"I have an important announcement to make!" Professor Reed exclaimed.

I raised my head from my desk to blink at him. It was a Tuesday morning at Hogwarts, which meant that I was to listen to a one hour rant by our muggle studies professor. Sakura was sitting next to me, dutifully taking notes like the perfect Ravenclaw that she was. I on the other hand, being a seventh year Hufflepuff, had no such demands upon my conscience and as long as I was kind and helpful, I could sleep through classes as much as I wanted.

She looked over at me with an annoyed expression. "You could at least try to be interested in what he is saying," she snapped.

I rolled my eyes at her. This term, Muggle Studies consisted of Greek and Roman Mythology. I should have been excited for this was my favourite topic to discuss. However after listening to countless badly explained concepts, beginning with Zeus being Poseidon's father, I had decided that it was better to switch off my brain entirely. It didn't help that I had read all fifteen books of Metamorphoses, in Latin, all last summer and knew every story by heart.

"There are other things to be interested in," I replied, looking over at the front row where Sailor Thomas was nodding intently at what Professor Reed was saying.

Sailor Thomas was...unbelievably gorgeous. And my soulmate, although he didn't know this yet. He was tall, broad shouldered with amazing blond hair that just fell into his eyes. What more could a girl ask for?

"Him?" Sakura hissed incredulously. "You've got to be kidding me. Thomas is a simpering ninny who doesn't have a mind of his own. His brain has probably washed away with the amount of time he spends in the Black Lake."

Sailor was a professional swimmer who took part muggle competitions. I'd seen (Sakura said stalked) him swimming in the Black Lake every morning. It sure was a pretty sight.

"He's amazing," I sighed and Sakura snorted.

"Like he'd ever want to date the borderline albino girl who sleeps through half her classes. Which reminds me, have you taken your pills this morning?"

"Nope," I admitted "I forgot. Does it show?"

"You look like you fell into a bag of flour."

I grimaced. I hated being anaemic. It made me utterly pale and eternally tired. As long as I took my prescribed iron supplement tablets, everything was under control. Unfortunately, I wasn't the most responsible person when it came to taking medicines. Sakura was always on my case about how my situation could escalate into something more serious.

Just then a ball of paper flew from across the room and onto Sakura's desk. She opened it and frowned when she saw who it was from. I leaned over her shoulder to read the message:

I'm having a party at by the Black Lake, you should come. Don't bring ghosty along, she's too boring. ~James Potter.

Sakura crumpled the letter in her fist and glared at James across the room. He was sitting next to Freddie Weasley and the duo were having a sword fight with their quills.

She turned to me.

"Don't you believe what they say," she said firmly.

I nodded, but my insides claimed otherwise. Ghosty. Was that what they were calling me?

"I SAID I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE!" Professor Reed bellowed and the entire class fell silent. He smiled and cleared his voice.

"As a part of our Greek Gods and Goddesses project, I'm going to assign each one of you a god or goddess. Not me precisely, but a charmed hat full of chits. It will select a one for you on the basis of your personality. Fortunately there are just about enough of you to not have to repeat gods. Shall we begin? Ms. Chang, why don't you come up to my desk first?"

Sakura stood up and strode over to where Reed was waiting, the hat in his hand. She stuck her hand into the hat and pulled a chit out.

"Athena," she read off the chit and I suppressed a smile. How apt for Sakura to get the goddess of wisdom and war. Sakura seemed to think so too and she came to her place grinning.

One by one the rest of the class went. Ella Sprout received Demeter, Dominique Weasley got Aphrodite and Sailor got Poseidon. Very well matched, I thought.

Finally it was my turn. With trembling hands I reached into the hat. I opened the chit and my eyebrows shot up. Artemis. What in the name of...?

Then it hit me. It wasn't because of my exceptional hunting abilities (which I wasn't in possession of anyway) it was because of the moon. Artemis was the goddess of the moon. Curses.

I wasn't the only one who realized that unfortunate coincidence. "Will you look at that," James Potter hollered with malicious glee. "Ghosty got the goddess of the moon. Finally, something as pale as you huh?"

The rest of the class laughed. I bowed my head to suppress the fury in my heart and walked back to my desk. Sakura slung an arm around my shoulders. "Ignore him Shira. He's not worth getting upset about."

"Now that you all have got your gods and goddesses, here is what I want you to do," Reed began. "Your task is to pretend to be them. You must know them inside out, every legend and every story ever written about them must be emblazoned in your mind. At the end of the term, you will be required to give a presentation with the data you have collected at the end of the term."

This was interesting. I wouldn't mind pretending to be a goddess for a term. Reed dismissed the class and we all got up to leave. Sakura walked up to James Potter and I, being the loyal best friend, decided to follow her.

"I'll come to your party," Sakura told him, but held up a hand before Potter could cheer.

"But only if Shira can come too."

I gaped at her. Why would I want to go to Potter's party. That would be like signing my own death sentence!

Potter froze. "You want ghosty there?" he asked.

"Yes, only her name is Shira, not ghosty," Sakura glared.

James thought for a moment, before nodding reluctantly. My eyes widened. He was actually agreeing? There must be half a dozen Nargles in his head.

"Why did you do that?" I exclaimed, once Potter and his friends had left. "Potter is your neighbor, not mine. I don't want anything to do with him!"

"You need a better social life, Shira," Sakura insisted "I cannot have you spend the rest of the year holed up in your dormitory reading Metamorphoses."

"What if that's what I want?" I demanded.

"Trust me, attend one of these parties and you won't," Sakura replied. "They're fun. A good kind of fun, okay?"

"Fine," I relented half because I didn't want to argue with Sakura and half out of curiosity. Potter's parties were the talk of Hogwarts and not everyone got an invitation. It would be interesting to see what the hype was all about.

So later that evening I set off towards the Black Lake, draped in my cloak. Sakura walked beside me, looking as pretty as ever. She was blessed with her mother's looks. We hurried in the dark, eager to get to a place that was more inhabited. We both breathed a sigh of relief when we saw people holding lanterns several yards ahead, but something about that situation looked wrong. They were crowding around something near the greenhouses. Getting closer, we could hear shocked whispers and muffled sobbing. I peered over someone's shoulder and gaped at the sight below.

Ella Sprout lay motionless on the grass, her legs half buried in the ground. Her blonde hair was splayed out in a fan behind her and her eyes were shut. Dominique was kneeling on the ground beside her, tears pouring down her cheeks.

"She was buried alive," someone beside me whispered, sounding oddly like James Potter. That wasn't the most shocking of all. Someone had burnt letters on Ella's forehead. They glowed bright red and spelt one word: Hades.