The three of us were exhausted the next morning (I was for the most part because Cassie wriggled about in her sleep and had very pointy elbows) but eager to discuss the giant three headed dog that lived in our school.

I didn't want to look at it's eyes, so I looked at the floor. Cassie told us. It was stood on a door. There's something under there. Something its guarding or protecting.

"I mean, if you want to keep something safe I suppose that's the way forward." I stifled a yawn as I adjusted my tie, which hung limply around my neck.

"A Cerberus!" Katherine's eyes were bright and excited. "Like in Greek Mythology! It guards the gates to the Underworld—they're so fascinating. I knew they existed in the wizarding world, but I never thought I'd see one!"

You are way too excited for it being this early in the morning, Kat. Cassie blinked several times, clearly trying to stay awake as we traipsed up to the hall for breakfast.

"It's half past eight, this is later than we usually go to the hall." Katherine frowned. "I just like mythology... it's interesting."

"It is," I said brightly, not wanting to discourage her. "We're just too sleep deprived to appreciate it."

Cassie joined us at the Hufflepuff table for breakfast, and nobody seemed to mind too much. While the Slytherins had a reputation for not being nice, people knew this wasn't true about Cassie. She radiated positivity and kindness.

"Ha!" I exclaimed as I poured milk over my cereal. "Look at Draco's face!"

Cassie and Katherine both grinned. Draco looked sulky as he noticed that Harry and Ron were sat at the Gryffindor table, clearly not in any trouble. He especially looked annoyed that Cassie was sat at our table, and very clearly had saved Harry and Ron from trouble.

"He's pissed off at you, Cassie." Katherine gave another small smile.

Cassie gave her a smile that radiated sunshine. When life gives you lemons, you have to make a hell of a lot of lemonade.

**

A week later, the fruit of Cassie's metaphorical revenge lemonade against her brother was ripened. About a week later we were sat having breakfast, when not one, but six screech owls flew into the hall carrying a long package.

It soared straight over to the Gryffindor table, and dropped the long package onto the table in front of Harry. He and Ron read a note that was attached, before they hurried off from breakfast with the package in tow.

Katherine, Cassie and I exchanged a look. "Well that wasn't suspicious," I frowned. "Wonder who's sending Harry a massive package."

Cassie snorted, and I gave her a withering look. "You knew what I meant, Cass."

She shrugged which said I saw the opportunity.

"You are both dense," Katherine looked up from her eggs. "it's obviously a broomstick."

I almost spilt tea onto my blouse. "What?"

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Harry obviously doesn't have a broom, because first years can't usually the join the teams. It's a large package—Cassie, stop giggling please, I have a point," she tried to look annoyed at Cassie, but even that was a fairly gentle smile. "So obviously one of the teachers has bought him a broomstick. That's why the boys were excited."

"Great job, Katherine Holmes," I tried to sound extra-sarcastic like Sasha. "But why not we just ask them?"

Katherine paused. "Yeah, we could do that."

Quickly grabbing our rucksacks, we hurried out into the entrance hall to find that Draco had approached Harry and Ron, the package in his slimy hands.

"—Ah ha! First years can't have broomsticks, you'll be in so much trouble, Potter—" Draco was saying.

"It's a Nimbus Two Thousand," Ron said smugly, and Draco's face fell. "Fastest broom on the market, isn't that right, Harry?"

Harry nodded smugly, and Draco's face screwed up. "What do you know about brooms, Weasley? I bet you and your brothers have to build them, twig by twig—OUCH, Cassie?"

Cassie had punched her brother in the arm and retrieved the broomstick. She passed it to Harry, who looked relieved.

"Wish I had a Nimbus Two Thousand," Katherine said sadly. "My Auntie thinks they're too dangerous."

"Not fighting, children, I hope?" Professor Flitwick had approached us, and in fairness it did look like the five of us were ready to smack down Draco.

"Potter's been sent a broom!" Draco said triumphantly, always the snitch.

