Ella wakes to a knock on her door the next morning.

Across the room, Yeoreum groans. "You get it."

She has half a mind to tell Yeoreum to get it, just for payback, but another knock reminds her that there is, indeed, someone waiting on the other side of the door. Wrapping her duvet around her like a cocoon, she rolls out of bed and waddles to the door. Perhaps it's rude to yawn while greeting someone, but all bets are off after she's been woken up so early on a weekend.

"Good morning." Torian falters when he catches Ella mid-yawn. "Sorry, I know it's early."

It's only then that Ella remembers last night. A disastrous excursion to the boathouse, arguing with Snape and Peeves, and Torian rescuing them before they could be caught by Filch. They'd promised (well, he'd demanded, but they weren't about to deny him after what he'd done for them) to tell him what exactly was happening after they all had some rest.

Wordlessly, she steps aside to let Torian in as he says, "I wanted to talk to you before breakfast started so we wouldn't go without food for the morning."

Yeoreum shuffles under her covers. "Five more minutes."

"Nope, if I have to get up now, so do you," Ella says, grabbing the covers and pulling them off of Yeoreum entirely.

Yeoreum whines, but sits up, albeit with a sullen expression. Ella hands her back her covers which she accepts and bundles into her lap. The two sit side by side on Yeoreum's bed as Torian stands in front of them, hands on his hips, but his face betrays how unsure he seems.

"Okay, so… what exactly were you doing down in the boathouse?" he asks.

Ella and Yeoreum share a look before the former says, "Let me start at the beginning."

And so she does. She recounts how she heard the Golden Trio talking in what they thought was an empty common room, how she learned about the Resurrection Stone and her subsequent investigation into the matter. Yeoreum adds some input here and there for the parts of the story she was there for. By the end, Torian's eyes are wide and he has sat himself down on Ella's bed.

"And you think the stone really exists?" Torian asks when they've finished.

His level of scepticism is healthy, but Ella's need to defend herself makes itself known. "Of course. Why would Harry Potter and his friends be talking about it in secret in such a literal way if it wasn't?"

"And if anyone's seen it, it'd be those three, considering all the weird things they've gotten up to," Yeoreum adds.

Torian nods, but the skew of his lips indicates his continued unease. "What do you plan on doing once you find it, though? The brother in the story didn't have a happy ending despite calling his loved one back from the dead."

"We aren't resurrecting them," Ella says quickly, pushing the thought from her mind. She'll imagine a zombified version of Colin if she does that, pale and dead inside, and that's the last thing she needs. "I just — I want to talk to my brother one last time before I let him go. I want closure."

Yeoreum nods. "Me too. With my mum, I mean. I know that with her and dad's line of work, it was possible that they'd say goodbye to me in the morning for the last time every day without me knowing, but…" She pauses, lowering her gaze. "You never think it's actually going to happen until it happens."

Torian is silent at first, eyes now holding sadness and pity. Ella has to look away. She still isn't looking at him when he finally speaks.

"Alright."

Both Ella and Yeoreum lift their heads. "Alright?" Ella repeats.

"I won't tell anyone, and — and I'll help." Despite faltering, his tone is firm. "I haven't lost anyone, not like that, but you deserve the closure. And you've been so nice to me recently, with the Damien thing and all."

"Wait, don't think that you have to pay as back or anything —"

"It's not that," Torian insists, and Ella shuts her mouth. "I just… I really want to help. I also think, if by the time we find it things have worked out, I think… I think Damien deserves some closure, too. I know he's been a…"

"A twat," Yeoreum says.

Torian nods once. "Yeah, uh, that. But I think he's really torn up about his father's death, more than he's letting on. I know I'm not on speaking terms with him at the moment, but I still want to help him.

It's then that Ella comes to a very important decision: Torian Shafiq deserves only the good things in life and she will defend that right until the day she dies.

"I'm fine with it if Yeoreum's okay with it, even if Damien is a twat," Ella says.

"I'm okay with it if Ella's okay with it," Yeoreum says. "Losing a parent… I get it. It wouldn't be fair if I got closure and he didn't."

Torian grins, the tension leaving his shoulders. It's the most Ella's seen him relax since his argument with Damien. "Thanks. Not just for that, but for trusting me, too."

"Of course," Ella says. "You did help us after all. Though, now that you mention it, how did you know that passage was there?"

"Mum told me about it," he says. "She and her friends used to sneak out all the time, apparently, and don't even get me started on the amount of times she and dad would sneak out of their dorms and meet each other there. There was less of a chance of being caught in the boathouse, too, since there wasn't a portrait there at the time."

Ella grimaces at the memory of Snape's condescension. "Why is he even there, anyway? Why bother giving him a portrait there?"

