So, if you're wondering what took me so long to update, a mix of work, resting, studying, socialising and the like.

In other news, I've been working on other stuff to upload for those on the Discord – been hard at work and you'll see the fruits of it soon.

What else, what else… oh, those of you that follow my 'The West' RDR series might see something very very soon.

Lastly, today just so happens to be my birthday (as of 08:04). So… yeah, that's fun. I'll try and keep updating frequently over the next month, but I honestly need to start condensing my story plan, because at the moment, it's about 60 chapters. Anyhoo, it's another small chapter - just filler, more than anything.

4th January, 2009

The Hogwarts Express, Platform 9 ¾, King's Cross

Seth was sat in the compartment, eyes closed and head rested against the window. Faith waved at their father, smiling a brilliant, pretty smile. Seth's eyes kept flinching open at every bump of the train as it began to pick up speed and rock from side to side. He'd end up banging his head against the window and cursing quietly under his breath.

"Didn't sleep well?" Faith asked as she sat back down in the compartment.

"Didn't sleep, full stop," Seth murmured in response as he picked his feet up onto the seat next to him. He looked up and saw Faith pulling off her fox-fur-lined parka, and offering it to him. Seth stared at it, one eye closed, before reaching out to pick up the coat and push it behind his head.

"I'll wake you up when the others get here," Faith said as she reached into her black rucksack, patterned with the red bat of her favourite team. "Figured out what to say yet?"

"'Dorian, you sound much more clever when you close your mouth'."

"That's not funny."

"I'm not trying to be."

"So?"

Seth sighed. "How was the party?" Seth asked. "You stayed quite late, didn't you?"
"Not that late," Faith replied. "It was fine. How about you?"

Seth bit his lip. His head had been spinning since Alessia kissed him, that much was certain. But he wasn't… well, he thought it would've made him happy. Ecstatic – euphoric, maybe. But he was mostly just confused. How it had all happened – it wasn't… what he'd imagined.

"Fine," Seth said finally. "Yours?"

"Good."

"I'm guessing you went to find Alessia," Faith said, reaching into her bag for a book, "how did she take it?"

"Take what?"

"The news. About the sword?"

Seth nodded. "It didn't come up."

"Seth!"

"It wasn't right," Seth said, waving a hand, "she was… drinking and upset. I think."

"You think?"

He let out a long breath and stared at his little sister's grey eyes. "I don't know, Faith, I'm not good at that…"

"Okay, well, was she crying?"

"No."

"Was she… about to cry?"

"I don't think so?"

"So why was she upset?"

"Well… I don't know. She just seemed to want to cheer herself up when she kissed me…"

Faith blinked, the corner of her lip pulling up into a smile. "Kissed you?"

"It was for New Year's…"

"I thought you said she wanted to cheer herself up?"

"It's a working theory."

"Maybe she just wanted to kiss you?"

"I doubt it," Seth replied, grabbing his satchel and opening it to pull out a folded copy of the Daily Prophet.

"Did she tell you anything about it?" Faith asked.

"What, the kiss?"

"No, the- Gringott's." Faith gestured to the paper. Seth unfolded it and looked at the front cover.

"He must be loving this…" Seth murmured. "Nothing about Alessia in the paper."

"It mentions there was someone," Seth replied. "Young girl," he read aloud.

"She didn't mention if they got the cup?" Faith asked.

"I guess we'll find out…" Seth shrugged. He looked up to see Alessia scooting down the train, looking through the door and recognizing the two Galloways before making her way inside. She removed her knitted beanie and entered the compartment, unbuttoning her thick coat.

"Hey guys," Alessia said, smiling.

"Morning," Faith chirped.

"I-" Seth garbled slightly before clearing his throat. "Hi are you?"

Alessia's brow creased slightly. "Hello… fine?"

"Smooth," Faith commented.

"How've you two been?" Alessia began to tug off her fur-lined gloves.

"Good."
"And the sword?"

"Well-" Seth began.

"We should probably wait until Dorian's here," Faith said, raising a hand to stop her brother. "If only to keep you from repeating yourself."

"Well, you shouldn't have to wait too long – I think he was behind me…" Alessia said, glancing over to the door of the compartment, where a throng of students passed by. Seth immediately recognized one of them – the platinum-white hair of Dorian, dressed in a grey overcoat with a plush scarlet pocket square and a black cotton shirt.

"It's not that hard – just talent, really," Dorian said, holding his hands up. "Can't really take credit for it – it all comes easy."

"Erm, Dorian," Elsie Herrick wrinkled her nose as Dorian opened the door to the compartment, "why are you sitting with them?"

"Hi, Elsie," Alessia smiled at the girl, remembering when she'd almost knocked her off her broom in their first year. From the look on Elsie's face, she remembered too.

"I can't deprive anyone of my company," Dorian scoffed, "obviously."

"Right, obviously," Harriet Lankton nodded.

"See you later," Dorian grinned as he closed the compartment door behind himself and sat down beside Faith.

"Quite the little fan-club," Faith commented.

"They just heard about my heroics," Dorian gestured to the issue of the Daily Prophet that Seth held. "It's a common side-effect."

"Finished with your adoring public, then?" Seth asked.

