The next morning, while the rest of their classmates were recovering from their victory celebration, Amelie took Riyan and Polly to the old Charms classroom near the library and explained all that had transpired.

Riyan excitedly asked about every single detail, while Polly was mostly leaning against a desk, her head in her hand, trying not to open her eyes too much.

"Professor Sprout was right though," he chided, "that was way too dangerous. You could've told us."

"Yes, I- I know. And I'm sorry. I promise I won't keep important things like that from you two anymore. I just... we don't really spend time hanging out anymore. Not like last year."

"That- yeah, I suppose that's true," Riyan admitted. "To be honest, I'd like it if we could have some fun together again."

Polly mumbled something in agreement, before clearing her throat. "Definitely. Although, sneaking through the castle with your vampire senses was pretty awesome. Like something out of a spy film."

By Monday, rumours were flying around that something had happened over the weekend, but nobody really seemed to know what.

The others seemed to miss how notably quiet the Weasleys, even the twins Fred and George, were throughout the whole situation. Amelie almost wished she could say something to Ginny to help cheer her up, but aside from Ron nobody knew she had been involved.

When they walked into the Great Hall for breakfast a day later, they were met by a level of noise that was unusual for so early in the morning.

No sooner had they taken their seats at the Hufflepuff table, than Ernie thrust a copy of the Daily Prophet towards them.

"They caught Black!" he said loudly, "But they also say he was innocent. The Ministry's saying that they arrested the wizard Black supposedly killed, but he was actually the killer and... I don't know, just look."

The front-page showed the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, standing at a podium and waving, with several other witches and wizards standing behind him.

UNBELIEVABLE: SIRIUS BLACK EXONERATED AS DECADE-OLD CASE UNRAVELS

Amelie sat with a quiet smile as she heard the others reading out the article, gasping at every shocking reveal. The story had been told just as Mrs. Ogden predicted and soon every house-table was abuzz.

Some claimed that Black had been an undercover agent, sent to lure Pettigrew out of hiding, while others were convinced that he had bewitched the entire Ministry of Magic to believe he was innocent.

The speculation became so omnipresent that even Professor McGonagall gave up trying to get them to stop whispering to each other during class.

Just like with all shocking happenings at Hogwarts, eventually the gossipping ebbed away and life returned to a semblance of normalcy at the castle.

Amelie remembered, with a tightness in her gut, that they still had exams coming up in only a few months.

To her surprise, not even two weeks after the incident, an owl dropped a small, handwritten note in her lap during lunch-time.

Dear Amelie,

Would appreciate having you visit for tea today at five.

- Hagrid

"What do you suppose he wants?" Polly asked, helping herself to more spaghetti with meatballs.

"Hmm, no idea. Though I figure it's got to do with, ahem..." Amelie lowered her voice a bit, "recent events."

Later that day, with a good ten minutes to spare, Amelie left the Hufflepuff common room and made her way towards the entrance near the Clock Tower.

She looked up when someone called, "Hey, Amelie!"

It was Harry, Ron and Hermione, coming down from the Gryffindor Tower. Judging by the warm cloaks they were wearing, they were also planning to leave the castle.

"Hey," Amelie replied, "are you heading out?"

"Yeah, we're visiting Hagrid."

She blinked, before pulling the letter from her pocket. "That's funny, he sent me an invitation too."

Harry raised his eyebrows and exchanged a look with his friends.

"Well, let's go then. Hopefully the way's not too muddy."

They left through the heavy entrance gate, now no longer guarded by Aurors, and trudged along the path leading past the Owlery and towards Hagrid's hut.

"Did he tell you why he wanted to talk to you?" Harry asked.

Amelie shook her head, while drawing her cloak a bit closer around herself. "No. I was a bit surprised, to be honest."

"Today was the day of Buckbeak's hearing in London," Hermione pointed out. "Oh, right, Buckbeak is the Hippogriff that attacked Draco Malfoy last year. His father's been trying to get the Ministry to execute it."

"What? But Malfoy was completely fine! He was just pretending to be hurt," Amelie replied angrily.

"Yes, but that certainly didn't stop his father from trying."

There was light on in Hagrid's hut and smoke coming from the chimney as they walked up and Harry knocked on the door. Enthusiastic barking came from inside and Amelie discreetly shuffled behind the Gryffindors.

The door opened and Hagrid said, "Ah, there ye are. Come in. Make yerself comfortable."

Keeping an eye out for the large dog, Amelie filed into the hut with Harry and the others.

