Disclaimer: Everything except the original characters and plot belong to J. K. Rowling.

Three and a bit weeks had passed and Cordelia was no closer to solving the mysteries that had cropped up within the first 24 hours of the school year.

But that didn't matter right now because she had pushed all of it to the back of her mind. Cordelia Bode was studying.

If you want to picture this scene, watch a lion eating a gazelle or some other innocent creature. Then you will understand the ferocity with which Cordelia approached her work. She did not allow herself to get stressed, instead systematically attacked the books as she ripped through them, trying to find their secret.

Just as she was wondering why writers always wrote the useful stuff as vague as possible. She looked up and saw Jasper Heckleburn standing in front of her.

Despite being in the same year and house. Jasper and Cordelia had never really spoken except for the utterly hysterical time when he said, 'sorry,' for doing a prank which involved Cordelia discovering that her uniform had become transparent. Thank God she was a girl who owned a mirror. This occurred three years ago.

So no, out of all of her friends, this was the most surprising, but nevertheless, the most welcome.

He gestured at the chair opposite her.

"Oh yeah. Take it," she said in a nervously happy voice. "It's a great chair ... good lumbar support for your ... lumbar- yeah, enjoy." Cordelia clamped her mouth shut and smiled, which seemed to disturb him so greatly that he opened a divination textbook just to divert her attention from himself. How dare he!

Passing over the insult of the century, Cordelia returned to her work but now found it hard to concentrate based on the fact that she was wondering where his friends were. Which, naturally, led to thoughts of James Potter; a place where Cordelia had been trying not to allow her mind to go for three and a bit weeks.

We last saw Cordelia as she had made a resolution. Well, she followed through in what she thought was the right way to go about it; by completely ignoring him. Perfection.

No, not perfection. Cordelia had discovered that James was harder to ignore than an elephant in a room. One day he had actually magnified his voice so that each word was like a small earthquake. This had been bad since it was a full out war between Cordelia's prefect duties and her stubbornness to quit her plan. Luckily Lily Potter, being the real leader of that family, stole James' wand and stuck it in the North Tower. It had been one of the best moments of Cordelia's life, watching James plead for his charmed wand not to jump, explaining what it had to live for. She believed the most compelling reason to jump was, 'you are always held by my hand, and sometimes, I stick you in my back pocket. You'll ever be there again if you take that step.' Lily won a secret ten points for Gryffindor.

Just to clarify, Cordelia wasn't avoiding the issue, she did not reduce herself to that sort of pettiness. She was just waiting for a time when she was ready to confront the whole 'asking out and possibly nearly kissing' situation. Well, now that she thought about it, it was a bit like avoiding. But never fear, for where there's a James, there's a way.

"Can you please stop muttering, it's distracting."

Cordelia awoke from her thoughts to a posh accent. She looked around the table to see who had made the statement but could not see anyone so that just left ...

"Oh my bloody Merlin," said Cordelia in a tiny voice, "you make noise."

Jasper looked at her, "People tend to do that."

Cordelia stared at him incredulously, "But you never speak to anyone, well, except for James, Fred, and Henry."

"Yes," Jasper continued, face buried back in his book, "I find that life is much simpler if you only speak to people whom you trust."

Cordelia was so touched she thought she might cry. Here was someone who she had hardly ever interacted with, telling her he trusted her as much as his closest friends. It made her want to just take the chain around her neck and show it to him. It was beautiful.

"Are you crying, Bode," said Jasper.

Cordelia looked up at the ceiling and willed her eyes to behave, "No, no, of course not. My eyes are just slightly ... itchy. Can I hug you?" The question burst from her mouth before she could stop herself.

Jasper didn't react at all, "No."

Cordelia nodded her head emphatically, "Yes, sorry. That was a weird thing to say. I'm just a little emotional right now with all of the drama happening to our friends."

"Are you perhaps referring to the incident when James asked you for a date and you refused, only to nearly kiss, then after three weeks of successful avoidance you are beginning to have doubts?"

"How on earth did you pick up on that?" she questioned, astounded at his observance. "And for the record, James tried to kiss me but I punched him in the stomach to teach him a lesson for being an entitled git."

