With two chapters to go, the story's just starting to heat up as it gets to the main event of the First Year. I hope you guys have been enjoying the story and if you are, let me know!

Inside the Room

Knowing that what she as about to do was potentially going to get her into trouble didn't stop Abby from wanting to do it in any way. Besides, she would only get in trouble if she got caught and Abby certainly didn't plan on getting caught. To avoid getting caught together and blowing the entire plan, Abby had decided to meet up with Penny and Rowan near the corridor separately. As she got closer, Abby could see Rowan approaching Penny so all she had to do was join them. That was until she managed to cross paths with the caretaker, Mr Filch.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Filch demanded.

"Oh, thank goodness I found someone," Abby said, already coming up with a lie in her head.

"Why?" Filch drawled.

"You know Peeves, right?" Abby started.

"Of course I've heard of that filthy poltergeist. He's caused more trouble than your brother ever did. He was one of the nastiest rule-breakers that this school ever had. You know, I was sad to see him go," Filch said.

"You were?" Abby repeated.

"I was. I missed my chance to hang him from the ceiling by his wrists. Maybe I'll get the chance with you instead," Filch snarled.

"You won't get that chance with me. I'm not like my brother," Abby stated.

"You're a liar is what you are. Mrs Norris saw two Slytherin girls lurking about the corridor and I'm assuming that one of them was you," Filch accused.

"You shouldn't make accusations without having any proof other than the 'words' of a cat," Abby crossed her arms.

"Don't you dare disrespect Mrs Norris!" Filch hissed.

"Instead of worrying about me, you should be worrying about Peeves," Abby said.

"Why?" Filch narrowed his eyes.

"I overheard him talking about sabotaging your office with all of the prank items that you've confiscated by setting them off the next time you open your door. Mrs Norris could get hurt," Abby lied.

"Why should I trust your word given your family's history?" Filch growled.

"I just thought that you would know Peeves enough to know that he's always up to no good. Even if you don't believe me, would you really want to risk Mrs Norris getting hurt and damaging your office?" Abby tried again.

Filch glared at her, "I can't let that happen. But if you're lying about this, I'll get you hung by my shackles before nightfall!"

"Better get running then," Abby said.

There was no hiding the look of distaste on Filch's face as he gave her one last glare. Abby didn't know if Filch would stick to his threat, but Abby certainly wasn't going to let some mangy old squib get the better of her. And she certainly wasn't prejudiced against Filch because he was a squib – that would only be because he's just a mean person – Abby just knew that she would have no reason to let him get the best of her.

It was now time for Abby to face her first Hogwarts mystery, and she had no idea what was awaiting her behind that corridor. Seeing Penny and Rowan there certainly gave Abby confidence, and she was just hoping that Merula wouldn't get in the way. As expected, Mrs Norris was guarding the corridors with a bowl beside her.

"I can't believe that we're doing this!" Penny exclaimed excitedly.

"Don't get too excited. We don't want Mrs Norris to spot us," Abby warned them.

"Look, she's going to the bowl!" Rowan whispered.

"I mixed some milk with it so that she'd take the bait," Penny grinned. "And I brought any potion that I could make to help us."

"Let's hope we don't need them," Abby muttered.

"This is our first real Hogwarts mystery! I don't even care if I don't have to use any of the knowledge that I received from extensively researching this side of the castle! So don't be such a downer, Abby!"" Rowan exclaimed as she threw her arms around Abby and Penny.

"Yay!" Abby cheered sarcastically.

"Look, she's out cold!" Penny pointed at Mrs Norris.

"Well, that happened quickly," Abby shrugged.

"Let's go!" Rowan suggested eagerly.

"Alright, Penny. You keep guard in case Snape or Filch comes back while I use Alohomora to unlock that door and Rowan, you just need to be prepared in case anything goes wrong. We can absolutely not risk getting into trouble," Abby said.

"Brilliant plan, Abby! If this whole wizarding thing doesn't work out, you should totally consider a career in burglary," Rowan proclaimed.

Abby snorted, "I'll keep it in mind."

With the first part of their plan officially underway, the trio went to approach the door. Just as Abby cast the Alohomora charm, she heard someone casting Flipendo from behind her. They were all knocked down before Abby even had time to react, and she quickly became enraged when she saw Merula standing there triumphantly.

"Merula! I knew that you were up to no good!" Abby snarled.

