So we're back at Hogwarts now for the rest of year one. The rest of the first year will mostly follow what happened in the game with a few subtle changes here and there. Hope you guys enjoy the chapter.

School Matters

Returning back to Hogwarts after the Christmas holidays had been far too easy for Abby. She'd been ready to go back to Hogwarts the day she left cv cv mv and had only wished that she'd been able to spend the holidays at school. But Abby was glad to be back, and she was ready to throw herself back into school, although by that she didn't mean schoolwork. All throughout her break, Abby had thought about the Cursed Vaults and the corridor that they had found. It seemed to be the same for Rowan since as soon as they sat together on the train, Rowan was talking about her thoughts as if she'd read her mind.

"So I tried doing some research on the Cursed Vaults over the break," Rowan said.

"What did you find out?" Abby asked curiously.

Rowan sighed, "Nothing. All I could find were the articles about your brother. Most of the information that I tried finding said that the Cursed Vaults don't even exist."

"But they have to. How would that explain everything that happened when Jacob messed around with them? And what about the ice in the corridor? For that to happen something has to be going on," Abby argued.

"What are we even going to do about this, Abby? We're just kids and we have no idea what to do," Rowan said.

"We'll think of something, Rowan. For now I think it's best that we just settle back into school and keep attention away from ourselves. Then when we come up with something, we can check out the corridor again," Abby stated.

"Staying out of trouble sounds nice," Rowan murmured. "I just hope that Merula doesn't drag us into any."

"Considering what's happened so far, I wouldn't be surprised if she does," Abby remarked.

Although Abby hadn't wanted to go home for the holidays, she was glad to have that time away from Merula since it meant that she didn't have to worry about the other girl getting her into anymore trouble. Abby was hoping that coming back from the holidays, Merula wouldn't be that much of an issue but Abby had a slight feelings that her problems with Merula were only going to be the beginning.

Much to Abby's annoyance, Merula was already in the Slytherin Common Room when Abby went down there the following day. If Abby didn't know any better, she'd say that Merula was waiting for her.

"So, Selwyn. I see that you haven't left already," Merula acknowledged her.

"Why would I? I'm allowed to be here so I have every right to be here," Abby replied.

"I would've thought that after your humiliating performance last term that you would've done us all a favour and left by now," Merula remarked.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Merula, but weren't you the one who was humiliated after you lost our duel?" Abby smirked.

Merula stomped her feet on the ground, "That was a warm-up, Selwyn. You'll soon realise that not everyone is going to worship the ground you walk on. Just you wait, sooner or later I'm going to take you by surprise and put you in your place."

"If anyone needs to be put in their place it's you, Merula," Abby crossed her arms.

"Ugh, you're a nuisance, Selwyn!" Merula exclaimed before stomping off.

If anyone was a nuisance, it was Merula. Just as Abby had suspected, Merula didn't seem to be backing down from this feud that she had started. And if her threat was anything to go by, she wasn't done with Abby just yet. Merula wasn't the only one who wasn't done with Abby, since she soon enough found herself cornered by Felix.

"As impressive as how you handled Merula was, was it really worth doing that just to lose us yet another twenty house points?" Felix asked.

"It was worth it to see Merula be put in her place like she deserved. But I promise that I'll try to stay out of trouble this time around, Felix. I'll get us those house points back," Abby promised.

"You better. Everyone in Slytherin is suffering because of your mistakes. You're ruining any chance we have of winning the House Cup," Felix scolded her.

"Well, what do you suggest I do?" Abby demanded.

"Go to class. Focus on your schoolwork. Do everything in your power to earn more House Points. And I know this is very difficult for you, but please stay out of trouble," Felix ordered.

"Trouble seems to find me wherever I go," Abby grumbled. "But I really will try."

"Do better than try. You have Potions and Charms class today. Get to your classes on time, and get Slytherin more House Points," Felix commanded.

Since she really had no other choice, Abby did just that and headed to Charms class as her first lesson for the day. As she headed there, it was obvious that Abby had earned quite the reputation following her duel with Merula. Practically everyone avoided her and stayed clear of her path, and the Slytherins in particular were quite rough on her. Abby hadn't even made it to Charms and she already had mess in her hair from who knows what had been flung at her. She'd chosen not to look back at that.

"Ah, Miss Selwyn. You are excused from today's lesson," Flitwick greeted her.

"What? Why?" Abby asked.

