Dumbledore had returned and took his place as Headmaster once again. Umbridge had been banished from Hogwarts, with her forced to say that she will never return to the castle. Dumbledore had requested a meeting with the three girls in his office. Olivia, Amelia and Isabell were silently walking to an ugly gargoyle.

‘Tenpin bowling,’ Isabell mumbled as a circular, stone staircase started emerging. 

They stepped on one step as they went up, until the staircase went to a stop. They faced two, large doors. Amelia knocked on the door, and a calm voice from inside answered. 

‘Enter.’

Amelia pushed open the door to see Dumbledore sitting on the top floor of his round office. Fawkes the phoenix squawked as it flew away from its perch and went to the top floor, with the girls climbing a few stairs. They saw Dumbledore seated on a blue throne that was framed gold and had a golden owl head and wings at the top back rail. In front of the Headmaster was a small table, which contained four glass cups of pumpkin juice. There were also three chairs with blue seat cushions, which the three girls sat on and patiently waited for Dumbledore to start the conversation. Dumbledore was stroking Fawkes, who had rested on the owl on the top back rail as it let out a pleased musical cry. 

‘Drink up before we start,’ Dumbledore said calmly. ‘After all you’ve been through, you certainly deserve a nice drink to soothe your thoughts.’ 

Each girl held a cup and sipped the pumpkin juice, then cautiously placed the empty cups on the table. 

‘Now, I hear that you found a prophecy about you three,’ Dumbledore spoke as he leaned in slightly. 

Amelia, Isabell and Olivia all nodded together. 

‘We were destined to have Magical Talents,’ Isabell admitted. 

‘Yes, you indeed were,’ Dumbledore agreed. ‘And for good reason. You all are capable of handling such talents, talents that could even reveal the darkest wizard in the Wizarding World. But, my point isn’t that. I do not want to tire you by making you see into Voldemort’s secrets or thoughts, or be able to communicate with his snake, Nagini. You’d need to face him to be able to do that, and you wouldn’t have time to perform your talents unless you avoid his killing curse.’

There Dumbledore paused as his back rested on the backrest and put his arms on the armrest to comfort himself. He took his cup of pumpkin juice and quietly sipped it, then held the cup as his twinkling blue eyes gazed at the three girls. 

‘Now, have any of you asked yourself who wrote the prophecy?’

‘The voice sounded like a woman,’ Amelia responded. 

‘A woman with the name of Victoria Clearwater.’ 

Amelia’s eyes went wide, so did Isabell and Olivia’s. 

How couldn’t I recognise my own mother’s voice- I guess it’s been so long…

‘Before her tragic death ten years ago, she secretly wrote a prophecy. Now, how could an ordinary woman like Victoria write a prophecy that granted three girls Magical Talents? Because she had those talents, and shared it with three girls that turned out to be the best of friends with an incantation: Participes potestates. That spell can only be performed non-verbally, and with the trust of the heart and concentration of the mind, which Victoria possessed as she created the prophecy that you found at the Ministry. Though Victoria assumed she would live to see you three gain those talents… things…. didn’t go as planned. Unfortunately, Voldemort found out about her powers and was afraid she would use them against him to reveal his past. So, you know what happened next.’

‘He killed her…’ Amelia whispered.

‘Yes…’

There Dumbledore paused again as he drank his pumpkin juice, until he looked at the girls’ shocked faces. 

‘What you have done at the Ministry exceeds the bravery that most people possess, please have that in mind. You all have ambition, courage, intelligence and loyalty, yet the Sorting Hat chose you three to be in Ravenclaw, even if you could have been in Hufflepuff, Slytherin or Gryffindor. That is all I have to say to you, I’ll have to meet Harry about Sirius’ tragic death… I shall see you around, and see your accomplishments that you will surely perform.’ 

The girls slowly got up from the blue cushions and bade the Headmaster goodbye. They opened the door to see Harry behind it. He entered Dumbledore’s office without meeting their eyes. They went down the stone staircase and headed to the Ravenclaw Common Room after Olivia answered the eagle knocker’s riddle. 

Golden streaks of sunlight entered through the arched windows of the Dormitory, making the stars etched on the blue ceiling twinkle with life. The sounds of dawn echoed outside. The waking chirps of birds within the tall trees of the Forbidden Forest, the sound of a dog howling from inside Hagrid’s hut as a broad figure entered it and the loud grunting of a giant deep within the trees and rustling leaves. 

Albert was already awake, sitting on a chair in the library. His elbows rested on his thighs and his head rested on his palms. He jerked his head up when he saw the girls enter, each one silent as though their tongues got cut. He decided not to ask them what Dumbledore had told them as they sat near him, all looking at each other. 

