were, I was scared, Pol. I wanted to get away from you and not have anything to do with a murderer's daughter. But I knew I had to act nicely, just like I'd promised professor McBon."

   Sibi swallowed. Her eyes filled with tears once again.

   "I was so stupid, Polly," she barely whispered. "If only I'd known back then what you have been through, I would have tried my best to be a good friend. I didn't even tell you my secret because I was afraid of what you might think of me, whereas I knew yours all too well. I'm so sorry."

   Sibi buried her face in her hands and started sobbing, which completely caught me off guard. I had never seen her break down like this before and feel bad about her own self. Not even when I had eavesdropped on her conversation with Mike that summer morning at his house, not even when she came to visit me in the Hospital Wing and we made a promise to protect each-other, and not even when I found out she was a werewolf and came to see her the next day after she'd returned from the Forbidden Forest.

   I sat down next to her on the bed and threw an arm around her shoulders, feeling relieved Christine and Rosalinda were not in the room at the moment.

   "Sibi, please don't cry," I said. I didn't want to see her like this, and most importantly, I didn't want to be the reason behind her tears. "Who cares what happened back then? You're my best friend now. Let's leave the past behind. Besides, your fear was understandable."

   I gave her an assuring smile.

   "You agreed to help me in such a dangerous plan that could put you at risk, only because I'm your friend," I continued. "If you think that doesn't make up for how you treated me when we first met, you are wrong."

   Sibi wiped away her tears and swallowed again.

   "You are such a nice person, Pol," she said. "I'm glad I met you."

   She laughed before pulling me in a hug. I hugged her back, glad I had cheered her up somehow.

   "Now enough with all the sappiness," I said with a wry smile as Sibi broke the hug. "Let's go get something to eat. And don't let me fall asleep by the window again, my backache is killing me."

   "What do you think I am, your guardian angel? Look after your own self, lazy."

   I rolled my eyes, relieved that we were back to our normal sarcastic conversations.

   When we entered the Great Hall, the breakfast was only few minutes away from ending. We rushed over to the Gryffindor table.

   "Where the hell were you two?" Mike said. "It's ten o'clock. I've been waiting for about an hour."

   "Mike, do me a favor and keep the reproaches to yourself," I replied. "I have a terrible backache from sleeping on the ground, I don't need a headache as well."

   "So, what's the plan for today?" Sibi asked, taking a sip of milk. "The weather doesn't look bad, we could spend some time outside."

   "Actually," Mike said. "Headmaster Dashawn just announced we'll have our second Hogsmeade trip today."

   "Really?" I exclaimed.

   Mike nodded and glanced at his wrist watch.

   "If I were you, I'd finish eating fast," he said. "The carriages will be here at ten thirty."

   I ate my omelette and bacon quickly and guzzled all of my milk down. Then I stood up, ready to leave.

   "C'mon, Sibi, eat faster," I groaned, punching her lightly in the arm.

   "Calm down, Pol. Do you want me to choke?"

   "What's up with all the excitement, anyway? Looks like Rena has rubbed off on you," Mike said with an amused smile.

   "Did I just hear my name?" I heard Rena's voice behind me and turned around. The brunette was standing there with a broad grin.

   "Hey Rena," I smiled, squeezing her in joyful hug. It wasn't something I'd normally do, but today I felt weirdly cheerful, and I knew if there was one person who shared the same enthusiasm as me, it was Rena Richards.

   "Hey Polly," she beamed as I pulled apart. "Excited for our Hogsmeade trip?"

   "Very," I said. Suddenly, I noticed a jubilant boy scuttling towards us, holding a small money bag in his hand. It was Melvin Richards.

   "You won't believe it," he said, turning to Rena with a broad smile. "I asked my parents to give me some more money since uncle said no to you and Ralph, and guess what? They've given me twenty Galleons! Imagine all the things we could buy."

   "Oh my god, are you serious?!" Rena squealed with widened eyes. She grabbed the money bag from Melvin's hands and took a look inside. "Twenty Galleons! Awesome! We'll have a blast for sure."

   I smiled at their excitement, though I felt strange knowing the money in my vault I'd inherited was more than enough for me to buy the whole store if I wanted to, and then some. Sibi and Mike finally got up to join us.

   "Where's Ralph?" Mike asked.

