Naomi stared at the paper in her hands, looking around at the fork in the halls in front of her. After Kiara had given her the directions, she had copied them onto another sheet of paper and took off after she cast a Disillusionment charm and Muffliato on herself. Left. She turned onto the smaller corridor, quickly walking towards the end of it and was greeted by a small opening with statues lining the walls. Tap the statue of the guy with a beard in the eye. Naomi walked up to said statute and tentatively prodded its right eye with her finger. The ground started to rumble and the statues collapsed in on themselves, causing a thundering sound to ring out. Before Naomi could fully register her panic, the ground started to lower, as if it was a lift.

When the round finally stabilized, Naomi stood in front of a dreary painting comprised of greys and dark blues, depicting a girl with her hands chained together. Naomi raised her hand and tapped out the syllables of the founders in the corners Kiara had instructed. The Painting swung open, leaving a space just wide enough for her to crawl through. When Naomi stepped inside, every torch on the wall instantly lit up, revealing a cozy sitting room with a fireplace giving the room a toasty feel. Just as she sat down, a boy stepped through the fireplace with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder.

Before Naomi could make a comment, the boy said, "I was honestly expecting you to be much whiter."

"I'm not Elli," Naomi told him, "She sends her regards, but she said that she didn't feel like coming. Probably best, since we don't want another murder, especially from you. Anyway, I'm Naomi O'Hanigan."

"Ethan Collingwood," the boy said, collapsing onto one of the sofas. "I've brought some stuff you might need." Ethan opened up the the bag and took out a large thermos, handing it to Naomi. "Fresh lamb's blood. The butcher just killed it and I managed to bottle some up for you. Still warm." Naomi resisted the urge to gag and drop the thermos, much to Ethan's amusement. "Just take the knife and dunk it in before you stab whatever with it. Try not to hit a vital point, or the host will die. Heart, arteries, eye, brain, et cetera. And if that doesn't work, then this is your plan B." Ethan took out a few random items and handed placed them on the table between the couches. "Here's a few pounds of purified salt, a litre of holy water, some material to write symbols in, and a textbook guide. Make sure you have someone precise to it. And for your plan C, if you need one, is just to hit it on the head. Enough to get a concussion."

Naomi picked up the items, examining them. There was a ginormous pack of Cargill Purified Sea Salt, a Sprite container with an attachable spray gun nozzle sharpie labeled, "Holey Water - Water With Holes," a frying pan with blue, yellow, and pink stripes, a thin book titled "Exorcism For Dummies," and probably the strangest thing Naomi had ever seen. She squinted at it to make sure she wasn't hallucinating before looking back at Ethan. "Silly string?"

"It's not silly string if it's a very serious matter," he said.

"… Serious string," Naomi corrected.

"You can use it to write out all of the symbols and a pentagram," Ethan explained, "So, do you know exactly who the host is?"

"No, but we have a list."

"The host is usually someone either simple minded or has a huge drive and motivation. Pick one of those and do some kind of harmless magic on them. They should wince. And in the meantime, find out a pattern with the kills. I have to go now, though." Ethan tossed Naomi the bag before tossing some powder into the fireplace, shouting out "Ilvermorny!", and leaving.

The next day, their small group scheduled another meeting with each other. They had decided on the kitchens, since Naomi claimed she felt hungry. "So, how did your meeting with Ethan go?" Kiara asked in between sips of tea. "I'm assuming you got more than just the blood, since that bag looks pretty big and very full."

"Actually, yes," Naomi replied, putting the bag she had brought with her on a counter. "He gave me salt, holy water, a guide, a pan, and silly- I mean, serious string."

Elli stared at Naomi. "He gave you silly string? Silly string? Of all things, why silly string? That stuff is the worst thing muggles have ever created. It's terrible, it's stupid, it's total bull-"

"Wait," Helena interrupted the ranting girl, "I've heard about a lot of muggle things, but never this… silly string. What exactly is it?"

"It's not silly string," Naomi protested, "It's serious string."

