When Christmas break came to an end, I found myself unsure and with a lack of motivation to do anything other than think of my father. I had only made it a few steps onto the Hogwarts Express back to school before Sophie pulled me into a compartment and talked my ear off for the entire ride. Though, I don't think I heard one word of what she said. My nose was in the stories I found within The Tales of Beedle and the Bard. They were simple children's stories, but I found myself drawn to them and just as the note that came with it read, I found comfort in reading them.

At this point I had read the stories a half a dozen times and each time I turned the page, I felt more like a child than I ever had. I certainly couldn't say I felt any better about the person who sent the book to me, but I knew full well that these stories were something I needed. Something I craved. A look into the past. My past.

The first week back from break, I didn't pay much of any mind to any of my friends. The Weasley Twins had tried to tease me for receiving a sweater from their mother that was identical to their older brother Percy. They thought it was quite hilarious, but Hayden had them stop the senseless teasing before I snapped. The blonde was doing well at keeping the friends I had outside of Ravenclaw from questioning what was going on and I greatly appreciated it.

When it came to my Ravenclaw friends, I wasn't doing well at hiding what was going on. I had spent most of my free time in the library looking back at past Hogwarts graduating classes. Now that I had a lead as to who my dad was, I had started to search for Remus Lupin's name anywhere in the archives. There were dozens of records to go through so it was proving to be a difficult challenge. So it didn't take long for my roommates to become curious as to what I was doing.

I currently found myself leaning over a record book from 1975 after already going through the records from 1958 to where I was now. I wasn't going to leave any room for error in my search so I started as if he was in his mid fifties. There was no way to tell if I was born to an older or younger couple so I needed to make sure I covered all of my bases. I had been deep into information about the Gryffindors from 1975, that I barely felt when a hand was placed on my shoulder.

"I would've thought you'd be studying up on Transfiguration. Not some old albums."

I didn't even have to look up to know who was speaking. "I don't have time for this, Finn."

Much to my dismay, the boy in question pulled the chair next to me out and sat down. "I think you do." He reached over and pulled the book out from under me to give it a look over. "What's got you looking at past Hogwarts students instead of studying?"

Part of me was tempted to ignore him, but I knew full well he wouldn't leave until I told him what was going on. With a sigh, I spoke. "I think my dad sent me a present for Christmas. I'm just trying to find a picture of him in one of these books."

He raised an eyebrow, looking back up towards me. "You do realize you're trying to find a needle in a haystack right? Do you even know what house he was in?" When I shook my head, he continued. "So let me get this straight.. You're going through every Hogwarts graduate record, through every house, trying to find a picture of a guy who may or may not be your dad?"

"Yes," I snapped, reaching over to try and take the book back only to have Finnley hold it from my reach. "Come on, this is really important to me, just let me keep going. I gotta be getting close."

Finnley gave his head a shake. As he did so, he took the book and handed it to one of the hands that kept the shelves organized. Before I could protest, the book was taken and returned to its rightful place. "This can wait. You're gonna drive yourself mad, especially if you can't manage to find him in these old books."

"But-"

"Don't." He narrowed his eyes before reaching into his bag and pulling out a piece of parchment, ink and a quill. "We have a paper due in Transfiguration tomorrow on the transformation formula. I know for a fact you haven't started it. We're going to sit here until you get it done." He set the items in front of me, giving them a light tap. "I'll sit with you to make sure you stay on track."

I furrowed my brow. "I have plenty of time to do it, just let me finish looking through one last book and I'll get started."

"Nope." Finnley spoke, taking out his Potions textbook and opening it to the chapter we had started just the day before. "You can go back to your obsessive searching when you're done with your paper." His eyes began to scan the page for just a moment before he looked over at me once more. "We've all known what it's like to lose someone in one way or another. It's just a matter of how we handle it."

I kept my gaze connected with his for a long moment, as if searching for all of the answers I had been craving. Letting out a huff, I broke our eye contact and turned to the blank piece of parchment in front of me. I knew full well what the transformation formula was, I had read about it before the Christmas break so I wouldn't stress myself out after we got back to school. However, I couldn't manage to remember a single bit of information on it. I glanced to the side to look for my book bag only to remember that I had left it in the dorm room since I hadn't intended to study.