Dorian turned to face Seth. "Hello to you too, Sethany. How are you? Ales and I are fine, by the by – how did you enjoy gate-crashing my party-"

"Okay, Ads, all friends, remember?" Alessia raised an eyebrow.

"So," Faith reached across to take the paper from Seth and held it up to Dorian. "What happened?"

"There was a slight complication," Alessia said slowly, looking over to Dorian.

"How slight?" Seth asked.

"Someone tried to rob the bank," Dorian stated.

"I'd never have guessed," Seth replied. Dorian sneered in response.

"I'm guessing you're both okay?" Faith asked.

"Yeah," Alessia nodded.

"Cool as a cucumber," Dorian agreed.

"But, you got it, right? The cup?"

"And then some," Dorian said, unzipping his rucksack and removing a dented golden wine goblet.

"What's so special about this?" Faith asked, taking the cup from Dorian.

"What do you mean, 'and then some'?" Seth asked. Dorian looked to Alessia, as did Seth. "What?"

Alessia reached beneath the collar of her red turtle-neck and removed a golden locket, with an ornate emerald 'S'. "It turns out I'm not… actually muggle-born." Seth kept his mouth shut. His heart sank a little bit. She probably didn't remember anything of that night on New Year's. It tarnished the kiss even more. "My mum's Aurora Tremblay."

Faith's eyes widened. "Tremblay? You're positive?"

"Yeah, you know something?"

"Aurora Tremblay's missing from St. Mungo's."

"Aurora…" Alessia murmured the name slowly.

"It's been in the papers," Seth nodded, handing her the issue of the Daily Prophet and flipping over to the 'Bad News' section. "I know her brother was put in Azkaban."

"Yeah, that's around the time she disappeared," Faith nodded. "Was found in some field outside Brno, ranting about blood magic… I think."

"You mean you don't know, or you forgot?" Seth asked.

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does, either she was involved with dark magic, or she went crazy," Seth stated.

Seth felt a sharp pain in his ankle as Dorian had kicked him. Seth looked over to him, mouth open, only to see Dorian's eyes wide, nodding to Alessia, whose face was sunken, as she stared down into space.

"I'm sorry, Alessia," Seth said slowly, "I wasn't… thinking."

Dorian gave a mocking gasp.

"So, that's two of the four," Faith changed the topic, "with the third at Hogwarts, we're-"

"Sorry, two?" Dorian blinked. "What happened to the sword?"

Faith gestured to Seth, who rubbed his brow. "We found it."

Dorian nodded, surprised.

"Well, then, everything's okay, right?" Alessia asked Seth.

"Not… quite-" Seth began.

"Someone else got it," Faith explained.

"Thanks, Faithy…" Seth groaned.

Dorian laughed. "I am in awe!"

"Okay, Ads…" Alessia warned him.

"No, really, I mean, we break into my uncle's vault, you answer a sphynx's riddle, then we fight off a dark wizard and we still make out with both relics. But somehow you managed to lose it in a shop."

"We got a good look at the one who-"

"Oh, great. You can keep your eyes peeled in the Prophet – I mean, that is your main skill, right?"

"You know, maybe if all four of us had gone to Borgin-"

"What? We'd not have the cup or the locket?"

"Will the bloody pair of you just shut up?" Alessia hissed, leaning in between them. "Do you want the whole carriage to hear us?"

There was a long pause as the two boys sunk back into their chairs. Though one was arrogant, the other awkward, neither was foolish enough to continue bickering. Alessia took a breath to calm herself. "McGonagall has the diadem. It doesn't matter if we have the sword or not, we have half the relics, which means we're in the lead."

"Despite someone's best effort to the contrary…" Dorian said, examining his fingernails.

"Really?" Alessia snapped. Dorian held up his hands and relented.

"What next?" Faith asked her. Alessia looked back to her fellow housemate.

"Don't look at me," Dorian huffed, "he's the one with the plans…"

"Ads…" Faith said quietly, staring at him. Dorian returned her look for a moment and it struck Seth as… odd. He'd only ever heard a few Gryffindors call him that. He found himself wondering when Faith would've started calling him by one of his nicknames.

"Well, I reckon that now we find someone to explain why these are all so special. Maybe someone can look into them for us?"

"Like who?" Alessia asked.

"Slughorn?" Dorian suggested.

"He'd probably just try to flog them," Alessia scoffed.

"What about your uncle George?" Seth asked.

Dorian let out a spluttering laugh. "What? Oh, of course, of course- 'Sorry, Uncle, I nicked your wand and broke into your vault to pinch some cup people seem to be killing for. Care to help with our queries?'"

"We should talk more about it tomorrow at lunch," Faith suggested.

"Should we change?" Alessia asked.

"Absolutely," Dorian replied. Alessia smacked him around the head. Dorian took the cup back from Faith and stowed it inside his bag, zipping it back up. He and Seth made their way out of the compartment, beginning to move down together.
"What are you smirking at?" Dorian asked.

"I don't think Alessia wanted you seeing her undress," Seth said, a little smug. They paused as they came up to a compartment of Jamie Helstrom and Cormac O'Hare.

"Yeah, well, once is enough, right?" Dorian retorted, before giving a small wave and entering the compartment.

I hope you all enjoyed! Be sure to leave a review so I know you're still reading, and I'll see you in the next chapter.

Happy New Year!