Gemma was bored. It had been raining heavily all day, confining her to the walls of the castle. She'd started the day in the library, but her inability to focus drove her out. Now she'd settled on staring out the window and watching the rain pour, while Luke drew something.

'How long are you just going to stare outside?' Luke asked her. 'I mean, its serving me quite well.'

'What do you mean?' She said. He showed her the drawing he was working on- it was a portrait of her. 'That's so pretty!'

'Thanks,' he said, shrugging.

'What else have you drawn?' She asked casually, picking up the sketchbook.

'Nothing,' he said hastily, reaching out to grab it. But Gemma held it out of his reach, smiling slightly.

'I don't think so,' she said in a teasing voice. She opened it, and flipped a few of the pages. There were landscape drawings and bird drawings, nothing too interesting... until she came across a sketch of Pandora Lestrange. Luke had gotten everything right; her hair, her dimples and her eyes. It had obviously taken him a very long time.

'Wow,' Gemma breathed. She smirked at him. 'Do you have something to tell me, Luke?'

'No,' he said, snatching it back. But Gemma continued to smirk.

'You two have been getting quite comfortable lately,' she said, as Iz walked in.

'I haven't! We haven't,' he defended.

'Oohh what's this?' Iz said nosily.

'Luke is telling me about him and Pandora,' Gemma explained. Iz looked confused.

'Luke and Pandora? But Luke-'

'Is not in the mood for this conversation,' he cut in quickly, sending Iz a firm look. 'Good day,' he said to Gemma, before leaving the common room.

'Where do you think he's going?' Iz asked. Gemma shrugged, still slightly confused.

'Um.. library, probably.' Gemma's eyes widened as she glanced at the window. 'It stopped raining!' She gasped. She grabbed her coat and hat and ran out of the room, Iz running after her.

'Gemma wait... my hair is going everywhere!' Iz exclaimed, but Gemma didn't care. When they got to the entrance, she noticed Mulciber and Avery talking to Regulus, who wore a desperate get me out of here expression. Gemma slowed her pace and walked toward them warily. Mulciber noticed her first.

'Why hello there,' he said. 'Come to hand in your quidditch resignation?'

'What?' Regulus said, turning around in alarm. 'Why?'

'I'm not,' Gemma said, forcing a false smile onto her face.

'Then what do you want,' Avery drawled. 'We haven't got all day.'

'I want to rescue my friend,' she said. 'So I'll just take him off your hands and be on my way.' She turned to Mulciber. 'If you don't mind.'

'Not at all,' he said, still- for some reason- smirking. Gemma left them, not checking to see if Regulus had followed her until they were out of the castle.

'I don't understand you,' she said, putting on her hat.

'What do you mean?' He asked, confused.

'If you don't like them, why talk to them?' She said.

'Especially that loser Avery,' Iz added helpfully. Regulus' expression was unreadable as he considered the question.

'It's... difficult to understand,' he said carefully. 'It's just... helpful, I suppose, to have allies. Could be useful. In the future.'

'Well,' Iz said. 'I for one, could never have the patience.' And that pretty much summed up Gemma's thoughts perfectly.

They strolled to Hogsmeade, laughing and chatting amongst each other. The ground was wet, and in some places muddy, and Gemma had narrowly avoided falling at least a couple of times.

'So where are we going?' Regulus asked when they arrived in Hogsmeade. He seemed a lot happier than before, which was good.

'I don't know,' Iz said. 'Gemma's the one who dragged us out here without planning anything.'

'Let's go to the shrieking shack,' Gemma decided. Regulus' eyes widened and Iz made a face.

'Why,' she complained. 'It's like, haunted. Let's just go to Honeydukes instead.'

'Oh come on,' Gemma laughed, taking her by the arm and guiding her toward the shack. Regulus following them.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

'God this place gives me the creeps,' Iz said. They were standing at a good distance from the shack, the grass beneath their feet damp and muddy.

'Really?' Gemma said sceptically.

'Oh don't act brave,' Iz interrupted. 'You used to be terrified of coming here.'

'I was,' Gemma admitted. 'But then I saw a deer coming out of the place once, and I decided, if a deer can go in there then how bad can it be?'

'A deer?' Regulus said. 'That sounds interesting.'

'Yep.' She didn't elaborate on what she had seen that night, or how the deer had become a person, and that that person was the very boy that wore a red tie and swaggered around the castle alongside Regulus' own brother, Sirius.

'I kinda want to go inside,' Regulus said. Iz looked up in alarm.

'We definitely aren't allowed to go in there,' she protested. 'The fences are up for a reason you know.' Regulus shrugged, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.

'Since when do we follow the rules,' Gemma said.

'Since I don't want to die!'

'Then stay here,' Gemma said. She looked at Regulus. 'You're definitely going first though.'

'Okay,' he said. He hesitated, seemingly conflicted, but then started climbing the fence. It took him less than a minute to get to the other side. 'I'm alive!' He called out.

'Okay. My turn,' Gemma said. Iz watched nervously as Gemma started to climb the barrier. It was quite easy, she thought. Her muscles were used to taking her weight from hanging on her broom by her fingertips on more than one occasion. But the fence was still wet from the rain, and her hand slipped from the wire mesh. Regulus caught her before she hit the ground.