"Do you have-" I began to ask, but was cut off when a textbook was placed beside my parchment. Finnley hadn't even looked up from his Potions book, he simply pulled out his Transfiguration book and gave it to me without a word. With my gaze on the book, a small smile formed on my lips.

A little bit of studying wouldn't hurt.

A large yawn escaped my lips as I walked down the corridor. Charms had just been let out signaling that our week of classes had finally ended. Over the last few months, this was the most tired I had felt. After Finnley got me to work on my homework, I had realized how much studying I had been neglecting. I had spent the last couple of nights trying to make up for lost time. Last night in particular was the nail in the coffin for my feelings of exhaustion. I hadn't slept a wink and we had Astronomy at midnight. I had nearly fallen asleep while trying to locate constellations.

Needless to say, I hadn't looked at the archives since I got back to studying. As much as I wanted to find my father in one of those books, it certainly wasn't going to do me any good by neglecting everything else.

As I walked, I had Sophie beside me glancing back at our other two roommates who were clearly having another spat. It was beginning to give me a headache at how petty their arguments were becoming. All it took to upset them was for either of them to look at the other in just the wrong way. Mandy had told me she would discuss what was going on with me when we got back from break and since I had been so distracted, by the time I got around to asking her what was going on, she had already shut herself down again.

I reached up and pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh. "Will you two please stop?" I muttered, glancing back at Mandy and Clara. "It's been a long week for all of us and I can't be the only one that just wants to spend a quiet afternoon together. With no fighting."

"That's what I would love, but someone doesn't want to hear a word about what I want." Clara glared towards Mandy only causing her to erupt into more anger.

"All you think about is yourself. How about you just give it a rest already." Mandy huffed, turning away.

Clara bit at the inside of her cheek. "Give it a rest? You haven't let whatever it is go since day one!"

"Please stop fighting you two." Sophie frowned, stepping in between them. "We haven't even been able to spend time bonding as roommates. I've never had a sleepover before and I'm sure it's a lot more fun when people aren't arguing."

The two girls proceeded to ignore Sophie and continue to argue back and forth. I held my books close to my chest and heaved yet another sigh. It certainly was fun at the start when Clara and Mandy just wouldn't talk to each other. But with the constant bickering, that fun had gone away rather quickly.

We all continued to walk in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room and along the way, we ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione. At the sight of them, I came to an abrupt stop in front of them. "Do you guys mind if I tag along with you for a bit?"

The three were clearly startled by my sudden question. I could see why, I hadn't even bothered with a greeting. It was Harry who spoke up first. "I was actually going to Quidditch practice-"

"Great, I'll come with." I cut him off before giving them each a nudge to keep moving forward. As I got them moving, I grabbed Sophie by the arm to bring her with me. "Come on, you're coming too."

"But what about-"

"Just you and me, let's go." I snapped as we started to make our way away from Clara and Mandy. Once we were far enough away, I let out a small sigh of relief. "Sorry you guys, those two are driving me absolutely insane."

The two boys seemed almost oblivious to what I was talking about, but Hermione nodded sympathetically. "I understand. Those two have been going at it for weeks. You'd think by now they would've sorted things out."

"It'll be a miracle when that happens." The five of us walked into the Quidditch pitch and Harry waved at us as he headed off into the locker rooms to change. The rest of us headed into the stands where we found very few others there to watch practice. It made sense, practice wasn't as exciting as the games.

Ravenclaw had won their first match against Hufflepuff in November and they had been practicing around the clock ever since. Our seeker, Paul Lewis, was in his last year at Hogwarts and he wanted to make the best out of it. Apparently he and the rest of the team had won the Quidditch Cup at some point and he just wanted to bring it home one last time. It would be amazing to have my house win in my first year. Something I would certainly never forget.

On the ground below, the Gryffindor team made their way onto the field. When Gryffindor faced Slytherin at the beginning of November, everyone had been in the stands to see Harry play his first game. He was already famous for being the Boy Who Lived, now he was famous for being the youngest Quidditch player in a century. It made me curious if there had been other good Quidditch players at the age of eleven, but no one gave them the chance to play until Harry. Who was I to complain? If anyone were to win the Quidditch Cup other than Ravenclaw, I would hope it would be Gryffindor.

As they all began to huddle in a circle, I noticed Hayden standing between Fred and George. I remembered him telling me that he had been a chaser the year before, but this year he was made a reserve with Alicia Spinnet taking his old spot. He kept saying she deserved it, but his face showed that he was disappointed he may not have a chance to play this year.

