Emilia found herself slowly beginning to doze off as the pleasant warmth and cracking of the flames in the stone fireplace reflected on her blissful face. Her and Ash were laying on the leather couch in her hideout, cuddled up under a crotched blanket and he was caressing her hair gently whilst seemingly beginning to fall asleep himself.

Just as her heavy eyelids were finally about to close the boy shifted and sat up gently, awaking her from the dreamy state she was in.

‘Can I ask you something?’ – his gentle voice sounded right above her ear.

The girl also forced herself to sit up, the blanket sliding off the couch and onto the wooden floor.

‘Of course. What’s wrong?’ – she turned to him and sat with her legs crossed.

‘Could you heal these?’ – he rolled up his sleeves and revealed countless cuts all over his forearms, most still open and bleeding.

‘Merlin’s beard, Ash… What happened to you?’ – she exclaimed and without thinking grabbed onto both of his arms with her hands, the white halo appearing around them instantly as her magic began to work.

The Ravenclaw sighed revealed.

‘Quidditch training.’ – he replied swiftly as she stared at him with worry, but seeing her expression not changing he further explained himself. – ‘You know how often players get hurt. I thought of going to nurse Blainey but then I remembered I have my best medicine right here.’ – his warm smile grew wider and he caressed her face with one hand lovingly.

Emilia smiled sweetly as his gentle touch spread warmth through her body and a moment later her palms moved away from his forearms revealing the healed skin with nothing but faint white scars left behind. She’s felt an irritating pain spread through her body but she’s become more used to the unpleasant feeling her healing caused. She was just happy to be able to help.

As she looked back up at Ash she noticed that with each time she had healed him more and more strands of his hair remained white. She was curious as to why that was happening since that was not the case for anyone else – except for Atticus who also had a singular strand of snow-white hair hiding between his black curls.

‘Seems like we will have matching haircuts soon.’ – she remarked with a playful smirked.

The boy turned his hair to see his reflection in the stained-glass window and smiled slyly as he noticed the whiteness of his hair evolving. He then turned back to the girl and pressed his lips against hers in a sweet, gentle kiss.

Their little moment was interrupted by the door opening and they raised their heads back up to see Rosie walk in with Ominis right behind her.

A strange, new duo, Emilia thought to herself, but smiled and greeted her friends with a wave as they approached the couch. Ash got onto his feet.

‘I better get going.’ – he stated and put his jacket back on.

‘Where are you going?’ – Rosie asked curiously.

‘Have got to run some errands for Headmaster Black.’ – the boy explained.

‘Isn’t it a bit late for that? The curfew’s starting soon.’ – Emilia noticed as she looked at the old, detailed clock on the wall.

‘Well, I guess not for the Head Prefect.’ – he shrugged with a faint smile and gave his girl a quick kiss as a goodbye before disappearing behind the door leading back to the Astronomy Tower.

‘That’s weird.’ – Rosie murmured under her breath and Ominis nodded in agreement.

Emilia sighed and laid back down on the couch with resignation.

...

Later that night, she climbed up to the top of the Tower where she promised to meet with Atticus. Surprising place to choose to meet, especially since they were meant to go to the Forbidden Forest together but her friends peculiarity has also become something Emilia was used to.

She stood beside the great telescope with wind blowing the hair out of her low bun and watched the moon and stars reflecting on the perfectly still surface of the Black Lake below. Edges of the lake were wrapped in a cover of hard ice and remains of snow that had melted throughout the day were freezing as the temperature began lowering again.

‘Boo!’ – she heard a loud whisper behind her and jumped lightly just to turn around quickly and scold her dark haired friend for scaring her.

The girl elbowed him with brows narrowed in annoyance.

‘Very funny.’ – she gave him an intimidating look which was almost immediately replaced with a gentle smile. – ‘Why did you want to meet all the way up here?’

Just then she noticed two fatigued brooms Atticus was holding in both of his hands which were difficult to see in the darkness of the night only lightened by the full moon peeking at them both from the starry sky.

‘What, did you think we were going to walk all the way there?’ – her friend chuckled and handed her one of the brooms.

‘Well, I guess you’re right.’ – Emilia smirked.

They both approached the balustrade and stepped over their brooms, before exchanging smiles and taking off into the dark.

It was beyond exciting. The strikingly sharp gusts of December wind cutting through her hair and attire, causing her fingers wrapped around the tip of the broom to turn red from the painful cold.

Wondering where her and Atticus were to wind up this time, she looked over to him to see him already staring at her with a playful smirk on his lips and his black curls dancing in the wind and covering half of his face.

They were both flying over the Black Lake, looking down the completely dark surface was only broken by the drops of rain, hitting on the very last remains of ice still floating around the water. Upon looking upwards, the eerie and dark depths of the Forbidden Forest spread way up north, covering up most of the Highlands left from Hogsmeade, which was nothing but a bunch of dimmed lights far away, barely seen from the distance and the awful weather.