"Oh yes!" Flitwick's eyes lit up. "McGonagall told me, special circumstances—brilliant! What model is it?"

Draco scowled at us all, and stomped off, but not before shoving Cassie as he went. She shot him a dirty look. She wrote one word on her notebook to us: Boys.

**

Time was flying past us at the speed of lightning, and it was a great surprise to me when Halloween arrived. I'd already been at Hogwarts for two months! It had felt like a lifetime and felt like my dearest home.

People had stopped looking at my weird eyes and making snide comments about my father. People had finally realised that I wasn't (that much) of a freak and certainly not murderer material. I still hadn't talked to mum—but that was just a glitch. I'd talk to her when I was ready.

"We really have the best house," Katherine announced on Halloween morning as she braided her hair in a complicated cool way I'd seen some other black girls around the school did. "Can you smell that?"

"Oh boy," I said dreamily.

Our entire room smelt of home-made cooking and warmth, and I couldn't keep a smile off my face as I dressed for school. We were having a huge Halloween feast tonight and being so close to the kitchens had its advantages.

"Morning, morning!" Sasha said, all chipper as we met her in the common room. She was wearing her hair in a neat bun which made her look effortlessly cool (but would make me look like a Tellytubby) and wearing a large '14' badge that I'd bought her.

"Happy birthday!" I exclaimed, thrusting a birthday bag at her. Katherine shyly passed my sister a small package as well. "Love you, my spooky sister!"

Sasha rolled her eyes. She revelled in the fact her birthday was on Halloween—and 'spooky sister' was her nickname for her birthday only. When we were younger celebrations involved lots of Halloween treats Mum baked and endless scary movies.

Sasha tore into the packaging. A grin came onto her face. "You do really love me, golden eyes."

I'd gotten her the latest installment in a Japanese horror manga series she loved. Sasha loved them so much that she was fluent in Japanese—she claimed the Japanese edition of the manga was more authentic. It'd taken almost two months to arrive, but the smile on her face was worth it.

"If I didn't get you something good you'd annoy me half to death." I teased, but we both knew that I thought birthdays were as special as she did.

The three of us hurried up to the Hall, with Sasha's pocket jangling with the five Galleons Katherine got her for her birthday ('What? Everybody appreciates money.') all of us in good spirits.

All the third year Hufflepuffs sang Happy Birthday to Sasha—and a couple of the Muggle-borns sang the song from 'Nightmare Before Christmas' which delighted my sister to no end.

"Happy birthday, Sasha," Cedric passed Sasha a square package, and I swear she practically glowed like my hands when he gave her hand a quick squeeze.

"Oh Cedric, it's perfect!" Sasha cried when she unwrapped the package. It was a book with all the art from the Ruby series. I felt a bit put out—I wanted to get it for her for Christmas.

"S'alright," Cedric said bashfully as Sasha threw her arms around him. "You read those books all the time—even that one time during Quidditch practice."

Sasha's face beamed like the rays of the rising sun. I nudged Katherine's arm, which was about the level of closeness she could handle.

"She says I act all flustered around Fred," I said under my breath, glaring at my hypocritical sister. She clearly heard me, sticking her tongue out at me. "She very obviously fancies him—"

"Who fancies me?" Fred said out of nowhere, obviously only hearing his name and the end of the conversation.

I was so shocked I spilt milk over my skirt. Sasha burst into peals of laughter, while Fred looked very confused.

"I think Sasha proved her point, little miss fluster," Katherine said with a smirk.

Now it was my turn to turn beetroot red.

**

Trying to push my embarrassing behavior behind me (Fred even passed me some napkins for my skirt, which made me blush harder and Katherine start to giggle. Giggle!) I decided instead to focus on my lessons for the day.

We had an enjoyable morning of learning about Devil's Snare in Herbology with Cassie (who drew pictures of her brother being choked by it—which was very funny) and doing basically nothing in History of Magic—before we headed to Charms before lunch with the Gryffindors.

