"So, have you done anything for the exams yet?" Killian asked.

They had stretched out in the grass by the lake to enjoy the first sunlight of April. Of course they weren't the only ones. The area was filled with people of all grades.

Emma had her eyes closed and let the sun shine on her face. She shook a bug from her hand.

"No."

She turned and blinked, screwing up her face to protect her eyes from the bright sunlight.

"Have you?"

He shook his head.

"Nothing."

He shielded his eyes from the sun, watching the clouds.

"I mean I feel like we should start. They're already in June! But… there isn't much to learn, is there?"

"No", Emma agreed.

"Maybe for some subjects, like History of Magic…"

She made a face.

"Yes, probably. But Charms? I use the spells all the time just for fun. Mary Margaret's been going crazy about the exams since Christmas though. I think she's gone through all the stuff at least twice by now."

Killian grinned, imagining the brunette bent over a pile of papers and frantically writing one parchment roll after the other.

"I know what you're talking about. Most Ravenclaws seem to think the same. Although I'm pretty sure some of them spend the whole year with their nose in a book."

Emma suddenly squealed, jumping to her feet and wiping her face and neck. Killian propped himself on his elbows, watching her with his eyes half closed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"There was something in my face!" Emma complained, clearly disgusted. "Something like a big fat bug! Is it gone?"

She continued brushing her clothes when they suddenly heard someone laughing loudly behind them. They turned their heads.

Ruby was on their way to them, her wand drawn.

"That was hilarious! You literally squealed!"

"Ruby Lucas!" Emma shouted. "I am going to kill you!"

Killian got to his feet.

"Better don't", he reasoned. "Might get you expelled."

Ruby came closer, still laughing. She tried to say something, but whenever she opened her mouth she was hit by a new wave of laughter. It took her a while to gather enough breath to speak.

"I was actually just going to get you because you gotta see this, Emma, but then I saw this cricket and I thought it would be fun too…"

"It's not!" Emma said through gritted teeth. "What do I have to see?"

"Oh, some pupils are preparing for some sort of magic show. I think it's actually pretty fun. And this one guy is really hot!"

Emma rolled her eyes. "That's all that matters for you, isn't it?"

Ruby raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not planning on dating him; I'm just saying he's nice to look at. Let's go!"

Emma looked at Killian. He shrugged.

"Why not?"

Emma sighed.

"Lead the way."

Killian could see the crowd from afar. Students from all years had gathered around a group of boys who were performing magic tricks. Emma spotted Mary Margaret and David, and they budged up to make space for them.

He had seen the pupils around, but he didn't know their names. Well, only one. The tall Slytherin prefect, seemingly the main entertainer, was Peter, whom he'd met around Christmas. The boys surrounding him were of all ages and houses, but he didn't know any of them by name.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" Peter announced, winking an eye at a group of fourth year girls, who promptly blushed and burst into giggles. "Thank you for coming to see The Lost Boys, as we call ourselves. I hope you enjoy the game!"

He bowed, and many started applauding without having seen anything yet.

Two second years stepped forward and started juggling with apples they probably stole from the breakfast table. Killian had seen jugglers before, but all those students who had grown up in magical families gasped and pointed at them, their eyes almost falling out.

Next were a few older students who did the same with knives.

"They shouldn't be doing this!" Mary Margaret said. "They could get hurt!"

But they didn't. The knives seemed to be part of their body, and they barely seemed to touch them before they were flying up in the air again.

They stopped, and the crowd applauded furiously.

"What kind of magic is this?" a young boy asked. "Can you teach us?"

Peter stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Good question, Hans." He turned to the crowd. "What you have just witnessed was not magic, believe it or not. Even muggles can do this, with some practice. Isn't it great what kind of entertainment they come up with without magic?"

He raised an eyebrow, and the crowd stared murmuring. The boy, Hans, stepped back.

"If this is a muggle thing I want nothing to do with it."

Peter smiled.

"Oh, I'm sure a lot of you are thinking that right now. Which is why I added a little magical touch to the program. Felix?"