Despite the night being awfully dark and moody, no stars to be seen and the dull moonlight hiding behind the rainclouds, the flight was enjoyable and Emilia kept on admiring the views around her whilst at the same time trying to keep her balance on the raggedy school broom which at this height was quite difficult to control.

Her Slytherin friend got closer to her and spoke loudly, only to still be barely audible due to the wind and rain.

‘The cave is up north!’ – she could barely make out what he said.

‘Cave? We are going to a cave?’ – she asked equally as loudly.

‘Well, more of a tomb actually.’ – his smirk widened mischievously.

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‘What for?’ – she looked at him with confusion, struggling to maintain proper balance on the broom. – ‘I don’t think breaking into tombs is in my style… I wouldn’t want to disturb any spirits living there.’

She could tell he couldn’t hear her reply well over the stronger gust of wind that’s just passed through.

‘It’ll be fun Vay, you’ll see! You’ll never believe what I found in…’

His expression turned from playful to mortified within mere seconds as he noticed someone past Emilia.

‘…Watch out!’ – he ducked down instantly.

Everything in that moment happened so rapidly that the girl didn’t even get a chance to react properly and she just instinctively looked to her left and with a split second she saw two hooded figures on brooms speeding right at her.

Her heart dropped and her mind went blank and in the very last moment she did try to dodge the attack but it was too late.

She felt herself get lifted up from her broom by her arms and both figures grabbed her mid-flight, the sudden force causing great pain in her muscles and having her screaming both in fear and in pain.

The figure to the right pointed her wand right at her and from underneath of the dark hood she could see a faint silhouette of a mouth opening to recite the incantation. Feeling the sudden surge of adrenaline beginning to pump through her veins, with all the force her body had to offer she swung with both of her legs upwards and kicked the arm of her kidnapper, causing his wand to fall and immediately get lost in the darkness of the Lake.

The disoriented figure that’s just been left without their wand lightly leapt backwards as a result of the kick and instinctively, Emilia ripped her right arm away, the sudden extra weight under the attacker on the left having his broom begin tipping backwards.

The girl used it as the opportunity to wiggle out her other arm and the mere moment later she was falling down.

...

The overwhelming darkness and coldness so piercing, it seemed as if it was the sharpest sword being forced into every crevice of her body, was all around her. She was barely awake after the impact with the water which felt like falling onto concrete, and breaking through the barrier into the coldest possible place in the whole universe.

Emilia’s mind was foggy and heavy, she could feel her lungs running out of air but her body did not try and fight back up to the top. For what felt like an eternity, she floated there in the dark depths of the lake, her body completely numb due to the first stages of hypothermia beginning to develop within her.

Her eyes were closed but she felt the sudden touch of someone wrapping their arms around her and lifting her up slowly, rising up to the surface steadily. As her head was risen up from the water she met with the first breath of the crisp winter air that instantly cleared up her foggy mind. She fluttered her eyelashes to get rid of the cold water trying to get into her eyes and saw Atticus dragging her out the water and onto the muddy ground right outside the road to Hogsmeade that was lit up by the dim streetlights.

The girl coughed up the water that was in her throat and mouth as her friend, now equally as drenched as her helped her sit and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

‘Thank God you’re okay…’ – he kept on whispering to himself, visibly unphased by his own body shivering with cold.

Emilia kept on struggling to get rid of the water in her system and catching her breath so he just gave her a moment before she seemed well enough to be able to move on her own.

‘Come on, let’s get you back to the castle.’ – he helped her up but saw her knees giving up so he had to hold her up to prevent her from slipping down again. – ‘Do you need me to carry you?’

‘N-no… No…’ – she protested, still coughing and breathing unsteadily. – ‘I’m fine.’

The girl stepped away on her own, despite her legs weak and still in pain, to prove that she could walk on her own.

‘Alright.’ – he contested, and bent down to grab his own broom, as well as his jacket which as she just then had noticed were left right there on the wet grass, most likely right before he had come to her rescue.

He put the jacket over her arms, to at least somewhat protect her drenched skin from getting even more cold from the sharp December wind and she didn’t resist, she felt far too weak to act brave at that moment.

‘We need to get you to your dormitory. Come on, Vay.’ – he put his arm around her and helped her move forward slowly whilst at the same time trying to cover her from the breeze with his own body.

‘No, not there.’ – she shook her head and he looked at her questioningly. – ‘I don’t want the girls giving me a hard time over getting myself in trouble again. I have a better place.’

He raised his brow but didn’t protest.

‘Okay then, lead the way.’

They were quiet the most way back to the castle, both shivering and fighting the cold wind blowing through their wet attires, their hearts finally beginning to beat more steadily now that the adrenaline was beginning to wear off.

Only when they were already on the spiral staircase of the Astronomy Tower did Atticus mutter under his breath with anger:

‘I don’t understand how they got so close to the castle undetected.’

