Professor Evariste stood before his class of third-years, waiting for them to settle in so that he could begin his lecture. Rose pulled her textbook out and propped her elbows upon it as Professor Evariste began to speak.

"I understand that it seems unlikely that you will routinely encounter Dark creatures in your day to day activities," he explained, "but you all have long lives ahead of you. In twenty years, the Ministry could remove some of the more stringent laws on magical creatures in areas such as Diagon Alley. Or perhaps after you finish your schooling here at Hogwarts, you might want to spend time traveling the world. You need to be prepared for unlikely situations. That's the most important thing to take away from this course.

"Well, not the most important," he said, frowning slightly. "There are lots of important things to learn, and it's foolish for me to say that the most important thing to remember is safety on a shopping spree."

Two of the Slytherin girls laughed.

"Precisely," said Professor Evariste. "So, let's get started with Hinkypunks. I'm working on getting a few to bring in to class, but for these creatures, theory of defense will be enough to get started."

The classroom door opened to reveal Clare, who was carrying a small stack of books. "Sorry," she said, closing the door behind her with her foot, "I was hoping to get these in before class got started. Don't mind me!"

Professor Evariste nodded. "Right. Well. Hinkypunks, as I was saying, are magical spirits. They are— ah— they are usually relatively harmless, but— well—"

His eyes kept darting back to Clare, who was laying out the books on his desk.

"Hinkypunks are magical spirits that try to lure travelers off their path," he said, finally gathering his thoughts and looking away from Clare. "Their magical energy serves to distract the minds of the witch or wizard they are confronting. They seem harmless, but depending on where you are traveling, they can be highly dangerous."

Clare waved at Professor Evariste before slipping back out of the classroom. As the door closed, he waved back. The class laughed, including Rose. She had never seen her professor so out of sorts.

"As I was saying, you must always have your sense about you," he said firmly, sitting at his desk. "Right. So, if you will please take out your textbooks. There's an excellent illustration at the start of chapter nine that will have to do until I can bring the real thing in."

Loren Nicosa nudged Rose and gave her a piece of folded parchment with Kara written on the front. Rolling her eyes, Rose handed it to Kara, who was sitting on her other side.

"As you can see, the Hinkypunk is a relatively small creature," said Professor Evariste, "but do not let its size fool you. They can be quite persuasive, and you won't even know you're being persuaded."

Kara snorted with laughter, which she quickly attempted to disguise as a cough. Professor Evariste gave a lazy swish of his wand, and the note flew out of Kara's hands and straight into his own.

"I doubt this is relevant to today's lesson," he said calmly, glancing at the note. "Ah— keenly observant, ladies, but hardly the cleverness I expect in my class. A point from Gryffindor for each of you."

Loren glowered, but Kara seemed to still be amused by whatever her friend had written.

"Actually," said Professor Evariste with a grin, "this seems to be the perfect moment for a demonstration. Kara, how kind of you to volunteer. Close your books, class, you will review the illustrations for our next lesson. Kara, if you would join me?"

After a long moment in which the class stared at her, Kara groaned and went to the head of the class where Professor Evariste stood.

"Right!" he said. "Kara, for the purposes of this exercise, I'm going to charm you. I'll perform the counter-charm once the example is complete. Understood?"

Kara nodded, now looking rather nervous.

Professor Evariste pointed his wand at Kara, gave a small swish, and said, "Confundo."

Kara blinked rapidly, then looked around the room in confusion. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "what were you saying?"

"We were just discussing your decision to cut your hair," said Professor Evariste easily. "You told me you wanted it up by your ears, like when you were younger."

"Oh!" said Kara, her brow furrowed. "I see."

"Don't you remember?" pressed Professor Evariste.

"Of course I do," snapped Kara, "I'm not thick."

It seemed to occur to her at that moment that she was speaking to a professor. Her eyes went wide and her mouth formed a small O.

"I would never say you were," said Professor Evariste kindly. "I think that short, blue hair will look lovely on you."

"Thank you," said Kara meekly, "I— I do as well."

Loren could not contain herself any longer and burst out laughing.

"Kara!" she cried, getting her friend's attention. "You said you were finally going to talk to Callum Leach!"

This caused an uproar from the Slytherin section where Callum sat. He sputtered awkwardly, swatting away his friends' hands as the jostled him.

Professor Evariste sighed and waved his wand at Kara. She shook her head vigorously, then looked around once more. She no longer looked lost, just a bit confused and more than a bit put-out.