Hagrid had set up a few mismatched tea-cups on his enormous table, as well as a plate full of biscuits.

"Tea shou' be ready 'n jus' a minute."

They sat at the table and Hermione asked carefully, "Hagrid, are you alright? How did it go?"

He lifted a massive kettle from the stove and slowly filled the cups in front of them. When he came to Amelie, she saw him send her a brief, apologetic look.

"T'was no' as good, but no' as... bad as it could'a been," Hagrid said, sinking into a chair across the table from them.

"Got ter the Ministry. They was all sittin' around, talkin' about dangerous creatures 'n the like. I was fearin' the worst," he went on, holding a tea-cup that could've served as a small cauldron.

"What did they decide? What's going to happen to Buckbeak?" Harry asked cautiously.

Hagrid took a deep breath. "They could'a done worse, but after they went 'n talked amongst themselves fo' a bit, they came back 'n said that Buckbeak would be sent away."

He nodded sadly.

"He'll be goin' to a sanctuary in the Alps. There'll be other Hippogriffs there and no people aroun' or nothin'."

"I'm sorry, Hagrid. But you can still go and visit him, right?"

"Thanks, 'ermione, 'preciate it. I jus'... I jus' wish I coulda had him here a bit longer."

He gave them a small smile.

"How did you get them to let Buckbeak go?" Ron asked. "I thought Malfoy's dad really wanted him dead."

The corner of Hagrid's mouth twitched a little and he said, "I s'pose that's exactly why they was showin' mercy. Didn' want ter be seen doin' him any favours. Old Malfoy wasn' even at the hearing, o' course. Thanks to ye four."

Amelie blinked in surprise. "Huh? What did we do?"

She looked to the Gryffindors, but they seemed just as clueless as she was.

"Malfoy 'n his ilk are in pretty hot water right now," Hagrid explained, sounding rather happy at the prospect. "Lots o' investigatin' and arrests happenin' after Pettigrew started talkin'. Prophet didn' mention it o' course, but Pr'fessor Dumbledore says there's quite a few people who got away back then who're gettin' nabbed now."

"Malfoy's father is getting arrested?" Harry asked excitedly.

"Ah, if only," Hagrid sighed, "bu' he's been far too busy runnin' aroun', swearin' he was innocent. So o' course he didna' care 'bout Buckbeak anymore."

"Lotsa things happenin'," he said gravely, "didna' have arrests like this since after You-Know-Who disappeared."

He smiled proudly.

"And it's all because o' you catchin' Pettigrew."

She felt a bit queasy at the thought of what her haphazard plan had unleashed. She warmed her hand on the cup of tea, while the Gryffindors chattered on about what had happened that day.

"I just wish McGonagall would let us keep the map," Ron complained.

"Uhm, speaking of which," Amelie began, "if your map shows everyone at Hogwarts, why couldn't you see Pettigrew on it?"

"It doesn't work with Animagi when they're transformed," Harry explained. "Sirius told me they didn't want it to be used against them."

Amelie raised an eyebrow. "Mr. Black and your father were Animagi, too?"

The trio exchanged a brief look and Harry awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Well, yeah. Just, uh, please don't tell anyone about him, okay?"

Putting down her tea-cup, Hermione remarked, "And Professor Lupin, of course."

"Sure," Amelie replied quickly. She didn't quite like the pondering look Hermione was giving her.

"Anyway, Sirius said I can maybe visit him over the summer," Harry added. It wasn't hard to see that he was looking forward to it.

Hermione gave him a surprised look. "So that means you won't have to go back to your aunt and uncle?"

"I wish," Harry groaned, folding his arms, "but Professor Dumbledore said I-, well... there's still some things to work out. Besides, Sirius said he still has to 'clean up the place', wherever he is right now."

Ron chimed in, "And don't forget about the Quidditch World Cup finals. You're definitely staying with us again this summer."

Listening to them talk, Amelie felt a smile tugging at her face. Maybe things would work out after all, despite the avalanche she had helped kick loose.

"Oh, and he wants to meet you too, Amelie. After all, you're the one who caught Pettigrew."

Harry looked rather grateful, but Amelie had to swallow nervously. This was starting to get dicey.

"Uhm, y- yeah, sure."

"By the way, Hagrid," Harry perked up, "Sirius asked what happened to his motorbike."

The half-giant coughed and quickly changed the subject.

With the snow melting away and turning the area around Hogwarts into a mud-pit, Amelie found plenty of opportunity at practising her cleaning charms.

