AN 1: Hello, my dear readers. This chapter is longer because I wanted to write about Chrissie and Larry's and Chris and Dena's break-up scenes, which are towards the end of this chapter. So I hope you enjoy this chapter and see the bottom for more notes.

Chapter 23

After the Burial

KIARA

Patches of bright blue sky were beginning to appear over the castle turrets, but these signs of approaching summer did not lift my mood. I had been thwarted, both in my attempts to find out what Malty was doing, and in my efforts to start a conversation with Beadu that might lead, somehow, to Beadu handing over the memory she had apparently suppressed for decades.

"For the last time, just forget about Malty," Sian told me firmly.

We were sitting with Chrissie in a sunny corner of the courtyard after lunch, relaxing before our Potions lesson that afternoon. However, one of us did not appear too relaxed; every time Chrissie saw a boy, she would give a start and would try to hide behind Sian.

"It's not Larry," said Sian wearily.

"Oh, good," said Chrissie, relaxing again.

"Kiara Pride-Lander?" said the boy. "I was asked to give you this."

"Thanks ..."

My heart sank as I took the small scroll of parchment. Once the boy was out of earshot I said, "Crighton said we wouldn't be having any more lessons until I get the memory!"

"Maybe she wants to check on how you're doing?" suggested Sian, as I unrolled the parchment; but rather than finding Crighton's long, narrow, slanting writing I saw an untidy sprawl, very different to read due to the presence of large blotches on the parchment where the ink had run.

Dear Kiara, Chris, Sian and Chrissie,

Aratota died last night. Chris, Kiara and Chrissie, you met her, and you know how special she was. Sian, I know you'd have liked her. It would mean a lot to me if you'd nip down for the burial later this evening. I'm planning on doing it round dusk, that was her favourite time of day. I know you're not supposed to be out that late, but you can use the Cloak. Wouldn't ask but I can't face it alone.

Mina

"Look at this," I said, handing the note to Sian.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," she said, scanning it quickly and passing it to Chrissie, who read it through, looking increasingly incredulous.

"She's mental!" she said furiously. "That thing told its mates to eat Chris, Kiara and me! Told them to help themselves! And now Mina expects us to go down there and cry over its horrible body!"

"It's not just that," said Sian. "She's asking us to leave the castle at night, and she knows security's a million times tighter and how much trouble we'd be in if we were caught."

"We've been down to see her by night before," I said.

"Yes, but for something like this?" said Sian. "We've risked a lot to help Mina out, but after all - Aratota's dead. If it were a question of saving her - "

"I'd want to go even less," said Chrissie, "and I'm sure that Chris would say the same. Besides, you didn't meet her, Sian. Believe me, being dead will have improved her a lot."

I took the note back and stared down at the inky blotches all over it. Tears had fallen thick and fast upon the parchment.

"Kiara, you can't be thinking of going," said Sian. "It's such a pointless thing to get detention for."

I sighed.

"Yeah, I know," I said. "I s'pose Mina'll have to bury Aratota without us."

"Yes, she will," said Sian, looking relieved. "Look, Potions will be mostly empty this afternoon, with most of the class going off to do their tests ... so why don't you try and soften Beadu up a bit them!"

"Fifty-seventh time lucky, you think?" I said bitterly.

"Luck," said Chrissie suddenly. "Kiara, that's it - get lucky!"

"What d'you mean?"

"Use your lucky potion!"

"Chrissie, that's - that's it!" said Sian, looking stunned. "Of course! It's so obvious, so clear! Why didn't I think of that?"

I stared at them both. "Felix Felicis?" I said. "I dunno ... I was sort of saving it ..."

"What for?" demanded Chrissie incredulously.

"What on earth is more important than this memory, Kiara?" asked Sian.

I did not answer. The thought of that little golden bottle had hovered on the edges of my imagination for some time; vague and unformulated pans that involved Chris splitting up with Dean, and Chrissie somehow happy to see Chris and I together, had been fermenting in the depths of my brain, unacknowledged except during dreams or the twilight time between sleeping and waking ...

"Kiara? Are you still with us?" asked Sian.

"Wha- ? Yeah, of course," I said, pulling myself together. "Well ... OK, if I can't get Beadu to talk this afternoon, I'll take some Felix and have another go this evening."

"That's decided, then," said Sian briskly. She then looked around, frowning. "I wonder where Rickers is, anyway?"

"He's with Dena," said Chrissie distastefully. "Knowing Chris, he's probably got Dena in private somewhere, snogging her to his - quick, hide me!"

"It isn't Larry!" said Sian impatiently, as another couple of boys appeared in the courtyard and Chrissie dived behind her.

"Cool," said Chrissie, peering over Sian's shoulder to check. "Blimey, they don't look happy, do they?"

