a/n- I didn't edit this chapter. Honestly I just wanted to get it done and break my writer's block. It's quite immature but I really wanted to write something light again. I'm not taking this off hold so keep your expectations low, but I do plan on releasing an occasional chapter until the Christmas holidays.

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.

As sleep slipped away from her grasp, Gemma became vaguely aware of the irritating, incessant ticking of the clock on the wall. Pandora had put up a clock in the girls' own dormitory back in first year, but Gemma had thrown it out rather rudely within two nights; she couldn't stand the intrusive, repetitive sound which impeded her train of thought.

Unfortunately, the boys seemed to have no such qualms, and she felt rudely awakened from her slumber at six in the morning. She noticed Ted and Luke and Barty Crouch- all asleep- but Regulus was not present. Recalling the events of last night, she grabbed the pillow and screamed silently into it. Why couldn't she have chosen a normal boy?

Getting up and leaving as silently as she could, Gemma got dressed in the girls' dormitory and then went downstairs for breakfast, where everyone was already present- including, irritatingly, Natsya.

She slumped down next to Ted. 'Hi,' she said dully.

'Morning,' he said cheerily. 'Sleep well? I always wondered what Black's bed was like.'

'Black's bed?' Mulciber blurted from further down the table, looking appalled. He turned to stare at Regulus. 'Well, isn't that interesting.'

'Crouch nearly had an aneurysm,' Luke informed Gemma dryly. 'He was strangely worried that Salazar Slytherin would come back to life and murder you?'

Natsya let out a nasally, high-pitched giggle, even though nothing funny had been said, which made Gemma want to rip out her vocal chords.

'I thought we agreed-' Snape hissed, but Regulus cut him off with a glare.

'It's none of your business,' he said sharply.

'What's not our business?' Snyde asked, coming to sit beside Luke. Gage was with him, and Gemma recoiled internally from his presence. 'I demand to know your business.'

'Did anything happen?' Ted encouraged, grinning ear-to-ear. 'Black was super flushed and his shirt was all crooked-'

'Shut up, Nott,' Regulus snarled, his ears going red.

'I thought we wouldn't fuck half-bloods,' Avery complained loudly, 'we made a deal! Regulus, you said I couldn't date that third year because-'

'Because she's a third year,' Regulus snapped, 'she's still twelve.'

'I don't quite see why that's an issue-'

'Wait, I'm confused,' Snyde complained. 'Let me get the story straight- '

'Don't get involved,' Gage muttered, spooning cereal into his mouth. It struck Gemma how different Gage was to Iz.

'Good morning,' someone said cheerily, as Sirius Black and James Potter came to sit at the Slytherin table. Everyone fell absolutely silent. Nobody moved, or spoke.

'Why is everyone staring at us?' Sirius whispered to Gemma, leaning towards her.

'Because of your dashing good looks,' she whispered back. He nodded with knowing.

'Beauty is a burden,' he said with a sad look of acceptance.

Shockingly, nobody hexed them. They just continued glaring, as the two Gryffindors indifferently filled their bowls with porridge, although Potter took one bite then spat it back out.

'That's disgusting,' he said, shaking his head. 'I see why Dora used to eat ours.'

The mention of the dead girl's name sent everyone awkwardly back to their conversations, and away from Potter and Sirius. Except, Regulus, who finally looked at his brother.

'What are you doing here,' he said with a monotone voice and stony face. Sirius shrugged, and carried on eating, but Gemma knew why. Everyone at the Gryffindor table kept staring at the four boys- Lupin and Pettigrew had fled to their dormitories less than two minutes after, unable to bear it.

It was ironic. The four most attention-seeking boys of the school, now resenting being even looked at.

'Well I personally don't think we should even have houses,' Snyde decided, crossing his arms behind his head.

'You are on drugs,' Gage said. 'You're not thinking at all.'

'That is rude!' Snyde roared, standing up with outrage. He leaped across the table, grabbing Gage and knocking over plates, cutlery and goblets, and the pair rolled around on the floor.

Gage won the fight. Everyone at the table got detention- including the Gryffindors. But this didn't deter them; for many months to come, they were to sit at with the Slytherins, and eventually, Pettigrew joined them.

And then, finally, Remus Lupin.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Gemma had her meeting with Slughorn, and after painful reprimand, she chose her subjects. Arithmancy, Potions, and Care of Magical Creatures were the only ones she'd been allowed to take given her results.

