Hi everyone! Here's the next chapter in the story - I hope you enjoy!

(Disclaimer: See Chapter 1.)

Chapter 10:

Leaving and Saying Goodbye

"Once the holidays had started, Ron and Harry were having too good a time to think much about Flamel. They had the dormitory to themselves and the common room was far emptier than usual, so they were able to get the good armchairs by the fire. They sat by the hour eating anything they could spear on a toasting fork - bread, English muffins, marshmallows - and plotting ways of getting Malfoy expelled, which were fun to talk about even if they wouldn't work."

"What are you going to do over break?" Mackenzie asked Molly as they packed their trunks upstairs.

"I don't know - I might go see that new Disney movie that came out in November - you know, Big Hero 6," Molly said. "What about you?"

"Probably fly down to London - the actual London - and visit my family," Mackenzie said. "What about you?"

Molly waited a second. "You already asked me that."

"Oh!" Mackenzie realized. "Sorry!"

The two girls laughed for a second and continued packing, Molly still not knowing where she wanted to go. Suddenly, she remembered something.

"Sorry, Mackenzie, I gotta go," she said, dropping her half-packed trunk on her bed. "I need to tell Hermione something!"

Molly raced down the stairs and into the common room, where Hermione was talking with Harry and Ron. (Molly was really glad they had become friends.)

"Hermione!" Molly said, out of breath.

"Molly!" Hermione said, turning suddenly. "What is it?"

"I just wanted to tell you something you should do over break," Molly said. "Other than whatever you're talking about now."

"What is it?" Hermione said.

Molly leaned in, as if telling Hermione a secret. "I want you to go see Beauty and the Beast - it came out about a month ago."

"What's Beauty and the Beast?" Hermione asked.

"It's an incredible movie, with songs and dancing and magic and true love," Molly said - Beauty and the Beast had always been one of her favorites, and she had a feeling Hermione would like the bookish Belle.

"Cool!" Hermione said. "I'll have to check it out - you know, in between looking up information about Nic -"

She stopped suddenly.

"Nic? Who's that?" Molly asked. "I don't think there's anyone in the school named Nic."

Hermione pursed her lips, as if trying to keep a secret from bursting out of them.

"You can tell me," Molly said. "I can probably look it up when I get home, anyway."

Hermione sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you," she said. "I'm talking about Nicolas Flamel."

Molly nodded. "Ah," she said, trying to sound like a little-girl version of Dumbledore. "Nicolas Flamel." She waited a second. "Who's Nicolas Flamel?"

"He's this...person," Hermione explained the best she could, "that Hagrid mentioned. See, we're trying to figure out what Snape's after - we know there's something with Fluffy, in the third floor corridor."

"Fluffy?" Molly asked.

"A three-headed dog - nearly bit my head off," Ron interjected.

Molly giggled. "And his name's Fluffy? Sounds a bit tame, if you ask me."

"I know," Harry said. "It's what Hagrid said his name was."

Molly nodded.

"Well, I'll look it up when I get home," Molly said. "Have a good break!"

"You too!" Hermione said, waving at Molly as she went upstairs.

When Molly got back to her room, it looked undisturbed, except for the fact that Mackenzie and her trunk were gone. Makes sense, Molly thought. She's probably headed out already.

As she walked over to her trunk to continue packing, she suddenly felt a small metal something hit her foot, and her body fell over her feet, Molly stretching her arms out to break her fall and ending up in the shape of a push-up.

"Okay," Molly said. "Peeves, you're going to be in for it -"

Her voice stopped short when she realized what her foot had hit.

A cage. With Molly's beautiful white owl in it.

Her owl - that she had never named.

Molly looked at the owl, trying to think of something to name her. Stella had named her cat Usnavi, Beatrix had named her owl Eclipse - but Molly had never figured out a name. It was weird - while Molly loved to sing and create songs and stories, she was not creative at all with names.

Then it came to her.

She knew exactly what she needed to name her owl - that is, if the owl was a girl like she thought.

Molly knelt down and looked the owl in the eye.

"Hey, there," she said. "Are you a girl?"

The owl didn't move, but Molly could've sworn it winked at her. She took that to mean, Yeah, duh.

"Hey there, Madison."

It was December 21st - the day that Molly was going to leave for break. She said goodbye to Harry, Ron, and a few other Gryffindors before heading to the Great Hall to say goodbye to the other students.

"Bye, Stella," she said, giving her friend a hug. Stella had decided to stay over break and help Professor Sprout clean up the greenhouse.

"Bye, Molly," she said. "Tell me how Big Hero 6 is."

"I will," Molly said, giggling for the first time in what felt like forever.

She walked over to the Ravenclaw table.

