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Welcome to my fic, ‘There is a Light That Never Goes Out’, thanks for checking it out! Some stuff needs an explanation first, so please bear with me while I do a few disclaimers.

Number 1: The format of this story works out so that each chapter covers a month in the universe. This means chapters will generally be exceedingly long, with a lot of content (for example the first chapter is ~13000 words). I'm aware it’s strange but I planned events for this fic month by month and the format of planning ended up porting over to the writing itself. As such, this fic will span from September 1992 till May 1998.

Number 2: As much as this is a romance story between Percy Weasley and the OFC, it is first and foremost a story about my OC, Carina, and her experiences of the world. As such, there will be long stretches of plot about her life, not just her relationship.

Number 3: This story will contain a fuck load of Molly Weasley bashing and Dumbledore bashing as well as some minor Arthur Weasley bashing. Sorry. I do not like them.

Number 4: I do not support JKR. This fic has been completed with information from only my memory and independent non-profit sources. I have not looked at the books or movies for this because I do not support her or her abhorrent views and do not wish to give her money. A lot of JKR’s views have been reflected in her books, and as such I will be making some changes to canon to avoid them.

Okay, seriousness over. With all that said and done, let’s get on with it!

Chapter Text

September 1st 1992, 14:09pm
The Hogwarts Express

"Why does it have to rain on the day we go back to Hogwarts? I hate rain!" Lucy complained for what must have been the fifth time that afternoon.

"We know, Lucy," Carina replied. "You've mentioned it once or twice." If she rolled her eyes any louder, it might have been audible.

"Not my fault there's no riveting conversations at the moment!" She made a noise of annoyance at the back of her throat, pulling the sleeves of her Quidditch jumper down to cover her hands.

"Yeah, I'm trying to finish this damn letter, which is easier when you two shut it for once." Chris piped up.

He had a scroll of parchment leaning on his Transfiguration textbook, scrawling in his usually scratchy handwriting desperately. The other two in the compartment had told him it was a fruitless task, begging to Snape. It was well-known he didn't keep students who got lower than an 'O' on their O.W.Ls,and no matter how much a Potions N.E.W.T was integral to Chris' career plans, their Potions professor wasn't going to bend the rules. Carina kept one eye on where his inkwell was balanced delicately on the grey cushion of the seat in between them. It was going to fall at some point, she could tell, but as for when was the mystery.

"So tell me how it happened again, Rina?" Lucy swung her legs onto the seat. "Like what exactly did she say? Word for word."

"Seriously?" Carina dragged a hand across her face, staring out at the rain trailing down the windows.

The other girl shrugged, and gestured for her to answer. Lucy Klydrick, whilst a bright and charming young woman, also had a reputation as the biggest gossip in their year. Turns out the ability to uncover secrets no one else could that had landed her in Ravenclaw also made her the most well informed on any drama that was happening. Which right now meant grilling her best friend on the details of her breakup.

"I'm sure the last thing she wants to talk about right now is Ellie." Chris added.

"Yes, yes, it's really quite sad given we all thought they were going to get married, but-"

"Lucy." He warned.

"You don't understand! They were the only gay couple in the school! This is a big deal!" She finished.

"I'm so glad the rarity of my sexuality that has caused countless hours of abuse and strife is so important to you right now, Lucy." Carina finally weighed into the conversation, voice dry and sarcastic.

"Okay, sorry, bad wording on my part..." She trailed off.

Lucy was also known to have moments of a complete lack of tact.

"She wants to focus on her education. That's what she said. Word for word." Carina opened a chocolate frog and savagely bit its head off. "Can we drop it now? I don't really wanna think about stupid Ellie Collins.”

Lucy was right about one thing, this breakup had been a big deal. Carina Reitter and Ellie Collins had been an inseparable duo since they met in their second year. It had taken the two of them a while to work through the complex feelings they had towards the other to in fact, realise it was a mutual attraction. They had kept their relationship a secret at first, fearing backlash and abuse, all of which they had suffered when the truth had come out. Despite several hardships from the less accepting members of the school, the two were a solid and loving couple. So when midway through July, Carina had gone to visit Ellie after a week away, she had been blindsided by the Hufflepuff wanting to end things.

She was definitely over it by now though. Definitely.

“Aw blast it all!” Chris threw his quill down, knocking the inkwell by accident. Carina had been right to watch it.

“Scourgify.” She muttered, instantly cleaning the black ink stain from the cushioned seats.

“You two were right, this isn't gonna work,” He crumpled up his parchment and threw it at the wall, inches from Lucy's head. “I'll talk to McGonagall at some point about other options.”

Carina leaned over and patted Chris on the arm sympathetically. It was no secret that he'd wanted to be a healer since he practically started at Hogwarts. Some people don't like to follow in their parents footsteps, something Carina herself struggled with, but Chris was perfectly happy to. Both his mum and dad were doctors, given they were muggles, so this was as close as he could get to honouring their work in the wizarding world. Unfortunately, this new development of not being able to take Potions at N.E.W.T level had made things harder. In fact, when Chris had written to Carina over summer, lamenting he'd only achieved an ‘E’, she'd been exceptionally surprised. He'd always excelled in class, but she supposed some people fell apart in actual exams.

“There'll be something,” Lucy assured him. “I'm sure you can go for the requisite qualifications again after seventh year, or start as an intern rather than going straight into training. There's options, my dear Christopher.”

At the use of his full name, Chris flicked his wand at the crumpled bit of parchment and levitated it to drop on Lucy's head, causing her to giggle. Carina really wished the two would get on with it and just start dating, but another part of her hoped they would both be ignorant to the mutual attraction until after school. The last thing she wanted was to spend her final two years at Hogwarts playing third wheel to her best friends. It's why she and Ellie barely hung out together with the other two, to avoid the awkwardness of there being a couple in the group.

“Aren't you supposed to be on patrol?” Lucy turned her attention to Carina.

“I've got about ten minutes, I don't need to be there right at the start, they're just telling the new fifth year prefects about their duties.”

“Good luck with Weasley.” Chris grinned.

It was really no surprise when in the summer of last year Carina had received a prefect badge along with her books list. Everyone saw it coming. She had the usual Gryffindor feelings towards rules and regulations, which were ‘push them to the limit for your own purposes’, but she never went out of her way to seek trouble. She got good grades, no, excellent grades and was just generally dependable. Carina had hoped at first this position would give her a chance to keep a better eye on her brother as he started his first year, but then Klaus had been sorted into Slytherin and she lost her chance.

That was something Carina never fell for. Inter-house rivalries. In terms of Quidditch, sure, a bit of competition was fine. She'd even tried to join the team in her fourth year, but just lost her hopeful position of beater to the Weasley twins. But the day to day insults in the corridor, especially between Gryffindor and Slytherin, had never made sense to her. Sure, there were some foul gits in Slytherin, but there were some foul gits in Gryffindor too. And with her younger brother in the other house, she definitely couldn't hold any animosity.

Carina was broken from her thoughts by a stiff rapping on the glass door to the compartment. She frowned, glancing over, and tried to keep her face as neutral as possible as she stared at the tall figure with ginger hair, glasses and a smattering of freckles. Carina leaned over and cracked the door slightly.

“Weasley.”

“Reitter.” He returned.

Carina didn't know how to feel about Percy Weasley. She had heard the phrase ‘pompous prat’ thrown around quite consistently, usually by his brothers, which was ultimately a fair assessment. He was a bit stuck up, only concerned with his future and how he needed to get there, never sparing a thought for others. Carina also reckoned he was a bit of a megalomaniac. But she put on an act of civility on account of their shared prefect duties. And he'd never been all that bad to her, just a little cold. And judgemental for who she had as her friends, but it was no secret Percy and Lucy really didn't like each other.

“You realise we are required by the head boy and head girl in ten minutes?” He looked down his nose at her.

“Yes, I am.” Carina replied stiffly.

“Might I suggest trying to pretend you care about being punctual? You haven't even changed into your robes yet.” Percy nodded to her attire, a pair of jeans and a Muggle band t-shirt.

“I do care about being punctual. As you said, Weasley, we have ten minutes. Being punctual means being on time, not ten minutes early.” She pointed out.

Percy's nose reddened, and he pushed his glasses up. It looked as if it was taking him a good few seconds to figure out the appropriate response, before sighing.

“Do not be late.” He turned without another word.

The minute he was gone, Chris and Lucy burst out laughing.

“Did you hear him? ‘Do not be late’,” Lucy gave a scarily good impression of him. “Who does he think he is, your mother? Honestly, I couldn't imagine anything worse than doing patrols with him, he's a nightmare!”

“Try sharing a dorm with him.” Chris muttered.

“He, unfortunately, does have a point. I should get changed.” Carina relented.

“Good luck.” Lucy smiled sympathetically.

“Keep an eye on Merlin,” Carina gestured to the long-haired black cat dozing next to Lucy. “And remember to-”

“Put him in the carrier before leaving the train, we know.” Chris grinned.

Carina always thought it was a great betrayal that her cat should prefer both of her friends to her. Anytime he happened to be in the common room, the pile of fluff would be nestled on Chris' lap, and object massively to her trying to move him at all. She really wished she'd ignored her dad saying to get an animal she liked, rather than an owl since they had a family one. Owls were loyal. They wouldn't sleep in the laps of her friends.

“Right, I'm off,” Carina bundled up her robes in her arms, intending to change in the toilets. “See you off the train?”

“Same place as always.”

September 1st 1992, 14:42pm
The Hogwarts Express

Carina stared down at the bottle of Firewhiskey she had confiscated, sighing. Who thought it a good idea to drink on the train before the opening feast? (The answer was fifth year Hufflepuffs.) They hadn't been best pleased when Carina had taken it, but it was illegal, and she was only doing her job at the end of the day.

She dropped it off in the little box of other confiscated items in the head boy and girl's compartment and stepped back out, spotting Percy. She wandered over to him, given they were technically supposed to be patrolling together. He gave her a cursory glance as she neared.

“Did you have an alright summer?” She asked, after a period of uncomfortable silence.

“It was fine,” And then after a moment. “Yourself?”

Carina thought about everything that had happened that summer and decided just to settle on saying:

“It could have been better.”

“Did you not get the O.W.Ls you needed?” She sensed there would be gloating in the immediate future.

“No, I did. All ‘O’s except an ‘E’ in Astronomy and Ancient Runes, but I'm dropping both of them, so…” Carina trailed off. “There was some other stuff that happened is all. I assume you got all ‘O’s?”

One thing Carina appreciated about Percy in this moment is that it wouldn't even cross his mind to ask what else had happened. Which right now, was the energy she needed, especially after sitting in the short prefect meeting and having to stare directly at Ellie and pretend nothing was wrong.

“I did, a near perfect score in each.” Carina suppressed the urge to scoff.

“Sure you're not a Ravenclaw in disguise?”

“My whole family has been in Gryffindor.” Percy answered stiffly.

“Yeah that means absolutely nothing. If it was based on family and genetics, either I'd be a Slytherin, or Klaus would be Gryffindor. Or maybe even Ravenclaw, given that's where my dad's from.” Carina shrugged.

“And your mum?” He asked.

“She's a Muggle.”

They lapsed into silence, apparently Percy not agreeing with her assessment on how little the houses mattered. Carina understood his opinion to a degree. From the few chats she'd had with Fred and George, and the even fewer with Ron, it was clear Percy was very much the black sheep of the family, and as such, any semblance of a link to them might be the only thing reminding him that he belonged. From those conversations, she had also ascertained Mrs Weasley’s penchant to care about her children's achievements more than their interests, but it wasn't her place to say anything on the matter.

Carina could only imagine how exhausting her life would be if she spent all her time trying to fit her parents’ mold. She knew she'd been quite blessed in life to have a mum and dad who were willing to let her make her own way. Did she perhaps gain too much independence too quickly from this? Maybe, but things had turned out alright. Sure there were still some conflicts about Julia Reitter wanting her daughter to continue running her bookshop when she retired, given she had experience from helping over the summer, but she was beginning to come to terms with the fact Carina would get a career in the wizarding world. It was a long process, but they were getting there.

“Your sister is starting this year, isn’t she?” Carina broke the silence, staring at her shoes as they walked.

“Ginny, yes.” Percy confirmed.

He said nothing more. As much as Carina didn’t really care for making Percy Weasley her friend, she still wished he’d at least try and make conversation so her patrols weren’t several hours of silence. She knew it was a fruitless task, having gotten nowhere with the same hope last year. He hadn’t even used her first name once in the six years they’d known each other, something she admittedly did return, but only because they were now locked in a stalemate of referring to each other only as ‘Weasley’ and ‘Reitter’.

“Well, if she’s anything like Ron, I’m sure she’ll be fighting mountain trolls by Halloween.”

Percy scowled at her, clearly not approving of the antics his younger brother had gotten up to last year. Admittedly, Carina was also less than pleased with the actions of the three troublesome Gryffindors who had joined the school last year, especially as they had managed to drag Klaus into their little group for it all. Although she had to admit it was nice to see that Harry and Ron, two of the biggest promoters of Gryffindor/Slytherin rivalry, had made friends with a member of the other house.

“Might I remind you, that we are prefects, and it is our job to-”

“Discourage dangerous behaviour. I know,” Carina cut in. “Might I remind you it was both of us pacing the common room at two in the morning out of fear for our siblings?”

The fourth of June was the closest Carina and Percy had ever come to friendship. Hearing the news from Professor McGonagall that Harry, Ron, Hermione and Klaus had journeyed to the off limits third floor corridor, hoodwinked a three-headed dog and were battling several other challenges placed by the teachers had made them unable to sleep. The two were in the common room all night, waiting for news, their Arithmancy O.W.L in the morning forgotten. Percy had sat next to Carina on the old beaten up sofa and assured her things would be fine, in his quiet, stiff way. Carina thought at first maybe this would mark the beginning of a form of solidarity between them, but once the ordeal was over and they threw themselves into exams, Percy emerged acting as if nothing had happened.

Percy seemed as though he might be about to reply, but was stopped by the emergence of two prefects in yellow and black ties. Carina kept her eyes down, watching Ellie and the other Hufflepuff prefect, Leo Nesbit, approach.

“Weasley, Reitter,” Leo nodded. “Someone let off some dungbombs near compartment seventeen, we think they’re from your house so we figured you’d want to deal with it?”

Carina looked up and saw Ellie staring at her, expression unreadable. A month or so ago, she would have avoided those brown eyes, finding the view out of the window inexplicably interesting. Right now though, she stood her ground, arms crossed, one eyebrow ever so slightly raised. To her disappointment, Ellie didn’t seem to care that Carina now found herself able to make eye contact with her, tossing straw yellow hair over one shoulder. Several months ago Carina loved Ellie’s hair and could happily spend hours messing with it. Now the fakeness of the colour just seemed unappealing, as did the girl it belonged to.

“Reitter!” Percy hissed at her, breaking her from such thoughts.

“Oh, yes. We’ll see to it.” She nodded, face flushed.

She began walking down towards the front of the train immediately, not bothering to wait for Percy or say goodbye to Ellie and Leo.

September 1st 1992, 19:16pm
Hogsmeade Station

Carina had recounted her awkward conversation with Percy and her encounter with Ellie to Lucy and Chris when she met them by their usual spot; the third bench along the platform. This was, of course, after Lucy had performed a neat little charm to get the faint smell of dungbombs from Carina’s robes. The culprits had indeed been Gryffindors, and to no one’s surprise, the Weasley twins. Their younger sister was with them too, which gave Carina a chance to familiarise herself with Ginny. She seemed sweet, but quiet. Percy assured her that it was the opposite at home.

The three were about to close the door to the carriage they had claimed for themselves, but the sight of a small boy in a Slytherin uniform weaving through the crowd and waving his arms caused them to pause.

“Carrie! Carrie, wait!” He pushed his way through a group of Ravenclaws to get to their carriage. “Can I ride with you guys?”

Klaus Reitter could not be mistaken for anyone else’s brother. Despite being in houses often called the polar opposite of each other, anyone who saw Klaus and Carina side by side could tell straight away they were related. Though Carina’s hair fell in loose curls and Klaus’ was straighter, the identical shade of brown gave it away. Not to mention the blue eyes, pointed chins and sharp cheekbones. Their only difference was their noses and the purplish birth mark that took up the left of Klaus’ neck, jaw and lower cheek. Even when they opened their mouths, the slight German affectation to their accent gave it away. A trait inherited from Oskar Reitter, who had been the one to raise the two while Julia worked, meaning it had fallen to him to teach the children how to talk.

Carina remembered how much her dad had to beg the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to let him be the one to take a step away from work and raise his children. Even just thinking about what they'd said of it being her mum's job to raise children as a woman and a Muggle had her scowling. Fortunately, Oskar and Julia Reitter were both incredibly stubborn individuals and refused to back down. Julia's bookshop was her first love, and while obviously she cared about her children, it couldn't open without her. At first, Carina had resented that about her mother, thinking it meant she had priorities beyond her kids, but as she grew older, she realised that while yes, that was true, her mum was her own person. She was allowed to do things she enjoyed, and it had never once truly gotten in the way of her parenting, so no harm done really.

“I thought you would be with Harry, Ron and Hermione?” Carina asked him, opening the carriage door and helping him climb up anyway.

“Couldn’t find Harry and Ron on the train, then Hermione got a carriage with Neville, Lavender and Parvati and they only seat four.” He settled himself next to Chris.

“Hiya, Santa Klaus,” Chris ruffled his hair, before draping his Gryffindor scarf around Klaus. “There, much better than green and silver.”

Carina scowled.

“I still don’t understand that nickname.” Lucy whispered.

While Chris began to explain to Lucy who Santa Claus was, and how integral he was to the magic of Christmas for anyone who’d grown up with some muggle influence in their lives, Carina turned her attention to her brother.

“Why were Harry and Ron avoiding you?”

“They weren’t, we figured out they weren’t on the train,” Klaus corrected her as the carriage began to trundle along. “Hermione even used a spell to try and find them, Appare Vegistigum? Vestigum? I can’t remember.”

“For Godric’s sake, can those two stay out of trouble?” Carina sighed. “I’ll tell McGonagall they’re missing if I catch her in the hall before the feast. Also, it’s Appare Vestigium. But you’ll learn that spell properly later in the year, Hermione has clearly been reading her textbooks ahead.”

“Fred and George swore they were right behind them before they ran through the barrier, but apparently they were running really late.”

Carina’s brow furrowed, and she made a mental note to interrogate Percy as to the whereabouts of his youngest brother. She had really been hoping that last year was a fluke, and that no more strange and quite frankly, dangerous, happenings would occur at Hogwarts this year. Klaus had told her everything that had happened last year once he’d been cleared from the hospital wing, from Fluffy the three-headed dog to Ron’s chess match and Harry’s face off with Quirrel. Personally, Carina was dumbfounded that Professor Dumbledore thought it acceptable to store the Philosopher's Stone in a school full of children. Even shutting the third floor corridor off to students completely meant next to nothing with all the troublemakers in the school. It was a miracle that the four only escaped with a few minor scratches.

“Excited for second year, Klaus?” Lucy smiled kindly at the Slytherin boy.

“Yep, I’m gonna try out for the Quidditch team!” He beamed, tapping his fingers on his knees.

“Oh yeah, what position?” Carina thought it was incredibly sweet how Lucy and Chris humoured Klaus, though it probably stemmed from both of them missing out on having siblings growing up.

“Keeper, been practicing with Carrie all summer, but she’s a lousy Chaser so my sense of talent may be over-inflated.” He laughed.

“Hey!” Carina lightly swatted the top of his head.

“If you want some help prepping before tryouts you only need to ask.” Lucy added.

Lucy had been a Chaser for Ravenclaw since their third year, and had one of the highest score rates out of any current chasers, beaten only by Angelina Johnson. If it wasn’t for her dreams to work in the Ministry of Magic, everyone agreed Lucy could easily go pro in Quidditch. But it was just a hobby for her.

The rest of the carriage ride to the castle passed without incident, and eventually Carina was helping Klaus out of the carriage, reminding him to be good, hugging him and letting him run off to the Slytherin table. She watched him go with a somber expression, noting how he avoided Draco Malfoy and his group, bee-lining for Daphne Greengrass, Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott. Klaus didn’t really consider himself best friends with those three, Carina knew this, but they were decent to him, and if that was enough for her brother, it was enough for her. Lucy also bid her goodbyes and went to join the Ravenclaws, leaving Carina and Chris to scout out a good spot at their table. She kept an eye-peeled for Professor McGonagall as they walked, but she must have already been corralling the first years. Carina would inform her of Ron and Harry’s absence later.

Chris slid onto the bench opposite Oliver Wood, the two boys greeting each other warmly before talking animatedly about the Quidditch Cup. Chris wasn’t on the team anymore, having been the very makeshift Seeker before Harry joined last year. He was moderately good on the pitch, but his understanding of theory crafting was unparalleled, and Oliver tended to consult him frequently. Carina took the seat to Chris’ left, opposite Percy. She offered him a thin-lipped smile which was returned with a nod of the head. As Carina opened her mouth to ask him if he knew about Harry and Ron, she was interrupted by Hermione taking the spot next to her and launching into conversation.

“Good summer, Carina?” Hermione pushed her bushy hair behind her ears.

“Just a quiet one for me,” She half turned so she could face her. “I’ve been helping my mum with the bookshop.”

“I remember you telling me about that! I begged mum and dad to let me take the trip but we were so busy with our holiday that we didn’t have the chance. I learned loads, I added about a foot of parchment to my History of Magic essay…” Hermione proceeded to chat Carina’s ear off for most of the time it took for the Great Hall to fill up.

“Hey, Carina!”

She looked up at the sound of her name, and saw Zara Linletter pushing her way over from the Hufflepuff table. Zara was one of Ellie’s friends, and the epitome of her house’s hardworking stereotype. During the O.W.Ls last year, she’d gotten herself so overworked that she collapsed in the middle of the Entrance Hall. Fortunately, Carina had been passing as it happened and helped her to the Hospital Wing, and the two had formed a resolute friendship since. She dreaded to think what she might say now that she and Ellie were no longer together.

“Zara.” She smiled politely.

“Listen,” Zara leaned down to talk. “I heard about you and Ellie and I just wanna say I’m sorry. As her friend, I have to support her decision, but on a personal note, I have no idea what she was thinking. Seriously out of her mind, I swear there was nothing bad happening between you guys!”

“There wasn’t,” Carina muttered bitterly. “Doesn’t matter. What’s done is done.”

“Yeah, still wanted to come give my condolences though,” Zara stood up, giving Chris a look up and down as she did. “Nice haircut, Avares.” She gave him a grin before heading back to her table.

“What was that?” Carina rounded on Chris, eyebrow raised.

“Huh?” He asked, watching Zara leave.

“You and Linletter,” Oliver jumped in. “She was totally checking you out.”

“We may have been sending some sporadic letters over summer.” Chris just shrugged and grinned.

“And you didn’t think to tell me or Lucy?” Carina chided him.

She winced internally. Even if neither Lucy nor Chris had admitted their feelings, it was clear to see they were made for each other. Obviously, both were free to date whoever they liked, but Carina could already predict the tension that would come from Lucy learning about Chris and Zara. Not to mention the awkwardness on her end of Chris possibly being with one of Ellie’s friends. So much for trying to avoid her after everything.

Her worries pertaining to the fragile thread that was Lucy and Chris’ friendship were quashed the minute the doors to the Great Hall were opened. Professor McGonagal led the new first years through the centre of the Hall, past the four tables. It seemed almost laughable to Carina that she had once been that small, not to mention the others in her year. She wasn’t exactly short herself at five foot eleven, another trait picked up from her father, but Oliver Wood was easily well over six foot, and Percy and Chris weren’t far behind. It was easy to spot Ginny Weasley in the crowd of eleven year olds, flaming red hair standing out like a sore thumb. She could see the girl glance to her brothers, nerves clear on her face. Carina smiled, remembering Klaus’ same look of fear last year. He had been horrified at first when placed in Slytherin, so far away from his sister, but even if he didn’t necessarily get on with most of his house, it was undeniable that he belonged there.

The Sorting Ceremony passed without much incident, with Gryffindor claiming several new students for the year, notably Ginny Weasley who immediately wedged herself in between Fred and George, and Colin Creevey, a tiny little wisp of a boy carrying a Muggle camera around his neck. Carina was more than relieved when the Feast finally appeared, wasting no time in piling her plate high. She tried to catch Professor McGonagal’s attention, but it seemed she didn’t need to bother, given that about halfway through dessert, Filch approached the teacher’s table and soon she and Professor Snape left the Hall. Carina had just managed to fob Hermione’s questions about the O.W.L exams off onto Percy when one of the twins called for her.

“Oi, Ri-Ri!”

She’d always found it strange, the easy friendship she enjoyed with Fred and George Weasley, both two years her junior, compared to Percy who was of her age. But the differences between the siblings were large, not like her and Klaus. The Reitter siblings were often called carbon copies of each other, both in looks and personality. It made people wonder how one had ended up in Gryffindor and the other Slytherin, but the answer was quite simple to Carina. If she wanted something done, she’d not stop until it was done, usually later realising a much easier way to have gone about getting the desired results. Klaus knew exactly what he wanted and how to get there at all times, his ambition and drive was staggering for a twelve year old.

“Still calling me that, huh?” She glanced over.

“Until the day we die-” The twin on the left said.

“Which hopefully is not soon.” The one on the left finished.

“Wonderful. What do you want?” Carina finished off her slice of apple pie and put her cutlery down, giving the two her undivided attention.

“We heard about you and Collins-”

“And wanted to pass on our apologies-”

“And remind you that-”

“Should you require any revenge pranking-”

“We are just a word away!”

She laughed in spite of herself.

“Well thank you, but I’ll decline. The last thing I need right now is to give her the satisfaction of knowing I’m still torn up about her.” Carina smiled.

“But you are torn up-”

“And she deserves some comeuppance.”

“Yes and yes, but it’ll do no good,” Fred and George looked at her quizzically. “You’ll understand when you both have your first breakup. The last thing you wanna do is let them know you’re still thinking about it. It’s why rebounds happen, cause people want to show they’ve moved on.”

Dinner ended a few moments later, with Percy and Carina heading off to lead the new first years up to the common room. And if you asked Carina Reitter if she stared at Ellie Collins for forty three seconds as the Hufflepuff did the same with the new first years in her house, she would vehemently deny it. She would also be lying.

September 1st 1992, 21:22pm
The Gryffindor Common Room

“A flying car?!” Carina bit her tongue to avoid saying any particularly bad words in front of the younger students.

Harry and Ron had been hoping to sneak past the prefects on the way to bed, but they knew Carina, and as much as she was kind most of the time, and a safe ear, there was no way this ended well. The youngest Weasley boy shuffled uncomfortably, looking at her. In his opinion, her glare could give his mum a run for her money.

“We know, it was a stupid idea.” Harry muttered, not meeting her eyes.

“I know us Gryffindors have a knack for acting before we think, but how on Earth was the first thought to cross your minds at missing the train ‘fly an illegally enchanted car’?” Carina ran her hands through her hair. “How do either of you know how to drive, you’re both twelve!”

“Come on, Carina, we’ve had an earful from McGonagal and Snape already, and Percy is waiting by the stairs looking murderous, can you just drop it?” Ron pleaded.

“No, not likely,” She shook her head. “Look, I know I’m more relaxed than your brother and both of you feel as if you can talk to me about your troubles, but right now, I’m not your friend. I’m your prefect, and you’ve both messed up considerably. I hate to pull this card, but with Klaus following you two around, you have some sort of an influence on him, and after last year I’d like to hope he stays safe. And Ron, your sister is in Hogwarts now, you have to set a good example for her!”

The two boys nodded glumly, staring at the floor. That was good enough to Carina, and she nodded to herself.

“Good. Now please let this be the last bout of trouble for the year, I hate using my lecturing voice,” She smiled at the two boys. “Good luck with your brother, Ron, I don’t think he’ll be as nice.”