There was, however, no amount of magic she could conjure to help Polly after each of her training sessions. As it turned out, safety landings in Quidditch involved a lot of full-body ground contact.

For the first time in a long time, life at Hogwarts felt almost normal to Amelie. No giant snake-monsters were stalking the halls and no unseen killers were on the loose.

On the other hand, the atmosphere around the school was far from normal as the next Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin approached.

Both had to win for a last-ditch chance at the cup, and the tension between the teams soon boiled over into tension between both houses.

Given the occasional magical incident between older students, Amelie felt a bit nervous when she came down to the Great Hall for breakfast and saw a commotion at the Gryffindor table.

A small crowd had formed and people were looking at something.

She took a seat next to Riyan and asked, "What's going on?"

"Potter got a Firebolt in the mail," he replied, craning his neck to try and catch a glimpse of what everyone else seemed to be ogling at the neighbouring table.

"A what?"

"A Firebolt," he repeated, "The single best racing broom in the world right now. They're so expensive, they don't even put a price-sticker on them. Only professional teams really use them."

"Oh, okay," Amelie remarked. She looked around and wondered, "Where's Polly?"

Turning back to his toast, Riyan laughed. "Where do you think?"

Sure enough, if she squinted, Amelie could barely make out a blonde ponytail sticking out from between two people in the crowd surrounding Harry.

If the Firebolt was a surprise to him then it had to be a gift. She could hazard a decent guess as to where it had come from.

For a moment she imagined Sirius Black casually walking into Quality Quidditch Supplies to buy a present for his godson, while some of his wanted-posters were still stuck to the walls outside.

Eventually Professor McGonagall appeared and put a stop to the spectacle, sending everyone back to their own tables.

Polly joined them rather reluctantly, stars still in her eyes.

"I want one too," she moaned as she plopped down next to Amelie. "I asked mum last year, but she didn't want to buy me one. Said it costs as much as a small car and that I'd have to earn it first, or something."

"Come now, I'm sure you'll manage," Amelie tried to cheer her up.

"Yeah... anyway, the best part was seeing the looks on Flint and Malfoy. Slytherin is going to get hosed so badly."

She looked rather gleeful, until Riyan asked, "Don't you also still have to play against Gryffindor in the final round of matches?"

The expression promptly froze on Polly's face.

To the surprise of nobody, the Slytherin team faced their second Quidditch defeat on Saturday. Demoralised by Harry's new world-class broom and the loss of their Beater, Flint and his team had to endure a rather one-sided match.

Gryffindor managed to score enough points to bring themselves back into the race for the cup, promising a nail-biting finale between them and Hufflepuff just before summer.

Despite what Hagrid told them about the Ministry wanting to keep the investigations resulting from Pettigrew's interrogation under wraps, the Daily Prophet nonetheless reported on the arrest of one Corban Yaxley.

The article explained that Yaxley had previously been accused of being within You-Know-Who's inner circle, but no proof had been found of his involvement in the Dark Lord's crimes. At least until now.

After it was reported that Yaxley had accepted terms for a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation, a storm of speculation regarding further arrests of suspected collaborators broke out.

For Amelie, the far more important topic was the small package she was carefully pulling out from inside her trunk, before heading down to the common room to prepare her ambush on Polly.

Hugging her tightly and wishing her best friend a happy birthday, Amelie handed over a brand-new pair of Quidditch goggles.

"They should fit over your regular glasses easily. There's also enchantments on them against rain and fog, on top of being unbreakable," Amelie explained.

With Easter in sight, the second year students interrupted their preparations for the exams at the end of the term in order to pick their third year electives.

Amelie stared down at the different pamphlets advertising each subject, half chewing on her quill and half pushing it back and forth with her fang.

The only thing she could rule out from the start was Care for Magical Creatures, no matter how many dragons and Hippogriffs were printed on the brochure. If regular animals were already reacting poorly to her presence, she didn't want to imagine what magical ones would do.

Polly was in a similar bind and even Riyan seemed uncertain what to pick.

"It's probably not really that important," he said, scratching his head, "You can still catch up in fourth year if you missed picking something you'd need for your O.W.L.s."

Across the table from Amelie, Polly was shuffling listlessly through the pamphlets. The small snippets of text describing the subjects didn't do much to make their choice easier.

"I think I might actually take Magical Creatures. Everything else is just kind of... bleh."

Riyan nodded. "Sure. Anything in particular you want written on your tombstone?"