"Today's spell is the Knockback Jinx. It's sometimes used in duelling and can be incredibly painful to its victim. Given your history, I think it's best not to teach you this spell now," Flitwick replied.

Abby shrugged, "If you really knew my history you'd know that I already taught myself that spell. I thought I came to Hogwarts to learn from the best. What is the point of me even being here if you won't teach me anything? I'd be better off teaching myself everything at this point."

Flitwick sighed, "I was afraid that this would be difficult for you, Miss Selwyn. You are right after all, you came to Hogwarts to learn from us and it is unfair for us to deny you that right. I suppose it would be safer anyways if you learned the proper instruction. Please, take your seat."

Smirking to herself in a true Slytherin fashion, Abby took her seat next to Rowan who looked thoroughly surprised at what Abby had just done. Abby was surprised that it had been as easy as it was to convince Flitwick otherwise. Either she's that good of a manipulator or Flitwick is just easily swayed.

"Did you really just manipulate a professor right into your hands?" Rowan asked.

"Yep," Abby smirked as she began going over her notes.

On the other side of the room, Abby spotted Ben sitting nervously in his seat. He was no doubt nervous about having to do the Knockback Jinx, but Abby had a feeling that he would fair alright with it given his knack for Charms. As for flying, that definitely wasn't Ben's forte but it suddenly gave Abby an idea on how to help Ben and hopefully get back some of those House Points that she'd lost.

"Hey, Rowan," Abby said.

"Mhm," Rowan murmured.

"Do you reckon you could find some books on flying? I want to help Ben get over his fear and I think learning about it from books would help him," Abby stated.

"I guess I could look for some in the library," Rowan agreed. "But do you really think it's wise to teach Ben Cooper how to fly? He's a coward."

"But he's a Gryffindor," Abby pointed out. "He might be scared of well… everything, but he's bound to have some courage inside of him. The Sorting Hat had to have put him in there for a reason."

"If you think this'll work, then I'll look for some books during lunch," Rowan said.

"Alright, class," Flitwick addressed everyone. "Today we will be learning the Knockback Jinx – an excellent spell for pushing people out of the way. Let us begin!"

Since Abby had already taught herself the Knockback Jinx, she barely paid attention to what Flitwick said until it was time to demonstrate. The entire time, Abby was using her cunning ambition to come up with a clever way to get into that room without having to worry about Filch, Mrs Norris or Snape. Like all plans, this one had to be perfected before it was executed, and this plan was going to be perfect.

~*•°•*~

In the meantime, Abby tried her best to stay out of everyone's way and out of trouble. Staying out of everyone's way was proving to be the most difficult since people were actively seeking her out. Most of them all did the same thing, whether it be making fun of her family or Abby herself. There was no escaping it. Things hadn't even been this bad following the immediate aftermath of her duel with Merula, so Abby wondered what had changed to make people dislike her so much.

As part of her plan to fix the damage that she had done, Abby walked into Potions with the intent of trying to smooth things over with Professor Snape. Abby knew that the grudgy Potions Master would most likely never like her no matter how much sucking up she did, but she could at least try and make an effort with him.

"Professor, I just want to apologise for duelling on school grounds," Abby apologised.

"Do you really mean that apology, Selwyn?" Snape asked.

"Not really, no," Abby admitted, deciding that it was best to be honest than to lie to him.

"Don't give an apology you don't mean, Selwyn. Now get to your seat immediately," Snape ordered.

Not wanting to rile him up even more, Abby walked over to her usual seat next to Rowan before they were joined by Merula. Abby certainly hadn't forgotten how Merula had sabotaged her first potion, so she was definitely going to keep an eye on the other girl.

"Have you told anyone about what Snape and Filch said?" Merula demanded.

"Is this really the best place to talk about this with one of the subjects in the same room?" Abby asked.

"Answer me, Selwyn," Merula growled.

"Fine, I told Rowan," Abby replied.

"You really are an idiot, Selwyn," Merula muttered. "Thankfully, your idiot friend won't ruin my chances of getting inside that room."

"I'll have you know that Rowan is probably more smarter than you could ever be," Abby remarked. "Why are you even after the Cursed Vaults anyways?"

"It's none of your business," Merula said.

"My brother was searching for the Cursed Vaults and now you're after them too, so I think that kind of makes it my business too," Abby argued.