"Oh, please," Merula rolled her eyes. "I'd say that makes two of us, Selwyn. But only an idiot like you would trust a Hufflepuff to keep watch. I was wondering how to get past that nasty cat and through the door. Turns out, all I had to do was follow you and your two idiot friends to let you do the work for me."

"That's another way of saying that you needed out help," Abby remarked.

"I don't need or want your stupid help!" Merula seethed. "A Cursed Vault could be in that door, and if anyone's going to be the first person to get their hands on it, it's going to be me!"

By the time Merula had finished her little speech, she'd already entered the room and shut the door behind her. After recovering from the Knockback Jinx, Abby offered her hand to Penny and Rowan who happily took it.

"That brat! We're gonna make her pay for this. I don't know about you guys, but I'm going in there to stop Merula. Who knows what she could do with whatever is inside that room?" Abby said.

"There won't be enough healing potion in the world to help Merula once I'm through with her," Penny declared.

Abby raised her eyes, "I wouldn't have pegged you as the revenge type for being a Hufflepuff, Penny."

"I'm just full of surprises, aren't I?" Penny grinned.

"That you are," Abby muttered.

Not wanting to waste anymore time, Abby quickly stormed past that door and into whatever was behind it. Abby was instantly greeted with a chilly feeling as well as the most satisfying thing that she had ever seen in her life. Standing there, trapped in some kind of ice was none other than Merula.

"This is too good!" Rowan laughed.

"What happened?" Penny asked.

"The ice st-stuck m-me t-to the f-floor, and k-keeps sp-spreading over me!" Merula exclaimed.

"It's the ice from my vision," Abby muttered.

"It's s-spreading all o-over m-me! D-do s-something before I j-jinx all of y-you!" Merula demanded.

"I don't know, I kind of like seeing you like this. I feel like the ice really compliments your cold personality," Abby taunted.

It was extremely satisfying seeing the panicked look on Abby's face, and she was seriously considering just leaving Merula there after the way she had left Abby at the mercy of the Devil's Snare. That was, until Abby suddenly heard a loud crunch from behind her and turned to see that the door was now encased in ice.

"The door! It's frozen shut!" Abby exclaimed.

"And s-so am I!" Rowan called out just as Abby saw the ice trapping Penny.

"Hold on!" Abby reassured them.

Pulling out her wand, Abby cast Flipendo against the ice before it broke free on Rowan before doing the same to Penny. Their attention then turned back to Merula who was still shivering amongst the ice.

"What should we do with her?" Rowan asked.

"I say we should just leave her there," Abby suggested.

"D-don't! S-save me!" Merula yelled.

"We can't just leave her to freeze to death," Penny sighed.

"Why can't we? I think we can," Abby drawled before getting pinched by Penny. "Ugh, fine. Just know that this is going to hurt, Merula."

"J-just d-do it!" Merula demanded.

"Flipendo," Abby chanted.

"Ow!" Merula hissed as the ice broke and she fell backwards. "You c-couldn't have b-been more gentler?"

Abby rolled her eyes, "Oh, please. You should consider yourself lucky that I even saved you at all after you left me at the mercy of the Devil's Snare."

"You did it because you're a good person, Abby. You're better than Merula," Penny smiled.

"If you see it that way," Abby muttered. "Now we've gotta cast Flipendo against the door."

Acting in unison, the trio chanted the Knockback Jinx repeatedly against the ice, only for nothing to happen. When that was the case, Abby was beginning to get really frustrated.

"It's not working!" Abby growled.

"I have an idea…" Penny trailed off nervously.

"What?" Rowan wondered.

"I'm about to see if I know how to correctly brew a Strengthening Solution," Penny replied before taking out a flask and drinking its contents.

"Well?" Abby asked expectantly.

"Stand back," Penny said as she used her newly found strength to pull open that door.

"You did it, Penny!" Rowan cheered.

"Ugh, this is so humiliating," Merula groaned. "Fancy getting saved by Khanna and Selwyn, but a Hufflepuff too?"

"Gee, what a way to show appreciation to three people who didn't have to save your sorry butt," Abby remarked.

"Whatever," Merula drawled. "I don't need you fools anymore. I'm going to find the real Cursed Vaults on my own."

"Suit yourself," Abby muttered.

Despite Merula claiming to be the most powerful witch at Hogwarts, Abby knew that there was no way that Merula would be able to do this on her own. The fact that Merula had let Abby, Penny and Rowan do all the hard work was enough proof of that.