"They're the Malone brothers and of course they don't look happy, didn't you hear what happened to their little sister?" said Sian.

"I'm losing track of what's happening to everyone's relatives, to be honest," said Chrissie.

"Well, their sister was attacked by a werewolf. The rumour is that their father refused to help the Love Destroyers. Anyway, the girl was only five and she died in St Mungo's, they couldn't save her."

"She died?" I repeated, shocked. "But surely werewolves don't kill, they just turn you into one of them?"

"They sometimes kill," said Chrissie, who looked unusually grave now. "I've heard of it happening when the werewolf gets carried away."

"What was the werewolf's name?" I said quickly.

"Well, the rumour is that it was Rasputin Silverfur," said Sian.

"I knew it - the maniac who likes attacking kids, the one Meers told me about!" I said angrily.

Sian looked at me bleakly.

"Kiara, you've got to get that memory," she said. "It's all about stopping Zira, isn't it? These dreadful things that are happening are all down to her ..."

The bell rang. Sian, Chrissie and I jumped to our feet and headed off to Potions. On the way, Chris joined us. Rather than looking breathless, red-faced and happy, Chris did indeed look red-coloured in his cheeks, and his breathing was quite heavy, but he looked to be in a foul mood, which suggested that he did not have as good a time with Dena as Chrissie thought, something that made me smile inside.

There were only six of us in Potions that afternoon: Chris, Sian, Chrissie, Emily, Dani Malty and I.

"All too young to Apparate just yet?" said Beadu gently. "Not turned seventeen yet?"

We all shook our heads

"Ah well," said Beadu cheerily, "as we're so few, we'll do something fun. I want you all to brew me up something amusing!"

"That sounds good, ma'am," said Emily sycophantically, rubbing her hands together. Sian looked intrigued by this, Chris quite so, and Chrissie tried to look interested, but I could tell that she really wished she wasn't there. Malty, to my surprise, looked just as bored as Chrissie.

"What do you mean, something 'amusing'?" she said irritably.

"Oh, surprise me," said Beadu airily.

Malty opened her copy of Advanced Potion-Making with a sulky expression that equalled Chrissie's. It could not have been plainer that she thought this lesson was a whole waste of time. Undoubtedly, I thought, watching her over the top of my own book, Malty was begrudging the time she could be otherwise spending time in the Room of Needs.

Malty was sitting close to me, and looking at her, I thought that she, like Todd, looked thinner. She certainly looked paler; her skin still had that greyish tinge, probably because she so rarely saw daylight these days. But there was no air of smugness, or excitement, or superiority; none of the swagger that she had had on the subs, when she had boasted openly of the mission she had been given by Zira ... there could only be one conclusion, in my opinion: the mission, whatever it was, was going badly.

Cheered by this thought, I skimmed through my copy of Advanced Potion-Making and found a heavily corrected Half-Blood Princess' version of An Elixir to Induce Euphoria, which seemed not only to meet Beadu's instructions, but which might (my hear leapt as the thought struck me) put Beadu into such a good mood that she would be prepared to hand over that memory if I could persuade her to drink some ...

"Well, now, this looks absolutely wonderful," said Beadu, clapping her hands together an hour and a half later, as she stared down into the sunshine-yellow contents of my cauldron. "Euphoria, I take it? And what's that I smell? Mmmm ... you've added just a sprig of peppermint, haven't you? Unorthodox, but what a wonderful surprise, Kiara. Of course, that would tend to counterbalance the occasional side-effects of excessive singing and nose-tweaking ... I really don't know where you get these brainwaves, my girl ... unless - "

I pushed the Half-Blood Princess' book deeper into my bag with my foot.

" - it's just your father's genes coming out in you!"

"Oh ... yeah, maybe," I said, relieved.

Emily was looking rather grumpy; determined to outshine me for once, she had rashly invented her own potion, which curdled and formed a kind of purple dumpling in the bottom of her cauldron. Chris, Sian and Chrissie had all decided to try brewing Euphoria, too: Chris' was bubbling sluggishly, a drop spitting and falling back in every so often, and just like Emily he, too, did not look happy; Sian's potion was just a shade off the sunshine-yellow of mine; and Chrissie's was a hardened lump of moss that gave off a foul smell of bad eggs. Neither she nor Sian looked too disappointed, however, for they knew just how important it was for me to get that memory from Beadu. Malty was already packing up, sour-faced; Beadu had pronounced her Hiccoughing solution as merely "passible".

The bell rang and Chris, Emily and Malty left at once. Sian and Chrissie followed them, both mouthing "good luck" to me as they passed.

"Ma'am," I began, but Beadu immediately glanced over her shoulder; when she saw that the room was empty but for herself and I she hurried away as fast as she could.

"Professor - Professor, don't you want to taste my po- ?" I called desperately.

