Daphne Greengrass mysteriously became rebellious during the March house exchange once again, but as always, the attackers were never caught. The price on Willow's and Cypress's heads was growing so much that they joked about Professor Snape hiring some Slytherins as bounty hunters. With the exorbitant amount of extra credit being offered, they were surprised students hadn't tried to figure it out already. Willow didn't mind all of that going on in the background; as long as their plan was working, they were going to keep at it. Daphne was progressively using the Muggleborn slur less and less, and Cypress was noticing how she winced every time one of her friends talked bad about Muggleborns or wished the monster from the Chamber would strike soon. She was finally forming her own opinion.

The rest of that house exchange was fairly uneventful. Willow had to admit she spent more time in the Gryffindor common room than the Slytherin one, though it was mainly in the secret room with Griffin, V, Felicity, and Patch. Griffin could now detect small mammals, but he was a bit too uncoordinated to approach them silently. It was progress, at least. Oliver and Griffin bonded so much over the Holidays that the baby griffin was almost as close with him as he was to Willow. They often taught him more advanced tricks to find an excuse to give him treats- and belly rubs. Griffin ate up the attention. He was turning out to be quite the sociable magical creature.

Harry confided in her at one point that he had found a diary in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom and that it had revealed to him that Hagrid opened the Chamber of Secrets. Willow, like him, couldn't believe it. They tried to come up with some other explanation, but all they could agree on was Hagrid was framed for something, and what evidence did they have to back that up? All Willow knew was that this Riddle character didn't sit well with her. He sounded like a shady suck-up that had a terrible childhood and took it out on everyone else. She knew better than most that a terrible childhood didn't mean you had to use that as an excuse be a jerk. So did Mandy, the Smith twins, Oliver, and Harry.

During Easter Holidays, Willow received a welcome distraction. The second years were to sign up for their classes next year, and there were so many to choose from that she hardly knew where to begin. Willow ended up joining the Gryffindor boys in their dorm to discuss their options. Dean Thomas was poking at the subjects list with his eyes closed when she walked in.

"You don't have any clue what these are either?" Willow chuckled.

Dean flopped backwards on his bed, groaning. "Absolutely no clue. What the heck are Ancient Runes, anyway?"

"I think it's some sort of language inscribed on stones that we can use magic with? That's my best guess. My dad forgot to tell me about all of this stuff over the Holidays."

"I wish he would have at least told you something, because none of us know what any of these classes are," Sam sighed. "It's ironic, really. You and I both have magical parents, and we know next to nothing."

"It is a shame, isn't it?" Willow said, pulling out her locket. The metal was cold as ice again. "Oh well. What's life without a little adventure? Picking classes at random might be the best choice." Willow noticed a particular subject. "On second thought, I'm definitely doing Care of Magical Creatures, and the other one I'll pick at random."

"Of course you would do that one," Seamus said, laying next to Dean. "You could probably teach the class. You've got the collection of creatures and everything."

"Just don't tell that to Hagrid yet!" Willow said. "He'd be over the moon about meeting a baby griffin. I'm saving him as a surprise for when he's all trained up and ready to fly on his own."

"You're training Griffin?" Neville asked. "How are you managing that?"

"With great difficulty, and lots of bacon pieces."

"So that's where all the bacon has been going," Sam concluded. "I've been sacrificing leftovers to a magical creature?"

"Sam, trust me, you eat enough bacon to feed the entire country, you don't need any more," Dean chortled. "Besides, I don't want that thing deciding I'm his next meal. It's an honorable sacrifice."

"Griffin would never do such a thing!" Neville exclaimed. "He's too sweet. He only likes to eat small things so far."

"Since when are you an expert on magical creatures?" Seamus asked.

"I'm not," Neville admitted, blushing slightly. "I've just been helping Willow and Oliver with Griffin when both of them are too busy. He's a very nice baby griffin. They've trained him really well, and he doesn't freak out over sudden noises any more. I think you'd like him. That reminds me- " Neville glanced at his subjects list- "I should sign up for Care of Magical Creatures. My gran warned me that I'm too clumsy for it, but I think I could manage, don't you guys?"

Sam shrugged. "You do what you feel is best. Willow's a complete klutz, but you don't see that stopping her anytime soon."

"Hey! I'm working on that!"

Neville smiled. "That makes my decision a lot easier." He marked down Care of Magical Creatures, then sighed, his face falling. "One subject down, a whole other one to go."

"Does anyone know what Arithmancy is?" Seamus questioned.

"No, but we should all sign up for the same class, just in case it's awful and we need to entertain each other," Dean suggested. Willow shot him a look. "Or share notes while paying very good attention! Both options are a good idea!"

"Maybe one of us should randomly point to a subject, and that's the one we'll all put down," Sam said.

"I don't see a better option. I'll do it," Seamus volunteered. He closed his eyes, then randomly pointed at the paper. Everyone crowded around to see "Divination" underneath the tip of his wand.

"Divination?" Neville repeated. "I think my aunt said something about that class, but I'm not sure I remember it correctly."

"Well, it's a class, and that's all we need," Seamus said, shrugging. He scribbled it down on his paper. "As long as it's not some really difficult class that I'm going to fail the first day, I'm okay with it."

"You should set your standards higher, Seamus," Dean chided. "You're much better at school than you give yourself credit for."

"Tell that to Professor Snape."

Dean laughed. "He doesn't count. We all know he's hated you from the moment you and Neville blew up your cauldron during our first year. Wasn't that one of our first classes, too?"

"It just added fuel to the fire." Seamus grinned. "Pun intended."

"Well, if you two ever finish fawning over each other, you can find me in the common room," Sam teased as he stood up, a mischievous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Come on, Willow, let's go rescue Sally before she puts down Ancient Runes."

Willow giggled as she was dragged out of the room, Dean and Seamus blushing terribly. Sam found Sally in the common room and was able to stop her from signing up for Arithmancy before it was too late. He made sure they were signed up for the same classes, then exited the common room, taking Willow with him. She didn't bother asking where they were going. Sam always went to the same place: the Hufflepuff common room. Oliver and he had become close friends over the past two years, which meant Sam knew the knocking pattern to his common room, just like Willow did. They were met with the aroma of sweet fruit baking into a delectable pastry as they walked in. Oliver was sitting on the nearest couch, the Ravenclaw girls and Cypress already surrounding him.

"I suggest trying Arithmancy since you're so smart, Oliver," Lisa suggested. "I've signed up for that one already."

"Ooh, and Ancient Runes! I've read a little bit about them, and they're absolutely fascinating!" Sue exclaimed. "I heard the professor is nice, too, so you won't have to worry about another Snape breathing down your neck."

"I don't know what any of it is, but Divination sounds like the opposite of logic, so I crossed that one off right away," Mandy said.

"You should definitely sign up for Care of Magical Creatures. You'll automatically get an Outstanding mark," Cypress said.

"Whoa, guys, don't overwhelm him!" Sam yelped. "One at a time!"

Oliver gratefully looked up at him. "Hi Sam! Hi Willow! I think I know what classes I want to sign up for, but there's something so cool about each one! What did you guys sign up for?"

"Care of Magical Creatures and Divination," Willow replied. "You do whatever you want, though."