"Hey, what's that?" Penny suddenly asked as she pointed at something on the wall near the door.

"I… don't know," Abby murmured.

"It looks like some kind of runes," Rowan stated as she read what was there. "I've got it memorised now so we can get out of here and decipher them later."

"That's a smart mind you've got there, Rowan," Penny complimented her.

"Just like you've got a few wits with positions," Rowan smiled.

"And Abby's the power behind us," Penny added.

"So I guess the three of us make a pretty good trio," Abby commented.

"It looks like this trio is going to be solving some more mysteries together if these runes are anything to go by!" Rowan exclaimed excitedly.

"Now let's get out of here before we freeze to death," Penny suggested.

"Good idea," Rowan agreed.

As much as Abby knew it was pointless, all she wanted to do was stay in that room and see what other secrets it had to hide. There was obviously something important about it, and contrary to what Merula said, Abby had a slight feeling that it was something to do with the Cursed Vaults. She didn't like that thought at all, since Abby wanted nothing to do with this mess after how things had turned out for Jacob.

"Do you think that Merula was right in saying that it wasn't a real Cursed Vault?" it was Rowan's question that snapped Abby out of her thoughts.

Penny shrugged, "I wouldn't know. I hope that the ice doesn't continue to spread through the castle. More people could get in trouble like we did."

"At least whatever was inside the room wasn't a Cursed Vault. If it was, there would've been some kind treasure or something else besides a few pointless runes. And Rowan, if I were you, I'd forget them instead of wasting your time with that nonsense," Abby said.

"What? Why?" Rowan asked.

"Because even if the Cursed Vaults are real, it's not something that we want to get involved with. Jacob did, and look what happened to him," Abby murmured.

Penny narrowed her eyes, "Then why did you come up with this plan to find whatever was inside that room?"

"Because I didn't want Merula to get whatever was inside of it. Nothing was there, and I doubt that Merula has any other leads since she needed us to do the hard work for her. And if she does start acting up like this again, then we'll just report her to the professors. If she gets expelled, then it'll be so much better for us," Abby explained.

"You really don't want to find out what mystery is lurking in the castle?" Rowan pouted.

"No, because there isn't any mystery or Cursed Vaults. If there was, there would've been some of treasure or anything other than a few runes," Abby said.

"Then how does that explain the ice?" Penny pointed out.

"I don't know," Abby shrugged. "Maybe there is something going on that isn't anything to do with the Cursed Vaults. Nobody really knows anything about them since everything that's been said has all been rumours."

"But what about the conversation that you heard between Filch and Snape and your vision?" Rowan asked.

"Whatever that was, I can't explain. But there has to be ways for that to be given to me other than some divine intervention that I refuse to believe exists. As for Filch and Snape, they probably have no idea what they're talking about because I know that this might come as a surprise to you Rowan, but sometimes professors are wrong," Abby argued.

"Come on, Abby. Where's your Slytherin ambition?" Rowan insisted.

"My Slytherin ambition is focused on keeping myself and my family out of anymore trouble than it's already been in. I just want to have seven quiet years at Hogwarts without getting myself involved into any kind of mystery," Abby proclaimed.

"That's boring," Rowan drawled.

"It's what I want. So you can get yourself involved in this mess if you want but I don't want any part of it," Abby said.

If anything, Abby was trying to convince herself more than Rowan with what she was saying. Abby had no idea what all of this mess meant and she really didn't want to figure it out since doing so would open up a whole other can of worms that Abby just didn't want to deal with it. She'd hope that this whole first year had been a fluke and that there would be nothing mysterious going on next year, but Abby really had no idea what was going on. Abby just didn't want herself to be involved for her own self-preservation.

"I'm definitely going to try researching these runes over the break to see if I can find anything," Rowan stated.

"Don't, because you won't. There is no such thing as the Cursed Vaults and you really shouldn't be wasting your time with whatever this mess is. Now I suggest that we all head back to our Common Rooms before we get into any trouble," Abby ordered.

"That's something you can't seem to avoid getting into, Selwyn."

Instant dread was all Abby felt as she recognised that voice belonging to Professor Snape. Slowly, Abby turned around and her dread only intensified when she saw Professor Dumbledore standing beside him with Filch glaring at them.

"Professor Snape," Abby acknowledged him. "And Professor Dumbledore."

"Would the three of you care to explain why you were caught exiting the forbidden corridor?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"W-we weren't up to a-anything. Nope… n-nothing at all," Rowan stammered.