But Beadu had gone. Disappointed, I emptied the cauldron, packed up my things, left the dungeon and walked slowly back upstairs to the common room.

When I got there, Chris was nowhere in sight, but I immediately spotted Sian and Chrissie sitting by the window and I headed directly for them. Sian was the first to notice me.

"You're back early. I take it things didn't go so well with Beadu, then?"

"No," I sighed, as I slumped into the seat next to her.

"So, Kiara - you going to use the Felix Felicis or what?" Chrissie demanded.

"Yeah, I s'pose I'd better," I said. "I don't reckon I'll need all of it, not twelve hours' worth, it can't take all night ... I'll just take a mouthful. Two or three hours should do it."

"It's a great feeling when you take it," said Chrissie reminiscently. "Like you can't do anything wrong."

"What are you talking about?" said Sian, laughing. "You've never taken any!"

"Yeah, but I thought I had, didn't I?" said Chrissie, as though explaining the obvious. "Same difference, really ..."

When we went down to dinner that night, Sian, Chrissie and I kept looking for a glimpse of Beadu. It was only when we were leaving the Great Hall that we saw her enter. We knew that she liked to take her time over meals, so we lingered for a while in the common room, the plan being that I should go to Beadu's office once the teacher had had time to get back there. When the sun had sunk to the level of the treetops in the Black Forest we decided the moment had come, and, after checking carefully that Beth, Kestrel and Merida were all in the common room, we sneaked up to the girls' dormitory.

I took out the rolled-up socks at the bottom of my trunk and extracted the tiny, gleaming bottle.

"Well, here goes," I said, and I raised the little bottle and took a carefully measured gulp.

"What does it feel like?" whispered Sian.

I did not answer for a moment. Then, slowly but surely, an exhilarating sense of infinite opportunity stole through me; I remember feeling as though I could do anything, anything at all ... and getting the memory from Beadu seemed suddenly not only possible, but positively easy ...

I got to my feet smiling, brimful of confidence.

"Excellent," I said. "Really excellent. Right ... I'm going down to Mina's."

"What?" said Sian and Chrissie together, looking aghast.

"No, Kiara - you've got to go and see Beadu, remember?" said Sian.

"No," I said confidently. "I'm going to Mina's, I've got a good feeling about going to Mina's."

"You've got a good feeling about burying a giant spider?" asked Chrissie, looking stunned.

"Yeah," I said, pulling my Invisibility Cloak out of my bag. "I feel like it's the place to be tonight, you know what I mean?"

"No," said Sian and Chrissie together, both looking positively alarmed now.

"This is Felix Felicis, I suppose?" said Sian anxiously, holding up the bottle to the light. "You haven't got a little bottle full of - I don't know - "

"Essence of Insanity?" suggested Chrissie, as I swung my Cloak over my shoulders.

I laughed and Sian and Chrissie looked even more alarmed.

"Trust me," I said. "I know what I'm doing ... or at least ..." I strolled confidently to the door, "Felix does."

I pulled the Invisibility Cloak over my head and set off down the stairs, Sian and Chrissie hurrying along behind me. At the foot of the stairs I slid through the open door.

"What were you doing up there with her?" bellowed Larry Brown, staring right through me at Sian and Chrissie emerging together from the girls' dormitories. I heard Chrissie spluttering behind me as I darted across the common room away from them.

Getting through the portrait hole was simple; as I approached it, Chris and Dena came through it and I was able to slip between them. As I did so, I brushed accidentally against Chris.

"Don't push me, please, Dena," he said, sounding annoyed. "You're always doing that, I can get through perfectly well on my own, you know ..."

The portrait swung closed behind me, but not before I had heard Dena make an angry retort ... my feeling of elation increasing, I strode off through the castle. I did not have to creep along, for I met nobody on my way, but this did not surprise me in the slightest: that evening, I was the luckiest person at Dragon Mort.

Why I knew that going to Mina's was the right thing to do, I had no idea. It was as though the potion was illuminating a few steps of the path to me at a time: I could not see the final destination, I could not see where Beadu came in, but I knew that I was going the right way to get that memory. When I reached the Entrance Hall I saw that Match had forgotten to lock the front door. Beaming, I threw it open and breathed in the smell of clean air and grass for a moment before I walked down the steps into the dusk.

It was when I reached the bottom step that it occurred to me how very pleasant it would be for me to pass the vegetable patch on my walk to Mina's. It was not strictly on the way, but it seemed clear to me that this was a whim on which I should act, so I directed my feet immediately towards the vegetable patch where I was pleased, but not altogether surprised, to find Professor Beadu in conversation with Spud. I lurked behind a low stone wall, feeling at peace with the world and listening to their conversation.

"I do thank you for taking the time, Spud," Beadu was saying courteously. "Most authorities agree that they are at their most efficacious if picked at twilight."

