Gemma sat in the Room of Requirement, the light from the moon shining upon the orb in her hand. Ted was with her, since he was the only one she'd trusted enough to tell about the fact that Edward may still be alive. Luke would talk her out of using the orb, and Iz would throw it out the window claiming Edward was better dead.

'Are you sure you want to do this?' Ted asked anxiously. 'I mean, we don't really know what could happen.'

'I think I owe it to Edward,' she said. 'And Evan,' she added, remembering how she had betrayed him back at Malfoy manor.

'Right, but you owe it to me to be best man at mine and Iz's wedding,' he reminded her. She rolled her eyes- Iz liked the gift, but still showed no interest in Ted, but she decided not to crush his dreams. 

'Yeah whatever. Just remember, no matter what, no hospital wing. The last thing we need is people finding out about this thing.' Her focus returned to the orb, and she stared at it for a solid three minutes.

'Is something meant to be happening?' Ted whispered.

'I don't know,' she whispered back. 

'You don't know how to use it!'

'Well it didn't exactly come with an instructions manual, did it!' 

'You are going to die,' he moaned, burying his head in his hands.

'Be optimistic,' she encouraged. She rested the orb between her palms; it was freezing, like ice. She thought of Edward; the first time they'd met. It had been at Kings Cross station, on her first day of school. Her dad had had to leave early on an urgent call from work, and her eleven year old self had been waddling around trying to find the strange platform 9 and 3/4.

'Something's happening,' Ted warned, but his voice was distant, like she was submerged in water. 

Her perspective of the memory shifted. Now, she was actually standing at Kings Cross station, while people walked right past her. Instead of night, it was bright, and she caught sight of her eleven year old self going in the wrong direction, pushing her massive trolley with her. She followed.

'Excuse me,' young Gemma said, going up to the station master. 'Do you know where platform nine and three quarters is?'

'Nine and three quarters?' He repeated. 'Never heard of that.'

'But it says so on my ticket,' she persisted, waving it in his face.. 'Look.'

'Clear off,' he snapped.

'I'm not trying to pull a joke!' She indignantly. 'Stop being mean and tell me where-'

'What are you doing?' A voice came from behind. Gemma watched as young Gemma turned towards a tall boy, with blond hair and warm blue eyes, surveying her lightly. His own trolley was next to him, and a white owl sat in a cage, also staring at her piercingly.

'I'm trying to get this man to tell me where to go,' she whined.

'He is a muggle,' the tall boy explained. 'He doesn't know where the platform is.'

'Do you know where it is?' Young Gemma asked him. He nodded.

'I do. Follow me.' She obliged, struggling slightly to keep up with him amidst the large crowd. 

They arrived at the barrier, which was- much to young Gemma's dismay- a brown brick wall.

'That's a brown brick wall,' she said. 'That's not a platform.'

'You have to run into it,' the boy told her. She stared at him, and he smiled. 'Look, we'll run at it together, okay?'

'No,' she snapped. 'You're crazy.'

'I'm not,' he assured her. 'I've been doing this for a while now.' He crouched down so he was at her height. 'You have to be a little bit brave to do it.'

'I am brave!' young Gemma snapped. 

'Good,' he said, smiling patiently. 'We'll run at it now. Three, two, one...'

Gemma followed them through the barrier, where young Gemma was looking around in awe as she followed him onto the train.

'Wow!' She was saying. 'That was so cool!' The boy only hummed in agreement. 'So where are we going?' She persisted. 

'I'm going to find my friend. I'm quite not sure where you're going,' he said humorously. 

'I'm going... to yell at my friend for not telling me about the platform,' she decided, about to run off, undoubtedly, to yell at Ted. 

'Wait,' he said, stopping her. 'What's your name?'

'Gemma.'

'It was nice meeting you, Gemma. I'm Edward Rosier. If you ever need me, I'm in fourth year, Slytherin.'

Gemma watched herself nod, and skip away merrily to find Ted, and she watched as she yelled at him, and then merrily talked about how she wanted to be in Slytherin because Slytherins seemed super nice, and then a girl with an upturned nose joined them and started talking about how ugly little Gemma's hair was and how it needed fixing. 

'I don't understand,' Gemma murmured to herself. 'These... these are memories. How will I find Edward here?'