"They're the same thing!" Kiara just about yelled.

"No, they're not," Naomi argued, "This is for serious matters."

"This can is literally titled silly string," Kiara told her, opening the bag, taking it out, and jabbing her finger at the plastic label. "Sil. Ly. String."

"Guys, stop arguing over silly- serious- mediocre- whatever string," Christie told her two friends, "And to answer your question Helena, the string is this sort of rubbery substance that you can spray out of a can. It has a repulsive smell, and tends to get everywhere, which leads to some people not exactly enjoying it." At this she gestured over to Elli, who still looked cross about the string.

"Oh, it doesn't seem like something I would like," Helena commented, "As you probably know, I'm a bit of a neat freak, so I wouldn't like the mess it creates."

"Yeah, you definitely wouldn't," Kiara chimed in, "But as much as I'd love to keep talking about how terrible silly string is, we have slightly more serious matters to talk about. What else did Ethan say, Naomi?"

"He told me to try to pick someone out of the list that is either simple minded, or has a lot of motivation. Then, we should try a harmless spell on them. If they're the killer, they should wince."

"That makes sense," Helena agreed. "Since djinn are vulnerable to magic, that would be a good way to detect them."

"Amber is pretty lazy, but I don't think she's very simple minded. We can rule her out," Kiara replied.

"Mary is definitely a really motivated person," Naomi said, "She could definitely be one of the suspects. Maybe Christie and I could check on her later."

"Ok, so that leaves Cynthia and Riley," Kiara stated. "Anyone know them?"

"Now that I think of it, I have seen Cynthia a few times," Helena mused, "She keeps to herself and is usually pretty quiet."

"Do you think she's simple minded?" Kiara asked.

"I can't say for sure," Helena answered. "I think I'd have to check with the spell just to make sure."

"Okay," Kiara continued, "does anyone know Riley?" Everyone shook their head. "We'll probably have to get to him last, since none of us are Gryffindors."

"I'm friends with one that might be able to help," Christie offered. "Andria. She was the friend of one of the victims. I could maybe get her to do the spell without anyone noticing."

"That'd be great," Naomi said, "The sooner we figure it out, the sooner we can end this mess. And just to be safe, we can test it on everyone." The four continued to talk a bit whilst eating their food until the finally split up and headed back to their dorms. When Naomi returned to her common room, she saw someone curled up on a chair, stacks and stacks of papers strewn around and on the desk in front of them. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that it was Mary hunched over the parchment in a disheveled state. This is almost too easy, Naomi thought as she made her way up to the sixth year girl. "Hey," she said as she approached Mary, "you alright?"

"Could be better," she muttered through gritted teeth as she hastily scrawled ink across the paper.

"Do you need any help?" Naomi asked as Mary angrily dipped her quill in the bottle of ink and spattering the table in the process.

"Nothing you could do," she sighed, rubbing her temple and furiously flipping through her potions textbook. Naomi took out her wand and tapped Mary's forehead slightly, causing her instantly to ease, her shoulders dropping into a more relaxed state. Mary shot her an inquisitive and slightly thankful look.

"Cheer up charm," Naomi explained.

Mary smiled and said, "Thanks. I think I needed that."

"No problem," Naomi assured, before going up to her dormitory.

On the other side of school, Kiara had just entered the Slytherin common room. Like usual, students were milling about, completely awake despite the fact that it was ticking closer towards eleven o'clock. Unlike usual, though, there was no intense competitions, no much shouting, and no little booth tucked in the corner with muggle products on sale. Kiara pushed away the foreign setting and quickly managed to spot out Amber's jarring and (in her opinion) obnoxious bright blue dyed hair. The older girl was seated in the corner of the room, fiddling with some kind of contraption in her lap with an unsettling cheshire smile on her face.

Elli walked up and sat down at the empty spot next to her and attempted to look casual. "Hey," she said, not meeting Amber's eyes. The girl stopped and looked at her with a confused and guarded expression.