"Ahh, right, that makes more sense than James' version. To answer your first question: you learn a lot when you listen rather than talk."

Cordelia watched him suspiciously, "Well, don't think I haven't been watching you too. Why are you doing divination?"

Jasper continued reading as if he hadn't heard her. Cordelia didn't push it, however. The poor bloke had probably run his talking limit for that day.

That night, Cordelia met Henry in the common room, ready to go on their weekly Tuesday night rounds of the castle. The purpose of this duty was to report any odd findings to teachers, but they mainly found couples locking lips in strange venues.

They filled the time with mindless chatter, including the topics of; Were the Weird Sisters too old to keep writing songs? (Cordelia denied this claim, she enjoyed the vintage band) Did Fred's singing in the shower mean he was able to be in the school choir as he had apparently asked today? (Both agreed no to this one) And, what did Gryffindor's chances look like for the house cup. (Hopeful).

The only interesting thing happened when they heard movement inside a broom cupboard. Henry and Cordelia looked at each other, this was the most entertaining part of the night.

Cordelia stretched out her hand, wand raised due to protocol, and opened the door, only to find ... oh god.

Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy were locked in a furious embrace. Both seemed to be attempting to win the award for the best personal bubble violation.

The door was shut as quickly as it was opened, and as disgusted as she was, Cordelia also felt a little smug. The hideous displays of affection in that closet proved her pep talks worked. Yay!

Henry and Cordelia moved quickly down the corridor, trying to put as much space between them and the cupboard.

They only exchanged a few words as they finished their rounds that night.

"James and all of his cousins are going to be so pissed," muttered Henry, "I don't want to see that."

"I won't tell if you don't."

"Done."

And that was that.

Mild panic on Wednesday morning; Cordelia's inheritance was nowhere to be found; she practically ripped the dormitory apart searching for it until she found it still around her neck from the night before. Her frantic breathing slowed and she settled back into her normal routine.

Cordelia headed off for a walk before breakfast. Half-way around the castle, she heard squelchy footsteps behind her and turned to see James running up to her. Cordelia hurried her pace.

"Hey!" said James, grabbing her arm to stop her. "I need to talk to you. You've been avoiding me."

"Oh, you genius, Potter," Cordelia said with ample amounts of sarcasm. "No let me go!"

James' face hardened stubbornly, "No. I can't do this anymore. I miss spending time with you-" he faltered seeing her incredulous expression, "well not that we ever did that, but at least, we talked in loud voices. I loved waking to the sound of your voice telling me to get my ass downstairs to clean up the common room from our 'irresponsible celebrations', as you so lovingly put it."

"Well, did you expect the magical elves to clean up the mess you made," replied Cordelia.

"Er ... yes."

Cordelia made a face, "I keep forgetting what muggle sayings not to use in the magical world. So many of them lose their punch."

"So does this mean you'll stop ignoring me?" said James with such a hopeful face that Cordelia laughed out loud.

"Okay, you miserable fiend. You can have the pleasure of my company again." She walked off, leaving him alone in the middle of the grounds.

If Cordelia only knew how wrong she was about James' affections. They could not be contained to friendship.

Breakfast was the usually boring affair, unlike the first day. The fifth-years, especially, looked like the walking dead, obviously a side effect of the homework increase of OWL year.

Cordelia headed down to the greenhouses alone. She had been late to breakfast so Beatrice and Jasper had already headed down. This had absolutely nothing to do, Bea assured her, with the fact that Louis was leaving the Ravenclaw table at the same time.

She thought about how this lesson might be different to the previous ones since Jasper actually spoke to her now. One of four she kept telling herself, and presumably his family although she had no idea about that. Jasper had never spoken to Beatrice though, and he had most classes with her. Cordelia decided to watch Bea see where their actions differed, making her more trustworthy.

Well, that was an eye-opener, thought Cordelia, walking out of the greenhouses some time later. Never did she expect to see that during her observations, but now she was prepared for any surprises thrown her way.

Whoosh. Thud.

'Apparently not,' thought Cordelia, getting off the ground. She had just found that she was not prepared for unprecedented attacks by Slytherin second years. Funny, what some people choose to throw. How did they ever manage to acquire that many buttons; it was like having her Grandmother's house emptied on to her.