"I did not say that!" she exclaimed, "and I would never make my hair blue! That's atrocious!"

The classroom was only getting noisier. Tia spun around to face Rose, giving her the incredulous yet amused expression that Rose knew well.

"We all seem to be missing the point!" cried Professor Evariste over the din, looking exasperated. "I was trying to show— Excuse me!"

The class quieted.

"I was trying to show you how easily magic can interfere with the logical center of your brain," he said. "You will not always know when someone or something is interfering with your thoughts, which is why it is so important to be informed about any creature that can do just that."

He shook his head, looking tired.

"Since you did not appreciate today's exercise, we'll return to the textbook. Please read chapter nine, taking specific notes on the physical traits of the Hinkeypunk that have been documented in Great Britain. If you'd rather work out of the book, then we can absolutely make that happen."

This seemed to make Rose's classmates regret their teasing at once. Slowly, they all flipped open their textbooks to chapter nine and began to read.

—

The second Saturday of the month was upon Rose before she realized it. She ended up in the library an hour before she was supposed to meet the Gemini, but she had needed to turn in a few borrowed books anyway. She found the next book in the new mystery series she had started and tucked herself away at a table behind one of the stacks.

She had just begun Chapter Three when the chairs across from her were pulled out. And there they were: two small witches (smaller than Rose herself, which was saying a lot) with short brown hair and dark emerald robes. They matched in all ways except that one was wearing a coil of red yarn around her thin wrist. Both grinned warmly at Rose.

"Rose," said Gemma warmly, "I feel like it's been ages."

"Eons," correctly Genna.

"Did Clare see you two come in?" asked Rose nervously. She wasn't sure what the policy was for having visitors in the castle, but she always had the feeling that the Gemini weren't supposed to be wherever it was they were.

"Clare?"

"Blonde woman, the one at the front table."

"No," said Gemma, "she didn't look up from her book."

"Poor security," noted Genna. "Isn't this castle supposed to be some kind of fortress?"

"Hardly, sister."

"But you're in your third year now!" exclaimed Genna, leaning forward on the table. "That's such an exciting time."

"It's been interesting so far," admitted Rose. "I've started Arithmancy and Ancient Runes."

"Runes!" cried Genna, clapping her hands with excitement. "Oh, that's excellent!"

"We took Ancient Runes as well," said Gemma, "but never Arithmancy."

"Too many numbers."

"We liked—"

Both girls froze, then glanced at each other with slightly worried looks. Rose realized at that moment that neither of them had mentioned their time at school before now, and perhaps that had been on purpose.

"Did you two go to Hogwarts?" she asked, choosing to ignore the fact that they both presented themselves as children.

"Perhaps," said Genna lightly. "But more importantly, how are your friends?"

"Everyone's fine," sighed Rose, irritated with the vague response but somehow not surprised. "Albus and James are on the Quidditch team again. Scorpius is on the Slytherin team."

Gemma and Genna both wrinkled their identical noses at this news.

"Quidditch," sighed Gemma. "Useless little sport."

"Have you seen Muggle sports?" asked Genna. "True, they're not flying, but they also can't go on for three weeks at a time—"

"—in the sweltering heat—"

"—without being able to leave—"

"—because you need to translate for the hostages."

The Gemini shared a weary look.

Rose made a mental note to write to her father after the Gemini had left. He would certainly be able to tell her what game they were referencing, and perhaps it would help her get more information about the pair.

"Have you heard from Dmitri?" asked Gemma.

"Not yet," said Rose, frowning. "Maybe he just doesn't want to write to me. I'm sure he's busy at school, especially since he missed an entire year."

"I'll see if we can fit Durmstrang into our itinerary," said Genna brusquely. "Busy or not, there's no use in you worrying about him."

"Where are you going?" asked Rose.

"Everywhere," said the Gemini together.

"We do still have things to learn," said Gemma solemnly, as if Rose might have a difficult time believing that the twins' knowledge was lacking in any way. "There's no better way to learn than to travel."

"We'll stop in and see how Dmitri's doing," said Genna.

"Think about what you want us to bring you back!"

"One of my uncles ended up traveling with the Riders over the summer," said Rose, "but he joined up with them after they had stopped at Durmstrang. He writes sometimes, but we can never reply because they move around so much."

"He's still with them?" asked Genna curiously. "That's interesting."

"Why?"

"It just is," she stated vaguely. "Did the woman heal after the dragon attacked her?"

