Rose and I were in the library, digging through the restricted section with Fred the ghost. Scorpius had Quidditch practice and Fred had a Potion's essay due the next day which he didn't even start yet, so neither of them could join us.

We went through each and every newspaper we could get our hands on and laid them in categorised piles on the wooden table. Anything that mentions my parents or their trial, another for news in Lucca and a last one for unusual sightings or events internationally. I was actually quite surprised by the amount of articles we found.

We each grabbed a pile and read through each article, making note of anything useful. I read anything and everything I could find on the accident on Lucca but Rose was right, it was a really small accident that only made a small article in some local newspapers. I wondered why the library had local newspapers in Lucca though.

"Aha! I knew I saw the Aker's name somewhere before!" Fred's voice sliced the silence we were working in, causing me and Rose to jump out of our seats.

"Sorry," Fred chuckled sheepishly. Rose and I glared at him and motioned him to continue talking.

"Here," Fred said, motioning to the newspaper in front of him, "Basically it says that their only son was supposed to be on his way to visit family in London but went missing before he got there. Two weeks later they found his body. He was dead..."

"No one knows who murdered him?" I asked.

"No, not until your parents trial that is," Fred replied, "By then they would have already given your brother to them..."

"Guilt?" Rose suggested.

"But why would they want to kill the kid anyway?" I questioned.

"Durmstrang," Fred replied. Rose and I looked at him oddly.

"What do you mean?" We asked in unison.

"Your Dad taught there for a year or two remember? Mr Aker was there too. If I were to guess, they ran into some problems and killing his son was revenge,"

"That's terrible!" Rose gasped, bringing her hand up to cover her mouth.

"Revenge? Like that?" I asked.

"They are assassins," Fred reminded me. I guess that was true.

"Okay let me get this straight. Mr Aker and Mr Bae both taught at Durmstrang where theoretically, they ran into problems between the two. Then Mr Bae gets his revenge by killing Mr Aker's son and then hands his own son over. That's confusing," Rose deadpanned and I nodded in agreement.

"There's probably more to the story that we don't know though," Fred pointed out. I sighed and put the newspaper into the read pile.

"It's getting late, I'll read the Toronto newspapers tomorrow," Rose announced as she collected her things. I followed suit.

Saturday came quickly and I managed to sleep in for once since Karen and Kaitlin had sneaked off early probably still up to their usual mischievousness. Penelope was also taking advantage of the day so the dorm room was peaceful. After checking my clock and confirming that it was ten in the morning, I finally dragged my butt out of bed and got changed.

Of course I already missed breakfast thanks to my tardiness but I wasn't really in the mood of eating anyway. I shuffled down the unusually empty hallway hoping to find something to do or someone to talk to. Then I noticed Abby, Stellar, Lilith and Jessie. I smiled and waved as I walked up to them and they returned the gesture.

"Hey Tressa, what's up? Anything new?" Stellar asked curiously and I nodded in response.

I took a seat beside them on the stone bench and began to tell them everything from Mr Malfoy's letter, to my brother, to the memories, to the newspaper, still leaving out the journal. Jessie seemed to have flinched when I mentioned my brother and the Aker's, but then again, her arms have been hurting lately from Quidditch practice. When I was done explaining everything, I caught my breath and looked at them expectantly. However, all I got in return was silence.

"You have to convince Professor McGonagall to bring you to meet him!" Stellar said finally, breaking the uncomfortable silence we were sitting in.

"How?" I asked.

"Just beg! Tell her it's only fair since he's your brother! Your only relative left!" Abby exclaimed, proud of her argument.

"I don't know..." I sighed. The girls looked at me sympathetically before Lilith suggested we get ready to go out to Hogsmeade.

"The boys said they would meet us there so it's just us on the hike down," Lilth announced.

We nodded and got up. There was something really bothering me though. The entire time Jessie was quiet and after I mentioned Michael and the Aker's, she looked really uncomfortable. Did she know something? Before I could bother asking her, I was being dragged down the hall towards Ravenclaw Tower by three hyper girls.

"Guess what we just did!" Cecilia giggled.

"Hopefully nothing that killed anyone," I replied.

"Nope, don't worry!" Kaitlin said happily.

"We just gave that idiot boy in Slytherin a love potion, disguised as chocolates of course, and any second now, he's going to be head over heels for Hilary," Karen snickered evily. As much as I hated Hilary, I was more scared of the way Karen was acting at the moment.

When lunch became dinner and the school was in a bustle as students hung around awaiting for curfew, I made a trip up to the headmistress' office hoping Professor McGonagall would consider what I had to ask. I quickly whispered the password to the gargoyle and ran up the stairs. I knocked on the heavy oak door lightly.

"Come in," came a muffled voice. I turned the knob and slowly entered.

"I had a feeling I would be getting a visit from you soon," Professor said warmly, "How may I help you Miss Bae?"

"I know this is kinda sudden...but I was wondering if maybe... you could introduce me to my brother one day?" I asked cautiously.

Professor McGonagall pursed her lips in thought. Her lack of response was slowly sucking out all the little hope I had left.

"Perhaps," finally rolled off her tongue as an answer. My eyes widened in excitement, but it was quickly repressed when Professor McGonagall continued to speak.

