Author's Notes: So, two things. Check out the poll on my profile page and vote, and kudos to anyone who spots the quote from His Dark Materials (The Golden Compass, to be exact).

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything that you recognize from Harry Potter. The little bit from The Golden Compass belongs to Philip Pullman.

Chapter Six

Albus entered the Hog's Head. It was seven o'clock and nobody was in the pub, save for himself and his brother. The emptiness of the pub relived Albus because he wanted to talk to Aberforth alone.

"Albus?" Aberforth asked, surprised to see his older brother standing uncertainly at the entrance of the pub.

"Hello, Aberforth," Albus said.

"What brings you here?" Inquired Aberforth.

"Can we talk?"

"Alright" Aberforth looked slightly startled. He motioned at a table and sat down; Albus followed suit.

"I've been thinking about what you told me a few weeks ago, Aberforth, and you were absolutely right," Albus began, "I never properly dealt our sister's - Ariana's- death."

"Oh," Aberforth replied.

"I'm going to follow your example and apologize. Aberforth," Albus said sincerely, " I'm so sorry about not being a better older brother to you. I feel terrible about all the events that occurred, namely Ariana's death. If I could go back and act differently, I would. Aberforth, I would give anything to be able to go back and make things right. I apologize."

After Albus finished, Aberforth was silent for a few moments. He did not know how to respond. Before the night on which he apologized to Albus, he would have most likely have responded to Albus' apology by lashing out and told Albus that wish as he might, there was no way to go back and fix everything. But now, he didn't want to yell at Albus. He was so sick of being angry; he wanted everything to be okay. He knew that everything wasn't okay now, but it could be a bit closer to being so. He wanted to accept his apology, so he did.

"Thank you for coming," Aberforth replied, his voice rough, "I wish I could go back and act differently, too. And, Albus…things aren't okay just yet, but they're closer to being that way."

The next morning in the Gryffindor common room, where Molly sat playing wizard chess with Alice, Arthur came down from the boy's dormitories, holding a package wrapped in orange paper with green ribbon.

"Morning, Arthur," Alice greeted him. Molly was absorbed in the chess game, pondering her next move. She frowned in concentration and finally moved her knight.

She looked up at Arthur, "Hi."

"Good morning Molly!" Arthur said cheerfully. He gave her the package, "Here, this is for you."

Molly smiled happily. She opened the package carefully and saw a pink scarf.

"Arthur, this is lovely!" Molly exclaimed.

"Oh, do you really like it?" Arthur asked in an excited manner, "I thought the green one from yesterday looked pretty on you, so I thought you might like another."

Molly replied and the two of them began a happy conversation. Alice beamed in the background, happy for the possible romantic future of her two friends and relieved that she had not advised Arthur on how to court a girl that wasn't Molly. Alice exited the common room through the portrait hole and started walking towards the library.

Alice entered the library, saw Jacob and Gideon, and went over to talk to them.

"Hi Alice," Jacob greeted her. Gideon waved.

"What are you working on?" Alice asked, motioning to the pile of papers that lay scattered on the table that they were at.

"It's stuff people have submitted so far for The Quill," Gideon replied, "Just first drafts."

"Oh, how's that going so far?" Asked Alice.

"Good," Jacob said.

Gideon asked cheerfully, "How are you?"

"Good, actually. Duke and I are on friendly terms," Alice replied, "Arthur and Molly are having a good day, and their happiness is contagious, I guess. I'll let you two get back to work now."

"See you around, Alice," Both Jacob and Gideon said.

A few minutes later, Alice was browsing through the many books that the library held when she bumped into someone.

"Ouch!" the voice said, sounding oddly familiar.

"Sorry!" Alice apologized sincerely. She turned around to see who she had bumped into. "Duke!" she exclaimed.

"Hello to you, too," he replied, "And please, don't be so loud in the library."

"Sorry. I was just surprised to see you," Alice was quieter than she had been earlier, "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to pick up a book, but it seems to be checked out," Duke replied with a disappointed look on his face.

"What book?" Alice asked.

"Othello," he told her.

"I have a copy of that book, it's in my dormitory," Alice paused, "I could lend it to you."

"Alright," Duke replied.

Gideon looked up from the poem he was proofreading and studied Jacob, "Are you alright, mate? You look down."

Jacob sighed, "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a it stressed."

"Jake, we can talk to each other about stuff, right? I mean, that's what friends are for," Gideon said, concerned.

"I know," Jacob replied, "You're a great friend, Gideon, but I don't feel like talking about it."

Gideon respected Jacob's desire to not discuss hat was bothering him, so he decided to change the subject.

"You don't want to talk about what a good friend I am?" Gideon tried to feign sadness, but a grin appeared on his face.

Jacob laughed, and it was if his upset expression had evaporated, "Oh, you know what I mean."

Alice emerged from the girls' dormitories carrying Othello and joined Duke in the common room.

"Here you go," She said.

"Thank you," Duke replied. "Have you started the Transfiguration homework yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No, but I've been helping Arthur with his," Alice replied, "So it shouldn't be too difficult when I start mine."

Duke asked disapprovingly, "Why are you friends with them? Him and Molly, I mean."

"What do you mean, why am I friends with them?" Alice demanded suspiciously.

"You are an extremely talented witch from a powerful family," Duke explained, "Arthur Weasley is a muggle obsessed nobody, and Molly Prewett isn't much better."

"How dare you!"

"We're better than them, you and I both! Our families are influential and powerful, as we will be one day," Duke said heatedly , "You and I could take the universe apart and put it together again, Alice. But Molly and Arthur? They would have no idea where to start."

"I wouldn't want to take the universe apart with someone who talks about my friends like that," Alice replied solemnly, "Molly and Arthur are good people and my best friends. The sky won't fall if you don't come from a powerful family."

