❝ Makes sense? ❞

          Since Aquila had won and got the chaser's position, Alan had followed her around and asked her annoying questions.

"What broom are you gonna use?" he asked

"Will you shut up?"

"Oh come on! You said you didn't want to play and now you're the new chaser, I would've gotten—"

"You didn't though," said Aquila turning around to face him. She had an irritated glare plastered to her porcelain face. "I don't know if you have any work, but I do go away."

"Okay, at least tell me how exactly are you going to break Malfoy's nose?"

~~~

If there was one thing that Aquila noticed from the past summer it was that she was out of shape. Aquila was determined to find a place at Hogwarts to train, but all her effort was in vain. The only choice she seemed to be left is the forbidden forest.

"Where are you going?" Asked Lisa, looking up from the book she was reading.

"I...I'm going to get some fresh air." She said quickly.

Lisa raised her eyebrows. "Not you be rude, but the atmosphere here is pleasant."

Indeed, the cool autumn breeze whirling throughout the common room made everyone wish to stay there forever. Aquila mentally face-palmed, that's a lame excuse, she thought to herself.

"Yes, but I just wanted to go out," reasoned Aquila.

Lisa shrugged and retracted her eyes to the book. "I don't know, you are not-"

Alan quickly cut her off. "Oh, Lisa! Do you have to question Aquila for everything?" he asked in the most surprised tone.

"I was only—"

"No, don't start, Aquila isn't a little kid, she can go wherever she wants to, right?"

She looked at him ridiculously. "Of course! I was just checking up on her, you are both are—ugh never mind..." She huffed in defeat, got up, and marched upstairs.

Aquila smiled amusingly at Alan. "You are not that useless."

Alan smirked proudly. "Who do you think I am?"

"Alan Stupid Blackwood."

"What?!" He shrieked.

Aquila laughed. "Just kidding, care to join me?"

~~~

At the very edge of the forbidden forest, Aquila decided to start her training. She took out her long astraen silver sword, and Alan gasped.

"The sword looks stunning! Can I hold it?" he asked, Aquila gave him a baffled look.

"You can see it?" asked Aquila, bewildered.

"Am I not supposed to?" He asked slowly.

"No, only a few mortals can see through the mist..."

"Is it a bad thing?" He asked. "You're looking at me like I'm cursed."

"You might be!" said Aquila shrugging.

Aquila couldn't practice efficiently due to the lack of an arena, and Alan gave Aquila constant distractions and asked useless questions. But a little is better than nothing.

"Remind me to never bring you to training ever again."

Alan started to protest, but Aquila was already lost in her thoughts. He can read Greek, see through the mist and his mother died at childbirth...doesn't that ring a bell? She thought.

They both returned to the castle, it was dinner time and everyone started to gather in the great hall for the feast Aquila absentmindedly chewed on her potatoes until,

"Down to Earth Alice, if you are gonna daydream all day all night, I swear one day you will go insane." Said Alan.

She broke out of her daze and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why don't you shut up and mind your own business?"

"I can't always mind my own business if the person sitting beside me just gonna stab the table with her fork rather than her food." He remarked.

Aquila looked down, the fork that she had thought was on her plate was pinned to the table's cloth. She retracted it and glanced at Alan. He only shrugged and continued eating. What bothered Aquila was that he seemed normal as any other human, but she knew there was something that she didn't know about him, something even he didn't know about himself. He could see through the mist and speak Greek. What was going on?

"Uh, Alan? I never had the chance to learn about your mother, can you tell me about her?" She asked him, trying to hide the suspicion from her voice and expression.

"Well, I don't know much about her, but my dad says she's the sweetest yet dangerous woman he ever met in his life. You know, she was kind of mysterious, he never had enough time to figure her out..." he explained.

"Ah...that's interesting," mused Aquila. "You carry on eating."

Time passed in a blink of an eye, and soon rows of students headed back to their common rooms. The chatter, the bustle, and the noise died suddenly as the people in front spotted the hanging cat. Harry, Ron, and Hermione stood alone, in the middle of the corridor, as silence fell among the mass of students pressing forward to see the grisly sight.

Then someone shouted through the quiet.

"Enemies of the Heir, beware! You'll be next, Mudbloods!"

It was Draco Malfoy. He had pushed to the front of the crowd, his cold eyes alive, his usually bloodless face flushed, as he grinned at the sight of the hanging, immobile cat.

What's going on here? What's going on?" Attracted no doubt by Malfoy's shout, Argus Filch came shouldering his way through the crowd. Then he saw Mrs. Norris and fell back, clutching his face in horror.

"My cat! My cat! What's happened to Mrs. Norris?" he shrieked And his popping eyes fell on Harry.

"You!" he screeched. "You! You've murdered my cat! You've killed her! I'll kill you! I'll —"

"Argus!" Dumbledore had arrived on the scene, followed by a number of other teachers. In seconds, he had swept past Harry, Ron, and Hermione and detached Mrs. Norris from the torch bracket.