A blond Slytherin stepped forward.

"Now, muggles do this with a simple trick. We're going to use magic to make it a little more… entertaining."

They stood side by side, their wands raised to their mouths. Then they blew on them and released two immense dragons of fire. They passed the crowd so closely Killian could feel the heat they were radiating, hissing at the people before disappearing back into the wands.

"Now that", Peter told the shocked crowd, "was magic."

The crowd was silent. Some cheered, but most looked at each other, not sure what to think of it. Peter didn't seem to notice.

"One more trick. For that I need a volunteer."

He looked around, spotting Killian.

"Ah, Killian, my friend! Come, you'll love it!"

Before he had a chance to realize what was happening, he'd been pulled from the crowd. Now he stood beside Peter, who had an arm around his shoulder, holding him close.

"This smart young lad actually defeated me at chess!" Peter said. "I'd be honored if you'd assist me with this. Don't worry, it's not dangerous. Just stand over there."

Peter shoved him to a nearby tree until he felt the bark at his back. Then he passed him an apple.

"Just hold on to that for now. Felix?"

The blond Slytherin was about to hand him a crossbow when Professor McGonagall's voice cut through the air.

"What is going on?"

Felix quickly hid the crossbow in a bag as the crowd parted for the professor. Some students quietly left towards the castle, clearly thinking they would get in trouble.

Killian spotted his brother following McGonagall.

"Killian?" he asked, shocked. "Are you part of this?"

Killian rapidly shook his head. Professor McGonagall only glanced at him from aside and gestured for him to leave. He stood next to Emma, watching the scene.

"I heard there was a Fiendfyre here, Mr. Pan, and I very much hope that these rumors are false, or I will have to talk to Professor French about your position as prefect."

Peter listened to her, his face serious, but when the professor looked away to muster the other Lost Boys, he winked and eye on Killian.

"Fiendfyre is considered dark magic, are you aware of that?" McGonagall asked, turning back to the prefect.

"I am, professor. I can assure you, all we did was perform some harmless muggle tricks."

"I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth, Mr. Pan. If I ever hear anything disturbing about the… what do you call yourselves? 'Lost Boys'? again, I will have to think about prohibiting this group, is that clear?"

Pan nodded, slightly bowing. "Very clear, professor. It won't happen again."

Giving him and the other Lost Boys one last stern look, she walked away. Felix came up to Peter, who didn't seem bothered at all.

Liam took Killian aside.

"What was this, Killian? What did you have to do with it?"

"Nothing, I swear!" Killian said. "He picked me as a volunteer for the next trick. I didn't even ask for it!"

"Do you know him?"

No! Well, not really. He played chess with me once, a few months ago. He was weird even then. But that's it!"

Liam nodded, darkly eying the Slytherin.

"Better stay away from him, Killian. I don't trust him."

"Neither do I."

"Can we please stop already?" Emma whined, putting down the quill. "If I read the word 'Goblin Rebellion' on more time, I swear I'm gonna cry!"

"Emma, this is very important!" Mary Margaret insisted. "Our exams are in June, and if we fail, we might have to repeat a year."

"They really do that?" Emma asked with a frown. "Look, we're not gonna fail. Look at all those students in the higher years. There are so many among them that would still be in year one if the exams were that hard! They're basically trolls! If they could do it, we can, too."

"Maybe", Mary Margaret admitted while looking through her parchments. "Maybe not. We shouldn't take risks on this! And anyway, it's not just about passing, it's also about getting good grades."

Emma sighed, looking out of the window. "The weather is too nice to sit in the tower. I'm gonna go outside."

She closed her books. "You're really staying up here?"

The brunette nodded, her nose buried deep in The Standard Book Of Spells, Grade 1. She wasn't the only one. David and Ashley were studying, too, along with a bunch of older students. How did they do that? Didn't they get bored?

She left the common room and went down the stairs. She needed to get outside again. A tabby cat strolled through the entrance hall, probably to escape the heat outside. She followed it with her eyes and almost bumped into someone.