"Hagrid's class isn't that bad now, I heard. He said the whole thing with his Hippogriff, Buckbeak, was kind of a lesson in not starting with anything too dangerous anymore," Amelie explained.

She skimmed over the brochure for Study of Ancient Runes and held it up for Riyan to see. "How about this one?"

"Hmm, looks interesting, actually," he mumbled. "I'd pick it."

Polly sighed and tossed the Care for Magical Creatures pamphlet back onto the pile in front of them.

"It's either that or picking Muggle Studies for a laugh. How about it, Amelie? Should be easy, right?" she asked with a grin.

Riyan gave her a sceptical look. "I wouldn't be so sure of that. I heard you actually have to study for things there. Like how banks work or what laws there are concerning Muggles."

Amelie was only half-listening, too busy reading the brochure in her hand, until it was suddenly snatched away by Polly.

"Explain something to me, Amelie..." Polly said in a rather serious tone, "why are you trying to study maths in a school for magic? Hmm?"

Scowling, Amelie tried to reach across the table and grab the Arithmancy pamphlet out of Polly's fingers.

"It's not maths," she mumbled.

"Amelie," Polly snapped, "there are weird symbols here! There are line-graphs! There are letters where there should be numbers! This is maths!"

She snatched the pamphlet back and stuck her tongue out at Polly.

"I think we should find at least one subject we can all pick," noted Riyan.

Polly shrugged. "Sure. Any candidates?"

"What about Divination?", Amelie asked, holding up a brochure decorated with eyes, stars and crystal orbs.

Riyan took the piece of paper and read through the small paragraphs talking, rather vaguely, about reading tea-leaves and seeing omens in the stars.

"Hmm, who's teaching it?"

"Uhm, Professor Trelawney," Amelie explained. "I saw her during the Christmas holidays. She's... a bit weird."

Polly rubbed her chin and asked, "Well, can she be worse than Snape or Binns?"

The three of them briefly exchanged looks.

"Divination it is then."

In the end, Amelie decided to pick both Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, on top of Divination, before handing her form in with Professor Sprout.

The rain and clouds eventually disappeared and spring arrived in full, making the plants around Hogwarts shoot out of the ground as if by magic.

Driven more by spite than sportsmanship, Slytherin clawed a narrow victory from Ravenclaw during early May, dashing any and all hopes they might have had for the Quidditch Cup.

The way was now clear for a showdown between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor.

Aside from Polly spending almost every waking moment on her broom, Amelie also felt a bit frustrated as her Charms Club meetings began to thin out. Penelope and the fifth years were now completely absent, as their respective milestone examinations were closing in.

Even the younger students were more interested in revising charms from Professor Flitwick's class than digging into anything fresh and new.

Amelie watched Neville, nervously poring over his notes, and she felt a pang of guilt. She had tried to be as nice to him as she could, seeing as how she would never be able to actually apologise for the trouble she had gotten him into without revealing what really happened in February.

The sun was shining brightly on the day of the final match, a welcome break from the calamities they usually had to sit through to watch the teams play.

Polly had traded nervous despair for grim determination and looked ready to take on the entirety of Gryffindor house by herself.

The atmosphere in the stands was electrifying. Amelie could see more banners and posters than ever, going from red to yellow and back again.

In the seats in front of her, Rebecca and her friend Stephanie had painted badgers onto their cheeks. Watching them cheer the team on, Amelie felt a bit sad for having gone without Quidditch finals the year before.

Down on the pitch, Cedric, Polly and the rest of the Hufflepuff players were taking their positions and, across the field, so did the Gryffindors. Madam Hooch tossed the Quaffle high up in the air and blew her whistle. The game was on.

Immediately it became clear that this would not be a repeat of their match against the Slytherins. The Gryffindor players were flying in tight formations, passing the ball quickly backwards and forwards and it took a Bludger from Maxine O'Flaherty or Anthony Ricket to disrupt their advance.

Hufflepuff had to scrap for every inch towards their opponents' side. Oliver Wood and his team soon scored their first goal, but Heidi, Malcolm and Polly didn't take long to catch up. Gryffindor was holding its lead, but they would need more points if they wanted to win the cup.

Every Bludger rushing towards Polly made Amelie jump to her feet, wanting to call out. Her small size was working in Polly's favour as she had an easier time evading the fast projectiles than the rest of her team.

Yet the difference in experience was starting to take its toll. Gryffindor had reached the threshold of points where catching the Snitch would not only win them the game, but also the Quidditch Cup.

