"No, sorry mate," Carina replied.

"It's fine, I'll just go ask George," Fred stated sadly as he left the library. Recently, the twins were constantly nagging her to pull pranks with them, but Carina knew that she had to study for her exams at the end of the year, as her father would be disappointed  if she did poorly.

After an hour of memorization, she heard footsteps pounding down the hallway outside of the library. Her head shot up, and she was surprised to see Hagrid waddle into the library. Ron called him over, and Carina decided to listen in.

"Hagrid! What are you doing in the library?"

"Jus' lookin'. An' what're you lot up ter?" Hargrid asked, shuffling his feet uncomfortably. Why is Hagrid acting so strange? Carina thought.

"Yer not still lookin' fer Nicolas Flamel, are yeh?"

"Oh, we found out who he is ages ago, and we know what the dog's guarding, it's a Sorcerer's Sto-" Ron boasted, but Hagrid's massive hand had cut him off. Nicolas Flamel? The Sorcerer's what?  Why are they looking for it? Carina thought.

"Don't go shoutin' about it, what's the matter with yeh?"

"There are a few things we wanted to ask you, as a matter of fact, about what's guarding the Stone apart from Fluffy -" Harry stated while Hagrid shushed him as well. So it's the Sorcerer's Stone! And Fluffy, who's that?

"Listen - come an' see me later, I'm not promisin' I'll tell yeh anythin', mind, but don' go rabbitin' about it in here, students aren' s'pposed ter know. They'll think I've told yeh -"

"See you later, then," Harry interrupted suddenly. With a smirk on her face, Carina packed her bag and walked to the common room to prepare for her upcoming study break.

That afternoon, Carina trudged across the grounds, attempting to keep a safe distance from the trio as she followed. Upon reaching the hut, Carina crouched next to the wall and pushed her ear against it, in the hopes that she could hear through it. After hearing Hagrid's voice, relief flooded through her.

"We were wondering if you could tell us what's guarding the Sorcerer's Stone, apart from Fluffy."

"O' course I can't. Number one, I don' know meself. Number two, yeh know too much already, so I wouldn't tell yeh if I could. That Stone's here fer a good reason. It was almost stolen outta Gringotts - I s'ppose yeh've worked that out an' all? Beats me how yeh even know abou' Fluffy." Hagrid muttered angrily. So that's what someone broke into Gringotts for? What could be so important about this Stone to risk that?

"Oh, come on, Hagrid, you might not want to tell us, but you do know everything that goes on round here. We only wondered who had done the guarding, really. We wondered who Dumbledore had trusted enough to help him, apart from you."

"Well, I don' s'pose it could hurt ter tell yeh that... let's see... he borrowed Fluffy from me... then some o' the teachers did enchantments... Professor Sprout, Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Professor Quirrell, an' Dumbledore himself did somethin', o' course. Hang on, I've forgotten someone. Oh yeah, Professor Snape."

"Snape?"

"Yeah - yer not still on abou' that, are yeh? Look, Snape helped protect the Stone, he's not about ter steal it."

"You're the only one who knows how to get past Fluffy, aren't you, Hagrid? And you wouldn't tell anyone, would you? Not even one of the teachers?"

"Not a soul knows except me an' Dumbledore."

"Well, that's something," Harry muttered, As their conversation came to its conclusion, Carina backed away from the wall, fearful that Harry, Ron, and Hermione would spot her eavesdropping. Being as sneaky as she was, she decided to wait for the three to leave first. She planted herself on the edge of the Forbidden Forest, in front of a particularly large tree so that they wouldn't spot her when walking back to the castle.

What on Earth are those three planning? And why do they care so much about this Stone? Carina pondered while waiting. After nearly ten minutes, the trio left Hagrid's Hut and began walking to the castle. Carina waited them out, leaving a significant space between herself and them as she waited..

That evening, Carina decided to host some research of her own. There was clearly something going on within Hogwarts, and Carina was determined to figure out what... and protect Harry.

"Sorcerer's Stone," Carina muttered under her breath, tracing the spines of the books as she scanned them. After spending three hours in the library, she had found no books pertaining to the matter.

"What even is a Sorcerer's Stone?" Carina muttered.

"Talking to yourself, now, I see," Fred's voice chimed from behind.Carina jumped nearly a meter in the air, before turning to see the twins with mischievous grins on their faces.

"I guess that's what happens when you spend so much time in here," Carina mumbled in defeat, sprawling herself across the floor of the library.

"What are you even looking for?" George questioned, nudging her in the ribs with his foot.

"I can't tell you here... Come on, follow me," Carina ordered, leaping from the floor and leading the two out into a nearby broom closet.

"Why are you taking us here, woman?" Fred complained, crouching to fit through the door.

"Oh, just hurry up before someone catches us!" Carina exclaimed, crawling in after them and locking the door.

"Well," Fred began, "what is it?" George finished.

"It's about Harry, Ron, and Hermione. I was sitting in the library yesterday, and I happened to overhear their conversation with Hagrid. They kept mentioning a man named Nicolas Flamel, and something called the Sorcerer's Stone? And then Hagrid started to scold them for asking questions about this Stone, but told them to meet him at his house... so, I decided to follow them-"

"You little stalker," George interrupted with a grin.