Anyway, back to the matter at hand. Jasper likes Bea. Jasper is capable of human emotion. So strange.

This realisation came when Cordelia was in herbology, watching Beatrice and Jasper as though waiting for them to tell her the reasons for the lack of trust.

But, as Beatrice's elbow slipped on the bench and the Venomous Tentacular they were meant to be pruning slipped off because she was looking at Louis. Jasper pushed her aside as one toothy branch attempted to shish kebab her. And, when she touched his arm to thank him, his whole face went bright red! What is life! Was Cordelia going insane or was she actually thinking this.

Oh, Merlin.

Cordelia stopped in her tracks.

She had just found a solution to one of the problems.

The library was quiet as Cordelia worked on her History of Magic homework. They had to write a 1-and-a-half-foot long essay on their family history, and how it affected them. Everyone was a bit confused by this, but supposedly it was to see how history affects individuals, so as to better understand how history can affect societies. It actually was quite interesting.

"Hello history buddy," James interrupted, swinging his bag on the table, upsetting Cordelia's bottle of ink. "I thought we could study together."

"Oh, hello," said Cordelia distractedly. She had just found a bit of information she needed to finish off the paragraph she was working on.

"Okay, I understand. In your insane mind, homework stands above the sexy body you have in front of you. Strange, but I can handle it."

"James stop calling yourself sexy, it'll only make the wound worse when you wake up to reality," said Cordelia, face still buried in her essay.

"Oh hush, I've seen you sneak a peek or two when I'm in the locker rooms after practice. Don't deny it," he said, clicking his tongue.

Cordelia opened another book, this time on the history of the Unspeakables, "Oh yes, I was only ever there to see you buttercup, not my best friend whom I was walking back to the castle because I am a good person."

"I think we are both mature adults or- adolescents at least. We can both say fairly that Hazel Ivers' friendship pales in comparison to the opportunity to see me in nothing but a towel around my hips ... water streaming from my raven locks-," James paused suddenly as if struck by a thought, "Hey, you're muggle-born right?"

"Yes," replied Cordelia warily, rarely was there a good conversation that started like this.

"Well, you have the same surname as someone my Dad once mentioned, Broderick Bode I think it was. I only remembered that just now," he continued.

"Broderick Bode was my great-uncle, died before I was born. I'm actually reading about his work now," elaborated Cordelia.

"So you never met him," said James, deflating slightly.

"No. What's your interest anyway?"

"Just thought he might be a cool guy to know if he worked in the Department of Mysteries. Don't like not knowing stuff. How are you muggle-born then?"

"My great-grandparents were muggles, so my grandfather, his brother, was a muggle and when he had a son, he decided he didn't want to teach him about the world he could never reach, ergo, muggle-born," finished Cordelia, pointing at herself, still engrossed in the book about Unspeakables. Unobtainable secrets didn't frustrate her like they did James but completely fascinated her. It was nice to be reminded that the world was so much bigger than Hogwarts. Scary and intimidating, yes, but showed an infinity of possibilities.

"That makes sense," said James, "I was wondering why you still act as though everything in here is new if you had a magical relative."

"Less annoying for you?" questioned Cordelia, not caring much for the answer.

"Well, it does answer some questions, like why you … Cordelia?" he broke off as he saw her stark-white face, "Cordelia. What's wrong?"

Cordelia left the library in what seemed like one movement. Leaving only the book she was reading so intently, open to a certain page upon the desk.

Broderick Bode (1942-1995): Oversaw work in sections 3-5.

In fact, Mr Bode excelled to the point that he was given a great honour, a piece of magic straight from the mystery of time itself;

the ability to control time in a pure gold pendant.

James did not understand. Cordelia did.

Cordelia sat down on her bed and steadied herself. It wasn't that bad, nobody knew and it was still exactly the same.

As she looked at her surroundings, her attention was drawn to a solitary piece of parchment on the floor which she had missed coming in.

It read: Hide. Run now. They know. Save yourself.

This was too much for Cordelia to handle. As she dropped from consciousness only one thing was on her mind.

Did James seriously use the words: 'water streaming from my raven locks'? Mental that one.