"True dat, girl," said Spud warmly. "Those goods do you?"

"Plenty, plenty," said Beadu, who, I saw, was carrying an armful of leafy plants. "This should allow for a few leaves for each of my third-years, and some to spare if anybody overstews them ... well, good evening to you, and many thanks again!"

Spud headed off into the gathering darkness in the direction of his greenhouses and Beadu directed her steps to the spot where I stood, invisible.

Seized with an immediate desire to reveal myself, I pulled off the Cloak with a flourish.

"Good evening, Professor."

"Merlin's beard, Kiara, you made me jump," said Beadu, stopping dead in her tracks and looking wary. "How did you get out of the castle?"

"I think Match must've forgotten to lock the doors," I said cheerfully, and I was delighted to see the scowl that crossed Beadu's face.

"I'll be reporting that man, he's more concerned about litter than proper security if you ask me .. but why are you out here, Kiara?"

"Well, ma'am, it's Mina," I said, for I knew that the right thing to do at that point was to tell the truth. "She's pretty upset ... but you won't tell anyone, Professor? I don't want trouble for her ..."

Beadu's curiosity was evidently aroused.

"Well, I can't promise that," she said gruffly. "But I know that Crighton trusts Mina to the hilt, so I'm sure she can't be up to anything very dreadful ..."

"Well, it's this giant spider, she's had it for years ... it lived in the Forest ... it could talk and everything - "

"I heard rumours there were Acromantula in the Forest," said Beadu softly, looking over at the mass of black trees. "It's true, then?"

"Yes," I said. "But this one, Aratota, the first one Mina got, it died last night. She's devastated. She wants company while she buries it and I said I'd go."

"Touching, touching," said Beadu absent-mindedly, her large sharp eyes fixed upon the distant light of Mina's cabin. "But Acromantula venom is very valuable ... if the beast has only just died it might not yet have dried out ... of course, I wouldn't want to do anything insensitive if Mina is upset ... but if there were any way to procure some ... I mean, it's almost impossible to get some from an Acromantula while it's alive ..."

Beadu seemed to be talking to herself more than me now.

" ... seems an awful waste not to collect it ... might get a hundred Galleons a pint ... to be frank, my salary is not large ..."

And then I saw clearly what was to be done.

"Well," she said, with a most convincing hesitancy, "well, if you wanted to come, Professor, Mina would probably be really pleased ... give Aratota a better send-off, you know ..."

"Yes, of course," said Beadu, her eyes now gleaming with enthusiasm. "I tell you what, Kiara, I'll meet you down there with a bottle or two ... we'll drink the poor beast's - well - not health, but we'll send it off in style, anyway, once it's buried. And I'll change my robes, these ones are a little exuberant for the occasion ..."

She bustled back into the castle, and I sped off to Mina's, delighted with myself.

"Yeh came," croaked Mina, when she opened the door and saw me emerging from the Invisibility Cloak in front of her.

"Yeah - Chris, Sian and Chrissie couldn't, though," I said. "They're really sorry."

"Don' - don' matter ... she'd've bin touched yeh're here, though, Kiara ..."

Mina gave a great sob. She had made herself a black armband out of what looked like a rag dipped in boot polish and her eyes were puffy, red and swollen. I patted her consolingly on the elbow, which was the highest point of Mina I could easily reach.

"Where are we burying her?" I asked. "The Forest?"

"Blimey, no," said Mina, wiping her streaming eyes on the back of her sleeve. "The other spiders won' let me anywhere near their webs now Aratota's gone. Turns out it was on'y on her orders they didn' eat me! Can yeh believe that, Kiara?"

The honest answer was "yes"; I recalled with painful ease the scene where Chris, Chrissie and I had come face to face with the Acromantula: they had been quite clear that Aratota was the only thing that stopped eating Mina.

"Never bin an area o' the Forest I couldn' go before!" said Mina, shaking her head. "It wasn' easy, gettin' Aratota's body out o' there, I can tell yeh - they usually eat their dead, see ... but I wanted ter give 'er a nice burial ... a proper send-off ..."

She broke into sobs again and I resumed the patting of her elbow, saying as I did so (for the potion seemed to indicate that it was the right thing to do), "Professor Beadu met me coming down here, Mina."

"Not in trouble, are yeh?" said Mina, looking up, alarmed. "Yeh shouldn' be outta the castle in the evenin', I know it, it's my fault - "

"No, no, when she heard what I was doing she said she'd like to come and pay her last respects to Aratota too," I said. "She's gone to change into something more suitable, I think ... and she said she'd bring some bottles so we can drink to Aratota's memory ..."