Indeed, as Carina moved onto other things in the common room, it struck her how Percy should consider a career as an actor. She had never heard such powerful indignation in someone’s voice before, and he certainly didn’t hold back. Chris bid her a quick goodnight, heading up to his dormitory before Fred and George’s friend Lee Jordan tapped her shoulder. She grinned at him, having some sort of clue as to what this was about.

“Is it ready?” Carina asked, barely able to keep the excitement from her voice.

“Yep, finished the charm work on the train. You keep your end of the bargain?” He asked.

“Of course. Got a selection in my trunk, I’ll bring them down tomorrow after I unpack. Can I see it?”

Instead of replying, Lee led her over to the side table next to the fireplace. Sitting atop the polished wood was a Muggle record player that, if Lee was correct, was now somewhat enchanted. The music player itself was a little battered from years of use, but it fit right in among the beaten up sofas and fading tapestries of the common room. Lee had brought his own selection of vinyl, lined up next to the record player. Carina admired his taste, briefly spotting a copy of Flood by They Might Be Giants, Ocean Rain by Echo and the Bunnymen and Parallel Lines by Blondie. She grinned in her approval, offering him a handshake.

“This will be an excellent partnership, Lee.” Carina said.

“Time to educate these philistines, Carina.” He shook her hand firmly.

Lee and Carina had found a sort of kinship towards the end of last year, complaining about the radio in the common room only playing music from the wizarding world. Both were huge fans of Muggle music, being muggleborn and half-blood respectively, and had decided it was more than time that Hogwarts also learn to share their appreciation. And so a plan had formed a few days before the end of the previous term wherein Lee would bring his record player and enchant it to have the volume and vinyl selection controlled by magic to always match the atmosphere of the common room, and Carina would amass her greatest records and bring them to Hogwarts.

“I saw your t-shirt on the train by the way, I think between us these guys are going to experience the best music has to offer.” Lee then waved and headed up to bed.

Carina chuckled to herself, thinking about the Smiths t-shirt she had been wearing on the Hogwarts Express. Now her musical taste was inherited from her mum. As long as she could remember, Julia Reitter had music playing in the house. Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, Kate Bush, just about anything she could get her hands on. It was the same in the little eclectic bookshop she owned. Many times when Carina and Klaus were younger, evenings had devolved into dancing around the kitchen with their mum and dad, no care for the fact all four of them were horrific dancers.

Carina headed up to bed shortly after, saying various ‘goodnights’ to anyone in the common room who was still up. Something about sitting on a train for eight hours exhausted her more than if she’d had a full day of classes and right now, falling into the soft luxury of her bed sounded amazing. It was as she pushed the doors to the sixth year girl’s dormitory open and was greeted with expectant faces, Carina realised sleep was a way’s away.

“If a single one of you asks about Ellie, you will be transfigured into birds for the next three minutes.” She warned, shrugging off her robes and draping them over her bedside table.

Two mouths snapped shut.

“Come on, we want details!” Gretchen Fawcett pouted.

“Avifor-” Carina began to raise her wand.

“Alright, alright!” Gretchen giggled, dropping to sit on the side of her bed.

“Come on, Gretchen, remember when it was you last year with Tommy? And you couldn’t stop crying for a week and hexed anyone who said his name? Don’t be a prat.” Tilly Aisling was already in bed, and didn’t even bother looking up from her book to talk.

“Low blow,” Whistled Maria Claymont. “But fair.”

Carina liked the girls she shared a dormitory with, and unlike most others who encountered Gretchen and Maria, and found them irritating gossip mongers, Carina had experience with being Lucy’s friend. And by comparison, the two Gryffindor girls were quite tame. Tilly, on the other hand, seemed to be the sixth year answer to Hermione Granger. Except while Tilly did always have her nose buried in a book, they were rarely to do with subjects at Hogwarts, mostly muggle fiction. She could be a tad short-tempered at times, but the four of them were a solid group. They never argued over things like boys, given Tilly had absolutely no interest in dating; Carina was, until recently, in a relationship; and Gretchen and Maria had such opposite types their dating pools never crossed. All four were neat and tidy, stuck to previously arranged bathroom schedules and even woke each other up should alarms fail. It was a good deal for everyone.

“I’d ask how you even know about this already, but I know the answer is Lucy.” Carina smiled thinly.

“Yeah, she keeps talking about how much she wants to put a full body bind on her.” Maria began to idly pick at her cuticles.

“Fred and George also offered their talents for revenge. I don’t get why everyone seems more upset about this than me,” Carina pulled her pajamas from her trunk. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m sad, but I don’t have any desire to hex her.”

“Probably because you’re a gallant Gryffindor.” Gretchen giggled.

“Something like that. Right, I’m getting changed, and going to bed, I’m wiped. See you girls in the morning.”

And Carina did just that.

September 2nd 1992, 11:02am
Potions Classroom

When Professor McGonagal had handed out the class schedules at breakfast, Carina had initially been pleasantly surprised by how nice her timetable was this year, a good spread of lessons and free periods, with her Friday only having Herbology at 9am and then being done for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, as she sat in the second half of double potions, she was beginning to notice something she'd missed originally. It was N.E.W.T level. Which meant people could drop core classes.

So when she'd first come into the lesson and tried to drop into her usual seat next to a Slytherin called Lysander Richter who she'd always been friendly with, Carina had found not only that Lysander was no longer taking potions, that Snape had redone the seating plan. During fifth year and below, two houses had shared potions together, in Carina’s case, Gryffindor and Slytherin. Only now, all the houses were mixed together, so Snape’s new seating plan worked on a basis of alphabetical by surname, rather than just pairing up a Gryffindor with a Slytherin. Carina had thought at first that maybe, if Sebastian Yaxley had also decided to drop potions, Percy and Oliver would be sat next to each other and she'd avoid the Weasley. Unfortunately, she could recognise Yaxley’s six and a half foot build anywhere, and she knew he would be sat with Oliver leaving her with Percy.

In any other lesson, it wouldn't have mattered, but at Snape’s insistence, the first day back involved brewing a Draught of Living Death, dastardly tricky, and with the speed ingredients needed to be prepped and put in the Cauldron, working with someone else was a necessity. Which led to now, where she was trying to shred Valerian roots into equal length pieces whilst Percy criticised her technique under his breath.

“Who taught you how to hold a knife?” He tutted. “No wonder it's taking you so long to cut things.”

“Will you let up?” She hissed back.

Carina went to continue, to fire some retort at Percy, maybe point out that he'd spilled about a quarter of the Sophorous Bean juice onto the flagstones when a quiet giggle from the table behind her made her stop. She could feel that awful pickling sensation of eyes on her, and to nobody's surprise, Carina glanced back to glimpse Ellie laughing at what Percy had said and whispering to the boy next to her. Carina was pretty sure his name was Ivan, another Hufflepuff, but she didn't really care.

If Percy had noticed Ellie finding his criticisms of Carina amusing, he didn't say anything, just continuing to fervently stir the potion. Carina, on the other hand, caught Ellie’s eye, making her laugh even harder. She felt her face flush a deep red of anger and embarrassment, and maybe if Snape hadn't chosen that second to come and observe the cauldrons of this side the room, she would have told Ellie to do something that should not be said in polite company. Fortunately for her ex girlfriend, Snape’s presence had her whipping back around to focus on her cauldron, haughtily dumping the Valerian roots into the brew.

“You’re going to splash potion everywhere if-” Percy started.

“Weasely, for once in your life can you shut up?” Carina glared at him, seething. “It is the first day back, do you seriously not have anything better to do than nitpick every single thing I do? Like nothing better? At all?”

He was silent for a moment, the tips of his ears practically glowing red. She’d done her best to keep her voice low despite the annoyance in her tone, but Carina could sense even more eyes on her now after her little outburst. To her credit, she held her head high, preparing the next ingredient for the potion on her cutting board. Unfortunately it was then she noticed Percy suddenly scowl from her peripheral vision.

“You made me stir one too many times.”

Usually in potion making, the number of stirs wasn’t as precise as the textbooks made it out to be. If you accidentally stirred a partially brewed Wiggenweld potion for one minute instead of the proposed thirty seconds, it would still brew fine, no differences to one that had been monitored closer. And even other potions with only minor errors could be salvaged. The Draught of Living Death was not one of these potions. The instructions in Carina’s copy of ‘Advanced Potion Making’ dictated twenty seven counter-clockwise stirs after adding the Sophorous Bean juice, with Valerian roots to be incorporated while stirring. Apparently at this point the potion should be a soft shade of lilac. As Percy noticed his error, their attempt was currently bright violet. Carina didn’t even have time to react as she watched despairingly as Snape slunk his way over, lips downturned.

“Textbook error, Weasley,” He sneered, observing their cauldron. “Though I suppose it must be difficult to concentrate with Miss Reitter’s grating voice being snarky in your ear. Ten points from Gryffindor.”

Carina did not even look at Percy for the rest of the lesson. When it came time to test the effectiveness of their potion, all that happened when she drank it was her pulse slowly to be almost undetectable. Definitely not the intended outcome, which should have had her in a death-like slumber on the floor. The only thing to brighten Carina’s mood even a little was the fact Ellie and her partner had also failed to brew the potion correctly. With a heavy heart and an essay on the Draught of Living Death due next week, she practically bolted out of potions, eager to put as much space between herself and Percy Weasley as possible.

She managed up until lunch.

Not really feeling in the mood for facing the Great Hall packed with people, Carina elected to spend her break in the library, starting on Snape’s essay before another teacher had the chance to set her more work. She’d made decent headway into it when she finally decided to go and grab some food in the last half an hour or so before lunch ended. Thankfully, barely anyone was sitting at the tables when Carina arrived down, grabbing a sandwich as she swung her leg over the bench. Tilly gave her a brief nod from a few feet away, engrossed in an Agatha Christie novel. Carina really needed to ask about borrowing some books from her dormmate's collection, she'd read through all the Christie’s at her mum's bookshop. She finished her food quickly, planning to head up to her dormitory to collect her Charms textbook when she got up and immediately crashed into someone behind her. The pair of horn-rimmed glasses scattering to the floor, the sound of a very annoyed huff and a book colliding with Carina’s face before thumping to the ground left absolutely no doubt as to who it had been.

“Shitting hell!” Carina raised a hand to where the corner of Percy's copy of ‘Standard Book of Spells Grade 6’ had hit just below her eye.

She swore she heard him mutter something about foul language as he stopped down to pick up his belongings. Rubbing the point of impact, which was definitely going to be bruised for a while, Carina glanced down at Percy, his hair in disarray and face hot with anger. She let him gather his things and dust himself off, watching him squint a few times with his glasses before pulling them off his face and noticing a small crack in the left lens.

“Oh wonderful, look what you've done.” Percy sneered, showing Carina the damage.

“Sorry.”

She didn't really have much to say, kicking herself for pissing him off twice in one day, the same day they had their first corridor patrol of the year together. Carina was pretty sure she'd seen Hermione once use a spell to fix Harry's glasses, some trite charm she'd never bothered learning because her family was blessed with perfect vision. What was the incantation again? Optical Reparo? No that wasn't it. Her eyes brightened as she remembered.

“Hang on, I can fix them,” She drew her wand, pointing it at the fracture. “Occulus Reparo.”

“Thank you,” Percy said in a clipped tone, watching the glass reform. “Watch where you're going next time.”

“Yeah, uh, sorry again.” Carina twisted her hands awkwardly.

She stood there for another moment, waiting for him to move so she could get past.

“You're in my way,” She pointed out. “I need to head up to the common room.”

“As do I,” Percy turned on his heel. “We can walk together, maybe someone else being there will stop you from walking into people.”

She didn't really have much to say in reply, dutifully trailing after him as they turned right upon leaving the Great Hall towards the main stairs, thousands of pictures on the walls. Carina had always been fascinated by the portraits of Hogwarts. She doubted anyone had ever taken the time to interview them seriously, given that the students and staff alike tended to pay them no mind. Talking pictures were normal after a while of getting used to them. But Carina always wondered what secrets the figures born of brushstroke might know, if only someone took the time to ask. She wished the person with time to ask was her, but with prefect duties, studying and an active social life, it was hard. If she'd realised how much such an idea had interested her in her first few years of Hogwarts she maybe would have started the project, but first through third year for her had been spent in awe of everything. While having a wizard for a dad, Oskar tended not to use magic at home for fear of alienating Julia, so the Reitter family effectively lived in a Muggle household.

“Snape was a little harsh today.” Percy snapped her from her thoughts as they started up the stairs.

“Astute observation. Though it implies he isn't always,” Carina shrugged. “Besides, I thought you'd be agreeing with him, gloating how you would have done everything perfectly if I hadn't been distracting you.”

“Be that as it may,” She had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. “Ten points for a slightly off potion is rather dramatic. Collins and Eccleston did worse than us and they just got a disapproving shake of the head.”

“We're Gryffindors, Weasley. He would give us detention for breathing wrong if he could,” Carina pointed out. “Klaus is always telling me how he fawns over the likes of Malfoy and we both know he isn't getting anywhere near a passable potion let alone perfect.”

“Don't badmouth other students, Reitter. We're prefects, supposed to set an example!” Percy scolded. “Besides, I thought you vehemently did not buy into inter-house rivalries.”

Carina glanced around at the corridor they were in, empty as can be. Most other students were in lessons by now, given only sixth and seventh years got free periods.

“Who's going to hear? It's just us here, Weasley,” She spread her arms, spinning in a slow circle. “And yeah, I don't. Pointing out evidence for objective favourtism from a teacher isn't promoting inter-house rivalries, it's stating a fact. And I don't hate Malfoy because he's a Slytherin, I hate him because he's a blood purist prick and his dad killed my uncle when he was Imperiused.”

Carina did not say out loud how little she doubted the legitimacy of Lucius Malfoy being Imperiused to work for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. In her mind, it was quite clear he did the work willingly. Whatever the truth, Niko Reitter had been killed by Lucius Malfoy back in November of 1979 and the slimy git faced no consequences for it. If it hadn't been for the fact that Julia had been deep in hiding with Carina while heavily pregnant and Oskar had chosen that day to visit his wife, her dad would have possibly died right alongside his brother. It was clear Oskar still wore the guilt of this everyday, likely knowing silently that if he had been there, it would have been two against one and Niko might still be here.

“Hating a child for something his father did when he was quite literally not in control of his actions is hardly fair.” Percy scoffed.

“So if Dolohov had a kid at Hogwarts you'd just treat him like anyone else and never once get angry because he's related to the scum that killed Gideon and Fabian?” Carina saw Percy first raise an eyebrow at her use of the word scum, and then frown at the mention of the Prewett brothers. “Oh come on, I'm allowed to call convicted Death Eaters scum, Weasley.”

“I didn't know you knew about my uncles.” He admitted quietly.

Carina stopped halfway up the staircase that would bring them both to the common room. Perhaps that was a little insensitive of her to bring up. Just because she was okay talking about the family she lost in the war, it didn't mean everyone else would be. One day, she swore to learn to think before she spoke, but she'd been making that promise for years now and progress was slow. It was the Gryffindor in her, Carina supposed. Jump headfirst into things before evaluating the situation. For most Gryffindors that meant being reckless, for her, apparently it meant struggling socially.

“Uh… Sorry. Shouldn't have just said that to you. Poor taste.” She winced, continuing up the stairs.

“Gloria nobis,” Percy muttered to the portrait of the Fat Lady, climbing through the hole once the painting swung open. “How did you know about them?”

Carina threw herself into an armchair, exhaling loudly. Almost immediately, a ball of black fur launched itself upward and settled into her lap. Apparently Merlin had finally deemed her acceptable to nap on. There were a few people in the common room, mostly gathered around one of the large tables in the back doing the homework that had already been set. Chris glanced up and waved at her, pulling a face when he saw her with Percy. She mouthed that she'd explain later. He then pointed towards where there was undoubtedly a mark from the book hitting her in the face. Once again, Carina assured him silently they'd catch up later.

“I'm surprised Molly never mentioned,” Carina admitted, turning back to Percy as she scratched her cat behind the ears. “She was in hiding with my mum, given they were both pregnant with Klaus and Ron. I was there when she got the news.”

Unlike Carina, who had been with her mum in an old Reitter family house in Germany in the war, the Weasley kids had been with their dad. There was no chance Oskar would have risked having his daughter around, what with his position in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, but Arthur Weasley’s lesser position and the force of the Order of the Phoenix behind him meant his kids had been okay where they were.

“I knew she was with the wife of one of dad's friends who was a Muggle, but I was never told who or where. For her safety, I imagine.” Percy crossed his arms, standing next to the armchair that Carina was in.

“Well it was my mum, and they were in Germany. I'm probably safe to tell you that now, you know, twelve years on,” She chuckled. “You'd be surprised, Weasley, our families have some extensive history together. Anyway, I came here to grab my Charms textbook. See you for patrols tonight?”

“Certainly. The third floor, Nine o'clock an-”

“And not a second later, I know.” She finished, gently picking up Merlin and supporting him over her shoulder before heading upstairs to her dormitory.

September 8th 1992, 7:26am
The Owlery

It was a deceptive day weather-wise. Carina had woken up early on Sunday to sunlight streaming through her windows and had figured she could easily venture outside to deliver her weekly letter to her parents in just a t-shirt and a pair of jeans. It was only early September, the propensity for warmth was not unheard of. But then again, Carina was basing this on several years of early September in Cheltenham. Not Scotland. Instead, she raced up the stairs, arms crossed across her chest and goosebumps rippling along her skin. The Owlery itself wasn't much warmer, given all the windows were left without glass so the delivery birds could come and go, but a bit of shelter from the wind was nothing to scoff at.

To her surprise, Klaus had beaten her this morning and was already tying his letter to the leg to Nymph, his boreal owl. Carina wished she'd ignored her dad's pestering not to bother with an owl like her brother had. As much as Florence, the family owl, was good, she was clearly getting old. Oskar only insisted on his children using her over getting their own owl because he rarely had any use for her, Julia wouldn't touch her out of fear, and Florence got cranky and upset when she assumed people didn't need her. Carina had heeded this advice and was now stuck with a cat who spent most of his time in the Ravenclaw common room cosying up to Lucy. Klaus, however, had wandered ahead into Magic Menagerie on his first trip to Diagon Alley and immediately fallen in love with the round, speckled owl in the far corner, and before Oskar could say no, he had spent all his pocket money on her.

“Good morning, brother dearest.” Carina yawned, walking over and messing up his hair.

“The same to you, sister mine.” He giggled, trying to flatten the damage she'd done.

The Reitter siblings often confused onlookers with how they communicated. Their use of ‘Brother dearest’ and ‘sister mine’ stemmed from a book their mum had read them both so long ago they'd forgotten the title. At the time, calling each other by those names had sent them into hysterics and so it had stuck. Most of their conversations with each other involved some secret references nobody but them knew. Klaus had even once found a book on Pig Latin at Julia's bookshop and him and Carina had spent weeks diligently learning it, before proceeding to only communicate in it for a full month, driving their parents up the wall.

“Can I send my letter with Nymph?” She asked.

“Fine,” Klaus huffed, shuffling to the side. “I don't know why you don't get your own owl at this point, you're never going to use Florence.”

“Because unfortunately as a prefect, I have to follow the rules, and the rules say one pet only. No matter how much of a traitor Merlin is, I'm not getting rid of him,” She set to attaching her letter to Nymph’s other leg before she darted forward, biting Carina’s finger. “Ow! Bloody lump of feathers.”

“That'll be Merlin she can smell on you,” Klaus hid his laughter behind his hand. “So clearly he hangs around with you enough to be noticeable.”

Carina flipped her middle finger to Nymph when her brother wasn't looking. Not that the owl could understand, but it was the principle of the act that mattered to her. She finished up before turning towards Klaus and leaning against a wall.

“How's second year going? Quidditch trials end up okay?” She asked.

“I made the team!” Klaus bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly, pulling off his jacket to show a Slytherin Quidditch jumper with the number ‘1’ and ‘Keeper’ stitched into the back. “Trials were messy, but I pulled through. We have our first practice in about half an hour.”

“Hey, nice job!” Carina grinned. “Good luck defending against Lucy though.”

People who didn't know Carina and Klaus might assume that Klaus making his house Quidditch team when Carina didn't might have driven a wedge between them. On the contrary, all the eldest Reitter could feel was pride. While she loved Quidditch, playing just wasn't for her, and that was nothing to be ashamed of. Klaus, however, was almost a prodigy. How could she possibly be jealous that his talents had been recognised? It just didn't make sense to her.

“I'm sorry I couldn't make it to watch, you know how they get about other houses watching the tryouts.” Carina shrugged.

“You're not even on the team.” He pointed out.

“Yeah, but I'm a Gryffindor, so for all they know I could be a spy.”

“That's ridiculous.”

“I know,” Carina smiled. “Have you told your friends yet?”

“The Slytherins know, it was announced on the noticeboard in the common room yesterday,” He explained. “I haven't been able to catch Harry, Ron and Hermione yet, but I'll let them know when I see them. Oh, by the way, you're gonna love this.”

“What?” From his tone of voice, Carina could tell she absolutely would not.

“Malfoy made Seeker.” She was right, she did not love that.

“Really? How was he in tryouts?”

“It gets better. He didn't even do them! Flint just said he was the new Seeker. Not to mention his bloody father bought Nimbus 2001s for the whole team. Makes me wish I hadn't spent all my savings on that Comet… Not that I'm happy about using a broom bought with racism money though.” Carina didn't even bother suppressing her laugh at the last part.

“Bribing scumbag,” She muttered. “Well, when you guys lose the Cup they'll see money can't buy talent. No offence.”

“Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact I'm now actually on the team, I'd be rooting for another house.”

Carina was glad she had managed to also dissuade her brother from any thoughts of useless rivalries. In fact, he had done better than her, with his three closest friends all being Gryffindor. She was happy with this, Harry, Ron and Hermione were good kids. They just attracted a lot of trouble. Not to mention, Carina had a suspicion they forgot about Klaus more often than not, given they could only see him in certain classes and in breaks, not in the common room. It hurt her, as his older sister, to see the trio he considered his best friends laugh and have fun whilst not even thinking about him. She'd had words with them last year but it hadn't really sunk in for Harry and Ron. Hermione though, Carina could see she was making an effort.

“So other than your feats of athleticism, how has the first week been?”

“Not too bad, McGonagal set three feet of parchment, which is a pain, but it's mostly just been reviewing last year before we move onto new stuff,” Klaus shrugged. “Oh, I did make a new friend though.”

“Oh yeah?” Carina smiled fondly at her brother.

“Luna Lovegood. She's a first year in Ravenclaw. I helped her find some shoes that someone in her house hid.” She frowned, not liking the sound of that.

“Well I'm glad you helped her, but I'd encourage her to report things being hidden to Penelope or Finley, they're her prefects.”

“I'll tell her. Anyway, I've gotta get down to the pitch sharpish, got my first practice to do.” Klaus started for the door.

“Hey!” He stopped. “Oh, I'm sorry, is twelve years old too old to hug your sister?”

“Nearly thirteen…” Klaus muttered, cheeks turning red.

“That doesn't answer my question.” Carina chuckled.

“Fine.”

Klaus begrudgingly, though Carina was sure it was an act, leaned over and embraced her. She used it to mess up his hair again, before wishing him good luck and sending him off down to the Quidditch pitch.

September 19th 1992, 16:07pm
The Grand Staircase

While History of Magic as a subject was known to drag considerably, Carina had never once known a lesson so dull. While it was common knowledge Professor Binns was one of the most boring teachers in Hogwarts, she had always tried to pay attention, finding the subject itself fascinating. It just happened to be hidden under the guise of droning lectures. She was surprised how many people had chosen to continue it to N.E.W.T level, expecting maybe three people in the class besides her. Instead, Carina had gotten used to their group of seven.

Regardless, today had been particularly bad, and she had raced out of the classroom immediately with hopes of having a nap in-between classes finishing for the day and dinner at half six. The staircases were thick with bodies of all students streaming from classes, but Carina was learned at weaving through the pressing throng after years of experience. She was able to use her height to her advantage.

She was halfway up the last set of stairs to the Gryffindor common room when she felt a gentle tug on the sleeve of her robes. Carina looked back and then down to see the small figure of Ginny Weasley, avoiding her eyes. She tilted her head to the side, wondering what it was that the youngest Weasley could need her for that she could not talk to her brothers about.

“You're Carina, yes?” Her voice was a little quiet.

“Yeah that's me, are you okay, Ginny? Need anything?”

“Professor McGonagall said she wants to see you in her office.” She glanced up briefly before looking at the floor again.

“Oh. Right, did she say what it was about?” Ginny shook her head. “Okay then.”

Carina studied Ginny a bit closer. At first what she had put off as shyness seemed to be something else entirely. The poor girl was almost shaking, clutching a black book to her chest as if she was terrified someone might take it from her. It most certainly wasn't the stature of someone feeling happy. She gestured for Ginny to follow her off the stairs and to the corridor at the left of the portrait hole where it was quieter.

“Are you alright, Ginny? You're shaking like a leaf.” Concern crept into her voice.

Ginny nodded, but it seemed almost mechanical, as if her default response to being asked if she was okay.

“Now I know all too well about telling everyone you're fine when you feel anything but,” Carina continued. “You think telling people what's wrong is going to annoy them, but I promise you Ginny, I'm your prefect. It's my job to make sure you're okay. Not to mention, I know your brothers and want to look out for you from a friendly standpoint too.”

Ginny murmured something under her breath.

“Any chance I could get that a bit louder?” Carina smiled, crouching down a little bit to be more at the other girl's height.

“I miss home…” Ginny practically squeaked out, clutching that book even tighter.

“Oh, homesick huh?” Carina reached over and ruffled her hair like she would Klaus’. “Yeah, I get that. It's probably pretty scary being somewhere so big and confusing after only knowing home. And as much as you have your brothers here I bet them being so used to it all and all the teachers comparing you to them doesn't help, does it?”

“No,” Ginny shook her head. “They all think I'm either going to be smart like Percy or mischievous like Fred and George or heroic like Ron.”

“The curse of older siblings,” Carina chuckled. “My brother got the whole earful last year when he started Hogwarts. According to him it fizzled out after Christmas, but I'll tell you what I told him. If you're going to be smart or mischievous or heroic, don't be that like Percy or Fred and George or Ron. Be smart and mischievous and heroic like Ginny. Reckon you can give that a go?”

“I think so.” She agreed, finally looking up and making eye contact.

“Now, Ginny, important question. Do you like cats?” She nodded enthusiastically. “Good. If you go up to the sixth year girl’s dormitory, there should be a girl called Gretchen in there right now. Tell her I sent you to see Merlin, that's my cat. I think some cat time might help take your mind off all of this. Sound good?”

“Yeah, it does. Thank you Carina.” Ginny flashed a very small smile before scurrying off to the common room.

Now, for whatever McGonagall could want her for.

Thankfully, her office wasn't far from the Gryffindor common room, being the head of house and all. Carina had no idea what she could be needed for. As far as she was aware, the work she had turned in so far was of her usual excellent quality, her work as a prefect was going swimmingly as ever and no one in Gryffindor had made any huge errors she'd need to keep an eye on them for. Except maybe Ron's mishap with his wand and trying to hex Malfoy ended up with him vomiting slugs. But Klaus had told her what Malfoy had called Hermione to warrant that and she couldn't exactly blame the boy for wanting to hex him. It still baffled her how willing the teachers were to turn a blind eye to students firing slurs at each other. Regardless, that had been over a week ago and sorted now, so it couldn't be that.

Carina was still wondering what could possibly be the reason the deputy headmistress could need her for when she knocked on the door to McGonagall's office. She heard the noise of several things being shifted before the door opened of its own accord.

“Ah, Miss Reitter. Take a seat, please.” She did as asked.

“I was told you wanted to see me, but I confess I have no idea why.” Carina admitted.