"Well, I'm definitely doing Care of Magical Creatures, but I don't know what else to pick. I'm not exactly smart, but I could do well in Arithmancy, Ancient Runes doesn't sound like my thing, and Divination...what even is that?" Oliver sighed. "Can I just randomly point to one of the classes?"

"No!" Cypress and the Ravenclaw girls chorused.

"Yeah," Sam and Willow said together.

Oliver glanced between the two groups. "Um...that was a very conflicting answer."

"You know what, you do what you want," Cypress said, putting an arm around Oliver. "It's your future, anyway. If you can see yourself working with magical numbers, do Arithmancy. If you think it's interesting enough, do Ancient Runes. It's whatever you want."

Oliver tapped his quill on his paper. "Hm…I think I'll go with Divination. It sounds interesting enough." He scribbled the subject down. "There, it's done. That was so much harder than it should have been."

"But- but Ancient Runes! Arithmancy! Interesting lessons full of wonder and getting out of your comfort zone!" Sue protested.

"Aw, let him do what he wants, Sue," Lisa said. "We already know Oliver's as smart as it gets. He doesn't need to take high-level classes to prove it to us." Her stomach rumbled. "I wish we could take cooking classes, though. I'd sign up in an instant."

"Speaking of food," Sam said, pointing at the cuckoo clock, "Let's go eat too much of it to celebrate!"

The group made their way to the Great Hall, where Willow's favourite roast beef sandwiches were being served. She threw two on her plate and a mountain of corn. They all ended up sitting at the Ravenclaw table with the Sue, Lisa, and Mandy. Padma showed up and regarded them politely as always.

"How are you doing with choosing your classes?" she asked. "I've heard everyone is struggling. I think we're all in the same boat with not knowing anything about the actual subjects."

"We've pretty much figured ours out," Mandy said. "Sam and Willow randomly chose theirs, but the rest of us actually tried to make an educated choice."

"Hey! I at least chose one class with my own brain- not that there's much there," Willow admitted.

"What did we say about putting ourselves down?" Sam reminded her.

Willow groaned. "Ugh, fine, I take back that last part."

Padma laughed. "It's good to take pride in yourself. Personally, I don't get stellar marks, so Arithmancy isn't an option yet. Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures sounded interesting, so hopefully I'll get to take care of some adorable creature with you next year!"

"That would be awesome!" Willow suddenly caught sight of Ginny staring at her. The second year turned away before she could make eye contact. Willow sensed some distress building up within the redhead. Her face fell as she wondered if Ginny was heading back to her old self again. "I'll be right back, guys. Don't you dare eat my sandwich!"

"No promises!"

Willow rolled her eyes. She could always count on Sam to eat her leftovers. Making her way to the Gryffindor table, Willow sat down next to Ginny, who jumped so violently that some silverware clattered onto the floor.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to frighten you!" Willow exclaimed. "Are you okay? You seem off today."

"I'm fine, just jumpy," Ginny said.

"Are you sure? You're not acting like yourself. Is it Harry again?"

"No," she said much too quickly. Willow tried to hold back her powers, but her concern for Ginny made them reach out to her. She was obviously anxious and fidgety about something. It had to do with Harry, she could gather that much, but it wasn't like her usual feelings towards Harry. This was something entirely different. What had changed?

"I'm fine, Willow, seriously," Ginny insisted, taking a small bite of her sandwich. "If anything, it's just piles of homework stressing me out."

"I could talk about stress all day. Wood is extending our practices and refusing to give us even Sundays off for training. With all this extra crap Snape is giving us, I'm not sure how I'm managing to sleep."

"It's a good thing you're not the type to stress out about things, then," Ginny said. "How do you do that?"

Willow shrugged. "I just don't worry about it. I do things as I get them, try really hard not to procrastinate, end up procrastinating, simply stop complaining, buckle down, and get it done, and whatever happens from there happens. It's sort of a don't think, just do philosophy. I probably get it from soccer."

"I wish I had the ability to stop procrastinating," Ginny sighed. "Maybe I wouldn't spend every Thursday night cramming for a test that way."

"You'll figure it out someday. It's not something you can really teach." Willow put an arm around Ginny, being sure to make eye contact. "You know you can tell me anything, right? No matter what it is, I'll help you through it."

Ginny forced a smile. "I know. Don't worry about me, Willow. I'm fine. You need to worry about yourself."

"As long as you're sure..." Willow stood up. "I'm going to make sure Sam didn't eat my sandwich. Pester George and Paige for me, will you? They've been acting odd lately."

Ginny giggled. "Not for much longer...!"

Willow didn't know whether she was supposed to hear that or not, but not knowing what to make of it, she decided that food was more important and went back to eat her roast beef sandwich.

Later that day, Willow found herself sprinting through the corridors, robe flying like a cape behind her. She'd almost forgotten about the time change for quidditch practice. It was a whole hour earlier. Willow dashed into the locker rooms just in time to find her broom and rush out onto the pitch. Wood was ridiculously hard on them today. They did lap after lap of the pitch, scrimmaged more than was really necessary, sectioned off to work on their individual positions, and did an agility activity that involved the twins hitting bludgers at players in close quarters. Willow purposely went last. She took a bludger off the cheekbone once, twice off her hip, and accidentally caught one as it attempted to plow through her ribs. George tried to make Wood stop the drill for her, but Wood insisted that she needed to get quicker. Willow agreed with him. George was downright furious about it, though, and it took Wood shouting at him about losing the game to Hufflepuff to make him begrudgingly keep going. Willow got better as she went on, only getting nicked on the shoulder and wrist over the next two rounds. Practice finally came to a close with five final laps of the pitch. Willow painfully changed into her regular robes, the rest of the locker room groaning in pain or exhaustion. She was about to leave when she heard whispering on the other side of a broom closet.

"...shouldn't have made her do that! First Harry, now Willow! He's being reckless, Freddy!"

"You're only saying that because- "

"Don't you dare say it! You know I don't want to! And this isn't about that, it's about Wood getting our players injured!"

"George, quit lying to yourself! You fancy her, and there's no way around it! Quit trying to ignore it! You obviously want to do something about it, considering that poem I had to help you write."

"Freddy, if you're trying to make me feel better, it's not working! I don't want to fancy anyone! It's never going to work out, and I don't want to hurt anyone. I'd rather live a more light-hearted life without all the sappy love songs."

"George, when are you going to pluck up the courage and just tell her already? You'll never know how she feels until you do it!"

George audibly sighed. "Freddy, I'm not doing that. I'd rather stick to pranking."

"That's the beauty part! You can keep doing that with her! She's always up for an adventure, she said so herself! Sure, you're not as smart as her, and she's not a master of pranking, but it still might work for you!"

"And what if it doesn't? That's going to be so awkward!"

"Have you even met her? She doesn't let anything stand in the way of friendship. I'll bet you could tell her right now and she wouldn't change her mind about hanging around you."

There was a pause of silence, then George finally spoke. "I'll make you a deal. You tell Angelina by the end of the year, and I'll tell- "

Willow didn't get to hear the rest of their conversation. At that very moment, Angelina accidentally tripped over her broom and fell into her locker, the door slamming behind her. Willow rushed over to bust her out. The twins appeared from behind the broom closet as she pulled Angelina to her feet, struggling under the muscular girl's weight. They all sat her down on the bench.

