'Hey! Guys!'

Issie paused as she and her fellow sixth-year Gryffindors climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express, and turned to see Tilly waving at them from the next door down.

'Committee Meeting once we get going! First compartment in this carriage!' Tilly called.

Issie waved back. 'Okay, see you in a bit!'

She shoved her case up the steps and followed it up. In the vestibule, Tiggi was standing with folded arms and a very unimpressed expression.

'Seriously? You're going to disappear for the whole journey again?'

Issie glanced sideways at Alice and Sam, who looked as awkward as she felt. Tiggi was not talking to any of them.

'It's not the whole journey!' Jake protested.

'Yeah, it is. It always is. You'll go in there, and you'll end up talking about your drama club until we get there.'

Jake looked over his shoulder at the others, and Issie could see the uncertainty on his face. Tiggi wasn't an easy person to argue with once she got an idea into her head.

'Well, I doubt if Lucy really needs me,' he said.

Issie opened her mouth to contradict him, but Alice got there first.

'It'll be fine. You don't have to be at every meeting. And we'll tell you if there's anything important.'

Issie stared at Alice in astonishment. For the past six months, they'd barely seen Jake outside the times when they had to be in the same place, and now it almost seemed like Alice was pushing him away. However, Jake was nodding, looking relieved.

'Okay. Thanks. Tell Lucy I'm sorry, okay?'

Issie doubted that Lucy was going to be so understanding, but Jake was already disappearing with Tiggi and Sam—who looked like she wished she was coming with Issie and Alice—and there was no time for Issie to say anything to him.

She turned to Alice instead.

'Why did you do that?'

Alice looked surprised. 'Well, it's true. He doesn't have to come if he doesn't want to.'

'It was Tiggi who didn't want him to.'

'Well, she wants to spend time with him. Why wouldn't she?'

Issie shook her head. She wanted Jake to be happy, but sometimes it felt a lot like they'd lost their friend.

'I just don't like that she just says one thing, and he comes running. She's stopping him hanging out with his friends, and that's not right!'

Alice raised her eyebrows.

'As opposed to him coming running because Tilly calls him. Like we're doing. Come on—we'll see him when we get there anyway.'

She neatly levitated her luggage with a flick of her wand, and set off towards the compartment Tilly had told them. Issie frowned after her. It wasn't like Alice to take that sort of attitude. Back in the summer, she and Issie had both agreed that they weren't sure Tiggi was right for Jake—and if anything, Alice had been the glue that had held their unlikely little trio together over the years. It was her who'd always written long letters in the holidays, and arranged for them all to meet up regularly, even with Jake living in the Muggle world. Friendship had always meant everything to Alice. So what had changed?

Issie was right about Lucy, whose face set into a frown as she was given the news. She, Tilly, Artemis, Padraig and Max had already laid claim to the compartment, and Lucy herself lounged on a pile of three suitcases in front of the window, leaving the seats for other people.

'What, so he's just not coming?'

'Apparently not.' Issie shrugged. 'He said to say sorry. He does know his lines, anyway,' she added. At least, so he'd told them.

'So he's just decided to go and make out with his girlfriend or whatever instead,' Lucy grumbled. 'Great to know he's so committed.'

'Well, at least he's committed to Tiggi! He's showing her that he cares, and that he wants to be with her,' Alice said, then went pink as they all stared at her. 'Sorry. But I don't think it's fair to blame him.'

That outburst was even less like peaceful Alice, and, judging from the startled expression on Lucy's face, she thought so too. But at that moment, the door opened again to reveal the Slytherin contingent, and the compartment was immediately crowded with noise and people.

It took them a while to get sorted out, and, while Lucy shushed people from her perch on the suitcases, Issie found herself crammed between Titus, who took up more space than anyone else, and Alice, now silent.

She stared across at where Weylin was sitting opposite her. He'd said hardly anything since they came in, or when they'd all met up at New Year. Weylin had always been quiet, but Issie didn't think she was imagining the new tension in him. He sat with his shoulders hunched over, looking at his own knees more than anything, dark hair falling over his face. She wished she could ask him how things were—the histories of their families were so intertwined, after all, and Issie possibly knew more about why Weylin's parents had actually been jailed than anyone else present. But although she called him a friend, and thought that he would do the same, they'd never had that sort of relationship.