"Did she?" said Mina, looking both astonished and touched. "Tha's - tha's righ' nice of her, tha' is, an' not turnin' you in, either. I've never really had a lot to do with Arachne Beadu before ... comin' ter see old Aratota off, though, eh? Well, she'd've liked that, Aratota would ..."

I thought privately that what Aratota would have liked most about Beadu was the flesh on her bones - not a lot, but some - but I merely moved to the rear window of Mina's hut where I saw the rather horrible sight of the enormous dead spider lying on its back outside, its legs curled and tangled.

"Are we going to bury her here, Mina, in your garden?"

"Jus' beyond the pumpkin patch, I thought," said Mina in a choked voice. "I've already dug the - you know - grave. Jus' thought we'd say a few nice things over her - happy memories, yeh know - "

Her voice quivered and broke. There was a knock on the door and she turned to answer it, blowing her nose on her great spotted handkerchief as she did so. Beadu hurried over the threshold, several bottles in her arms, and wearing sombre black dress robes, decorated with dark red stripes on the rear, making her look even more spiderlike than ever.

"Mina," she said, in a deep, grave voice. "So very sorry to hear of your loss."

"Tha's very nice of yeh," said Mina. "Thanks a lot. An' thanks fer not givin' Kiara detention, neither ..."

"Wouldn't have dreamed of it," said Beadu. "Sad night, sad night ... where is the poor creature?"

"Out here," said Mina in a shaky voice. "Shall we - shall we do it, then?"

The three of us stepped out into the back garden. The moon was glistening palely through the trees and its rays mingled with the light from Mina's window to illuminate Aratota's body lying on the edge of a massive pit, beside a ten-foot-high mound of freshly dug earth.

"Magnificent," said Beadu, approaching the spider's head, where eight milky eyes stared blankly at the sky and two huge, curved pincers shone, motionless, in the moonlight. I thought I heard the tinkle of bottles as Beadu bent over the pincers, apparently examining the enormous hairy head.

"It's not ev'ryone appreciates how beau'iful they are," said Mina to Beadu's back, tears leaking from the corners of her crinkled eyes. "I didn' know yeh were int'rested in creatures like Aratota, Arachne."

"Interested? My dear Mina, I revere them," said Beadu, stepping back from the body. I saw a glint of a bottle disappear beneath her cloak, though Mina, mopping her eyes once more, noticed nothing. "Now ... shall we proceed to the burial?"

Mina nodded and moved forwards. She heaved the gigantic spider into her arms and, with an enormous grunt, rolled it into the dark pit. It hit the bottom with a rather horrible, crunchy thud. Mina started to cry again.

"Of course, it's difficult for you, you who knew her best," said Beadu, who, with her long arms, could reach slightly past her elbow, but patted her arm all the same. "Why don't I say a few words?"

She must have got a lot of good-quality venom from Aratota, I thought, for Beadu wore a satisfied smirk as she stepped up to the rim of the pit and said, in a slow, impressive voice, "Farewell, Aratota, queen of arachnids, whose long and faithful friendship those who knew you won't forget! Though your body will decay, your spirit lingers on in the quiet, web-spun places of your Forest home. May your many-eyed descendants ever flourish and your human friends find solace for the loss they have sustained."

"Tha' was ... tha' was ... beau'iful!" howled Mina and she collapsed on to the compost heap, crying harder than ever.

"There, there," said Beadu, waving her wand so that the huge pile of earth rose up and then fell, with a muffled sort of crash, on to the dead spider, forming a smooth mound. "Let's get inside and have a drink. Get on her other side, Kiara ... that's it ... up you come, Mina ... well done ..."

We disposed Mina in a chair at the table. Gnasher, who had been skulking in her basket during the burial, now came padding slowly across to us and put her heavy head in my lap as usual. Beadu uncorked one of the bottles of wine she brought.

"I have had it all tested for poison," she assured me, as she poured most of the first bottle into one of Mina's bucket-sized mugs and handed it to Mina. "Had a house-elf test every bottle after what happened to your friend Cassie."

I saw in my mind's eye, the expression on Sian's face if she ever heard about this abuse of house-elves, and decided, there and then, never to mention it to her (when she reads this, however, she will, so Sian, I am sorry, but if it makes you feel any better, be glad that I had nothing to do with it).

"One for Kiara ..." said Beadu, dividing a second bottle between two mugs, "... and one for me. Well," she raised her mug high, "to Aratota."

"Aratota," Mina and I said together.

Both Beadu and Mina drank deeply. I however, with the way ahead of me illuminated by Felix Felicis, knew that I must not drink, so I merely pretended to take a gulp and then set the mug back on the table before me.

"I had her from an egg, yeh know," said Mina morosely. "Tiny little thing she was when she hatched. 'Bout the size of a Pekinese."

"Sweet," said Beadu.

"Used ter keep her in a cupboard up at the school until ... well ..."

