Elden and Ray are James and Sam's best friends, in case you missed that. And since you don't want too many characters, I swear I'll only introduce one in this chapter. I had to, I just love this guy. Keep up the reviews! I really do take into consideration what you say. Honestly, I use the advice you give me.

Disclaimer: Still not mine.

I was at the Owlery, dropping a letter off to my uncle Harry. It was a response to a letter he wrote me about how there are some murders going on, but the Ministry had no idea who's doing them or why.

As I was dropping off my letter, I ran into Eavan Nass. Eavan was a Slytherin boy in my year. He was a really shy and nervous guy, so he didn't say hello to me first.

"Hi, Eavan," I greeted him with a smile. He smiled back and stood closer to me.

"H-h-how are you, R-r-rose," he said back. I found it adorable that a Slytherin was intimidated by me.

"I'm doing fine, how about you?"

"Same h-h-here." He was nervous around me, but Eavan did have a bad stuttering problem.

"Who are you writing to?" I knew it must've sounded pretty nosy, but I was just trying to make conversation with the poor boy.

"My m-m-m-mother," he replied shortly.

"Oh, how is she doing?" I noticed his eyes darting around as I continued grilling him with questions, so instead of making him answer the last one I said, "I'm sorry to interrupt our conversation, but I really have to go. Albus expects me to study with him."

He nodded his head, and I left him.

As I walked to my common room, I thought about what my uncle had told me. I also remembered the letter my grandmother wrote me a few days ago saying the same thing. What was going on with the murders? Was there a pattern with who they were killing? Obviously the murders weren't too serious, or they would have noticed a pattern by now. So far nobody I knew was killed. I prayed that it would stay that way. But I knew that my prayer probably wouldn't be answered.

I reached the Fat Lady, and said the password, "Chocolate Frogs."

"Maybe I don't want to open the door. Did you ever think of that?" she snapped.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. This woman could be so dramatic. And she wasn't even a real woman! She was just a portrait!

"What's wrong?" I asked, faking politeness.

"Everything's wrong! My voice is flat whenever I sing, I'm gaining weight, I'm," I tuned her out and waited until she was done rambling.

"Are you okay?" I simply questioned. I guess my concern made her smile.

"You know, no students ever ask about me." Then she opened the portal and let me inside. See, all you need to do is show people compassion and they'll do basically whatever they want for you.

"Rosie!" Albus greeted me while waving me over with his hands. Exams were quickly approaching, and he wanted me to study with him. "Help me!"

While laughing, I walked over to him, and then I sat down. "What class are you working on?"

"History of Magic, and I'm about ready to shoot myself. What have you been doing the last half hour? I NEED YOU!" He shook my shoulders to emphasize his point of 'needing me.'

"I was sending a letter to your father. I also ran into Eavan Nass while I was at the Owlery."

"Isn't he the shy Slytherin? Wait, that doesn't matter. What were you talking to my dad about?"

"Well." I leaned in closer to him so no one else would listen to our conversation. "Did you know that there are a good amount of murders happening?"

"Murders happen every day, Rose. What's the big deal about these killings?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's exactly what we don't know! And all the murders haven't been well known people, we just can't figure out why they are getting killed."

"Is it the same person doing the murdering or is it a group of people?"

After thinking about my answer carefully, I replied, "We have no idea. They all happened at different times, so it could be the same person. But I think if it was only one person they would've been caught by now. It's just a scary thought that our family could be next, especially your dad."

"Like I said, murders happen every day. But I'll agree, it is a scary thought. And my dad's a big boy. He can take care of himself, Rose."

My breathing got heavier as I thought of something. "Al…what if it's another dark lord? And what if he's after your dad next for killing the last one!"

Albus put his hand on top of mine. "I'm sure it's not another dark lord. The wizarding world hasn't seen dark times in about twenty years. I doubt we are now."

"But what if it is! I don't want to have to go through what our parents went through."

I was scared. My parents told me stories about their adventures at school, and they seemed exciting, but I doubted I could actually do what they did.

Al gave me a small smile and said, "Let's just study for now and worry about the wizarding world later. You know, I can't believe they still let Binns teach this class."

"I don't know what I'd do if they got Hugo!" I exclaimed, fear washing over my face. I couldn't study while I was worrying. "He's my sweet little brother. What would I do without him? I mean, I only have one brother. What if something happens to me? Who is he going to sleep with when he has a bad dream about clowns?" Yes, my brother was afraid of clowns. It's a common fear amongst ten year olds.