"I'm okay, I'm fine, just really tired," Angelina laughed. "Sorry about that, guys."

"Are you sure you're fine? You're not normally a klutz," Fred joked.

She lightly punched his arm. "I'm not a klutz, Fred Weasley. You just hit me one too many times with those bludgers."

"Well, you should have moved out of the way!"

Angelina rolled her eyes. "Are you going to stand her and tease me all day, or are you going to make sure I don't trip over my own 'klutzy' feet on my way back to the common room?"

Fred gladly took the invitation. George raised his eyebrows suggestively as his brother left the locker room, earning him a glare. Willow giggled when George left, motioning for her to be quiet and showing her the stink pellet in his hand. An explosion followed. She waited until the yelling in the corridors had stopped before she and Harry ventured out. Willow quickly filled him in on the conversation between the twins. To her surprise, Harry burst out laughing.

"What? What's so funny?"

"It's just- you're so- wow, Willow, even I can see it, and I'm the most unobservant person that ever lived!" Harry guffawed.

"What can you see? What am I missing?"

"I know you must be tired of hearing this, but it won't be long now, you'll see," Harry said, putting an arm around Willow to hold himself up because he was laughing so hard. "For an observant person, you're very short-sighted."

Willow wished she knew what he meant.

The quidditch match against Hufflepuff mercifully arrived one beautiful Saturday, ending the streak of exhausting back-to-back-breaking practices. Willow would be stuck on the bench for this game again, but she didn't mind, as the rest of the team had been working their tails off and deserved to showcase their talent. They were going to win without a doubt.

Harry, as usual, hardly ate anything for breakfast. Wood kept trying to pile more eggs onto Harry's plate, but it wasn't until Willow threatened to force feed him that he ate a few bites. Oliver decided to sit with Harry in the hopes of calming his nerves, which surprisingly seemed to be working. He even made Harry laugh out loud at one point. Willow was so proud of Oliver. He was able to put all his anxiety of interacting with people behind him just so Harry wouldn't be nervous. She hoped she could figure out how to be that selfless some day.

While the rest of the Gryffindor team broke off to do their pregame superstitious rituals and such, Harry stayed at the table, absentmindedly levitating his glass of pumpkin juice. Oliver was guilted into sitting with the Hufflepuffs and dragged away by Ernie, who gave them a playful "I'm watching you" symbol. Leave it to Ernie to be nice to the opposing team, Willow thought. Her happy mood evaporated in the space of a half second when she noticed Harry's paranoid staring down the length of the table.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked.

Harry's elbow slammed on the table. "Ouch! Oh, uh, nothing," he clumsily lied. "Just- pregame nerves, that's all."

"Harry, I've seen you before God-knows-how-many matches, and you're always a bit rattled, but never jumpy," Willow said. Harry bit his lower lip and avoided her eyes. "I will find out what's going on, so you might as well be out with it. We don't hide anything from each other, remember?"

Harry sighed. He cast a wary look over his shoulder, then glanced back at Willow, still fidgeting with his fingers. "Someone broke into our dormitory last night and stole the diary. I can't figure out who it is, but I'm worried. What if that diary is dangerous? More importantly, what if someone else finds out about Hagrid? I don't want people spreading that story about him until we know more about it."

Willow exhaled. "Well, I'm not going to try and make the situation something it's not. I can see why you're worried. Hagrid is a dear friend to all of us. To see him trying to fight off all those accusations, especially with some bigoted wizards out there…I can't even imagine going through something that terrible. Do you have any sort of clue that might help figure out the identity of thief?"

"No. The only thing we know for sure is that it was a Gryffindor, because the only non-Gryffindors that know our password are your friends, and they can't possibly know about the diary since you haven't told them."

Willow stared off to the side, forehead creasing. "Well, I hate to say this, but there's been quite a few of our friends that have been acting extremely weird lately. It could be someone we least suspect."

Harry shook his head. "I don't even want to think about betrayal right now. Not before the biggest match of the year. It had to be someone else."

"Merlin's beard, you're right. Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." Willow shrugged. "Well, there's nothing more we can do if we don't have any evidence. I guess we'll have to figure it out some other time. For now, what do you think of me dyeing my hair?"

Harry nearly spit out his pumpkin juice. "Dyeing your- what? I was not prepared for that subject change." The corner of Harry's mouth twitched upward. "Don't take that the wrong way. I think it would be cool. What were you thinking?"

"Probably some bold green that matches my eyes. I wouldn't dye all my hair, just a few strips of it."

Harry gazed at her hair. "Yeah, I could see that. It would look really cool! What would your dad say, though?"

"My dad can't say anything if I do it before I go home," Willow said, grinning mischievously.

"You're sounding far too much like Fred and George. Have you been spending all your free time with them? I've heard they're really succeeding with this firework venture."

"Oh yeah, did you see those little fireworks at my birthday, the Bantam Bursts? Those are my favourite! I love them almost as much as I love magical creatures!"

"That's saying a lot. Just wait until- " Harry's eyes widened. He clapped a hand over his mouth, trying not to laugh. "Sorry, I'm not supposed to tell you. It's a surprise."

"What? Tellmetellmetellme!" Willow begged.

"No, no, don't guilt trap me!" Harry said. "I was sworn to secrecy by the twins! Even if I tried to tell you, I've been charmed to cough and shout out random numbers! It's no use!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "That's the crappiest lie I've heard in my life. I should hire Cypress to give you some lessons- "

"No, I'm serious! It's a complicated charm only the- " Harry burst into a fit of coughing. He began to shout out random numbers. Willow raised an eyebrow, but Harry couldn't stop for a good five extra numbers. "See what I mean? I almost gave away who they are, and that's what happens! I literally can't tell you!"

"Must be pretty important, then...do you think you could give me a clue?"

"Please don't make me. I don't want to draw more attention to myself this morning."

Willow sighed. "Fine, but when I find out who did this, you're never going to hear the end of it!" She floated a piece of toast over to him. "Eat this. It will boost your confidence." Harry shot her a look. "What? It's not like I'm trying to poison you or anything. You know Cypress wouldn't let me get into his potions without his permission, either."

"But he is known for messing with people, too," Harry pointed out, though there was a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "You two are wanted criminals now. Who knows what other antics you're going to try?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Harry, you're basically my brother at this point. You're the last person I'd use as a test subject."

"Aren't brothers and sisters supposed to do crazy things to get on each other's nerves, though?"

"You're skewing my point. I was trying to be sincere and emotionally attuned for once," Willow said dramatically.

"That's a first."

Harry received a playful punch to the shoulder. "You're awful, you know that?" Willow glanced at her watch. "Aw, crap, I've got to go meet Lavender and Mia in the common room for some special favor. I'll see you out on the quidditch pitch! And I swear to God, if you don't eat every last bite on you plate right now- "

"- there will be hell to pay, yeah, I know," Harry said, purposely taking a small bite. He grinned at Willow's frustrated reaction. "I'll see you at the game, Willow!"

Giving Harry the "I'm watching you!" gesture, Willow got up from the table and made her way to the common room. A few groups of students passed by, happily chatting about the upcoming match. It was astounding how light and happy the mood had become in the castle over the last few weeks. With the attacks at an all-time low, students were beginning to believe they would make it to the end of the year in one piece. Even Griffin seemed to sense it. He'd been increasingly energetic and willing to learn over his last few flying and hunting lessons. It was a nice change from his usual stubborn, out-of-control self. He was beginning to mature beautifully.

