This is the final chapter for Year One. This year moved by a little bit quicker than I thought that it would but now it's come to a close. There's still so much more that I have planned for this series and I can't wait for you guys to read it but now, the final chapter. Let me know what you guys thought of the first year and anything else that you'd like to see in what follows :).

Defining Choices

Upon arriving back at the Slytherin Common Room, Abby and Rowan were immediately acknowledged by Felix. Based on the way he was heading towards them; Abby had a feeling that he'd found out about their rule-breaking and wasn't happy at all with it.

"Look what you two have done now!" Felix exclaimed as he stormed towards them. "The brashness of your actions could rival a Gryffindors!"

"I'll have you know that they were cleverly calculated actions that just didn't work out the way that they were planned," Abby remarked.

Felix sighed as he mumbled under his breath, "You're going to be the death of me, Abby. Rowan, why don't you leave us to discuss this matter? I'm sure that Abby will give you the appropriate details."

"Good luck," Rowan whispered to her before walking away.

"Is it true that you entered the forbidden corridor?" Felix demanded.

"Obviously it is if I got in trouble for it," Abby shrugged.

"Watch your sarcasm," Felix snapped. "What were you thinking?"

"Well, I knew that Merula Snyde wanted to go down that corridor and I wanted to stop her from finding anything dangerous. There wasn't – at least nothing that she could use. Just a bunch of stupid ice that almost froze me to death," Abby replied.

"You have to realise that your constant disregard for the rules is damaging Slytherins reputation! We were on our way to winning the House Cup before you got in the way of it! Now we're tied with Hufflepuff!" Felix exclaimed.

"There's more to life than the House Cup," Abby stated.

"I don't care, as the Slytherin Prefect, I want nothing but the best from our house and winning the House Cup is doing our best. Professor Dumbledore has requested for you to see him later this evening," Felix said.

Abby groaned, "Why? He already took House Points from me."

"Like I would know, but it probably has something to do with your constant disregard for the school rules," Felix growled.

"We get it, I'm a rebel," Abby muttered.

In no time at all, word had quickly spread about Abby's involvement with what had happened in the corridor and sure enough, she was once again shunned by Slytherin. It gave Abby the perfect opportunity to speak with Dumbledore, but she really had no idea what he would have to speak with her about since everything should have been covered when he busted them in the corridor.

There were plenty of things that left Abby confused about Dumbledore. The man as a whole was confusing to her and plenty of others. It felt like Dumbledore had been judging her this entire year, waiting to see if she would turn out like her brother. Based on her consistent rule breaking, it would be safe for anyone to assume that Abby was like her brother. She was in some ways, Abby knew that. But when it came to the Cursed Vaults, Abby was nothing like him. She didn't want anything to do with that nonsense.

When the time came, Abby braced herself for the worst punishment from Dumbledore. Taking away house points was nothing compared to anything else. She would be surprised if that's all she got away with. Abby was fully expecting to be expelled, giving her father another reason to resent her.

"Professor Dumbledore," Abby acknowledged him.

"Thank you for meeting with me, Abby," Dumbledore said.

"Of course," Abby muttered.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Dumbledore stated.

Abby narrowed her eyes, "Huh?"

"Doesn't the quiet night, the crispy air just put your troubles into perspective?" Dumbledore asked.

"I guess," Abby shrugged.

"I often come here whenever I need to make an important decision," Dumbledore commented.

Abby sighed, "Like what you're going to do to me? My Prefect said that you wanted to discuss everything that I've done wrong."

"It would seem as though you are expecting a lecture, but I have a feeling that you have something else on your mind," Dumbledore said.

"With everything that you've experienced and know about Hogwarts, do you think that the Cursed Vaults are real?" Abby questioned, interested to see what his perspective on it would be.

"Unfortunately, I do not know enough about the Cursed Vaults to give you a conclusion of my own. I have been trying to track down an expert in that field so that we can discover just what is happening inside these walls. Hogwarts is the home to many mysteries, but I recommend that you do not explore those that are dangerous. We can never know everything, but you will continue to learn more in your coming years at Hogwarts," Dumbledore answered.

"So… you're not going to expel me?" Abby clarified.

"Not today," Dumbledore smiled. "Though I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on the existence of the Cursed Vaults since after all, you have a connection to them like nobody else."

"I think that they don't exist. I think that the ice is a result of something else that's going on inside these walls that like you said, hold many mysteries. I think that's why Jacob supposedly went insane, trying to find something that didn't exist. I won't be going down that route," Abby said.

"Then why were you really down that corridor?" Dumbledore wondered.

"Because I heard that something else was going on down there and I wanted to see for myself if they were real," Abby lied, not wanting to dob Merula in just yet. "After seeing what I found, I'm confident that they don't exist."

