As time passed, I only became more determined to find Wittle, Phillinus Wynter's rival and a potential source of information. Wynter was, so far, not providing me any answers as to what I was, but there was a chance that Wittle might be willing and able to.

In theory, what I had to do was simple. Find Wittle's portrait, talk him into helping me, using his rivalry with Wynter to persuade him, and let him figure it out. However, that was a lot easier said than done. I couldn't ask any of the people at Hogwarts where the portrait is, because they would get suspicious, and I didn't want anyone finding out that I wasn't a wizard. The ghosts all refused to acknowledge my existence, so I couldn't ask them. All of the portraits, except for Wynter, also ignored me. That meant searching the castle, room by room, was the only way to find Wittle. There was one problem with that: the castle was bloody huge.

That wasn't enough to stop me from trying.

It wasn't fun. Most of my free time was spent walking through the castle on my own, along winding corridors and up shifting staircases. I wasn't even able to admire how amazing Hogwarts looked, because my eyes were constantly facing towards the walls, reading the names of every portrait I passed. The feeling of hope that drove me to keep searching was diminishing with every portrait I checked, but I was determined that I would not quit. No matter how bored, how tired, how lonely I got while searching, I would always search again.

The latest search was going badly. Very, very badly.

"Oi, watch where you're going!" Gudgeon, a Slytherin boy in my year snarled, shoving me backwards.

I had turned a corner and walked straight into him. He wasn't alone, however. He was with four other Slytherins, including Olivia.

"I can't see around corners," I said, glaring at him.

"Oh, it's you," Gudgeon said contemptuously. "The annoying git from Gryffindor. And all on your own. What, do the Gryffindors hate you as much as we do?"

"No! I just do some things alone. I don't need a pack of snakes with me all the time," I said, before realising that snakes didn't have packs. Gudgeon wasn't the brightest, so there was a chance he wouldn't realise that.

"Get out of my way," Gudgeon said, shoving me to the side and walking past. The other Slytherins started to follow, but then one of them stopped suddenly.

"Weren't we just talking about how we needed to practice spells for Defence Against the Dark Arts?" he said. "I think Mason here might be able to help us with that."

"I'm kind of busy..." I said, realising what the Slytherin was saying. They were going to cast spells at me, and there was no way I could beat five of them.

The Slytherins, however, were drawing their wands. Except Olivia. I looked at her, silently begging for help. I drew my wand, backing away from the Slytherins and holding it in front of me like a sword.

"Join in, Olivia," one of the Slytherin girls said. "You know you want to."

"It's not really fair, five on one," she said, looking at her feet.

"Since when did you care about what's fair? You said that fair is for losers!" the girl said.

Olivia slowly drew her wand.

"Expelliarmus!" Gudgeon shouted suddenly, stepping forwards and stabbing his wand in my direction.

A red bolt of light shot towards me, and I jumped to the side. It hit the wall, and ricocheted off down the corridor. Red light flashed brightly each time the stray spell hit the stone walls. Olivia tried the same spell, but her aim was too high and I didn't even have to duck as it soared over my head,

"Rictumsempera!" I said, casting the first spell that came to mind.

Gudgeon twisted out of the way. Meanwhile, two of the Slytherins both aimed a disarming spell at me. I dodged one, but not the other, and my wand went flying out of my hand. I tried to catch it, but it was out of my reach, and I could do nothing but watch as it landed at the feet of one of the Slytherins. Olivia cast another spell, but like the first one, it missed - this one going far to my right and out of a window.

"Petrificus totalus!" a Slytherin said.

I froze in place. My arms snapped to my sides and my feet came together. I tried to resist the spell and break free, but it was impossible. I was stuck.

"Good thinking, mate," Gudgeon said, giving the Slytherin who cast the spell on me a high-five. "Now for the fun part."

"One spell each," Olivia said suddenly.

"What? Why?" one of the Slytherins protested.

"I- We don't want to hurt him too badly," Olivia said. "Otherwise we'll lose loads of points. If we just do a little bit, he can say it was an accident."

"Why would he do that?" Gudgeon asked.

"Because if he doesn't, we'll get him again and again," Olivia said.

I closed my eyes and hoped for it to be over.

I lay in the corridor for a while - not by choice, but because I was still unable to move. I was covered in sticky green pus, and boils were spouting all over my face. It wasn't as bad as I had expected. The Slytherins, although they disliked me and I disliked them, weren't evil. Gudgeon caused the boils, but the others only cast the pus spell, which was gross, but harmless. A few had used the bludgeoning spell, but that didn't do any lasting harm. That didn't mean I wasn't furious at the Slytherins - and especially at Olivia. She was meant to be my friend, but she let it happen and even took part in it.

Eventually, I heard footsteps approaching. Someone knelt down in front of me, and mumbled a spell. My limbs relaxed, and I was able to move again. I struggled to get up, the sticky pus glueing me to the ground. I managed to fight through it and sit up. Olivia was kneeling in front of me.

"I'm really sorry," she said.

"Don't talk to me," I snarled, fighting through the pus to stand up. She was the last person I wanted to talk to after her betrayal.

"Matt, I didn't want to join in, but-" Olivia said, but I wasn't going to let her finish.

"I don't want to hear your excuses," I said. The pus was still stopping me from standing up, but it was starting to come loose.

"Please listen to me," Olivia begged. "I missed all of my spells, and I told them to only use one spell on you, and I came back to help you!"

I looked at her, glaring. Tears were shining in her eyes, and she was shaking. She looked utterly miserable, and it was impossible for me to keep glaring at her when she looked so distraught.

"Please forgive me," she said, not making eye contact.

I thought about it. She had done everything she could to help me without destroying her reputation, and she had come back and freed me. Despite that, I still felt betrayed, and it was an awful feeling. None of my friends had ever stabbed me in the back so badly before. I must have stood there for almost a minute, the corridor dead still, and silent but for Olivia's sniffling.

"Okay. I forgive you," I said.

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Olivia squealed, throwing her arms around me.

She hugged me tightly, and buried her face into my shoulder as she cried. I put my arms around her, and hugged her back. After a while, she pulled away from me.

"Thank you," she said, wiping her eyes with the sleeve of her robe.

"Never again," I warned. I still hadn't completely forgiven her.

"I promise."