Willow's ears nearly exploded when she entered the common room. Lavender and Mia were immediately upon her, begging her for autographs from the Chasers and to somehow create a photo album of the girls. Willow gently reminded them that they were all in the common room on a daily basis and they could get it any time, but for some reason, they thought she had "celebrity status" with them and could get it without a mental breakdown, in the words of Lavender Brown. She vaguely promised them to at least put a good word in. Lavender and Mia squealed something about being the best friends of "famous people" and ran out of the common room, donning full Gryffindor gear for the match. Willow blinked and stood for a moment, then decided against trying to process what just happened and went upstairs to grab her quidditch robes.

The corridors were even more full of students by the time she exited the Portrait hole. A group of Ravenclaws were discussing quidditch tactics at a level only Wood would understand. Willow's brain struggled to comprehend all the fancy terms they used. She was definitely a straightforward quidditch player: play the position, kick butt, and take a win home for Gryffindor. Advanced tactics discussions never seemed to work for her in soccer, so she assumed they definitely wouldn't work in quidditch. She'd play wherever Wood told her to when the time came and that was that. Willow continued through the halls, mind drifting off to memories of the last few practices. She hoped she would eventually get a chance to play in her third or fourth year. Wood was giving her a lot of compliments about her abilities at Beater and Seeker.

Willow suddenly stopped in her tracks. A cold, sinister voice she hadn't heard in months slithered through her eardrums, sending shivers down her spine like ice splintering within her backbone. She covered her ears with her hands, but it didn't help at all.

So long…lying in wait…so long since I have been free…blood…I smell blood…I SMELL BLOOD!

Willow fell to her knees. Her head pounded like a jackhammer. The beat of her heart was magnified in her ears. Thundering mavericks of sound hurled themselves at Willow in rapid succession, tunneling her vision and drowning her beneath the mountain of pain. She flashed back to Halloween. Willow forced herself to take deep, calming breaths, on the verge of hyperventilation. She couldn't have another breakdown. The pain was just so much, though. Willow could hardly stand against the assault. She collapsed onto the cold, hard floor, her body shaking with silent sobs. Why did that voice have such an affect on her? What even was it?

Then, just as soon as it had come, the voice vanished. It didn't even fade into the background. Somehow, it simply disappeared. Willow opened her eyes to find herself in a fetal position, hands clamped tightly over her ears. She stood up despite the dizzy spell it cause her. Willow frantically cast around for the voice. Where had it gone? The beast could be attacking someone right now, and she might be the only one able to do something about it!

Willow sprinted forward. She called upon her powers more than she ever had before, channeling her adrenaline into her abilities. It was a risk, using all that unstable energy, but she didn't have time to worry about collateral damage at the moment. Someone was in trouble! She rounded a corner, picking up the faintest sounds of movement. Willow darted to the right. She narrowly avoided crashing into a suit of armor. There was another sound to her left, then her right, then her left again. It was like the beast was moving directly below her in a straight line. Was it moving through the walls, she wondered? Willow almost slapped herself. Now was not a great time to be curious! She needed to focus! Willow gritted her teeth and pushed onwards. She was so dead-set on following the voice that she ran directly into Ron and Harry.

"Willow, where have you been? The match is starting soo- " Ron began.

"Harry, did you hear it too?" Willow panted. "The voice? Just now?"

"Yes, and I'm guessing you did, too," Harry replied. "Hermione just ran off to the library saying she remembered something."

"She what?!"

"Yeah, she always runs off to the library, don't you know that?" Ron said.

"Yes, of course, how silly of me!" Willow chuckled, shaking her head and forcing a smile. "I'll be along soon. Tell Wood I'm sorry, but I got caught up and had something to take care of. Good luck today!"

"…Thanks?" Harry squeaked suspiciously.

Willow didn't care that he was suspicious. She took off again, trying to remember the most direct route to the library. Willow remember the star map and pulled it out as she ran, accidentally clipping a Hufflepuff's shoulder as she passed by. She hastily apologized and tapped the corner of the map. It expanded into a small size that fit in the palm of her hand, then changed screens when she tapped it again, zooming in on Hermione. She was flipping through a thick encyclopedia in the library. Willow's pulse quickened. Hermione appeared panicked, glancing over her shoulder every few seconds, a mirror gripped tightly in her hand. What was that mirror for? It couldn't be anything good, Willow was sure, and she increased her pace. Hermione could become trapped between the bookshelves by some monstrous beast any second now!
As she neared the library, a group of students were innocently chatting and making their way towards it. Willow's mind couldn't piece together a solid course of action with all the adrenaline rushing around. Without thinking, she grew vines all around the students, completely blocking the corridor. They shouted after her as Willow sprinted away, vaguely remembering to put her hand on her wand to make it look like a spell. She had more pressing issues to attend to!

Willow's head began to pound as she neared the library. The voice was getting closer and closer. It was like someone was adjusting a speaker towards her position in a large auditorium. Willow's throat seized up and made it difficult to breathe when she realized the beast was approaching the library just as fast as she was from another direction. She was going to meet it head on! Though her instincts were telling her to turn around and run for her life, Willow gritted her teeth and thought about Hermione, frozen and lifeless as Colin, all due to her cowardice. She couldn't let another friend become petrified, she just couldn't! Willow ran faster than she ever thought possible, chest burning like a sweltering fire that clawed at her throat and until it was raspy with torment. She rounded another corner, and there Hermione was, peeping out of the library door with Penelope. Willow tried to scream at them to stop.

"Hermione! Watch out!"

Hermione made the fatal mistake of making eye contact with her. She tried to say, "What?" but was interrupted by a huge BANG! and the deafening sound of something heavy tumbling out of the brick walls. Hermione screamed, "CLOSE YOUR EYES, NOW!"

Willow didn't need to be told twice. Her eyes were sealed shut just as the voice invaded her head again. The creature was closer than it had ever been before, and the affect it had on her head was ten times worse. Willow's skull throbbed like someone was beating it with a hammer. Boom, boom, boom, all over her forehead, the top of her head, the back, the sides. Even her eardrums were being pounded on by an aggressive drummer, throbbing to the beat of a fast-paced song. Willow involuntarily cried out as the voice clearly broke through her conscious thoughts.

I SMELL BLOOD! KILL, KILL, KILL! SO HUNGRY, SO LONG…NEW BLOOD! BLOOD! FRESH BLOOD!

Willow thrashed against the ground, the pain overcoming her like a suffocating blanket. She couldn't stand it much longer! The voice brought memories back from Halloween quicker than she could reject them. They rushed in, teasing her and torturing her. Dumbledore's face mutated into a horrendous dark wizard. McGonagall became a demon, pinning her with a mere glare from her arresting yellow eyes. Willow felt her back against the wall again, sweat dripping down her brow, her heart skipping beats like a syncopated song. She wanted to scream so badly. This wasn't right! Dumbledore was an eccentric old headmaster only trying to do what is best for the safety of his students! McGonagall was willing to meet with her and talk things out, for Merlin's sake! Neither of them would ever hurt her! No matter how much she shouted these things into her mind, she still writhed on the floor, overcome by the pain of the past, thrust on her by the present. Willow almost begged the creature to petrify her just to put her out of her misery.