"Maria made a full recovery," said Rose, "and apparently she only has a few small scars to show from it. The Healers did a wonderful job."

"Excellent," said Gemma. "And your brother, he's at school now too, isn't he?"

"Hufflepuff," said Rose, "first year. He seems to be doing well. I don't see him as much as I thought I would."

"And the little Potter girl," continued Gemma, "I hear that she was put in Slytherin."

"Interesting choice."

"Certainly."

"It took the Sorting Hat forever to decide," said Rose, thinking how odd it was for the twins to be calling anyone else 'little'. It somehow did not seem odd, however, for the Gemini to have already heard about Lily's Sorting. "I started to think there was a problem."

The Gemini exchanged a glance, then smiled at Rose.

"We'll keep an eye on her," said Genna. "And your brother, of course. So, tell us about your summer."

They were able to relax at the corner table until it was time for Rose to go to dinner. She invited them to come along, but the Gemini declined.

"Probably wouldn't be prudent."

"Certainly wouldn't be prudent."

"But we'll stick around for a bit," said Gemma. "We could do with a library like this one before we start our trip."

—

The problem with being friends with both Lorcan and Lysander was that it was sometimes impossible to tell which one was actually getting sick. When Rose arrived in the Great Hall for lunch later that week, she found Lysander sitting at the long table with his head propped in his hands.

"Are you alright?" she asked, sitting across from him.

"Yeah," he grunted, "I'm just worried. It's making my head hurt."

"Worried about Lorcan?" asked Rose, already knowing the answer. Lysander was perpetually in denial about having a physical connection to his twin. He said that there weren't proven cases of such connections existing, and even though he sometimes felt unwell when Lorcan did, Lysander claimed it was mere coincidence.

"He's back in his lessons with Trelawney," said Lysander.

Lorcan had begun taking private lessons with Professor Trelawney, the Divination professor, during the previous year. Even at such a young age, he had begun to show signs of having a future as a Seer. He was eager to have private instruction in addition to his regular Divination classes, in which (as he had proudly informed Rose) he received perfect marks.

"Isn't that a good thing?" asked Rose, scooping mashed potatoes onto her plate. "He improved a lot last year."

Lysander shrugged, his shoulders barely bobbing. "Ariana told me that he's been going back to the common room sick after each lesson this month," he said. "He's overworking himself."

"He shouldn't be getting sick," said Rose, her brow furrowing. "Professor Trelawney shouldn't be working him so hard. Maybe you could talk to him?"

Lysander just shrugged again.

Albus and James joined them, both diving straight into the platters of food before them. Rose buttered a roll, then began filling her bowl with soup. She was famished and intended to eat a bit of everything.

"Headache again?" grunted James, jerking his chin at Lysander.

"Yeah," said Rose vaguely, "headache."

She surveyed the rest of the hall. Hugo was with his normal group of friends at the Hufflepuff table. They had a small pile of wrapped items on the table. Hugo was in the middle of opening one, what looked to be a quill set.

Albus followed her gaze to the Hufflepuff table.

"It's Hugo's birthday?" he said, his brow furrowing. "Why didn't you say anything?"

Rose smiled. "He doesn't want us to celebrate until we go home for Christmas," she explained. "He said it's not the same without Mum and Dad. So I'm not allowed to get him anything yet, but it looks like his friends found out anyway."

James swallowed a large chunk of bread, then pulled a folded piece of parchment out of his pocket.

"Rose," he said, holding it out for her to take. "Came this morning, you had already left. It's from your dad."

"Thanks," said Rose, unfolding the letter eagerly.

Rosie,

I'm glad to hear that classes are going well. We're sending your brother some sweets at the end of the week, did you want some?

I did some digging about the game you mentioned. There was an incident in Hungary about twenty years ago where some foreign dignitaries were taken hostage during the game. The players were told during a time out that they had to keep playing until the situation could be resolved so that no one would notice the folks missing. It did stretch on for over three weeks, like you mentioned. They had a few batches of backup players who cycled in and out to keep things exciting and keep those watching fully distracted. The hostage situation was resolved by a team from Switzerland, and most people don't know that it even happened. How did you hear about it?

Your grandmum wants to start working on Christmas gifts, so you need to write her and let her know what color you'd like your jumper to be.

Love,

Dad

"I don't want to go to Potions," complained Albus, refilling his glass with more pumpkin juice. "I still haven't gotten this one right, and if I blow up another cauldron, Mum's gonna kill me."