Mina's face darkened and I knew why: Dizra Maliay had contrived to have Mina thrown out of school, blamed for the opening of the Chamber of Mysteries. Beadu, however, did not seem to be listening; she was looking up at the ceiling, from which a number of brass pots hung, and also a long, silky skein of bright white hair.

"That's never unicorn hair, Mina?"

"Oh, yeah," said Mina indifferently. "Gets pulled out of their tails, they catch it on branches an' stuff in the Forest, yeh know ..."

"But my dear girl, do you know how much that's worth?"

"I use it fer bindin' on bandages an' stuff if a creature gets injured," said Mina, shrugging. "It's dead useful ... very strong, see."

Beadu took another deep draught from her mug, her eyes moving carefully around the cabin now, looking, I knew, for more treasures that she might be able to convert into a plentiful supply of oak-matured mead, crystallised pineapple and velvet dress coats. She refilled Mina's mug and her own, and questioned her about the creatures that lived in the Forest these days and how Mina was able to look after them all. Mina, becoming expansive under the influence of the drink and Beadu's flattering interest, stopped mopping her eyes and entered happily into a long explanation of Bowtruckle husbandry.

The Felix Felicis gave me a little nudge at this point and I noticed that the supply of a drink that Beadu had brought was running out fast. By this point, I had not - and still haven't - managed to bring off the Refilling Charm without saying the incantation aloud, but the idea that I might not have been able to do it that night was laughable: indeed, I grinned to myself as, unnoticed by either Mina or Beadu (now swapping tales of the illegal trade in dragon eggs), I pointed my wand under the table at the empty bottles and they immediately began to refill.

After an hour or so, Mina and Beadu began making extravagant toasts: to Dragon Mort, to Crighton, to elf-made wine and to -

"Kiara Pride-Lander!" bellowed Mina, slopping some of her fourteenth bucket of wine down her chin as she drained it.

"Yes, indeed," cried Beadu a little thickly, "Kiara Lide-Pander, the Chosen Girl Who - well, something of that sort," she mumbled, and drained her mug, too.

Not long after this, Mina became tearful again and pressed upon the whole unicorn tail upon Beadu, who pocketed it with cries of, "To friendship! To generosity! To ten Galleons a hair!"

And for a while after that, Mina and Beadu were sitting side by side, arms around each other, singing a slow sad song about a dying wizard called Odo.

"Aaargh, the good die young," muttered Mina, slumping low on the table, a little cross-eyed, while Beadu continued to warble the refrain. "Me mum was no age ter go ... an yeh mum an' dad were close ter snuffin' it, too, Kiara ..."

Great fat tears oozed out of the corners of Mina's crinkled eyes again; she grasped my arm and shook it.

" ... bes' wiz an' witchard o' their age I'll ever know ... terrible thing, it was, when you were taken away from them ... terrible thing ..."

Beadu sang plaintively:

"And Odo the hero, they bore him back home

To the place that he'd known as a lad,

They laid him to rest with his hat inside out

And his wand snapped in two, which was sad."

" ... terrible," Mina grunted and her great smooth head rolled sideways on to her arms and she fell asleep, snoring deeply.

"Sorry," said Beadu with a hiccough. "Can't carry a tune to save my life."

"Mina wasn't talking about your singing," I said quietly. "She was talking about the day I got separated from my parents."

"Oh," said Beadu, repressing a large belch. "Oh, dear. Yes, that was - was terrible indeed. Terrible ... terrible ..."

She looked quite at a loss for what to say, and resorted to the refilling of our mugs.

"I don't - don't suppose you remember it, Kiara?" she asked awkwardly.

"No - well, I was only ten months old when it happened," I said, my eyes on the flame of the candle flickering in Mina's heavy snores. "But I've found out pretty much what happened since then. I escaped my babysitters to a nearby dead tree. Did you know that?"

"I - I didn't," said Beadu in a hushed voice.

"Yeah ... Zira snuck up on me and tried to kill me ... but obviously that didn't work, because I'm still here ... with this scar on my forehead ... the only mark the curse gave me," I said.

Beadu gave a great shudder, but she did not seem able to tear her horrified gaze away from my face.

"I had a brother, you know," I said. "Older than me, of course. He was a young boy with a lot of potential when Zira found him."

"Oh dear," breathed Beadu. "The poor boy ..."

"I know," I said, my voice barely more than a whisper. "Zira tortured him. His screams alerted my parents. He was taken away by two of Zira's followers before they could get there. They saw the blood on the floor, though ... they tried searching for him, but there was no sign of him ... he was only four ..."

"That's enough!" said Beadu suddenly, raising a shaking hand. "Really, my dear girl, enough ... I'm an old woman ... I don't need to hear ... I don't want to hear ..."