“Consider this a career's guidance meeting.” McGonagall said, pulling several rolls of parchment from a drawer.

“Forgive me, Professor, but I don’t quite understand. I did this last year with you.”

“Be that as it may, given your chosen career path it seemed prudent to have another talk now you are a N.E.W.T student, just in case you changed your mind and need to know what other options you have with the N.E.W.T courses you have selected.” McGonagall placed the parchment on her desk, thumbing through them with an unreadable expression.

Carina had known what she wanted to do since she was a child. She was aware such foresight was a luxury not afforded by many of her peers, lamenting having no idea what to do with their lives. It seemed to be just her, Chris, Lucy and Percy Weasley that she knew who had concrete plans. Of course, despite knowing what she wanted to do, it was a fact Carina rarely admitted out loud. With her dad having the position he did in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and the constant pressure of her mum needing someone to take over her bookshop, many people assumed Carina would end up either in the Ministry or continuing the family business. She could count on one hand the number of people she had told the truth. Klaus, her dad, Ellie and McGonagall. She hadn’t dared broach the topic with Julia Reitter yet, who had only just come around to the idea of her getting a job in the wizarding world.

Carina wanted to be a teacher.

Perhaps a little under ambitious for someone with her grades and connections, but the idea brought her joy. She enjoyed tutoring the younger students and watching the understanding dawn on their faces when they figured something out. Even back before she started Hogwarts in the muggle primary school her mum had made her and Klaus attend. She was good at it too. Not everyone had the patience required.

“I promise, Professor, I’m quite sure,” She folded her hands in her lap. “To be perfectly honest I’ve had the vision for so long I can’t imagine myself doing anything else.”

Professor McGonagall made a noise that could be interpreted as either a hum of satisfaction or just acknowledgement.

“Well, Miss Reitter, as discussed last year, your grades are excellent. You could vocation in any subject matter you like that is currently on your N.E.W.T list,” She ran her eyes over the back piece of parchment. “Airthmancy, Charms, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, History of Magic, Potions or Transfiguration. Do you have a particular calling to any of them?”

“I’m not sure.” Carina shrugged.

She was being honest. That was the problem. She had always envisioned teaching, passing knowledge down onto the new generation of youths and seeing the mysticism in their gaze. But Carina had never quite decided what she would teach. With her high grades, she could have had a pick of anything to do at N.E.W.T level, including Astronomy and Ancient Runes. They may have not been ‘O’s, but two ‘E’s was still nothing to scoff at. She’d just chosen the subjects she enjoyed. The problem was pinpointing which she could see herself teaching for the rest of her life.

“That is perfectly natural, it’s rare to find a student who has an exacting plan on every aspect of their future,” Professor McGonagall put the parchment away. “Now as mentioned the process to becoming a teacher would require three years of training as an assistant in a school and then certification by the Department of Magical Education. Have you any thoughts on where you would like to complete training?”

“I’m sorry?” Carina frowned. She had always assumed Hogwarts was the option for training.

“Which school would you like to train at, Miss Reitter?”

“Hogwarts. Obviously,” She blurted out. “I thought that would be the only option.”

“While your dedication to the school is touching,” McGonagall smiled. “There are other options. Given your heritage, strings could be pulled to have you train at Durmstrang Institute or even Koldovstoretz. The Reitter family is one of the most influential in western Europe.”

“No thank you, Professor. I’m afraid I don’t know much about Koldovstoretz and I disagree vehemently with Durmstrang’s refusal to admit muggleborn students,” Carina shook her head. “And I’d prefer not to abuse family connections.”

“An admirable outlook,” She scratched something down with a quill. “You have family currently enrolled in Durmstrang I believe?”

“A cousin, Oswald,” Carina thought for a moment. “And a bunch of second or third cousins too. It’s my great uncle’s side of the family. We only see each other at funerals.”

Carina’s grandparents had emigrated from Germany before war officially broke out, wishing to escape Grindelwald’s influence. They had settled in Cheltenham and stayed ever since, all but leaving their home country behind. The only thing that gave any sort of indication of their origins were their accents and the fact their children and grandchildren bore Germanic names. It made it hard for Carina to see any extended family, who had stayed in Germany. As much as she said she saw them only at funerals, even that wasn’t strictly true, as she saw little point in attending the funerals of people she had never met, family or not. There would be a big visit every three years or so, but it wasn’t the same as actually knowing them.

“Oswald?” McGonagall frowned a moment. “Oh yes, Niko and Emma’s boy. His name was down for Hogwarts, but a reply to the letter never came.”

“He’s living with my great-grandma Ada. When my uncle passed away, my mum and dad didn’t have the money to take in a third child and his aunt on his mum’s side, Hestia, had just finished auror training or something.”

People often found Carina’s frankness at talking about deaths in the family disconcerting. She never understood the taboo death had as a topic. In her opinion, people would be a lot less scared if they actually talked about the act of dying. But the actions of one particularly desensitised sixteen year old wasn’t going to undo a lifetime of death-based fearmongering.

“Well then, Miss Reitter. Should all go well after your exams next year, you are welcome to come back to Hogwarts as a member of staff. You will likely be assigned to help out the other members of staff where it is needed, and hopefully that will help narrow down which subject you wish to specialise in. We haven’t had a student go on to train at Hogwarts in several years, this will be refreshing,” Professor McGonagall smiled. “A meeting with the Headmaster will be arranged in the next few months. It will run similarly to this I imagine.”

“Thank you, Professor. Is that all?”

“Indeed, enjoy your evening Miss Reitter.” She turned back a pile of marking.

Carina slid out of her seat, heart hammering more than it should have been. All those years of dreams were finally producing something tangible. The end was in sight, so close she could reach out and grasp it. Two more years and then the rest of her life would begin.

“Thank you, Professor McGonagall.” Carina repeated as she closed the door.

Chapter Text

October 4th 1992, 20:17pm
Gryffindor Common Room

The sound of Carina’s sneeze rang out through the entire common room. A few third years giggled, causing her to scowl, squinting even harder at her Transfiguration homework. She could feel Chris eyeing her with that look that usually meant ‘you're pushing yourself way too hard, quit before you end up passed out’, but she ignored him. Of course she'd gotten sick. Of course. The first month or so back at Hogwarts meant flu and colds spreading like wildfire with all the students suddenly in contact with each other after so long, but once the end of September had rolled around, Carina had assumed she had escaped.

She had assumed wrong.

Now, everyone else was back to being fit and healthy while she was left to sniffle and cough her way through classes. N.E.W.T lessons were no joke. Carina estimated she'd received more homework in one month in sixth year than the entirety of her first year. She reached for another tissue.

“Chris, remind me. Which spell just produces flowers, orchideous or herbifors? I know one of them produces flowers normally, whilst one produces them from the head, and I can’t remember which is which.” She frowned.

“Orchideous. However,” He reached over, plucking her quill from her hand. “You need to lay off. You look like shit.”

“Yeah, thanks mate.”

“You didn’t befriend me for my compliments. But seriously, go up to bed. Sleep this off.” Chris flicked a few stray strands of blonde hair off his face.

“I thought you wanted to be a healer, can't you just give me another dose of Pepper-Up?” Carina scowled, trying unsuccessfully to grab her quill back.

“And because I want to be a healer, I know you've had two doses today already and if you have another, you could be permanently spewing smoke from your ears.” He held the quill up, just out of reach.

He was right. Carina knew that. But she also couldn't afford to be dropping behind, especially not now. Between classes, homework and prefect duties, she was finding less and less time to see her friends, having only managed a few quick words with Lucy and Lysander since returning to school. She only saw Chris because they did their homework together in the common room. As much as she had patrols with Percy, he was hardly good conversation, and Carina was nothing if not a social creature. She thrived on interaction.

“I really need to finish this essay.” She replied weakly.

“If you promise you'll go up to bed, I'll finish it for you. I did mine yesterday, because unlike you, I didn't have to spend three hours in the library researching Druidic influence on wandmaking for Binns.” Chris offered.

“In my defence, that was a surprisingly interesting subject,” She sat up straight. “Did you know that wood types for wands used to be referred to by archetypes? So, for example, my wand is Ebony, which is the Rebel. Yours is English Oak, which is the Paragon.”

“As if you've ever done anything rebellious in your life!” Chris barked out a laugh. “You're as straight-laced as they come, Rina. Don't get me wrong, everyone loves you for it, but you couldn't be further from a rebel. Magic is in the person, not the wand, so how does the type of wood or core have any bearing?”

She didn't bother to give that last part an answer.

“I'm still young. Maybe I go completely off the rails and start a smuggling ring in my later years?”

“If that ever happens, let me know so I can help. I am not passing up the opportunity to see you breaking rules,” He twirled her quill in his fingers. “Now, off to bed with you, I'll sort this out.” He gestured to her Transfiguration essay.

“Are you sure?” Carina bit her lip.

“Positive. After five and a bit years, I know your writing style well enough to replicate it. Plus, I've got company.” Chris shifted his position to show Merlin snoozing on the back of his chair, fluffy tail rhythmically thumping the cushion.

“Has that little traitor been there the whole time?”

“Of course. I am his favourite after all.”

Carina pulled herself up, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She smiled appreciatively to Chris, trying to stifle a yawn. The roaring fire in the common room wasn't helping with her drowsiness in the slightest, exacerbating the soft fuzziness at the edge of her vision, a situation just begging to curl up beneath a blanket and go to sleep.

“Thanks, Chris, I owe you.” She passed the back of his chair, giving Merlin a few scritches.

“I'm sure you can make it up to me one day.” He chuckled.

Carina nodded to various friends and acquaintances as she wove her way towards the stairs to her dormitory. It seemed Harry, Hermione and the Weasleys minus Percy were playing a big game of exploding snap, which either Fred or George tried to drag her into as she passed. Carina politely declined, carrying on, giving Gretchen and Maria a quick wave before finally ascending. She shouldered the door open, dropping her bag unceremoniously at the foot of her bed and noticing with a sigh that one of her posters next to her bedside table had come loose. Reapplying the sticking charm and coughing violently into her elbow, Carina pulled off her robes and began tugging at her tie.

“Still ill? I heard they wrote a song about that,” The curtains of Tilly's bed were drawn, but her voice was unmistakable. “By some tiny, unknown band. You should listen to them.”

“Piss off, Aisling,” Carina chuckled. “I'm surprised you know anything close to modern music behind your old soul exterior. You still stuck on Vera Lynn, or have you progressed to Elvis at this point?”

“Better than that Nirvana pish posh you play. It sounds like cats being tortured.” There was an almost imperceptible laugh in her voice.

Tilly and Carina didn't have much in common besides their Muggle, or in Carina’s case, mostly Muggle, upbringing. The way they had found to talk and connect with each other was through thinly veiled insults. Both of them knew not to take anything said seriously, but it was a dynamic that did not persist with the other girls in the dormitory. Carina got on well with Gretchen and Maria in their own right, as she could be somewhat of a gossip on rare occasions (an aftereffect of being friends with Lucy), but Tilly seemed to struggle to connect with the others. She tried to do the same as she did with Carina, but being as deadpan as she was, Gretchen and Maria found it hard to tell when she was joking. It had led to more than a few falling outs. Never anything serious, of course, but enough to make the atmosphere a tad chilly.

But the defining thing about Tilly was that she was an old soul. She threw herself into mystery novels, wore her hair in tight curls, dressed in sweater vests and pleated skirts and used phrases like ‘Golly’ and ‘By Jove’. Most people in Hogwarts didn't quite know what to make of her. Carina imagined that Tilly was the sort of person Percy Weasley would like, if not for the fact that she was also incredibly cutting and had openly expressed her distaste for him on multiple occasions. She also showed little regard for academia beyond what was required and was quite set in her goals of being a writer.

In short, Carina really liked her.

“In all seriousness, I trust you're not doing too badly?” Tilly asked after a pause.

“Should be okay in a day or two, fingers crossed,” She replied, sniffling. “Are you alright if I take a shower?”

“Certainly, I'm all sorted.” She pulled back the curtains to quickly show her half-dried hair and cream chemise. Because, of course Tilly Aisling wore a chemise to bed.

“Cool. Goodnight, Tils.” Carina grinned, anticipating the reply.

“Call me that again and I'll separate your head from your neck with a rusty bone saw!” She called in a sing-song voice as Carina retreated to the bathroom.

The sixth-year girls’ bathroom smelled like a perfume shop. The combination of all the differently scented products the four girls used coalesced into a mishmash of flowery, citrussy, vanilla-y sensory overload. Carina loved it. It smelled like being hugged by four different grandmas. Neither of her grandmas were still alive, so it was comforting in a way. She always found it ironic how her grandparents’ side of the family moved to England to keep themselves safe and ended up with more deaths than those who had stayed in Germany. She was pretty sure her mum had mentioned an uncle who was still kicking, but Carina had never met him. It was just her, Klaus, and her parents keeping the Reitter name alive over here. Oswald didn't count in her eyes since he was back in Germany despite being born in England.

Unhooking her towel from the door, Carina turned the shower on with a brief flick of her wand. It was nothing near the quality of the Prefect's Bathroom, but she took the phrase ‘too much of a good thing’ very seriously. Using it was reserved for special or dire circumstances only, like completing an example or after a particularly tough day. Normally, being sick constituted a trip, but when Carina had thought about the ten-minute return journey from its location on the fifth floor all the way up to Gryffindor Tower, she had decided against such endeavours.

This was, of course, not to say the dormitory bathrooms were anything to scoff at. There were enough sinks that each girl could have her own, large mirrors, and the shower was enchanted to always match the user's preferred temperature. A fact Carina was more than thankful for as she undressed and stepped under the steady stream of water, as she was having one of those sicknesses where she would fluctuate between sweating and shivering. Closing her eyes and slowly sliding down the tiled wall to sit down, she bit her lip, trying to remember what lessons she had the next day. It was still going to be a week or so before she fully memorised her schedule.

It was Wednesday, which meant thankfully only Defense Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic tomorrow afternoon. She could afford a lie-in. Carina sighed and smiled, standing again to start washing her hair. A lie-in sounded nice.

October 10th 1992, 13:13pm
The Fifth Floor Corridor

Forty-seven minutes before Arithmancy. The perfect amount of time for Carina to swing by the library, add the finishing touches to her notes on Fluxweed and maybe even have a small stroll in the courtyard. The past few days had seen nothing but torrential rain, and Carina was eager to get some fresh air, even if briefly. She'd gone for a few laps of the Quidditch Pitch with Klaus before breakfast but she was so tired she barely remembered it. How her brother could be so alert at six-thirty was beyond her.

Unfortunately, fate seemed to have other plans as she passed the Prefect's Bathroom and a spindly hand darted out through the door and pulled her inside.

Caught off guard, Carina stumbled for a moment before letting her wand fall from where she always kept it in her sleeve right into her waiting hand. Without even bothering to see who had assailed her, she twirled her wand deftly in the unknown figure's direction.

“Ebublio!”

“Reitter!” She knew that voice.

“Weasley?” She finally looked at who had pulled her into the room, a lanky ginger boy currently encased in a giant bubble. “Jesus fucking wept, you can't just do that to people!”

Carina performed the counterjinx immediately, and Percy tumbled to the floor, hastily shoving his glasses back on his face. He looked absolutely indignant, which was weird considering he had been the one to unexpectedly drag her into a bathroom without announcing himself. Slipping her wand back up her sleeve, Carina crossed her arms and glared at him.

“What on Earth are you playing at? You could have killed me!” The tips of his ears were practically glowing red.

“Hardly,” She scoffed. “If a Bubble Jinx could kill you, I don't think your mother would ever let you outside. Besides, for all I know, you were attacking me! I mean, come on, pulling me into a password-protected bathroom without warning? Have some tact, man!”

“I-” Percy paused, taking a moment to straighten his tie and adjust his glasses. “Apologies.”

“Just tell me what you want, we have Arithmancy soonish. “ Carina sighed, hiking her bag further onto her shoulder.

“I need your help.”

“With what?”

He avoided her gaze, suddenly becoming incredibly interested in the grout between the tiles on the floor. She noticed it was not just his ears blushing now, but his full face. An interesting development she wasn’t quite sure what to make of, other than find it mildly amusing.

“Spit it out, I haven't got all day.” She raked a hand through her hair, shaking it out before quickly tying it up with an elastic.

“I'm trying!” He still wasn't looking at her.

“I swear to God, Weasley, I will put you back in that bubble-”

“I'm dating Penelope Clearwater!” Carina blinked. “Have been since last year.” He added quietly.

“Okay?” She narrowed her eyes. “Fucking brilliant, I'll owl the Prophet, shall I?”

“Do not tease me!” Ah, there was the old Percy back. Unable to take a joke and bitter.

“I'm not, I'm just baffled that you brought me here to tell me you finally got a girlfriend. Clearly, you don't need my help with anything, since we're now on equal footing with successfully dating women." She raised an eyebrow.

Percy glowered, continuing to fix anything that was out of place as a result of being unceremoniously trapped in a bubble. He sighed deeply as he reached down to rub a scuff mark off his shoe.

“Your family are German, yes?” He finally asked, voice resigned.

“Not that it has anything to do with the current situation, but yes.” Carina was beginning to wonder if Percy had finally worked too hard and lost his mind.

“So can you speak German?”

“I was born in England, idiot. So was my dad,” She left it a few seconds to savour the hope in his eyes dying before continuing. “But yes. Passably.”

“Penny’s grandmother is German.” Percy began to pace by the large assortment of taps.

“Okay?” She still had no idea what he was getting at.

“She wants to bring me to visit her family in the summer, and I want to make a nice impression, and I thought a good way to do that would be to learn enough German to have a basic conversation with her grandmother in her first language.” That was actually surprisingly sweet, Carina reckoned.

“Let me guess, you want me to teac-”

“Do you think you could te-”

They both spoke at the same time.

“This is why I need your help.” Percy coughed and stilled, leaning against the wall.

“That’s all well and good,” Carina mirrored his position, arms crossed. “But what am I getting out of this arrangement? As far as I know, we’re not friends, and after that stunt you pulled in Potions at the start of the year I’m not exactly inclined to help you out of the goodness of my heart.”

“Your whole rhetoric since first year has been to do the right thing.” He squinted at her.

“Exactly. The right thing, not the nice thing. Doing the right thing is like doing the nice thing, but with the knowledge people might not understand the long-term implications of an action and hate you because they’re idiots,” She pointed out. “It also means not doing favours for people who’ve wronged me because I refuse to be walked all over because of my morality.”

“Gryffindor through and through, aren’t you?” Percy scowled.

“You know it, Weasley,” Carina grinned sarcastically. “Now I ask again, what am I getting out of this?”

“I can pull some strings to change the patrol schedules so they allow the mixing of houses.”

“And how does that benefit me?” She laughed dryly. “Classic Percy Weasley selfishness, offering a so-called compromise that actually puts him out on top. Because what I see from that is you getting paired on patrols with Penelope so you can sneak off and snog in empty classrooms in the dead of night.”

“But it means you could patrol with Collins.” He furrowed his brow, confused.

Carina paused, searching his expression for some kind of joke. She knew Percy didn’t make jokes, ever, but this had to be one. No way had he suggested that, surely? Not if he was trying to win her over to help him. Therefore, the only possible explanation is that Percy didn’t know what had transpired in late July despite it spreading around the school like wildfire.

“Weasley,” Her voice was noticeably quieter. “Ellie and I have been broken up for months now.”

“What?” It was the exclamation of a man losing his only bargaining chip.

“Surely you’ve heard by now, no?”

“I don’t pay mind to gossiping.” His tone was uncertain and almost apologetic. Almost being the keyword, because Carina knew him better than that.

“Clearly.” She said that a bit harsher than originally intended.

Silence settled over the two of them, thick and uncomfortable. Carina was messing with the buckle on her bag, anything to occupy her hands and avoid looking at the other person in the room. Percy had gone back to pacing.

It made sense, Carina supposed. Penelope and Percy. They were both incredibly ambitious and somewhat uptight, with a laser focus on being successful and powerful. Even their names together sounded like one of the couples on the TV soap operas her mum watched. Carina didn’t know much about Penelope other than what Lucy had told her, which was mostly complaints. She seemed a bit bigheaded in prefect meetings, but so did everyone at points, including Carina herself. Honestly, she could picture their future together now. Head boy and head girl next year, cushy Ministry of Magic positions after Hogwarts, mid-sized house and three kids. The phrase nuclear family sprang to mind. It was important to Carina to acknowledge to herself that such a mental image was not born out of hatred or distaste. In her mind, there was nothing wrong with such stereotypical things, so long as it didn’t involve her. No, she had been certain since the age of nine that she never wanted children. Her mum had tutted and said she would change her mind one day, but Carina was blessed and cursed with relentless stubbornness. It was likely that even if she did change her mind, she would repress and quell it to prove her mother wrong. Was that petty? Yes. But no one is perfect.

“I am sorry, Reitter. I didn’t know.” Percy barely spoke out loud.

“Don’t mention it,” She shrugged, glancing up at him briefly. “Shit happens, yeah?”

“For what it’s worth, I always thought you dealt with the prejudice against you two quite bravely.”

“Gryffindor through and through.” Carina joked weakly.

“Indeed,” He picked his way over to her carefully. “You seem to be handling it well, at least.”

That made her laugh, really laugh.

“You didn’t see me through all of August. I don’t think your frail little ears would cope listening to all the names I called her,” Carina finally held eye contact. “Your brothers even offered to get revenge on her for me.”

“And what did you say?” There was a disapproving edge to his tone.

“No, obviously. Success is the best revenge after all.”

“And how is that going for you?”

“When I find a new and better boyfriend or girlfriend, you’ll be the first to know. And then Ellie. So I can flaunt it in her face.” She grinned.

“You’re the first to know about Penny, so it’s only fair.” He admitted.

Carina tilted her head to the side. He hadn't told anyone? Not even Oliver, his best friend?

“You mean no one else knows?” She frowned.

“You have met my family, haven’t you? As if I would hear the end of it. Oliver would tease me, and I don’t have any other friends,” Carina winced as he explained. “I needed to ask you for help, so I had to tell you out of necessity.”

“Wow. What an honour.” Her voice was dry, but with an underlying hint of humour.

“And I am trusting you to keep it quiet, Reitter.”

“You realise Lucy Klydrick is one of my best friends, and also in the same house as your girlfriend?” She asked.

“Please?” Percy’s mouth was pulled into a line.

“Alright, I promise. If Lucy finds out, it’ll be from her own nosiness, not my input.” She offered Percy a smile.

“Good.” He paused, then frowned. “Girlfriend or boyfriend?”

“What?”

“You said when you find a new boyfriend or girlfriend.” The poor guy seemed baffled.

“Uh-huh,” Carina affirmed, somewhat bemused. “I like men and women, Weasley.”

“You can do that?” The idea seemed novel to him.

“It’s a big world out there, I see no point in limiting myself,” Carina shrugged. “Not that many people agree with what I do. Do you remember Wanda Miller?”

“Was she…” Percy trailed off, brow furrowed. “Oh! The Beauxbatons transfer. What about her?”

“You don’t know why she transferred, do you?” He shook his head. “Okay, good, that means Lucy and the others are keeping their mouths shut. Long story short, she kicked up a huge fuss about sharing a dorm with me, given my sexuality. Got her parents involved, some bullshit about how I should be expelled. Fortunately, Dumbledore flat-out refused and said she could get a grip or find somewhere else to learn magic.”

“Wow.”

“Obviously, he said it in a much more diplomatic way, but you get the point,” Carina shrugged. “So she flounced off to Beauxbatons.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Percy scrunched his brow. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, that’s horrible, but I don’t understand why you’d share it with me.”

“Because you told me the secret about you and Penelope. A secret for a secret, it’s only fair. And I’m pretty confident you’re safe to tell it to without a big rant about how I’m a filthy degenerate.”

“I don’t think you’re a filthy degenerate. A bit more crass than one should be, sure, and rather irritating at times, but not that.” Percy affirmed.

Carina smiled genuinely at him. She certainly hadn’t expected to be spending her Tuesday afternoon having a heart-to-heart with Percy Weasley about the homophobia she had previously faced at Hogwarts in a bathroom, but here she was. There were worse places she could be, for sure. Percy glanced back at her, not exactly returning her smile, but giving a small nod. A sign of trust. Maybe not friendship, but allyship. Carina would add Percy to her list of ‘People I Can Rely On Not to Be a Total Dickhead’. It wasn’t the longest list in the world.

“Oh, and I’ll throw in one more secret for free,” She pushed off the wall she was leaning on with her foot. “I want to be a teacher. So I’ll teach you bloody German. To get some practice in.”

It almost looked like he didn’t believe her for a moment.

“You will?”

“I can already tell you’re going to be a terrible student. Stubborn, bitter and with your head so far up your arse it’s hard to see… But I’ll give it my best shot.” Carina stuck out a hand to him.

“That felt unnecessarily insulting.” Percy eyed her hand wearily.

“I’m still helping, aren’t I?”

“I suppose.” He shook her hand very tentatively. Carina tried very hard not to dwell on quite how astonishingly soft his palms were, and how unexpected that was for how many practical subjects he did.

“You expecting this handshake to shock you or something? No need to be nervous.” She joked.

“I am, actually,” Percy pushed his glasses up his nose. “Fred and George are my brothers, remember?”

“Of course,” Carina headed to the door, acutely aware it was getting closer to time for Arithmancy. “We’ll meet every two Tuesdays in the library between Herbology and dinner, starting next week. Right, make haste, Weasley, wouldn’t want to be late for Professor Vector now, would we?”

Carina held the door open for Percy, wondering beyond anything how she had landed in this situation.

October 17th 1992, 11:53am
The Courtyard

“I don't know, Rina, it's just not a choice I'd personally make.” Lucy shrugged, crossing her legs over.

Carina rolled her eyes, lying back on the patch of grass next to the bench Lucy and Chris were occupying. She ran her fingers over the feathery green blades, staring up at the clouds with a resigned expression.

“We know that you hate the guy. You're quite open about it actually.” Chris was half paying attention, eyes glued to his copy of Break With a Banshee. Every few seconds, he would scoff and roll his eyes at the book.

“You know, God forbid I try and help someone,” Carina scoffed. “And I don’t see how it matters to you.”

“It doesn't! Just don't do something stupid like get a crush on him, because Percy Weasley is such a downgrade from Ellie,” Lucy picked at her cuticles. “Right, Chris?”

“I am not falling into the trap of answering that.”

“How is it a trap?!” She hit his shoulder lightly.

“I am not comparing the dating potential of my best friend's ex and some guy I know for a fact wears matching stripy pajamas to bed.” He turned another page.

“What's wrong with matching pajamas?” Carina piped up. “I wear matching pajamas.”

“Yeah, but yours are cute and covered in stars, and his makes him look about forty.”

Carina sat up, running a hand through her hair. She had told Lucy and Chris that her deal with Percy was to start studying with him rather than the truth. If she had told them that in fact, she was tutoring him in German, it would raise too many questions and probably inadvertently put Lucy on the path to finding out the truth. The very thing she had promised Percy wouldn't happen.

“I don't know how you can read that,” Carina nodded to Chris’ book. “Biggest pile of bullshit ever.”

“I agree, but I've got homework due about it, and I actually need a good grade in Defense.” He sighed.

“Bullshit though it may be,” Lucy yawned. “At least Lockheart is pretty to look at during class, right?”

“No. Not even a little bit.” Carina laughed.

“Oh, I forget you like scrawny weirdos,” She shrugged. “I'll stick to my pretty boys like Chris, thanks.”

There was a noticeable pause in the conversation. Carina knew Lucy had meant it as an offhand comment. Objectively, Chris was pretty: wavy blonde hair, skin that tanned and never burned, bright green eyes and tall. But it didn't mean the comment was expected. Carina still hadn't brought up the whole thing with Zara at the welcome feast, and with Kucy saying things like that, undoubtedly, she wasn’t going to take it well. She knew for a fact the Ravenclaw at the very least used to have a thing for their other friend, and having seen them interact, Carina was aware it was only a matter of time before something happened between them, but apparently it was going to be a messy road getting there.