All Cordelia knew was that her head hurt. She wanted to see where she was but it was too painful to bother.

"Do you think she's alright?"

"For the last time! She just was knocked out! Can you handle that or does it just slip out the other ear?"

"Come on guys, don't fight we're in a hospital."

"Yeah, Cordelia might not want to wake up if all she hears is you two."

Cordelia was confused, why were her friends saying she was in a hospital.

And suddenly it all came flooding back.

She sat up suddenly causing Ella and James to scream. Well, that was something to bring up later.

"Cordelia are you alright-" started Beatrice.

"Where is it?" said Cordelia, panicking as she felt around her neck. "Where is my necklace."

Recovering from her shock, Hazel replied, "Madam Eliot took it. Said it was having an adverse effect on your health ... somehow. Maybe it was so ugly that your brain couldn't handle it."

"Hey, it's a family heirloom! And I need it right now." Cordelia attempted to rise only to have several hands push her back down. "What the hell! Let me up!"

"Can't do that love, we promised Eliot we'd keep you here while she examined the item," said Fred, off to the side, "and anyway, James won't let you, stupid idiot believes it's his fault."

Everyone looked at James, far from being embarrassed he agreed, "I will sit on you if I have to."

"Why thank you, James. I'm really looking forward to that." Cordelia tried to get up again, only to have James and Ella block her way, "Oh come on, James it wasn't your fault I was ... dehydrated, " Cordelia invented.

James frowned, "Why were you so spooked after reading that thing about your great uncle? It was so cool."

Cordelia thought wildly, "Er ... because- erm- I just remembered a homework piece that I forgot and I needed to get it."

No one looked convinced so Cordelia sighed, "Please, I need to get past. I need to get back the pendant, I really like it."

James felt her head for a temperature which was a severe breach of Cordelia's personal space. She had a split-second decision to make therefore she leant back so much she fell backwards off the bed.

"OW!"

Hazel helped her up while glaring at the boy accusingly, "James you idiot. You don't just touch girls like that; it's supremely weird."

If James' face had been any redder it would have exploded. It might have been funny if she hadn't been seeing two of him.

"Cordelia are you alright?" asked Hazel.

Cordelia felt funny, "Whoever is making that ringing noise, please stop, I can't hear."

"What is going on here? Students I'm disappointed in you, you promised me you wouldn't let her move." Madam Eliot had arrived.

"It was James. He disturbed her so much she tried to jump off the side of the bed to end it. Very irresponsible," said Fred.

Madam Eliot rolled her eyes. She had only been on the job for a year but she had already learned that Fred Weasley was not to be trusted. (Madam Pomfrey had quit in their fourth year, claiming that she had had enough of 'that families' injuries.)

"Madam Eliot, I need my necklace back. It's very old," said Cordelia, taking her chance.

Madam Eliot looked sadly at her, "I'm sorry, Miss Bode, I cannot do that."

Cordelia straightened, "What- why?"

"Well, there is something distinctly strange about that pendant, a strange magic. I need to be able to identify it so that we can be sure you are not harming yourself by wearing it."

"But ... I'm not."

"I am not budging Miss Bode. Why don't your friends assist you out of here, so that you don't feel too dizzy?" She turned away to the direction of her office.

Cordelia shook off Bea's helping hand and ran after the nurse. Away from the ears of her friends she whispered, "Is it safe. I will go if you promise me it's safe."

Madam Eliot looked at her steadily, "I will make sure it is protected. Now I must ask you to leave!"

As Cordelia made her way back to the common room she knew one thing, she was going to get that necklace back. She just had to figure out a plan.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was as interesting as ever. They were learning how to perform counter-curses without speaking. How cool was that? Cordelia found this particularly useful when people tried slacking off in detentions. A quick stinging hex to the behind effectively quickened their pace.

This class was being ruined however by the whispered gossip going on behind her. Mia Kappoenta and Stephanie Baldman seemed to be very knowledgeable about the school's inhabitants. Ella was leaning back to hear more but Cordelia just kept flexing her fingers and attempted to concentrate on the lesson. Didn't those girls see how riveting this topic was?