Next to him, Eris was already embroiled in a discussion with Lucy and Tilly about curtain calls, animated and passionate as she always was about anything show-related. She, unlike Weylin, seemed entirely her normal self, and had greeted everyone breezily, without looking particularly at Issie. Issie might have thought that Eris had forgotten—or dismissed—what had happened in the holidays, but that was Eris. At least she was acting normally, though.

Things were changing, though, and Issie hated it. Maybe it was only the knowledge that next year would be so different, but the easy friendship, the feeling of being all part of one big crowd, was slipping away. And even she, Alice and Jake couldn't seem to stick together.

When they arrived, as everyone spilled out of the train into a drizzling January dusk, Issie managed to come level with Eris. Lucy had apparently remembered that she was Head Girl as well as Director of the Drama Club, and was corralling first and second-years towards the carriages.

'How's the hand?' Issie asked quietly.

Eris glanced sideways at her. 'Fine.' She held up her hands and flexed her fingers to demonstrate. 'All fixed up. Thanks for making me to go to St Mungo's, though.'

A casual thanks, as if Issie had lent Eris her notes for an essay.

'And how's Sycorax?' she persisted.

Eris's calm expression flickered for a moment, but she shrugged.

'I don't know. She won't talk to me. Probably gone straight back to him.'

Issie felt slightly sick at the thought.

'You can't tell your mum and dad or something?'

'Tell them what? They won't believe me, because they don't want to believe me. Cora'll them everything's fine, and it'll just be Eris being a drama queen as usual.'

Issie's feelings must have shown on her face, because Eris's lips curled.

'Don't judge us too hard, Malfoy. We don't like to rock the boat in my family, that's all.'

'Well, your family's not the only one like that,' Issie retorted. 'But what d'you call punching him in the face? Not rocking the boat?'

Eris laughed, an unexpectedly genuine sound that seemed to surprise her as much as Issie.

'Okay, fair point. Doesn't seem to have made much difference, though.' She looked at Issie, serious again. 'Look, I want to help her, I honestly do. But you can't help people who don't want to be helped. I know it's against all your Gryffindor principles and stuff, but some things are lost causes.'

Issie bit her lip. She wanted to argue, but this was Eris's family, and it was none of her business, was it? She hardly knew Sycorax. And maybe Eris was right.

Ahead of them, she could see Alice's red bobble hat and the flash of her blonde hair underneath, as she helped Lucy organise the kids. Maybe some things were lost causes. But some things weren't, and some people could be helped. And anyway, you still had to try.

They managed to catch Alice up and get into the same carriage, but Eris was there, Lilith Avery joined them, and there was no time for Issie to grab Alice alone until later that evening, after dinner, when they made their way up to their dormitory. Sam and Tiggi were still downstairs, and Alice, who, uncharacteristically, hadn't said much all evening, went straight to her suitcase and started to unpack.

Issie hadn't bothered to take many clothes home for the two weeks of the Christmas Holidays, and didn't have a huge amount to unpack, so she ignored her own luggage, and sat down on her bed, kicking her shoes off.

'Okay,' she said, crossing her legs. 'What's the matter?'

Alice looked over her shoulder, her round cheeks turning pink.

'I don't… Nothing.' She turned back and began transferring socks from her case to her top drawer. 'I'm sorry I snapped before. About Jake and Tiggi, I mean.'

Issie shrugged, though Alice still wasn't looking at her.

'It's okay. But Alice, come on. You're my best friend. You have been since we were eleven. We've always told each other stuff. What's going on?'

It had started before the Yule Ball. Alice had been happy and excited, and then suddenly she hadn't been. Issie had thought she'd cheered up a bit once the ball itself was over, but now she seemed worse than ever. And it didn't take a genius to work out what sort of problem it was. There was what Alice herself had said at the ball, for one thing. And there had to be a reason why she was being so weirdly supportive of Jake and Tiggi's relationship, even though Issie couldn't quite work out the connection, unless—and it was a horrible thought, but also unlikely—Alice had fallen for Jake, and was overcompensating. Which was the sort of thing kind-hearted Alice would do in that situation, but the whole thing seemed improbable. Issie wasn't that oblivious.

'I just think it's nice that they… that they've got something good. That they want to spend time together, and they don't try to hide it.'