Suddenly, the train came to screeching halt, shuddering violently as the lights flickered out. Gemma was lurched forward, and she grabbed onto the compartment door to stop herself from being thrown across the train. When she looked up again, she found the train was now completely empty.  'Hello!' She called out. But there was nobody there; not her younger self, not the trolley lady, nobody. Panicked but curious, she broke into a jog to the head of the train. She'd never been here before, she didn't even know if there was a driver. But she banged on the door of the head compartment. The train gave another violent shudder, and this time she didn't have anything to grab onto. She yelped as she lurched forward- but she didn't land. She kept falling, into nothingness. She screamed, but no sound reached her ears. Her eyes were open, but she could see nothing. Nothing, but the nothingness. Time didn't exist. She didn't know how long she was falling, but felt it when she landed, when her skull cracked from impact with the ground. She could feel the blood seeping out but she couldn't feel the pain, so she stood up. 

She was no longer in nothingness. She was in a dingy cavern of sorts, with the ceiling crumbling and numerous cracks in the walls. Her gaze fell upon a man, who was tied to a chair, the thick chains binding him and allowing no room for movement. His head hung and his long, messy blond hair fell around his face, seemingly drenched.. 'Edward!' Gemma exclaimed. She ran towards him, but he didn't acknowledge her. Instead, he seem to look right through her. 

'You... lied,' he said, his voice breaking with the effort. 

'I don't- what?' She said, desperately tugging at the chains. 

'You came to me for help,' said an eerie voice from behind. Alarmed, she spun round, but there was nobody there. 'And I am giving you help.'

'No,' Edward croaked. 'No-please-' 

She watched in horror as flames began to arise. They started on the floor, and Edward strained and struggled to lean away from them, but his bonds prevented him from escaping. Soon the fire was burning through his clothes, burning his skin, and he was screaming in agony, and she was screaming too-

-and then she was falling again, and there was all that nothingness, and she could hear Ted's voice briefly, and she landed and remembered her cracked head, and there was a whole lot of pain, and she passed out.

.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.•*•.

'Is she awake?' Came a nervous voice.

'Oh you are so stupid to let her do something so stupid!' Someone said snootily.

'Oh I'm sorry-'

'Quiet!' Someone hissed. 'I'm trying to fix her skull here.'

'Can you search for a brain in there, too?' Iz- definitely Iz- snapped. A sharp pain seared through her head.

'Ow,' Gemma said groggily, opening her eyes to see three heads peering at her.

'You're awake!' Ted enthused. 'I'm so glad you aren't dead!'

'Well I would have been happy if she was,' Iz snapped. 'What were you thinking, using that thing without telling me? Or Luke? Or someone with half a brain more functional than Ted's-

'Woah woah woah, I have-'

'Enough!' Luke snapped at them both. He returned his focus to Gemma. 'I fixed your skull, but I agree with Iz. Going to find Edward without knowing how to use the orb was really stupid.' She looked at Ted, and he raised his hands in surrender.

'I had to tell them or they wouldn't help,' he insisted. 

'Tell us what you saw,' Luke urged.

So she explained to them about the memory, then the train, and then the vision about Edward. She shivered slightly as she recalled the events.

'I don't know if the vision was present, or past, or what,' Gemma said exasperatedly. 'But... I guess I got the answer to my question. Edward really is dead.'

'And good riddance,' Iz said. She stood, and left.

'She's mad at you,' Luke sighed. 'Thinks you don't trust her or whatever.'

'That's dumb,' Gemma blurted. She shook her head. 'Whatever. I have bigger things to think about than Iz's pettiness.'

'Iz is not petty, she's pretty,' Ted corrected. 'Now, I'm going to go comfort her and make sure she's alright. Iz, wait for me!'

'No,' was all they heard.

'So... are you okay?' Luke asked tentatively.

'Kinda,' she said. 'I mean, I knew he probably was dead but now... who killed him? He was burned, Luke.'

'Just like Dan,' Luke said, realisation dawning on him. 

'Exactly. There has to be some correlation between the two.' She sighed and held her head in her hands. 'How can everything become so complicated in the span of five months?'

'I don't know,' he said quietly. 'Maybe it always has been complicated, but we're just realising it now.' Something told her he wasn't talking about her situation. She decided not to question it, and stood from the bed. 

'Come on,' she said. 'Let's go down to breakfast. I'm starving.'

a/n- THERES GONNA BE A SEQUEL TO BETTER WHAT