"He was technically headmaster last year, so you'd think he'd have his portrait in the headmistress' office," Yeoreum says. "Maybe McGonagall didn't want him in there. Unless he has another portrait in there that connects to the one in the boathouse."

Ella tries to remember all of the portraits she saw lining the walls when she'd visited the office those weeks ago. None of them stand out, but then again, she'd been too nervous to pay that much attention. She hadn't felt those eyes of contempt on her, but she can't be sure.

"I hope not," is all she says.

"Well!" Yeoreum stretches, more awake now that they've been talking for long enough. "Let's go to the Great Hall before all this Snape talk ruins my appetite."


"Revelio? No, we'd need to know where it's hidden for that…"

Torian's mutterings are the only ounce of conversation between on their way to class the following Monday, Ella and Yeoreum happy to listen to his thought process. Since telling him what they've attempted so far in order to find the stone, he's been brainstorming a way to make their search easier, though there haven't been many results. It's hard when many aspects of the stone are still a mystery to them.

"We can continue searching places on the map, it's fine," Ella says when Torian starts looking as though he needs to go to the bathroom.

"But that could take a long time, not to mention the risk of being found out," he says, lowering his voice as they pass a group of fourth years.

Yeoreum bumps her shoulder against his as they enter the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. "Ah, but what's life without a little risk?"

"A safer one, first of all," Torian says as they take a seat behind several Hufflepuffs. "And I'd rather not deal with Peeves again."

Ella can't argue with that logic. Peeves is a pain during the daytime, but he's volatile at night, and one run-in with him is more than enough for her. It doesn't change the fact that the map is their best lead so far. Torian has the best intentions, but she doubts a solution will be that easy to find.

She doesn't have the chance to tell him so as Harry walks into the room a moment later, several textbooks tucked under his arm that he quickly discards on his desk when it's within reach. He turns to them and his smile tells Ella just what type of lesson this is going to be. There is always an extra spring in Potter's step when they're about to have a practical lesson.

"Morning, everyone," he says, and the class goes from talking in loud voices to hushed whispers. "Last time we learned the fundamentals of the Knockback Jinx, so today we'll be able to test it out. And no, we won't be testing it on each other, not today." He gives a look to Vesper and Hikari, who have already started their usual banter, and they immediately refocus on him.

"We'll be using these." He waves his wand and training dummies appear on either side of him and around the edge of the room, enough for all of them to use at once. "They're a bit beaten up from having joke products tested on them, but they should be able to do the trick. Now, pick a dummy and —"

The door creaking open stops him mid-sentence and McGonagall pokes her head in. "Excuse me, Mr Potter, may I have a word?"

Harry appears uncertain — not unlike a child being called out of class for reasons unknown — but doesn't say anything to that effect. Instead, he addresses the students with, "I'll be back in a minute. Keep your wands down for now," before power-walking out of the classroom.

As is typical for students, the noise level increases dramatically the moment the door shuts behind him, conversations starting up and resuming from all corners of the classroom. Ella isn't exempt, turning to her friends in order to tell them about something Dennis said over the weekend when movement out of the corner of her eye gets her attention.

Sebastian stands on his chair, wand in hand and his goons surrounding him with cheeky grins on their faces. Never a good sign. He taps his wand against his opposite hand rhythmically, scanning the room.

"Screw what Potter says, practising in an actual duel is the best way to learn," he says. "Who's first?"

"Yeah, yeah, just say you want to jinx someone and go," Zorion says, waving him away.

Undeterred, Sebastian jumps down and approaches Zorion. "C'mon, Parrish, you don't have to be scared. It's just a little spell, right? See, I'll show you."

Before Zorion can respond, Sebastian is pointing his wand somewhere behind him and shouting, "Flipendo!" A pained cry is the only warning they receive before Aurelia Carrow is sliding down the front wall of the classroom, having just missed the chalkboard. Reena Sethi leaps from her seat to run and help her.

"What is your issue?" Zorion asks, no longer nonchalant. "Carrow had nothing to do with this."

"What do you mean?" Sebastian taps his wand against his palm. "I know you're a pureblood, Parrish, but I didn't think your family were Carrow sympathizers."

Matilda Vu frowns. "What sympathizers?"

"Well, naturally, you wouldn't know," Sebastian says, tone haughty. "But our dear Aurelia here belongs to the Carrow family, full of some of You-Know-Who's most loyal followers. Just think of how she was raised."

Ella has heard of the Carrows, both briefly from her brothers and from others speaking about them in the halls. From what she can gather, they stood proudly at Voldemort's side, making names for themselves in the past few years alone. Their dictatorship over the school the previous year is well known. She doesn't have to meet them personally to know that they are evil, down to their very heart and soul.