'Well, not like they haven't been spending time together,' Issie couldn't help pointing out. 'We've hardly seen Jake this year, except in Magical Creatures and at rehearsals, and at Quidditch practise for me. And those are all places he has no choice about being.'

'Well, how much has Tiggi seen him?' Alice said. 'I mean, those things take up quite a bit of Jake's time.' She turned around to face Issie, and also sat down on her bed, her suitcase open at her feet. 'Tiggi's never tried to stop him doing any of that, either.'

Until today, Issie wanted to say, but it would be unfair. Alice was right, and Issie didn't have to like it, but it wasn't Tiggi's fault, or Jake's, that they were in love with each other or whatever.

'Yeah, I know,' she said instead, with a sigh. 'But anyway, I wasn't talking about Jake and Tiggi. I was talking about you. Something's happened, and if you don't want to tell me what it is, that's okay, but don't try and tell me it's nothing, Alice. You're no good at lying.'

Alice slumped sideways onto the bed and pulled her legs up, so that she was lying in a curled position, facing Issie. Her face was very red, and her mouth wobbled as if she might almost cry.

'I… It is nothing. It's stupid,' she said, then took a deep breath before continuing in a rush. 'I just… I thought… we were talking so much, and we'd said… we'd said things, and I thought he was going to ask me to the ball, and then he didn't. Only… only, at the ball, well, outside the ball really, we… we sort of kissed, and…'

'What?' Issie's back snapped upright. 'Okay, stop right there, Alice Longbottom! First, who is he? And second, how am I only just hearing about this?'

She had a horrible feeling that she already knew the answer to the first question, though. She knew who Alice had been talking to right before she disappeared at the ball. She'd reappeared later, though, and Issie had never really wondered where she'd gone. She'd been too busy dancing with Eris and the others.

Alice grabbed her pillow and buried her face in it. Her voice, when it came, was so muffled that Issie couldn't make out a single word.

She got up and transferred herself to Alice's bed, and pulled the pillow gently away.

'It's Weylin, isn't it?'

She couldn't believe, now, that she had been that stupid. She'd even noticed that Alice and Weylin were getting surprisingly close. She had known that Weylin had confided personal things to Alice. And yet, she'd never made that final connection.

Alice's nod was tiny, but it was there. A tear was pushing through her eyelashes.

'Okay.' Issie found her own heart beating slightly fast, and she tried not to feel panicky. It wasn't the first time Alice had had romantic troubles, but it was the first time it had involved one of their close friends. And the first time it had been anyone as complicated as Weylin bloody Nott. 'Okay. So how come you're crying? What happened?'

'I'm not crying.' Alice rubbed the tear away with a fierce motion. 'I'm fine. I get it. He's got loads of stuff going on—stuff I can't even imagine. He's having a shit time, and I shouldn't… I'm just being selfish.'

'What happened?' Issie repeated.

'Nothing. Literally nothing. We've hardly talked since the ball. He… he won't even look at me.' Alice's voice shook, but didn't break. 'I just thought it was more than it was, and that's my fault.'

'No, it fucking isn't!' Issie broke in. She felt an urge to hit Weylin Nott, family problems or no family problems. 'He kissed you! It's not like you're making shit up out of nothing. You can't go kissing people and then ignoring them. Especially when they're also your friend. Has he said anything? Have you tried to talk to him?'

Alice shook her head. 'He's got so much going on. It isn't fair.'

'Well, he should have thought of that before he kissed you,' Issie said.

She refused to let Weylin off the hook, whatever Alice said. Alice was sweet and loving, and assumed the best of everyone. The easiest person in the world to take advantage of. Not that Issie thought Weylin had taken advantage, exactly, but still. Nobody got to treat Alice Longbottom like that—nobody at all.

Alice sighed deeply. 'Please, Is. I only told you because you're my best friend. I don't want to make a big deal out of it. I'm okay—honestly.'

Issie wasn't sure that this was true, but she was up against what Eris had said, wasn't she? You couldn't help people unless they wanted to be helped. She couldn't interfere if Alice didn't want her to. Could she?

Scorpius still found it slightly weird to be working at the Ministry. He felt like a bit of an imposter in the Department for Magical Law Enforcement, especially since his success in creating a magical spying system hadn't had much notable success yet. He kept adding that 'yet' for himself, because the tenuous faith he had in his own abilities was starting to wane, and he wasn't sure what would happen if he had to admit failure.

