Gemma jolted awake. Her eyes darted to the clock on the wall, and widened in panic. She'd overslept.

She ran into the bathroom, frantically brushing her teeth while simultaneously stuffing her books into her bag. She took less than three minutes to throw on her uniform, not bothering to tuck her shirt into her trousers, and letting her tie dangle loosely around her neck as she sprinted out into the corridor and all the way to class.

She entered breathlessly, around two minutes late, and breathed a sigh of relief as she realised Professor Slughorn was not yet there. But dread began to settle over her as she realised all the seats were occupied; Luke was sitting with Pandora and Ted was with Iz. The only free seat was...

She drew in a deep breath and willed herself to sit next to Regulus. It had been a few days since the party, and now without their patronus lessons, everything had gone back to how it had been. He made a disgusted face at her. 

'What are you doing here?' He sneered.

'Well, sitting, obviously, because you are my best friend-'

'We are not friends-'

'I was obviously being sarcastic, you complete idiot-'

'Good morning, good morning,' Slughorn said jovially, coming into the room. 'How are we all doing?'

'Very well, sir, thank you,' Luke said politely.

'Suck-up,' some kid muttered from across the room.

'Well that's not very Hufflepuff of you,' Ted said, looking critically at the boy's yellow robes. The boy narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to retort, but Slughorn interrupted.

'Now now, let's not get into an argument,' he laughed nervously. He looked lost for words, then clapped his hands and turned to the board. 'Today! We will be making a potion for burning, very useful for...' Gemma was distracted by Regulus, who slipped a note to her.

𝒯𝓇𝓎 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝓉𝑜 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝓌 𝒶𝓃𝓎𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓅, 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁 𝓎𝑜𝓊? 𝐼'𝒹 𝓇𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓃𝑜𝓉 𝑔𝑒𝓉 𝓂𝓎 𝓇𝑜𝒷𝑒𝓈 𝒹𝒾𝓇𝓉𝓎 𝓉𝑜𝒹𝒶𝓎 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓌𝑒 𝒶𝓁𝓁 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓅𝒶𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓉𝒾𝒸 𝓈𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁𝓈 𝒶𝓉 𝓂𝒶𝑔𝒾𝒸.

She scowled, and began scribbling her own note.

𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤, 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘪 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘪𝘧 𝘪 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥

It took him less than five seconds to write his response.

𝒴𝑜𝓊'𝒹 𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒹 𝒶 𝓌𝒶𝓎.

That was it. He was declaring war.

𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘬

𝒯𝓇𝓊𝑒, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒸𝒶𝓃'𝓉 𝒹𝑜 𝒶 𝓈𝓅𝑒𝓁𝓁 𝓉𝑜 𝓈𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝒾𝒻𝑒.

𝘪 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰, 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘸𝘰u𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦?

He grimaced, and she knew she'd touched a nerve. He didn't write another note, so she marked it a win in her mental record book.

How wrong she was to assume so quickly.

When Slughorn had finished listing off the uses of the potion, and given a brief history of it (Regulus had payed full attention while Gemma stared out the window and daydreamed about quidditch), she opened her textbook to the right page and began collecting supplies from the cupboard.

She laid her hand on a jar of lacewing flies, but another boy snatched it from her.

'I found that first,' he said snootily, she recognised him as the rude Hufflepuff boy.

'I'll let you have it,' she drawled, 'because you'll probably start crying if I don't.'

'What's that supposed to mean?' He questioned roughly.

'Oh, I just meant how over- sensitivity is a house trait... apparently I was quite correct...'

As the boy began to draw his wand, Luke came in between them.

'Let's not start a dispute over flies,' he said firmly, handing Gemma his jar, going to find a new one.

'Should've let her smack some Slytherin sense into him,' Ted commented as he walked by. Gemma smiled but didn't say anything.

She followed the instructions perfectly, and her potion was going perfectly. She was about halfway through it, and the potion was a molten orange colour, just like her book described.

But as she had her back turned to collect rhinestone dust from the stones she'd just crushed, a particular Hufflepuff boy walked past he desk, knocking into it. Hard.

The cauldron fell, and out of pure instinct and pure stupidity she grabbed it before it hit the ground. All the molten potion spilled onto her hand, and she gasped in pain, pulling her hand away and clutching it to her chest.

She staggered and gripped the desk with her good hand as white dots of pain danced in front her vision.

'Gemma?' Someone- probably Ted- asked her worriedly. 'Are you okay?'

'Are you dumb, Nott?' Regulus asked coldly. 'Look at her, of course she isn't okay.'

'Nobody asked you,' Iz snapped.

Gemma looked at her own arm. The solution had burned through the corners of her sleeve and was now slowly burning through her flesh. It almost looked worse than it felt, and she was rapidly blinking back tears to preserve whatever dignity she had left.

'What on Earth were you doing!' Slughorn was scolding the Hufflepuff. 'Ridiculous behaviour... such carelessness in the classroom...'

'It was an accident,' the boy claimed, sounding panicked, 'I didn't mean to-'

'If your both quite done, may I take her to the hospital wing?' Regulus asked.

'Oh yes, yes m'boy of course-'

'Not.... you,' Gemma said through gritted teeth. She absolutely refused to let him gloat the entire way about being right. Regulus' jaw clenched.

'Yes, me,' he persisted. 'I am your desk partner, after all. Isn't that right, Professor?'

'Go to hell,' She snapped. 'I can go myself.'

'Are you sure?' Ted asked worriedly. She just rolled her eyes and pushed her friends away and left the classroom herself, slamming the door shut behind her. Now she let herself cry, the pain was becoming unbearable.

She started up the stairs, but her vision was becoming clouded as her body tried to block out the agony. She tried to carry on but found herself sinking to the floor. She barely registered someone helping her up, barely heard them saying something.