"I'm sure your mum understands," said Rose, "and we have to go. You don't see me complaining about having boring old Arithmancy right after History of Magic, do you?"

"But you're good at both of them," said Albus stubbornly. "I'm sure you're good at Arithmancy, no matter what you keep saying."

Rose didn't want to explain to him in front of everyone that contrary to what he chose to believe, she had found that she just wasn't talented at Arithmancy. She was trying to set aside more time to study for it, but it was always hard for her to focus because she just did not enjoy the material. It still seemed like so much nonsense to her.

"Either way, we're going to Potions," she said briskly. "We should head down early so you can review the instructions before it gets all hazy in there."

Albus groaned but did not object. Rose spent much of the meal watching Lysander, who did not uncover his face for more than a few seconds at a time. He managed to eat some soup, but eventually just lay his head on the table and covered it with his arms.

"Maybe you should go to Madam Chang," suggested Rose softly. "She might have something for your head."

"I'm fine," grunted Lysander.

"Alright, well I'm off to class then," said Rose, still watching him nervously. "I'll see you in the common room later."

Albus made a sour face but rose from the table without objecting. He followed Rose sullenly into the Main Hall, where Scorpius was waiting for them.

"Ready to try this again?" asked Scorpius, his voice full of fake enthusiasm as he jostled Albus. "Perhaps today we can try a little less smoke, eh?"

"Bugger off," mumbled Albus sullenly. "I'm gonna go set up."

He brushed past them without another word and disappeared down the steps to the dungeons.

"I was only partially joking," admitted Scorpius. "He really does need to stop blowing up our cauldron or Slughorn will give both of us low marks."

"I know," said Rose with a sigh. "We've still got fifteen minutes. I wanted to drop my other books off in my room."

"I'll come with you," offered Scorpius. "No need to sit with Albus and watch him stew until class starts. C'mon."

Together they began making their way towards the Gryffindor common room.

"How's Lily doing?" asked Rose, knowing that she must be getting repetitive at this point. She asked about her cousin on a regular basis. If Scorpius minded, he did not let it show.

"She's great," he said with a shrug. "Honestly, she fits right in. There were a few people who thought it was funny- you know, the whole Potter being in Slytherin thing- but she shut them up. You know how she can be."

"She can certainly stand up for herself," acknowledged Rose, "I know. I'm still worried, though."

"You don't need to be," insisted Scorpius. "She has friends, she's not getting herself thrown into detention- she even does her homework, I've seen her studying. It's not like she's turning into some Dark witch after a month and a half in Slytherin."

"I know that," said Rose defensively. She hadn't meant to imply that being in Slytherin would somehow corrupt Lily, even if that was what part of her was fearing.

Scorpius waited outside the portrait of the Fat Lady while Rose ran inside to drop off her books. When Rose climbed back through the portrait hole, the Fat Lady was still loudly complaining about Scorpius' presence.

"And here she is now!" howled the portrait dramatically, "the girl who would let the whole school know how to enter our common room!"

"Sorry about that," Rose said to Scorpius, "she can be a bit defensive."

"I'm getting them to change the password!" insisted the Fat Lady as Rose began to walk away, "and I'm not letting any suspicious blonde boys in, no matter what!"

Scorpius chuckled and followed Rose back onto the set was typically stationary, but once they reached the fourth floor, the stairs began to move more frequently. As soon as they started towards the third floor, the staircase they were on broke away from the landing and began drifting towards the other side of the tower.

"Oh, really," huffed Rose, leaning against the railing. "Now's not the time."

When the stairs reached the opposite wall, they turned and headed back towards the original landing. Rose tapped her nails impatiently against the railing, imagining what Professor Slughorn would say if they arrived late to class. She was prepared to step off as soon as the stairs reconnected with the landing, but instead they began to move downwards, leaving the fourth floor landing above her head.

Rose huffed once more as the landing drew away. She hoped that the stairs would at least allow her to disembark on the third floor, but they bypassed that landing entirely and continued heading down. A group of first years leaned over the banister to watch Rose and Scorpius' descent, their mouths hanging open.

"Aren't we going to be late?" said Scorpius mildly as the stairs continued their painfully slow descent.

"Yes," snapped Rose, "we mostly likely will be due to these stupid bloody stairs!"

Scorpius sat, keeping one hand loosely grabbing the base of the railing. He looked over the edge of the stairs, nodding slowly.

"You have to admit, you never really see the castle this way," he said. "The stairs usually move so quickly. It's kind of neat."