It did, however, mean that he saw more of Danny than he had. If they timed it right, they could do coffee breaks together—although in the week since New Year, Danny had twice spent his break with Rose Weasley instead, which Scorpius assumed meant that things were going well. Slightly surprisingly well, although he tried not to think that. Odder couples existed, after all.

On the Friday at the end of the first full week in January, however, Danny appeared mid-morning, sticking his head in at the door of what passed for Scorpius's office (although it was really just a corner that nobody else appeared to be using, because the idea of him having his own office was ludicrous).

'Hey, you taking a break?' Danny asked, his eyes scanning the parchment pieces full of notes in front of Scorpius. 'Or are you busy?'

Scorpius sighed. 'I should be busy, but I'm not really getting anywhere. I can come and grab a coffee.'

'No need, I brought one down.'

The rest of Danny appeared through the doorway, levitating two full mugs. Scorpius eyed them and him, suspecting an ulterior motive. It would have been a long way to come from the Department for Magical Transport to Law Enforcement, just to invite him to the canteen, when they both had communicators. But it wasn't particularly like Danny to randomly buy and bring him coffee.

'What's going on?' he asked.

'Nothing, I just…' Danny advanced into the room, lowered the coffees onto Scorpius's desk, and perched on the edge of it. 'Listen, you're invited to James Potter's birthday thing, right?'

Scorpius tilted his chair back and narrowed his eyes.

'Why?'

He was, in fact, invited, although he didn't think Potter had made that choice. The invitation had come from Hazel, who often did ask him to come to things. He didn't generally accept them, when they were things that involved Potter, and he hadn't been intending to accept this either, despite Hazel's slightly unusual persistence in trying to persuade him.

Danny took a mouthful of coffee before answering.

'Rose asked me if I wanted to go with her,' he admitted at last.

Scorpius's eyebrows shot up.

'Wow, really? So things are official now, then?'

'I think so. I mean, we haven't, y'know,' he waved a hand in the air, 'talked about that properly yet. It's only been a week,' he added, as Scorpius opened his mouth to respond.

If Scorpius was honest, he'd have expected it to be Weasley holding them back, because he'd been fairly convinced that she was less into it than Danny. Which made it interesting that Weasley was actually pushing for them to be seen together at her cousin's party.

'Are you going?' he asked instead.

'I don't know. Are you?'

'Probably not. But if you're worried…'

'Oh, come on, Scorp,' Danny interrupted, with a note of desperation. 'At least if you go, it won't just be me tagging along with Rose. I barely know any of Potter's crowd.'

And hadn't exactly liked any of them when they'd all been at school together. Scorpius could completely sympathise with the feeling, but he was also starting to feel backed into a corner. He didn't want to go for exactly the same reasons—and Danny was much better at socialising than he was.

'If you don't want to go, don't go,' he said, feeling guilty at how heartless that sounded, but refusing to give in to the feeling. 'I'm sure she'll understand.'

Danny muttered something into his coffee.

'What?'

'I said, no, she won't,' Danny repeated. 'She'll just think I'm chickening out.'

'Well, you are,' Scorpius pointed out.

Danny glared at him, and he sighed. He didn't get what was going on with Dan and Weasley. There was such a weird edge of competition in everything between them, which didn't seem like the greatest basis for a relationship to him. But that was just Weasley—it was how she was. How she'd always been in lessons at school too. He wanted to tell Danny that it wasn't as if the invitation was some sort of challenge she'd issued, but the trouble was, he wasn't sure that was true. It did seem like the kind of thing she might do.

'Okay, look. It's not really chickening out not to want to go to her family event when you've only been together a week. I mean, do her family even know you're seeing each other?'

Lily knew, so maybe the rest did too. But Danny certainly hadn't been introduced to her parents, and Scorpius had a suspicion that Potter himself didn't know. He also knew that Danny hadn't mentioned anything about it to his own parents, but then Danny didn't tell his parents much if he could help it.

'Some of them. I think. Not all of them. But she's invited me, so if I don't go…'

Danny trailed off, but Scorpius knew what he was thinking. If he didn't go, he'd be turning down the challenge. And sometimes Danny was just a tad too Gryffindor-like.