"And he failed because he came from a family of failures," Merula smirked. "Now shut up, and pretend to study before Snape catches us talking. You wouldn't want to lose Slytherin anymore house points, Selwyn."

"Those were all thanks to you," Abby muttered.

The lesson was spent making the Herbicide Potion, and Abby did her best to keep one eye on her cauldron at all times to make sure that Merula didn't try sabotaging her again. Thankfully the lesson went on without Merula actively trying to get Abby into trouble or anything disastrous happening. When the opportunity to gain more House Points appeared when Merula hadn't stirred her potion, Abby decided to take it.

"You should stir your potion two more times," Abby suggested.

"Excuse me?" Merula balled her fists.

"Professor Snape said to stir the potion seven times, clockwise. You only stirred it five times," Abby said.

"You don't know what you're talking about," Merula growled.

"Shockingly, in this solitary instance, Selwyn is right," Snape commented as he approached them. "Even a reckless, incompetent fool like you can become a middling witch by following instructions, Selwyn. Ten points to Slytherin."

"Thank you, Professor Snape," Abby smirked, giving Merula an I-Told-You-So look.

"You can thank me by getting out of my presence, Selwyn. Class dismissed," Snape ordered.

To Abby's amusement, her helping Merula only seemed to infuriate the other girl. At least this way Abby had earned Slytherin some points so perhaps Felix might not be so grouchy. Maybe the rest of Slytherin might not even despise her so much.

When it came time for their spare lesson, Abby spent it tutoring Ben how to fly. By doing that, Abby would hopefully earn some extra points from Madam Hooch and Ben would overcome his fear of flying so either way, it was a win-win scenario. Of course, Ben's crippling fear didn't help as he grimaced at every bit of information that he read about flying. Once she finished tutoring him, Abby took Ben to the Clock Tower Courtyard for the next phase of her plan.

"Are you ready to overcome your fear of flying, Ben?" Abby asked the nervous Gryffindor.

"Almost certainly not," Ben replied.

"So you're alright with the plan?" Abby clarified.

"How is the Levitation Charm supposed to help me overcome my fear of flying?" Ben wondered.

"Because Wingardium Leviosa would be the perfect thing to get you comfortable with the idea of flying. All it will take is a swish and flick and you'll be good to go," Abby answered.

"I think you underestimate my cowardice," Ben said.

"You just need to take things one step at a time, Ben. The first step to flying is floating. If Wingardium Leviosa works as planned, you should levitate a few feet off the ground," Abby reassured him.

"And what if it doesn't work as planned?" Ben voiced his concerns that were already obvious on his face.

"You'll find that falling is nothing to be afraid of," Abby stated. "Now let's do this. Wingardium Leviosa!"

On her chant, Ben slowly floated into the air and acted accordingly to the way Abby's wand moved. To Ben's surprise, he didn't even freak out as he floated around in the air. But the look of relief on his face when his feet touched the ground again didn't go unnoticed.

"You did it, Ben! You're one step closer to overcoming your fear of flying!" Abby exclaimed.

"And even closer to realising my fear of getting sick in public. You'll have to excuse me, Abby, Ben commented.

"Are you rushing to the Training Grounds because you're so excited for flying class?" Abby asked.

"You don't want to know what I'm about to do," Ben murmured before taking off.

Deciding that it was better to just leave Ben for now, Abby did just that. With her plan for Ben coming into fruition, it was time for Abby to put in the finishing touches of her plan for the room down the corridor. Based on the way things were looking, it seemed like Abby would be needing a little outside help to achieve this mission.

~*•°•*~

Once her plan was formed, Abby waited until breakfast the following day so that she could tell Rowan. They made sure to sit as far away from their other Slytherin's so that nobody could hear them.

"Now, what's this master plan that you've got?" Rowan asked eagerly.

"Okay," Abby glanced around to make sure that nobody could hear her before she began. "First, I need to get past Mrs Norris. If I give her a Sleeping Draught, it will knock her out just long enough to let us by. Second, I'll need a way to get inside the door. The Unlocking Charm, Alohomora, should do the trick. Third, I'll need the Knockback Jinx, Flipendo. It'll help me escape if I get trapped inside the room like I did with the Devil's Snare."

"How are you going to get a Sleeping Draught, though? If you ask Snape to help you brew one, he'll get suspicious," Rowan wondered.

"I'm not going to ask Snape. I'm going to ask Penny Haywood," Abby stated.

