Gideon continued to stare into the mirror, moving it around to catch the light in different ways, to the point where Madam Longbottom began to give him a questioning look. He couldn't understand it. His perception might still be off but there was no mistaking it. Both eyes were the same shade of blue, somehow neither light nor dark, but deep like the ocean.

Gideon had always preferred his green eye with its hazel corona. However, so long as both eyes matched, he supposed it was an improvement. The odd contrast of his heterochromia with his dark hair and fair complexion had always been the real problem.

His newly matching eyes and parted hair gave him a symmetry he had never possessed. It was a small change really, but to Gideon the difference was striking. He was seeing himself in a new light. A better light. The boy in the mirror was still pale, short, and skinny, but he didn't look odd.

'Is everything okay?' asked the matron with concern in her voice.

'Did you do something?' he asked quietly, finally returning the hand mirror.

The matron looked confused. 'How do you mean?' she asked.

'My eye...' he replied as if no further explanation was required, but the matron showed no sign of recognition. 'It used to be a different colour.'

'You mean the bruising?'

'No. My left eye. It was green! I had heterochromia.'

'The eye I have been treating has always been blue, Gideon,' she said sceptically, 'and your treatment information from St Mungo's didn't mention anything about heterochromia.'

Gideon's mind began to race. If what the matron said was accurate, his eye hadn't changed recently. It would have been so since his hospitalisation. Since the Dementor attack.

Grimsby had confirmed that the attack had triggered the release of his magic. Could that be connected to his eye changing colour? If so, was it possible that his heterochromia, like the seizures, was another symptom of his magic trying to escape? Or perhaps it was something more? What if it was the cause?

'I can look into it for you if you like?' the matron offered.

'No. It's fine.' Gideon assured her. 'Thank you for everything, Madam Longbottom.'

Gideon slowly made his way back to the Common Room deep in thought. It was late and the corridors were mostly clear of other students. He was sure that Madam Longbottom could uncover proof of his eye condition. However, he suspected her search would end there, with a simple medical explanation.

Gideon now believed there was more to it, something that wasn't going to be uncovered so easily. It kept coming back to him that his magic had to be released. That implied that it wasn't simply dormant, but that it might have been sealed. Sealed by someone or something. He couldn't help but wonder, what if his left eye had been evidence of that? What if it was a curse mark?

Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, but it seemed to fit, just as all the other pieces of the puzzle had. Gideon didn't know much about the subject, but he, like most children in the wizarding world, had grown up hearing about the most famous curse mark of all. The lightning bolt-shaped scar of The Chosen One—The Boy Who Lived.

Harry Potter's scar was supposedly the result of surviving the Killing Curse as a baby. He had been attacked by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Did that mean Gideon had been cursed by someone? Did someone try to kill him as a baby too? Was that what Grimsby was hiding? Was it some kind of Ministry security issue that he couldn't discuss? Gideon shook his head. That didn't seem to fit.

What he did know, was that he was born magical and that something had happened to take away his magic. His eyes had been mismatched for as long as he could remember. If there was a connection and his eyes changed because of the release of his magic, then something must have been done to him when he was very young. Maybe it was something to do with his birth mother?

Gideon stopped in his tracks. He hadn't given the woman much thought. He had put her away in the back of his mind. Wondering about Gwendoline Drake, who she was and what had happened to her, felt like a disservice to his real mother, the woman who had raised him and was currently at St Mungo's.

Grimsby had mentioned that the Ministry had some information about her. Perhaps now was the time to see it?

'Look who it is!' announced Greg Stevens, leading his pack of Gryffindors down the corridor towards Gideon. 'That is him, isn't it?'

'What happened to your patch, Gideon? Get tired of playing Peter Pan?' Jason teased.

'Hook's the one who wears the eye patch, Jason,' Gideon corrected, standing his ground but analysing his surroundings.