'Do you want to go?' he demanded.

'Kind of. I mean…' Danny took a breath, then went on. 'I want to be with her. And I don't want to act like I don't. Can't you just, y'know, come for one night?'

'Merlin.' Scorpius groaned. 'I mean, seriously, of all the parties to try and drag me to, you pick James Potter's birthday?'

'I didn't exactly choose it. So, will you come?'

Hazel would be there. So would Lily, not to mention Danny himself. He wouldn't be entirely friendless. It was even quite likely that Roxanne would be there, and although Scorpius had put all those thoughts very firmly in a small box and locked the lid down, as something that was absolutely never going to go anywhere, the idea made him feel a little bit brighter about the party.

'I'll think about it,' he told Danny, hearing as he said it the exact same thing he'd told Lily about the fashion show. Why did people feel the need to guilt him into things? Although, to be fair, that night had been quite fun in the end.

Danny looked like he might have been about to start some more persuasion, but thought better of it.

'Well, cheers. But don't think too long. It's a week tomorrow. What are you working on, anyway? Or is it top secret?'

'Clearly not that secret, since I'm letting you practically sit on it,' Scorpius said, pulling the corner of some of his notes out from under Danny's thigh. 'Might be more secret if it was working. I'm trying to make a spell that lets you track someone.' He hesitated, wondering how tactless it was to talk about this work with Danny, who had at one point wanted to go into Law Enforcement himself. 'I'm trying to use a form of Hominum Revelium targeted to one person, but it needs to be something that lasts, not just something you cast once and then it's over.'

Danny leaned over the notes, not appearing too bothered that Scorpius was getting the chance to work with the department he'd once had ambitions to join.

'Why are you doing it all with theory?' he demanded after a moment. 'I mean, it makes no sense if you can't test it. It's all abstract. Wouldn't it be easier if you could see the effects?'

It did seem somewhat obvious now that Danny had pointed it out.

'Well, yeah, it would. But I don't think the budget stretches to test subjects.'

'Well, it should. That's bullshit. Tell them you need it.'

Danny was right, of course. But Scorpius wasn't sure how comfortable he felt with demanding things from Magical Law Enforcement. Maybe Persis could help.

'I'm not sure there's anything ready to be tested yet.' And I don't know if I'll still be here to get anything ready. I don't know how long their patience is going to last.

'Scorp, you made Muggle technology work in Hogwarts when you were, like, sixteen. I think you've got this.'

Scorpius laughed. 'All I did with that was set up a phone to run on magic instead of Muggle wireless signal. The Muggles had already invented the rest—I just connected it up.'

'Which was a fucking genius idea,' Danny said. 'I can't believe you didn't let us in on it at the time! I bet you could sell loads of that shit if you wanted to.'

'Right, and get arrested for flogging illicit stuff to kids.'

Danny grinned. 'Only if you got caught.'

'We're sitting in the middle of the Department for Law Enforcement, and this is the conversation you want to have?'

'Well, teenagers aren't the only ones you could sell it to, anyway,' Danny said. 'There'd be loads of people who'd be interested, I bet.'

'Still illegal to enchant non-magical objects without a license,' Scorpius pointed out.

'I s'pose. Seems stupid, though. It's not like you're planning on selling it to Muggles.'

Scorpius could think of at least one Muggle who'd be very glad if her technology suddenly started working properly in magical environments, but he only shrugged.

'Well, I'll think about that once I've managed to finish this job. If I ever do.'

'I'm telling you, you need to test it out for real. Anyway, are you coming to this party or not?'

Scorpius sighed. There was only one answer, really, wasn't there?

'I suppose so. Though I doubt Potter'll be very happy to see me.'

Danny laughed, looking relieved.

'Nor me. Still, thanks, Scorp. I owe you one.'

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. 'Yeah, and you'd better remember it.'

Deep beneath the dungeons of Hogwarts, two small girls crept slowly along a passageway, hand-in-hand. Their way was lit by the glow from the end of Felicity's wand, held out in front of her.

'It's okay,' Felicity whispered, her voice echoing hollowly, as she tried to convince herself as much as Addy. 'There's nothing down here. The monster's dead.'

There was no reply from Addy. The hand in Felicity's was warm and slightly damp. How far would they be able to go? This couldn't be the famous chamber—it wasn't a chamber at all. Chamber meant room. They'd climbed through a hole in some fallen rocks, but the passage went on and on.