"Okay, but listen this seemed important! So you know how there was that Gringotts break in at the beginning of the year? Well, Hagrid said the thief was trying to take the Stone. What could be so important about this little rock that someone would be willing to break into Gringotts for it? And get this, it's here... like, in this school, and Harry's little posse is trying to find it! I'm not really sure why it's here, but Hagrid said that each teacher made an enchantment to protect this stone. That could be super dangerous for them if they go looking for it! They're only first years," Carina exclaimed.

"Bloody hell," the twins muttered in unison, the severity of the situation sinking in.

"I know! And then there's the fact that Father had told me to protect Harry this year and keep him out of trouble... do you suppose that my parents are involved in this mess?" Carina questioned with an expression of concern painted across her face.

"I'm not quite sure what your parents are involved in, Carrie, but our Dad has told us some... stories about them," George mumbled.

"Care to explain?"

"Well, he's always told us that the Malfoys are trouble... but when we first told him we were friends with you, he told us about what your father used to do..." Fred trailed off.

"Well?"

"Carrie, your father was believed to be a follower of You-Know-Who," George stated blatantly with a pang of sadness coating his words. After hearing this, Carina could hardly move. It was as if her whole body went numb, and her whole world pieced itself together. All of the meetings, all of the abuse, the murder. She couldn't speak. It fit perfectly.

"Carrie?" Fred asked after a minute of silence.

"I... I should've known," Carina stuttered in the softest voice the twins had ever heard from her.

"He never told you?"

"No... he never told me anything.. I knew that what he did was bad, but I never realized it was that bad," Carina choked out. Tears slowly began to drip down her cheeks. She didn't even bother to stop them from falling as the twins engulfed her in a hug, allowing the girl to cry in silence.

"It all makes sense," Carina muttered again. When the twins didn't answer, she decided to continue on, "I've never told either of you this before... in fact, I've never told anyone this before... promise me you'll keep this a secret, no matter what I say next."

"We promise," Fred began, "on our lives," George finished. With a nod, Carina attempted to piece herself together.

"While growing up, Mother and Father always had these meetings at the Manor... we would have fifty people over, and they would all go to the meeting room and lock the door shut... but one day, they left the door open... and toddler me decided to wander downstairs after Mother put me to bed, and... well... I saw something I wasn't supposed to see," Carina whimpered as the thought replayed itself in her mind. She could hear the woman's devastating screams echoing in her mind. The twins each wrapped an arm around Carina's shoulders as the girl trembled in terror.

"You don't have to tell us if you don't want to," Fred whispered. Carina simply shook her head and continued on.

"No... the reason I had gone downstairs was because there were these blood curdling screeches echoing through the Manor... and I decided to explore and... he killed her," Carina whimpered as tears poured from her eyes, "Those freaks! The poor woman was shrieking for help and Father KILLED HER! She didn't stand a chance! That was the last thing that poor woman remembered from her life! My father, torturing her!" Carina cried. Tears were practically flooding down Carina's face as she struggled to continue. "About a year later, they stopped having those meetings. Mother and Father sold many of their possessions, and it was almost as if they were trying to hide something. Looking back at it, it's obvious that happened because Bloody Voldemort  was defeated," Carina muttered. The twins flinched at the name, but otherwise sat silently and simply listened.

"Mother and Father seemed worried around that time, but slowly life came back to normal. This year though, they've had a few meetings again..." Carina muttered, "Father also told me to protect Harry, and I genuinely thought that he cared for the well-being of the boy... but now, I'm not so sure..."

"Wow... just wow.... Carina, I'm so, so, so sorry that you had to deal with any of that," George muttered, clutching the girl to his side, her head resting on his shoulder.

"Listen to me, Carina, from now on, you don't do what he says. Ever. Do you understand?" Fred asked. He had knelt befor her, grabbed Carina's arms, and looked her straight in the eyes. His forehead was drawn up, and his lips slightly parted as he waited for a response.

"I... I can't do that..."

"Why?" George asked in disbelief.

"Father... He'll abuse me," Carina mumbled with her eyes directed at the ground.

"What?" the twins asked forcefully.

"Father... he uses the Cruciatus Curse as punishment whenever I misbehave badly... He's only ever used it twice on me," Carina replied.

"Are you serious?" Fred asked.

"Yes, but I do think it makes him feel bad... he always apologized aft-"

"Carina, why didn't you tell us sooner? That's illegal! You have to do something about that... We have to do something about that!" George shrieked.

"NO! Oh goodness, no.  You cannot do that. Don't you dare even try, I will never forgive you two for the rest of my life if you do!" Carina shrieked.

"Carrie, you can't just let this happen!"

"Don't you get it? No matter what I do to resist him, he always comes back stronger. There's nothing I can do to stop it without getting my entire family framed, and frankly, I care too much for my family to do that to them!"

"Why do you care about them when they punish you like that?"

"Because they're my family! Would you two not do anything for one another, no matter what the circumstances were? I love my family, and I can't stand to see them put in Azkaban, regardless of what they may do. Please, keep the secret you promised to keep... For me?" Carina questioned as tears began to well in her eyes again.

"Fine. But only because we promised to and we love you," the twins mumbled in unison.

"Thank you. I will always love you both soooo much. Thank you," Carina cried, hugging her two best friends.

"You better tell us every time he does, and we'll get him back someday, Carrie, I swear," Fred whispered to her while George nodded in agreement.

"No. If anything, I want you to treat him with the compassion he was never given. You will never beat him if you sink to his level. We all have to rise above," she whispered.