More and more, the attention shifted to Cedric and Harry, who was soaring over the field at incredible speeds.

Heidi intercepted the Quaffle and made another push for the Gryffindor goal-hoops, when the stands erupted into shouting. Cedric had whipped his broom around and was rapidly diving down towards the side of the pitch, where Amelie could see something small and shiny hovering near the bottom.

Absolutely every single one of them was on their feet, shouting, pointing or in some cases holding their face in shock.

Harry had not hesitated for one second and the Firebolt was cutting through the air like a missile, quickly gaining on Cedric who was desperately flattening himself against the broom. They were soon neck to neck, stretching out their hands towards the frantically fluttering little ball.

As one, the students held their breath. Madam Hooch blew her whistle again and it was over. Holding the Snitch in his fist, Harry rose into the air.

The cheering around her slowly subsided and Amelie felt her heart sink. They had lost after all. Looking up, she sought Polly, who was sitting on her idly hovering broom, breathing slowly and pushing some of the sweat-soaked, blonde hair out of her face.

Meanwhile, the Gryffindor fans were screaming themselves hoarse, celebrating their victory as the players dropped to the field and surrounded Harry.

As the teams lingered on the field, some of the students began to leave, but Amelie made sure to stick around. She joined the applause as both teams took one last lap around the pitch and she watched as Cedric walked up to Wood and shook his hand.

They stood together and talked for a moment, until Wood was seized by his team-mates and all but carried off to the changing rooms.

Despite their narrow loss, there was still a party going on in the common room when Amelie and Riyan accompanied a very exhausted Polly back after the match.

"Look at it this way," Riyan said, patting her shoulder, "you'll have the same team next year while the others have to replace and train people."

Polly nodded tiredly, but still trudged over to the platters full of sandwiches and pastries, mumbling, "Food now, thinking later."

In the week following their victory, the Gryffindors were thankfully much better sports and there were no incidents, aside from a floating bowl of custard upending itself over Cormac McLaggen's head.

Strangely enough, neither the Hufflepuffs nor the Gryffindors from his house seemed to have witnessed who perpetrated the attack when McLaggen had been loudly taunting the Hufflepuff team from across the table.

At last, the time for their first-ever exams at Hogwarts had come. Amelie steeled herself for a trial and found that the written and practical tests were quite manageable.

She knew not to have any hope for History and Potions, but she was almost sad when her practical demonstration in Charms was over and Professor Flitwick happily gave her full marks.

Together with Cecilia, she handed in their finished star-chart and felt rather proud when Professor Sinistra took the time to praise their results.

With the last of them behind her, Amelie gladly took the time to hang around outside with Polly and Riyan, enjoying the warm weather.

"That really wasn't so bad," Polly said, looking a bit smug, "we've been doing tests in school since we were six years old. Right, Amelie?"

"I really wouldn't compare this to elementary school," she mumbled, before shifting a bit more into the shade of the tree they were sitting under.

Riyan sighed and shook his head. "I'll remind you of that when we sit our O.W.L.s in three years."

"No more talk of exams now," Amelie insisted, "so what do you have planned for summer? Maybe we can meet in Diagon Alley this time around."

Brushing a few blades of grass from his sleeve, Riyan sat up. He looked a bit uncomfortable, rubbing his neck.

"About summer... I got a letter from my mum and unfortunately she only managed to get one more ticket for the Quidditch World Cup. She wrote to her boss, Mr. Crouch, but he's too busy to even answer his mail, it seems. I asked Morgan, but his family only barely managed to get any for themselves..."

Polly looked torn, biting her lip, but before she could so much as start trying to be the better person, Amelie cut her off.

"Polly, you are going to the Quidditch World Cup with Riyan and his parents."

"But-"

"No. You're going. This is the biggest Quidditch thing happening and I can barely hold a broom the right side up. You're going and don't you even try and be noble about this."

Polly was visibly fighting with herself, before giving up the struggle and simply throwing her arms around Amelie.

"I'll definitely get you a souvenir! And we're definitely meeting up afterwards! I promise."

Riyan gave them a smile and said, "Alright. As for Diagon Alley, we can definitely go and get our books together. Mum will probably try to invite you over for dinner, but we'll think of something."

And just like that, the school-year was coming to a close. Their exams were done and, aside from Snape and Binns, Amelie had done well in all her classes. The last meeting of the Charms Club was more of a farewell-party for Penelope, who found herself moved to tears as they wished her the best for her internship.