Suddenly, they both came to a halt. In front of them was a solid wall, with two great snakes carved on it. Addy's hand tightened in Felicity's.

They'd come this far, though.

'Open, please,' Felicity, in the snake tongue.

It was a thrill of perfect power. All those pure and half-blooded witches and wizards looking down on her, as if she didn't belong here, but she was the only one who had control in this part of the castle. Even the walls obeyed her, sliding back to let her through.

And as she gazed into the great stone chamber beyond, filled with more carved snakes, columns soaring up to the ceiling above, Felicity was no longer afraid. Somehow, for reasons she didn't understand, she'd been meant to come here. As if it the whole room had been put here for her.

She stepped inside, pulling Addy with her.

'Felicity…' Addy whispered.

She was staring at a long, pale shape on the floor, and Felicity held her wand out in that direction. The skeleton of a huge snake, bones shining white in the light. It was the monster from the story, it must be. And even though it had been sent to kill people exactly like her, Muggleborn students, Felicity felt a pang for it. A snake—even a basilisk—was just an animal. It wasn't evil. It had just been made to do evil things by a person.

What if she'd been the one to find the Chamber of Secrets when the basilisk had been alive? Would it have done what she said because she spoke its language, or did you have to be the true heir of Slytherin for that? Maybe it would just have killed her. She found that hard to believe, though. Here, in this room, she was the one in control.

'Come on,' she said, but this time Addy resisted her tug forwards.

'I don't like it,' Addy whispered.

'It's okay,' Felicity said, and this time she believed it. 'I just want to look around.'

'Felicity, how come you can speak that language?'

It was unusual to get such a direct question from Addy, and it made Felicity pause.

'I don't know. I've always been able to. I thought it was just another magic thing, but then nobody else can do it. Did you ever meet anyone else who could talk to snakes?'

Harry Potter must be able to, if he'd opened the entrance. And Lord Voldemort, the one who'd tried to kill all the Muggleborns, he must have been able to too. But they couldn't be the only ones, could they?

'No.'

'Well. That means nobody else is going to be coming down here. It's our place—just for us. Come on.'

Part of her knew that Addy didn't like it down here, and that the kind thing would be to take her out again. But the place, with the intricate carvings everywhere, had grabbed Felicity and taken hold. She didn't want to leave.

She let go of Addy's hand and trailed her fingers along the shape of a snake carved on a pillar, her breath catching as the carved lines seemed to move beneath her touch. Almost in a trance, Felicity moved on between the pillars, until she came to the far end of the room, where a great statue of a man towered over them. Addy was shuffling behind her, her breath coming loudly between the silent stones.

'Who is it?' Felicity asked, speaking almost to herself.

'I think it's Salazar Slytherin,' Addy said.

Felicity gazed up at the bearded old man, as tall as the ceiling. What would Salazar Slytherin think of her being here? A Muggleborn being not only in his house, but in the very chamber he'd built in secret? It was strange—she ought to feel unwelcome here, but instead she felt more welcome than she had in any other part of the castle. Had Slytherin really hated Muggleborns as much as they said? Or was that just an excuse for people like Beatrice Harper to be mean?

'How do people even know what he thought anyway?' she asked.

She sensed Addy's puzzled eyes on her, but she didn't feel like explaining what she meant. She just wanted to understand the secrets that this place held.

'Why put a statue underground where nobody's going to see it?' she went on. 'What's it for?'

She knew there were no answers to be had for her questions, but she was dying to know anyway. Felicity reached out and touched the stone folds of the statue's robes, which were faintly engraved with more snakes. And as she did so, there was a soft clunk from somewhere, then the sound of stone moving on stone.

The great stone hand above her was moving, and with it, one fold in the robes was pulled aside. Felicity's breath caught.

Revealed were a set of steep, stone steps leading up the side of the statue, finishing at its cupped hand. And there, held in Salazar Slytherin's stone hand, was the shadow of a lumpy object. From where they stood, the light of Felicity's wand only shining a certain way, it was impossible to see anything more than that.

But it was some sort of answer to her questions. It would explain why the statue was here, at least. It had to. Felicity set her foot on the lowest step.

'Come on,' she breathed. 'I'm going up.'