   "Oh, he's over there," said Rena indifferently, pointing at the Hufflepuff table, where Ralph seemed to be in a deep conversation with the Simmons twins. "Trying unsuccessfully to get Maddie's attention. I feel sorry for the poor girl, like one third of the boys here are after her. If I were her, I'd throw some acrid powder puff in their eyes. It'd shoo them away in a heartbeat."

   I guffawed, though she wasn't exactly wrong. Being as popular as Maddie was had to be pretty annoying. It didn't seem that way to her, though, or to her twin brother for that matter. They liked being liked, and handled all the attention they received pretty well.

   "Should we wait for him or leave?" Sibi asked.
Melvin scoffed and waved his hand in dismissal.

   "Let's go," he replied. "The lovesick idiot can catch up with us later. He doesn't do anything besides acting like our mother, anyway."

   "Yup," Rena said. "Let's go. We can get the first carriage if we hurry."

   She grabbed me by the hand and started prancing out of the hall, dragging me behind her. We hopped on the first carriage, which was thankfully empty, and waited five more minutes for all of them to fill. I noticed Ralph walking out of the Entrance Hall, his eyes searching frantically for Rena and Melvin.

   "There you are," he exclaimed when he spotted us. He got into the carriage, taking a seat next to Rena and frowning at her. "May I know why my dear sister didn't wait for me?"

   "Because your dear sister doesn't think it's necessary to wait for her boring twin brother," Rena replied. "I thought you could find your way around here by yourself. Geez, we've been here from year one and you're supposed to be a Ravenclaw. I stand by my word that the Hat made a huge mistake with you, Ral."

   "How was I even supposed to know where you were?" Ralph replied back. "Besides, you're one to talk about being a Ravenclaw. Who was the one that decided to use the Tar Gum in the middle of the day?"

   I laughed to myself, shaking my head.

I remembered the first day of school when they handed in a collection of leaves to professor Umphassen, our Herbology teacher, telling her they had collected them over the summer. Or that time when Sibi told me they were learning how to levitate heavy objects in Charms' class and Rena and Ralph had sent a bookcase flying out of the window.

Or when I first met them on the train and they were telling Sibi and Mike about all the prank items they had bought during summer. I remembered how Rena had said that she couldn't wait to drop the fake shark fangs at Filch's feet, knowing he'd blame Peeves for it.

I shook my head with a small smile at the amusing recollections. The Richards twins' mischief stories never got old.

We arrived at Hogsmeade a few moments later. I was stunned to see the magical village covered in a thin layer of white. It was just the second week of November, but it looked like winter was already here. The air was chilly as lacy flakes of snow gently drifted to the ground. At that moment, I regretted not taking a scarf.

Before entering The Three Broomsticks, we decided to stop at Honeydukes and buy some desserts. We left the shop full-handed. I got reminded of that day when Mike and I were aboard the Hogwarts Express and I bought a tray full of sweets and drinks.

That was the first time I had ever tried wizards' candy, and I still remembered clearly how tasty they were. I couldn't wait till we returned to the common room, so I could start bingeing on everything I had just bought.

We didn't spend a lot of time inside the cozy little pub, sadly, because it thronged with young people—not surprisingly, since it was freezing outside.

However, we had so much fun playing out in the snow and having snowball fights. I didn't care at all if I looked childish and immature at that moment. What mattered was that I was having fun and enjoying myself.

Rare were the days when I actually felt happy, so right now all I wanted was to hold onto this little moment of joy and enjoy it. This was one of the moments I knew I would cherish forever.

I had never had pleasant experiences with friends before, because I had never even had friends in the first place. The happiest memories I had from my Californian life were those few ones with Rochelle. But from the day I arrived at Hogwarts, a brand new life began for me.

And no matter how many things were awful in my life at the moment, it were the small moments of bliss like this that made it seem great even if it wasn't. It were the moments like this that made me forget about everything that was wrong in my life, even if only for a little while.

And even though my plan was dangerous and difficult, what kept me going was one thing. Happiness. The light at the far end of the long, dark tunnel. The promise that things would be good eventually, after the storm was all over.

   Happiness. Fulfillment. A normal life without problems or anxieties. That thought was what made me more perseverant, more determined to fight with all I had. Because, as a wise old man had once said, felicity was, in the end, something to be sought.