“So,” Carina clapped her hands, breaking the silence. “Hogsmeade trip on the thirtieth. I heard Rosmerta got pumpkin butterbeer for Halloween, if we wanna sample it?”

“Pumpkin butterbeer? What is it with your lot and making everything pumpkin-flavoured?” Chris shook his head.

“I'm down, I need to swing by Gladrags and buy a jumper, I left my nice one at home.” Lucy said.

“Why not just ask your parents to owl it to you?” Chris closed his book, shoving it back in his bag. “Surely cheaper than buying a whole new one, from Gladrags no less.”

Lucy just shrugged. One small point of contention in the trio's friendship was Lucy's complete and utter lack of awareness when it came to money. The Klydricks were very well off, with both of Lucy's parents and her older sister working at the Ministry quite high up. She was used to flaunting money around without a care in the world, something that particularly grated on Chris. His parents were both doctors, overworked and underpaid, and being Muggles, all the family money was in pounds and not galleons, so he could only ever spend the allowance he was given. Not like Lucy, who had access to family vaults whenever she needed.

Carina always felt a little lost in this debate, no leg to stand on. The Reitter family in Germany had money, lots of it. The family home just outside of Stuttgart was obnoxiously large, usually rented to the German Ministry of Magic for large events. But that was not the side of the family she found herself on. Most of the wealth her grandparents had emigrated with was spent on bribes, so no one questioned why two Germans had arrived in England right as war broke out. Apparently, Leon and Heidi had both been in custody of both the magical and Muggle governments at points, suspected of being spies. So, usually when such topics arose between Chris and Lucy, Carina kept her mouth shut.

“Anyway,” Chris dragged her from her thoughts. “I can’t go with you two. I promised someone else I'd accompany them.”

This wouldn't end well.

“Zara?” Carina asked, wincing.

“Yep! First official date. Obviously, like I said, we've been sending sporadic letters over the summer but never anything serio-” He was cut off by the bell tower gonging to mark noon. “Oh shit, I was supposed to meet Oliver like ten minutes ago. Sorry guys! Good luck with Weasley later.” Chris darted off inside.

Carina let out a huge sigh, turning to Lucy. Brilliant. Now she has to play sympathetic ear to her friends’ lamentations for the next two hours. Not to mention, probably catch some flak for not telling her about all this when she first found out.

“I'm sorry, Luce, he's so clueless sometimes.” Carina kind of hated how easily the practised, half-hearted comfort rolled from her tongue.

“What?”

“What?” Carina furrowed her brow at Lucy. “You know, Chris and Zara, you having a thing for him and all…”

“Rina, that was third year.” She laughed.

“Yeah but-”

“Crushes fade. You do get that, don't you?” Lucy raised an eyebrow.

“I just thought that…” She trailed off dumbly.

“Just because I may have fancied Chris a little bit when I was thirteen, what does that have to do with now?” Lucy shook her head with a chuckle. “I was thirteen. I fancied everyone a little bit. Just because you spent second year to third year going through a lesbian crisis.”

“I don't think it constitutes as a lesbian crisis given I'm not a lesbian?”

“You're missing the point. Yes, the idea of Chris having a girlfriend is weird,” She emphasised. “But not because I like him, because he's never had a girlfriend before. I mean, the guy has three loves. Quidditch theory, healing and us. Of course, it's a bit strange there's suddenly a fourth, but he can do what he wants, right?”

“Yeah, no, of course.” Carina was slightly dumbstruck.

“I'm going for lunch with Holden, Josie and Kelly. I'll catch you later.” Lucy stood up and made her way over to a group of Ravenclaws by the fountain before going inside.

She watched them go, mouth slightly agape. Something about sixth year just had everything falling apart. Several things Carina thought she knew were being challenged right in front of her. Her relationship with Ellie, Lucy and Chris inevitably dating, even Percy suddenly needing her help with something. It was all weird. The last time she’d had these thoughts was when she was pacing the Gryffindor common room, waiting for news of Klaus as he battled Devil’s Snare, flying keys and chess sets. Maybe when You Know Who had possessed Quirrel, he’d put a curse on the families of the four who opposed him, and Klaus’ curse had passed to her? Except that was ridiculous because if the darkest wizard of the modern age cursed her family, the outcome wouldn’t just be failed relationships and friendship mishaps.

No, maybe things were just actually changing. Carina shivered. It was a feeling she knew everyone had at least once, wishing things would stay the same and never change. That time could freeze, and she could sit and enjoy the past forever. That was for certain, everything was going way too fast. Carina would soon be of age, finishing Hogwarts and starting life as an adult, leaving behind everything she knew. There would be no Lucy and Chris to laugh with, no defined rules, no chance for errors. In all honesty, she thought the future sounded very lonely. And that loneliness was beginning to permeate life even now. Did no one else notice it yet? Was it just her? Her friends all seemed to be carrying on as if everything was normal, oblivious to the blatant changes happening to and around them.

Lucy and Chris getting together was always the expected thing. For it to be subverted on the surface seemed inconsequential, but to Carina it represented the guarantee of unpredictability. Sometimes things would just crash and burn, no matter what was supposed to happen. It was natural, but that didn’t mean it felt right.

Carina was left to sit outside and wonder when she'd become the one being left behind.

October 17th 1992, 16:09pm
The Library

Carina considered herself very lucky to have snagged the table around the corner from the main aisle of the library, next to one of the arched windows. The sun was beginning to dip, streaming through the glass, making Carina’s hair seem a lot lighter in colour than it actually was. She drummed her fingers on the desk, flicking through the notes she’d made the night before. Percy just wanted conversational German, so she saw little point in teaching him how to conjugate verbs or giving him even basic-level German literature to read. Hopefully, just covering how to sound out the alphabet, how different pairings of letters sounded, and basic words and phrases would do the trick. If not, well… At that point, it wouldn’t be her problem.

Percy found her easily enough, pulling out the chair opposite and placing his satchel on the floor. He retrieved some parchment and a quill and ink, putting them on the table.

“Reitter.” He nodded in greeting.

“Wea-” Carina sighed and stopped. “If we’re going to be regularly meeting, I’m not doing the whole ‘call each other by our surname’ thing. We’ve known each other for over five years; it’s ridiculous.”

“If you insist, Carina.” It did sound weird to hear him say it.

“Right, well… We should make a start,” She slid him over a piece of paper with the alphabet copied onto it, with notes on pronunciation. “Now I did warn you my German is passable, but I should be able to teach you the basics.”

“What are these four letters at the end?” Percy peered down at the piece of parchment, glasses just sitting on his nose.

“Ah, yes,” She straightened her posture, going into ‘tutoring mode’ as she called it. “So, German uses the same alphabet as English except with four additionals. An ‘A’, ‘U’ and ‘O’ with an umlaut and the eszett. That’s the one that looks a bit like the symbol for beta.”

Percy immediately began copying that down onto his parchment, something Carina appreciated. At least he seemed committed enough to this that there was a possibility he would actually just let her do her thing.

“And what do they do?”

“If you look under the letters, there should be written pronunciations of the alphabet. I figured we’d spend today learning letter pronunciation before moving on to short words,” Carina was much more used to tutoring people younger than her, making it a bit weird with Percy being her age. “Do you want to try sounding them out? I’ll stop you if you make a mistake.”

To Percy’s credit, he did a decent first attempt, only needing correction on ‘X’, which he had said ‘eek’ instead of ‘iks’ and ‘Z’ (‘set’ as opposed to ‘tset’). Of course, being so good at everything else, he would be good at this too. There couldn’t just be one thing Carina could confidently profess to being better than Percy Weasley at. Sure, currently her grasp of German was far superior, but with an actual teacher, Sod’s Law meant he would definitely pass her. Alright, maybe Carina was better than him at flying and Quidditch, but she’d failed to make the house team, so it wasn’t something she could brag about either.

“Yeah, not bad, Percy. You’re not beyond help just yet,” Carina grinned. “Mind you, my relatives would be furious at you calling an eszett ‘the weird-shaped B’, but they also think my pronunciation is an affront to Ada and Karl’s legacy, so…” She trailed off with a shrug.

“Who are Ada and Karl?” Percy frowned.

“Oh! My great-grandparents. They fought against Grindelwald, and the other side of the family has been constantly reminding us how brave they were, while my grandparents emigrated to England to avoid the fighting.” She rolled her eyes.

“Right.” He nodded.

“I mean, basically, the whole Reitter family is over there. Oh God, let’s see…” Carina began silently calculating. “My Great Uncle Friedrich has three kids, and between them, there’s five more, and I think one of them is engaged. O,h and my cousin. Long story short, quite a few. We don’t visit very often.”

Carina actually knew exactly everyone she was related to across the water, but didn’t think Percy wanted to hear her list off the names of them. When she did see them, she got on well with them all. Most of the latest generation of Reitters were around her age, with her favourite second cousins being the twins, Cora and Conrad. Once again, not something she thought he would care about.

“Indeed.” Carina was utterly oblivious to his disinterest.

“I mean, international portkeys are expensive and my dad struggles to get time off work, being in the DMLE and all,” She continued. “And I don’t think my mum has left her bookshop for longer than three days since she opened the place! Tough job to drag her away.”

Percy didn’t reply, squinting back at the parchment she had given him. Carina still hadn't noticed, in full flow of conversation now. She loved her family dearly and talked of it often. It was simply unfortunate that when she got into the flow of telling people things, she was so utterly focused on what she was saying, her grasp of when to stop disappeared. Often, Carina would just talk and talk, taking the fact that no one had interrupted her as a sign that she could continue. Her tendency for this and inability to distinguish the possibility of others finding certain topics taboo led to many moments of social mishaps. She was trying to get better with it, but it was a long process.

“There's also just quite a lot of us, quite hard to get us all in one place,” She chuckled. “I mean, I imagine you relate, your family is huge! The Great Hall probably wouldn't fit all of the Weasleys.”

Percy made a faint noise she interpreted as assent.

“Exactly,” Carina paused. “Truth is, apparently, visits were common when my dad was a kid, but they always preferred his brother to him, and when Death Eaters killed him, my dad sort of stopped talking to them altogether. Now I really hope this has nothing to do with the preferential treatment, but my mum is the first Muggle to have ever married into the Reitter family, so go figure.”

He'd stopped even pretending to respond at this point.

“Now I don't think they’re hardline blood purists, not to the same level as the Malfoys or the rest of the sacred twatting twenty-eight. But I wouldn’t rule out the possibility. I mean, they all attended Durmstrang, which famously doesn’t allow Muggleborns.” Carina shrugged.

“You realise most people would not be so comfortable openly sharing dark family secrets?” Percy pointed out sharply, throwing his quill on the table. “Especially when it is quite obvious the other person does not care?”

“Good thing I’m Carina then, and not most people,” She rolled her eyes at him, voice a little hurt. “Look, Percy, you are now a person that I regularly talk to, as well as being on my list of ‘People I Can Rely On Not to be a Total Dickhead’ so you’re going to have to get real cool with oversharing very quickly. Because it is going to happen. And you didn’t stop me from talking, so how was I supposed to know you couldn't give less of a shit?”

“Mind your language! You are a prefect!” Percy spoke through gritted teeth. “You have a list for that?” He added after a pause.

“Yep.”

“Who’s on it?” He looked slightly incredulous.

“You. Lucy and Chris. Lysander Richter. The twins. My brother. Zara Linletter,” She grimaced. “Not the longest list in the world.”

“I hope you realise having a comprehensive list of friends is incredibly sad.” Percy folded his arms.

“Keep talking and you’re off it,” She snapped. “Besides, it’s not a list of friends. I have a lot of friends, these are just people I could actually depend on to have my back.”

“And you added me to said list based on one conversation where you agreed to teach me German to impress my girlfriend’s grandmother?” He scoffed. “Is it that impossible for you to be slightly normal for once?”

Carina stared at him for a moment. Where had that come from? They had been chatting somewhat amicably until then. She supposed it had seemed too good to be true, that the usually cold Percy Weasley, who had basically humiliated her in front of an entire potions class, would actually treat her any better than he did everyone else. She was a means to an end right now. Maybe she was slightly at fault for rattling off a basic introduction to her family tree, but again, how was she supposed to know when to stop talking if he didn’t tell her? That seemed obvious.

“At least if I were to have a list of my friends, it would have multiple names.” She hissed.

Was using how many friends someone had in an argument mature for a sixteen-year-old? Absolutely not. She said it anyway, though.

“Luckily, CarinaL, I am not here trying to make friends. I am here because you said you would help me, when in actuality you’ve spent longer talking to me about your weird family than tutoring me in anything,” Percy stood up, hauling his bag over his shoulder. “You’re a pretty awful teacher so far. I hope by our next meeting, you’ve matured more.”

He left without another word.

“Me mature more?” She scoffed to herself, shoving parchment into her bag. “Coming from the guy who has a stick so far up his arse I can see it when he talks? Yeah right… Mature more… Suck my dick, Weasley.”

She practically kicked her chair back under the table as she rose from her seat.

“I’m a great teacher. He’s just a shit student. Sitting there with his stupid hair and glasses hanging off his nose with an expression like he’s just sniffed dragon-dung fertiliser. Prick.”

Carina continued muttering obscenities to herself as she walked down for dinner. When Chris pulled into the seat next to her and saw the sour expression on her face, he asked what was wrong. All Carina had said was:

“Don’t fucking ask.”

October 25th 1992, 9:27am
Defense Against the Dark Arts Classroom

“Cut it out,” Carina chuckled, whispering. “I'm serious, we're gonna get made to move seats.”

“R-Rictusempra.” Lysander muttered between giggles, forcing another bout of magically induced laughter onto Carina, making her bite her fist to stay quiet.

Thankfully for the two of them, Lockheart was way too engrossed in recounting how he’d used some stupid spell that Carina was ninety-nine percent sure didn’t exist to distract a vampire. He hadn’t noticed the Gryffindor and Slytherin at the back of the room, trying to inconspicuously hit each other with tickling charms.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a joke this year. Obviously, Quirrel hadn’t been perfect either, but at least he stuck to the curriculum. Lockheart, on the other hand… Carina was so thankful she didn’t have N.E.W.Ts this year. How this man qualified as a teacher was beyond her, and how he hadn’t been removed after numerous complaints students had been launching at Dumbledore. She had learned absolutely nothing this year. Not to mention she’d heard the tale of how he’d released a cage of Pixies onto the second years and then left them to clean up. She’d marched straight up to the Headmaster’s office with Neville Longbottom in tow after he explained how Lockheart had allowed the blighters to hang him from the chandelier and hadn’t attempted to help. Maybe it was because she’d done a stint at a Muggle Primary School at her mum’s insistence, but Carina was constantly horrified by the constant negligence the teachers here engaged in. It was astounding how they could get away with not only being shit at teaching, but also letting students get injured. Every single teacher in the school should have had at least one suspension on their record by now! It was moments like this when Carina would take a deep breath and promise she would be different when she worked here.

“Reckon I can turn his hair purple when he’s not looking?” Lysander whispered, nudging her.

“With how many mirrors there are in here, so he can fucking stare at himself? No way.”

Their snickering had attracted some unwanted attention. In front of the two, sat next to Oliver Wood, Percy turned around, likely ready to shush or glare at them. Upon his noticing it was Carina at fault, his expression hardened further.

“Will you two imbeciles shut it?” He hissed, joining the conversation.

“Come on, Perce, not like you’re missing anything important, eh?” Lysander grinned.

“And Reitter, what did I say about maturity?” He ignored the Slytherin.

“Oh do one, Weasley. I’ll mature a bit more when you stop being an insufferable git. Seems fair.” Carina folded her arms. Suffice to say, she was still holding a torch over the whole debacle of their first German lesson.

He turned back around, muttering darkly. Lysander and Carina looked at each other for a moment before both bursting into silent laughter, no tickling charm needed this time.

One of the best things that ever happened to Carina at Hogwarts was in fourth year when a weedy Slytherin had cornered her in a corridor and told her that her relationship with Ellie had made him reflect and realise he was gay. She hadn’t really known Lysander then, just a quiet face in the back of classrooms who seemed shunned by his own house and others. What had started off from that day as silent solidarity as two of the very few queer people at Hogwarts had blossomed into a friendship that rivalled that of her, Lucy and Chris. From the impression she’d gotten of him before actually talking, Carina had thought Lysander was shy, willing to put his head down and work. She had never been more wrong about a person before. He was perhaps one of the funniest people she knew, able to brighten her day even in the pits of misery. To conclude, Carina absolutely adored him.

They had started sitting together in classes, rushing to finish their work so they could spend the rest of the lessons chatting, took lunch together in the courtyard both with and without Lucy and Chris, and went to Hogsmeade together. Lucy and Chris also liked Lysander. He’d gotten on well enough with Ellie, but had been the first one to reply to the tear-stained letters Carina had sent out, professing about the breakup. In fact, he’d had his brother side-along apparate him from Derby to her home in Cheltenham. It had given her parents a dreadful fright when he’d suddenly appeared in the garden with his brother while the family were having a barbecue, but apparently, after Lysander had told her how her dad had pulled him aside and thanked him for coming and cheering her up. He’d also immediately offered to keep an eye on Klaus when he was sorted into Slytherin. She had well and truly lucked out when he came into her life.

“Get into pairs!” Lockheart’s silky, irritating voice called Carina back to reality. “And re-enact the scene I just read, making sure the spell is non-verbal. The best duo to perform will get a prize-”

“A signed copy of a book that’s only good for burning.” Lysander and Carina muttered to each other at the same time.

“A copy of Voyages with Vampires signed by me!” They groaned quietly. “Now, off you go!”

Carina pulled herself to her feet, twirling her wand between her hands with a bored expression. Pushing her chair under the desk, she made for the back corner of the classroom where no one else would be able to see their likely bullshit attempts at completing the task at hand. Lysander looked equally bemused by what they had been told to do.

“I must have read my schedule wrong,” He said, leaning against the wall next to her. “I thought it said DADA, it must have said Drama instead.”

“This is ridiculous!” Carina hissed. “How can he get away with being so… So-”

“Incompetent?”

“Worthless?”

“Unprofessional?”

“Inadequate.”

They spent a good few minutes firing various words to describe Lockheart back and forth, slowly getting crasser and more insulting.

“Oh bollocks, he’s getting people to actually perform in front of everyone.” Lysander noticed.

“Shit. We’re gonna have to actually come up with something,” She winced. “Who’s doing what?”

“You be the Vampire, you’re pale enough,” Carina shot him a look which he ignored. “I can’t remember what spell he said it was, but there was something about eyes. I’m gonna hit you with a Conjunctivitis Curse, okay?”

“Have you ever done a non-verbal spell?”

“Nope. And of course, Mr Fancypants decided not to tell us how, just that he did it,” He scowled. “I’m just gonna close my eyes and pray, I think. I’ve read a bit of theory but not much.”

“I doubt he can perform most spells verbally, let alone without incantation.” Carina whispered.

A half-hearted applause ended Finley Selwyn and Josie Jones’ recreation. Neither of the Ravenclaws had been able to perform the spell non-verbally, which wasn’t really their fault. In Carina’s opinion, it might be the factthat they were using Lockheart’s actual spell, and the failure was probably down to the fact that such a hex didn’t actually exist.

“Nice try, nice try! Mr Selwyn was a very convincing Vampire!” She rolled her eyes. “Now let’s see… Ah! Miss Reitter and Mr Richter, why don’t you give it a shot?”

The two made their way as slowly as possible to the front of the classroom. Carina caught Chris’ eye as she walked past him, standing next to Gretchen. He seemed to be very close to laughing rather loudly, making her glare and mouth ‘Don’t you dare’. That seemed to make things worse. She chose instead to subtly flip him off.

Carina stood awkwardly facing Lysander, trying desperately to remember everything she could about Vampires to try and be at least a bit convincing. Her mind was coming up blank. She settled to hold her arms up, one hand in front of the other, like she’d seen in a Muggle movie from the twenties called Nosferatu. She could feel her face going red.

“Back foul beast! Thou art the amalgam of all unholiness in this world!” Well, at least Lysander was having fun. And Lockheart seemed to be lapping it up.

Not trusting herself to speak, Carina pretended to try and take a bite of his neck. She saw him draw his wand, eyes screwed shut in clear concentration. He flourished his wand a few times silently to no effect, when suddenly pain exploded at Carina’s eyelids, the skin beginning to bubble and swell. Somehow, with no direction whatsoever, Lysander had been able to perform the spell non-verbally.

“Oh my god!” She heard him yell, shocked.

Carina rubbed at her eyes incessantly as she heard an actual round of applause sound out. Lockheart rambled on, showering him with praise and presenting him with the promised prize, which she knew would be sitting at the bottom of the Slythering common room fire grate by the end of the day. She coughed quite loudly, pointing at her cursed shut eyes to try and get some attention.

“Oh, sorry, Carina,” She heard Lysander shuffle next to her. “I’ve got it-”

“Not to worry, dear boy, I know the countercurse.” No. God no.

Carina began to try and move to what she thought was back and away from Lockheart. The last thing she wanted right now was him pointing a wand at her incredibly vulnerable eyes. Not to mention, there was no countercurse. The way to revert a Conjunctivitis Curse was the Oculus Potion, something a third-year student should know. She was beginning to panic.

“Really, Professor, I should take her to Madam Pomfrey for an Oculus Potion.” Lysander was going to get the best Christmas present ever for this.

“Now, I’m sure our lovely matron has more important matters to attend to, stand aside, Mr Richter.” Lockheart sounded a lot closer than Carina liked.

“But Professor, there isn’t a cou-” God bless Chris, too.

“Et Ocolus Figere!”

For a moment, nothing happened. And then Carina screamed, eyes burning with pain.

The skin was no longer swollen, and she could blink easily. But it made no difference. No matter how many times she opened and closed her eyelids, she could see nothing, and the act of doing so brought wave after wave of agony crashing over her. She staggered slightly, feeling a hand on her arm. Probably Lysander, she reckoned. She could smell his awful cedarwood cologne.

“You bloody maniac, you blinded her!” She could hear Chris shout a little to her left. It seemed as if the classroom was headed towards uproar, voices all around her.

“A totally expected mistake, nothing I can’t handle if you’ll give me a-”

“Absolutely not, someone take her to Madam Pomfrey!” Lysander’s arm was now firmly around her, turning her away from Lockheart, presumably.

The voices swelled again. Carina was focusing so much on staying on her feet and not crying at the awful, stabbing sensation behind her eyes, she missed who had volunteered to take her. She felt a hand curl around her shoulder, guiding her. It was harder than expected to just blindly trust this person as they manoeuvred her through the corridors.

“Chris, is that you?” She asked quietly to no reply. “Lysander? Oliver?”

Each question was met with silence. Carina was beginning to run out of people who could possibly be guiding her. She felt herself being led around a corner, towards the scraping sound of stone that meant the staircases. This was going to be tricky. She tested out to the edge of each step with her foot, carefully descending step by step. Slowly getting into the rhythm of the whole thing, Carina began to go quicker, until she was almost at a normal pace, hand still on her shoulder.

Then there was air where there should have been a stair. Carina’s stomach lurched as she felt herself begin to fall. The hand on her shoulder slipped as she stumbled, before just snagging onto her wrist. Bloody vanishing trick step.

“Watch yourself!” The person guiding her hissed.

Carina froze. She knew that voice. She’d argued with it a week or so ago.

“Weasley, is that you?”

He didn’t confirm, nor did he say anything else as they continued down to the Hospital Wing.

October 30th 1992, 15:59pm
Hogsmeade High Street

Carina was over the moon that Madam Pomfrey had been able to reverse the damage to her eyes because Hogsmeade looked beautiful right now. It was golden hour, the clocks having gone back for daylight saving time a few days ago, and the entire street was bathed in the rays of the setting sun. Orangey-yellow light filtered through the gaps in the buildings, dappling the cobbles. It was a clear day too, not a cloud in sight. Not even Lucy feeling the need to stop in every single shop when all Carina wanted was a butterbeer and a walk could dampen her mood.

“Are you even listening to me?” Lucy looked up, her arm linked with Carina’s.

“Huh? Oh, right, yes. Something about Hilda McClaggen and Holden Michaels?” She smiled at her friend.

“Nope, Dara Kane and Holden Michaels. You are hopeless,” She laughed. “I was complaining about Hilda a good ten minutes ago. She-”

“Oh, yeah! You caught her trying to levitate your lipstick out of your bag.” She recalled.

“Bitch.”

“Yeah, bitch.” Carina agreed.

Despite it only being the two of them on today’s trip, Carina was having a wonderful time. It was unusual she ever hung out with just Lucy. Obviously, being in the same house as Chris, they spent a lot of one-on-one time together, but if she was seeing Lucy, it was commonplace that at least one of her other friends would be there too. It felt good to have a girls day, something Carina didn’t do often. She thought it was incredibly important not to shy away from having girl friends and doing things to stay in touch with her feminine side. There was the expectation that because she was a prefect with good grades that all she would care about was studying and the choice between being smart and girly. It wasn’t something she particularly subscribed to, especially after the long lecture her mum had given Carina as a child when she suddenly declared she was going to stop wearing dresses because none of the smart women in movies did. It truly made her thankful for her mum.

“I still need to swing by Gladrags for that jumper, do you need anything too, or do you want to grab a table at the Three Broomsticks?” Lucy asked.

“What time is it? Lysander and Tilly said they’d be waiting for us at ten past.” She watched her friend peer at her watch.

“It’s just gone four.”

“Hm… I do actually need some new trousers, mine are getting short. I’ll come with you, we’ve got time.” Carina began to steer them in the direction of the clothes shop.

“Jesus, you’re still growing? I’ve been this height since fourth year,” Lucy threw her head back and sighed, making her locs sway in the breeze. “It’s not fair.”

They weren’t far from the shop when Lucy suddenly stopped and pointed, laughing slightly. Carina followed her gaze to see Chris hand in hand with Zara, walking down the opposite side of the street.

“They grow up so fast.” She sighed sarcastically.

“Oi, Avares!” Carina hollered, getting his attention. “She’s too good for you!”

“Piss off, Rina!” He fired back, eyes crinkled with amusement. She saw Zara laugh behind her hand, giving a brief wave to the two before continuing.

Lucy and Carina made their way into Gladrags, chatting idly with each other. The shop itself was rather grand, taking its slogan of ‘Dressing the Elegant Wizard’ very seriously. Three floors with a wraparound mezzanine on the second and third, and rows upon rows of fine clothing. It was a bit too posh for Carina’s taste, but they usually discounted any damaged stock at a reasonable price, and she was good enough and severing and mending charms to make it work. She let Lucy run off to a world of wool and cashmere while she focused her attention on the sale rack. There was a decent pair of sensible black trousers with a missing button that would work. Maybe a bit plain and austere, but her dad had been teaching her to embroider, a skill he had picked up while off work looking after Klaus as a child, and she was sure she remembered enough to jazz them up with some flowers or something similar.

“I’m all done. How goes jumper hunting?” Carina asked, sidling up to Lucy.

“What do you think?” She held up two of the same jumpers in different colours. “Pink or orange?”

Carina studied them both as Lucy switched between holding them in front of her.

“Orange makes you glow. Go orange.” She decided.

“Cheers, Rina.”

They paid for their items and headed back outside. With the sun going down and the sky being so clear, a chill was beginning to pick up, making the two wrap their coats a bit tighter. Lucy began to head towards the Three Broomsticks, but Carina stopped her.

“One moment, let me deal with this now before I forget,” She pulled the trousers out of the bag and laid them across the stone half-wall. “Could you hold my stuff?”

“Yeah, I’ve got you.” Lucy grabbed Carina’s bag.

“Gemino,” She pointed her wand at one of the buttons, causing a new one to spring into place, which she then affixed to the missing spot. “Reparo.” The button sewed itself back into place.

“Rina.” Lucy’s voice was quiet.

