When she arrived back at her flat Lyla immediately grabbed a bright pink dufflebag that was strewn across her bed. Mist Rot cases typically took three or four days to resolve depending on the spector's degree of agitation or depression. It was a condition that presented itself in a stiffness around the edges of the ghost's form when the ghost was influenced by strong negative internal emotions. From what Lyla remembered about the Fat Friar he had a very wide spectrum of and and low threshold for intense emotions. He was most known for being overjoyed at all times and incredibly invested in the students of his house so, it was easy to imagine if something upset him it would take a stronger hold than on a different ghost.

She stuffed an array of outfits for her stay at Hogwarts into the bag, flicked her wand and they folded themselves, devoid of all wrinkles despite her messy handling of them. There wasn't time to send an owl to Alicia or Steven but she figured it would be much more exciting as a surprise. She did, however, send a letter to her mom, letting her know that she would be at Hogwarts for the weekend and that she would give her siblings a kiss for her.

Minutes after her bag was packed Lyla was stepping out onto the the stone floor of the fireplace tucked in a corridor off the Hogwarts' main stairway. Lyla turned out of the darkness of the hallway as the light from the fire she emerged from died out.

"They've been expecting you" the low drawl came from Flich who was standing at the opening of the corridor she emerged from.

Lyla jumped but quickly smiled at Flich, "You scared me you bag of bones!" Mrs. Norris hissed at her. "Hiiii cat!" Lyla squealed and bent down to pick Mrs. Norris up. Flich smiled grimly then quickly furrowed his brows and turned down the corners of his mouth as he led Lyla to the Headmaster's Chambers.

It had always been that Lyla was drawn to the things that scared her to learn what she could about them and quell her fear. That's why, when she came to school she would persistently chase Mrs. Norris to pet her and smile at Flich until they had warmed up to her. This unique approach to fear and quest for knowledge is what The Sorting Hat used to adeptly sort her into Ravenclaw so many years ago. The familiar walls, suits of armor and paintings she passed as she walked swiftly behind Filch, with Mrs. Norris begrudgingly purring in her arms, brought her back to that day, ten years ago, when she had set foot in the Great Hall for the first time.

"A fear of the unknown" the hat had cooed snidely in her ear, "Innately causing you to crave information. Brave, that's sure; but uniquely so. Thought not driven by a logical intelligence alone but a whole-hearted approach. Strange, quite strange, it's sure you'd do well in RAVENCLAW!"

"Here!" Filch croaked, rousing her from her reverence, as he gestured toward the staircase leading to Dumbledore's office. He grumpily took Mrs. Norris from Lyla's arms and turned to go.

"Bye Filchy! It was nice to see you again! See you soon" she waved at him and watched as his back straightened the little it could before he turned the corner, grumbling.

The stone stairs spun Lyla slowly upward until it opened to the rich warmth of Dumbledore's office. Across the carpeted floor Lyla looked out the windows as the sun was beginning to dip down over the horizon.

"Ahh" Dumbledore said softly, pushing his chair out from behind his desk and gathering his robes around him as he made his way toward her. "Ms. Murphy" he extended his hand and shook hers gently, smiling down at her over his half moon glasses. "So good of you to come. As it's late and we have a busy weekend ahead of us I implore you to do whatever you may need to see to our poor Fat Friar."

"Of course Professor," Lyla replied, tilting her head "I can get started as soon as you need. I know the First Task is tomorrow so I'll get out of your hair..."

He raised his hand politely as his knowing smile grew. "No, no. I'll hear no more of that tonight. I'm sure you'll have plenty to keep you busy tonight." He turned away from her and the hairs on the back of her head tingled. While she wasn't sure what he quite meant, aside from the possibility of spending time with her siblings, she had a feeling she would find out. "Now" he chimed, "unfortunately, I can't put you up in our guest tower for it's full of visitors we're housing during this first task. Would you mind spending this first night in your old dormitories with your sister? These gentlemen will be gone in a day or two so it shouldn't be that long."

"No, not at all!" she sighed, her eyes twinkling "That should be fun"

"Indeed." he replied, nodding at her and holding out a small silver bowl of brightly wrapped squares "Chocolate?" Lyla silently dove her hand into the bowl and plucked out a purple wrapped, raspberry-lemon chocolate morsel. Dumbledore chuckled, "You always were one to go in for anything. I'm glad your confidence in yourself hasn't wavered. I must say, however, I much prefer your hair its natural color." Lyla blushed and Dumbledore extended his hand toward the door, "Now, if you don't mind I need to change for dinner. I look forward to seeing you with your siblings in the Great Hall."

"See you then, Professor!" Lyla replied jovially as she took her leave.

From the Headmaster's Office she quickly made her way to Ravenclaw tower to change her clothes. It felt wholly unnatural to be walking these halls again in high heels and a pantsuit. After answering the riddle posed by the eagle door knocker she swung the door open and enter the cobalt common room of Ravenclaw. She breathed in the smell of old books and freshly waxed mahogany and walked past the students within authoritatively as they examined her inquisitively. When she was up in the First Year Girls' Dormitory she looked around at the faint light from the lanterns that shimmered against the blue canopies.