With Greg and Jason, were three other boys, including Alex Grimsby standing at the back of the group. He looked just as angry as the last time Gideon had seen him. There was no getting past them, there were no doors nearby that he could dash into or teachers he could seek help from, and he wouldn't be able to outrun them.

'Yeah, well, whatever!' Jason responded, 'At least with the patch we didn't have to look at your creepy eyes, you little mutant!'

It was typical. He had been wearing an eye patch for weeks. Nobody at Hogwarts ever need know about his heterochromia, and yet here were the only three people at the school who did, all of them enemies.

'What are you talking about?' Gideon replied, feigning confusion while trying to buy time.

Jason appeared to squint and understanding dawned on him, 'His freaky eye's gone!'

'I thought he looked different! No worries, little man, we'll have you looking like your old, creepy self in no time!' said Greg nastily as he fished out his wand and began to close the gap between them.

Gideon had been slowly but discreetly reaching into his robe pocket for his wand during their conversation. He had a grip on it, but he hadn't come up with any ideas to get out of this mess. Duelling certainly wasn't an option. Again, he was reminded of how the other students had an edge over him in terms of experience.

Gideon cast his eyes around the corridor until he saw it, the tapestry hanging on the wall to his left. Mr Grimsby had pointed it out as they walked to the castle entrance. He would only have one chance to take them by surprise, he just hoped Grimsby's memory had been accurate.

Greg's vicious grin widened as he raised his wand above his head, preparing to cast his spell, but Gideon whipped out his own and yelled, 'Fumos!'

Just as it had down by the lake, a thick stream of smoke spewed from Gideon's wand, only this time, there was no wind to carry it away. Owing to the narrow confines of the corridor, Greg and his friends were quickly enveloped by fumes. Gideon, who had known ahead of time to hold his breath and close his eyes, blindly fumbled with the tapestry and sure enough, there was a hollow behind it.

'Lumos,' Gideon whispered as he opened his eyes inside one of the castle's many hidden passageways. Beyond the tapestry, he heard coughing, sputtering and the voice of Jason Crawley furiously demanding to know where Gideon had gone. He ran down the dark, ever-descending path.

At the end of the long passage was another tapestry. Gideon poked his head out and recognised a corridor by the top of the Entrance Hall staircase. There was still a chance the Gryffindors knew about the passageway or that they would find it. So, Gideon ran to the Common Room, with a big grin plastered across his face the whole way.

***

When Gideon entered the Slytherin Common Room out of breath but grinning like a Cheshire cat, his new friends demanded to know what had happened. He ended up recounting his tale several times to them, his former dormmates and several other Slytherins who took delight in hearing one of their own triumph over the Gryffindors.

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The gathering of students turned into a small celebration. Jack the prefect managed to rustle up some treats from the kitchens, a group of older students broke out acoustic guitars and a make-shift drum kit using empty containers, and the twins, Jade and Jasper showed off some synchronised dancing while others sang popular Muggle songs.

'Must be nice to have that patch off, Gideon, congrats!' said Dorian as they clinked glasses.

'Thanks, it is!' Gideon replied, taking a delightful swig of fizzy pumpkin juice.

'Oh, that's what's different about you!' Gio chimed in, causing Dorian to shake his head.

'I just wish I could have seen their faces!' said Eoin for the third time that evening.

'You wouldn't have been able to, would you? Gideon fogged the gits good and proper!' Dorian commented as the group burst into hysterics.

'I'm glad you got that Alex Grimsby, Gideon,' said Cheryl Fitzsimmons, a tall girl with pigtails who had joined the discussion along with Sasha and the other third-year girls, 'I just hate boys who are prettier than me!'

'Yeah, that must be tough,' said Eoin dryly, whom Cheryl proceeded to hit playfully.

'Let's hope we can follow Gideon's example when we face them on the Quidditch pitch!' said Gio.

'You haven't made the team yet, Gio!' Tim reminded him.

'It's in the bag, trust me!' he replied while Dorian and Eoin rolled their eyes.