"Come with me, Argus," he said to Filch. "You, too, Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, Miss Granger."

Lockhart stepped forward eagerly. "My office is nearest, Headmaster — just upstairs — please feel free —"

"Thank you, Gilderoy," said Dumbledore.

The silent crowd parted to let them pass. Lockhart, looking excited and important, hurried after Dumbledore; so did Professors McGonagall and Snape.

"Do you think we should follow them and hear the whole matter?" Alan asked Aquila.

"Why? To get ourselves into trouble? I'm sure the trio would give an explanation."

"What if they were expelled? I could never know what happened!" stated Alan.

"So you wanna get yourself expelled too?"

"No, but—"

"No buts!" expressed Aquila. "They will explain later, now back to the common room."

"I don't think Dumbledore would expel Harry, Ron, and Hermione for murdering Mrs Norris. I bet everyone except for Filch would've wanted to get rid of that nasty cat." Reasoned Alan.

"I hate to break it to you, but you are not smart enough, so shut up."

They just returned to their common room and Aquila couldn't control the anticipation to know what happened.

"You can't sit down!" said Alan, as she paced around. "Let's go and overhear what happened."

"But eavesdropping is not—"

"Who cares?"

Aquila groaned "Fine."

By the time they reached the corridor, the more they strained their ears, they started hearing bits and pieces and soon they could hear the conversation.

Alan pressed his ear to the door of Lockhart's office "Not dead?" they could hear Filch choke on his words. "But why's she all — all stiff and frozen?"

"She has been Petrified," said Dumbledore. "But how, I cannot say. . . ."

"Ask him!" shrieked Filch, she could imagine him pointing his nasty fingers in Harry's

"No second year could have done this," said Dumbledore firmly. "It would take Dark Magic of the most advanced —"

"He did it, he did it!" Filch spat, "You saw what he wrote on the wall! He found — in my office — he knows I'm a — I'm a —" Filch's face worked horribly. "He knows I'm a Squib!" he finished.

"I knew it!" whispered Aquila. "No wonder he hates wizards."

"I never touched Mrs. Norris!" Harry said loudly. "And I don't even know what a Squib is."

"Rubbish!" snarled Filch. "He saw my Kwikspell letter!"

"If I might speak, Headmaster," said a low, husky voice, no doubt it belonged to Snape.

"Potter and his friends may have simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time," He said. "But we do have a set of suspicious circumstances here. Why was he in the upstairs corridor at all? Why wasn't he at the Halloween feast?"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione all launched into an explanation about the deathday party. ". . . there were hundreds of ghosts, they'll tell you we were there —"

"But why not join the feast afterward?" said Snape. "Why go up to that corridor?"

"Because — because —" Harry stammered, "because we were tired and wanted to go to bed," he said.

"Without any supper?" said Snape, he probably had a smug look on his crooked face. "I didn't think ghosts provided food fit for living people at their parties."

"We weren't hungry," said Ron.

"I suggest, Headmaster, that Potter is not being entirely truthful," he said. "It might be a good idea if he were deprived of certain privileges until he is ready to tell us the whole story. I personally feel he should be taken off the Gryffindor Quidditch team until he is ready, to be honest."

"Really, Severus," said Professor McGonagall sharply, "I see no reason to stop the boy playing Quidditch. This cat wasn't hit over the head with a broomstick. There is no evidence at all that Potter has done anything wrong."

"Innocent until proven guilty, Severus," Dumbledore said firmly.

"My cat has been Petrified!" shrieked Filch. "I want to see some punishment!"

"We will be able to cure her, Argus," said Dumbledore patiently.

"Professor Sprout recently managed to procure some Mandrakes. As soon as they have reached their full size, I will have a potion made that will revive Mrs. Norris."

"I'll make it," Lockhart butted in. "I must have done it a hundred times. I could whip up a Mandrake Restorative Draught in my sleep —"

"Excuse me," said Snape icily. "But I believe I am the Potions master at this school."

There was a very awkward pause.

"You may go," Dumbledore said.

And with those words Aquila and Alan sprinted to the Ravenclaw common room.

"We both are perfectly fine, nothing happened." Said Alan.

"Oh yeah, we would've got caught if we were a little late." Remarked Aquila. "But we still need to know who petrified Mrs Norris and who wrote that dreaded words on the wall."

He looked at Aquila with an expression of tiredness and droopy eyes. "Save the rest for tomorrow, I want to sleep."

Aquila ignored him and continued pondering. "Maybe we should ask Harry about it, even if he didn't do it, he is hiding something from the professors."

"I'm out of this mess, goodnight." He said and left for the boy's dorm. Aquila sighed, knowing something was off and whatever was in store for her and Hogwarts wasn't good.

~• Author's note •~

Sorry for not updating for a long time, my mental health is just on the edge so, yeah. And I'll ask again, who the heck is Alan Blackwood?!

Have a nice day <3