"Right, class!" Flitwick stood on a stack of books and addressed us all. "Today, we're going to do something exciting! We're going to make objects fly!"

A collective gasp went across the class. We'd been doing theory work for what seemed like forever. I was excited to be doing some proper magic.

Flitwick paired us up, which I thought would be disastrous but turned out okay. I ended up partnered with Harry, while Katherine was with Hannah Abbot. Hermione was partnered with Hermione-which looked like a disaster ready to happen considering they didn't get on.

"It's your sister's birthday today, isn't it?" Harry asked as we wrote some final notes down before we got to the fun stuff.

"Yeah, she's fourteen today." I said brightly. "I think we're going to tell scary stories tonight, since we don't have television here."

"You both make a lot of effort for each other," Harry said wistfully. "I wish my so-called family took interest in me. Oh wow, sorry that sounded really bitter."

I patted Harry on the arm. "Don't worry about it Harry. They aren't worth it. Just think—when its your birthday, you'll have Sasha, Ron and I all making it the best one ever!"

Harry was suitably cheered up, just in time for us to start attempting to do magic.

"Swish and flick!" Flitwick called over the hubbub of building excitement. "Remember the movements we practiced!"

It sounded easy enough but was difficult. Harry and I waved our arms dramatically, but nothing happened. Several times I picked up my feather to see if it was secretly glued to the desk, not that I was inept at magic.

"I can magically heal people, but can't levitate a feather off the desk," I whispered to Harry, putting my head flat on the desk. "I'm a pathetic excuse for a witch."

Harry joined me in putting his head on the desk. "Well I supposedly defeated Voldemort as a baby, and I'm not doing much better."

We exchanged a smile, and then burst into a fit of giggles. "What are we going to need to levitate feathers for anyway?" I tried to stop laughing. "That's not a magic life skill!"

"Hey!" Harry said. "What if you need to levitate some chicken feathers out of a coop?"

The two of us giggled again, unfourtantley attracting Fliwtick's attention, who told us to get back to work. Glumly, I decided to see how Hermione and Ron were getting on with their feathers.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" Ron swung his arms around like a windmill, almost taking out Neville Longbottom's eye with his vicious arm movements.

"Muggles don't need solar panels, they could just attach Ron to a pole," I whispered to Harry, and he started laughing so loud he had to cover his mouth up to avoid getting us in trouble.

Meanwhile Hermione was berating Ron for his technique, which I didn't think was a good idea. "It's Win-gar-dium," she said to Ron. "You need to make the gar very long."

Ron threw his wand down on the table in a huff. "You do it then, if you're so clever!"

Hermione, being her amazing self, rolled up her jumper sleeve and spoke confidently. "Wingardium Leviosa!" The feather steadily rose above all our heads, everybody stopping their lack of progress to 'ooh' and 'ahh'.

Flitwick was very impressed, and Hermione made the most progress of us all. Katherine had somehow managed to set her feather on fire, and all mine had done was roll over on the desk.

"You put us all to shame," I told Hermione at the end of the lesson as the two of us and Katherine exited the classroom. "I feel like my magic dried up today."

Hermione turned a shade of pink. "I'm sure you'll pick it up soon, Lyra. It takes a lot of practice and determination."

"My determination managed to get my hands burnt," Katherine said glumly, rubbing at her singed fingers. I wondered if I should tell her about my healing later, so I could elevate some of her discomfort.

As I was contemplating this, the corridor was so busy that we were practically pressed up against Harry and Ron who were unaware how close we were.

"Hermione's such a nightmare," Ron said aggressively, "It's a wonder Lyra can stand having a conversation with her!"

Before I could say anything, I caught a quick glimpse of Hermione's teary face before she hurried off, pushing past Ron.

"You utter twat," Katherine spat at Ron, who turned around with a jolt. They'd only just realised how close we were. "Are you actually that stupid to be horrible to a girl, just because she's better at magic than you?"