Suddenly, a scream of terror cut through the din. The memories vanished in the blink of an eye. Some of the pain dulled enough for her to focus. Willow peeked one eye open to see Penelope staring in horror at something in the corridor around the corner. Hermione yelled at her to close her eyes, and she somehow managed to do so, though both girls were trembling. Willow realized something awful was about to happen. The electrical signals were for some reason flashing altogether in her mind this time, a single humming beat of warning. Willow shakily rose to her feet. She couldn't let her friend go down in flames like this! They didn't deserve to die so young! Willow unsteadily marched towards them, barely moving in a straight line. She had to save them!

Then, Hermione and Penelope made a fatal mistake. They opened their eyes. Willow tried to yell at them to stop, but her voice was too hoarse. She helplessly watched in horror as Hermione and Penelope froze in place, eyes glassing over, then clattered to the ground. Willow tried to run to them, but fell short, losing her balance. Vertigo twisted her surroundings until she was convinced she was on a boat in the middle of an ocean storm. Willow fell to one side. Tears blurred her vision as she gazed at Hermione, eyes full of now glass-encased fear for others to look upon. She was petrified. Willow collapsed to the stone floor. Hermione was just starting to build really good relationships with the other Gryffindor Sisters! Why did she have to be taken, too?

All of a sudden, Willow saw a flash of bright orange. She shot to her feet, then regretted it, arm flying to the wall to support herself. Willow drew her wand and held it out at the place where she saw the attacker.

"Show yourself!" she demanded.

"Only in dreams will you find me," a deep voice said menacingly.

Willow's heart stopped. That voice was so familiar…had she heard it from somewhere?

She didn't get time to ponder it. With a shout and a flash of bright light, Willow was blasted off her feet and thrown into the far wall, blacking out before she hit the ground.

Willow sat bolt upright, clutching her side where the spell had hit. There was visible bruising when she lifted her shirt to examine it. So it couldn't have been a dream. Willow sighed, tipping her head back against the wall, only to wince in pain. She wished the surreal events of the past few minutes had been all in her head, but they obviously weren't. Willow's puffing breaths turned to mist in the chilly air. She shivered slightly and drew her robes over her body a little tighter. The castle wasn't this cold when she blacked out.

Willow was suddenly aware that she was no longer in a Hogwarts corridor. She sharply drew in a breath as she recognized her surroundings from earlier in the year. It was the same dark, cave-like place that she'd visited during Herbology when she'd passed out. Willow's heart skipped a beat as she recalled the close encounter she'd had with a beast. Was that the same beast that had just attacked Hermione? The aura of the place was sinister enough for it to be plausible, but she couldn't know for sure. All she knew was that she couldn't move and didn't want to stay here. Willow closed her eyes and tried to reconnect with her passed-out body, but her consciousness wouldn't budge. A trickle of icy water dripped down the wall and sent a literal shiver down her spine. She was stuck here until her powers were done showing her something.

Willow caught movement out of the corner of her eye. Something enormous and scaly was emerging from the pool of water beneath the god-like statue head. Willow caught a flash of emerald green before she remembered what Hermione had shouted and closed her eyes. There was something menacing and powerful about this beast, so much so that apparently an average witch or wizard couldn't look at it. Willow's head buzzed with a single warning signal from her powers. She wanted to yell at Cebba for bringing her here, but it wouldn't do any good. Cebba couldn't control what her powers decided to show her any more than she could control the weather. She just had to shut up and deal with it.

Willow sent out some sound waves. They came back quicker each time. Her heartbeat hammered in her ears. The creature was moving closer, and she couldn't get out of the way! Willow kept her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She used sonar again, finding that it was moving even faster. Willow barely held herself together as the presence brought a purely evil aura with it. How was she supposed to stand up to something seemingly born to destroy lives? The little bit of light was blocked out, and everything grew dark around her. Willow heard something hissing at her. She fought the urge to scream as it got so close she could feel the coldness of its skin suck the little bit of warmth left out of the atmosphere. It hissed again, almost like it was tasting her courage. Willow involuntarily whimpered, causing a bodiless voice to laugh somewhere deep within the cavern.

"What do we have here? A brave little Gryffindor, trying to save her friends?" he said mockingly. "Such a pity that children like you can be so easily conned into thinking that protecting the ones you love is the only noble path."

Willow tried to retort, but her mouth was sealed shut. The man laughed. "How fun is it to have your sharp tongue all tied up, Willow?" Her pulse quickened. How did he know her name? "Yes, I know a lot about you. You've caused me quite some trouble already. How have you liked my little game? It's gotten you into quite the fix, hasn't it?"

Willow's blood boiled. So this was the guy sending the monster all over the castle, torturing her while he was at it! She struggled to move, to say something, anything, but she couldn't move a muscle.

"You are quite the special second year. So much power, so many talents…It's a shame you're so bent on defending your friends. You could easily follow in so many greats' footsteps, take your own path to power and glory in life. None of your friends would have to die if you took control." Willow struggled against her invisible bonds. What idiot was this guy, trying to tempt her with ideas that were complete lies? "Oh, a smart Gryffindor? That's a first. Looks like it will take much more than mere words to persuade you..." Willow heard a blade scrape against is scabbard. Did he have a knife? She really hoped she didn't wake up with more injuries again. The man sighed, almost bored. "No matter. You'll be taken down soon. It's only a matter of time until your friends discover the truth and abandon you, leaving you all alone in the world…I can't wait for you to be my little puppet, Willow."

With a maniacal cackle from the man, the creature hissed louder than ever before and smothered her, her silent scream buried beneath a cold-blooded murderer.

Willow's eyes fluttered open once again. She thought for a moment, panic squeezing her heart, that she was back in that cave, but when she felt around she realized she was just in a dark room. Willow accidentally knocked over a mop with a clang! that sent a jolt through her body. She paused to take a few deep, calming breaths. If she was going to face her friends again, she had to be composed enough to speak, at least. Once her breathing returned to normal, Willow shakily stood up and kicked open the door.

Her toe didn't thank her for it, but the door's lock broke and it swung open, letting light flood into the space. Willow paused for a moment to let her eyes adjust to the torch light. Based on the darkness that was beginning to seep through the corridors, she guessed it was late afternoon. She'd been out for a few hours. Willow brushed the dust off her robes only to wince. There was a rug burn all across the right side of her stomach from the spell, and quite a few bruises and sore spots seemed to continue all along her back. Willow vaguely recalled hitting a wall super hard. Her head hurt the worst, but she didn't have a serious injury. Willow suddenly remembered Hermione and Penelope and set off at a brisk pace to the library, wondering if they were still there.

She got rerouted a couple times before she figured out where in the castle she was, but she finally made it to the library. The whole area was blocked off by a magical barrier that read, "Danger: Keep Away from Area" and threatened trespassers with a month's worth of detention. Willow frustratedly kicked a wall, instantly regretting it when her toe exploded into pain for the second time in ten minutes. Hermione and Penelope were truly petrified. She yelled into the empty air, panting hard as she listened to it echo off the walls. Why did everyone that managed to get close to her have to be ripped away and suffer? She wished she could trade places with Hermione and Penelope. It should have been her that got petrified. It was her job to protect her friends, and now she'd failed. Willow marched off to the hospital wing, hoping that she'd find some closure in seeing that they were safely in Madam Pomfrey's hands.