When she returned to the Slytherin Common Room, that night, she found it completely rearranged- the tables had been pushed to the middle of the room to form a long platform, and a large crowd had formed around it.

'Duelling competition,' Ted whispered to her vaguely. 'They made such a big deal out of it last year, I can't believe you don't remember...'

'Who's running this?' Gemma questioned.

'Mulciber, Avery, Snyde, Greengrass, Macmillan, Davies,' Luke listed. 'Quite a few.'

'Sounds irresponsible and dangerous,' Gemma commented. 'I'm definitely joining.'

'Don't you have difficulty performing spells?' Natsya asked sweetly. They all turned to stare at her.

'No,' Gemma said through gritted teeth. She pulled out her wand. 'Want a demonstration?'

'No, no,' Luke said, hastily getting in between the two before Gemma could hex her.

'Hey, you two!' Gage called from the platform. Natsya and Gemma turned to look up at him. 'Don't fight down there- fight up here!' He turned to the crowd. 'THE FIRST DUEL STARTS IN TEN MINUTES!' He yelled. 'BETWEEN THE QUIDDITCH NUTTER AND- UM- THAT PRETTY GIRL RIGHT THERE! '

'PLACE YOUR BETS OVER HERE!' Snyde yelled, shaking a bag of coins.

'Wait,' Nastya said with a frown.

'What, are you scared?' Gemma asked with a smirk. Ted tiled his head- he couldn't seem to grasp why his best friend hated the new girl so much. To be fair, neither could Gemma.

Natsya laughed. 'For you,' she said darkly. 'I studied at Durmstrang for the last five years.' She pulled out her slender black wand, inspecting it casually. Gemma glanced down at her own wand; it was at least two inches shorter, and looked like a random stick picked off the ground.

'Bets?' Snyde asked cockily coming over.

Ted bit his lip guiltily. 'Um, I think I'll bet on Natsya.' Gemma's mouth fell open with outrage.

'Seriously! ' She said, glaring at him, and he shrugged. 'Sorry,' he muttered.

This made the blonde girl nervous. Had she bitten off more than she could chew?

As she got up on the makeshift platform, and Natsya's eyes flashed purple with coursing malice and power, Gemma knew she was done for. She drew her wand.

'You guys should bow,' Mulciber called out, leaning against a pillar. Natsya bowed, as did Gemma, albeit stiffly. They drew their wands.

'Wands at the ready!' Gage shouted. 'When I count to three, try to kill the other person. One...two...three- '

'There was immediate chaos; all of the young, careless students began shouting as them, encouragement and discouragement.

Natsya raised her wand, throwing a nasty curse at Gemma. Luckily, she saw it coming, and she quickly held up her wand.

'Protego!'

A Shield Charm immediately repelled Natsya's curse, and the spell went hurdling back toward its caster. Without a sound, she flew back, hitting Luke, and knocking him to the ground with her.

There was silence, for one minute.

'Boo!' James Potter shouted. Gemma couldn't even begin to think how he'd gotten in the Slytherin common room.

'Shortest duel ever! Pathetic!' Sirius Black added. Gemma jumped down off the platform, to where Luke had just managed to push the unconscious girl off of him.

Gage was immediately at the scene. 'You,' he ordered Snyde and Gemma. 'Take her to the hospital wing.' Gemma groaned internally, but grabbed Natsya's legs, and together they both lifted her up.

'This is fun,' Snyde said breathlessly when they were halfway up the stairs to the Hospital wing. 'Reminds me of old times.'

'Stupid bitch,' Gemma muttered reproachfully. 'Wonder what kind of curse she was trying to use on me.'

Madam Pomfrey confirmed her suspicions. 'This is very dark magic,' the nurse said seriously. 'I'm going to have to report this to the Headmaster, and her head of year.'

'So she was trying to kill me!' Gemma said with outrage, as they headed back to the common room. 'How does she even know dark magic? '

'She's basically a badass,' Snyde concluded.

'No, she's basically bad. Just bad!' Gemma fumed.

Natsya spent the next few days in the hospital wing, before being transferred to St. Mungo's. The strange sense of vindication which seeped through Gemma's heart when she heard the news, undeniably, scared her. She couldn't hide the fact that her joy at seeing another person badly hurt was alien, and foreign to her.

The fear grew when Luke came down one day into the common room, to tell her that Professor Vies wanted to speak to her.

a/n- okay. things are going to become confusing. I haven't forgotten to explain stuff, you'll figure it all out eventually.

Hope you're all doing okay <3