Sweets Key

The year seemed to fly by; it was already the end of October. Basil struggled to prove herself that her magic was truly back and had trouble even conjuring an easy spell. Hairball has not returned since the first day; Anna had finally decided that something was wrong but didn't act on it. The weirdest thing was that Basil still saw the doors and no one else did, but what was even weirder was that her sneakoscope went off randomly in the hallways.

"You always forget to dump that thing in the room!" Anna exclaimed as they hurried off to Herbology.

"I know, but the work they give us takes me all night." Basil replied hastily and jumped to her seat in front of Professor Longbottom.

Longbottom smiled happily and continued with his lesson on the magical plant that he was presenting. It was a spiky plant, but Basil didn't really pay attention at what Longbottom was saying. Most of his lessons were really exciting, but this one seemed droning.

"Can anyone tell me how we can destroy the Spiky Bush?" Longbottom questioned the class of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Anna's hand shot up quickly.

"Fire-Making spells, but at a distance since their spikes shoot out when attacked." Anna answered in her prideful tone.

"Correct; five points to Ravenclaw." Longbottom assured and continued with the lesson.

The class was almost over with barely any injuries, except for Professor Longbottom himself and a Hufflepuff boy, which caused both of them pain. Suddenly, Mistress McGonagall came through the room.

"How can I help you?" Longbottom asked. It seemed serious by the look on McGonagall's face.

"I would like to talk to Ms. Gelsimini." McGonagall bluntly stated and stared at Persephone.

Persephone gathered her things and left with McGonagall in a hurry. After that, the class went back to normal with packing up their things and talking to their peers about other things. The bell rang a moment later and the kids left for lunch.

"What do you think is going on?" Basil questioned and continued to the library where they were meeting Albus.

"Who knows? Persephone will tell us when she returns." Anna assured then proceeded to go to the library.

Once they entered the library, they were surprised to see Albus talking to Scorpius and his awful friends. Anna stopped and wanted to wait for Albus to acknowledge them, Basil went straight towards them with her arms crossed over her chest.

"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Albus exclaimed and looked Scorpius straight in the eye.

"What's going on?" Basil asked and interfered with the two.

"Potter will fill you in. I'll see you soon, Sweets." Scorpius made a strange nose with her name; like he knew something that she didn't.

Scorpius and his goons left the library leaving Albus, Anna, and Basil alone. Anna stood next to Albus and looked at the two with curiosity but didn't say anything.

"What were you two talking about?" Basil stared at Albus who stood stiff and looked off at the distance.

"Malfoy was talking rubbish. He was saying that you were lying about your blood or whatever and that he's heard of you before." Albus scoffed then laughed.

Anna looked directly to Basil with wide eyes; they both stood there and looked to each other in silence. Albus caught on and looked at both them with concern.

"What…what was he telling you?" Basil inquired and looked around to see if they would come back.

"Malfoy said you were lying about being a muggle-born. But why would you lie about that?" Albus laughed dryly, Basil just stared.

"Albus, I'm not a mudblood." Basil announced quickly.

"Don't say that term! But, why would you lie?" Albus asked with pleading eyes.

"I can't really tell you. Not even Anna knows why, fully. Just know that my grandfather did something really bad in the past and they took our magic away." Basil explained quietly and looked down.

"Oh. So that's why you didn't want to say anything. Well don't worry, Malfoy won't figure it out." Albus assured with his dazzling smile.

Basil agreed with the same smile. Anna, Albus, and Basil went to what they were originally going to do, study, and left the library a half an hour later. They went to dinner right after and joined their house tables. Anna and Basil noticed Persephone had returned but not very happy.

"What's wrong Persephone?" Anna asked and ate pits of her stew. Persephone didn't even touch the food in front of her.

"Someone broke into the Ministry. Her father works there as the guard for some top secret evidence section. The person broke in and stole something so her dad was fired." Meg explained, frowns were put on all their faces.

"I'm sorry Persephone, do they know who did it?" Basil looked at Persephone, the beautiful girl's eyes were teary and small.

"No. They said until they figure out who stole the thing, my father can't go near the ministry." Persephone cried and blew her nose into a napkin.

"So he can get his job back? That's good." Anna assured and finished her food.

"I guess, but it gets worse. The investigating team is nowhere to be found! They haven't turned up to work." Persephone blew her nose again and left the table.

Basil ate the rest of her plate and finished off her goblet then waited for Meg to eat a little more before they evacuated the table. All glum and depressed, they followed up the long tower and into their dormitories. A loud meow sounded in the chair behind them, Basil turned and saw none other than Hairball.

"Hairball! Where have you been?" Basil asked rhetorically and held her small kitty.

"I'm going to bed. I already finished my parchment for Coleman." Anna announced then said goodnight.

Basil sat in the common room at a little desk and wrote on her parchment for potions. After some time it became boring and she tried to pull anything out of her brain to just finish it up. Suddenly, Hairball hissed and scratched at the table leg. Basil quickly turned and stared at the cat and around the room; nothing was there.

"What are you doing?" Basil stared at the cat while his eyes were on something else.

Basil stood up and looked in the direction of Hairball's gaze to see whatever he was looking at. Something shiny stuck out from the window where the moonlight was coming through. Basil strutted over to the opening, it was fairly high so nothing could climb, and then that's where she saw it. A rustic key lying perfectly on the ledge of the window.

"Strange…"

Under closer inspection, it was certainly strange. Basil grazed her finger over the key and felt little dibs in the metal; she turned it around and found something quite alarming. There was a name carved into the metal, perfectly placed and furbished.

Sweets

"Oh my god." Basil gasped and held the key closer.

Her eyes scanned the key, every little groove her eyes spotted, then her mind went blank. Basil stood there just awestricken for a few moments, how? Why? It's just like the box… Basil thought. After a few more minutes of staring, Basil gathered her things together and went straight for her room. That's enough for today. Basil decided and threw her key in her bag and jumped into bed with key still in her mind.