She somehow made it to the hospital wing without so much as a creature stirring. Willow found it kind of odd, considering the castle was almost always alive with hundreds of witches and wizards and magical creatures. She was about to open the doors and slip inside the hospital wing when they creaked open to meet her. Willow stumbled backwards as Percy Weasley strode out, face crestfallen. His eyebrows shot up at the sight of her.

"Willow? What are you doing here?" he demanded. "I could report you for this easily! It's not safe to be in the corridors right now! Where is your escort?"

"Escort? What escort?" Willow asked. "Percy, I'm sorry, I didn't know the rules had changed, I've been- out."

"You're lucky you're a Gryffindor and I'm not in the mood to take away house points," Percy said. "Come on, I'll take you back to the common room. Professor McGonagall has given me special one-time permission to see Penelope."

Willow was about to ask why she would do that, then thought better of it. She did her best to suppress her anger, reminding herself that she'd hate herself even more later if she acted out, and followed Percy back to the common room. Willow was hit with a fall of nerves and fear as she entered. The students were all pacing around the common room, some appearing on the verge of breaking down in tears. Willow immediately ran to the corner of the common room, where the Gryffindor boys were clustered tightly together. Harry and Ron jumped up when they saw her.

"There you are! Where have you been? We were worried it got you too!" Harry exclaimed.

"Have you seen Hermione? Is she looking any better?" Ron asked.

"It's a long story, but to answer Ron's question, no, I only saw her right before- " Willow choked on her words. "right before she was petrified." She noticed some older students edging closer to them. "Can I join the secret whispering going on over here? I don't trust anyone else to not spread rumors about me."

"Definitely," Harry said.

Willow sat on the couch, directly in the center of the Gryffindor boys. She quickly filled them in on everything she'd seen and heard. After a moment's hesitation, she even relented to tell them about the dream. Neville's face was drained of half of its colour by the time she finished. Dean and Seamus were clutching each other's hand for support. Sam, Ron, and Harry were the only ones that kept it together enough to think critically about the situation.

"So…what do you think this means?" Sam wondered. "A creepy guy coming to you in a dream and threatening you? Sounds pretty scary to me."

"Do you think it's him? The Heir of Slytherin?" Harry asked.

"I'd put my money on him, that's for sure," Willow said. "He seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The beast responded to him and everything. I didn't get to see him, but his voice is hard to forget. It was…unique, in a dark way. I wouldn't listen to it if I had the choice."

"Do you think he knows about your powers?" Ron inquired.

"I don't know. He knew my name and that I'm not an ordinary witch, but that could mean anything. He didn't outright say anything about them. I'm hoping he stays in the dark about that, because if he gets a hold of me like he says he will…this could go downhill quick."

"So…what should we do?" Sam said. "We're not allowed to leave any room without a teacher escort. How are we going to investigate?"

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance. Willow made eye contact with him, and Harry nodded. "I'll find a way," he said. "In the meantime, we should all be careful. It wouldn't do any good for us to go and get ourselves petrified."

Out of the blue, a chorus of whooping and cheering nearly ruptured Willow's eardrums. Sam instinctively covered her ears. Willow gratefully put her hands over his to block out as much noise as possible. When the din finally lowered to a reasonable level, she uncovered her ears and rubbed them, trying to reduce the ringing. Willow noticed a crowd in the middle of the common room. She ignored the pain in her ears and bravely stepped closer, hoping that they wouldn't explode again.

"We need to put a stop to this!" Lee rallied. "Everyone knows it's them, but the teachers can't do anything about it! Only we can put an end to it!"

"Sorry to interrupt, Lee, but do you have to break my eardrums?" Willow said, having to shout to be heard.

"I hope the whole school can hear us! The Slytherins are hiding the Heir, and we've got to stop them before it's too late!"

Willow blinked. She wondered if someone had kicked her in the stomach, it clenched so hard. "I'm sorry, but I don't follow. What do you mean, the Slytherins are hiding the Heir?"

"We all know Harry would never hurt Hermione, and it's definitely not a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, because they've all been attacked," George explained. "What does that leave? Which house hasn't been touched?"

"Slytherin," Willow whispered, finally making the connection. She suddenly felt light-headed.

"Exactly!" Fred said. "Don't you see? We've got to take action before the school closes for good!"

"What do you mean? The school can't close, can it?" Willow asked, her voice pitched.

"Professor McGonagall came in and told us they will if the culprit isn't caught soon," George explained. "Everyone's future is at stake here. We have to do something!"

The crowd started yelling in agreement. Calls for taking down Slytherin, destroying their common room, sabotaging their house points, and other horrendous things were shouted out. Willow tried to block it out, but it didn't happen. Her powers wouldn't cooperate enough to shut down. All the pain and suffering the monster had brought her, all the frustration of Hermione's being petrified left her with, all the anger she'd buried deep down for others' sake spilled over. She stamped her foot down and bellowed, "ENOUGH!"

A series of cracks opened in the floor around her, large enough to be visible, but not enough to send them tumbling down to the floor below. Fred, George, and Lee were yanked to the ground by roots that sprouted from the cracks. The room instantly fell silent. Willow didn't even have to fight down the little bit of panic fluttering in her stomach. She was far too angry. All eyes turned to her. The twins and Lee stumbled to their feet and stared at her open-mouthed. Willow stood up straight and stoically looked into the crowd.

"Just because Slytherin hasn't been attacked doesn't mean they're hiding the Heir. I've been there for several house exchanges now, and there's never been even the slightest hint towards that possibility. I bet the Heir is a Slytherin, but that's only because the Heir has to be a descendant of Salazar Slytherin himself. The other students probably don't have a clue."

"And how would you know that? It seems like you're awfully sure!" someone called out.

"Yeah, how do we know we can trust you? You're friends with half the Slytherins!"

"I am friends with exactly two, thank you very much," Willow retorted icily. "I'm sorry you're too close-minded to see this, but not every Slytherin is the evil dark magic master you think they are! Have you even truly met a Slytherin before?"

"Yeah, and he tried to kill my older sister!" a girl shouted.

The crowd angrily started ranting about things, true and uncertain, that the Slytherins had done. Willow held her ground and shut down her senses as they surrounded her, yelling that she was a traitor and not a true Gryffindor. She brushed the comments off the best she could. Her face remained indifferent, though she struggled not to yell straight back. The twins and Lee were able to part the crowd to get to her.

"Willow, what are you doing? You're going to get yourself killed!" Lee hissed. "You're lucky no one suspected anything from that crack in the floor!"

"I'm standing up against this crap you're putting into everyone's minds," Willow growled. "I won't let anyone perpetuate the stereotype against Slytherins! Has it ever occurred to any of you that they might become dark because literally everyone turns their back on Slytherins except other Slytherins? We are the problem, not them!"

More accusations came pouring in from the older students. Willow saw a few brandish their wands. Fred and George took up defensive positions around her.

"Willow, are you asking to get hexed?" George yelped as he forced a fifth year to stand down. "You're not helping your case!"

"I'm trying to tell the truth, but no one will listen to me!"

