Hey guys! Here's the next chapter and sorry for the slightly late update. Just a note, this is the last chapter for this year! Wow, it's been a while, hasn't it? Anyway, while I have started the next year, it might be a little before I update again.

Chapter 23

Monday, July 1st, 2031

After barely a wink of sleep, Anica and I head down to the Great Hall. Xinia, Ciena and Kimmy don't look particularly happy, but George, Nick and Dylan are laughing like crazy. When we sit down, the girls tell us about last night. I pretend to be amused but I can't push the feeling of dread out of my stomach.

"Whoever did it is an idiot!" Xinia mutters angrily.

I sigh, avoiding Anica's eyes and look up at the Staff Table. All the Heads of House plus McGonagall are nowhere to be seen. Weasley and Potter sit next to each other, talking quietly, and the rest of the Staff, apart from Karl, the History of Magic teacher at the end of the table, and Professor Numen, the Astronomy teacher, I don't recognise.

When breakfast ends, Potter informs the school that we have the day off and once again advises us to own up. As we exit the Great Hall, Anica and I pull Xinia away.

"What's wrong?" she asks her as we lead her to a quiet spot we often inhabit to work on the Map.

I glance at Anica and she sighs, then nods.

"We need your help," I say.

Xinia narrows her eyes.

"With what?"

I take a deep breath and squeeze my eyes closed as I decide to just blurt it out.

"It was us."

I wait for the explosion, but it doesn't come. Slowly, I peak an eye open to see Xinia looking between Anica and me with an unimpressed look.

"It was you?" she repeats. "You two set off that explosion?"

"Yes, but we didn't mean to," Anica says. "We were originally planning to just set them off in Ravenclaw Tower for a laugh. We knew no one would be awake and therefore wouldn't be hurt, but the bag slipped and it went off outside."

"But you still thought it would be a good idea to destroy Ravenclaw Tower?" Xinia asks.

"Not destroy, just…" I trail off, frowning.

Xinia was being remarkably calm. I had expected her to start yelling and calling us idiots and the lot, but she didn't seem to be overly reactive.

"Wait, did you know?" I ask. "Did you know it was us?"

"I didn't know, but I had my suspicions," Xinia answers.

"Whatever. Xinia we need your help," Anica cuts in. "Can you think of something to get us out of this?"

"How about owning up?"

"You know how much trouble we'll get in!" she cries. "We could be banned from Quidditch, or given a lifetime of detentions!"

"So what?" Xinia says. "What you did was stupid, even if it was unintentional. The whole school is going to be kept here until you own up. I don't know about you, but I want to go home!"

I sigh.

"We know. And if there's no other way, we will. But surely you can think of something?" I give her a desperate look. "Please, we'll do anything!"

"I'm sorry, Gena," Xinia says. "But the only way is for you to come forward."

Anica visibly deflates, and I sigh, running my hands through my blue hair.

"Okay," I decide. "I'll come forward. I'll tell them it was me. That way you don't get in trouble Anica."

"No way! I appreciate it, but I'm not letting you take the blame. I'll come forward."

I shake my head.

"No, I dragged you into it. It's my fault everything went wrong."

"You didn't drag me into, I knew from the start what could happen."

"Still, you didn't want to do it."

"No, I was just worried about what would happen. I was always going to do it though."

I pinch the bridge of my nose.

"Anica, it's my fault. I'm not letting you get in trouble for my idea, and my clumsiness."

"Yeah well, then I guess neither of us is coming forward."

"Fine!" I snap. "Think about it this way. If we both come forward, it'll be double the points lost, twice the people left out of the group for detentions and both Beater's lost if it comes to that. For the sake of our House, and our group, just let me do it, Anica!"

"What if you get expelled?"

"I won't get -"

Just then I realise something. Last night I had joked about Xinia's reaction if she had heard Anica not even care about expulsion. And just before, Anica had made the same list, but Xinia hadn't even mentioned it.

She was also acting way too calm, even if she had suspected it was us. I mean, it was Xinia. She never underreacted. She always overreacted.