Cordelia clenched her fists. Supposedly they had just gotten to the end and were both giggling quietly.

Cordelia whirled around, "Will you two SHUT UP! Some people are trying to learn, and no, before you ask you can't be excused because of your underdeveloped brain cells!"

Everyone stared in wonderment, wondering what one earth had just happened.

And that is how Cordelia Bode ended up in McGonagall's office.

"So Miss Bode. Why are you here?" said Professor McGonagall, her lips pursed.

Cordelia felt awful. Teachers office, seriously?

"I was irritated and I shouted at two girls in Defence Against the Dark Arts," said Cordelia sheepishly.

McGonagall, looked down her nose at her, "Well, I must say I am quite disappointed in you, Miss Bode. I always thought you were one to hold your temper."

"It will never happen again, Professor. I've just been a little stressed lately," said Cordelia.

"Yes, I heard about your visit to the hospital wing today. Also, you haven't nearly broken as many rules as Potter and Weasley did in the last term when they broke in here," she sighed, "I will let you off with a warning. Find another way to vent your anger than at other students Miss Bode or next time I won't be so lenient, no matter the circumstances."

Cordelia stood and made her way to the door, "Thankyou Professor, I understand."

Cordelia walked to the common room, with nothing but the enormous pile of homework that she had to complete. Something was in the back of her mind, something she was forgetting.

Dinner was fun that night because everyone kept looking at Cordelia as though they expected her to collapse at any moment.

Super fun.

"No, I'm serious! She was so angry, it was hilarious," said James.

Hazel raised an eyebrow, "You're telling me that your cousin Dom got a call from the boy she fancied on the holidays and you waited for her to come and answer, then you said to him that he shouldn't call back because you knew your cousin and she hated him?" James nodded proudly. "That's cold."

"No it wasn't it was funny," defended James.

"Don't bother. James doesn't have a moral compass when it comes to the women in his family. He's way to overprotective," added Cordelia. "I think I gave him five detentions last year because he kept hexing guys who asked out Dom. It's really sexist."

James looked up indignantly, "I'm not sexist!"

"Where was your brotherly defence when that girl, Eileen or whatever, asked out Albus, huh?" retorted Cordelia.

James pouted, "Why do girls have such good memories?" he asked to no one in particular, "McGonagall still remembers all the times we've broken into private rooms but seriously, this is a school and I was learning. It helped me greatly."

"Great, I love hearing about-," Cordelia had a sudden thought and everyone almost lunged at her as though she had just shown some telling weakness. "I'm fine," she added irritably, "James can I talk to you in private?"

Everyone went silent with shock.

"Okay," yelled James, jumping up from his seat.

"Ooooh, Cordelia and James sitting in a tree-"

"No. Just ... no," said Cordelia, trying to retain a shred of self-pride.

When they reached an empty corridor on the first floor, Cordelia turned to James.

"Bode, are you taking me somewhere to snog?" said James, smirking.

"Okay, so you know in the hospital wing - ew, no, yuck, - how I wanted my pendant back." said Cordelia at the same time.

"Yeah, why is that anyway, I'm sure Eliot will be careful with it," said James.

"Yes, I realise that, but this particular pendant has certain ... qualities, that make it reasonably dangerous-"

"To you?" interrupted James.

"No, to whoever doesn't know how to properly handle it. It is very, very important that I get it back but I need your utmost secrecy," finished Cordelia.

"You already had that but what if the person finds out what it is and nothing bad happens," questioned James.

Cordelia eyeballed him, "I looked it up, I could be expelled or put in Azkaban, not to mention that no one can be trusted not to steal it, so I really just need your help."

"Okay, what's the plan?" said James, eagerly rubbing his hands together.

"Break into the Hogwarts safe places. It's going to take a lot of planning but I think we can do it."

James nodded thoughtfully, as though weighing up his options, "I will, on one condition," he had the distinct feeling he was playing with fire, "If we find this pendant thingy, will you, Cordelia Bode, accompany me to Hogsmeade on the Halloween weekend?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes, "If you prove useful, and that's a big if, James, I will ... think about it."

James nodded, that was better than nothing, and certainly more surprising.

Authors Note: Any comments are appreciated!