“Just a minute, I need to check if the seams are okay.”

“Carina.”

“Yeah, like I said, just a minu-”

“Carina!”

She wheeled around to see what Lucy was so insistent about. Her friend was staring at a bench a few feet away with two figures on it, kissing in a rather unchaste manner. She figured this was just another of Lucy’s friends or enemies on a date that would likely be analysed over a glass of butterbeer with the others. It was a common practice; anytime Lucy saw someone she knew on a date with a new person, a full debrief would be had where she explained why they were either compatible or not with whoever they were with. Her ability to do so was astonishing, even with people she had never even spoken to, just heard about through the grapevine. Carina made to turn back to what she was doing.

Something stopped her, though.

The person on the right was vaguely familiar. It took a moment for her to squint against the setting sun, but when she clocked the long, straw-yellow hair, she froze.

“That…” Her words stuck in her throat. “That little-” She started towards the two on the bench.

“Rina, no!” Lucy hissed, grabbing her arm. “It is so not worth it!”

“Oh, it so is.” She wrenched her arm out of her friend’s grip, striding forward.

“Rina, please!”

“Oi!” She yelled, coming to stand in front of the two. “You lying little traitor! Focus on your education? I cannot believe I fell for your bullshit!”

The two jumped apart, Ellie Collins looking murderous and the pretty seventh year with her confused.

“Els, what’s going on?” The older girl started.

“Be quiet!” Carina snapped. “This has fuck all to do with you, go on, clear off!”

She did as asked, grabbing her bag and hurrying away. Ellie stood up, glaring at Carina.

“What the hell, Reitter? You just ruined my date!” She seethed.

“Oh yeah, like you ruined my entire summer with your out-of-the-blue break-up?” Carina laughed without humour. “To what, focus on your education? Yeah, you seem really focused on those N.E.W.Ts, don’t you? What, are the Herbology answers down her shirt or something?” It was crude and mean, and she knew it.

“That is bang out of order.”

“It’s the truth, though, isn’t it? You lied to me,” Her words were catching in her throat. “How long have you been seeing her then? Is that why you broke it off, to be with her?” Carina was getting dangerously close to crying, something she could not afford to do.

“You’re not my girlfriend anymore, Carina. You need to back off, this isn’t your business.” Ellie crossed her arms.

“It is my business if you were seeing her behind my back!”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous.” She rolled her eyes.

“Am I?” Carina threw her arms wide. “Am I being ridiculous, Ellie? Because you told me we were over because you had priorities besides a relationship, and I believe having your tongue down another girl’s throat is really the opposite.”

“Her name is Niamh.”

“I DON’T CARE!” Carina practically yelled. They were attracting a lot of attention from passerbys.

“You’re embarrassing yourself, and I’m leaving.” She began picking up her coat from where it was draped over the bench.

“You broke my heart,” The floodgates were close to opening. “You’re a fucking traitor, Ellie Collins.”

Ellie left without another word, giving Carina one last dirty look. Everyone in the nearby street had stopped, mouths open as they watched the display.

“The fuck are you lot looking at?” She snapped before taking off in the opposite direction.

She could hear Lucy calling after her, but paid no mind, weaving in and out of the floods of people heading towards the Three Broomsticks for an early evening butterbeer. Her head was spinning. Ellie had a new girlfriend already. Did Carina really matter that little? Did those two years not matter at all? That they could be thrown away on one inconsequential day in July? Someone else had already taken her place. And then there was the horrible, sinking feeling in her chest that ate away at her. What if Ellie had been cheating on her with Niamh?

The multitude of questions circled her head as Carina kept walking, the crowds beginning to thin more and more. She just kept walking in one direction, no destination in mind. Eventually, the shops and houses grew sparser, taken over by trees. The path became rocky. Carina found herself on the road towards the Shrieking Shack and spotted a fallen log on the grass by the fence. She collapsed onto it, finally, finally letting herself cry.

It was about ten minutes later when she heard footsteps approaching her and then a voice.

“Hey.”

“Go away, Lysander.”

She could see him standing not too far away from the corner of her eye. He was bundled up in a thick wool coat, brown eyes just peaking out from under his fringe.

“Lucy told me what happened.” He said softly, joining her on the fallen log.

“I said go away.” Carina repeated.

“No.”

There was silence for a while, just the two of them sitting side by side. The sun was slowly approaching the horizon, casting long shadows over the ground. It was quiet, peacefully so. That sort of soft nothingness that came the day after a storm, where everything seems still and permanent. Not a branch swaying in the breeze, no birds singing. A globe of calm, of safety.

Carina had been right to worry. Everything was changing way too quickly, and it was almost like she hadn’t got the same memo everyone else did. How were they all carrying on so easily, leaving her behind to sink in the comfort of how simple things were in the past? What she knew was slipping through her fingers, like a dream fading when she woke. There were slivers, straws to grasp at, but they never stayed long, falling to the ground and being swept away, left in the deepest parts of her head. Logically, Carina knew everyone had fears about things changing when one got older. Never before had she experienced such things. She usually handled change well, not letting it permeate that little bubble of safety around her. She thought she was just different to them all, strong and unfazed. It was sitting silently on that fallen log, she realised she was just like everyone else, just as susceptible to fear, just as vulnerable to change. It hurt. It really hurt.

“Here,” Lysander said quietly, passing her something. “The magic is weak enough here that it should work.”

Carina looked down at what she’d been handed, pausing in her soundless tears to smile. She placed the earbud in her ear, watching him fiddle with putting a cassette tape into a battered Walkman.

“I can’t imagine your parents were thrilled to find you using Muggle technology.” Carina whispered.

“After how they reacted when they found out I was doing Muggle Studies, Demetrius covered for me and said it was his.” He explained, putting the other headphone in his own ear and clicking play.

There was a crackle as the device strained against the residual magic from Hogsmeade, eventually a small whir and the first few bars of ‘Silver’ by Echo and the Bunnymen flooded Carina’s ear. She smiled wider as the violin and drums kicked in to join the guitar, leaning her head on Lysander’s shoulder.

Swung from a chandelier, my planet sweet on a silver salver

Bailed out my worst fears 'cause man has to be his own saviour

Blind sailors, imprisoned jailers, god tame us, no one to blame us

She could see Lysander tapping his fingers on his knees, eyes closed. Of course, he knew exactly how to cheer her up. Carina even found herself humming along to the last chorus.

The sky is blue, my hands untied

A world that's true through our clean eyes

Just look at you with burning lips

You're living proof at my fingertips

As the last notes of ‘Silver’ faded into ‘Nocturnal Me’, she sat up, rolling her neck. Carina cast her eyes out at the sparse forest they were sitting in. Maybe not everything was changing. There would still be moments like this where everything was still, just now they came about in different ways. Lysander would always be there with a joke or a cassette tape; Lucy and Chris weren’t going anywhere. There was probably something poignant in the realisation that the constants were the friends journeying life with her, but Carina didn’t have the energy to be overly philosophical. She was content to just keep sitting and listening to music.

“Hey, Lysander?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

31st October 1992, 18:22pm
The Entrance Hall

Percy and Carina walked down the last few stairs in unison, neither looking at the other. Their German lesson had gone a bit better today, with Carina making more of an effort to be quiet. Percy, in turn, had spoken only to ask questions and check pronunciation. All in all, a bit of a miserable affair, but better than the first one, which had ended with them yelling at each other. Neither had apologised for the things they had said, and it was becoming glaringly obvious that no such thing was going to happen.

They had also made little mention of the fact that he had helped her to the hospital wing after Lockheart had blinded her. The minute Carina had gotten her vision back, she had run to McGonagall to tell her what happened, only to be met with the response that it was up to Dumbledore what action was taken. Which was, of course, none. Of course, how silly of Carina, it was actually totally reasonable that a teacher who clearly didn’t know the basics of curses and their countering, whose lack of knowledge on such things blinded a student, be allowed to continue teaching. How very fair and logical. She hated this school sometimes. Carina had then quietly thanked Percy for helping her. His vehement denial of involvement had convinced no one, not even him. But she didn’t push it.

“-celebrate someone’s death-”

She frowned, peering down a corridor to the left of the Great Hall. That was her brother’s voice, talking about something alarming. Not one peaceful day in Hogwarts, truly. Carina paused, watching Klaus, Harry, Ron and Hermione round the corner and freeze upon seeing her. Percy hadn’t noticed the four yet, and from the guilty expressions on their faces, they were definitely up to no good. Why weren’t they going to the Halloween feast? Normally, she’d leave them to get caught and sternly told off by Percy, but her brother was with them, and she was allowed to have a tiny bit of bias.

“I uh-” She coughed loudly, trying to come up with an excuse to slip away. “I left my quill in the library. You go on ahead.” She flashed Percy a strained smile.

“Be quick.” He replied, entering the Great Hall.

Once he was out of sight, Carina walked briskly down the adjoining corridor to catch up with the four second years.

“Where are you lot going?” She folded her arms, glaring down at all of them.

“Hiya, Carrie.” Her brother half-smiled.

“We were hoping you hadn’t noticed us.” Ron grumbled.

“Good evening, Klaus,” Carina returned the smile very briefly before continuing. “I just want an explanation as to why you are all walking the opposite direction to the feast, so I have an answer when it inevitably all goes tits up and McGonagall asks where you are. No mountain trolls this year, please?"

Hermione went to open her mouth, but Ron hit her arm, making her stop.

“Ronald, I intend to let you all go once I know. If you prefer, I can call your brother back over and he can drag you back to the feast by your ear.” She challenged.

“We’re going to a death day party.” Hermione explained.

Well, that sounded cheery.

“Nearly-Headless Nick invited us.” Harry added.

“Are you sure you’d rather be there than at the feast?” Carina wrinkled her nose. “I’ve learned about these in History of Magic, and they are often a rather grim affair. They won’t be catered to the living.”

“Please, Carina, we promised Nick we’d be there. He seemed really happy about it.” Klaus shifted from foot to foot.

“Right…” She sighed. “Look, I’m really hungry, so I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you all and let you go do your death day thing. Just get back to your common rooms before curfew, please?”

The four of them nodded enthusiastically, thanking her profusely before continuing on.

“Don’t do anything stupid!” Carina called after them, heading into the hall.

The feast passed without incident, thankfully. Carina had been on edge the whole time, expecting to hear an announcement about her brother and his friends setting fire to the school, but in actuality, it was a rather pleasant affair. She was sandwiched between Chris and Ginny Weasley, the latter of whom seemed particularly pale and downtrodden today. Carina had tried to make conversation with her, but she seemed unresponsive, just eating her food mechanically. Probably just stress, she reasoned. Or Fred and George filling her head with tales of horrible things happening at Hogwarts on Halloween. Carina resigned to keep an eye on her and make sure it was just a fluke.

Even Percy had seemed in decent enough spirits, debating professional Quidditch teams with Chris and Oliver. Chris had been a fan of the Falmouth Falcons since he first learned what Quidditch was; his bedside was decorated with posters of the players. Lucy had even managed to get the three of them tickets to a game for his birthday once, and he hadn’t stopped smiling the whole day. Carina, on the other hand, favoured the Tutshill Tornadoes, simply because they were localish to where she lived. She enjoyed playing Quidditch but never really followed the leagues, not like Oliver.

The conversation continued as they left the Great Hall and began climbing the stairs back to the common room. She had used reducio on a few pumpkin pasties, which were now in her pockets for Harry, Ron and Hermione. They would probably come back from the party starving. Sadly, as Klaus’ common room was in the dungeons, she had no way of crossing paths with him to deliver food. Chris was in the middle of passionately describing the time he saw Kyle Rangthorn of the Falcons score a hat trick up close when what seemed like a collective gasp echoed around them.

The crowds had stopped moving, gathered around a wall on the second floor. Carina craned her neck, trying to get a view of what was causing so much disturbance. She caught a glance of something red on the walls, but couldn’t make out anything else.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver asked.

“Someone’s vandalised the walls, I think, and there’s water everywhere.” Chris was on his tiptoes.

“Come now, move along, everyone, you’re blocking the corridors!” Percy called, flashing his prefect badge at anyone who looked to try and get them to move.

“Yeah, we’ve all seen graffiti before!” Chris added. “Three galleons says someone’s drawn a dick on the wall.” He added lowly.

“Chris!” Carina and Oliver laughed, lightly smacking a shoulder each.

Following Percy half out of curiosity and half because she was actually a prefect too, Carina pushed through the throng. There were whispers all around her, and she swore she heard her brother’s name mentioned. If she caught him and his friends vandalising the walls, she was going to flip. And probably write a letter home.

“What’s all the fuss-” Carina’s eyes bugged when she saw the wall. “Oh my god.”

Even Percy paled seeing it.

“Is that blood?” He asked weakly.

“‘The Chamber of Secrets has been opened. Enemies of the heir beware’…” She read the dripping, red words on the wall.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was water everywhere, and Harry, Ron, Hermione and Klaus were standing right next to the scene of the crime. Carina was just about to open her mouth to speak when her gaze travelled upwards, noticing what looked sickeningly like two dead cats being suspended from the ceiling. One that anyone could recognise, a Maine Coon with red eyes; Mrs Norris. The other was smaller, more like a poof of black fur than an actual act. Carina felt her knees go weak.

“Merlin…”

“I know, this is beyond words.” Percy agreed.

“No,” She pointed up, arm quivering. “That’s Merlin. My cat.”

Chapter Text

November 1st 1992, 10:43am
The Gryffindor Common Room

“Petrified.” Carina repeated slowly.

“That's what they're saying.” Maria confirmed.

It was Saturday, so the common room was all but empty aside from the sixth years sitting around the fireplace discussing the events of the previous night. Carina had missed most of the kerfuffle that followed the reveal of the message on the wall, with Chris having quickly brought her back to Gryffindor Tower after the discovery of Merlin. She was grateful for the privacy but now needed catching up on what had transpired. She was sitting in the middle of the old, beaten up sofa with Maria and Gretchen on either side, arms around her. Chris, Oliver and Tilly were in the adjoining armchairs and even Percy was present, though a noticeable distance from the group in the corner thumbing through a book.

“Okay, so what petrified Merlin then?” She pulled herself to sit straighter, squeezing Gretchen's arm. “And Mrs Norris.” She added.

“We don't know,” Oliver admitted, head bowed. “Professor Sprout says it can be cured with a restorative Mandrake draft, but they're quite young. It could take until May for them to mature.”

“But surely there's not a lot of causes of petrification, I reckon it would only take an afternoon to comb through them all so why aren't we doing that?” She glanced around at the room.

“The library is packed right now,” Tilly laced her hands together, leaning forward. “Everyone and their mother is in there, wanting to know about the Chamber of Secrets. It gets worse too. After you left, well… That Malfoy kid yelled ‘you'll be next, mudbloods'.” She shared a look with Chris, the other muggleborn in the room.

“WHAT?!” Carina jumped to her feet, causing Gretchen and Maria to flinch. “And has he faced any punishment for it?”

“Of course not,” Gretchen screwed her face up. “When have the teachers ever cared about students using that word?” Her tone was bitter.

“But that's clearly a threat!” Carina sunk back down to the sofa in despair.

A small cough from the side of the room interrupted them.

“Found it,” Percy held up his copy of ‘Hogwarts: A History’. “‘The story goes that Slytherin had built a hidden chamber in the castle, of which the other founders knew nothing. Slytherin, according to the legend, sealed the Chamber of Secrets so that none would be able to open it until his own true heir arrived at the school. The heir alone would be able to unseal the Chamber of Secrets, unleash the horror within, and use it to purge the school of all who were unworthy to study magic.’ That's all it says.”

They were all quiet for a moment, letting the words sink in. This was all happening because the heir of Slytherin had come to Hogwarts and they were trying to purge Muggleborns. That was an utterly awful thought, something that sent chills running up and down Carina's arms.

“Petrification doesn't seem much like purging,” Tilly spoke quietly. “I've met blood purists. Proper ones. The fanatics that compare us to a disease and lobby for laws that ban us from areas of the magical community. They wouldn't be placated by simply making us turn to stone for a few months. They'd want us dead.”

No one knew what to say in response to Tilly. She was right, of course, and that was the horror of it. Anyone who was capable of opening a hidden chamber under the school that was specifically designed to drive away the Muggleborns would be willing to go the full way, to kill. Carina hugged her legs. They shouldn't have to think about this sort of thing. They were sixteen years old. They should be all studying for the next exam, or sitting by the Black Lake relaxing after a long day, playing exploding snap, doing homework. Instead, the Gryffindor sixth years were all gathered in the common room discussing a life threatening situation and what to do about it.

“So we're looking for a new student in Slytherin?” Oliver said after a pause, running a hand through his hair.

“Oh come off it, a child couldn't do this. I do think we're looking for a Slytherin though, being his heir and all.” Carina bit her lip.

“I thought you said family ties meant nothing for Hogwarts houses.” Chris joked weakly.

“I'm willing to ignore such a belief for the sake of a founder of the school the houses are named after,” She told him. “Still though, not a new student. Perhaps someone biding their time. We did get a lot of Muggleborn students this year.”

“You two shouldn't walk the corridors alone,” Maria directed this to Tilly and Chris. “For petrification reasons and because this whole thing will make the purists feel more confident in expressing their sentiment. We should keep an eye on the Muggleborns in other years too; Katie, Lee, Leane, Hermione, Colin…”

Maria wasn't wrong. Things were going to get much worse for the Muggleborns of Hogwarts after this, knowing attempts on their life were a possibility and more that there would be other students in the school actively supporting it.

“I'll inform the other prefects and the head boy and head girl to look out for the ones in their houses.” Percy was lingering a bit closer to the group now.

“The book says ‘The horror within’, right?” Carina asked Percy, who nodded. “So some sort of beast? Once the library clears, someone should get on researching magical creatures capable of petrification.”

“I'll do that,” Tilly offered. “I'm in the library enough, Madam Pince trusts me. I could probably get into the restricted section without a note if necessary.”

“So, me and Percy will handle things from a prefect standpoint, Tilly will research… Gretch, Maria, Oliver; will you three stick with Chris and Tilly?”

Carina’s suggestion was met with various murmurs of assent. It felt strange to be organising in such a way, but it was an unspoken agreement between the Gryffindors in the room that after the debacle with the Philosopher's Stone last year they didn't trust the teachers to deal with this. Time and time again it had been shown that they didn't take anti-Muggleborn sentiment seriously. It was what gave people like Malfoy the gall to proclaim who would be next and shout slurs in corridors. It was sickening, on reflection.

Everyone slowly dispersed back upstairs to get dressed - this meeting had taken place in pajamas - until it was just Chris and Carina still downstairs. He came to sit beside her, rubbing her shoulder. The two were silent for a moment, a quietly shared acknowledgement of how tremendously fucked the situation was. So much for finally having a normal year after the events of last June.

“Why Merlin?” Carina finally whispered. “There are like thirty other cats in this school.”

“It's just bad luck, Rina,” Chris sighed. “I'm sure if it had been another cat someone else would be wondering such things in your stead. It was always going to happen to someone, it was just you this time.”

“When did you get so wise?”

“Always have been, you just never noticed.” He grinned.

“I swear to God, Christopher Avares, if you get petrified I'll never forgive you.” She turned to face him, pulling her pajama sleeves to cover her hands.

“Wow, full name, you mean business. Don't worry, I won't. Imagine how boring your life would be if I was frozen for seven months.” Chris laughed.

“Don't even joke,” Carina shook her head. “Jesus, I wonder how Klaus is doing.”

“Klaus? But he's half-blood, he'll be fine.” He frowned.

“Yes, but he's best friends with Hermione Granger whilst also being in the house known for their purist views,” She explained. “They can't get to her right now so they'll project it onto him.”

“Oh,” Chris was quiet for a moment. “He's a tough cookie, your brother. He'll be okay.”

“I know, it's just…” Carina buried her head in her hands. “Being in a place where I can't always be there to look out for him is the worst. I spent most of my life in our Muggle primary school in the counsellor's office after getting into fights defending him. I mean, seriously, bullying him over his birthmark? It's pathetic!”

“And while I'm sure he's grateful to always have you on his side, it's good for him to learn to stand up for himself.” He shrugged.

“You're right, but it doesn't make it any easier.” She smiled slightly.

“Such is the way of the truth, my dearest Carina.”

November 1st 1992, 17:09pm
The Bridge

After the meeting in the morning, Gryffindor Tower had slowly started to fill up again as the students returned from their excursions to the library. Most had found nothing, with the two copies of ‘Hogwarts: A History’ having been checked out immediately, one even by half six in the morning. Carina wasn't sure the library even opened at that time, but then again, she never rose earlier than quarter to eight, so how would she know?

Many people had come up to her offering their condolences for Merlin, and she couldn't help but for the first time ever feel sympathy for Filch. She was sure no one was making sure he was okay after what happened to Mrs Norris. Vile, leering old man who longed to torture students or not, he was still human. And he has lost a beloved pet. She had planned to go herself and apologise for what had happened, but upon reaching his office and hearing loud sobs from inside, Carina figured the last thing he wanted right now was to deal with a student.

She'd cornered Harry, Ron and Hermione to ask them how Klaus was, but the three had just shifted uncomfortably and muttered that they hadn't seen him. There was definitely more to that tale, but at that point the atmosphere in the common room had become so stifling that Carina had just dismissed them, heading for a walk instead. She ran into Lysander halfway who accompanied her for a lap of the grounds before leaving also. Presently, she was leaning with her arms folded on one of the openings on the bridge. It was quiet outside, save for the occasional bird, giving way to a much needed stillness in her head.

Just when she'd accept the necessity for change, of course something like this had happened.

Carina heard a pair of voices a little ways off, glancing to the right to see the Weasley twins heading back towards the castle. She gave a quick wave, ready to return back to gazing back out over the valley when an idea struck her. Something that would maybe calm at least part of the swirling negativity inside her, if not at least distract from the rest.

“Good evening, Fred, George.” She greeted them as they approached.

From how the twin on the left smiled wider at the mention of the first name, Carina was able to deduce the one on the left was Fred and the right was George.

“Hello there, Ri-Ri,” George stopped to talk. “Sorry again about your cat.”

“I appreciate that, thanks,” She turned to face them. “I have a question for you both.”

“Fire away.” Fred replied.

“Do you two troublemakers remember at the start of the year when you offered me an opportunity for revenge?” They both nodded. “Would such an offer still stand?”

“What do you think, Fred? Percy's perfect prefect friend helping us with a prank?”

“Sounds like an opportunity we shouldn't squander, George.”

“I am barely Percy's friend.” Carina added.

“So what brought on the change of heart?” Fred queried. “I specifically remember you lecturing us on being the bigger person.”

“Ellie has a new girlfriend. Already,” Carina explained. “It's upset me a considerable amount. Not to mention I need something to take my mind off what's happening.”

Fred and George glanced at each other, as if silently communicating. Carina folded her arms, not appreciating being left on the outside of the loop, even if no actual words were being exchanged. It took her back to her days in Muggle primary school where her supposed friends always seemed to be on the inside of a joke she didn’t understand. How they would sometimes just start laughing for no reason, communicating only with their eyes. To this day, she still didn’t understand what was so funny all the time, or why they laughed harder anytime she asked what the joke was. There was a tiny little part of Carina’s brain telling her that she was the joke, but it wasn’t a part of her brain she listened to much.

“Alright, we accept.” George beamed.

“But we’ll need to know what sort of intentions you have.” Fred added.

“Nothing that will seriously hurt her,” Carina immediately said. “Just… Mild embarrassment at best.”

“Any particular ideas?”

Carina thought for a moment. Her most recent Transfiguration lesson had been on methods of modifying spells. Delaying when the desired effect triggers, enchanting objects with certain spells, changing spell conditions that sort of thing. Perhaps it could prove useful.

“A few, mostly stuff from McGonagall’s advanced N.E.W.T class. Enchanting objects, spell modification, that sort of thing.” She told them.

“We should really look ahead at the content for later years, Fred,” George raised an eyebrow. “That sort of knowledge could prove very useful.”

“I’ll strike you a deal, no one finds out I was involved in this and I’ll teach you all I know on the subject.” Carina offered.

“That’s all well and good except for the tiniest problem. We’re pranking your ex-girlfriend who recently got with someone new. It’s going to be quite obvious you’re involved.” George pointed out.

“Ah.” Now that he mentioned it that did make sense.

“We'll see what we can do, though,” Fred added. “Just think of some ideas and come find us at a later date.”

“Sounds good. Cheers guys.” Carina grinned.

“Anything for you, Ri-Ri!” They chorused together before waving and continuing along the bridge.

Carina, left by her lonesome again, returned to staring out at the landscape of Hogwarts. It was almost pitch black outside, the only illumination being the lights from inside the castle and the moon reflecting on the Black Lake. She loved when it was like this. Many people hated winter in the UK, getting dark early and the frigid cold, but it was Carina’s favourite. Everything felt so much calmer in the night. Often when her dad arrived late from work in the winters before she started Hogwarts, Carina would sit with him in the garden, wrapped in blankets and staring up at the sky. It had been hard to stargaze back home with all the light pollution, but the skies at Hogwarts were clear and sprawling. It was the one thing she would miss about dropping Astronomy, the actual act of looking up and taking it all in. She was lacking in the theory department.

It probably wasn't smart to remain out alone given everything that could happen, but Carina simply couldn't find the will in her bones to move. Her legs were locked, keeping her tethered to this moment of silence and calm, away from the hushed worry and nervous energy of Gryffindor Tower. She would have to return eventually, she knew that much, but the noise and all the people coming up to pass on sympathies was just too much. Stiflingly so, until the point she felt she couldn't breathe. Right now, this moment here was safe. Nothing could hurt her.

It used to worry her parents, the sudden moments of complete silence Carina needed when something overwhelming happened. She remembered hearing Julia and Oskar's concerned whispers outside her bedroom door as she sat against it, palms flat against the carpet to have some sort of tactile sensation grounding her. Over time, they realised it did her no harm, they learned to let it happen. Her dad had even installed a lock on her door to ensure Carina could have those moments of isolation until she was ready to return on her own terms. It had lessened as she'd gotten older, but in moments where her emotions were particularly high, it was a practice she reverted to. Thankfully, Hogwarts was big and full of places to hide.

Carina let out a breath she didn't even know she was holding, squeezing the railing until her knuckles went white just to feel the bite of the wood on her palm. She inhaled slowly, letting the coolness of the air fill her lungs until there was that little sensation at the back of her throat that told her to exhale. Each breath was held for longer, first two seconds, then four, then six; all the way to twelve increasing in two second increments. It was a technique she had been taught by a woman she didn't even remember the name of. Her dad had people from his department over for a dinner party, and the noise and music had gotten to Carina, so she excused herself as politely as possible to sit at the top of the stairs until she was calm. A short woman with dark, auburn hair and purple lipstick had emerged from the toilet and found her. Very patiently, she sat next to her and taught her how to force her breathing to slow. Carina always thought it a shame her ten year old self had been sent up to bed so soon after she had never said thank you to the woman.

She hoped that whoever she was, she knew.

November 4th 1992, 12:19pm
The Edge of the Forbidden Forest

“Hey Carrie, can I talk to you?”

Carina hadn't noticed Klaus sneak up on her. He could be like that sometimes, absolutely wraith-like. Klaus was only a small boy, and very slight. He tended to favour their mother's build, but of course he wasn't even thirteen yet, he was still growing. Still, the older Reitter sibling towered over him and was noticeably more stocky, taking after her dad. It left a lot of confusion about how Klaus had ended up as Slytherin's Keeper, as he definitely didn't have the build for it. She'd heard a lot of whispers stating he'd do better off as a Seeker, he was nowhere near big enough to block all the rings. What she knew, however, that the rest of Hogwarts didn't, is quite how fast Klaus was. His reaction time was staggering, able to zip to and fro in the blink of an eye. He'd prove himself to them all soon enough with the match on the weekend.

“Sure, what’s up? How did you even find me?” She chuckled, turning to look at her brother.