‘We should probably go to the Hall,’ Albert suggested quietly. 

The girls lightly nodded. 

They headed down to the Great Hall, where there were a few students having a conversation. They saw Filch removing pale pink frames from the wall, though disappointedly. They even thought he was softly whimpering.

‘I won’t get to whip some naughty troublemakers now…’ he whispered as he removed an Educational Decree from the wall near the Great Hall. 

Ms. Norris was there too, looking at her master with red eyes as she mewled at the sight of the three girls and Albert walking past. They sat at the beginning of the Ravenclaw table, nobody saying a word to the other as they patiently waited for the arrival of more students and teachers. Professor Mcgonagall, Snape, Professor Sprout and Professor Flitwick were already at the teacher’s desk, having a hushed conversation between them, though Snape didn’t seem to engage into anything they were discussing as his lips merely pursed. Students started arriving in groups or alone, until all four tables were full of hustling and animation and buzzing. Another figure strode into the Great Hall as his blue flowing cloak trailed behind him, his long white beard reaching his knees and his blue eyes twinkling through his half-moon spectacles. Dumbledore stood in front of everybody, arms outstretched to inform everyone to quiet down. The hall was silent, everyone holding their breath as they looked upon the Headmaster of Hogwarts. 

‘You have all worked hard to go through this challenging year,’ Dumbledore’s calm voice echoed around the vast hall. ‘Yet, also with hard work, a dark wizard has proven to have risen to power. Lord Voldemort has returned, his dark spirits among us. We must all stay united and strong, that is all I have to say. Now, you will have to enjoy a beautiful morning’s breakfast before I announce the winners of the Quidditch cup and the winners that received the most points.’ 

Food materialised on golden plates on the four plates as pleasant smells spread around the hall. Plates of baked beans appeared, with grilled sausages topped with small rings of fried onions. Fried and boiled eggs also appeared with the concert of food, along with pumpkin juice dropping into glass cups. Toast was on the plates, too, with plates of grapes, bananas, apples and cut watermelon. Everyone ate and the chattering and buzzing started to form amongst students. 

‘Hogwarts always has the best breakfast,’ Isabell muttered as she bit through a cut watermelon. ‘Makes me wish I stayed here for the holidays.’ 

Some of the watermelon juice dripped down to her chin as she bit through it again. She wiped the juice off her as she continued to feast. 

‘Well, if it weren’t for house-elves, Hogwarts wouldn’t have had such amazing cuisine,’ Amelia said, making Isabell and Olivia nod in agreement. ‘Still can’t believe that my mother had three magical talents and decided to give them to us before she… you know…’

‘Your mother had what?’ Albert gaped at her. 

‘Did I say that out loud?’ Amelia asked, smiling sheepishly. 

Everyone’s stomachs were filled with the warm food. The remains magically disappeared and Dumbledore clapped his hand once. Everyone remained silent. 

‘Now, time to announce the winners for the Quidditch cup! In fourth place, we have Hufflepuff with a total of two-hundred sixty points! Congratulations, your skills have improved and will continue to improve over the years!’ 

Enthusiastic applause came from the Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and 

Gryffindor tables, though the Slytherin table didn’t join them. 

‘In third place, we have Ravenclaw with a total of three-hundred and twenty points!’ 

Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and Hufflepuff cheered the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Isabell thumped Amelia’s back and Olivia beamed. 

‘And, for second place, we have Slytherin with three-hundred and sixty points!’ 

The Slytherins exploded into a loud applause, in which the other three houses didn’t join.

‘And that leaves Gryffindor as our winner and owner of this year’s Quidditch cup! They received a total of three-hundred and ninety points!’

Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor roared and cheered. However, the Slytherins merely booed them and stuck their tongues out. Dumbledore removed a red sheet with his wand to reveal the Quidditch cup, floating majestically in midair as sunlight shone to it, causing sparkles around the room. 

‘And now, for the house that received the most points…’

Everyone seemed to sit taller as they watched Dumbledore, the Quidditch cup’s sparkles on their eager faces. 

‘Fourth place, Gryffindor with six-hundred and sixty-nine points! (Warm applause echoed around the room from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw) In third place, we have Hufflepuff with six-hundred and ninety-eight points! (Clapping from the three participating houses) Second place… Ravenclaw with seven-hundred and thirty-four points! (Cheers from the three houses) Which leaves Slytherin in first place with seven-hundred and seventy-three points!’ 

The Slytherins exploded into applause as some of them - including Draco, Forrest, Levi, Leo and Beatrix - threw their hats up in the air with glee. The hangers in the Great Hall magically transformed into green with a twisted serpent on it. An apathetic, light applause was heard between the other three houses as the fourth one continued to celebrate. 

