It had been a few weeks since Emily and Alison had fallen out, and they had not spoken a word to each other ever since. This did mean awkwardness, as they did hang around with the same people during the times that they weren't in class. The two girls were becoming almost strangers to each other- it was crazy how quickly that could happen. Things were not all bad, however. Emily had found herself hanging around a lot with Maya, who was becoming to grow on her a little too more than she should. She loved the moments she spent with Maya. Not a single second passed where the two weren't laughing and joking, and every time Maya's hand brushed her own she felt a slight tingle in her stomach. There were times that Maya made her feel like she didn't need Alison, but it would only take a few seconds for her to snap out of it. She still missed Alison, but she refused to even look at her now.

Gryffindor Quidditch trials had come and gone, and Emily had obviously aced the seeker position, and was going to continue being a member of the team for at least another year. It was now the middle of November, and Emily's birthday was coming up soon. Her friends wanted her to have a party, but Emily tried to avoid that topic whenever she could. Having a party would mean inviting Alison, and that's the last thing she wanted to do. She didn't want to have to spend her birthday with her ex best friend that currently hated her guts. She was hoping that everyone would just forget about Emily's birthday in the first place.

"I still think you should have a party" Hanna told her, throwing a peanut into the air and catching it in her mouth. Emily shook her head furiously.

"I can't" she insisted.

"Why not?" Hanna asked "You're turning 13. Everyone has a party for their 13th, it's a rite of passage"

"It is so not a rite of passage" Spencer laughed "People typically have parties for their 16th, 18th or 21st" Hanna threw a peanut at her.

"Shut up Spence, you're supposed to be on my side" she huffed "Besides, my social life is seriously lacking at the moment. Sean is always at Quidditch practice and its not like you lot are party goers"
"Hey!" Aria piped up for the first time in a while "You don't know what I get up to"
No one questioned this.

"How much partying can a 12 year old do anyway?" Spencer asked, opening the page of a large book.

"That's not the point!" Hanna argued "Anyway, why can't you have a party? I don't get it" Emily pursed her lips.

"Because if I have a party, Alison will have to come" she whispered. Hanna rolled her eyes.

"Oh for fucks sake, can't you two just kiss and make up?" Hanna snapped.

Emily blushed slightly at this comment, and everyone looked at Hanna with a strange look on their faces.

"Come again?" Spencer looked up from her book.

"I didn't mean literally!" Hanna defended "I just meant, this whole Emily-Alison thing is stupid. Do you know how hard it is to be friends with two people that aren't talking? It's like I'm living a double life" Emily awkwardly shifted her eyes.

"Han, it's Em's business, don't get involved" Spencer told her. Hanna dramatically threw her arms up in the air.

"Alison would party with me!" she shouted "Where the hell is she anyway?"
"She stayed behind to talk to Flitwick about some charm we learnt in class today" Emily remembered. Hanna chuckled.

"My ass she did. She probably just doesn't wanna sit with us because she knows how awkward it is and doesn't wanna put herself through that trauma"

Emily realised she was probably right.

"So what if Alison comes to your party?" Aria asked "I'm sure a lot of people would come, doesn't mean you have to talk to her"

"She does have a point" Spencer agreed, not looking up from her book.

"I'm not having a party!" Emily insisted.

"Like hell you're not" Hanna said. Suddenly, the blonde girl jumped up on the table that the girls were sitting at and stamped her feet.

"LISTEN UP EVERYBODY" she started shouting "EMILY FIELDS IS HAVING A BIRTHDAY PARTY TOMORROW NIGHT IN THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM. TELL YOUR FRIENDS"
Everyone in the courtyard cheered, as Emily grabbed Hanna's robes and yanked her off the table.

"What was that for?" she asked "Now everyone thinks I'm having a party!" Hanna smirked.

"That's because you are having a party" she told her friend "Come on, I'm sure you'll need something to take your mind off of Alison"

Emily shrugged her shoulders.

"Fine" she mumbled "But I'll get you back for this"

Alison was walking down the corridors of Hogwarts castle, alone. She hadn't spoken to Emily in weeks, and it was now starting to affect other people. She noticed that her friends felt uncomfortable when they were around Emily and Alison at the same time, so Alison had today decided to 'hang back' in class so they wouldn't have to suffer that awkwardness.

Truth was, she missed Emily, but she was still so angry at her. More importantly, she was angry at Maya. She didn't like the way that this girl had swooped in out of nowhere and managed to win over her best friend. Emily hadn't been the same ever since she started talking to that girl, and Alison didn't like it.

She had never heard her shout the way she shouted at her before, other than when she was defending Alison herself. She didn't like that. It was almost as if fiery Emily was hers and no one else's. And suddenly, here's Maya St Germain with her perfect hair and her perfect words. Stupid Maya. Stupid Emily.

The corridors seemed to be particularly haunting today, and not just because of the various ghosts flying in and out of walls engaged in different conversations. There was an eerie sort of feeling going around-eerier than usual.

And that was when the eeriest thing happened-all the ghosts disappeared at once. They didn't float away at the same time, they just disappeared. As if they had suddenly poofed out of existence. Alison stopped dead in her tracks and looked around, to see if something had maybe scared them off.

"Hello?" she called "Is anyone there?"

Stupid thing to say, she thought. Obviously if there was some creepy stalker there then they wouldn't just suddenly announce themselves. Surely enough, no one answered and Alison kept walking.

Suddenly, she felt a shiver running down her spine. She realised that the temperature had dropped a significant amount, and she stopped walking.

It was then that she saw it.

It was over the end of the hall, so far away that Alison could only make out its dark silhouette. But there was no mistaking what she was seeing.

Bellatrix Lestrange.

Just the thought of the name gave Alison the shivers.

"Alisoooooon" Bellatrix whispered. Her dark figure seemed to be getting more and more daunting every second. Alison squeezed her eyes shut in pure fear, and to amazement, when she opened them again the figure was gone. The temperature had gone back up to normal, and the ghosts had returned to the halls as if they had never left

"Maybe I was imagining things" she told herself. Obviously. There was no possible way that Bellatrix Lestrange had temporarily gotten rid of all the Hogwarts ghosts and decreased the room temperature. It was just some twisted hallucination.

But some part of her felt like she had to tell Emily anyway. After all, there was a very very slight possibility that what she had seen hadn't been her imagination, and Emily had the right to know.

But Emily didn't wanna talk to her. Alison had hurt her, she knew that. There was no way that Emily would even place herself in the same room as Alison voluntarily.

"LISTEN UP EVERYBODY. EMILY FIELDS IS HAVING A BIRTHDAY PARTY TOMORROW NIGHT IN THE GRYFFINDOR COMMON ROOM. TELL YOUR FRIENDS"

Hanna's voice echoed around the courtyard.

Shit. Alison had forgotten, it was Emily's birthday soon. She hadn't gotten her anything. She didn't need to get her anything, surely. But that wasn't what stuck to her in what Hanna had just said. Emily was having a birthday party, and everyone was invited. Everyone including Alison. This party would be the perfect opportunity for her to tell Emily what she had seen in the corridors.

You know, the hallucination.

Because it had just been a hallucination.

Surely.

Right?