"Willow, thee's a time and a place for these kinds of bold statements, and this is definitely not one of them!"

"Oh, so that's what this is to you, some cute little attempt to defend the Slytherins?" Willow scoffed. Her nails dug into her palms. "I see how it is. It's so much clearer now."

"Willow, come on, that's not what I'm saying- "

"Yes it is!" she interrupted. "You know exactly what you were trying to say! You've never given Slytherin a chance, never! Do you really think I'm that stupid? Is that how little you think of me?"

"No, you opinion matters even more than Fred's, it's just- "

"It's just what, George? Just a little problem? Just something that's going to blow over eventually? That's were I stop you. I won't stand for this anymore."

"Willow, even you have to admit it's pretty suspicious, considering the circumstances- "

"If you think it's suspicious Slytherin hasn't been attacked yet, how isn't it even more suspicious that I didn't show up to the quidditch match, huh?" Willow pointed out, crossing her arms. "I didn't return to the common room until a few minutes ago. Explain to me how that's any less suspicious."

George stared at her, appalled. "Willow, I- that's not- "

"You're biased, that's the problem. You'll never see Slytherins as anything but dirty, foul, loathsome evil wizards until you get rid of that bias. You haven't even tried! Why won't you take a step back and look at it from a different perspective?"

"Because their parents are Death Eaters, Willow! Their families are horrible! They're only one step away from being Death Eaters themselves!"

Willow's mouth dropped open. Her body froze, and her heart stopped. "George…"

George suddenly realized his mistake. His eyes widened, and though she didn't mean to, Willow saw more emotion mixed around in them than she'd ever thought could be present within the Weasley twins. "I didn't mean- I forgot about your mum's family- you know I didn't- "

"You did. You meant it," Willow said quietly. Her voice cracked as her blood boiled. "I can't believe I thought you were capable of change. You'll always be as narrow-minded as the rest of the world." Willow was nearly shouting and shaking now. "I thought you were different! You'll always be biased against Slytherins, because you'll never suck it up and admit you're wrong! I'm done with people like you!" Willow shoved George away from her. "I can't take it anymore! Either come find me when you've come to terms with yourself, or don't even look my way again."

Willow made for the portrait hole. George tried to put a hand on her shoulder.

"Wait- I didn't mean to- "

"You didn't mean to say I'm turning out just like my mum? That I'm a horrible person? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Willow snapped, whipping around and throwing George's hand off of her. "The words that slip out in the heat of the moment are the closest they're ever going to get to the truth. I see what you think of me now. I'm sad to say I feel the same way about myself, but that's not the problem. The problem is you." Willow glared at a devastated George. "It's all fun and games until reality strikes. Come find me when you've figured it out."

Willow stormed out of the common room amid Fred and Lee's cries for her to come back. She didn't care anymore. She'd taken enough of the anti-Slytherin crap lately. It would only drive further rifts between everyone and solve absolutely nothing. Willow couldn't have cared less about all the noise she made while angrily kicking all the suits of armor over on her march through the corridors. She knew George didn't mean to hurt her so deeply with that comment about the Death Eaters, but it really struck a chord. There were a lot of good children from bad families, somewhat including her, and they didn't deserve to have their parents' terrible legacy damaging their potential to do good in the future. If only she could whack all three boys with a broomstick to open up their minds!

Willow couldn't stop thinking about how hurt George had looked after she shouted at him. She shouldn't have been so cruel with her wording. Willow's stomach tightened. He obviously didn't mean to personally offend her or attack her in any way; he was trying to defend her from the crowd, and when she didn't cooperate, he got caught up in the heat of the moment. Willow smacked the wall with her hand. Why did she always have to react so rudely to opposition? She didn't think anything through! All she did was yell straight back and carelessly toy with people's feelings. Willow wondered if she was all wrong about the real problem: was it really her? Was she the one causing the rift between everyone? She was constantly floating from house to house, picking up new ideas and accidentally being too vocal about her own. What if she was actually driving a wedge between all of the houses because of her challenging ideas and stubborn personality? Willow's head spun. Was it plausible?

"Willow, you're going to get caught! What the hell were you thinking?" Fred suddenly whispered, rounding a corner behind her.

"Merlin's beard, Fred you scared me!" Willow gasped. "What are you doing out?"

"Coming after you before you get in trouble, of course! Come on, let's get back to the common room before Filch gives us a month of detention!"

"Fred, I appreciate it, but I can't," Willow said. "George is going to be pissed, and I'll probably screw things up further. You saw how riled up the common room was."

"It's a lot calmer now. Lee somehow found the right words to take down the idea," Fred promised. "And don't worry about George. I've already given him a good slap upside the head. He's learning to let me do the talking."

"Well, I deserve a good slap upside the head, too," Willow said, sinking to the floor against one of the walls, staring at the droplets of water sliding down the window opposite her. "I probably embarrassed him pretty badly. He didn't deserve that. I said too many things that I'm starting to regret."

"Well, you're going to regret getting stuck in detention for the rest of the year, too, so you might want to come back to the common room," Fred said.

"I…I can't. I'm afraid I'll get into the same argument. I don't want to run away from my problems anymore, but this is a big screw-up." Willow noticed a trail of red on Fred's hand. "What's that?"

"Oh, just some aftereffects of a charm that went haywire."

"I'm calling BS." Willow stood up and snatched Fred's hand, finding some strange markings running from the back of it, all the way around his wrist, and a little ways onto his palm. They were glowing slightly. "What the heck is this?"

"It looks like fireworks, doesn't it?"

"Fred, this is serious! What if- " Willow was struck with a realization. "Oh no. I did this, didn't I?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Fred said, shrugging. "It could well be that new charm George and I tried today with Professor Flitwick. The aftereffects are kind of fun- "

"Fred! Don't make things up! I need to know for sure!" Willow fretted. "If I truly did hurt you guys, then I need to know! My powers are supposed to have a dark side that's going to fight like hell to be dominant, and it hasn't shown itself yet, but I need to control it when it does! I don't want to hurt anybody!"

Fred rolled his eyes. "Always being so serious, honestly! So what that you accidentally got George and I? It doesn't hurt that bad, and it's actually kind of cool- "

"So it was my powers! Damn it!" Willow pulled her hands out of her robe pockets, staring at them. They seemed to hum with a power that was more sinister than usual, more wild and uncontrollable. "I'm becoming more dangerous by the second. I- I should stay away from you guys- "

"Willow, if you do that again, I swear to Merlin, you will get pranked every single day until you're permanently blushing with embarrassment," Fred threatened, a goofy grin on his face. "Don't you dare make me start right now. I've always got fireworks at hand."

Willow's face lifted in a ghost of a smile. "Alright, fine, I'll try not to be difficult." Her smile faded. "I've really messed things up this time, though. How is George ever supposed to forgive me? There were some strong words- "

"Willow, you've got it backwards," Fred interrupted. "George needs to apologize to you for starting the whole thing in the first place. In fact, both of us do, and Lee probably should, too. We were way out of line."

"Is Fred Weasley apologizing? Someone get this on camera," Willow joked.

Fred lightly punched her in the arm. "If you do that, you're really going to regret it. George and I have some fairly destructive plans lined up for the future, any of which we could accidentally set on you."