"Not neat," said Rose sharply, "just incredibly inconvenient." Another thought hit her and she groaned. "Oh, Al is going to kill us if we don't show up."

"It's not as if we planned to get stuck on the stairs," Scorpius pointed out. "Maybe it'll let us off on the first floor."

As their luck would have it, the staircase only went down to nearly the second floor before pausing momentarily. Rose was calculating just how close she was to the next set of stairs and if she would be able to make the jump when the moving set began to rise back into the air. She nearly screamed with frustration and plopped down on the step next to Scorpius.

"I don't like being trapped places," she said quickly, not looking out over the edge of the steps. "I really don't like this at all."

"We'll be fine," said Scorpius reassuringly. "The castle's just being a bit wonky. We can get off up on the fourth floor. I'm sure it's just heading back up there."

Rose wanted to believe him, but she remained seated as the fourth floor came into view, and only gave it a passing glance as they rose past it. She only stood as the seventh floor came into view. The Gryffindor common room was around the next corner, so she couldn't see the Fat Lady, but she was hoping that there would be a student wandering the halls who could let Professor Slughorn know where they were.

Scorpius laughed when Rose told her his idea.

"And how are they supposed to get down to the dungeons?" asked Scorpius. "There's the minor problem of the fourth floor not having a staircase at the moment."

Rose sat once more, putting her head in her hands. Her heart was racing in her chest, and as much as she didn't like asking for help, she could feel herself beginning to panic.

"Can you talk about class or something?" she asked, pressing her fingers lightly into her eyelids.

"Runes is going well," said Scorpius immediately, "but that one's interesting, so it's not that hard. Arithmancy is alright but I'm not sure if I'm getting it or not. I know Al is loving Care of Magical Creatures, but it seemed a bit useless to me, if I'm being honest. I wanted something that would have a real world application, not just something fun to do at school. I have Quidditch for that."

Rose grunted to show that she was listening.

"Quidditch is going well," he continued. "It's weird working with the new people on the team, but we're working hard, so it's not going to take much longer before we're all adjusted to each other. I think we'll do well this year, but everyone's worried about Hufflepuff's new players."

"Gryffindor too," offered Rose quietly. "Al says they're good."

"They're very good," agreed Scorpius, "and it's making everyone nervous, which I think is so funny because it's the first time I've heard anyone in my house worried about being beaten by Hufflepuff. Last year was a huge surprise to everyone, I guess."

Rose listened to Scorpius talk about Quidditch for the next few minutes, focusing on her breathing and slowing down her heart. It had begun to beat frantically as soon as she had realized that she had no way to get off of the stairs and no idea when she would be able to do so. She hated panicking in front of people, but felt grateful to Scorpius for not asking questions when she needed him to distract her.

It took her a moment to realize that they had finally stopped moving. She moved her hands and saw a group of students gathered on the third floor landing, all staring at her and Scorpius.

"Time for Potions," said Scorpius lightly, getting to his feet. "Let's go see if we can make it before Al blows himself up."

Rose scrambled after Scorpius, ignoring the confused looks of the other students who had been waiting for the stairs to settle. She didn't feel the need to discuss what had just happened, and thankfully neither did Scorpius. He didn't speak again until they reached the Potions classroom and were facing more curious stares from their classmates.

"Sorry Professor," said Scorpius as Rose hurried to an empty seat. "The moving staircase wouldn't stop to let us off."

Professor Slughorn gave Scorpius an incredulous look. "If it weren't you, I'd think you were lying," he said, shaking his head. "Alright, see if you can catch up with the others. We're working on the Bleaching Brew again, which is right in your books."

Rose glanced at Albus, but he was so intensely concentrated on his cauldron, she doubted he had even noticed them enter the room. He was sharing a table with Tia, who was bent over the textbook, trying to read the instructions through the thin veil of smoke that flowed throughout the room.

By the end of the class, Rose and Scorpius had made it to the second to last step of their potion. They didn't have enough time to let it sit on the low flames before adding the final ingredient, but Professor Slughorn noted that their cauldron was only emitting a few tendrils of grey smoke and decided that it would have most likely turned out properly.

"Let's not get stuck on anymore staircases, alright?" he said pointedly, marking off their progress on his parchment before moving on.

Albus and Tia had also produced satisfactory results, to Albus' apparent glee. After class let out, he spent three minutes explaining what he had been doing wrong and how Tia had corrected him before stopping in his tracks, his mouth popping open.

"I almost forgot," he said, "where were you two?"