“I asked Sandy. He said you’d been going on a lot of walks recently,” Klaus shrugged. “He’s worried about you.”

“Lysansder tends to do that,” She replied tersely. “I’m having one of those weeks is all.”

He just nodded, knowing what she meant. He was used to her vanishing off for days at a time when things got too much. It hurt at first, his sister was his real best friend, and finding when he was a child that there were times she wanted him to leave her alone had stung. When his parents had explained properly what was happening he had understood a bit more. It still hurt Klaus to be ignored by her, but at least he knew now it was like that for everyone and it wasn’t because he’d done something to upset her. Sometimes he would slide notes under her door to try and make her chuckle. It rarely worked, but Carina had told him it did make her feel better, so he kept doing it.

Lysander might have understood Carina more than her other friends, but even he fell short when trying to grasp the full extent of her periods of blankness. He tried, but that was the problem sometimes. Klaus and her parents always understood that Carina knew herself best and if she needed to be alone they had to trust that. Lysander would always try to be there so she never had to be alone. It came from a place of love, but it was misplaced all the same.

“Anyway, what’s the matter?” She asked him after a moment of silence.

“I think Harry, Ron and Hermione are avoiding me.” Klaus had never been the sort of child to shy away from the exactness of a situation, no matter what it entailed.

“What makes you think that?” Carina frowned, crossing her arms.

“Well they’re not talking to me, are they? I mean come on, Carrie, how do I know they’re avoiding me?” He chuckled. “Because they’re fucking avoiding me!”

“Hey! Don’t use that sort of language.”

“Pot calling the kettle black.” Klaus muttered.

“Yes, but I’m nearly of age, you are twelve,” Carina paused. “Actually this is probably my fault isn’t it… Alright fine, I’m not a hypocrite but don’t let mum and dad hear you talk like that.”

“Okay.” He huffed.

“Oi, I’m a prefect, I could deduct points for you talking to me like that.” She smiled.

“But you won’t, because then you would definitely be a hypocrite.”

“When did you become such a git?” Carina shook her head with a laugh.

“Not a git, just have to be correct by technicalities others find irritating, and get the last word. It’s why I’m in Slytherin.” Klaus beamed at her, making her lightly clip the back of his head.

“Alright, alright. So why are they avoiding you?” She began heading back up to the castle, motioning him to follow.

“I don’t know,” He shrugged sarcastically. “Probably because two cats got petrified and the culprit is the so-called heir of Slytherin, the house I happen to be in?”

“But my cat got petrified, surely they don’t think you petrified my cat?” Carina asked indignantly.

“Well they can be stupid sometimes. Or I could be so far down my psychopathic tendencies that such a trivial thing as family matters nothing to me.” He offered.

“While I do often wonder if you are a psychopath,” Klaus spluttered angrily at her statement. “That’s because you are my brother and scarily intelligent sometimes. Not because I think you’re an evil blood purist who really has a thing against cats.”

“What a relief.” He replied dryly.

They trudged up to the entrance of the castle. It was one of those days where the temperature was deceptively warm, but occasional icy blasts of wind would cut through the air, making you shiver. Carina hated that sort of weather. She loved winter, all the big things in her family happened then; Klaus’ birthday, Christmas and her birthday, but the in-between months like October and November annoyed her. Couldn’t the weather just commit? Be properly cold so she could bundle up in several layers instead of today when it was too cold without her coat when the wind howled, but slightly uncomfortably sweaty when she wore one and the wind wasn’t blowing? Surely wizards had figured out spells to help with this by now? Carina reasoned they probably had and she just hadn’t learned them yet. A trip to the library was definitely due.

“Have you had lunch yet?” Carina asked him as they walked through the entrance towards the Great Hall.

“No, I looked for you in the courtyard before spotting you by Hagrid’s and came straight down.” Klaus explained.

“Okay, go get some food,” She instructed, making to head up towards the common room. “I’ll deal with this.”

“Wait, wait, wait, deal with what?” Klaus grabbed her arm.

Carina blinked at him, confused.

“Go tell off Harry, Ron and Hermione?” She tilted her head to the side.

“What?! No, oh my god do not yell at them on my behalf!” He waved his arms a little, nose flushing.

“Are you kidding me? Then why tell me about this?” Carina looked up at the ceiling, exasperated.

“Because you’re my older sister?” He proclaimed, as if that was the most obvious reason in the world. “I’m supposed to tell you things that make me sad?”

“Yeah, with the expectation I’ll sort it out for you?”

“No? Who said that?”

“The laws of being an older sister?”

Carina was very aware of the fact they were having a borderline yelling match right outside the Great Hall. She really, really hoped no one eating lunch inside could hear them. The way her luck had been at the minute, she was sure everyone was getting every word.

“Klaus, go have your lunch. I’ll talk to them.” Carina pointed to the Hall.

“You really don’t have to.” He sounded despondent but was already halfway towards the big wooden doors.

“I’ve got it, okay?” She insisted.

“Alright. Just be chill about it, yeah? No repeats of primary school.” Klaus sighed.

“Of course not, come on, that was over six years ago.”

Klaus just shook his head and entered the Great Hall. Carina, satisfied he was getting some food, turned on her heel and headed towards the staircase. She knew there was something off about when she asked the trio about Klaus earlier in the week. There had always been the nagging suspicion that they would react irrationally with all that was going on considering their overwhelming anti-Slytherin sentiment. As much as Carina was glad the three had some inter-house friendship with Klaus, she often wondered why they even bothered befriending a Slytherin if they were just going to drop him anytime the house was presented negatively. And maybe that really wasn't her place to think, but if she could manage to maintain an incredibly close friendship with a Slytherin even with all of her social quirks, these three could at least give her brother some time of day.

“Hippogriff.” She dictated to the Fat Lady, watching the portrait swing open.

Carina chambered into the common room, rubbing her temples. She gave a quick wave to Tilly, Chris and Gretchen doing homework in the corner. The rest of the Gryffindors had stuck true to their word on making sure the two Muggleborns were never alone, as well as encouraging the other years to look out for their friends. Even Percy had proved extremely useful in the last prefect meeting, lecturing the importance of sticking together and cracking down in purist comments. Carina had been unable to tear her eyes away from the expression Penelope had given him during that speech. It had been a while since anyone had looked at her like that, and it made something in her stomach sink. Speaking of Percy, she gave an awkward almost smile to him as he descended from his dormitory which was met only with a nod of acknowledgement.

It wasn't hard to spot the trio. They had pretty much laid claim to one of the small tables on the right of the common room, beneath a small window. Carina knew this, because that used to be her and Chris’ homework table until those three had poached it. It was a good spot too, consistently having a bit of light from the sun every evening, no matter the time of year. In fact, last year when it had been callously taken from her, Chris had to remind her she was now a prefect and couldn't yell at children for something so trivial. And also remind her they had just learnt from Flitwick how to enchant objects and could get good lighting at any time of the day from casting Lumos on an inane object. She was still a bit bitter about the ordeal though.

“So,” She started, sliding into the perpetually empty fourth chair at the table. “You think Klaus is the heir of Slytherin?”

Hermione looked up from what appeared to be History of Magic homework, scoffing.

“Don't be ridiculous, Carina.” Harry and Ron nodded emphatically.

“Oh, awesome. Glad we cleared that up,” She smiled at them. “Doesn’t explain why you're avoiding him though.”

There was a moment of silence.

“Well you see-”

“The thing is-”

“It's about-”

The trio exploded at once. Carina held up her hand for them to be quiet, sighing. She pointed at Harry.

“You first.”

“Well,” Harry began. “We figured it would be a bad idea to be around any Slytherins after everything, especially after the incident with Malfoy, Ron, Hermione and the slugs. We're laying low.”

“You three have never laid low in your lives,” Carina folded her arms. “And if you think I'd allow my own brother to fall in with a crowd that could make him a blood purist, you've got the measure of me all wrong. The reason he's friends with you three is because he doesn't fit in with the rest of his house. I'm calling that a bad excuse. Hermione, you next.”

“The four of us were discovered at the scene of the crime together. And you know how gossip spreads around here, Carina,” She could already sense Hermione’s resolve crumbling. “They're definitely going to think Klaus is the heir, so if we're not seen with him for a bit then it takes the heat off us.”

“Nope,” She shook her head. “Everyone in this school knows the four of you are attached at the hip. This distance means nothing. But you know, at least you've all found time to think about yourselves in all of this and make sure you're okay. You've all pretty much decided the school will think Klaus is the culprit, which they don't, by the way. Which makes me wonder why you're not supporting him through his apparent persecution because you know he isn't because you're his friends? That's also a bad excuse. Ron, you better have a damned good explanation.”

Ron looked a little bit pale, and for a moment Carina was worried she had laid it on a bit thick. Then she remembered that this was about her brother's happiness and the ends definitely justified the means.

“Well, we think it's Malfoy,” Ron muttered. “And Klaus is around him a lot, they're in the Quidditch team together. And… yeah.” He trailed off pathetically.

“That might be the worst one I've heard,” Carina rolled her eyes. “You and I all know Klaus isn't friends with Malfoy. He doesn't get a choice about being on the Quidditch team with him, and you should all know he's refusing to use the Nimbus 2001s Lucius bought for the team. I mean, come on Ron, your basis is what? They're in the same house? I'm in the same house as your brother and we don't talk to each other unless necessary.”

“Really?” Ron piped up. “Because Fred and George said you two have been meeting pretty regularly in the library.” He raised an eyebrow as if that won him a point in this conversation that did not have a points basis.

“Yeah well…” Carina frowned. “Fred and George should mind their own bloody business.”

“Not likely.”

“Look,” She surveyed the three. “The point is, you're avoiding Klaus for practically no reason and it's making him miserable. You're all better than this, I know you are. It's already bad enough he feels isolated because he's not in the same house as your three, and now you're going out of your way to ignore him. Just… Just try and have some empathy.”

The trio were silent, all looking at the table in that ‘just been told off’ way. There were some quiet murmurs of agreement. Carina leaned back in her chair, satisfied. Maybe she had been a bit harsh, but with any luck this was the last time she'd have to speak to the three of them about how they made her brother feel.

“Apologise to him and be done with it, yeah?” They nodded. “Good. Enjoy the rest of your day, you lot.”

Carina stood up and went over to join Tilly, Chris and Gretchen just in time to see Gretchen mess up her Colovaria charm and dye Chris’ skin green.

November 8th 1992, 20:07pm
The Gryffindor Common Room

The minute the music had turned on and food and drink had arrived, practically everyone had forgotten about the rogue bludger and Lockhart removing all the bones in Harry's arm. Lee and Carina had raced up to Gryffindor Tower after dinner, knowing the Quidditch afterparty, especially because it was the first match of the season and a win, would be wild. The perfect time to reap the rewards of their shared project with the record player. Fred and George were, as ever, on food duty. The first time Carina had found out they got the snacks from the kitchen, she had been forced to remove points from them as students most certainly were not allowed in there. However, since then, the afterparty food delivery had always included a slice of apple pie just for her, and she had relented. It wasn't a bribe… Okay, it was definitely a bribe, but no one else knew what was happening so no harm done.

Presently, ‘Call Me’ by Blondie was blasting through the speakers and Chris was twirling Carina in the centre of the common room while she laughed uncontrollably. Usually they just pushed all the sofas and tables to the side for these events, but then one of the fourth years had the idea to shrink everything and perform the countercharm the next morning which created even more space. Hence the rudimentary dance floor by the fireplace. Obviously, a few tables were left to hold the food, as well as some of the less obtrusive sofas, but everything else was minaturised on the windowsill.

Carina let out a shriek as Chris accidentally spun too hard, making her careen into Lee and George who were in the middle of a surprisingly well executed waltz much to the amusement of half the room. The four tumbled to the ground in hysterics, clawing their way back to standing and switching partners so that Lee was dancing with Chris and Carina was with George. Gretchen and Maria were also nearby, arms linked and skipping in circles.

It was incredibly hard to feel disheartened at the Quidditch afterparties. With all the tables moved, no one was doing homework, and it seemed to be an unspoken agreement that on these nights such things were not to be thought about. Especially after the events of Halloween, Carina reckoned this was definitely needed to lift everyone's spirits. Tilly was sitting and sharing a bowl of some brightly coloured confectionery with Hermione Granger, deep in discussion about something; Harry and Ron were talking to a few boys from their year; Oliver Wood was doing some quite frankly obscene karaoke. Everyone seemed happy. Except for the lone figure Carina spotted on a sofa in the corner.

“I'm gonna grab a drink.” She told George, passing him off to another member of the Quidditch team she thought was called Alicia to continue dancing.

Carina made her way through the sea of Gryffindors towards the drink table, grabbing two butterbeers and removing the caps with a tap of her wand. Weaving back through the crowds to the back of the room, she collapsed back onto the sofa, all the energy she used dancing finally hitting her. She pushed the second butterbeer into the hands of the person next to her, glancing at him.

“Not enjoying the festivities?”

Percy Weasley wrinkled his nose at the bottle before taking a very small sip.

“Such frivolities are unbecoming of me.” He muttered, barely glancing at her.

“You made those words up,” Carina teased, pulling one leg up onto the sofa and turning to face him. “It wouldn't kill you to have fun, you know?”

“It wouldn't kill you to act with decorum, you know,” Percy shot back. “We have a position of responsibility here, Carina.”

Her name always sounded a bit strange coming from his mouth. It felt so uncertain, as if he had to chew on each syllable before speaking it. Maybe it was just because she had been so used to hearing him call her Reitter for over five years.

“I've been plenty responsible.” She grinned at him.

“You've been twirling around with my brother with no regard for your surroundings.” His voice was flat.

“Just a bit of fun. Besides, I confiscated a bottle of Firewhiskey from Belby,” She pointed to a tall seventh year. “And I got a drink for and came to talk to a rather sad looking figure alone in the corner.”

“He didn't ask you to get him a drink or talk to him.” Percy pointed out.

“Maybe not,” Carina shrugged. “But how could I let you be alone looking so sad? It was like staring at a sopping wet cat, I couldn't just ignore it.”

“Thank you for that comparison.” His exasperation was palpable.

“Hey, I happen to quite like cats, a fact which recently has massively bit me in the arse.” She added, thinking of Merlin.

“Yes, well I trust Professor Sprout and Madam Pomfrey to do their best for him.” Carina was pretty sure that was as close to comforting as Percy Weasley got.

“I know. It's just… Ah nevermind,” She was well aware trying to explain normal emotions to him would be fruitless, let alone her weird complicated ones. “So why are you here? And don't give me the ‘frigimolies are inbecoming’ bullshit. What's up?”

Percy raised an eyebrow at her to which she only grinned.

“First of all, it's ‘frivolities’ and ‘unbecoming’,” Carina rolled her eyes dramatically. “Second of all, I am fine.” He sniffed haughtily.

Carina had never in her life imagined him to be a bad liar. But he was, tremendously so. The way he angled his head up so she couldn't look in his eyes, the expression on his face… Either he had little experience with lying, or no one had ever had a conversation with him long enough to pick up on such things.

“You're a fucking dreadful liar,” Carina stretched both her legs out on the sofa, poking his thigh with her boot. “At the very least, you're usually sitting closer to everyone talking to Oliver. I mean, you didn't even tell Fred and George off for trying to spike the punch.”

“Fred and George were doing what?!” Percy sat up instantly.

“I'm kidding. That was Belby, hence I confiscated Firewhiskey from her. But still, you didn't even notice that and relish the chance to dock points from her. Which I also did on your behalf, by the way. You're welcome,” She looked at him curiously. “Ergo, something is wrong. And you're not getting a moment of peace until you tell me what it is.”

“Why do you care?”

Why did Carina care? It was a valid question, actually. She and Percy were not friends, she made that fact abundantly clear on a multitude of occasions. Most of the time when they talked for more than a few minutes it ended in a row. They didn't like each other. So why, suddenly, was she intent on finding out what had upset him and even more horrifying, she realised, help him feel better? She blamed it on her exceptionally good mood and just shrugged at him.

“Because you didn't tell me the first time and now I'm stubborn about it. Gryffindor through and through I remember some lanky git telling me once.” This earned her a glare.

“Fine. I had a fight with Penny, is that what you want to hear?” Percy hissed lowly.

“Oh,” Was all Carina managed to say. “No, it's not. I'm sorry, Percy.” She added after a moment.

“There, you have your answer. Shoo.” She didn't move.

“Are you okay?”

“Everything will be fine between us.” He answered curtly.

“I asked if you were okay, not things between you both.” Carina pointed out, shuffling along the sofa and taking a long sip of butterbeer.

“I…” Percy doesn't speak for a moment. “I suppose it doesn't particularly matter.”

“Of course it does, don't be the prat you're prone to being.” She scoffed, all playfulness gone from her voice, replaced with concern.

“Once again, Carina, I ask: why do you care?” He finally turned to look at her.

Carina studied Percy for a moment. It was funny, in all the time she'd know him, she'd never really looked. The way his freckles seemed to cling to his nose and cheeks, not spreading anywhere else on his face. The multitude of scratches to the lenses of his glasses that not even Oculus Reparo could fix. Downturned nose, slender fingers, hair an imperceptible lighter shade than his siblings’. Carina supposed she could understand what Penelope saw in him. It felt weird, taking actual time to stare at Percy and actually see him as real and defined, instead of just some perpetual source of minor irritation in her peripheral vision. He was an actual person, living and breathing. Just like she was.

“I don't dislike you.” She eventually settled on saying.

“I find that hard to believe.”

“Don't get me wrong, you are one of the most annoying sods I've ever met. And you piss me off to no end,” Carina laughed, finishing her butterbeer. “But at the end of the day, I can stomach you enough to teach you German, enough to sit with you at a party and enough to want to make sure you're not drowning in misery.”

“Carina,” Percy looked her dead in the eyes, light blue meeting dark. “I'm going to be okay.”

“Okay. I trust that.” She smiled.

“Good.” What he did in return wasn't exactly a smile, but there was a definite quirk to the shape of his lips, just momentarily.

They sat in silence for a moment, looking at their housemates celebrating. Carina reached over, placing her empty bottle on the windowsill. Percy was still resolutely nursing his. It felt like a small win at least to Carina that he had accepted the drink without complaint and was actually drinking it.

“Hey Carina, Percy!” Colin Creevey, camera slung over his chest as ever, was making his way towards the two of them.

“Hello, Colin, what can we do for you?” She asked, politely.

“I'm taking photos!” He held up his camera. “Do you two want one?”

“Sure!” Carina grinned.

“No thank you.” Percy said at exactly the same time.

Unfortunately for him, Carina had been so much louder that Colin hadn't heard his refusal. He put his eye to the view finder, motioning then to get ready. Percy looked murderous. Carina flung her arm around his shoulder in a friendly manner, pressing their cheeks together.

“Say cheese!”

“Cheese!” Percy did not join her exclamation.

After a bright flash, Colin collected the Polaroid, shaking it slightly. He handed it over to Carina, who scanned it with a small smile. It was pretty much exactly what she imagined a photo of her and Percy would look like. She looked happy and he looked like he wanted to kill her. As it should be.

“Thanks Colin.” Carina flashed him a smile before he hurried off.

“You smudged your face paint.” Percy said quietly, pointing to the cheek she'd unceremoniously pressed against his.

“Oh,” She brought her hand up to where a second year called Dean Thomas had drawn a gold lion with face paint. “The match is over, it's all fine.”

“If anybody sees that photo, I'll cast a vanishing spell on your lungs,” Percy threatened. “I mean it.”

“You got it.”

Carina did have time to think about quite how awful the implications of her lungs being vanished were, instead, stuffing the photo into her jeans pocket. She was definitely keeping it, even if she couldn't show it to anyone.

“Right, now that we've-” She stopped suddenly as a familiar guitar riff took over the speakers.

Carina glanced back towards the throng of Gryffindors, watching Lee wink in her direction and tip his glass, clearly having put this on with her in mind. She beamed back, jumping to her feet as it started.

The rain falls hard on a humdrum town

This town has dragged you down

“Holy shit I love this song!” She gushed, glancing back to Percy on the sofa.

“Why does it sound so cheery if the lyrics are miserable?” He arced an eyebrow.

“That's the style, moron.” She rolled her eyes.

“If you insist.” It was getting to the chorus and Carina was antsy to get back to the main party.

“Wanna dance?” She grinned, offering him a hand.

“Absolutely not.” Percy wrinkled his nose, ignoring her outstretched arm.

“Your loss!”

Carina pushed her way back to where she had been before, noticing Tilly practically sprinting her way. Her roommate grabbed both of her hands, swept up in the energy of the song as they jumped in circles, yelling the chorus so loudly it was probably not able to be called singing anymore, just screaming.

William, William, it was really nothing

William, William, it was really nothing

It was your life

The positive energy housed in Gryffindor Tower felt as if it could last forever. Nothing would dampen their spirits, and nothing could. At least nothing could until the morning came, and it was announced that at some point during the night, Colin Creevey had snuck out of the party with his camera, and had been found petrified.

November 13th 1992, 8:23am
The Great Hall

“And you're sure it'll work?” George whispered, eyes focused on the Hufflepuff table.

“Of course. I did the spell myself and I'm fucking brilliant at Transfiguration.” Carina replied, her gaze fixed on the same point.

“Relax, Ri-Ri is a capable witch, I'm sure it'll go fine.” Fred added, furtively.

“Do I even want to know what you three are whispering about?” Ron glanced over.

Carina was sandwiched between Fred and George on one of the benches at the Gryffindor table, anxiously awaiting the results of their prank on Ellie. Several days of meticulous planning had gone into this endeavour, and should all go well, Carina was going to be marginally cheered up. However, since first conceptualising this as a way to combat the negativity in the air, an actual student had been petrified, so the general mood was somber. Even Harry, who seemed constantly hounded and harassed by Colin seemed downtrodden about the affair. Especially as rumour has it the young boy was attempting to sneak to the Hospital Wing to see him when he was attacked.

“Don’t worry ickle Ronniekins,” The twin on Carina’s left assured him. “Nothing concerning you is to take place this morning.”

Not trusting herself to speak, Carina just speared another hash brown on her fork.

“Last time so much whispering happened while I was eating you evaporated my soup.” Ron spoke through a mouthful of toast.

“Surely they’re not planning anything or else why would Carina be there?” Hermione asked, not looking up from her copy of ‘Year With a Yeti’. “She knows better than that, she’s a prefect.”

Oh if only the young Gryffindor knew.

“That’s right,” Fred grinned. “Though Carina the perfect prefect doesn’t have quite the same ring to it.”

“Carina the consummate canary?” George suggested.

“Keep talking and I’ll put armadillo bile in your pumpkin juice,” She hissed lowly. “Both of you.”

“Who’s getting armadillo bile in their pumpkin juice?” Chris dropped into the seat next to Ron, opposite Carina.

“These dickheads if they don’t shut up.” Hermione looked mightily offended at her use of language.

“Ah.” He nodded sagely.

Carina glanced up towards the enchanted ceiling, leg bouncing underneath the table. Not long until the owl post and she could really see if her magic held up.

“Wait, but why did you call her a canary?” Ron frowned.

As Hermione and Chris began to explain the Muggle practice of sending canaries into mines to determine when air quality was bad, the first flutter of wings filled the air. She nudged the twins and they zeroed in on that one particular spot at the end of the Hufflepuff table. Ellie was sitting and talking to Zara and her more insipid friends, Thomas and Dara.

Carina wasn’t expecting a familiar owl to land in front of her, Klaus’. Nymph hooted once, letting her untie the letter before darting off to roost in the rafters. She tore the envelope open only to find a grubby piece of parchment with a mediocre drawing of a middle finger. Her brother beamed at her from the Slytherin table. By God did she hate that kid sometimes. Klaus looked beyond proud of himself, giggling to Daphne. Carina rolled her eyes and returned her attention back to Ellie.

“There it is!” Fred pointed to a handsome tawny owl descending towards the Hufflepuff table.

“Hang on…” Carina squinted. “Oh my god did you use Percy's owl for this?”

“It seemed too perfect an opportunity to ignore.” George grinned.

Carina had run into Percy in the owlery once last year and he had taken great pleasure in showing off Hermes. A gift for making prefect, he'd said, along with some new robes. Carina had not received a gift for making prefect. It by no means meant her parents were not proud, quite the opposite. Merely that in the Reitter household admiration was expressed through words more than gifts. She hadn’t cared. Carina wagered that the glow of joy she'd received upon hearing Oskar and Julia profess their pride rivalled Percy's happiness at a new owl. Although, it seemed unfair to act as if she were superior for being happy with words when he came from a family where nothing he owned was new. Carina was often glad people couldn't read her thoughts and see her less than savoury fleeting notions. Or at least, she thought people couldn't read her thoughts. Hopefully there wasn't an unknown legilimens nearby.

“She's opening it.” Carina breathed, fingers crossed beneath the table, praying for success.

The three watched with bated breath as Ellie untied the small letter addressed to her on Herme’s leg. God willing, the delayed Transfiguration would trigger three or so seconds after she touched the parchment. Carina craned her neck, just catching the sight of her pinky deftly opening the envelope. She could faintly hear George counting down under his breath. For a moment, it seemed as if the time had stretched too long and it hadn’t worked. Shoulders sagging, Carina was almost ready to let out a stream of disappointed expletives when-

“Ellie!” Zara shrieked as a purple puff of smoke enveloped her friend.

All eyes were on the Hufflepuff table now. After about half a minute, the haze cleared to reveal a small dog with fur the exact colour of her hair. Carina had to stop herself from jumping up in celebration.

“Fucking hell, Ri-Ri,” Fred hit her arm gently. “Human Transfiguration combined with spell modification. That’s bloody impressive.”

“I can’t believe it worked.” She said faintly, watching the panic ensuing around her ex-girlfriend as Professor McGonagall strode over, likely to reverse the problem.

“What did you write on the letter again?” George asked, in-between fits of laughter.

“‘Enjoy your new look since you want to act like a bitch’,” She giggled.

They watched McGonagall undo the Transfiguration and Ellie spring back into existence, face red with embarrassment. She began talking incredibly quickly to her and suddenly Carina was very aware that she was definitely the prime suspect for such a thing. She elbowed the twins on either side of her.

“Time to go, I think.” They nodded, using the distraction to quickly rise from their seats and sneak away, still chuckling to themselves.

The three decided to flee at least halfway to Hagrid’s Hut before stopping to reflect on what had happened. Carina’s heart was pounding, both from the thrill of her first ever prank, but also from executing such complicated spellcasting on the first try. It was truly exhilarating.

“A success to be sure.” She grinned at her co-conspirators.

“If we’d have known how good you were at this we would have recruited you earlier.” Fred grinned.

“Oh no, unfortunately I do have to stay on the other side of the rules to you two,” She smiled sheepishly. “But one step across is okay every once in a while.”

“But you could get us out of so much trouble as a prefect!” George pouted.

“Now that would definitely be bribery, and I try to pride myself on being fair. You know, doing the right thing.”

“You and your obsession with doing the right thing, honestly.” George rolled his eyes.

November 23rd 1992, 13:49pm
The Headmaster’s Office

“Peppermint Toad.”

The gargoyle began to turn to the side with a jarring scraping noise, slowly revealing a staircase. Carina had been to Dumbledore’s office just once before in her life, and she wasn’t proud of how she had acted. After Klaus and his friends had been extracted from below the trapdoor, her brother lay unconscious in the Hospital Wing after taking on another mountain troll. Dumbledore had asked to meet with her to explain the events that had happened that night and what she should tell her parents. Carina had proceeded to ignore the headmaster’s request to keep any mention of You Know Who out of her relayed story. Her parents deserved to know the truth of what happened to Klaus, and the fact Dumbledore had asked her to edit out certain parts made her lose a lot of respect for him.