"I forgot," I lied, Felix Felicis leading me on. "You liked my father, didn't you?"

"Liked him?" said Beadu, her eyes brimming with tears once more. "I can't imagine there being a single good soul on earth that will not like your father the moment they meet him ... he's a brave man ... a funny, charming one ... it was the most horrible thing, you being separated from him and Nala ..."

"But you won't help his daughter," I said. "He helped save me, but you can't give me a memory."

Mina's rumbling snores filled the cabin. I looked steadily into Beadu's tear-filled eyes. The Potions mistress seemed unable to look away.

"Don't say that," she whispered. "It isn't a question ... if it were to help you, of course ... but no purpose can be served ..."

"It can," I said clearly. "Crighton needs information. I need information."

I knew I was safe: Felix was telling me that Beadu would remember nothing of this in the morning. Looking Beadu straight in the eye, I leant forwards a little.

"I am the Chosen One. I have to kill her. I need that memory."

Beadu turned paler than ever; her stretched forehead gleamed with sweat.

"You are the Chosen One?"

"Of course I am," I said calmly.

"But then ... my dear girl ... you're asking a great deal ... you're asking me, in fact, to aid in your attempt to destroy - "

"You don't want to get rid of the witch who killed my brother and separated me from my parents?"

"Kiara, Kiara, of course I do, but - "

"You're scared she'll find out you helped me?"

Beadu said nothing; she looked terrified.

"Be brave like my father would want you to be, Professor ... be brave like him ..."

Beadu raised a long, bony hand and pressed her shaking fingers to her mouth; she looked for a moment like a frightened lost child.

"I'm not proud ..." she whispered through her fingers. "I am ashamed of what - of what that memory shows ... I thin I may have done great damage that day ..."

"You'd cancel out anything you did by giving me the memory," I said. "It would be a very brave and noble thing to do."

Mina twitched in her sleep and snored on. Beadu and I stared at each other over the guttering candle. There was a long, long silence, but Felix Felicis told me not to break it, to wait.

Then, very slowly, Beadu put her hand in her pocket and pulled out her wand. She put her other hand inside her cloak and took out a small, empty bottle. Still looking into my eyes, Beadu touched the tip of her wand to her temple and withdrew it, so that a long, silver thread of memory came away too, clinging to the wand-tip. Longer and longer the memory stretched until it broke and swung, silvery bright, from the wand. Beadu lowered it into the bottle where it coiled, then spread, swirling like gas. She corked the bottle with a trembling hand then passed it across the table to me.

"Thank you very much, Professor."

"You're a good girl," said Professor Beadu, tears trickling down her thin cheeks. "And you've got his mouth ... just don't think too badly of me once you've seen it ..."

And she, too, put her head on her arms, gave a deep sigh, and fell asleep.

And for those of you wondering what happened between Larry and Chrissie and Chris and Dena, then wonder no more, because you are going to see it all through the eyes of Sian.

SIAN

Larry looked furious, Chrissie looked like a flabbergasted deer caught in headlights and Sian watched on, feeling both amused and annoyed. Amused at Chrissie's expression, and annoyed that she had to be the one to fix her sister's mess, yet again! Seeing as Chrissie wasn't going to help any time soon, Sian decided to step in to get the ball rolling.

"So what if I was up there with her?" she demanded. "Chrissie's my sister, isn't she? She can spend time with me if she wants to. That's not a crime, is it?"

Larry rounded on her.

"Maybe it's not a crime," Larry snarled, "but you can't deny that you haven't exactly acted like a sister toward Chrissie recently, can you?"

Sian said nothing. Larry smirked.

"So how come you didn't speak to her, then - until she suddenly got all interesting, that is."

Sian was outraged by this comment.

"Interesting? Interesting? My sister was poisoned, you daft dimbo, not some part of a freak show! And the reason I didn't talk to Chrissie was because I didn't like seeing her with you!"

"Then why didn't you say anything to her about it?" demanded Larry, tilting his head to the side.

"Because as much as I hated seeing the two of you together, the last thing I wanted was for Chrissie to hate me for ever." Sian's gaze softened as she looked at Chrissie. "And I knew that you would if I tried to keep the two of you apart, and I don't think my heart could've taken it if you did."

Chrissie looked at Sian, speechless. Sian smiled and shrugged bashfully, but their moment was broken by Larry, who said, "Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, Sian, but Chrissie's my girlfriend, so you're just going to have to butt-out and stay away from us - "

"What?" came Chrissie's furious voice, making Sian and Larry look at her. Sian saw Chrissie look both shocked and angry by Larry's words. "You can't do that, Larry!"