Ron's ears went red. "I didn't think she could hear me."

Katherine clenched her fists and her jaw went tight. "I'm not even going to explain what's wrong with that statement. I would punch you so hard in the fucking face—but it's an insult to my fist. You're pathetic, Ron Weasley."

Katherine stormed off, but not before giving Ron the dirtiest look I'd ever seen her give (except maybe to Elijah that day in potions) and shoving her way through the crowd of students, standing on toes and jostling bags.

Harry and I stood awkwardly. "Yeah, um..." I said, fiddling with the strap of my bag. "That was mean, Ron. For the record, I like Hermione." I paused. "And—you're a git."

Cassie came and sat with me at lunchtime, as neither Katherine or Hermione were anywhere to be found. Cassie did the most talking, while my mind was elsewhere. Why did Katherine get so angry? I was pissed off with Ron, but the way she talked... scared me.

Cassie and I headed off to our Transfiguration lesson, but not before a dark-skinned girl with Slytherin uniform approached us with a wave at Cassie. It was Daphne Greengrass, a Slytherin girl I know Cassie was friendly with.

"Hey, Cassie!" she said brightly. "Hey, Lyra."

"Hey," I nodded, and Cassie smiled.

"You're both friends with Hermione Granger, aren't you?"

We both nodded and looked at each other warily. What had happened now? "I just went into the bathroom on the first floor—you know, by that portrait of the house founders? She was in there, crying. Some Gryffindor girls were trying to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen."

Tell McGonagall we aren't feeling well, Cassie scribbled quickly. Please Daphne. We owe you one.

Daphne nodded, so Cassie and I hurried off to the girl's toilet. As the bell for last lesson rang, we knew that we would be un-interrupted in talking to Hermione.

It was very obvious which stall Hermione was in—choked sobs were coming from the only occupied stall. Cassie gave me a look, and I understood immediately. We each went into a stall, and with great difficulty I climbed onto the toilet seat, going on my tip-toes.

Steadying myself on the stall wall, I peered over to see Hermione's teary face. Cassie's face appeared from the other stall.

"Hermione?" I said, and she shrieked. "Want to talk about it?"

She made a weird hiccup-crying sound. "I guess—before you both break your necks!"

Gratefully hopping down from the toilet, Hermione unlocked the door and the three of us sat on Cassie's coat next to the paper towel dispenser. Cassie passed Hermione a pack of tissues, and I put my arm around her.

"Thank you," Hermione said quietly. She rubbed at her eyes with the tissue. "Was Ron right, can people really not stand me?"

We love you, Cassie told her with a fierce nod. You've got us as friends.

"He's just jealous, cause you're better at magic than him." I squeezed her a little bit tighter. "You're the best in the whole year."

Hermione began tearing her tissue up into little shreds. "In Primary School, I never had any friends. People thought I was a freak because of the weird things that happened... also how much I liked school. I just thought.... It'd be different here. That I wouldn't be the freak."

Hey, I don't talk. I haven't properly since I was five. You're really not the freak here. Cassie squeezed Hermione's hand, and leaned into her side.

Butterflies began to grow in my stomach. This was an opportunity if any.... "You really aren't, Hermione. I can... well I can heal people by touching them. It's why my eyes are gold."

Hermione and Cassie both whipped their heads in my direction, as expected. I explained all that had happened over the summer, and how Sasha and I were trying to find out how I had phoenix tears—and who hurt our mother.

"Now that's gong to be a lot of research," Hermione's eyes lit up, her tears finally fading from her cheeks. "You'll need some help with that."

"Of course," I smiled. "I couldn't ask for anyone better."

Still can't believe you didn't tell me. I'm your bestest friend. Cassie pouted at me, but I could tell she wasn't really cross.

"How do you bring that up?" I snorted. "Oh hey, Cassie. As it turns out, I can heal people with a weird glowing light. Oh yeah, its why I've always looked so weird. That's not normal, even for a witch."