"If they are fine with the reunion and if they still live in the same place. Also, I can only take you after the school year when summer begins,"

Those conditions were better than nothing so I agreed to the deal and she sent me off for the rest of the evening.

"Guess who's finally meeting my bro!" I squealed excitedly as I ran towards the corner of the deserted hallway where the girls and I loved to just sit and talk for hours. It was always quiet and most of the students only used this hallway during school hours. It wasn't too dark and it wasn't too bright. Plus the floors aren't too dirty to sit on so we didn't have to worry about all squishing onto benchs or chairs.

"I told you!" Abby shouted smugly from where she was lounging on the bench.

"So when are you going?" Rose asked, clapping her hands excitedly.

"This summer," I smiled happily. I honestly felt like I won the lottery.

"How old's your brother again?" Penelope asked curiously.

"Sixteen, why?"

"Is he cute?"

"PENELOPE!" We all chorused in unison.

The next few days went by like everyday was Monday. I followed the same routine as every week and counted down the long agonizing days I would have to survive until summer. There were fifty-three days left to be exact. Life was actually treating me pretty boringly until Rose dragged me out of bed at six in the morning on a Sunday morning.

"Where are you dragging me this early in the morning and how are you even awake this early in the morning?" I grumbled angrily.

"I just figured something out!" Rose persisted, yanking at my arm. I groaned.

"And this couldn't wait until, oh I don't know... TEN!" I spat.

"Nope. Trust me, you'll like what I have to show you," Rose said happily. She was actually happy. At six in the morning. This better be as good as she shows it to be.

We managed to get into the library and into the restricted section where Rose scrolled through the shelf of newspaper and stopped when she found the article she was looking for. She grabbed it and placed it onto the table. I scrunched my nose as I smelled the odour of burned paper and old musty books.

"I read this article from the Daily Prophet international section. Unfortunately whoever burned the other paper we read, tried to do the same with this one. All I can make out is that there was a serial killer,"

"And you think it's my parents?" I asked not really surprised.

"Here's the catch, two of the victims, were Aker's. I couldn't read the letters at first but I was doing some digging and major brain killing thinking, and I found out that your brother's Dad had a sister and a squib brother,"

"What?"

"I know. And the plot thickens," Rose joked, "Mr Aker's siblings and your parents knew each other. Heck, there's a picture of them together in your moms journal,"

"You had the journal?" I screeched. I hadn't even noticed that it was gone. Did I give it to her? My mind's been everywhere, I can't even remember. I thought it was in my bag though...

"Yes, here, take a look," Rose pulled the journal out from her little pouch she was carrying and handed it over.

I flipped through some crinkled pages and stopped when I found a picture paper clipped to a journal entry. In the picture stood my parents and a male and female who I couldn't recognize. They were huddled together and looked really happy.

I removed the photograph and read the entry:

Dear Diary,

It's nice to have true friends that you can actually trust. They are Alexander's siblings but they are much more understanding. I wish I could say that this was a new start but we still get called to do work. It's the only way for us to make a living anyway. I hope my dear children are okay.

"Short entry," I commented.

"Yeah but what she says? Ugh. This is a giant jig-saw puzzle and we don't have ninety percent of the pieces. Why kill someone who you say you trust? And there's no date on this entry," Rose rambled. Of course the dateless entry would annoy Rose...

"Did you read any further?"

"Not yet, hopefully she mentions why they killed them,"

"Who else were victims?"

"One more they knew, and two random victims. Just a brief mention of that person though, nothing like they were amazingly trustworthy," I nodded and stared at the burnt newspaper sitting on the table. I was suprised the thing was still in one piece.

"One last question,"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you reading the journal?"

"Cause I like reading," Rose replied happily.

"You realize the more we dig the more confusing it gets?" Fred groaned.

"Maybe everyone was right to warn you not to dig," Scorpius sighed in frustration, running his hand through his white-blonde hair.

"Mr Aker's siblings are only important, victim wise. Other than the fact that my parents betrayed them, they don't really matter. I think," I stated.

I fidgeted on my spot on the grass. We were sitting outside in the courtyard once again by the tree. The weather wasn't the best but it wasn't raining so we didn't really care and just sat down.

"This is getting ridiculous though!" Abby exclaimed.

"Like I didn't notice?" I replied sarcastically.

We fell silent, spacing out in our own thoughts. Our peace was slashed when someone started shouting at the top of their lungs.

"I know the name of the Aker's first son!" Stellar and Lilith yelled as they came barreling towards us.

"What?" Scorpius asked. He looked genuinly confused about that they meant.

But Stellar and Lilith never got the chance to answer as someone tapped me on the shoulder and spoke up first.

"Tressa, I need to talk to you in private," I whirled around to find Jessie standing behind me. She was nervously tugging at her black sweater and avoided eye contact.

"Uh, sure," I said.

I gave Fred a peck on the cheek and got up, waving at the others as I followed Jessie into a quiet hallway. It was one of the hallways I would normally avoid since no one really went there. It was eerily quiet and our footsteps could be heard echoing through the hall. I always found it creepy.

"What's up?" I asked sweetly when we stopped by a window. The sun was shining brightly into the dark hallway. Another reason why I hated this place.

"I know your brother. And what Stellar and Lilith were about to say? I know about it too. I know the Aker's," Jessie said in a sad voice, regret in her eyes.

Author's note: writer's block. please dont kill me.

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