She understood to a certain degree that mentioning the possibility that even a whisper of He Who Must Not Be Named had survived to a high up member of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement was ill-advised, but it didn’t mean Oskar Reitter didn’t deserve to know why his son lay in a hospital bed. Carina wondered if Dumbledore knew she’d disobeyed him. Along with refusing to comply with his censorship pleas, she had also quite vehemently questioned the safety and sanity of keeping something like the Philosopher’s Stone at Hogwarts. Afterwards, she had been horrified to recall how she had spoken to the Headmaster of the school, but she had faced no punishment. He must have put it down to high emotions from her brother being in danger.

She began climbing the stairs, brogues clicking on the stone. Hopefully her rude demeanour had been forgotten in lieu of this meeting about her career prospects at Hogwarts. Carina crested the top of the steps into the circular room, eyes immediately drawn to the Phoenix on the pedestal by Dumbledore's desk. It was a magnificent creature, and the first time she'd seen it her breath had caught in her throat in awe.

“Miss Reitter.” Dumbledore was behind the claw-footed desk, eyes ever unreadable behind the half-moon glasses.

“Headmaster,” She slid into the chair on the other side of the table. “Professor McGonagall said you wished to meet with me?”

“Indeed, I believe Minerva has already spoken to you about returning to Hogwarts after you finish seventh year to train as a teacher?”

“She has, yes,” Carina twisted her hands beneath the desk, not sure what to do with them. “I wasn’t aware there were other options of places to train, but I do want it to be here.”

“I had assumed you had little desire to journey to the continent for your career prospects.” Dumbledore’s hands were folded neatly on the wood surface, as if mocking her.

“Why?” Carina blurted without thinking.

“I taught your father, you know? Rather gifted at Transfiguration.” He smiled.

“Sir?” She asked uncertainly, not sure how such a thing was relevant.

“Tell me, how is Oskar these days?”

“He’s good. Busy.” Carina began tracing the wood grain with her finger.

“Him and Niko were quite the talented pair. A shame what happened,” She shifted uncomfortably. “Of course I heard how the Reitters back in Stuttgart turned away from Oskar after his brother was killed. I imagine you have been raised quite resentful of your relatives.”

“Um… I suppose?” Carina shrugged. “We see each other every few years. Weddings and funerals, you know?” She laughed nervously.

“Speaking of which, I believe congratulations are in order for your second cousin, Florian. He is engaged, is he not?” Dumbledore smiled kindly.

“My dad mentioned. People aren’t happy, he’s still kind of young and his fianceé is a few years older than him.” Carina wasn’t sure how to feel about the fact that Dumbledore was up to date on everything going on in her family.

The Reitters were certainly a family of note. Not sacred twenty-eight, but that was a distinctively English thing. She often forgot how noteworthy her family could be, being the dying branch on the family tree that was begging to be pruned. Her great uncle’s line overseas was often at the centre of things, hence Florian’s engagement being at least somewhat public knowledge. If Carina recalled, he was only two years older than she was, and the notion of getting married at such an age was strange, especially to someone four years older. It seemed like there wasn’t a single member of that side of the family-blood related or not, who was not successful. Most notably there were three aurors (Constantine, Sophie and Bernard); a magizoologist (Marie); two novelists (Friedrich and Fiona); and Carina was pretty sure some of them were distantly related to the headmaster of Durmstrang. Even her great-grandma Ada who was well over one hundred years old still liaised with the German Ministry for Magic. Maybe it wasn’t weird Dumbledore knew the gossip. Maybe he just kept up with foreign politics.

“Who are we to stand in the way of love?” Dumbledore asked, seemingly rhetorically.

“So…” Carina pulled her hands underneath the desk again. “What needed to be discussed about my training?”

“Ah, of course,” The Headmaster said, as if he had forgotten the reason for the meeting. “Matters will be finalised closer to the time, as you still have another year after this. But preemptive answers to questions shall be needed.”

“Sure.”

“We will need details such as your wand properties, legal residence and next of kin,” Carina suddenly remembered what sort of school she was training to teach in and how scarily relevant knowing who her next of kin was would be. “As well as your chosen discipline and if you wish to seek residence in Hogsmeade and travel in, or to stay within the castle.”

“Right, um, one moment,” Carina mulled a few things over. “I think I can do all that off the top of my head.”

“Wonderful,” Dumbledore produced a sheet of parchment that looked similar to the consent forms her mum had to sign for school trips in primary school. “None of this is set in stone, of course. Just answer to the best of your ability.”

“One thing,” She cut in, stopping him halfway as he turned towards his Phoenix. “I don’t know what field I want to teach exactly. Professor McGonagall said I could sort of float between all of them? The ones I’ll have a N.E.W.T in, I mean.”

“Of course, she is quite right. That will be fine.”

With that in mind, Carina grabbed the quill she hadn’t even noticed was next to her and began filling out the answers to the questions on the parchment. She scratched down that her full name was Carina Emily Reitter; her address was Six Paragon Terrace, Cheltenham; and her wand was Ebony and Dragon Heartstring, twelve and a half inches. Unsure if Klaus counted as he wasn’t an adult, she copied down her dad’s details as her next of kin. Carina really, really hoped nothing terrible would happen while she was teaching here that would make her die. She couldn’t shake the thought of ending up like Professor Binns, a ghost teaching a subject, hated by all the students and hailed as the most boring of them all.

Carina figured she might as well stay in the castle. She wasn’t one for particularly early mornings, and trekking all the way from Hogsmeade at six o’clock didn’t sound very appealing. Plus, she knew how cold the village got in winter, and the prospect of walking through so much snow in December sealed her choice. Even just thinking about it made her feel chilly.

“It can be an incredibly lonely job,” Dumbledore noted, observing her choice of accommodation. “Surrounded by people, yes, but hard to maintain additional connections. “You will notice almost all of our staff are unmarried, with no families of their own. It is a serious thing to bear in mind.”

“Honestly, Sir, marriage and families is the last thing on my mind,” Carina “I’m sure I’ll manage.”

“There is no shame in putting one’s loved ones first.” He added, eyes twinkling.

“I know, but I’m not going to let anything get in the way of this, Professor,” Carina spoke earnestly. “It’s my dream. I’m not giving it up for anything.”

“An admirable sentiment, but see that your life does not fall to despair and loneliness.” Dumbledore observed her carefully.

“I’ll, uh, try my best.”

What a fucking ominous statement.

Chapter Text

December 1st 1992, 19:13pm
The Clock Tower

The pendulum swung back and forth almost in time with Carina’s heartbeat. She thought it massively unsafe to have a giant metal disk careering this way and that through a well-used entrance to the school, but then again, this was Hogwarts. Last year there was an infantile cerberus on the third floor. Dodging out of the way of a giant counterweight was probably smooth sailing compared to most of the things that happened here. Though the school did have some supreme idiots who could easily be in danger.

Carina yawned, pushing some hair out of her eyes. The trio was late. They should have brought Klaus almost fifteen minutes ago. Given the weeks of planning that had gone into Klaus’ birthday, she should at least be able to expect punctuality. Had she just trawled through a particularly long day of N.E.W.T coursework, Carina might have been a lot more upset about this, but thankfully, she had been one of only two people to execute the Aguamenti charm in class and had been excused from homework because of it. The other person to complete it had been Percy of course. As such, all she could muster was mild annoyance. At the end of the day, Klaus was probably having fun and that was delaying everything, and having fun on his birthday was hardly something Carina could complain about.

She waited a few more minutes before several sets of voices heading her way began to cut through the near silence of the hallway. Carina straightened up as a group of faces she recognised in an assortment of house colours rounded the corner. Klaus was wearing an emerald green jumper with a large black ‘K’ on it, presumably a gift from Mrs Weasley. He was flanked on either side by Harry and Hermione, with Ron not far behind. All of them except Hermione were carrying brooms, Ron's presumably borrowed from one of the twins. Carina had at first been confused upon seeing the bushy haired Gryffindor without something to fly on, but remembered Harry had vehemently insisted Hermione did not enjoy riding brooms.

Carina picked up her Nimbus 1700 from where it was leaning against a wall and strode over to meet the group.

“I often wonder why a watch is the traditional gift to give witches and wizards who come of age when clearly it is needed most by children.” She teased, ruffling her brother's hair.

“I tried to hurry them up but Harry insisted on eating his treacle tart as slowly as possible.” Hermione folded her arms.

“Brother dearest, you've got chocolate on your face,” Carina began trying to use her thumb to wipe it off. “Have you had a good day?”

“Carrie, get off!” He twisted out of her grip with a grin. “Wonderful day. Thanks for the Seeker Weekly subscription.”

“I had a flick through this month's copy on a stand in Hogsmeade, apparently one of the players mentioned in the rising star section is the younger brother of Florian's fiancée.” Carina curled an arm around his shoulder, beginning to lead the group down towards the Quidditch Pitch.

“Which one is Florian?” Klaus scrunched his eyebrows.

“Dad's cousin's son.”

“That really doesn't narrow it down, I'll ask again, which one is Florian?” He nudged her.

“He's the son of the one that isn't the lesbian and isn't the one married into the Karkaroff family.” Carina rattled off from the top of her head.

“Bloody hell, how big is your family?” Ron asked, kicking up tufts of grass as they walked down the hill.

“Nowhere near as big as you guys,” Klaus shrugged. “I don’t think I've even met any of the German ones.”

“Didn't you miss a few days in first year for your grandad’s funeral?” Harry piped up. “Surely your family was there for that?”

“I was in the same room as them, it doesn't count as meeting them,” Klaus rebuked before turning to Carina. “Hang on, was he the really tall one?”

“No, that was Constantine. Florian is the redhead.” She corrected.

“Oh!” Recognition dawned on his face. “Natural?” He asked quickly.

“Absolutely not,” Carina barked out a laugh. “Bleached and dyed.”

The four of them continued to pick their way down towards the Quidditch Pitch, the moon full and bright in a cloudless sky. Carina noticed Hermione begin to shiver with the encroaching cold, and wordlessly draped her scarf around the young girl's neck. She would probably need it more if she was going to just sit in the stands and watch them play. Honestly, it was a tad surprising that Hermione Granger of all people, who insisted on being the best at everything, hadn't worked as hard as possible to be good at flying. She supposed it was a lesson in knowing one's strengths to completely blindside an area that seemed impossible for you to excel in. Similarly, Carina very much did not play wizard chess. She wasn't patient enough to plan her moves ahead in the way the game required, and the pieces shouting advice to her was just downright irritating.

Eventually, they arrived at the pitch, Klaus and his friends chatting excitedly about the match they'd be playing while Carina quietly enjoyed what a beautiful night it was. Another one of those tranquil states where the whole world seemed to stand still and she could feel safe in a frozen moment. Everyone else was already there, waving at Klaus and chorusing out greetings. Lucy, Chris, Lysander and then two people Carina knew only by name; Daphne Greengrass and Luna Lovegood.

“Sorry we're late, apparently this one had treacle stuck in his teeth,” Carina squeezed Harry's shoulder. “Are we ready?”

“I suppose I'll head to the stands then?” Hermione piped up.

“Are you sure you'll be warm enough, Granger?” Lucy frowned, noticing her thin coat and Carina’s scarf.

“She has these flames that she puts in a jar that always warms us up when it's chilly.” Ron cut in.

“Exactly, now-” She froze. “Oh no! I left the jar in the Great Hall.”

Carina could have facepalmed but she refrained. Of course this couldn't go off without a hitch, even one as minor as this. She was growing increasingly anxious about any delays, she had sworn to Professor McGonagall that everyone would be back in their common rooms before curfew when she had gotten permission for this.

“Will this do?” Luna asked quietly, producing a small mason jar from her shoulder bag.

Her voice had a soft, dreamy quality that Carina instantly found comforting. Like when you're half asleep and you can't hear what is being said around you other than the vague noise of voices, but it feels like a blanket.

“Oh! Yes, thank you!” Hermione turned a bit pink. “I like your earrings.” She pointed to the orange bulbs hanging from the Ravenclaw's ears.

“I was going to use the jar to catch Wrackspurts, but I haven't found any today so you can use it,” She said all of this earnestly. “And my earrings are supposed to be dirigible plums. I made them myself.”

Carina didn't know what Wrackspurts or dirigible plums were, but they sounded interesting. She noticed Lucy roll her eyes from where she was standing next to Chris. She got the impression Luna Lovegood had a bit of a reputation in Ravenclaw house, and not exactly a positive one. She shot her friend a glare, trying to convey ‘cut it out we're having fun for Klaus’ birthday’ with just her eyes. It probably just looked like a regular glare.

“What's a Wrackspurt?” Hermione voiced exactly what Carina was thinking.

“Oh, they're invisible moths that fly into your ear and make your thoughts go all fuzzy.”

“You've made that up.”

“I have not!”

The two continued bickering as they headed towards the stands, apparently Luna was not a flyer either, but wanted to attend as one of Klaus’ friends. Carina shared a bemused look with Lysander before turning their attention back to the group as Chris cleared his throat.

“Right, I'm sure you all know the deal. Four aside, one person for each position. Obviously Klaus is going to be a team captain, who do you want the other one to be?” He asked Klaus.

“Carrie, obviously. So I can beat her so tremendously she's too ashamed to show her face.” He grinned.

She chuckled at his trash talking, knowing it would only get worse in the air.

“Alright then, take turns picking, Klaus first.” Chris clapped his hands.

“I want Lucy as my Chaser.” He folded his arms and grinned.

Fuck. That was already a really good advantage.

“Fine. Harry is my Seeker then.” Carina used his shoulder as an armrest once he'd dutifully trundled over.

“Ron is my Beater.” The poor boy looked terrified at the prospect of playing the opposing beater to the girl who had only narrowly lost tryouts to Fred and George.

Carina considered the remaining options. Chris, Lysander and Daphne. The latter of the three looked incredibly nervous, the same expression she had seen back in Primary school of the kids who always got picked last for teams in football. Carina knew the expression well because she had been one of them at first, until she actually started playing and turned out to be something of a natural talent. Her moderate skill at the sport had gotten her as close to respect from her classmates as she ever would. Still, she felt sorry for the young Slytherin girl.

“Daphne, you play Chaser, yeah?” She nodded. “Then you're with me.” Carina smiled as she walked over, perking up considerably.

It occurred to her that Daphne probably didn't know anyone else on the pitch except Klaus and maybe Lysander, which probably didn't help with her apparent apprehension. She regarded Harry with a cautious look, but when he gave her an encouraging smile, she stood up a little straighter, also beaming.

“Well that makes things easy,” Klaus was trying to look superior and stare down his nose at his sister, but Carina was so much taller that it didn't really have the intended effect. “I'll take Chris as Seeker and Lysander can be your Keeper.”

“Sounds good.”

The two captains walked to the centre of the pitch and shook hands.

“Don't even think about letting me win because it's my birthday.” Klaus drawled as he gripped her hand with surprisingly ferocity.

“You couldn't even win if I gave you the whole game, little brother,” Carina replied with a grin. “No, I plan to annihilate you.”

“We shall see, sister mine. We shall see.”

They parted, heading back to their respective teams for a quick talk on tactics.

“Alright, huddle up gang,” Carina looped one arm around Lysander and the other around Daphne. “Okay this is more like a square than a huddle but that's the beauty of four player teams.”

“This is a terrible pep talk.” Harry laughed.

“Hey, let me get started, Potter, patience is a virtue and all that,” She grinned. “So. We have a massive problem, because Lucy is one of the best Chasers I've ever met. So Lysander, I don’t really have any advice other than just try your best. Harry, I also don't have advice for you, just do your thing and we'll be fine. Daphne, I'm going to try and target Lucy with Bludgers, so always trail near her to grab the Quaffle if she drops it. Aim for the ring on the left, Klaus tends to neglect it a bit.”

“Try your best and do your thing?” Lysander raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, I'm with Harry, that was utterly uninspiring.”

“Well… You know, there is a reason I didn't make it on the Gryffindor team. Anyway, hands in the middle,” Sighing, the other three did as told. “On three. One, two, three, go team!”

“I don't think I've ever felt so lame in my life.” Daphne muttered, half smiling.

“Think about how not-lame you'll feel when we win!” Carina ruffled her hair.

In short, the match ended with their whole team feeling lame.

Even with the famous Harry Potter, youngest Seeker in a century on their team, nothing could have changed the course of the game. Lucy was simply too good, putting away shot after shot whilst Lysander dived spectacularly to save each one to no avail. Daphne had managed to put the Quaffle past Klaus a few times but it hadn’t been enough. Even though Carina outclassed Ron as a beater by miles, there was nothing that could be done. By the time Harry caught the snitch, it was mostly just to save embarrassment from prolonging the game. In the end, the one-hundered and fifty point bonus only put Carina’s team thirty points behind Klaus’.

The rest of the group had already departed off back to their common rooms while Carina stayed to make sure the pitch was tidy. It was cutting it fine with curfew, but she was a prefect and arguably the best one out of the ten to be caught out of bed late. After about ten minutes or so of several simple plant growing charms to fix the scuffs on the grass, she too headed back to Gryffindor Tower.

All in all, she reckoned Klaus had a very successful and enjoyable birthday. Or as successful and enjoyable a birthday one could have while an unknown evil stalked their school petrifying students. This would likely be one of the last of his birthdays she'd get to celebrate with him before graduating. Even when Carina returned to Hogwarts to teach, the most she could do would likely be give a gift. It wouldn't be appropriate for her to be flying around with other students like their friend, even if she was. By that point, she'd be their superior.

“Puro Corde.” She muttered to the Fat Lady, climbing through the portrait hole after it had swung open.

Carina peeled off her bomber jacket and hoodie, leaving her in just a tank top, before collapsing backwards into a sofa with a sigh. It had been an exhausting evening, and likely her arm muscles would be screaming in the morning. She just prayed Binns only set a short essay, as writing anything was going to be tedious. The common room seemed deserted, and looking at the grandfather clock in the corner, she could see why. Apparently the ten minutes she'd spent inspecting the pitch was actually closer to an hour and it was almost half ten. Resting her right arm on the back of the sofa, Carina closed her eyes, letting the last dwindling warmth of the fire wash over her before the embers crumbled.

“What on Earth is wrong with you?” Carina groaned, definitely not up to a conversation with the owner of the voice.

She opened her eyes and watched a tall figure rise from a shadowed armchair in the corner, snapping a book closed with a muffled thump. He walked over haughtily, standing over her with a disappointed expression.

“Hey Perce,” She dragged her left hand over her face. “Wanna sit?”

“No!” He paused. “Well- I… Alright.” Percy sat down at the other end of the sofa.

“Were you waiting up for me?” Carina frowned.

“Only in a fashion!” He insisted. “I wanted to know where the hell you've been!” He was half shouting as to keep the volume reasonable for all the others presumably sleeping.

Carina didn't think she'd ever heard him this close to anger before, not even when she'd messed up their potion. The tips of his ears were flaming red and his brow was so furrowed it might as well have been frozen in such a position.

“What's it to you? I wasn't aware my parents had split up and my dad remarried making you my mother.” It was petty, but Carina was tired.

“Might I remind you there is some dangerous thing roaming the castle petrifying students?” Percy angled his body towards her, the accusatory tone from his voice beginning to fade.

“I'm not a Muggleborn, I'm not a target,” She reminded him. “Fine. I was on the Quidditch Pitch with some others having a game for my brother's birthday, happy? It was cleared with McGonagall so she knew we were there, everyone else got back before curfew. Hell, everyone even had a sixth year walk them back to their common rooms. Lysander took Klaus and Daphne, Lucy took Luna and Chris took Harry, Ron and Hermione. Happy?”

“Not particularly,” He folded his arms. “It still doesn't explain why you were so late. Chris returned without you and I did not want to have to wake up and find out you were the next victim of whatever the thing out there is.”

“I wanted to make sure the pitch was tidy,” Carina said lamely. “Hang on, why the fuck do you care if I'm petrified or not, you're hardly my biggest fan.”

“Because,” Percy's face scrunched. “Because- you… I… Because you need to teach me German.”

Oh right. Carina slumped. Of course, she had a function to fulfill for the great Percy Weasley. After she'd served her purpose she could get petrified to her heart's desire. But why did that make her slump? Did she want him to like her? No, she rationalised. She just wanted to be treated like a human being instead of a tool.

“Gee thanks, Percy, you really know how to make a girl feel special,” Carina rolled her eyes. “How does Penelope even stand you?”

“That came out wrong,” He replied quietly. “I don't hate you, I just-”

“Don't really give a shit about me when I'm not doing something for your benefit?” She supplied.

“Your company is tolerable.”

“What a compliment.” Carina returned, dryly.

“It's more than I can say about most people.” Percy argued.

“Oh, does this mean I'm on your list of ‘People You Can Rely on Not to be a Total Dickhead'? How long is that? Me, darling Penny and… I don't know, your mother?”

“Carina, you're being obtuse.”

“Yes I'm being obtuse! I am quite frankly, fucking exhausted,” She removed her arm from the back of the sofa. “I want a shower and to go to bed, and then you come up trying to lecture me! Don't act like you give a single shit what happens to me Percy, it doesn't suit you.”

“Hogwarts is dangerous right now.” Percy argued.

“Hogwarts is always dangerous!” She laughed.

“You may not be a Muggleborn, but you're friends with them. That makes you a blood traitor. And who do you think will be the next to be petrified after they've got all of them?” He raised an eyebrow.

That silenced her. He had an actual half decent point.

“I'm being honest, Carina, I don't hate you. If possible, I would like to avoid having to see you turned to stone. Just be more…” For a naive, fleeting moment, she thought he might say careful. “Responsible.”

“Right. Yeah. I'll be Miss Responsible.” She nodded weakly.

“Very well. Good night, Carina.”

“Night, Perce.”

Carina watched him go up the stairs to his dormitory. It took a few moments before suddenly a horrifying realisation washed over her. She wanted Percy Weasley to like her. And perhaps worse, she wanted him to be her friend. Truly, the horrors of Hogwarts never stopped.

December 6th 1992, 17:24pm
The Library

“Alright, try putting it all together.” Carina rested her head in her laced together hands, watching the boy in front of her.

“Right,” Percy cleared his throat and sat up straighter. “Hallo, ich heiße Percy.”

She grinned, perking up and clapping her hands together once.

“Look at that! I mean, you sound like a robot, but all the words were correct and your accent isn't offensively bad.” She beamed at him.

“What's a robot?” Percy frowned.

“Oh!” Carina chuckled. “I think it's a Muggle thing? Like a big person made of metal and- you know what? Nevermind.”

After several meetings of learning the alphabet, basic vocabulary and how certain combinations of letters sounded, that had been Percy's first sentence in German. Albeit a very short and simple one simply stating his name, but progress was progress. There had been no more large arguments like the first session either, with the agreement being that whenever Carina went off on a tangent Percy had no interest in, he would just tell her and she would be quiet. She didn't know why that wasn't the norm for all conversations with everyone, but sometimes it did seem like to her there was a list of rules for talking to people that everyone but her had access to.

“Well, regardless, I take back what I said back in October. You're a pretty decent teacher.” Percy began putting his notebook back in his bag.

“Wait, really?” She froze, unsure she was hearing proper. “Sorry, was that an actual compliment from Percy Weasley?”

“Don't get used to it.”

“I don't plan to, don't worry.” Carina shrugged.

The two both began packing up, under the mutual assumption that it was time for dinner. Carina supposed it was actually kind of nice for Percy to show at least a modicum of appreciation for the help she was providing. It was also massively out of character for him, and she was worried such things were indicative of another big falling out on the horizon. However, she had always tried to adopt a policy of optimism, even if sometimes the world made it incredibly hard. The one shining light for her at the minute was that it had been almost a month since Colin had been petrified, with no other casualties in sight. Maybe this was just a two time freak accident. Carina was lying to herself and she knew it, but if she actually ruminated on the reality around her, she would start spiralling.

“Oh, bollocks!” She exclaimed, dropping a stack of parchment everywhere while lost in thought.

Quicker than she could move, Percy waved his wand, the sheets swirling in the air before returning to a neatly stacked pile in front of her.

“Oh! Thank you.” Carina smiled, inexplicably shy for a moment.

“It would have taken too long to collect by hand.” Percy explained, moving over to help her place the parchment in her bag.

“Yeah,” She nodded quietly. “Since when could you do non-verbal spells?”

“Practice. I wasn't aware they were particularly challenging,” He shrugged, waiting for Carina to sling her bag over her shoulder. “If I recall, Richter did one first try with no instruction in Lockheart's class.”

“Yes, well,” She huffed as they began to walk towards the door. “Lysander has always been exceedingly lucky when it comes to such things. I haven't managed one yet.” Carina grumbled.

“You will.” Percy muttered something else at the end she didn't catch.

“Huh?”

“Never you mind.” The tips of his ears flushed.

They proceeded towards the grand staircase in silence, Carina wondering what on Earth he could have said under his breath to cause such a reaction. Probably some cutting comment that he knew would risk a full-blown shouting match he didn't want to deal with. At least he was keeping such things to himself now. It felt to Carina that she and Percy were close to some sort of acquaintanceship. Not friendship, not by a long shot, but something not too far away. Her revelation the other night that she actually wanted to be Percy's friend was not helping matters. Often, she caught herself acting differently around him, more dignified in a way he would approve of. That she definitely detested. Not in a million years would the great Carina Reitter change her behaviour for anyone or anything. Except maybe a job. She'd probably have to dial back her crassness when she became a teacher and act a whole lot more professional. But other than that very specific scenario, she didn't subscribe to such things. No, if Percy was to want to be her friend, it had to be down to him warming up to her actual personality, not her forcing a different one.

“I see you put your name down to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas,” Percy broke the quiet as the two paused to let a staircase in front of them swivel. “I've never seen you stay here for the holidays, not even O.W.L year.”

“With what's happening in Hogwarts right now, how could I not?” She shrugged as they resumed walking, having to alter their route slightly. “Klaus said he has some big project with his friends to do over Christmas, so he's staying too. Figured I'd keep an eye on him.”

“Ron said the same when I asked him to go home,” Percy frowned. “And of course, if Ron isn't going home, Ginny isn't. And Fred and George will be the only ones in their dorm if they stay, which in their eyes is too big an opportunity to pass up. So, I have to stay too so I might look after them.”

“No doubt our younger siblings will be doing something ill-advised in the next few weeks then,” She chuckled. “I'll miss our family Christmas for sure, especially because my cousin Oswald usually visits and he's… He's a character but I love him.”

“I like Christmas at Hogwarts,” Percy said after a long pause. “It's calmer.”

“How so?” Carina asked as she grabbed the back of his robes to stop him walking into the vanishing step on the stairs.

“It's cosy at the Burrow,” He said quietly. “But the constant noise, the petty disagreements, fighting six other hands to get food at the table - more if we have guests - it's too much. And I'm expected to keep my siblings in line because Bill and Charlie never visit so I'm the oldest and that's my job. As if I don't have things of my own to be doing. Sometimes, I wonder if Bill and Charlie had the right idea in moving to different countries…”

Carina had stopped moving, mouth slightly agape. She had never in her life expected Percy Weasley to be vulnerable, least of all with her.

“Perce, I'm so sorry.” She didn't really know what to say.

“I don't think I've ever told anyone that before.” He admitted.

“You do seem to like telling me your secrets,” Carina tried to joke. “First about Penelope, now this.”

“You're a safe ear.”

Carina furrowed her brow, pondering what that could possibly mean. Her and Percy continued down the last few flights of stairs towards the sound of the Great Hall. She was absolutely ravenous, having arrived for lunch just in time to see glitter bombs pop over all of the food while Fred and George smiled innocently. As much as they assured her the stuff was edible, she didn't want to take any chances on eating meals that sparkled and had elected to skip lunch. An action she was now seriously regretting.

Percy looked to be deep in thought, shoes clicking on the flagstones. Carina still couldn't believe he had willingly told her the truth of how he felt about his family at times, and wishes there was something she could do to make him feel better. She was awful at this sort of thing. When Ellie’s rabbit died, Carina hadn't known how to offer comfort rather than just hold her hand and let her cry. She certainly didn’t make the mistake of telling Ellie the truth of what she saw in the situation: that pets always died at some point and it was better to think about how much you loved them than cry. But she did come from a family where death was extremely normalised. Maybe, though, Percy would appreciate her honest input, since he was wildly different from Ellie.