***

It had been a great evening. Gideon had never really been to a party with children his age. At least, not one where he was welcome. And they had been celebrating him in part! Still, as he lay in bed that night, watching the glow of the dorm window, he couldn't help thinking about his eye again. He tried going to sleep by promising himself he would visit the library and look up curse marks, but an errant memory was slowly struggling to surface.

He had done the same thing in another library around two years ago, hadn't he? After starting at Middling Academy, he had been fairly dedicated to scouring the British Library's books for answers about something. Something which he had eventually given up on after almost losing his life in a traffic collision. Gideon sat upright in his bed as the memory became clear.

'The Weaving,' he uttered under his breath. That was what he had been researching. It was something he had overheard in a discussion between his father and his grandmother. He concentrated and tried to recall the context. They had been talking about Gideon. A secret. Something that had been done to him. They had even mentioned Jonathan Grimsby.

This was it! This was what Grimsby couldn't tell him. Gideon was suddenly furious with himself for having buried such an important memory. So, his father and Grandmother were aware that something had been done to him. Something called The Weaving.

Whatever that was, it had presumably caused the loss of his magic, and possibly by extension, his heterochromia. But why had his grandmother been concerned about it? And why had it been done to him in the first place? Gideon was so close to an answer, he felt it in his bones.

***

Gideon didn't know how he had fallen asleep, as busy as his mind had been the night before, but he jumped out of bed as soon as the clock chimed on Thursday morning. He felt hyperaware as if he'd been eating chocolate-covered coffee beans.

After showering, Gideon observed his new reflection in the bathroom mirror. Out of habit, he made to flatten his fringe but stopped himself. Instead, he brushed his wet hair neatly and left It parted down the middle. He didn't just look different. He felt different. The corners of his mouth curled upward. He didn't dislike the new him. Although, he still wished he was taller!

The reading Gideon had done in preparation for third-year double Potions with Professor Long had been a waste. His mind was elsewhere, and it showed. When the students were supposed to present a sample of their Softening Solution at the end of class, Gideon's was ironically thick. Getting his sample into a vial was akin to putting toothpaste back into the tube.

Professor Long was far from impressed. She vanished his vial on the spot and tasked him with the extra homework of figuring out his mistakes. Along with her make-up work, Gideon had a lot to do before he could research The Weaving or curse marks.

Luckily, his new timetable gave him a free period after lunch, which he used to get started. He made a fair amount of progress before having to leave for Defence Against the Dark Arts, where he sat with Talia again.

She seemed to notice his patch had disappeared but didn't mention it. She kindly shared her textbook again while Professor Maxwell lectured them on the differences between Grindylows and Kappas, which were both dangerous water-dwelling creatures.

Gideon shook his head at the absurdity of his current situation. Here he was, sitting in front of the father who had abandoned him, pretending they weren't related. The man had all the answers Gideon was looking for, but he couldn't ask him.

The insanity of it all might have been funny if it wasn't so infuriating. For a mere instant, a flicker of Gideon's true feelings broke free of his mind's well-honed controls.

'Something the matter?' Talia murmured.

'No, nothing,' he replied.

'Okay, but you might want to put that out...' she suggested.

'Wha—argh!' Gideon cried upon noticing a small fire licking at his chin from the middle of his piece of parchment. He grabbed Talia's textbook and slammed it down hard over the flame.

The heads of the students and the professor whipped around to locate the source of the resounding thud. They came to rest on a red-faced Gideon, trying to look nonchalant through a thin veil of smoke, and Talia attempting to conceal her laughter behind her hands.

'What do you think you're doing back there?' yelled Professor Maxwell. 'Pay attention or get out! Five points from both your houses!'

Talia composed herself with some effort and the professor continued lecturing.

Once it seemed safe to do so, Gideon whispered frantically, 'Did I do that? I'm so sorry, that's never happened to me before!'

'Don't worry,' she replied, 'I'm just glad it wasn't me, for once! I can't believe you didn't notice! What were you thinking about?'