‘Huh?’ – she looked over to him, grabbing the balustrade with all her strength to pull herself up another step up the tower.

‘Downer’s loyalists.’ – he explained. – ‘I mean, I should’ve figured they might have known who you were by now but I wouldn’t have expected them to come so close to the castle’s grounds to try and catch you.’

‘Wait, you think that was them?’ – she shivered, this time with fear and not cold.

He nodded with his jaw clenched in anger.

‘But… how do you think they know I’m the child from the prophecy?’

‘People talk, Vay.’ – he looked at her, one of his wet, black curls getting into his eyes. – ‘Ever since you saved that boy in the Forbidden Forest…’

‘We, Atticus.’ – she corrected him.

‘…Right, we. Ever since we saved that boy people around the village were talking about how he came out of a troll attack totally unharmed. Especially with the blood on his clothes but no wound to be seen.’ – her heart felt heavy. – ‘Also, people around the school seemed to notice the connection of you being the only other friend of Gaunt’s besides Sebastian and how he miraculously regained his sight right after Elle, who has also not once been seen hanging out with anyone other than you, also stopped needing to wear glasses all of the sudden.’

She looked down at her feet in silence as they stood at the top of the staircase, right outside the little corridor leading up to her secret room.

‘So… what you’re saying is…’ – she sighed heavily, handing him back the jacket as they approached the wall. – ‘All of the help I’ve been trying to do has backfired by revealing me to Downer?’

‘No, Vay, listen, that’s not what I’m trying to…’ – his mouth brows narrowed in surprise as the door appeared in front of them. – ‘…What the hell? What is this place?’

‘I don’t know, I’ve found it a couple of months ago, and just kept coming here whenever I needed a break from people. I’ve shown it to Elle, so she could come hang around when she needed peace and same with girls and Sebastian and Ominis, and…’

‘Well shit, and I thought I knew everything about this castle.’ – he chuckled, looking around and admiring the room.’ – ‘But… why didn’t you show it to me?

She bit her lip and looked away, feeling guilty.

‘I was meaning to, but…’

‘But what?’ – he seemed offended.

Suddenly, the doors behind them opened and closed rapidly and they both turned around to see Ash walk in.

‘Emilia?’ – he saw her and immediately run up to her and grabbed her by both arms. – ‘What on earth happened to you?’

Atticus took a step back and scoffed at the sight of his adoptive brother.

Ash turned to him with a grave expression.

‘What did you do this time.’ – his voice was cold with hate, which was completely unusual to the always sweet and caring boy she always knew.

‘Me?’ – Atticus looked at him, getting angrier with each second.

‘Yes, you.’ – his green eyes were staring right at him with despise. – ‘I told you more than enough times already, to stop putting MY GIRLFRIEND in danger, if you don’t want to have to mess with ME.

‘You think I’m trying to put her in danger? Stop lying to yourself, and to everyone else! I’m her friend, I wouldn’t try to hurt her, she’s my only friend!’ – Atticus’ voice risen with every word.

‘And why do you think that is, huh?’ – A smug smirk appeared on Ash’s face, but his eyes remained cold. – ‘Maybe, you don’t have any friends because Emilia was the only one naive enough to actually be fooled by you! You scare everyone at the school. Remember, no one wants to be associated with dark wizards.’

‘Excuse me?’ – the girl looked at her boyfriend surprised and angered. – ‘Why are you calling me nai…’

‘Well then, I guess everyone at this damned school… No, actually, everyone in the whole fucking wizarding world are naive idiots for ever seeing you as the picture perfect friend, student and son, instead of seeing you for who you ACTUALLY ARE.’ – The Slytherin’s fists were clenched so hard that his knuckles turned white.

‘And who would that be, my dear brother?’ – he gave him a challenging stare.

‘Well, let’s think… considering all of the dark magic books I have found in your room last summer, that later on MAGICALLY appeared under my own bed when our parents came to check… All of those envelopes I’ve been seeing you sending out and receiving recently with a different owl every time… And this strange amount of special trips you’ve been assigned to take by Headmaster Black who AS WE ALL KNOW, has been accused of conspiring against the Ministry within the last few years…’

‘Stop!’ – Ash pulled out his wand. – ‘Not a word more. You don’t know what you’re saying.

Atticus pulled out his own wand right after him.

‘I only have one more word to say to you…’ – he paused before pointing his wand at his brother. – ‘Confringo!’

A fire bolt flew through the air and Ash dodged it quickly whilst pulling Emilia away from the way as well.

‘Stupefy!’ – the Slytherin dropped down to avoid the spell which struck into the shelf right behind him. – ‘Atticus, you can either leave now and never talk to Emilia again or you will leave me with no choice…’

His brother scoffed and got back on his knees.

‘Try me.’

They both raised their wands instantly and a red light bolt came out of Atticus’ wand while a green one came out of Ash’s.

‘Flipendo!’

‘Crucio!’

Emilia’s body leapt forward before she even got a chance to think about what was about to happen.