“Can I say something?” She caught his arm before he got within earshot of the Great Hall. “And if you don't like what I say or find it offensive you have full permission to yell at me and I won't even yell back.”

“I suppose.” Percy said after a pause.

“I think your mum is selfish.” Carina winced instinctively, expecting something about akin to a blood-boiling curse to be thrown at her.

“How?” She was struck by how hollow his voice sounded.

“Well, from the conversations I've had with Fred and George, I know she's always wanted a daughter, yeah?” Percy nodded. “And it took her seven tries - wait, no, six, the twins were born at the same time - six tries to get one. Every time she had a son, that became another mouth to feed in a household that, and I mean this objectively rather than as an insult, was never the best off to begin with.”

Carina thought she should really stop talking, but she was also on a roll.

“Her kids would constantly suffer due to the continuous thin spread of money that could be afforded to each of them every time she had another child. And for what? So she could have a daughter? Making all of you have to fight at the table for food and be stuck in hand-me-downs you get bullied for? I mean, I reckon your life would have been pretty comfortable if it was just you, Charlie and Bill in that house.”

Percy was looking at her with an odd expression.

“And don't get me wrong, I fucking love your siblings. Bill was kind to me when I first joined Hogwarts, Charlie would draw silly pictures on my birthday cards, the twins are the funniest people I know, Ron is my brother's best friend and has such a good heart, Ginny is adorable… Even you I'm growing to like quite a bit. But their existence is not fair,” Her brain was screaming at her to stop talking. “I mean, imagine knowing the first thing your mother felt when she held you was disappointment?”

She finally paused to take a breath, glancing over at Percy. Behind his glasses he was blinking profusely, something sparkling in his eyes. It took Carina a worryingly long moment to realise they were the beginnings of tears.

“Oh fucking hell, Percy, I'm so sorry,” She took a few steps back. “I- I shouldn't have said any of that. It was so out of line and… And if you want to hex me or use a vanishing charm on my lungs or something- t-that’s so justified.” Carina’s voice snagged on a few words as her panic rose.

Percy was quiet for almost a full minute as she continued rambling apologies. After a moment, he took a deep breath and composed himself, looking directly at her. She flinched in anticipation.

“Never in my life,” His tone was curt and measured. “Did I ever imagine that someone I have spent years finding insipid and irritating would see my problems with more clarity than anyone.”

“Wait, what?” Carina took another step back, this time in surprise.

“Everything you said,” Percy looked at the floor. “Has crossed my mind at some point in my life. It is my biggest shame, but the facts of the matter remain.”

“Oh. So you're not going to vanish my lungs?” She chuckled weakly.

“No. In fact, I'm going to add you to my ‘List of People I Can Rely On Not to be a Total Git’.” He joked back.

Carina had never heard Percy Weasley joke.

“Come on, you can say dickhead, it won't kill you,” She thought about his reaction to all of her swearing in the past. “Actually, it might, you act like you're deathly allergic. Let's not put it to the test.”

“Please, Carina, promise you won't think me a heartless prat for admitting I agree with what you said.” His tone turned serious again.

“Absolutely not. In an environment like that I wouldn't blame you,” She shrugged. “To be honest, I've also had in my life a horrible, horrible shameful thought about my family. And I hate myself for thinking it, but in the pits of arguments with my mum it spirals round and round in my brain. Of how much easier things would be if she wasn't a Muggle.”

“What do you mean?”

“That maybe she'd understand me more. That maybe we'd see the rest of our family regularly. That I wouldn't have to live my life with the expectation I'm going to take over her bookshop instead of the magical career I want,” Carina looked at the floor. “It's horrible. And every time I think about it I feel dirty and want to fling myself from a roof because it's on the borderline of agreeing with the rhetoric my uncle died fighting against.”

“I believe resentment is natural, I'm afraid,” Percy weighed in after careful consideration. “As long as you recognise that what you think is bad and don't actually tell your mum that, then no harm done. We all have thoughts we wish we didn't have. Or at least, I do.”

“We should probably go get some food.” Carina said quietly.

“Indeed.”

“Would you like a hug?” She offered shyly.

“Absolutely not.” Percy glared at her.

“You can imagine I'm hugging you and it might make you feel better,” Carina suggested. “Is it working?”

“No, that particular thought is making me want to strangle myself." He almost smiled.

“Good enough.”

December 11th 1992, 14:06pm
The Great Hall

“Destination, determination, deliberation!” Wilkie Tywcross called, pacing back and forth at the front of the room.

“Defecation, demonisation and defenestration. Got it.” Lysander muttered.

It took all of Carina’s strength to keep a straight face. The joke wasn't even particularly funny, she was just in one of those moods where everything was hilarious. And it didn't help that everyone was lined up alphabetically by surname, landing her next to Lysander who only took things seriously when it mattered. On her other side, Finley Selwyn was periodically glaring at the two of them and shaking his head rather exaggeratedly. Finley had never taken to Carina for some reason, which usually she wouldn't care about and just would not interact with him, except anytime he was near her, he would do something performative to try and let anyone near know he disapproved of her.

“We call these the three ‘Ds’ of apparition.” Twycross continued.

Next to Carina, Lysander opened his mouth, likely to make a joke about where said three ‘Ds’ might fit, but she silenced him with a look. She was rather nervous to pay as much attention as possible, knowing from her dad how hard it was to master apparition. She caught Lucy's eye across the room who looked positively terrified. She had several older sisters - much older - who had attended Hogwarts before she had started and told horror stories about the apparition lessons. Carina still remembered when Lucy, in vivid detail, described how her oldest sister, Yana, splinched herself leaving half of her cheek behind so you could see straight through her jaw into the inside of her mouth. The idea still made her shiver.

“You must focus on your destination, fill your body with determination and turn with deliberation!” Twycross finally stopped pacing, waving his wand and making several plastic rings appear from thin air. “All of you have a hoop in front of you. Now, I want you to turn on the spot with the three ‘Ds’ in mind, and try to end up in the hoop.”

“Yeah, easier said than done.” Carina muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Well what are you all waiting for?” Twycross called.

Immediately the room was set into motion of all the sixth years twirling on the spot. Carina hung back, wanting to watch how everyone else did it first. To her amusement, she saw Oliver Wood, with all the grace of a baby deer, pirouette and fall flat on his back. Lysander had taken the approach of continually turning until something happened. And something did happen. He became dizzy, lost his balance, and knocked into Carina taking them both to the floor.

“Idiot!” She chided lightly, pulling herself up.

“Did that look sick?” He grinned.

“I think you know the answer to that.”

Carina then decided to try for herself. She filled her mind with thoughts of the hoop, focused on wanting to go there really really hard and span on the spot. She didn't move, but a small tingle spread through her feet and up her body.

“I felt a tingle!” She exclaimed in excitement. “That’s good, right?”

“Means you need to go to the bathroom, Carina.” Lysander smirked.

“I felt that too.” Percy affirmed from Finley's other side.

“Oooh, maybe it means you're soulmates.” Lysander teased.

“Yeah, real witty. Are you twelve years old, Sandy? Your jokes haven't been on form today.” Carina chuckled.

She turned back to her hoop, but as she did, caught Penelope Clearwater glaring at her as if looks could kill from across the room. Carina shrugged, giving one last half-hearted turn before a loud pop interrupted the Hall.

“YES!”

Chris was standing directly in his hoop, hair wild. He was grinning like a madman, but as he raised his arms to celebrate, everyone noticed one thing at once. His right arm stopped at the wrist in a horrible, bleeding stump, his hand lying bloody and alone where he had moved from.

“Holy fucking hell!” He yelled as everyone began to panic.

“Mr Avares, I understand the exceptional circumstances but this is not the place for that sort of language.” McGonagall trilled, as she walked over to him.

“Sorry Professor, but you know, my hand is now severed from my body.” Chris was beginning to look more and more pale.

“We can reattach it, come this way.” She led him over to the rest of the teachers in the wings, waiting with sympathetic looks on their faces.

Nobody seemed keen to try again after that.

“I'm gonna go see how he is.” Carina whispered to Lysander.

“I'll come too,” He replied. “We'll grab Lucy.”

Carina, Lysander and Lucy ended up not having any more attempts at apparition, electing instead to sit with Chris while he slowly stopped panicking. They'd reattached his hand almost immediately but understandably, he was in somewhat of a state of perpetual hyperventilation for the next forty three minutes. In the end, the four of them had moved to sit outside after Lucy had excitedly remembered that the Daily Prophet’s weather section had predicted snow in Scotland.

“Lucy, this is shit.” Lysander announced, gesturing to the cloudless sky.

“The Prophet said it would snow!” She insisted. “It's December in Scotland, there will be snow. It's like saying will Maria's crush on Leo end badly!”

“What?” The Slytherin frowned, pulling up a tuft of grass.

“Yes it absolutely will,” Lucy explained. “See, Maria finds a new guy she likes every month and right now it's the Hufflepuff prefect in our year, Leo, but Leo has liked Josie Jones since probably about third year so he's not going to pay any attention to Maria and then Maria will get all upset and a shitstorm will brew.”

Lysander blinked a few times in amazement.

“You know,” He said. “I disapproved of the gossipy gay guy stereotype, but honestly I may need to get on Lucy's shit for auror practice because her information gathering skills are astounding.”

“Wait, I thought Maria was dating someone. One of the twins in Slytherin, cause Gretchen was dating the other one and they spent a whole night in the common room planning their joint wedding.” Chris cut in.

“Cameron and Patrick? No, Maria broke up with Cam a few weeks ago because she saw him put treacle on his mashed potatoes, as is her right, that's criminal behaviour. I think Patrick and Gretchen are still going out but I haven't seen them together in a while,” Lucy rattled off. “Also I have reason to suspect Penelope Clearwater has a boyfriend.”

Carina realised she should probably at least try and protect Percy's secret, interrupting Lucy's thoughts.

“We're getting off topic,” She reminded them. “The point is, the Prophet's weather department lied, I'm freezing and I want to go get Fred and George to source me a hot chocolate.”

“Do you think they get Seers to predict the weather?” Chris asked as the group stood up, deciding going inside was definitely the best source of action.

“Imagine Trelawney trying to do the forecast,” Lysander chuckled. “Excessive clouds on Tuesday means your best friend is in mortal danger and also you're going to fall out a window because of the sparse showers tomorrow.”

“She'd be the number one advocate of pathetic fallacy.” Chris nodded wisely.

Lysander and Lucy looked at each other in confusion while Carina laughed, remembering her hellish English lessons as a child analysing weather symbolism in poetry.

December 18th 1992, 13:06pm
The Gryffindor Common Room

The portrait hole burst open so hard Carina was worried the hinges might come loose, and Tilly stormed in. Her face was a mix of rage and fear. With the commotion she had caused, every set of eyes in the room was on her, waiting for some sort of an explanation as to her mood.

“There's been another attack.”

The room instantly exploded with questions and yells.

“Alright, alright, prefects coming through!” Percy bustled over, standing up from across the table to Carina where they'd been working on Charms homework together.

Carina followed behind, throat feeling as though someone was squeezing it.

“What happened?” Percy asked Tilly.

“Justin Finch-Fletchley. Hufflepuff second year, they found him with Nearly-Headless Nick. This thing can petrify ghosts,” She took a seat offered to her by Angelina Johnson, breathing heavily. “They're saying they found Harry Potter right there. And after the debacle at Duelling Club…”

“Harry isn't the heir of Slytherin,” Carina rolled her eyes. “Are you lot stupid? Also, calling someone evil because they speak a different language is usually frowned upon.”

“You weren't there, Ri-Ri,” Either Fred or George cut in. “It looked like he was egging the snake on to attack Justin and now this? Like the kid or not, it's suspicious.”

“Well of course I wasn't there, if I wanted to spend my time watching Lockheart fail to do anything useful I'd go to class,” She retorted hotly. “You're all being ridiculous. There is no way a twelve-year old boy, much less the same twelve-year old boy who is friends with many Muggleborns and responsible for the downfall of You Know Who, is the one trying to hurt them. Let's use our critical thinking skills, huh?”

The room was silent.

Carina huffed, striding over to the table her homework was on and snatching it up before practically running up the stairs to her dormitory. She slammed the door behind her, letting out a muffled scream of frustration. How stupid were the people in this school that they thought Harry Potter was going around hurting Muggleborns? He was a child, and much more obviously, not a blood purist. Sure, there definitely could have been a world in which he did become a blood purist after the suffering she'd heard he had at the hands of Muggle relatives coalescing into an intense hatred for all of them, but it really didn't seem the case. As usual, the rumour mills of Hogwarts span on and on with no one stopping to evaluate if anything that was being spread made sense. For all Carina knew, reports of Harry's apparent attack at the Duelling Club could have been greatly exaggerated. Parseltongues were rare, but so was the ability to cast a spell non-verbally as a sixteen-year old and Lysander and Percy had both managed that. No one was calling them the Heirs of Slytherin. Though the thought of Lysander sitting on a throne and trying desperately to convince some beast to kill people was a funny image, if a bit morbid.

“Carina?” The door cracked open a smidge.

“What?” She shot back, slightly venomous.

“Alright, no need to bite me,” Tilly sniffed haughtily, pulling entering the room. “You seem riled up.”

“Of course I'm riled up, Tilly, there are people who genuinely think a young boy is doing this!” Carina fell backwards onto her bed, staring up at the scarlet drapes. “The more gossip and rumours fly, the more whoever is actually at fault slips away. Do you want us to catch this person or not?”

“Of course I do!” Tilly seemed mightily affronted. “Might I remind you that I am the one in significant danger here, so if I want to take precautions I shall.”

“Blaming a child for an unspeakably evil act isn't precautions, it's foolishness, and I think you know that,” She sighed. “What does him being a parseltongue prove? Yes, the symbol of Slytherin is a snake, but you looked in the library yourself, there are no snakes capable of petrification. Snakes that eyes cause instant death? Yep. A snake that can grow or shrink to their environment? Also yes. Snakes that petrify? Nothing.”

“Why do you care so much about whether Potter is blamed or not?”

“Because it isn't right! Being blamed for something you didn't do is awful,” Carina sat back up, eyes cold. “Or did you forget third year? When everyone thought that I put Bobotuber Pus in Josie Jones’ cereal just because I'd had an argument with her in Herbology? And no one spoke to me for months. Not even Lucy and Chris talked to me, no matter the fact I wasn't even there when it happened. It just spread and spread and spread until everyone believed it without a second thought. Because I haven't forgotten, Tilly. I haven't forgotten sleeping on the sofas in the common room because I couldn't stand the looks you all gave me.”

“Josie had to go to St Mungo's because her throat was burned from the inside and you had credible motive!” Tilly argued. “It made sense.”

“No. It made sense because none of you could be bothered to question what you heard. Even when they found out it was Marcus Flint it still took weeks before people could stand to be near me, and longer before I got an apology. So no, I don't want Harry to go through that, because it's awful!” Carina was breathing heavily, eyes burning with effort not to cry.

“What is your damage, Carina?” Tilly folded her arms.

“I MISS MY FUCKING CAT!” She cried. “I miss my cat and I’m scared…” She repeated quietly.

Tilly's face softened and she took a few steps forward.

“Carina-”

“No,” She sidestepped towards the door. “You don't get to be sympathetic after all that. You've done enough today, Matilda.” She spat her name.

Carina darted out of her dormitory and through the crowd of people in the common room who had definitely heard that whole yelling match. Desperately wiping the tears from her eyes, she slipped out into the corridor and kept walking. Carina didn't notice Chris immediately followed after her. It wouldn't be until she finally collapsed somewhere along the frost encrusted grass of the shore of the Black Lake and a far too big and heavy coat draped around her shoulders that she even realised he was there.

December 25th 1992, 9:17am
The Gryffindor Common Room

Hermione was not enjoying Lysander's gift to Carina.

Stretch me to the point where I stop

Run ten-thousand miles and then think of me

I think you know the place we should meet

Don't worry if it's dark and I'm late

In fact, almost everyone in the common room except Carina wasn't enjoying listening to Sonic Youth first thing in the morning. The girl in question though, was dancing around happily in her pajamas.

“Please can someone turn this off, it's hurting my ears.” Hermione whispered.

“Come on, Granger, she's having fun!” Chris chuckled, watching Carina pretending to play the drums.

“The singer isn't even singing, he's just yelling.” The young Gryffindor folded her arms.

“That's the sort of music Carrie loves.” Klaus, who had been smuggled up to the common room last night, chipped in.

“Silencio!” The music stopped immediately.

Carina whirled around with an annoyed expression just in time to see Percy slipping his wand back into his pocket. She made a face at him which caused him only to shrug.

Given the current state at Hogwarts, not many students had stayed for Christmas. The Gryffindor common room was composed of the Weasleys, the Reitters (just like last Christmas they had let Klaus sleep in the dormitory with Harry and Ron so he could be with his friends for the holidays), Hermione, Harry and Chris. Chris had stayed under the guise of ‘not wanting Carina to be stuck with Percy’, as were his exact words to Lucy. Carina hadn't mentioned to any of her friends, even Lysander, the mutual respect between her and the other sixth year Gryffindor prefect, so they all still assumed she was in a feud with him.

At the moment, the fire was roaring in the fireplace and everyone was gathered around the sofas working through the mountain of presents under the tree. They'd all opened the ones from people who weren't at Hogwarts, meaning everyone except Carina and Chris were sporting Weasley sweaters. The plan was now for each person to hand out all of the gifts they had sent.

“Who's going first?” Ron asked, teeth sticking together from the pile of treacle fudge he was already devouring.

“Oldest first?” Fred suggested.

They could tell it was Fred because of the giant ‘F’ knitted across his chest, though the twins had been known to swap jumpers on occasion.

“Well that's one of us,” Chris yawned, clearly miffed about being woken up by the twins setting off fireworks to get the fire started. “Percy, when is your birthday?”

“It won't be me, I'm late August.” He folded his hands in his lap.

“It’s me then,” Carina stood up. “Chris is April, I'm January.”

She made her way over to the group of eight presents of varying sizes, all wrapped in bright red paper and tied with string. Slightly struggling to hold all of them in her arms, she decided to levitate the bigger ones. Carina stopped in front of Hermione first, handing her a small, thin package. She looked confused at first after opening it to find a set of hair bobbles, until Carina explained.

“They're charmed not to come loose,” She told Hermione. “Once you tie up your hair, it's up for the day. I've noticed you snap the Muggle ones quite easily because your hair is so thick.”

“Oh!” Understanding dawned on her face. “These will be rather useful. I almost singed my hair off dunking it accidentally into a potion yesterday because it came loose.”

“Classes finished a week ago, what potion are you making in the holidays?” Carina frowned.

“Extra credit project!” Harry, Ron, Klaus and Hermione chorused.

That was wildly suspicious.

“Right.” Carina frowned at them.

She then proceeded to Harry who was given a model of a Nimbus 2000 that zoomed around the room. He seemed very taken with the thing, especially once he realised that because of the enchantment upon it, he could throw it at someone and it would speed towards them like a bullet. After that, Carina handed Ron a squishy parcel that ended up being a bright orange Chuddley Cannons scarf which clashed horribly with his maroon sweater but he wore anyway. Fred and George seemed mightily intrigued with the Muggle Chemistry set they were given, with Carina’s comment that they should learn to do pranks with and without magic for variety's sake. Klaus received a book titled ‘Joke Jinxes and How to Jape Jovially With Them’ which Carina had bought more for how amusing she knew he'd find the title than anything. Finally, she gave Chris a jacket that matched the colour of his eyes with a heating charm placed upon it so it would always stay warm.

Carina did have a gift for Percy, but she wasn't going to give it to him in front of everyone.

All in all, she ended up having a good haul this year. Fred and George gave her one of their own creations, a badge that emitted an annoying noise anytime the wearer went near somebody they didn't like. Harry and Hermione had both gotten her books, one on experimental Transfiguration and the other on the history of wizarding villages in England respectively.

“You're the only person I know who enjoys History of Magic.” Harry had said, sheepishly as she opened it.

Ron gave her a box of what she was pretty sure was his mum's fudge, that was delicious nonetheless. Klaus gave her a little soft toy of a black cat wearing a wizard's hat that she immediately named Merlin and hadn't let go of since opening the wrapping. Finally, from Chris had been a lovely silver necklace with a ‘C’ on it, that he assured her was for Carina and not for Chris. She'd then listed several things she would rather do than wear a necklace with his name on it, culminating in jumping into the Black Lake in the dead of winter.

The rest of the day passed happily. Lucy's weather predictions from weeks ago finally came true and snow flurried down from the sky, resulting in a massive snowball fight between the Gryffindors and Klaus that ended in everyone being soaking wet and trying desperately to bribe Chris, Carina and Percy into performing drying and warming charms on them. The three held out seventeen minutes before caving when Fred and George offered to source some hot chocolate.

Dinner too had been a lovely affair, though Carina had eaten far too many roast potatoes. During the middle of dessert, her dad's owl, Florence, had made an appearance dropping off cards and gifts from family. Also attached was a strongly worded letter from Oswald asking what could possibly be so important she had to stay at Hogwarts instead of seeing ‘her favourite cousin’. Of course, Oswald was her only first cousin, but that didn’t stop him only referring to himself as her favourite. Apparently Cora and Conrad had been driving everyone mental worrying about the exams they had at the end of the school year, to the point where Constantine had packed up and left and was somewhere in the UK staying with someone from the Ministry's Auror Division he met on a mission.

As dinner drew to a close, Harry, Ron, Klaus and Hermione said a very quiet goodbye and snuck off. Carina and Percy followed soon after, as they were the only prefects staying at Hogwarts so the patrol rota had their names on it for the next few days. Patrols on Christmas seemed like the sort of thing that should have been illegal in Carina’s opinion, but there was something on the loose petrifying students, so compromises had to be made.

“I should be eating a Turkey sandwich and playing Exploding Snap right now. This sucks.” She complained as they trailed along a corridor in the dungeons.

“Do you want to catch Slytherin's Heir or not, Carina?” Percy chided.

“I want them caught but I don't want it to be us who catches them,” She snorted. “What are we gonna do against a powerful wizard with a monster that turns you to stone? Do you know how to duel, Percy?”

“No,” He muttered. “Do you?”

“Not well enough to protect both of us. I'm afraid you'd have to sacrifice yourself for my survival.” Carina grinned, half skipping in front of Percy and beginning to walk backwards while facing him.

“And why in the name of Merlin would I do that?”

“You said it yourself. In the name of Merlin,” She chuckled. “Obviously not the one you meant, but I'm on a revenge arc for my cat right now, so it's only chivalrous that you let me complete my mission. And you are a Gryffindor, so chivalry is sort of your thing.”

“I don't think it is very Gryffindor of you to let me die.” He pointed out.

“Ah, that's where you're wrong! Loyalty is a Hufflepuff trait. If we find that monster it's everyone for themselves. You could try vanishing its lungs?” Carina laughed, spinning back to walk by his side.

“You are rather full of energy today.”

“It's Christmas,” She shrugged. “Plus, I'm always filled with energy, just usually when you see me you do something that pisses me off and I'm petty and annoying rather than a joy to be around.”

“Whoever called you a joy to be around needs their head checked.” Percy said under his breath.

“Percival Ignatius Weasley!” She exclaimed, stopping dead. “How dare you say such a thing!”

“How do you know my middle name?” He squinted.

“You write it on all of your essays.”

“Ah.”

The pair continued along, the occasional shudder making their skin ripple with goosebumps. Carina honestly didn't know how her brother survived staying there in the winter, she was wearing a shirt, a jumper and a coat and was still freezing. She'd been so caught up in the idea of making Chris a jacket that had a heating charm on it she never considered making it for herself. She also hoped he wouldn't mind when she borrowed it on the first Transfiguration lesson back, as enchanting it with that spell had also been her homework. Two birds with one stone and all that.

Several sets of footsteps broke her from her thoughts. From around the corner at the end of the corridor, three Slytherin students turned and began walking towards them. This in and of itself was not odd. What did strike Carina as strange was that one of them was her brother, and the other two were Malfoy's posse; Crabbe and Goyle if she remembered correctly. Klaus would never in his life be seen with those two, let alone talking in furtively whispers as they appeared to be now.

“Klaus?” She called, making the three stop.

“Carrie?” Klaus frowned.

“Percy?” One of the others, either Crabbe or Goyle asked.

This caused Percy to stop too, eyebrows scrunched. Why would one of Malfoy's blood purist friends bother to learn Percy's name, moreover, address him by it? Something weird was definitely afoot with the current situation.

“What are you doing here?” One of them asked.

“We happen to be prefects,” Percy folded his arms, sounding snooty. “Shouldn't you three be getting back to your common room?”

“Klaus, I thought you were staying with Harry and Ron again tonight?” Carina arced an eyebrow.

“He is!” Either Crabbe or Goyle said fiercely, before Klaus could open his mouth.

“Are these two bothering you?” She asked quietly.

“No!” Klaus said entirely too quickly. “I uh, just forgot something in my dorm. A present for Luna.” He smiled weakly.

Carina absolutely did not believe him. However, he was her brother, and she trusted that if he was being deceitful it was for a good reason and she shouldn't doubt him. So she let it slide for now. He'd be getting interrogated later.

“Be quick.” She bid him, watching the three scurry off towards the Slytherin common room.

Percy turned to her.

“Odd.” He frowned.

“Agreed. He's up to something.” Carina sighed.

“It's strange, the inflections one of them used almost reminded me of-” Percy stopped himself, shaking his head. “No, I'm being ridiculous.”

“We'll talk to him when he appears this evening. Maybe Harry, Ron and Hermione know. We could talk to them?” She suggested.

“Not a bad idea. I suppose we are finished for the night anyway.”

Percy and Carina began the long, arduous journey back to Gryffindor Tower. She hated having to go from the Dungeons all the way up, there were so many stairs and it took about fifteen minutes to get there. It was honestly a miracle that more people didn't get lost in Hogwarts. Carina wondered if maybe there was something in the Castle itself that set people on their right way. She'd read that buildings could have their own unique magic, such as Hogwarts’ changing stairs. Maybe it also had a trait that kept the students safe from being lost and alone.

Just as they were about to reach the portrait of the Fat Lady, Carina pulled Percy aside. She rummaged around in the pocket of her jacket until she pulled out a small parcel and handed it to him.

“What's this?” He held it up.

“Christmas present.” Carina smiled.

“Oh,” Percy looked at it. “I didn't get you a Christmas present.”

“I know.”

“Then why did you buy me this?” He asked.

“Well, you know… I haven't despised absolutely every moment we've spent together this year. And I appreciate some of the things you've said, especially about the whole not being straight thing and saying I'm a good teacher,” Carina shrugged awkwardly. “It's been nice to finally have a year where we're not dicks to each other one hundred percent of the time.”

“Oh.” He said again.

“Go on, open it.”

Percy deftly untied the string with slender fingers and undo the spell-o-tape keeping the paper sealed. He withdrew the small wooden box inside and opened the lid to reveal a peacock feather quill.

“I know you tend to use more practical looking quills,” Carina explained. “But I personally think this one is really nice and the turquoise goes well with your hair which is actually kinda cringy now I think about it, but if you don't like it I have the receipt from Dervish and Banges so you can exchange it and-”

“Carina,” Percy stopped her. “You're rambling.”

“Sorry.”

“This is beyond thoughtful,” He picked it out of the box, examining it. “Thank you. A bit flashy, yes, but well-made and will last a while.”

“Yeah, no problem.” She smiled.

“I've also not minded a year where some sort of truce is in place.” Percy admitted, beginning to head towards the portrait hole.

“Wait!” She called, holding out a hand. “Friends?”

“Friends.” He agreed, shaking once.