"Yeah, and somehow it would still brighten up my day," Willow said. She felt like a bit of the weight was lifting from her shoulders. "Thanks for coming and finding me, Fred. I needed this. And I accept your apology. Sorry for, uh, hurting your hand. I'm really trying to get that under control."

"It's not a big deal." Fred stood up. "Now, are you done having a pity party, or are you going to sit here until Filch finds you?"

Willow rolled her eyes. "I'm always moping around, to you."

Fred lead her back to the common room. The Fat Lady was rather disgruntled about having to let students back in without the proper escort, but she begrudgingly swung open. When they appeared from the portrait tunnel, the students nearby backed away and whispered among themselves, narrowing their eyes at Willow. She simply stared straight ahead, face only breaking once when she winced at the sight of the crack in the floor, vines still sprouting out of it. Those were probably what got the twins and Lee, she realized. Willow saw more people staring and quickly neutralized her expression once again. She followed Fred to the very edge of the common room, where George was sitting in a windowsill. He jumped to his feet he saw Willow.

"You're back! Thank Merlin, I thought you'd gone and gotten yourself permanent detention!" he exclaimed.

"No, I'm a little smarter than that," Willow said.

Fred unobtrusively backed away to leave them alone. There was an awkward moment where none of them spoke. Finally, George broke the silence.

"Willow…I'm sorry about what I said. There's no excuse for it. I messed up. Big time."

Willow nodded. "Yeah, you did. Go on."

George sighed. "I promise I'll at least try to be neutral about Slytherins in the future. You're right. There's…no proof that they're bad."

"Wow, that sounds almost as painful as that time you got smoked by the rogue bludger," Willow said, eyebrows raised. "I'm almost tempted to drag this out longer."

"Please, for the love of God, don't do that to me," George chuckled. "I can hardly speak English anymore."

"Alright, fine, I forgive you," Willow said. "Just don't ever do something that stupid again, or I'm turning Griffin loose on you. He's very good at the attack command."

"Why would you teach a baby griffin to attack people? Are you building an army without me?"

Willow playfully smirked. "Maybe."

She sat in the windowsill, and George joined her. The Forbidden Forest was more beautiful than she'd ever seen it before. Under the light of a full moon, the forest glowed silver, frost glittering on the branches of tall trees. The mountain tops in the distance were blanketed with snow. Willow always wondered how it was that snow could make everything brighter at night. The mountains were beacons of sparkling moonlight, calling to her from their far-off positions. Willow could easily imagine herself flying to them for a quiet night. No more fighting off evil spirits, no more powers malfunctioning, just the cool wind in her hair and the moonlight washing over her face, exfoliating all the worries away…Maybe one day. The stars shimmering on the Black Lake caught her eye.

"Have you ever seen the constellations more beautiful and clear?" she said.

"I haven't paid much attention in Astronomy, really, but they are brighter than usual tonight. What's the name of that one? Orion?"

"No, that's the Little Dipper, pendejo," Willow giggled. George pretended to be absurdly offended. She tried not to laugh and pointed to the correct constellations. "That's Orion, way out there. How have you passed Astronomy so far?"

"We haven't," George said, a mischievous smile on his face. "Professor Sinistra has gone easy on Freddy and I. She's taken a liking to our pranks and provides us with- well, you could call it a cheat sheet, but I like to call it a small bit of help. It's not exactly all the answers, just enough to probe our memories- "

"So a cheat sheet," Willow said, the corner of her mouth turning upwards. She lightly punched George in the arm. "I'm not going to judge. I won't lie about using my map every once in a while."

"You're a cheat too! Wow, the world really is ending!"

Willow rolled her eyes. "Says the one who's seen me break a million rules on a daily basis."

"Rules are meant to be broken!"

"Is cheating not a rule?" Willow pointed out, one eyebrow raised. She struggled to keep her composure as George realized she'd outsmarted him for once. "Trust me, the rules only exist to keep us mildly under control. I'm not mild."

"We know."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Willow teased.

"Don't make me spell it out," George groaned. "I've already said enough dumb things tonight. There's no room for another."

"Alright, fine, but you won't get off so easy next time!" An idea popped into Willow's head. "Hey, do you remember me talking to you about that new charm the second years learned? I think there's a way you can manipulate it for your fireworks."

"Really? How?"

Willow and George descended into a scheme for creating a more powerful version of the Bantam Bursts. They even got out a few of the fireworks themselves and began enchanting them, each one getting closer to what they wanted, but never actually getting there. Willow ended up creating an array of bright green ones for future use. George, to no one's surprise, charmed the fireworks to spell out "Weasley" and "Gryffindor" in various shades of red and orange. He accidentally fired one off in the common room. Willow couldn't stop laughing at his shocked expression for a good five minutes straight. Eventually, Percy Weasley stormed out of his dormitory and put a silencing charm on the two of them, which resulted in a wave of mockingbirds chasing him back into his dormitory and copying Willow's laugh. George and Willow high-fived.

"If that's not the way I'm supposed to use magic, then I don't know why it even exists," George said.

"Honestly, I think its true purpose is for fun, and protection kind of got thrown in there when some douche used dark magic. I forgot to make a backup copy of my brain from my first year of History of Magic."

"Who actually remembers any of that except for Hermione?"

"I kind of do for a week, then it's pretty much gone until exam week, then I forget it." Willow shrugged. "I've got it as long as I need it, right? History isn't like math; it doesn't build on itself. You can learn events independent from each other."

"Whoa, that was too much intelligence in a single sentence. I don't understand."

Willow threw a book at him. "Get knowledged, then."

"Really? That's the best you can do? Get knowledged? Wow, you really do need pranks to speak for you."

Willow scoffed, pretending to be hurt. "It's not my fault that my speaking abilities are zero! I can speak much better in Spanish, but that's only because no one understands what I'm saying."

"Then speak in Spanish. I'll catch up."

"That's a bold statement from someone who can't remember where the most well-known constellation is."

George rolled his eyes. "You know I just don't pay attention in that class."

Willow crossed her arms. "Fine. Pero necisitas prestar más atención y obtendrá mejores notas. Yo sé que puedes hacerlo. Todo lo que se necesita es un poco de trabajo duro y dedicación."

"Uh...no hablo inglés?"

Willow laughed. "Aprendió tan mucho, al menos. You learned that much, at least."

Fred suddenly appeared behind them, grinning mischievously. He was carrying something in his pocket. George and Willow turned to look at him as he said, "I'm just gonna...leave this here..."

Fred set off a Bantam Burst, which glowed bright red and formed the shape of a heart. Willow rolled her eyes at the G+W written within it in a fancy cursive scrawl. George sent a jinx after his brother that Fred easily blocked, chortling and shooting George a thumbs-up as he sprinted all the way to his dormitory. George groaned and slumped against the window sill.

"Sorry about Fred. He's pestering me to death lately."

"My friends are, too! They all know something I don't, but they won't tell me a word about it! I want to know so bad!" Willow sighed. "Maybe I'll never figure it out. I am pretty dull."

"No, you're not dull, I'm sure the answer's right in front of you."

Willow shook her head. "I'm sure it is. That's how it always is. I run circles around the answer, trying to figure out every last detail, and it always ends up being the simplest answer. How do I always overcomplicate everything?"

George stared at her as if half-lost in thought, almost appearing sad. "I don't know, Willow, I don't know."