But when she looks at Aurelia, half-shielded by Reena and tugging on the ends of her hair, she sees none of that. All she sees is a defenseless child who is already traumatized (from what, she doesn't know, but it's none of her business) enough without torment from her peers. Being in the same house as Sebastian must be a nightmare.

"If you actually thought that, you'd be all buddy-buddy with her," Hikari says. "She seems like a perfectly decent person to me."

Sebastian scoffs. "What do you know, you obnoxious little mudblood?"

Yeoreum leans around Ella to say, "For a Ravenclaw, your insult vocabulary really sucks, huh?"

Sebastian whirls on her this time. "Might as well use the word that fits, right, Kim? Or does hearing it remind you of your mother — oh, wait."

Yeoreum's fingers curl around the edge of the desk, the only indication that Sebastian's words are getting to her. They can't let him win, and perhaps responding would be doing that, but how long are they supposed to sit here, enduring this?

"She was an auror, right? Funny how the Auror's Office has lost more muggleborns than any other type of wizard these past few years," Sebastian continues. "It really shows you the difference between them and real wizards, huh?"

Ella doesn't draw attention to the way Yeoreum grits her teeth and frowns with fervour, but she can't ignore the glisten of her eyes as he continues to speak. She slams her hand on the desk and rises from her seat. Yeoreum tugs her jumper, probably to tell her that it isn't worth it, but the words are already coming out of her mouth.

"Shut your mouth, Veront."

Predictably, Sebastian is gleeful at the attention. "It's okay, Creevey, I wasn't talking about your brother. If the shoe fits, though, you know? He got what he deserved in the end."

Ella's heart aches painfully. Yeoreum and Damien both give outraged cries, but she doesn't register what they say. She's already moving across the room, wand in her hand, and she points it at Sebastian's neck. It holds his smug face upright.

"Whoops, hit a nerve, did I? Put the wand down, Creevey. You're no match against me."

She pokes the wand's end further towards him. It digs into his neck. "We'll see about that."

Something he sees on her face must scare him, as his stance changes and he attempts to take a step back. His little followers are too close to him for him to do so. He swallows, the wand still so close, and changes tactics.

"C'mon, Creevey. You don't need that." He gestures to the wand. "I didn't mean to talk about your dead brother —"

"You're right," Ella interrupts. She's heard enough. "I don't need this."

She drops the wand on the nearest desk (Vesper's, she thinks) and kicks Sebastian directly in the stomach.

The effect is instantaneous. Sebastian doubles over and falls into his goons, some of whom topple over themselves. Those who don't reach for Ella. There are shouts and cheers from all sides of the room as she rips herself from their grip and elbows one of them in the face. Sebastian, now recovered, rushes towards her, but is tackled to the ground by Vesper. Hikari is beside him, taking down some of the others, and suddenly Yeoreum is there, punching a Slytherin (Yax-something) in the face.

There are no wands, no sparks to be seen, just a brawl that one might find in a muggle schoolyard. The irony is not lost on Ella as she pushes against Sebastian's hold. She's no Olympic athlete, but she's always prided herself on being quick.

Not quick enough, apparently, as she isn't able to dodge the spell sent her way, the one that separates her and Sebastian and sends them skidding to opposite sides of the room. She holds onto a nearby desk for balance and steadies herself.

"And what do all of you think you're doing?"

Dennis had once told her that McGonagall was terrifying when she was angry. Ella thought she had seen McGonagall angry before, when she would reprimand students for not paying attention or for being silly in the middle of class, but that was nothing. Fierce eyes pierce them as she looks at all of them in turn and Ella shudders when they meet hers. Potter stands behind her, slightly bewildered, his own wand held against his side.

"Creevey kicked me right in the stomach!" Sebastian says quickly, crocodile tears already forming in his eyes.

"Only after he wouldn't stop calling us mudbloods and telling Yeoreum her mum was a terrible auror for dying and that Ella's brother deserved to die because he's muggleborn," Hikari says quickly. Her hair has fallen from its ponytail.

"He also used the Knockback Jinx on Aurelia when all she was doing was sitting in her seat," Felix O'Mara, another Ravenclaw, says. He gestures to where Reena is tending to Aurelia, who hides her face under her hair.

Sebastian gapes as though he doesn't understand what's happening. "How could — she still kicked me!"

"And I'd do it again," Ella says without thinking, disregarding McGonagall's presence.

A mistake, as McGonagall immediately says, "You will do no such thing, Miss Creevey. You will serve detention this Saturday. So will you, Mr Veront, and everyone else involved in this juvenile display. Back to your seats, all of you."

The promise of detention leaves a sour taste in Ella's mouth, that is true, but she can't bring herself to mind too much when Sebastian is looking as though his entire world has crumbled around him.


torian: baby. baby boy baby
sebastian: evil