"Ouch! Watch where you're going, Swan!" Regina hissed.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking…"

"Obviously!"

"Are you alright?"

The other girl looked at her angrily.

"I won't die."

"So, uh, you're going in? Why don't you want to be outside? The weather's great!"

"Well, some people actually care about their exams!" Regina snapped. "How the hell am I supposed to study with everyone chatting and peeking over my shoulder?"

Without looking at her again, the brunette headed to the stairs that led to the dungeons, where Emma suspected the Slytherin common room was. How fitting.

"Who peed in your corn flakes this morning?" Emma muttered under her breath.

"She's always like that", Robin observed.

Emma jumped, not having seen him. "Oh, hi, Robin. What's wrong with her? It's not like I did anything to her…"

The Hufflepuff shrugged. "It's not just you. She treats everyone like that. It's strange, isn't it? She was so different on the train, I actually liked her!"

Emma remembered the talk they'd had almost six months ago, on Halloween. Regina had said that she couldn't be friends with Robin because he was a Hufflepuff, and that the hat had wanted to make her one, too.

"Maybe it's her family", she said carefully, not wanting to betray the Slytherin's trust. "I mean, look at them. Where was she supposed to learn how to be friendly?"

Robin nodded thoughtfully. "It must be hard to live with them. Honestly, I think I'd rather have no family at all than someone like… oh, sorry, I didn't mean…"

Emma shrugged. "It's okay. You don't have to treat me with kid gloves all the time, I'm fine. I know that I don't have a family, I won't start crying every time you point it out."

"Still, I… I shouldn't have said that. She probably loves them. I mean, despite all, they're her family. Anyway, I really should be going. I'm probably the only Hufflepuff not drowning in a pile of work right now."

"Shame on you", Emma said with a smile.

She left the castle, finally stepping into the sun. She sat next to Ruby and Ariel, another Gryffindor girl.

"Oh, Emma. Glad to see you escaped", Ruby said sleepily.

"You're gonna get sunburned", Emma warned her.

"Good. Then I won't have to write the exams."

"I wish we were allowed to swim in the lake!" Ariel said. "It would be nice to cool off a little."

"Well, I don't really want to get near that squid."

Emma shuddered. She had seen it once. Well, a tentacle, anyway. It had been enough. That thing must be enormous.

"Oh, look!" Ruby said suddenly, sitting up. "There's that hot Slytherin, what's his name, Pan?"

Emma turned to where she was pointing.

"He's talking to Professor Mills", Ariel observed. "Do you think he's getting punished for putting on that show? McGonagall didn't seem amused…"

"McGonagall is never amused", Ruby pointed out.

"Mills is not McGonagall. I don't think he's being punished."

Emma frowned. What did they have to discuss?

Pan suddenly looked in her direction. She quickly averted her gaze, but it was too late. He started walking towards them. He seemed more serious than usual.

When he reached them, he leaned down to Emma.

"Have you seen Killian?" he asked.

"No", she answered, feeling uneasy.

"Well, he's probably in his common room. Thanks anyway."

He stalked off and Emma followed him with his gaze until he disappeared inside the castle. Why was he so interested in Killian?

Before she could think of an explanation, Professor French came out of the castle. He put his wand to his throat and started speaking. His voice was well audible even from afar.

"All students are to return to their common rooms now and wait for their house teachers."

He waited for them to get up and walk past him, all confused and nervous.

What was happening? They had never had instructions like that! They barely saw the headmaster outside the Great Hall at all.

"Do you have any idea what's happening?" Ruby asked next to her.

Emma shook her head. When they walked up the stairs, August grabbed her arm. The Ravenclaw's face was lacking his usual smile, and he seemed tense.

"Have you heard?" he asked. "Someone is supposed to have died."

Are you guys still alive after yesterday's episode? As a devoted Captain Swan shipper, I'm glad Killian's back, and I loved the reuinion, but my heart goes out to all the Robin/OQ fans. So I really needed to assure you and myself that, as you can see, he's alive and well in the Once goes Hogwarts universe. That is, if he isn't the dead one, of course (evil laughter).