‘Of course they would have won, with the hag being sorted into Slytherin, she’s bound to favour that house. And to add to that, Snape has been deducting points from every house apart from Slytherin!’ Isabell protested.

‘Ah, well, there’s always next year,’ Albert shrugged. 

Dumbledore clapped his hand twice, and the Slytherin’s celebration eased. 

‘This year has been challenging for us all, but together we lived through it. An extremely kind and caring man did not. I would not like to talk about it. I shall see your bright faces next year, and for the students leaving Hogwarts, know that you didn’t leave the Hogwarts family,’ Dumbledore’s calm and clear voice echoed. 

The trio and Albert were patiently waiting for the Hogwarts Express to arrive at the station along with the other students. Olivia didn’t engage with Isabell, Amelia and Albert’s conversations. She thought of her parents. A distant choo-choo! sounded. It amplified as the Hogwarts Express arrived. 

‘Olivia,’ Albert began. 

Olivia remained silent. Albert nudged her and she looked at him, snapping out of her thoughts.

‘It arrived… Hogwarts Express…’

‘Oh.’

Hogwarts Express came to a halt, with the doors slowly opening. Students started to go through with their trunks, chattering and buzzing following them as they entered. 

‘Now that everyone knows You-Know-Who’s back, they will start to join the Order of the Phoenix, won’t they?’ Isabell asked as they found an empty compartment.

‘Call him Voldemort,’ Amelia said. 

Isabell shook her head.

‘People are very afraid, you know…’ responded Olivia, putting Twilight on her lap. ‘They put family first. They don’t want their families to die because they joined an order that’s trying to stop the darkest wizard of the Wizarding World.’

The view outside was like watching a movie, quickly moving from scene to scene, from trees to green valleys, from large mountains to owls hooting happily outside as they disappeared into the light of the bright sun. The trio and Albert didn’t talk to each other for a while; they kept gazing outside the window while the sun started drooping down and was bruised with orange. The skies turned red in a corner, while the other was spilled with orange, and the two colours clashed magnificently together.

‘Now that we know V-V-Voldemort is truly back to power and Fudge believed Dumbledore and Harry…’ began Isabell, flinching when she said You-Know-Who’s name. ‘What will the Ministry do now?’

‘The first thing they should do is fire Fudge!’ Amelia replied at once. 

Olivia and Albert nodded in agreement. 

‘Caused too many troubles, Fudge did,’ Albert criticised. ‘How he was a minister in the first place, I have no clue.’

‘What are you going to do during the holidays?’ Isabell asked casually, bringing a new topic into the conversation. 

Nobody answered instantly; they took their time to think about the few months without school and how they would use it. Amelia was the first to answer as she looked at Isabell. 

‘Well… with Emily around I might not be-’

Suddenly, they heard sniffing. They jerked their heads around to find Olivia sitting there in the corner, her body stuck to the wall in a ball position as she gazed out the window, her eyes slightly red from the tears that went down her cheeks. Albert gently tapped her shoulders and  she turned around, forcing a watery smile and then turned to look at the window. 

‘Olivia, what’s wrong?’ Amelia whispered, though she had seen those tears before; the same type tears had gone down her cheeks when her mother died, and when her father left her to be. 

‘None of your business,’ she snapped, then dug her head down so that they couldn’t see her face. 

Albert flinched as  he stopped himself from grabbing her and shaking her out of her mood. He looked away and didn’t talk. Outside, the sky was completely dark and stars started twinkling in a sort of rhythm and the moon crescent shone the most out of all the objects in the sky.  

The train gradually started slowing down, until it finally made its stop at King’s Cross Station. Olivia quickly exited the compartment, hiding her face and looking away. Albert began following her but she closed the compartment door behind her. 

‘What happened back at the Ministry affected her,’ Isabell realised, her eyes pinned on the compartment door. 

‘That still doesn’t explain why she’s acting like this,’ Albert retorted, looking angry for the first time. 

Amelia and Isabell looked at each other, then at him, surprised. They didn’t say anything as they slowly got up and got out of the compartment, leaving Albert to himself. They tried to find Olivia, who was already starting to go through the wall of platform 9 and ¾. 

‘Just leave her,’ a voice was heard from a small distance.

They both jerked their heads to see Albert, who had just exited the Hogwarts’ Express. But, when he was out of their sight, he ran to Olivia, who stopped as she noticed him swiftly rushing towards her. He stopped a few inches away, breathing heavily as his hands went through his fluffy hair.  

‘Wh-why were you acting so rude back there…’ he said breathlessly. 

Olivia suddenly burst into tears again and fell to the ground, face in her hands. Albert crouched down and looked at her. 

‘I-i-it’s just wh-what happened in the-’ she could barely make out words. 