"Bye, Beatrix," she said. Beatrix was staying to do some research in the school library.

"Bye," Beatrix said. "Have a good break."

"You, too," Molly said.

Going over the names of her friends in her head, she thought she had said goodbye to everyone - but then she glanced at the Slytherin table. Ava and Zoë were leaving for break - but there was one person who wanted to leave, but had a little something holding him back.

She walked over and sat down.

"Hey, Jonah," she said.

"Hey," he said, not looking up from his Rubik's Cube.

They sat in silence for a bit. Then Jonah cleared his throat.

"Hey - uh...I'm sorry about Madison."

Molly nodded. "Do you still not remember anything?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what happened - I wouldn't, you know, kill somebody if I wasn't being made to…well, probably not..."

His voice trailed off as his face lit up.

"That's it," he said.

"What?" Molly asked.

"I was being made to kill her!" he said. "I still can't remember what happened in Quirrell's room, but I remember what Ava said - Madison was planning to expose him!"

"Expose him as who?" Molly asked.

Jonah opened his mouth to tell her, but then stopped. "Never mind," he said. "You haven't read the books."

"You can tell me," she said. "Just make it vague enough that I wouldn't completely understand."

Jonah took a deep breath. "Well...uh, there's this...wizard living with Quirrell - a Dark wizard. And he's kinda...influencing what Quirrell's doing. Sorry - this all sounds really weird…"

"No, go on," Molly said. "What does that have to do with you and Madison?"

"Everything," he said. "I'll bet you ten bucks that the Dark wizard living with Quirrell influenced him to cast a spell on me that controls my every move - and using me as a scapegoat, he killed Madison."

"That has to be it!" Molly said. "Does Dumbledore know about the wizard living with Quirrell?"

Jonah's shoulders slumped. "No, he doesn't," he said. "And Dumbledore won't believe me without proof - and I still can't remember what happened in the classroom."

"That's too bad," Molly said. "Wait - I just remembered something."

She took the camera out of her pocket, where she had been keeping it.

"I think you need this more than I do," she said, giving it to Jonah.

"What is it?" he said.

"It's a camera," Molly explained, "that I found in Quirrell's room last Saturday. Maybe there's some sort of proof there."

Jonah smiled. "Thanks," he said. "Have a good break."

Molly gave him a hug. "You, too," she said.

She stood up and walked away. Just before leaving the hall, she turned to him one more time to wave goodbye. He didn't look up, his focus on his Rubik's Cube.

Molly smiled and walked out the door.

Outside, in the courtyard, were the kids going back to 2014, for however long it would last - Mackenzie, Ava, and Zoë. They were standing together and chatting, but when Mackenzie saw Molly, she jumped up and waved her over.

"Come on, Molly!" she said. "It's almost time to go!"

"Coming!" Molly said, running over to join the three girls.

They locked hands.

"Ready?" Ava said to Molly.

Molly nodded. "Ready," she said.

She looked up to see clouds - what looked like an impending thunderstorm.

"Here we go," she said.

And then the world shook as the rain began to pour. Molly closed her eyes, and the shaking stopped.

When she opened them, the four were back in London - well, the fake London at Universal Studios. Other than the tourists now wearing Minion Christmas hats, it was as if nothing had changed.

"Now what?" Zoë said.

"I have an idea," Molly said. She put her hand in her pocket - and out came her mother's phone.

"Mom told me a long time ago that whenever she gives me her phone for an extended period of time, it's only for emergencies," Molly said. "This is definitely an emergency."

Thanks for reading! Here are the fun facts about this chapter:

1) The chapter title is a reference to a song called "Leaving and Saying Goodbye," which is one of my favorite country songs.

2) There are a ton of Disney references throughout the chapter - the Big Hero 6 conversation at the beginning, Molly recommending Beauty and the Beast for Hermione, the Enchanted reference at the end...

3) That camera that Molly hands Jonah is going to be very important in the next few chapters...

4) When I was writing Jonah's explanation for his killing Madison and his generalization of Voldemort and Quirrell's relationship, it was sounding a little weird to me - so I had Jonah acknowledge that.

5) I thought it would be a neat little detail that the tourists in Universal were wearing Minion Christmas hats.

6) For a while after I wrote this chapter, Opa's inspiration, Madison's inspiration, and Stella's inspiration were on my case about my owl being left in my room. So I just want to make it clear: MY OWL WAS STILL FED AND CLEANED AND TAKEN CARE OF! I WASN'T BEING A JERK TO HER! OPA, MADISON, STELLA, IF YOU'RE READING THIS, THERE YOU GO!

Sorry.

Feel free to review, but please no negative reviews or cursing! (And please, NOTHING POLITICAL!) Thanks!