And she hadn't even tried to think of another way out of this. Even if she was mad with us, Xinia would have tried to help us.

So why wasn't she? She hadn't said a word since Anica and I had started arguing. Instead, she was just watching us. I looked at her in confusion. As I studied her, I got a sudden thought.

Realisation dawned on me as it suddenly made sense. Dread formed in the pit of my stomach, but I needed to make sure.

"Hey, Xin, I got an idea," I say suddenly. "Can you give me your wand please, I want to try something."

She looks at me with surprise, then reaches into her robes, and I watch her closely. She put her left hand in her robes and moved it around for a bit. Then she frowned and looked in the other side of her robes. I watched, and, yes. She was still using her left hand.

I let out a small groan as she starts to talk.

"Guys, I can't find my wand," Xinia says worriedly.

"What do you mean?" Anica asks.

"Anica," I call out. "Don't bother."

She looks at me in confusion and I turn my gaze onto Xinia.

"We're screwed anyway," I announce.

"What? Wh -" Anica cuts off, staring at Xinia.

Or rather, Professor Lupin. He gave me an apologetic smile before morphing back into his regular turquoise-coloured-hair self.

"Very good, Miss Dinnick," he says. "I was wondering whether you'd notice."

I simply glare at him.

"Where's Xinia?" I ask.

"Don't worry, she's alright," Lupin reassures me. "She's talking to Professor Patil I believe."

"Wait, what?" Anica asks suddenly.

"He was tricking us," I say. "Pretending to be Xinia so we would admit what we did."

Realisation dawns on her, then her expression turns horrified.

"No," she mutters.

"Yes," Lupin says. "I am sorry, really, but it was the best plan."

I shake my head and scoff.

"I must ask," Lupin says. "What gave me away?"

"You should really do more research on who you're pretending to be professor," I retort, rather than answering.

I feel a little bad for using his own words against him, but my anger and worry pushes it away.

"Fair enough," Lupin smiles a little. "I really am sorry. But unfortunately, there will be punishment."

I suddenly remember the argument Anica and I were having.

"Please sir, it was my fault. Anica didn't do anything."

"Shut up Gena," Anica says. "He heard everything anyway."

I glare at her briefly before sighing. The damage was done anyway. Lupin beckoned for us to follow him and we did, trailing behind him as he leads us to McGonagall's office.

He says the password then raps on her door once we reach it. She calls out for us to enter and he does, ushering us in.

"These two have admitted to causing the explosion," he announces.

McGonagall turns her stern gaze on us, then raises an eyebrow at Lupin.

"I was going to, but it turns out I didn't have to. They admitted by themselves."

I glance at him in confusion, wondering why he's defending us. He ignores me though and thankfully, Anica doesn't say anything.

"Very well," McGonagall says. "Thank you, Teddy."

He nods then takes the dismissal, leaving Anica and I standing in front of McGonagall. She stares down at us with a hard expression.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourselves?"

"We're sorry Professor," Anica says immediately. "We didn't mean to cause the amount of damage that we did."

I glance at the various holes in the window and notice for the first time the disarrayed objects around the room. I try not to wince.

McGonagall raises an eyebrow at Anica.

"What do you mean?"

"It was meant to be a harmless prank," Anica says. "We knew we would get in trouble if we were caught, but we didn't expect things to go the way they did."

McGonagall's expression doesn't change, which I take as an invitation to keep talking.

"What she means is that I accidentally dropped the bag with all the joke products and it caused the explosion," I take over. "We didn't mean for it to happen."

"If that is the case, Miss Dinnick," McGonagall says. "What was your original intention?"

"We were going to put the Giggling Witches in the Ravenclaw Common Room, Headmistress," Anica says. "The powder was a backup and we weren't going to use the Whiz-bangs or the Bombarda beads."

I silently thank her for her quick cover-up. We were intending to use them, but McGonagall didn't need to know that. The Headmistress gave a noise of disapproval.