"For a Slytherin, you are a horrible liar, Khanna. Along with Selwyn, you two are even more of a disgrace to our house," Snape growled.

"They're certainly up to something! Selwyn lied about that filthy poltergeist messing with my office to trick me!" Filch yelled.

"I'm sure that there is a story for everyone here," Dumbledore stated.

"The story is that you're all going to be in serious trouble," Snape seethed.

Abby sighed as she stepped forward, a lie already prepared. "It's my fault, Professor Dumbledore."

Dumbledore narrowed his eyes, "Would you care to elaborate on this?"

"I wanted to check out the corridor on my own, but Penny caught me sneaking around. She went to get Rowan to talk me out of it, but I wouldn't listen to them," Abby lied without missing a beat, causing both Penny and Rowan to look at each other in surprise.

"And what did you find?" Dumbledore inquired.

"A room full of ice. I used the Alohomora charm to get me inside, but I got trapped by the ice. If Penny and Rowan hadn't come after me, I probably would've frozen to death," Abby replied.

"That would've been a better fate than hanging by my shackles," Filch snarled.

"I see," Dumbledore pondered, though Abby had a slight suspicion that he wasn't buying what she was selling. "I am afraid that I'm going to have to take away fifty house points for your irresponsible and dangerous actions. As for Miss Khanna, she can take seventy-five points for Slytherin and Miss Haywood can take fifty for Hufflepuff for their heroic actions."

Based on the looks on Penny and Rowan's faces, they were obviously surprised by Dumbledore's actions. But it didn't take Abby too long to figure out that instead of punishing them when he knew they were lying; he gave Rowan fifty points to make up for those that Abby had lost and he couldn't not do the same for Penny. It was a smart move on his part, and she had a feeling that Dumbledore also knew that she was aware of the intention behind his actions.

"I will of course be informing your Prefect about your actions before we take the appropriate action with the rest of your punishment, Miss Selwyn," Dumbledore said.

"I understand," Abby nodded.

"Now do as you were doing and return to your Common Rooms immediately," Dumbledore ordered.

"Yes sir," Rowan squeaked out.

Since the Hufflepuff and Slytherin Common Room's were in the dungeons, the three girls headed there together with Penny and Rowan going over everything that had just happened. All Abby could think about was what this was going to mean for her, since she knew that Felix obviously wasn't going to be pleased with her irresponsibility losing Slytherin another load of House Points. Then there was the fact that Abby didn't want anything to do with the Cursed Vaults despite taking the blame for Penny and Rowan, but it had been the right thing to do.

"Thanks for bailing us out of trouble, Abby," Penny smiled.

"I can't believe the amount of House Points that Dumbledore gave us for breaking the rules" Rowan exclaimed.

Abby shrugged, "It was only right for me to take the heat for you guys after I got you involved in this – which I won't be doing again. As for the House Points, it was clear that I had to be punished in some way but I think Dumbledore didn't want me to be punished too much since he gave Rowan an extra dose of House Points."

"This should hopefully put us back into the good graces with the other Slytherins," Rowan piped up.

"Don't remind me. I just know that I'm gonna get yet another lecture from Felix once he hears about this," Abby groaned.

"I'll be there to tell him where to shove it!" Rowan grinned.

"Thanks, Rowan. I'm sure he'll appreciate that," Abby muttered, imagining the look on Felix's face if Rowan actually said that to him.

"Well, I'm gonna head off to my Common Room now so I'll catch up with you guys later," Penny said.

After saying goodbye to Penny, Abby and Rowan returned to their own Common Room where they were once again ignored by their fellow Slytherins. There was no doubt in Abby's mind that people wouldn't be ignoring her once word spread about what she had been up to. At least she had managed to contribute some kind of House Points towards Slytherin despite losing a heap of them. In fact, the only downside to what had happened was that Merula hadn't frozen to death in the ice.

So the first mystery has been conquered and I'm taking my own approach to this with Abby's intentions. She's made it clear that she doesn't want anything to do with the Cursed Vaults despite looking for them – but her only reason here was to stop Merula from doing whatever she was up to. More will be revealed about Abby's thoughts and her intentions as the story deviates from the original plot. I also took a different route with the House Points since I feel like MC was let off the hook a little too easy for all the rule-breaking she did. There's just one more chapter left of Year One and then it's all done and dusted before things really kick into gear in Year Two.