"Penny Heywood?" Rowan gasped. "She's the most popular girl in our year. If not, in all of Hogwarts."

"She offered to help me if I ever needed anything, and according to her she's pretty good with potions," Abby said.

"She's being modest. If anyone in our year knows how to brew a Sleeping Draught, it's her," Rowan commented. "But what about Filch?"

"I was inspired by you love of research, and decided to do some of my own research on Filch. I think I can throw him off my tail," Abby smirked.

"You're explaining this like you're going to be going on your own," Rowan crossed her arms.

"That's because I will be doing this on my own. I can't ask you to risk getting in trouble for me, Rowan," Abby replied.

Rowan laughed, "Of course you can ask me to get in trouble for you, Abby! Like I said, I've always wanted to go on my own Hogwarts mystery."

"If you're sure..." Abby trailed off.

"I'm sure," Rowan nodded. "But just to be on the safe side, I think we should bring one more person with us."

"We should be able to handle ourselves," Abby argued.

"Are you sure about that, Abby? We're only two first-years going up against who knows what. We'd be better off going in there with some extra support," Rowan insisted.

"Then how about we take Penny with us? She'll already be helping my make a Sleeping Draught so we might as well bring her along for the ride," Abby replied.

Rowan didn't look convinced, "I think Penny would be a good choice too and she might've said that she'd help you, but that would be asking a lot of her, Abby."

"She'll be able to help us in ways that we won't be able to help ourselves. Penny's the perfect choice," Abby insisted.

"Knowing the gossip around Hogwarts could help keep us out of trouble, and her potions skills could help with whatever is inside the door," Rowan agreed. "Good luck, Abby. Just let me know when you're ready to execute the plan."

Looking over at the Hufflepuff table, Abby could see that Penny was surrounded by dozens of friends so she knew that she'd have to get the other girl alone when she asked for her favour. It almost made Abby feel inferior to Penny, since she had all of her friends while Abby just had Rowan. She wasn't sure if she could classify Ben as a friend yet.

It was time for the morning post to arrive and as per usual, dozens of owls flew into the Great Hall to deliver their messages. To Abby's complete surprise, she spotted Nightingale as one of the many owls flying around. She almost thought that there had been a mistake when her owl landed right in front of her because since she had started Hogwarts, nobody had sent her a letter or a parcel. This didn't go unnoticed by Merula who decided to use it to take a jibe at Abby.

"Selwyn's got mail? Who would even want to write to her?" Merula remarked as she went to take Abby's package.

"Keep your greasy paws off my mail, Snyde," Abby growled as she snatched the package before Merula could reach it. Since Merula was going to keep on calling Abby by her last name, then she was going to do the same to her.

"What is it?" Rowan asked curiously as Abby tore off the letter attached to the small package.

"I don't know," Abby murmured as she opened the envelope and read the penmanship that she couldn't recognise.

Selwyn,

This ring is a family heirloom from your mother's side. It was passed down from generations and she wanted you to have it. There is also a matching necklace that you may only receive if you continue to behave. Do not think that I'm not watching you because I am.

Take care,

A watcher.

All Abby could do was stare at the piece of paper in surprise. Her attention then turned to the small package that had come with the letter and she assumed that this had to be the ring that was mentioned. Sure enough, inside was a small ring with a blue crystal on top. The ring itself looked like a bunch of leaves tied together, but it was still beautiful, nonetheless. It was even more beautiful than her father's family ring.

"Oh, it's so pretty," Rowan gushed.

"It is," Abby agreed as she slid it into her right ring finger next to her father's ring that Jacob had given her when he left.

Unlike the other ring, this ring just felt so… right on her finger, like it was meant to be there. Abby couldn't help but wonder how it had been from her mothers side of the family, yet she had never seen it before just like she had never seen the writing on the letter that had come with it. The letter had almost creeped her out, since it said that someone was watching her but she didn't know who.

"Who's the watcher?" Rowan wondered.

"I don't know," Abby murmured.

As happy as she was to have the ring, this whole thing felt a little bit weird, like she was missing something. But Abby would worry about that later because right now, she had a plan to put into action.

And so the grand scheme begins with another added mystery to the mix. It would seem as though Abby has someone's eye on her, but she doesn't know who and won't know who for a long time. The story isn't really following the plan that I had originally set for it, since it now has the story finishing at thirteen chapters rather than 14. But I like this outcome better and I hope you guys do too, so tell me what you think.