'Just someone who's been bugging me!' Gideon joked cleverly, remembering their first conversation.

***

Gideon spent another evening in the library but remembered to stop for dinner this time. He desperately wanted to research his personal matters, but with his make-up work, the regular load of third-year homework and the preparation reading for his new classes, there just wasn't time right now.

While reading the first chapter of the textbook for Ancient Runes, Gideon worried that he might have been better off studying Divination, after all. The strange symbols and pictograms in the book all seemed to blend. They were quite literally a foreign language to him. He went to sleep that night picturing the symbols whenever he closed his eyes.

***

All too soon, Gideon found himself looking at the funny symbols again. Professor Rebus had two blackboards in his classroom, one of them covered in runes. He was a bizarre-looking older man. He had white hair with matching friendly mutton chops and wore houndstooth-patterned robes with a silver pocket watch attached, and interestingly enough, a monocle.

When he took a puff from an old-fashioned pipe, Gideon couldn't help but giggle at how much he looked like a stereotypical character from an old Muggle detective novel. The image was funnier still when his pipe expelled bubbles instead of smoke.

Despite appearances, he turned out to be rather interesting. With one foot up on a chair, he delighted the students with tales of his time as an archaeologist, then later as a curse breaker. Gideon came to understand that a knowledge of Ancient Runes was useful in fields such as those, where old writings could be messages, instructions or even warnings.

When his bubbles finally ran out, the professor was startled to see how much time had gone by, 'Right, enough dawdling! Turn to page twelve in your books and identify the runes I've listed on the board. Quickly now.'

The seat next to Gideon was taken by a Hufflepuff girl he didn't know. 'Do you mind if I share your textbook? I don't have mine yet,' he said.

She smiled meekly, shook her head, made a confirmatory sort of noise, and slid over the book. The girl looked familiar, but Gideon couldn't place her. She had rich brown eyes and her black hair was separated into two thick braids, which wrapped around the sides and met at the back like a laurel crown.

'Thanks,' he said, to which she smiled again and repeated the mumbling sound. 'I'm Gideon. I'm new—sort of.'

'Ruby,' she whispered, despite most of the other students talking openly.

As they got on with the work, Gideon came across several parts he was unsure of and asked Ruby for assistance. He quickly realised Ruby was a painfully shy girl and limited himself to yes or no questions. Ruby would simply smile and answer with a nod or shake of her head.

Gideon was glad to discover Ancient Runes wasn't as dull as he had expected. The way the symbols could stand for numbers, letters, words or even phrases was intriguing. However, he was doubtful of whether he would be able to remember the shapes and their combinations with any ease. They reminded him of astronomy constellations, which he had always struggled with.

As they packed up their bags, Gideon handed Ruby her textbook and thanked her again, when their hands touched briefly, and he got a mild static shock. 'Oops, sorry!' he said, laughing it off.

However, Ruby appeared to have suffered a much stronger shock. She dropped the book and nursed her hand. Her eyes were closed tightly as if in pain.

When she remained that way, Gideon, a little panic-stricken, asked her, 'Ruby? Are you okay? Did I do something—'

Ruby finally made her odd noise, smiled weakly and shook her head. Gideon was confused but relieved.

'Well, see you later?' he said apprehensively as he spotted Dorian and Tim leaving the room. She smiled in reply, and he made to follow the boys.

'Umm, Gideon?' Ruby muttered. He barely heard her but turned back. She was looking down at the floor while holding her bag close to her chest. 'Y-you should be careful of fire, Gideon,' she said hesitantly.

'Huh?' Gideon replied before it dawned on him, 'Oh, did you hear about yesterday? It was just an accident; I was distracted and a little upset about something, but I put it out right away!'

Ruby looked into Gideon's eyes earnestly for a few moments and opened her mouth as if to say something.

'Are you coming, Gideon?' called Tim.

A bemused Gideon briefly turned to see Tim and Dorian waiting for him beyond the door. When he looked back around, Ruby had left without another word.