It was the last lesson of the year, Arithmancy, and even though it was one of her favourites, Gemma was struggling to concentrate. The rush of going home and seeing her dad and enjoying Christmas with her cousins was consistently taking a hold on her mind.

Professor Vector had a seating plan, and Gemma's partner was Natalia Johnson, a pretty Slytherin girl with braided hair and an always serious expression. Natalia wasn't big on conversation, so Gemma decided to catch the attention of Regulus instead.

Naturally, Regulus was rather shocked when a piece of paper hit him him on the back of the head. He picked it up and unfolded it, revealing a terribly drawn animation of a Christmas tree coming alive and eating a curly haired stick figure. He guessed this was supposed to represent him. He didn't even bother turning his head, he knew who the note had come from. He scribbled a note of his own, and tossed it back to her.

Gemma caught the note and unfolded it.

𝒴𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝒹𝓇𝒶𝓌𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝓈𝓊𝒸𝓀.

She saw Regulus watching for her reaction, and she gave a mock gasp, pretending to be offended. He grinned, and waited for the next note. He received it less than a minutes later.

𝘯𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵, 𝘐'𝘮 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘵. 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘶 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘮𝘢𝘴?

She saw him scribbling an answer.

𝒩𝑜𝓌𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒, 𝐼'𝓂 𝓈𝓉𝒶𝓎𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒽𝑒𝓇𝑒.

Her eyes widened.

𝘩𝘶𝘩? 𝘸𝘩𝘺? 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 & 𝘵𝘦𝘥. 𝘸𝘦'𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵.

As Regulus read this, he was filled with longing. He wanted more than anything to go home with Gemma and Ted, and hang out with his friends like a normal person. But if his parents found out he was staying with a muggle, he knew the consequences.

𝒩𝒶𝒽, 𝐼 𝓈𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓁𝓎 𝓈𝓉𝓊𝒹𝓎.

But as Gemma started to throw a reply to this back to Regulus, the note stopped in mid-air. It floated up to the teacher's desk. The class erupted into laughter, while Regulus and Gemma's faces burned bright red.

'You are not children,' Vector said. 'Do not act like it.' She dropped the note into the bin, and the class went back to doing their work. Out of the corner of his eye, Regulus saw Gemma grinning. And that made him grin too.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

That evening, Gemma decided to go and see her owl. Well, it wasn't her owl, it was one of the Hogwarts barn owls that all students could use. But whenever she had a letter to send (which was rare) she would always look for the same owl. She wasn't sure why, she just liked it. She'd named it Gerard, because her eleven- year- old self had found the name amusing.

Now she reached the tower, she smiled as she found the brown owl sitting in its usual perch. It nipped her finger affectionately as she fed it some seeds.

'Apparently owls are drawn to people with low intellect.' She turned to see Iz, leaning in the doorframe. Gemma grinned.

'Well, then I'm sure he'll love you.' Iz rolled her eyes as she approached.

'Please,' she said. 'At least I can perform a spell without blowing something up.' Gemma winced at the low blow, but didn't say anything. 'Have you packed?' Iz continued.

'Yes,' Gemma replied. 'Didn't you see my trunk on the dorm?'

Iz looked shocked, like a deer caught in headlights. She shook her head and quickly changed the subject.

'Can I touch him?' She asked, gesturing to Gerard. Gemma nodded, confused why Iz was asking.

Iz reached up, and gently touched the feathers of the owl. Then, in one swift movement, she snapped it's neck. Gemma didn't even have time to gasp as the owl fell lifeless to the ground.

'What the hell!' She cried, pure shock seeping through her. The shock changed to terror as Iz grabbed the front of her robes, pushing her up against a shelf, she gasped as it dug into her back.

'Where is she?' Iz shouted.

'What? Where's wh-' Gemma didn't even have time to finish the sentence, before she was flung across the owlery. She felt her arm crunch and her head snap back as she crashed onto the stone ground. Owls fluttered restlessly above her, her head pounded as her vision clouded.

Iz stalked over. She picked Gemma up by her robes effortlessly, as though she weighed nothing.

'Genevieve. Where is she,' she snarled.

'Have you lost your m-'

She felt a fist crunch into her face. Pain exploded behind her sinuses as she felt her head rock back.