She looked at him, slightly embarrassed. But she shook it off as he put her on the ground, slightly red- either from the cold or something else, she couldn't tell.

'Thanks,' she said, offering him a smile.

'Um.. yeah no problem,' he mumbled.

'If you two are done having your little moment,' Iz snapped from the other side. 'Please hurry up before I freeze to death over here!' Gemma rolled her eyes, and headed for the shack, Regulus right behind her.

It took a few minutes, but they soon got to the back of the house.

'We can't go through the front,' Gemma whispered. Why she was whispering she didn't know; it just seemed fitting.

'Why not?' Regulus asked, at a perfectly normal volume.

'Because the Whomping Willow is there, stupid. And keep your voice down.'

'Sorry.' They went around the house, before Regulus found a window. He beckoned to her to follow him, and they both climbed through. They realised they were in what had once been a kitchen.

The place was a complete mess. Whole cabinets had been ripped off the walls, and there were multiple scratch marks everywhere. Even the carpet had been torn off the floorboards, leaving them exposed.

'This place is definitely haunted,' Regulus whispered in her ear. She went to say something, but froze as they heard voices coming from down the hallway. They both immediately ducked down behind an upturned counter.

'Where's Moony?' A voice asked.

'That's my brother,' Regulus told her in a hushed voice. 'What's he doing here?'

'Dunno. He said he had some other stuff to do.' Gemma recognised that voice- it belonged to the deer boy, James Potter.

'And your sure you saw people in here?' Sirius asked.

'Positive. They climbed through the window,' A squeaky voice said. Then, silence.

'Revelio!' The counter they were hiding behind floated away, leaving them both completely visible to the three Gryffindors.

'Regulus?' Sirius said in complete shock.

'Sirius,' Regulus said, completely casually.

'What are you doing here?' James and Gemma said simultaneously.

'We are allowed to be here,' Sirius said, crossing his arms. 'You, however, are not.' Gemma had heard tales of how fun and "nice" the so- called marauders were. That is unless, of course, you wore a green tie.

'Right,' Regulus sneered. His expression was cold and full of something Gemma had never seen before- contempt. 'We'll just be on our way then.'

'No, wait!' James said. 'You, er, do you maybe, um, want some tea?' Gemma stared at him.

'No,' Regulus answered curtly. 'We do not.'

'Well if your gonna leave, take the backdoor instead of the window this time,' the third boy said earnestly. He smiled at Gemma, but she didn't return it.

Regulus nodded, and took Gemma's arm, pulling her behind him to the exit. Under different circumstances , she would've pulled away and maybe hit him, but Regulus seemed troubled.

'Are you okay?' She asked when they were outside.

He didn't answer her until they were back at the fence. Once they were there, he shook his head.

'No,' he said quietly. 'No, I'm not.' She gave him a hug, and he buried his head in her shoulder.

Meanwhile, back at the house, Sirius watched them from the window.

'Looks like your brother has finally found a girlfriend,' James joked, but he stopped when he saw Sirius' expression. 'Sorry.'

'You are ridiculous,' Sirius said, breaking into a grin. 'Tea? Really?'

'Well yeah,' James said. 'I wanted them to stay. You really should talk to your brother padfoot.'

'No,' Sirius snapped. 'He's the one that refused to leave that horrible house. He chose them over me.'

'I don't think he sees it that way,' Peter spoke up, but he was silenced by a look Sirius gave him.

'Enough about Regulus,' he said. 'Let's talk about this prank on the Hufflepuffs...'

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

Gemma left the feast early. Partly because she had a lot to think about, and partly because Ted wouldn't shut up about the date he'd had with the 'prettiest girl ever.'

On her way however, she found Mulciber and Avery. They were laughing about something, and she hid behind a pillar to avoid them.

'Did you see the look on her face?' Mulciber said between chuckles.

'Pathetic. Can't believe she's a Slytherin,' Avery agreed. Gemma waited for them to leave, before going in the direction they'd come from. She had a strange feeling they'd done something bad.

Down the corridor she found a girl. She was pushing herself up against the wall, hand clutching her stomach. Her hair was pulled into a ponytail, and tears ran down her cheeks. Gemma realised it was the girl Luke had been talking about- Elladora Hargreaves. She approached her cautiously.

'Hi,' she said. Elladora looked up in alarm, and she mentally smacked herself. 'Um.. are you okay?'

'Yes,' Elladora replied curtly. She seemingly wanted Gemma to go away, but Gemma didn't want to leave her in the middle of the corridor like this.

'Mulciber and Avery. Did they hurt you?' Gemma asked. Elladora looked up at her, and she felt rather stupid at the obvious question. 'Did they say something?'

'I am fine,' Elladora said. Gemma nodded.

'Right. Got that. Um.. so I know your fine but.. are you?' Elladora said nothing. Then, just like Regulus had done, she shook her head.

'No,' she said. 'No, I am not fine.'

'Do you want to tell me why?' Gemma said softly to the older girl. Here was the most secretive and clever girl in the school, the one who always seemed to have a blank expression. Crying in the middle of the corridor. Gemma had absolutely no idea what to do.

Perhaps Elladora was going to say something, but she was interrupted by Ted.

'Hey!' He said. 'You just took off.' By the time Gemma answered him, Elladora was gone.