'Why do you always have to be so damn stubborn?' They said, before everything surrounding Gemma was darkness.

She opened her eyes. She was in her kitchen at her house, and she'd just put the turkey in the oven. She was alone in the house and her legs were beginning to ache from cooking, so she left the kitchen and sat on the sofa, opening the recliner to stretch her legs. She turned on the television, but there was nothing interesting on so she turned it off and sighed.

Suddenly, she heard the window smash. She didn't have time to react before someone said something, and she was frozen in place. Terror seeped through her- this wasn't just some burglary. Someone had used magic.

'Hello Dan,' the intruder said, moving to stand in front of her. The voice was clearly male, and sounded vaguely familiar... But that could have just been her imagination. The hood of the black cloak he wore covered the top half of his face completely, with the other half covered in shadows.

'Who...' Gemma forced out, but she was unable to finish her thought. He laughed, a strange, grating sound.

'I'm going to ask you a question, Dan,' he said. 'And I hope, for your sake, that you can answer it.'

'W-what?' She asked, with great difficulty. He bent down so he was level with her.

'Where is Genevieve?' He asked. It was so simple, like a casual question he was asking as a friend.

'I...I...'

'Come on Dan. You know Genevieve. Your wife?'

'Don't... know..' She answered through gritted teeth. The man stayed there for a minute, as though studying her, before standing.

'Unfortunately, I think your telling the truth. That means that you are of no use to me.' He raised his hand. Panic swelled in her chest.

'Wait!' She cried, but it was no use. An intense pain surged through her, burning her from the inside out, and she could hear her own screaming and her eyes were melting and she could no longer see the man in front of her-

-She jolted awake. Breathing heavily she looked around her. She was in the hospital wing, not her old house. She was herself, not her father. She was alive, and she didn't feel any pain. She looked at her arm, the sleeve had been rolled up and the wound was almost invisible, her skin had been regrown with magic.

Voices surrounded her, and she saw Iz sitting at the end of her bed, arguing with Regulus, who was leaning with one shoulder against the wall, not really seeming bothered by her anger. Luke, who was reading, was the first to look up and notice her.

'Hey,' he said, drawing the attention of the others. 'How are you feeling?'

'Perfectly fine,' she said, trying her hardest to steady her breathing.

'Are you sure?' Iz asked. 'You sound... out of breath.'

'Just hurts a bit,' Gemma lied to reassure her. Luke nodded, but Iz still looked suspicious. 'Where is Ted?' Gemma continued.

They all hesitated. She narrowed her eyes. 'What?'

'He's in Dumbledore's office,' Luke murmured. 'After you left he...'

'He absolutely lost it,' Iz stated. 'Started hexing that Hufflepuff boy half to hell. He didn't even stop when he was unconscious... '

'The guy probably would have ended up in St Mungo's if Ted hadn't been stopped,' Luke finished. 'You should have seen him, it was like... like it wasn't even him. I couldn't even recognise half the spells he used.'

'They were dark,' Iz murmured. 'Nothing illegal but... nothing that Ted of all people should know.'

'Well... will he get expelled?' Gemma asked in alarm. Nobody looked directly at her.

'He could,' Iz said softly.

'Shame he's in Slytherin,' Regulus chipped in. 'If he was a Gryffindor Dumbledore would've explained it all away.' Luke sent him a scowl and he shrugged.

'I reckon Madam Pomfrey won't let me go now,' Gemma said sullenly.

'She said two days, to avoid the new skin breaking,' Iz said sympathetically. 'We'll update you on Ted's... situation.'

'Right now we should go,' Luke agreed. 'Now that we know your alright we should go and see what Dumbledore decided.'

'You go,' Regulus dismissed, staring intently at Gemma. 'I don't much care for him anyway.'

'You're going to stay with her? Alone?' Iz said disapprovingly.

'Was I not the one that brought her here in the first place?' He snapped. 'She'd be lying on a staircase somewhere if it wasn't for me.'

'My Knight in shining armour,' Gemma muttered sarcastically, and he shot her a glare.

'Iz come on,' Luke insisted. 'She'll be fine, he isn't a serial killer.'

'Isn't he though.' Gemma pointed out. Regulus' glare intensified.

'Okay,' Iz said reluctantly. She pointed her wand at Regulus. 'Try anything funny, and I will personally ensure every single hair on your head is singed off.'

'Delightful,' he said dryly. They finally left, and Regulus did not waste a second.

'You saw something,' he said. 'When you were out.'

He knew the truth and there was no point arguing. But she did anyway.

'Me? I-nooooo? Unless you mean total darkne-

'Stop,' he said. 'I heard you murmuring the entire time. I couldn't make out what you said but...'

'Why exactly do you want to know?' She asked, genuinely confused. He straightened.

'Curiosity,' he said. His face gave no hints of lying, no nose twitch or lip change, so Gemma believed him.

'I saw my dad get murdered,' she admitted. He frowned.

'How is that possible?' He said in mild shock.

'I dunno,' she said shrugging. 'I was him, and I felt everything he did.'

'It could be unreal,' he said darkly. 'Someone must be playing with your head.'

'I don't think so,' she countered. 'It felt real. And how can someone make me feel pain, through a vision?'

'Well people don't just get random flashbacks of moments they didn't see,' he snapped.

'That's what happened,' she snapped back, folding her arms. 'I didn't expect you to understand it anyway.'

'Whatever,' he sniffed. 'It was just a bad dream that you mixed up with reality.' He left, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

She knew for sure it wasn't a dream. She couldn't explain it, she just did, no matter what Regulus said. His reaction had just confirmed that nobody would be able to figure it out.

She sighed. Edward would have known what to do.