"But she's - "

"No!" Chrissie said firmly. "Sian may be a lot of things - annoying, a show-off, a know-it-all - but she's still my sister, and the fact that she kept quiet despite how she felt about you and I being together says a lot about her that you don't understand, Larry! Besides, I am not some trophy of yours to show off whenever you feel like it, just like I'm a person with her own mind who refuses to be commanded about! And if you think that I'm going to choose you over my own sister, then I'm sorry, but that's not going to happen." Chrissie took a few deep breaths before she drew the final blow, "I'm sorry, Larry, but we're through."

Sian stood there, shocked by what Chrissie had just done. Larry glared at Chrissie for a few moments before he stormed passed her up the stairs, slamming the door to the dormitories violently behind him, which jerked Sian back to her senses. She turned to look at Chrissie and, before Chrissie could say anything, Sian had flung her arms around her, holding her sister tight.

"Sian, wha- ?" Chrissie started to say, but Sian pulled back and, grinning like an idiot, said, "After all these years, you've finally got a backbone! I'm so proud of you!" Sian then hugged Chrissie again, not willing to let her go. Unfortunately, she did, but only because another argument between Chris and Dena was going on in the middle of the common room, which was drawing a lot of attention.

" ... you know what, Dena, if you're into Zara that much, why don't you go and be in a relationship with her?"

"I'm not into Zara! What does that even - ?"

"Oh, come on, D! Zara this and Zara that! You always want to spend time with her than me! Tell me something, Dena, am I the third wheel in this relationship?"

"Oh, you're having a go at me for being the third wheel? OK, what about Kiara?"

Chris froze for a second, before he said, trying to brush it off casually, "Kiara? Pff - what does Kiara have to do with this?"

"Oh, don't make me laugh, Chris! You never bring me over to sit with her, Sian and Chrissie, even though I am your girlfriend! And when we're together and Kiara's around, you're always looking at her to see if she's - "

Dena stopped suddenly, thinking. Then dawning comprehension stole over her, her eyes widening, then her shock turned to anger, as she shook her head and said, "I don't believe you, Chris Rickers! You used me as a ploy to make Kiara jealous, didn't you?"

Chris said nothing, which told Dena everything she needed to know.

"Well, you know what, Chris? You can have her, 'cause we're THROUGH!"

Dena made to turn away. Chris grabbed her wrist quickly, but Dena slapped him good and hard with her free hand, which did make him let go of her. Dena then stormed across the common room and up the stairs, pushing past Sian and Chrissie roughly, who were both watching their brother. Chris was rubbing his sore cheek as he moved to sit in one of the chairs before the fire, ignoring the stares and mutterings of everyone in the room. When the talk started to rise again and people became involved in their own discussions once more, Sian and Chrissie moved over to where Chris was and sat on either side of him.

"Hey, Chris. How're you doing?" Chrissie asked him gently.

Chris looked at her and said, "I'm OK, to be honest. We've been drifting apart for a while now, so it was only a matter of time, you know?"

"Yeah, I do," sighed Chrissie. "Me and Larry broke up tonight, too."

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Chris.

"Ah, don't be," said Chrissie, shrugging. "He was trying to make me choose between him and Sian, so naturally I defended her."

Chris' face was a mixture of shock and disbelief. "You stood up for Sian?" Chris looked at Sian for confirmation, and she nodded her head eagerly. Chris chuckled and said, "Well I never thought I'd see the day when this would happen."

"I don't think any of us did, really," said Sian, and she and Chris laughed - along with Chrissie, who tried and failed to look annoyed.

Chris then looked at his sisters properly and realised that one of their group was missing. "Where's Kiara?" he asked.

Sian and Chrissie then explained to Chris how Kiara was going to try and get the memory from Beadu using Felix Felicis. When they had finished, Chris looked impressed.

"Well, I wish her luck," he muttered. Then, with a teasing glint in his eyes, he turned to Sian and said, "I'm surprised you didn't figure that out yourself, Sian."

"Don't push it, Rickers," she growled non-threateningly, making Chris and Chrissie laugh.

"So how do you think Kiara's doing?" Chris then asked.

"Well, she's been gone longer than her other attempts. so I'd say it's going pretty good so far," said Sian.

"Either that, or she's taking a really long walk," said Chrissie.

"Still, good luck to her," said Chris. Sian and Chrissie nodded.

But it wasn't until much later, when her sisters were asleep, when Sian felt her mother's presence enter the school and knew that her mother wanted to see her that she would soo find out what the memory contained, and when they saw it nor Sian nor her mother, not even Kiara herself, would have dreamed that they would be seeing and hearing information like it.

AN 2: I'm not sure if I did the break-ups any justice, but I really wanted to write them out. Anyway, I'll be back next week, same day as always, and in the chapter after the next one you will start to see a little of Chris and Kiara together, which is obviously a little of the warm up to them getting together, so you have that to normal to, and therefore I am going to say no more about it. Until next week. Peace out!