'Where is-'

'I don't know, I don't know!' Gemma yelled. 'You know I don't!' She could barely see now, her vision clouded. She felt herself being dropped, sending another wave of pain up her spine. She heard hurried footsteps leading out of the owlery.

With great difficulty, she pushed herself up against a shelf. She tried to ignore the pain, pretended to push it into a box labelled 'I'll deal with you later', the way she usually did with Quidditch injuries. But as she staggered to the door, she found it was impossible to ignore this pain, and it seeped through, taking a hold on her. She fumbled for the handle, but didn't find it, so she gave up, and sinking to the floor, she allowed her mind to wander elsewhere, and relieve her of her agony.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

'Fractured spine, broken nose, multiple fractures on the arm... Oh awake are we? How are you feeling?'

Gemma blinked, her eyelids heavy, her vision still refocusing. She looked around as best she could. She was in the Hospital Wing- that was good. She was safe. Then she tilted her head to the right, and found Madame Pomfrey peering at her over a large notebook. Next to her stood a boy with black hair and sharp features. Relief flooded her system; it was Regulus.

But then the boy came closer, and she found it wasn't Regulus. No, this boy was wearing a goofy grin and had straight hair. She realised with alarm that it was Sirius.

'Alright?' He asked casually. 'Get into a little brawl? Practise Quidditch in the owlery? T'isn't ideal, but if it suits you-'

'Mr Black, please,' Madame Pomfrey interrupted, much to Gemma's relief. 'Does it hurt? Where?'

'My back,' Gemma murmured. 'You said it was-' Her voice broke.

'Nothing major dear, it should be fixed within a few weeks,' Madame Pomfrey said soothingly. 'You'll be almost back to normal.'

'Almost,' Gemma echoed. Madame Pomfrey hesitated.

'You... You won't be able to play Quidditch for... a while.'

'A while,' Gemma repeated. 'How long is a while?'

'Until at least a few weeks after Christmas.' Gemma started thinking, about which matches she miss.

'You'd miss the Ravenclaw V Slytherin,' Sirius told her.

'But.. Slytherin won the last one. We have to play again?'

'Yep. Gryffindor only beat Ravenclaw by so many points, so they get another chance. If Slytherin lose this one, they play Gryffindor as a knockout. If Ravenclaw lose, it'll be Slytherin V Gryffindor as a final.'

'Okay,' she said. Under normal circumstances she would've been devastated at missing even a single match, but it wasn't a decider and her mind was buzzing with other thoughts. 'Can I go?'

'Absolutely not,' Madame Pomfrey said. 'You shall stay here for at least the rest of the day. I'd keep you another, but I imagine you are going home tomorrow, yes?'

'Yes,' Gemma said dully. She would have liked to spend some time with Regulus before leaving.

As though summoned by the thought, Regulus ran in. He was breathing hard, and took a minute to catch his breath before speaking.

'What happened?' He asked, concern in his voice. 'Are you hurt?'

'No, just thought I'd chill here for a bit,' she replied, her tone dripping with sarcasm. 'Nice change of scenery, y'know?' Sirius snickered, but Regulus didn't even acknowledge his presence.

'What happened,' he demanded.

'I... I don't know,' she answered truthfully. Regulus sat down on the bed, while Sirius leaned against the cabinets beside her. Madame Pomfrey stood there.

'Tell us,' Regulus urged. Gemma's gaze darted toward the others, and Sirius sighed.

'Well I know where I'm not wanted,' he said loudly. 'C'mon Poppy, let's leave these crazy kids alone. Stay safe, you crazy kids.' And with that, he wandered off. Surprisingly, Madame Pomfrey also left them, busying herself with another casualty.

Now, Gemma told Regulus everything, about how Iz had attacked her, about the question she'd repeated. Regulus shook his head.

'It wasn't Iz,' he said.

'I think I know what my best friend looks like, Reg.'

'It wasn't Iz. Iz was with me and Luke in the common room playing cards.' Gemma's eyes widened.

'Then... That doesn't make any sense.'

'Doesn't it? I mean, we can't be the only ones who know how to make Polyjuice potion.' Gemma drew in a sharp breath.

'You know what I think?' She said.

'What?'

'I think that after Christmas, I really need to have that chat with Dumbledore.'