"Rosie, nothing's going to happen. I swear. I can't believe it's finally ME trying to get YOU to study. I never thought this would happen." A little smile appeared on his face as he looked at me.

"You're right, this is weird. Okay, let's get to studying," I agreed.

&

The next day Mackenzie and I were walking towards the Great Hall for breakfast. We were up early, so it was a quiet Monday morning for us. That's when we saw it and suddenly the morning wasn't so quiet.

"YOU GET BACK HERE YOU DARN WEASLEY!" Filch shouted who was running straight at us.

Freddie was running in front of him and was soon right by us. I had to know what happened, so I grabbed him by the robes and looked at his panting, laughing face.

"What did you do to him?" I asked simply.

His breathing was erratic, but the smile on his face never faltered. "I dyed Mrs. Norris' tail permanently pink."

"Permanently? As in it will never ever go away?" Mackenzie questioned.

Freddie nodded his head. "Took me a while to look up a spell like that, but it was in the library. In a book about hair care, not spells, but whatever. Now let me go before that old hag catches up with me." He tried wiggling out of my grip, but I never let go. "What are you doing, Rose!"

"You broke the rules, you pay the consequences," I told him.

Filch finally approached, and he had a look of murder on his face. I mean, you could just tell that he was pissed. You know…if the earlier screaming wasn't an obvious indication.

"What did you do to her?" His face lowered to Freddie's. He was angry, but I could also see fear for his cat in his eyes.

"Obviously, he dyed her tail pink," Mackenzie told him.

Filch glared at her, and Freddie just chuckled lightly.

"I knew that!" he snapped at Mackenzie. "Change it back, Weasley. Change it back!"

"Sir, I don't think I can do that. See, it's a permanent spell. Quite handy for witches who want to dye their hair right the first time and never be bothered with it again," he replied.

"Just like your bloody father," Filch said venomously.

"Thank you!" Freddie had a huge smile on his face. For him, it was an honor to be compared to his father. "Isn't that great, guys?" He looked at both of us, his two very close friends, and I couldn't help but smile. I hated how he broke rules, but he looked so happy right then. Who was I to yell at him in his hour of true happiness when there was so little of it in the world today?

"You know, Freddie, I don't think Filch meant that in a good way," Mackenzie informed him.

Freddie's smile didn't stop, though. It actually just got bigger. Filch's face got angrier as he looked at Freddie. Much angrier.

"Do you think this is funny, Weasley? MY CAT'S TAIL IS PINK! FOREVER!"

Then we saw the cat. It was walking down the hall towards us with a very bright pink tail. Mackenzie and I let out giggles quietly so Filch wouldn't hear us. I had to give Freddie his well deserved kudos. That cat looked funny.

Filch did hear us though. "It's not funny!" He didn't look angry anymore. The guy just looked like he wanted to cry which made the situation not funny anymore. To me, at least.

"Sorry," I mumbled.

He pointed his finger in Freddie's face. "You! Change her back! Change her back! You have to know how to change her back!" Now he was pleading with the eleven-year-old who stood in front of him. It was kind of sad.

"Honestly, I don't," Freddie responded with a shrug.

"Detention until the end of the school year. Every single night, Weasley, starting tonight. Meet me in the trophy room. I'll go talk to McGonagall about poor Mrs. Norris." He picked up his cat and started walking away from us, while whispering to his beloved cat, "I'll get this fixed, I promise."

"Ah, totally worth the detentions," Freddie said. We all started walking towards the Great Hall again, and Freddie could not stop smiling. "Yep, absolutely and positively worth it."

"Why did you have to make it permanent? You know Filch loves his cat more than anything!" I protested. It wasn't like I was the biggest Filch fan around, but I did feel sorry for the guy.

After rolling his eyes, Freddie commented, "Think about it, Rose. Everyone will always remember me as the guy who dyed Filch's cat. Trust me when I say that I made sure there was no way that tail could be changed back. And I cast a spell so that he can't dye it at all. I'm going to be a legend. Or at least until that cat dies. Maybe even longer."

"That actually was smart," Mackenzie agreed. "Very, very smart."

I put my hand on Freddie's chest to stop him from walking forward. He looked at me confused, and then I got right in his face and screamed at the top of my lungs, "WHY CAN'T YOU USE THAT WONDERFUL BRAIN OF YOURS IN YOUR ACADEMIC LIFE RATHER THAN YOUR PRANKING LIFE!" Then I stormed off.