"Who are you?" Amber asked slowly, tucking her contraption away from Elli's field of view and scooting a few inches away.

"I'm Kiara Blackwell," she said. When the girl continued to look at her suspiciously, Kiara added, "I was one of Elizabeth's friends."

Amber instantly relaxed and returned to her work. "I really liked Elizabeth," she said. "She was fun to hang around with and was really enthusiastic about things, even though sometimes I couldn't understand what she was trying to say." Kiara bit her lip to keep herself from talking. That's not surprising, nobody understands- understood Elizabeth "It's kind of sad, honestly. We were close friends, even if she was a few years younger than me." Wow, Kiara marveled, I can't believe Elizabeth actually had friends. Shocker. "Now that I think about it, Elizabeth had really briefly mentioned stuff like…" Amber hesitated. "Like suicide and self harm over the years I've known her, so I feel bad for saying I was kind of anticipating this."

"Oh well, I guess you were right," Kiara said, not entirely sure how to respond to that. "What are you working on?"

"It's a- I actually don't know what it is," Amber admitted, showing Kiara the contraption. It was a pair of extremely classy looking shades, but with miniscule wires protruding out of certain spots. "I was watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., this show Elizabeth and a few others introduced to me, and there were these glasses that could give you x-ray and night vision when you push a button. That's what this is meant to be. I think they were called backscatter something or other."

"Oh. I tried watching that show, but I didn't like it very much. Anyway, there was an assignment for my charms class in which you need to see what the charm Sonorus does when applied to another person. Normally I'd ask Elizabeth but, you know…"

"It-" Amber blinked and looked at Kiara through confused eyes, "it just does the same thing…?"

"I know, but Professor Smith wanted us to try it out for ourselves."

"Just lie to him," she replied. "Tell him you did it anyway. It's not like he can tell if you did it or not. He's an asshole anyone, so lying to him isn't really that big of a deal."

"Ugh, this is taking to long. Sonorus!"

Amber stared at Elli, taken aback, before she narrowed her eyes and shouted quietis as she pointed her wand at her wand at her throat. "Excuse you," Amber muttered darkly. "You should be glad I'm not as petty as Elizabeth, or I'd have you hanging from the goddamned ceiling."

Elli scowled. "It was for research reasons. Also, stop comparing everything to Elizabeth. 'Oh Elli, you're not as good as Elizabeth,' and 'Be glad I'm not Elizabeth' Elizabeth is dead, so please shut up about her and move the fuck on."

"Research my ass," Amber scoffed. "And just because someone is dead doesn't mean you should completely erase their memory. You should stop being a cocky bitch and actually learn what human sentiment is."

She glared at her. "Human sentiment is pretty useless in the long run."

"Gaining enemies is worse," she retorted. "And you're going to be crossing over that line in a few seconds, so none of your 'Elizabeth was my friend' cards are going to be able to help you bullshit your way out of this."

Elli laughed, fully aware at how reckless she was being, but not bringing herself to care. "Like I care about you and your stupid threats." Something in her mind yelled at her to stop, but she didn't register it. Amber's pale golden (and cat slitted, as Kiara just realised) eyes darkened a few shades and she raised her hand ever so slightly. After a dramatic pause, she snapped her fingers, the sound loud and sharp as it resonated throughout the common room. Next thing she knew, Kiara was suspended from the ceiling of the room by a thick rope tied around her ankles. Everyone in the common room stared up at her in awe and amusement, pointing and whispering. What was I even thinking insulting her like that? Kiara Kiara cursed herself, She seemed like a nice person, but I ruined it, like always. I should probably apologize when I have the chance.

"Maybe I am petty," Amber hollered, picking up her backscatter glasses and putting them on. "And by the way, Elizabeth taught me that one. A bit much for my taste, but she had a flair for dramatics." Kiara watched with a sour expression and Amber flipped her ridiculous blue hair over her shoulder and made her way towards the girls' dorm, receiving pats on the back from other students on the way.

