Father had told us to go back to our dormitories, but Holly, Kaya and I decided to go talk somewhere private.

We were searching the castle for a place for us to talk where no-one could see us.

Finally, out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a door. I turned back and waved over the other girls. “I swear that wasn’t here before…” Kaya commented, narrowing her eyes at the door.

We entered anyway. It was the perfect place – not too large and not too small, with a window on the far side of the room. There were couches in the middle of the room, with a huge fridge on the side, which I found out was mainly filled with chocolate.

Naturally, Holly grabbed all the chocolate straightaway. Kaya, looking irritated, peered into the fridge and re-emerged holding some Whittaker’s chocolate.

As for me, I knew there was no chocolate left, so, frustrated, I sank onto a couch. “I wish there was more chocolate left,” I muttered, and immediately, a large block of white chocolate appeared on the table.

Kaya, Holly and I stared. Holly finished her mouthful and then asked, “How did you do that?”

I shrugged. “No idea,” I replied honestly.

We didn’t bother exhausting the possibilities of this strange room. Instead, we just ate chocolate. “We should talk now,” I told them.

On the opposite side of the room, a sign reading ‘NO WRACKSPURTS ALLOWED HERE’ appeared on the wall.

I grinned. “Apparently this room has a sense of humour,” Kaya commented.

This was a really odd room. It could make all sorts of things appear.

Holly glanced up at me. “I’ll just finish eating this first, okay?”

I nodded.

Since I had nothing better to do in the meantime, I walked over to the window and looked out. The night sky was cloudy, with a trace of fog in the air.

I observed that nothing visible was happening down by the Shrieking Shack.

However, what I did see was a flash of movement, as if something – or someone – was flying towards the window. I called the others over.

I suddenly realised that Holly eating chocolate was an extremely bad idea – she was now even crazier than usual. “What did you see? Some fog?” she asked me, grinning.

“Well, yeah,” I began, “there is fog out there, but –”

“Ha!” she exclaimed triumphantly. “My prediction was correct! I have the Sight! Right, okay…all I have to see are some clouds – oh wait, no they’re out there, umm…sheep and a marshmallow.”

No sooner had she uttered these words than four sheep appeared in the middle of the room. Simultaneously, a marshmallow appeared on the table.

Holly opened her mouth to say something, but then, frowning, she pointed towards the window. “What’s that?”

I had the sneaking suspicion that it was the thing I had seen before.

Something was flying past the window, something with two people on its back.

Something shaped coincidentally like a hippogriff.

I had a vague idea who both the hippogriff and its riders were.

Buckbeak, Hermione and Harry.

I didn’t even bother questioning where Ron was, how Buckbeak was alive or why the two Gryffindors came to be riding him.

“That’s Buckbeak the hippogriff, Hermione Granger and Harry Potter,” I told the others confidently.

Kaya raised her eyebrows. “How d’you know?”

“I can recognise them,” I replied coolly. “I have good eyesight.”

It was true – it was a very useful side effect of having a Barn Owl as your Animagus form.

We didn’t go back to our Common Rooms at all that night. We wouldn’t have been able to sleep anyway.

Later in the night, I heard Father yell out angrily.

I thought I made out the word ‘Sirius’.

***

The next morning, we found out what had happened. Buckbeak had somehow escaped his execution and Sirius had somehow escaped his sentence, whatever that was – I didn’t really want to know.

At breakfast, I sat with Blaise and Anja. It felt strange, seeing Holly and Kaya sitting at a different table.

Last night, it had seemed as if there were no barriers between us, yet now our conversations were paused by the simple fact that we were in separate houses.

Blaise sat next to me, with Anja on his other side. I ended up sitting next to Theodore Nott, who I’d never really had anything to do with until now.

“You’re Jade Evans, right?” he asked.

I nodded. “Yeah…”

“I’m Theodore Nott,” he introduced himself.

“I know,” I replied.

He frowned. “I don’t think we’ve met…?”

I smiled. “No, we haven’t, but I remember your name. Besides, you clearly know my name.”

He shrugged, turning back to his breakfast. Then he mumbled, “Well, you’re a memorable person. Professor Snape’s daughter, and all that. Unlike me. I’m just ordinary. Just another Slytherin boy.”

I shook my head, feeling sorry for him. “Nobody is ordinary, otherwise we’d all be the same. I’m sure there’s something special about you,” I reassured him.

Still facing his food, he visibly blushed.

“Has no-one told you that before?” I asked, genuinely confused. Maria, being the only motherlike woman I’d ever had in my life, had told me I was special constantly.

He shook his head. “No. My parents aren’t exactly…” he trailed off, sounding as if he was getting close to revealing forbidden information. “Jade, can I tell you something?”

Why was he confiding in me? We’d only just met.

I made a quick decision, turning back to Theodore and smiling. “Yes, of course!”

He leaned over to me and whispered in my ear, “My parents are…were…they were…Death Eaters.”

I gasped, then a thought occurred to me. “But why does that matter? I mean, he’s gone now, isn’t he?”

Theodore looked scared, finally turning away. “I’m sorry…I can’t tell you.”

I sighed, not really surprised. “That’s okay.”

He relaxed.

We talked easily for the next few minutes, about all kinds of things – what we would learn next year, Sirius Black’s escape (I was careful not to mention my theory) and various other things.

I glanced up at the roof to see what the weather would be like on the train trip home. A sudden gust of wind caught the whole hall by surprise.

After I had recovered from my initial shock, I began laughing.

Unfortunately, I was unable to see, as the wind had swept my hair across my face.

I put my hand up to my face to brush my hair out of the way, but someone else beat me to it. I felt Theodore’s hand on my face, surprisingly gentle.

When he had pushed my hair aside, he faced me, his hand still on my face.

Westared silently into each other’s eyes for a long time.

I almost felt like kissing – no, I didn’t.

Eventually, I blushed and turned away.

Theodore, looking kind of guilty, took his hand away quickly. “Sorry.”

I tried to meet Theodore’s gaze, but the intensity in his eyes made it hard for me to breathe. “It’s – it’s okay,” I managed.

We finished our breakfast in silence – a silence filled with feelings and thoughts best left unsaid, at least for now.

***

On the train, Alex asked us all if we wanted to play Truth or Dare.

Blaise snorted. “Yeah, right. Truth will be really difficult for you and Anja. Who do you like? Hmm…” He pretended to think. “Could it possibly be each other? You just want to embarrass Jade and me.”

He glanced over at me.

***

On the station, Anja and I Apparated with Father back to the house.

I put my trunk into my bedroom, then returned to the living room.

Anja and I sat down on the couch, discussing various school-related topics.

Suddenly, Father gasped and clutched his left arm

“What’s wrong?” I asked in confusion, dreading the answer.

Slowly, Father pulled up his left sleeve to reveal a tattoo of a snake. It was pitch black and looked slightly swollen. The snake also appeared to be moving its head.

This was the Dark Mark.

“Why is it moving?” Anja asked, looking nauseated at the sight of it.

Father grimaced. “It means…it means that the Dark Lord was growing stronger.”

Anja and I both gasped.

“How…how long do we have until he comes back properly?” I asked tentatively.

He hesitated.

He didn’t want to tell me.

“How long?” I repeated.

He avoided my eyes, instead glancing back at the Dark Mark.

Finally, he turned back to me, looking a little afraid.

“A year.”