No one was in the room so Lyla flung her bag onto the bed that was clearly Alicia's, evidenced by the family picture hanging next to the headboard. She kicked her heels off under the bed and let her slacks slide down her legs onto the floor. As the days marched on it was getting cooler during the day and downright cold at night. So, she grabbed her slate gray cotton leggings and pulled their tight fabric over her toned calves and thighs with her back against the armoire to keep her from losing her balance. Then, she pulled a black racerback on over her head, the contact with the fabric dragging her high ponytail lower on her head. She simultaneously slid her feet into a pair of brown, leather army boot and took the elastic out of her hair and wove her fingers through the braid at the back of her head to free that interlocked tendrils.

Before leaving to go down to dinner Lyla tucked her wand in her boot and grabbed an oversized, cable knit sweater as she headed out the door. She pulled the soft wool over her head when the eagle sealed door to the common room snapped shut behind her. The rich cream color of the woven fabrics stood out against her lightly bronzed skin and the sweater rested comfortably at her midthigh. While descending the main staircase toward the Great Hall, Lyla hoisted the ends of her sleeves into the crooks of her elbows and shook her hair back from her face. As she did that the top of her shirt slid down off her shoulder, exposing the back of her tank and her golden dragon flicking its tongue at though attempting to smell the familiar air.

"Woo!" she huffed as she got to the landing below. Despite the fact that she kept in good shape she didn't remember the stairs being quite so steep at Hogwarts and she was out of breath.

"Too many Glacial Snow Flakes, Murphy?" a brisk female voice called to her.

Lyla spun around to see the tall, distinguished witch looking at her through the glasses perched at the tip of her nose. "Professor McGonagall!" Lyla squealed, running over to the woman; who tensed up when Lyla pulled her into a tight hug, pressing their cheeks together.

"Get-get off...MURPHY!" Minerva yelled, drawing all eyes that weren't already on the strange encounter between the young woman and their most tight buttoned teacher.

Lyla obediently let the professor go, snickering loudly, and draped her arm over McGonagall's shoulder causing the corner of her mouth to twitch with unwelcome amusement. "Oh, come on Professor! Is that any way to greet your favorite student?"

"You were never my favorite" McGonagall scoffed primly, shoving Lyla away from her.

Lyla smiled down at her feet and followed Minerva into the Great Hall. "How's Steven doing?" she asked

"Incredibly well in Charms, naturally." McGonagall responded warmly "He does quite enjoy making muggle objects do things they're not supposed to do. It's clearly harmless but it's nice to see he has some direction...at least one of the Murphy childrens' 'rebellious' phase is not an ongoing plague on this school." She cleared her throat suggestively and darted her eyes toward Lyla, her lips becoming thinner as she suppressed a sly smile. Lyla rolled her eyes and chuckled. "By the way" Minerva continued as the pair reached the far end of the hall "I think there might be someone you might like to see-"

"LYLA!" Minerva's sentence was cut short when a small animal slammed into Lyla, its arms hugging her tightly. Lyla didn't even see Alicia coming and didn't register who she was before the impact but when she looked down at her sister's beaming face she smiled back.

"Hello pixie!" she said, waving goodbye to Minerva as Alicia pulled her down the row to where she was sitting at Ravenclaw table.

"These are my friends!" Alicia began, excitedly point to each one as she introduced them to Lyla. "That's Merry," a blonde girl with deep-set blue eyes and a wide jaw waved, "that's Jayla" a petite girl with dark, curly hair and deep brown freckles accenting the brown skin underneath smiled shyly. Lyla was also introduced to a pair of blonde fraternal twins named Riley and Rylee, a thin Japanese boy with square glasses named Eito, and a tall, broad girl named Jess. "And this is my sister Lyla!"

Lyla settled onto the bench next to her sister after she sat down and smiled at everyone. "Hi there" she said, kindly

"She's going to be staying in our room tonight!"

"You knew about that Leesh?" Lyla asked, looking down at her sister

"Yeah, our head girl told us this afternoon to make sure it would be alright with everyone."

"Ahh, well that's good. It ruined the surprise though!"

Shortly after the group had buttered the rolls in front of them and filled their cups with juice, Steven came and sat with his sisters in lieu of his friends at the Hufflepuff table. Alicia talked mostly to her friends about what Lyla was doing here and what her job entailed, giving Lyla little chance to interject.

When the silver plates had been cleared for the second time and the platters in front of them blossomed with desserts two familiar boys walked up behind Steven and Lyla and put a hand on their shoulders.

"Ello mate!" one of the Weasley twins said

"Nice to see you again, Lyla" the other chimed.

"Is it true you're here to take Peeves to the slammer?"

"Nah, I heard she was here to perform surgery on Nick!"

Lyla's face broke into a huge smile as she and Steve laughed. "What are you boys up to then?" she inquired

"We are in the business of delivering secret messages and you, my dear, are our next target!" one twin said as the other presented a rolled piece of parchment bound with a yellow ribbon and a red seal stamped with a dragon on it.

Lyla furrowed her brows with suspicion as she took it from the boys. "What is it?"

"Well, if we told you that we wouldn't be very good at our business then!" The two laughed musically as the bounded back toward the Gryffindor table and calling dramatic goodbyes to Steven.

Lyla looked at both of her siblings incredibly confused before popping open the dragon seal and unrolling the parchment to reveal a crudely drawn map.