Good thing I did taekwondo, Kiara thought, and painstakingly pulled herself upright to get better leverage. Then, she started picking through the knot, until she finally fell to the ground with a thud. "Ow," she muttered, scrambling up. "Well, at least now I know that it isn't Amber."

The next day, Helena quickly tried locating Andria during Charms. She had tried to find Cynthia the other night, but the older girl was nowhere insight. Helena figured she would try again tonight and decided that in the meantime, she would try to move on to the next person. She had managed to find her Gryffindor friend seated in her usual spot before class started.

"Hey Andria," Helena said, taking the seat next to her.

"Hi," the girl replied, her smile not meeting her eyes. "What's up?"

"I know it might be a lot to ask of you," she said, "but would you mind doing me a favour?"

"Sure," Andria nodded, "fire away."

"Do you know another Gryffindor named Riley Emerson?" Helena asked.

"Oh, yeah!" she said, her eyes suddenly lighting up. "He said that I would make a good chaser for the team if I sign up next year."

Upon seeing Andria burst of excitement talking about him, Helena suddenly felt bad about asking her to cast a spell on him. "Can you, uh, maybe to Glacius on him? And then tell me what happened?" Andria looked at her Hufflepuff friend, appalled at the mere thought of having to freeze one of her older friends. "You can counter it right after!" Helena added hurriedly.

"Why?"

"It's a- a social experiment! Yeah!"

Andria looked at her, a suspicious glint in her eyes. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll do it just this once." After the class, Andria packed her things and made it through the rest of the day without to much trouble. When the free period came along, she found Riley lounging on one of the couches, a glass of water in his hands as he talked with a group of his friends. I am so sorry about this, Andria thought, before whipping out her wand and yelling, "Glacius!" The boy instantly froze, his face locked in a carefree smile and his arm still raising the glass. Immediately after, Andria unfroze him.

Riley cast Andria a funny look before laughing slightly. "Nice prank," he grinned, "I had no idea you had it in you and I totally didn't see that coming." Andria forced out an awkward laugh and the older boy returned back to chatting. I hope I never have to do that again, Andria groaned internally before going up to her dorm. She quickly wrote out a letter to Helena before handing it to Zoe and watching as she flew out the window.

Back in the Hufflepuff common room, Helena had a stack of papers in front of her and a thick tome from the library all detailing the theory of magic. She flipped through the book and scribbled down different notes, using little paper markers she made from parchment to save certain pages. Helena had long since finished the simple Magical Theory book that she had bought during the beginning of the year and it didn't help her grasp the idea enough. Plus, she was bored. Studying always cured boredom. Helena furrowed her eyebrows and looked around the room, ready to ask whomever was making the ridiculous tapping noise to stop. When she saw nothing, Helena sighed and went back to reading and analyzing the text.

After another ten minutes of the mild annoyance, Helena went to investigate the noise further. Finally, she noticed an owl pecking continuously at the window, and quickly unlatched it so she could get in. Helena took the letter from the owl's mouth, which was addressed to her. She tore it open and the letter read,

Hey, Helena. Nothing un-ordinary happened with Riley when I cast the spell. I hope you got the information you were looking for anyway.

-Andria

"Well, that proves it's not Riley," Helena muttered to herself. She went back to her dormitory and took out her copy of the paper Elizabeth made and said the password. Helena took her quill and scribbled out, How's everything going? I just got messaged from a friend and it isn't Riley.

Elli: I did a spell on Amber and I think I made a new enemy. It isn't her, by the way.

Naomi: I checked with Mary. She's clear.

Helena: So… does that mean it's Chelsea?

(Author's Notes)

Dear Reader-

I just want to start off by saying im soo fucking sorry for the lack of updates at this time. My excuse is that both of us were busy af (she celebrates New Years as a huge thing since she's Russian and I was visiting family). Reality; i was too lazy to do this and she didn't constantly nag at me about it. ^^; Still hope you enjoy the chapter and the story is coming to an end.

-Luna