"Even if that is the case, there still needs to be some sort of punishment. Now, as it is the end of the term, it will have to take place next year. 30 points each will be taken from Slytherin when there is enough to be taken from, and both of you will have three weeks of detention with Professor Malfoy."

Anica and I sigh, but we don't argue.

"Now. I trust you have learned from this and will not try something like this again. If you do, we will have issues. Do you understand?"

We give her a small nod before she dismisses us.

"Thank you for coming forward, we can all go home now."

When we exit McGonagall's office, we see Lupin leaning on the wall, but he stands up properly when he sees us.

"Thank you, Sir," I say.

"Unnecessary punishment is just that, unnecessary," he says. "I believe that you didn't mean to cause that much damage and that you would have come forward on your own. Obviously, I am not as harsh as Professor McGonagall, so I did what I could. But if you do something like this again, I will not be so kind," he warns.

We nod in understanding as Lupin walks away. However, neither of us moves.

"I'm sorry," I say. "For -"

"Gena, I've already told you it's not your fault," Anica cuts in. "Look, I'm not even mad. Yes, I freaked out before, but it's fine now. The explosion was awesome, we achieved our main goal, and we got off with barely any punishment."

I laugh, thankful that we can move on.

"I am so glad you're not like Xinia," I say, starting to walk down the corridor. "I couldn't even imagine her reaction if -" I trail off, not wanting to think about that.

Anica laughs and I grin.

"Not a bad year, huh?" I nudge her slightly. "Let's see, we're still friends, that's a big one," Anica laughs. "We got onto the Quidditch team and if I do say so myself we make amazing Beaters. We made some pretty good friends, even though Kimmy's…" I trail off, then shrug. "We found the freaking Marauder's Map! We've discovered almost everything about Hogwarts and we had an amazing time doing all of that. All in our first year."

"Plus, we passed all our exams with actually half-decent marks," Anica nods, impressed with our list.

I laugh.

"Well, I did. You failed Herbology."

She waves in dismissal.

"That doesn't count."

I grin just as an announcement sounds.

"I am pleased to announce that the culprits have come forward and we will all be heading home tomorrow at eleven o'clock," McGonagall's magnified voice says.

I can distantly hear cheers from the students as I grin at Anica.

"The culprits?" Anica scrunches her nose. "God, it sounds like we're criminals or something."

I smile as we spot the group. They ask where we were and Anica and I share a glance before answering 'nowhere' while grinning. The others look at us in confusion before shrugging it off and moving to other topics.

The day goes by quick enough and before we know it, it's time to head home. We bring everything down to Hogsmeade Station then get on the train. We talk the whole train ride and exchange goodbyes when we arrive at King's Cross. We greet our parents, promise to contact each other over the summer, then head home.

When we arrive at our house, I sigh gratefully.

"Happy to be home?" Dad asks, noticing my expression.

I nod, smiling at him and Mum.

"Hogwarts is great, but it's nothing like home."

They smile and pull me into a hug which I turn my nose up to, laughing slightly. I then lug my stuff upstairs and unpack the things I'll need. I set Studs' cage on my nightstand then open it and she flies out happily. I give her a treat before opening my window and she flies around the yard.

With my door open, I can hear Wyrene arguing with the twins and Bailey yelling down to Dad. Then Jamie runs into my room, beelining for my textbooks.

"Careful with those," I call out after him as he takes the stack.

Then Quinn comes into my room and drops my extra Transfiguration books on my bed before joining back up with Jamie, saying something about being more considerate about my treasured items.

I roll my eyes, grinning, as Wyrene comes in next, claiming I'd stolen some of her clothes. Bailey eventually broke the argument up as he walked past my room to go downstairs.

Just as was unpacking the last of my things, I heard the inevitable.

"GENA LILY DINNICK!"

I sigh.

Being home was difficult and overwhelming at times, but I wouldn't change that for the world.

OMG first year is now officially over! I can't believe it! I hope you all enjoyed my story and I hope you continue to read in the future. As I said at the beginning I will take a small break, but I promise I will get the next chapter up as quick as possible. Anyway, drop a review and follow/favourite the story so you can keep track of the next update:)