‘Hey, babe, it’s alright, we both got through that Ministry stuff, we both are alright, aren’t we? It’s fine if your parents wanted to kill you and put you under the imperius curse…’ Albert looked down. ‘Not sure my parents would have saved me, though, if I were you. Heh, dad was a drunk man and my mom was just… too afraid of anything. You’re lucky we were here, and of course the Order. Just… it’s over, okay? We’re all fi-’ 

Amelia and Isabell had just appeared from Platform 9 and ¾. 

‘You seriously thought you could comfort her alone, without us,’ Isabell fumed.

Amelia had almost tripped on Olivia, then gasped when she saw a figure slowly approach her. It was a woman, with fair skin, brown hair, grey eyes and a sincere look. Emily smirked at Amelia and whispered in her ear. 

‘Because of you, my husband is in Azkaban…’ she cooed, then straightened herself and made a disgusted look as she saw Isabell, Olivia and Albert. 

‘He’s not your husband, he’s my father.’

‘Ah, a mudblood and two halfbloods,’ Emily whispered, looking at Albert with an especially disgusted look as though he was an oversized rat with rabies.

‘Albert isn’t m-mudblood!’ Olivia snarled. ‘Go away, you ghastly woman, you broke the heart of a girl! You broke the hearts of many people, and you’re proud of it!’

Amelia looked at Olivia, surprised, then faced Emily. 

‘It’s true. Without you, my father would have returned to normal…’ she added calmly, but Emily’s face turned red with fury.

‘You think that, do you? You think that your father is a nice man but I turned him into a monster? Well, you’re wrong. Your father is in fact a beast, but I didn’t make him like this. He made me like this. And I’m proud of it now.’

‘NO! YOU’RE THE MONSTER!’ Amelia suddenly yelled.  

‘AMELIA CLEARWATER, YOU WILL BE GROUNDED BY SERVING ME UNTIL YOU GO TO THE PATHETIC SCHOOL OF YOURS! YOU DARE OPPOSE A GROWN WOMAN WHEN YOU’RE A YOUNG TEENAGER?’

‘I’m sixteen!’ 

Several heads turned to Emily’s direction. She firmly grabbed Amelia by her wrist and dragged her away from her friends, not giving her the chance to bid them goodbye. Olivia spotted her aunt, uncle and cousin tapping their feet impatiently. Her aunt was giving judging glances at other women’s clothes and did some poses as though she were in a fashion show. Olivia rolled her eyes and dabbed them so that her cousin, Hailey, wouldn’t notice and make fun of her in the public.

‘Mum, the freak’s back,’ Hailey said, pulling on Olivia’s aunt’s new floral dress. Olivia realised her tone was really annoyed. 

Expected… she thought. 

‘Darling, you do realise this is a brand new dress made by my personal tailor!’ Mrs. Watson groused, then turned to Olivia. ‘Ah, you’re back. Well, come along, you will push your little shopping cart. And don’t let your ugly cat come near me!’ Aunt Watson had a great fear of cats, which was what Olivia had used as an advantage; she kept Twilight (her pet cat) outside her room door so that Aunt Watson wouldn’t dare enter to complain to her. 

Uncle Watson was surprisingly quiet, his belly as grand as Olivia could remember it. He merely walked away, Mrs. Watson and Hailey scurrying after him and Olivia at the back, Twilight following her as she pushed her trolley. 

Isabell’s father had come to pick her up when she passed through the wall. Her mother, Mrs. Bluesky, was home to take care of Ivan, Isabell’s brother. 

‘Before you ask, the exams were beautiful,’ Isabell said, putting a hand in front of Mr. Bluesky to silence him. 

Mr. Bluesky shrugged and led Isabell to his car, and as soon as she rode the car, they went along an empty road, and started soaring across the sky. 

Albert’s mother wasn’t able to come, as a letter that had just come to him by an owl said. He miserably walked away from King’s Cross Station, until he was stopped by Levi, Leo and Beatrix. 

‘Poor puppy all alone, eh?’ Levi sneered. 

‘What Levi meant to say is that you were pathetic at the Ministry,’ laughed Leo. ‘Yeah, we know all about it.’ 

Albert ignored them and continued walking on, all the way to his cottage, carrying a trunk on his back, and his pet Charm following. 

‘YOU’LL NEVER BE AS GOOD AS US!’ yelled Levi, his voice echoing through Albert’s mind.

‘Pretty sure I’m already good enough,’ Albert muttered. 

What they didn’t know was that Albert would become twice the people they were. In looks and brains the following year…The trio and Albert were now on their way, miles away, but their hearts were stuck together, even if they were separated. Because their friendship was a very strong one, full of love and doubt, which just made their friendship stronger and stronger.