"You're confident, or you're just trying to convince that to yourself?" Dumbledore inquired.

"Both," Abby admitted.

"Then I would advise you to choose whatever path you believe in, Abby. Despite the many mistakes that you have made this year, you show great promise to be one of the best students that Hogwarts has seen in recent years. Whether or not that is for a good reason is yet to be seen, and I look forward to seeing the choices that you make," Dumbledore said.

"So, that's it?" Abby asked.

"I must warn you, Abby, that in the following years you must be more careful about the decisions you make and the actions that you take. I always believe that it is our choices that make us who we are, not our abilities," Dumbledore stated.

Abby nodded, "I'll remember that."

"You would do good to do that, Abby. As the year comes to a close, I wish you luck for your exams and safe holidays. I look forward to seeing you next year," Dumbledore said.

"Thank you, Professor," Abby replied.

With that taken care of, the rest of Abby's year became as normal as it could be. Of course there was still gossip about her and her brother, and that was something that would probably never change. But Abby was prepared to face any challenges that she had to face, and if anyone had a problem with her then she wasn't afraid to square up to them. If anything, this whole first year experience proved to Abby how determined she could be.

Not to Abby's surprise, the Slytherins continued to ostracise Abby and Rowan for the remainder of the year. She hoped that maybe in the years to come, that would change and that she would find herself a greater group of friends. Then came the exams, and of course Rowan finished at the top of their year and was beaming from ear to ear at her success. As for Abby, she managed to pass all of her subjects – not with the flying standards like Rowan did but her results had been good enough for her.

At last, the day that Abby had been dreading had arrived. It was the end of term Leaving Feast which meant that by the end of the day, Abby would be back at her room in the dreary place that was Selwyn Manor. She would be greeted by her father at the Hogwarts Express without a smile or warm words, and Abby was dreading having to go back to him. She would stay at Hogwarts if she could, but her father would never allow that.

"We've now reached the end of the year which means that its time for us to exchange the typical formalities and for me to award the highly anticipated House Cup," Dumbledore called out to the Great Hall that fell silent at his booming voice. "In fourth place with six hundred and thirteen points, we have Ravenclaw."

Seeing Ravenclaw in last wasn't that big of a deal to Abby. None of the people that she had really connected with came from that house so she wasn't obliged to feel pity for them – not that she would in any case.

"Tied for second we have Gryffindor and Slytherin at six hundred and ninety-eight points," Dumbledore announced.

A tense silence filled the Great Hall, and Abby couldn't help but find it ironic how the two most competitive houses had finished in a shared spot. The irony and the daggers that the two houses were exchanging was too much for Abby to handle, so she unashamedly started cackling. This didn't go unnoticed by anyone else who gave her odd looks, which Abby ignored like she always did.

"So that means the winners of the House Cup with seven hundred and eighteen points is Hufflepuff!" Dumbledore declared.

That announcement caused the Hufflepuff table to erupt with applause, and Abby couldn't help but realise that if Penny hadn't gotten those points from Dumbledore that Gryffindor and Slytherin would've been tied for first. Now that would've been hilarious. Abby was almost disappointed that that didn't happen just because of the potential riot that would've happened. There's always next year.

"Congratulations, Hufflepuff. Your efforts have been rewarded. I look forward to seeing you all again next year for another year of learning and to those leaving us, I wish you good luck on your future endeavours. Enjoy the holidays!" Dumbledore said.

It was then that Abby realised that had he not ran away that Jacob would be among the Hogwarts students leaving for good. Wherever he was now, Abby could only hope that Jacob alright and that he really hadn't gone insane.

Once the feast was finished, everyone left Hogwarts and boarded the train that would take them back to Britain. The same train that would take Abby to her less desired life. As much as Abby had struggled during her first year, Hogwarts had felt like more of a home than her own home ever had. Abby knew that it was because for the first time in a long time, it felt like she'd had a piece of Jacob with her.

Now she was going back to that dark and depressing place she was supposed to call a home while Abby longed to find a place that truly felt like what she desired. The only silver lining was that come September, she would be back at Hogwarts where it felt like her brother was still with her. Abby couldn't wait for that.

And with that, Year One comes to an end. In the early plans Hufflepuff was always going to win the House Cup since they're always criminally underrated and deserve more love, but it wasn't until I was writing the chapter when I threw in the twist of Gryffindor and Slytherin tying for second. Could you imagine the chaos that would've erupted had they tied for first? With the first year of the story completed, I'm gonna take a few months to plan the next year which should be published sometime around October. I'll post an alert here once the first chapter of Year Two has been posted.