Amelie woke up one morning in late June and found, a bit to her surprise, that she was now thirteen years old. The bed next to her was empty and when she had gotten dressed and washed up, she found Polly and Riyan waiting for her in the common room at the bottom of the stairs.

"Happy birthday!"

Polly wrapped herself around Amelie's neck and this time it was Amelie, who snatched Riyan before he could shuffle out of arm's reach.

With no lessons to attend, they took their time, before following the others down to the Great Hall for breakfast.

Amelie ignored the usual chatter and gossip as some of the older students looked through the Daily Prophet for any new occurrences, but even the newspaper seemed to have gone on holiday already.

"Do you want to go around the lake later?" Riyan asked, "Beatrice said there's a spot a bit further up from where you can see parts of the old boat-house."

Polly raised an eyebrow. "There's a boat-house? Then why did we have to take all those stairs from that cave on our first night?"

"Because it's not there anymore. Supposedly someone blew it up and they haven't bothered building a new one."

"Sure, we can go after lunch-time," Amelie agreed, when suddenly something caught her attention.

A large, black bird was flying towards her, clutching a small parcel, before dropping it in her lap and fluttering out of the hall. Amelie slowly picked it up, touching the thick, brown paper.

There was no name or address written on it, nor any other sign indicating who had sent it. The wrapping was very simple and gave nothing away and when Amelie held it up, it didn't weigh much either.

Riyan leaned over. "Another present? Who's it from?"

"No idea," Amelie replied, turning it over, "I wasn't expecting anything else."

She carefully ripped the paper open on one side. Something shiny slid out and landed on her palm. It was a silvery bracelet, adorned with a large number of small, red gems.

"Oh, pretty," Polly commented, "Go ahead and try it on."

The bracelet fit effortlessly over her hand and rested around her wrist. The smooth silver actually fit very well with Amelie's pale complexion. She wondered if it was possibly a gift from Arabella or Lady Duras.

Admiring the little rubies set into the metal, Amelie let her gaze wander over the shiny surface they formed.

There were so many, all of them fitting together so seamlessly she could barely see where one ended and the other began. How many were there, ten, twenty, thirty, forty...

"Hey, ground control to Amelie. Are you still there?"

She flinched and looked up. Polly was giving her a slightly annoyed look.

"You've been staring at that thing for almost five minutes."

Looking around, Amelie found that indeed the table had emptied a bit.

"I, uh, sorry..." she mumbled, "Are you finished too? Then let's go."

They made their way back to the den to change out of their robes. It was already far too warm to be running around with them outdoors.

Shortly before noon, they stepped out of the entrance portal and made their way towards the Great Hall.

There was no one else around aside from them, making Amelie think of how strange the empty castle had felt over the Christmas holidays.

Just as they reached the bottom of the Moving Staircase, Amelie almost bumped into someone coming up from the dungeons.

"Oh, hey Cecilia."

The Slytherin was also without her robes and wearing one of the short-sleeved summer shirts belonging to their uniform.

"Hey, are you heading up for lunch?"

"Yeah," Amelie replied, brushing some hair from face.

The shiny bracelet caught Cecilia's eye and she pointed at it. "That's new. Looks beautiful"

"Thanks, I just got it this morning for my birthday."

"Ah, congratulations."

Cecilia was still admiring the silver trinket and so Amelie slipped it off her wrist.

"Do you want to take a look? I think my, uhm, foster family might have sent it to me."

Nodding, Cecilia stepped closer. Her fingers brushed over the solid surface of glimmering rubies.

"Hey," Polly shouted from down the corridor, giving them an impatient look, "you coming?"

Amelie turned her head and shouted back, "Yeah, just a m-"

The bells struck noon and the words never left her mouth when something suddenly grabbed her by the navel and pulled her forward into the bracelet.

She tried to scream as she felt like being pressed through a tiny hole made of glaringly bright light. It seemed to shrink with every passing moment.

Somewhere to her left she could hear Cecilia's voice crying out, high-pitched and distorted.

Before she knew it, the blinding lights disappeared and she was thrust into darkness.

Dropping out of the air, Amelie landed hard on a cold stone floor, knocking the wind from her. As the bright spots faded from her vision, she could see the faint outlines of a room.

Groaning in pain, Amelie rolled onto her back, when she was suddenly seized around the throat by a strong hand that pressed her against the ground.

Someone laughed and she heard a deep, snarling voice.

"Happy birthday, Miss de Valois."