With that, she exited through the portrait hole with her auburn hair swinging behind her, leaving Duke alone in the common room.

They were at the beach together, away from the stresses of school. The waves crashed in the background as they sat in the sand and the sun shone down on them as they sat in the sand. He said something funny, and they both laughed. Then he grabbed a beach ball, one of those big, blowup, multicolored ones.

"C'mon, Jake!" he said enthusiastically, "Catch."

"Jacob?" Greta asked during a meeting of The Quill, shaking Jacob out of his daydream, "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Help with what?" Jacob asked, looking disoriented.

"I was thinking of anything you need me to do for The Quill," Greta replied, "But I'd be willing to help with anything."

"I think we're good as far as The Quill goes," Jacob said. He smiled, "And as for anything else, I'll tell you if anything comes up."

"Alright everybody," Gideon announced the end of the meeting, "Good work today. See you around."

Everyone began leaving the classroom.

"Bye Jacob!" Benjy said cheerfully.

"Bye," Jacob said. Was the meeting over already? Jacob wondered how long he had been daydreaming for.

"Jacob?" Musidora said. They were the only ones left in Professor Burbage's classroom. It was strange to hear Musidora's voice - she rarely spoke during the meetings.

"Yeah? Hi, Musidora," Jacob replied.

"I wanted to let you know that I'm quitting," Musidora stated bluntly.

"Oh," Jacob was surprised, "May I ask why?"

"This simply isn't my cup of tea," she replied.

"But you seem to like writing," Jacob said, "Your poems are very good."

"I do, but there are places I'd rather be than these meetings. Not that it's any of your business whatsoever," Musidora added before she left the room.

"Bye, Musidora," Jacob said.

Bartholomew worked on the potion. He poured the belladonna into his cauldron. As he was doing this, he remembered a day from the past.

He had knocked on he door of what had used to be the guest room, "Gellert?"

"Come in," Gellert had replied in his thick German accent. He had smiled at his younger cousin, "Hello."

"Hi," Bartholomew had replied. He had glanced around he room; Gellert was still unpacking. A trunk half filled with clothes had stood in the corner. Gellert's books had filled nearly all of the bookshelves. Gellert had many different books - mysteries, spell books, and histories, to name a few. Bartholomew had stared at a particular book.

Gellert glanced at the book his cousin had been staring at. It was a history book about Henry VIII of England. Gellert smiled and handed the book to Bartholomew.

"Here, take it," Gellert had offered him the book with a smile.

"Really?" Bartholomew had asked.

"Certainly," Gellert had replied, "If I am going to teach you about history, we must start somewhere."

"Gee, thanks Gellert," Bartholomew said happily, "I sure am glad you came to live with me and Aunt Bathilda. Oh, and Aunt Bathilda wanted me to come tell you that dinner's ready."

Bartholomew sighed wistfully: that day had been a long time ago, and Gellert was gone now. Bartholomew was absolutely sure that he and Gellert would have been the best of friends it Albus Dumbledore had not entered the picture. He had to come along and ruin everything.

Thinking about that made Bartholomew angry and inspired him to work harder and faster. It had taken him fourteen years to get to this almost finished point, which he connected to his early departure from Hogwarts in order to care for Aunt Bathilda. Bartholomew was sure that Gellert could have finished the potion in a matter of minutes, though. Bartholomew glanced over at the ingredients to the potion, including the strand of blonde hair that he believed to be Alice's. It was only a matter of time before she would be cursed.

That evening, blonde haired Katherine joined Alice in the Gryffindor common room and sat down. The incident with Lucius Malfoy was still bothering her. Today Professor Flitwick had put the Gryffindor and Slytherin first years in groups of two in order to practice the wingardium leviosa charm, and Katherine had been paired with Lucius. Katherine remembered.

"Wingardium leviosa," Lucius had said for the third. His feather had floated into the air. He had looked at Katherine and gloated.

"It looks like I just proved my point from the other day," he had told Katherine maliciously, who was on her fourth attempt and had not encountered success yet, "Not all of the Dumbledores are geniuses."

"Oh, shut up Lucius," Zoey had retorted in her friend's defense, "The only reason you got it was out of sheer dumb luck."

"I am not the dumb one," Lucius had replied smugly, glancing at Katherine.

Katherine thought about what Lucius had said. She had been denying it inside of her head, but it was true. Wasn't it? She hadn't been able to do the work in Transfiguration of Charms. The rest of her family was brilliant. She felt insignificant in comparison to her siblings: Alice was at the top of her class and a prefect, and Jacob was smart, perceptive, and a great writer. Katherine was in deep thought. What was she? What was her forte?

"Alice?" Katherine asked a few minutes later.

"Yeah?"

"How do you know what you're really good at in life?"

Alice looked at her younger sister thoughtfully, "Thought experience, I guess. You try out a bunch of different things and see what comes naturally to you. I'm not really sure, though."

"Oh," Katherine replied, "But do you think what you're really good at is being a prefect?"

Alice sighed, "I don't know. I didn't really want to be a prefect at first, it felt as if it had been handed to me on a sliver platter."

"Do you like it now?'

"I thought I did earlier today, but now I'm not sure," Alice looked sad.

"Did you and Duke get into an argument?" Katherine asked.

"Yes. Well, I got angry at him, at least," Alice replied.

"Do you not want to talk about it?'

"Not really," Alice replied, "What about you? Why are you worrying about finding what you're good at all of a sudden?"

Katherine stayed quiet.

"Do you not want to talk about it, either?" Alice asked.

"No," Katherine replied. The sisters stayed in pleasant silence for awhile until some third year boys joined them in the common room.