Gemma left the hospital wing two days later, and she was met with the delightful news that Ted had not, in fact, been expelled. What was rather disconcerting was the fact that Dumbledore had let him go without any repercussions; Ted said he just studied him with a sad look on his shrivelled prune face and then sent him out of the office with just a warning.

She noticed that most Hufflepuffs now cowered in fear whenever they saw him, or anyone in their group for that matter, something which Mulciber and Avery enjoyed immensely.

There was only one day left until the start of the Easter holidays, and there was a detectable buzz of excitement in the school. Gemma was among them, keeping her mind off the fact that she was not going home to her dad by talking with Iz about all the fun things they were going to be doing.

Luke, Ted and Gemma had all been invited by Iz to stay at her house, since Luke's parents were on holiday with his older brother, Ted was unsure about seeing his since he'd walked out on them, and Gemma's house had probably been long sold by her dad's muggle lawyers.

She was sat in the common room that evening. The warming weather meant that it was staying bright for longer periods of time, and the common room didn't need any lit candles. She was completing a History of Magic essay, as the closeness of the upcoming exams were finally starting to dawn on her. She was alone, and was surprised when Regulus sat down opposite her.

'Um... hi?' She said confusedly.

'Hi,' he said quietly, taking out his own work and starting it. She stared at him for a few moments, then shrugged and carried on with her own.

Nearly half an hour passed before she decided to speak again, the silence that had once been comfortable now felt uncomfortable.

'You've only managed to do half a piece of parchment?' She mocked. 'I expected better from you Regulus Black'

'Yeah,' he murmured. She folded her arms.

'What's got your knickers in a twist?' She asked. 'Why so moody?'

'You always say I'm always moody,' he said, putting down his open and looking at her.

'You are,' she said truthfully. 'But not this kind of moody.' He went back to silence for minute.

'Are you excited for the holiday?' He questioned unexpectedly. She was about to answer but he interrupted her, 'of course you are. Where are you going? Iz? Luke?'

'Iz,' she said. He hummed in agreement.

'Your lucky,' he said quietly. 'You really are lucky to have friends that good.'

'What?' She said in confusion. 'You could- you were friends with us. You decided not to be!'

'I-' He stopped for a minute. 'I was... wrong.'

'So that's what this is?' She demanded. 'An apology? A can we go back to how it was?'

'No,' he said hastily, 'I don't think anything can ever go back. Not with you in the... and how... what I will-' his voice broke, and she looked on in surprise.

'Then... what do you want?'

'Must you have an explanation for everything?' He groaned.

'No,' Gemma said warily. 'Keep your weird thoughts to yourself. But I would like to know, what do you want?'

'Just to talk.'

'About what?' She said coldly.

'Something normal.' She would have refused, and gotten up and left, if it wasn't for the pleading look in his eyes.

'Okay,' she sighed. 'The match, Holywood Harpies against the Tornados...'

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

They spent a considerable amount of time talking, before Regulus left to pack his things. He had seemed somewhat distant initially, but soon they'd been laughing and talking together just like at the start of the year. Their chat had made Gemma think that maybe, after Easter, things could be the same, and Regulus had been mean because he was worried but his parents did not in fact want him to be a death eater and he could go back to being kind.

How naïve and stupid her wishful thinking had been.

She was now in the library. She was trying to research her vision by herself. Except she'd never really been in the library because she never really studied, so she was failing miserably to navigate her way through the shelves.

'Shit!' She said in anger as she opened yet another herbology book about dumb plants. She threw it on the floor violently, and rested her head on the shelf.

'Are you alright?' A familiar voice asked. She looked up and saw Elladora holding a book of her own.

'Yes,' she growled. 'I hate this place.'

'Well,' Elladora said, picking up the herbology book and putting it back on the shelf, 'I don't think the books quite appreciate your rage.' Sure enough, a magical book was frowning at her from the shelf. Gemma made a face back at it and the older girl laughed.

'I'm trying to find books on visions,' she admitted.

'Visions?' Elladora repeated, eyes widening. 'As in...'

'Of the past,' Gemma confirmed. She didn't elaborate, and the older girl nodded.

'Okay,' she said. She beckoned Gemma to follow her. 'There are a couple of books here by Professor Thomas Rosancrantz...'

By the end of the hour, Gemma had about twenty massive books stacked up in her arms. It was becoming difficult to see where she was walking, and her arms were strained with the effort, but she couldn't fight the large grin on her face.

'Thank you so much,' she said. 'I- well, you may have just solved a murder without even knowing it.'

'Happy to help,' Elladora said, smiling at her brightly.

'How do you know where to find everything?' Gemma couldn't help but ask.

'Well, probably because I spent over five years here hiding from people,' Elladora replied, 'you do learn to navigate your way around.'

'People,' Gemma mumbled. 'Hate those.'

'It is rather rude that they have the audacity to exist!' Elladora joked. They both laughed, and Gemma remembered that her arms were aching from the books.

She bade farewell to Elladora and went straight to her dorm. She began sorting through the stack and trying to find the most useful.

'Magical Awakenings and Connections,' She read aloud. 'By Eden Alvarado.'

She stayed awake reading the passages in the book, long after everyone had eaten dinner and gone to bed, lighting a candle by her bedside. Her eyes widened with realisation as she read.

She jumped out of her covers sometime around two a.m. and shook Iz awake.

'Iz!" She exclaimed, 'I have something to tell you!'

'Wha?' Iz said groggily, sitting up and rubbing her eyes.

'The burning potion, Iz! When it burned through my hand, it somehow awoke some magical thing or part of me or whatever and I remembered how my dad felt when he was being burned!'

'But you weren't there?' Iz said confusedly. 'How-'

'Clairvoyance, Iz! Clairvoyant people can do it!"

'Who's Claire?' Natalia groaned from her bed.

'It doesn't matter,' Goyle moaned. 'Shut the fuck up you two.'

But Iz's eyes were wide with alarm. 'You think your clairvoyant?' Iz whispered.

'No. I've never had a vision before, and clairvoyant people start at a young age. But... it has something to do with it.' She whispered back. Pure excitement was filling her- she had a lead, and it wasn't a definite lead, but it had to lead to something, and clarity seemed to be somewhat lacking in her life lately.

'Write to this author,' Iz said. 'They could probably give you more of an answer.'

'I will,' Gemma confirmed. 'After I've read all the other books. I want a second opinion.'

'All the other books?' Iz asked uncertainly, eyeing the stack. 'You've never read one book before. How are you going to manage twenty?'

'I did read a book once,' Gemma defended. 'It was about a dog called Spot and he was learning all the different colours.' Iz stared at her for a minute, then pushed her off the bed.

'You're stupid,' she informed her, rolling over and going back to sleep.