"I never knew your brother played Quidditch." Hermione spoke. It took me a moment to realize she was addressing myself and not Ron, who clearly had two brothers playing. "Thought I would've heard about that by now.."

I gave my head a light shake. "Not like he played in the Slytherin match. And he's not my brother." I corrected her. At this point, I knew Hayden saw me as his sister, but until I was ready to call him my brother, I didn't want anyone referring to him as such.

Hermione seemed to quickly understand, clearly picking up on the context clues around her. Ron on the other hand was much more oblivious. As he opened his mouth, I almost knew that his words wouldn't be ones that I appreciated. "Really? Fred and George are always running around talking about Hayden's baby sister. It's actually been getting bloody annoying.." He grumbled.

"Ron, really, do you not understand-"

"I am his sister."

My words cut Hermione off, making her snap her head in my direction in confusion. At her perplexed expression, I let out a small laugh. I knew full well my words didn't make sense. I was Hayden's sister, but he wasn't my brother. How do I even have that make sense to others?

As I began to try and formulate a way to explain it to my Gryffindor friends, Sophie spoke up. "It's really simple. Hayden has accepted Penny as his sister, but Penny isn't ready to call Hayden her brother. She doesn't want to disregard his feelings so she still is allowing Hayden to call her his sister to anyone he sees fit." She stuck out her tongue a bit to tease the two of them. "Come on guys, keep up!"

I couldn't help but laugh at my blonde friend's words. The tone she had as she explained my situation made it seem far more comical. It was moments like this that I was thankful Sophie was my friend. Despite the fact that she tended to be more outspoken, I had come to appreciate every outburst she had.

"Yeah," I reached over and patted Sophie's shoulder with a smile. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Hermione seemed to nod in understanding, though it was clear that a part of her was still unsure of what was going on. Thankfully, the conversation did not continue, courtesy of Sophie. She scooted down a seat so she could face Hermione better and quickly began to change the subject to our most recent Potions class. Apparently Hermione had been able to figure out how to brew the potion we were working on faster than anyone else. It didn't surprise me that Sophie was looking for some pointers.

I leaned forward, placing my elbows on my knees as I eyed the field. The Gryffindor team had begun to do some drills and were moving around the field with such precision. Their movements were clean and extremely satisfying to watch. Each position was impressive in its own right. The more I observed, the more I wondered what it would be like to play out there with them. But no one was like Harry, I wouldn't have a chance to learn what it was like till at least next year.

But that was a bridge I would have to cross when that time came. Today was certainly not the time for this.

A couple hours passed and the Gryffindor team landed on the ground and brushed themselves off. Oliver Wood looked around at the team with a nod of approval. "Alright, that's good for today. We'll meet up again next week at the same time. When we get closer to our match with Hufflepuff, we'll have double practices, but for now we should be okay."

Both Fred and George saluted before they each threw an arm around Hayden's shoulders. "Aye, aye, captain." Fred grinned.

"You won't catch us slacking." George stuck his tongue out. The twins only received a small head shake before the team began to head into the locker rooms. They were about to follow in, but came to a stop when they looked up to the stands to find some first years had been watching their practice. "Looks like we have some admirers boys."

When Hayden stopped to look up to where the twins were pointing towards, he was Penny and a few of her friends sitting in the stands. He raised an eyebrow and looked at the twins in amusement. "Admirers? Alright keep dreaming." He paused. "Wait.. Actually don't dream, just.. Stop dreaming.. Merlin, I need to get some sleep."

George snickered, slapping Hayden on the back. "We're only joking, mate."

Fred nodded in agreement, keeping his gaze up on the stands. "Penny looks like she's in better spirits. Did she find what she was looking for?"

"I don't think so," Hayden spoke with a shake of his head. "I'm kind of glad she didn't.. The last thing she needs is to get wrapped up in something that complex right now."

The twins looked to their friend in confusion, Fred being the first one to speak up. "What do you mean? Do you not want her to find her family?"

"We get if you don't want her to find them and leave you," George continued. "But she still has a right to know."

"It's not that.." Hayden muttered, lifting his broom up and turning towards the locker rooms. "It's a bit more complicated than you guys think. Come on, I'll explain it when no one else is around." The twins glanced at each other before shrugging and heading in after him. They were always game for a good secret.