"I wonder what the purpose was," Hemione said curiously. "There had to be a purpose to make a baby have such unique powers."

Suddenly the room felt very cold, like the air had been sucked out. Thinking about somebody wanting to use me for my powers made me feel like I was submerged in ice—it scared me how much of a secret my power had to be kept.

Cassie looked at her watch and let out a squeak. The feast has started! We've been here so long!

"We need to have some dinner," my stomach started to grumble. "C'mon. We need to try and find Katherine anyways."

As the three of us clambered off the cold floor with numb legs, very slowly like in a horror movie the bathroom door opened and a figure lumbered in. Illuminated in the fading light from the windows, was a massive twelve feet troll with knobbly knees and a screwed up grey face carrying a club.

Cassie let out a squeak, and we huddled together, paralysed with fear. Maybe it wouldn't notice us, trolls were stupid. If we could sneak around it to the door—BANG!

The door slammed shut behind it, the latch bolting. The troll let out a roar, finally noticing the three of us. Hermione and I screamed, my throat hurting as my heart pounded in my chest.

Stumbling backwards we hit the furthest wall away from safety, the troll beginning to whack sinks off the walls like mere flies on paper. We huddled together, Cassie pulling out her wand with a shaking hand.

Then the door flung open again, this time revealing a shocked looking Harry and Ron. "HARRY!" I screamed in relief. "HELP US!"

"Confuse it!" Harry shouted to Ron, and the two of them began lobbing broken taps off the floor at the troll's head.

It stopped mere feet from us and turned to Ron who had just thrown a discarded metal pipe at it. "Yeah—pea brain, come over here!"

"Come on!" Harry exclaimed, holding his hand out to us. "Run—let's get out of here!"

Cassie gladly ran to Harry's side and clutched onto him, but Hermione was paralysed with fear even when I was shouting in her ear to move. The noises were disturbing the troll, who was looking between us and Ron, trying to decide who was the better target.

"I have an idea!" Ron shouted. "Wingardium Leviosa!"

He pointed his wand at the discarded club of the troll, which began to float in front of the troll's stupid face. He began stomping towards it—I saw Ron's plan immediately, lead him out of the bathroom and away from us, before dropping the club on his head.

But as the troll began to stagger into the entrance of the bathroom, and the club hovered above his head—something very strange happened, and something only I later realised—was the only one to see it.

Katherine Moran appeared in the entrance way of the bathroom, and as quick as a flash of light leapt towards the troll with the ferocity of a lioness with her hands outstretched as if to push it. But the veins on her hands were pitch black, and black smoke was unfurling like a storm from her hands.

As soon as her hands and the smoke touched the troll, he fell backwards with the grace of a falling tree just as the club began to drop.

The entire bathroom shuddered as he collapsed in front of us, unmoving.

"Are you guys okay?" Katherine said breathlessly from the troll's feet.

"Where did you come from?" Hermione's voice was high-pitched.

"I heard screaming," Katherine said breezily, and I frowned. "Nobody's hurt, are they?"

Before anybody could respond, Cassie approached the troll's massive body and poked its giant grey stomach. She let out a shocked little squeak, and in a hurry wrote on her hand instead of her notebook.

He's dead! Ron, you killed the troll with your spell!

Moments later teachers arrived and gave us house points for taking care of the troll—all of them baffled at how its club killed it.

But I knew what I'd seen. Somehow, Katherine had killed that troll with only her hands and the mysterious black smoke. And I had a sneaking suspicion as to how it had happened.

My mum hadn't been the only one experimented on. 

-----

A/N oooh, plot twist! Who saw that coming? Katherine's powers will be explained more as the chapters go on :)

Hope you're all enjoying the story everyone, this story is making me really happy. Next couple of chapters are written (it was one, but it was wayyyyy too long) and we will see a moment between Fred and Lyra--and Elijah returns!

:)