Chapter 10

The next week, the Christmas break ended and Gem, Adara and Percy met up at Kings Cross Station. Upon sighting her friends, Gem let out a cry and tackled Adara and Percy, momentarily forgetting about her luggage and father watching in amusement.

"Hey," Adara laughed. "Its only been two weeks."

"So?" Gem asked, grabbing her trunk and following the other two onto the train. They found a compartment and settled, Adara watching the bustling platform outside absently. Gem and Percy began talking about what they got for Christmas.

"Adara sent me two presents," Percy was saying, like he didn't know whether to be irritated or amused.

"What did she get you?"

"She made me a study planner. Woke up Christmas morning with that owl of hers tapping on the window with a roll of parchment tied to her leg, opened it and there was this study planner. Then on boxing day she sent me something else."

"Oh, really?" Gem asked "What was that?"

"A Box of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans"

"It was a brilliant joke," Adara commented, breaking her gaze. "And you'd better use that study planner."

Gem laughed as the train began to move. They spent the journey to Hogwarts talking about their Christmas holidays and what presents they had gotten from others.

Sam and Dean had come to meet the trio at the station. As soon as she saw them, Gem ran and hugged the younger boy.

"Hi Sam," she grinned.

"How was your Christmas?" Adara asked, then added with a sly smirk, "Thanks for your gift by the way. They will be put to good use."

"It was okay," Sam laughed. "Bit boring without you guys."

"C'mon Sammy," Dean teased. "I'm not boring."

Classes started the next day and the four friends had a perfectly normal week - if any week at Hogwarts could be considered 'normal'.

On the second tuesday night, Gem couldn't sleep so she had stayed up in the common room reading for a while before sighing and heading to bed. She stared at the canopy of her four poster for what felt like an hour before she heard it.

Downstairs came a terrified scream.

Gem leaped out of bed before her dorm mates had even woken up and was downstairs before any of her fellow Gryffindors. The Fat Lady was slightly ajar and now Gem understood it was the painting that the scream had come from. She jumped through the portrait hole and scanned the painting for the woman.

"What is it?" she demanded when she spotted the Fat Lady ducking under the window of the tower she was usually stationed in front of.

"B-B-Behind you!" the Fat Lady shrieked, ducking out of sight.

Gem heard a growl from, behind her and spun around to see a terrifying shadow thrown against the stone walls by flickering candle light. The creature it belonged to was huge and wasn't something she recognised. Before she could register what she was seeing properly, the creature lunged, catching her arm with it's massive claws. Gem screamed and fell to the ground, clutching her arm in pain. The creature attacked again, this time sinking one of it's sets of fangs in her shoulder with a hiss. One of it's heads raised itself for another attack and Gem whimpered, on the verge of losing consciousness, but managed to scramble groggily to her feet. Before the monster could attack a third time, a voice cried, "PROTEGO!" and the monster was thrown back into the wall by a burst of white light.

"Mckenzie?" A boy's voice asked from very far away. Gem had the vague sensation of falling backwards and she hit something soft, but solid. "Gem!" Dean cried again, but by that time, she was gone.

The first thing she was aware of was the soft linen she was lying on. Still waking up, she tried to stretch and cried out in pain. The sound caused a pressure on her hand and she opened her eyes.

She was in the hospital wing. It was late afternoon and there was a small crowd of people around her: Adara, Percy, Sam and Dean. The pressure on her hand came from Adara, but when she saw her friend was awake, the Hufflepuff smiled and stood back.

"You gave us quite a scare, kid," came Dean's voice. He was leaning against the foot of the bed opposite Gem's, arms crossed and a cut on his cheek.

"What happened?" Gem asked, the details of why she was in the hospital wing still a little hazy.

"You were attacked," Adara informed her. "I think its the same thing that killed the Riley girl, we just don't know what it is. Dean gave us a sort-of-description, but..."

"Hey! I only saw it for two seconds, give me a break."

"But we still don't really know what it is," Adara finished.

"It... It bit me," Gem remembered.

"Yeah," Adara confirmed. "Madame Jones said the bite was venomous and she couldn't find a proper antidote until we find out what bit you but she's good. She's got it under control."

"When can I get out of here?" Gem asked.

"Not until you're cured," Sam told her.

"Awesome," Gem grumbled, throwing her head back on the pillows and then wincing.

"How are you feeling?" Percy asked then.

"Like I got attacked by a monster," Gem replied grumpily.

"Can you see if we can find out what got you?" Adara asked, pulling a book out of her bag. It was her Christmas present from Gem; Myths, Monsters and Other Magical Beasts of Legend. Gem nodded and Adara sat down beside her, opening the book. "Lets see if its in here. Do you recognise any of these?"

Gem flicked through the pages, trying to remember what she saw. "It had... Three heads," she told her friend and Adara nodded, flicking through the book.

"Okay... Is it this it?" she asked, showing Gem a picture of a massive three-headed dog. Gem shook her head.

"No dog heads." Adara nodded again and flicked to a new page.

"This one?" she asked, showing Gem a picture of a creature with the heads of a human, a toad and a cat. Again, Gem shook her head.

"No, one of them was a snake I'm pretty sure," Gem remembered. "Something with fangs." Adara chose a different page.

"Like that?" Gem shook her head yet again. "No. They were all different. Sorry, i'm not much use am I?"

"It's not your fault you weren't attacked by something we've found yet. Why don't you look through it and tell me if you see it?" Gem nodded and took the book from Adara who stood and went to talk to the others.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked Percy, quiet enough that Gem wouldn't hear. Percy looked up from the ground.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he gave a soft smile. "I was just worried about Gem is all."

"Okay," Adara replied, dropping it.

"What about you?" Sam asked. "She's your best friend. "

"I know, but she's going to be fine," Adara shrugged. "We just need to find out what attacked her and the Slytherin girl." she glanced at Gem and then back to the group. "Before it hurts someone else."