It was a wonder that given his state in the Orange blossom Orchard, Jasper could find the energy to leave Gillian's deserted house let alone get them back home. Yet somehow he pulled it out the bag and did both even if Aubrey had to do most of the talking with the man at the car rental place. Jasper was trembling too much for that and she didn't want to push him any further.

The next few hours were incredibly surreal. She brought her Father back home and Mary instantly jumped into action, taking her husband upstairs to bed in a frantic state. Before she left, she was careful to assure Aubrey that it wasn't her fault yet she didn't look convinced, the words coming out half-hearted. 

Technically the mystery was close to solved and Aubrey almost knew everything she could know so this should be calming. Yet after seeing the state being back there had put her Father in, she felt anything but calm so being alone downstairs, unsure of what was happening really wasn't the best for her. 

About half an hour later, Dulcie had shown up in an equally flustered state. She'd dumped a few bags down at Aubrey's feet before making a beeline for the stairs.

"Dulcie!" She called, making her sister pause on the first step, "Why are you here?" Her face darkened, "Is it the drama - "

"Not this time, Aubrey," She replied coolly, "I'm here because Dad's practically having a nervous breakdown thanks to what you did and Mary called me in to take a look just in case he needs to go St Mungo's."

It took Aubrey a few moments to remember that when Dulcie wasn't teasing her and asking private questions, she was actually a pretty good healer; a concept Aubrey could never quite wrap her head around. Dulcie stayed up there for a good hour, leaving Aubrey alone to worry and fret. She wished she had Fred with her right now, he was always good at making her smile even in dark times but quickly scolded herself for being selfish. Her Dad was upstairs right now in a terrible state, the last thing she should be doing was focusing on herself.

Dulcie came downstairs about an hour later just as two new arrivals burst through the door: Cynthia and Isabelle. It was unusual to find her sisters together at such short notice anymore especially for reasons not related to drama.

"Is he alright?" Cynthia asked, rushing up to Dulcie and gripping her shoulders, "Dulcie, is Dad going to die? I painted this piece a few days ago and the grim just appeared without me even meaning to. I thought it was a mistake, I only meant to draw a dark cloud but... I never thought it was an omen!"

"He's not going to die," Dulcie replied, "He's not physically injured at all..." She turned to Aubrey with an accusatory look, "Unless you did something else to him."

"And that's not an omen, you're probably just a bad painter," Isabelle remarked dryly.

Aubrey shook her head, "Nope ... he's not hurt - "

"At least not physically," Dulcie snapped as the other two turned to her as well, their arms folded, eyes narrowed. Aubrey curled up into a small ball, "But he's not in good shape either. Aubrey, you essentially broke Dad."

Tonight the Jackson sisters were not her friends, they wouldn't tease her playfully or joke with her. The old ones that used to pull her hair and be cruel had returned and honestly, she wasn't ready.

"Yeah, I hope you're happy with yourself," Cynthia tossed her dark hair, "Why would you even take him to Gillian's house anyway? You really do have the IQ of an Oyster!"

Aubrey raised an eyebrow as Isabelle rolled her eyes, "Cynthia, that was a french one, she doesn't get what you're trying to say. Might I suggest as thick as two woods - "

"Thick as two short planks," Aubrey softly corrected.

"SHE GOT IT ALRIGHT," Cynthia snapped irritably, "What were you thinking?"

"He suggested it!" Aubrey replied, "And I ... I wanted to know, I didn't think it would affect him so much - "

"Oh yes, something him and Mary have avoided bringing up for literal years wouldn't hurt him. How could you be so fucking stupid, Aubrey, honestly," Cynthia snapped before mumbling under her breath in French. Aubrey couldn't understand but judging by the way Dulcie sneered, it wasn't flattering.

"I'm sorry!" She replied desperately, "And I ... wait, how did you know about that?"

"Mum told us years back when you were born," Isabelle replied, taking a seat and resting her head on her hand, "She wouldn't tell us much, just that should we ever felt like he wasn't giving us enough love and wouldn't let us do something, to bring up Gil. It would break him and we could do whatever we felt like."

"That's awful!"

"It is," Isabelle agreed, "Which is why none of us ever did it."

"I came close when he wouldn't let me go to Sicily with Francoise," Dulcie murmured.

"Well, it doesn't change the fact she broke Dad! Broke him!" Cynthia raged, "Honestly, I don't know what makes me angrier, the fact she did it with no regards for him or the fact she's just sitting there apathetically - "

"I'M SORRY, OKAY?" Aubrey suddenly shouted back, catching her sister by surprise, "I really am, he suggested it and he said he'd be okay! And I ... I didn't know he'd get that upset, from what Umbridge said, I assumed it was just a fight - I didn't know he'd get that shaken but it! And ... I was scared, I'm not used to seeing him cry - "

"Hello girls," All three fell into silence as they saw Mary at the top of the stairs. It was like they were children again, Cynthia, Dulcie and Isabelle sitting rigidly all of a sudden and staring pointedly at Aubrey until she did the same, "Aubrey, is everything okay, honey?"

Cynthia coughed loudly and Aubrey nodded quickly. Mary wasn't convinced but Dulcie cut in before she could investigate further, "How's Dad doing?"

"Asleep," Mary replied, taking a seat next to Aubrey who guiltily looked down, "He'll be alright but it will take some time. I haven't seen him this way for quite a while. But I'll take care of him, you three don't have to stay. I know you all have work tomorrow."

"We don't mind staying, Mary, really it's no trouble," Dulcie replied but Mary shook her head, yawning sleepily.

"No, we have Roshana down the road if he gets any worse and I don't want you three to get behind," Mary replied.

"If there's anything we can do to help let us know," Isabelle replied, "We're on call."

"No, no ..." Mary replied before yawning, "Actually ... if it's not too much trouble would one of you mind taking Aubrey back to Hogwarts? I would do it myself but I don't want to leave your father tonight," She suddenly sighed, gritting her teeth, "Oh, Jasper, what were you thinking...?"

"She doesn't know how to apparate by herself?" Cynthia asked in disbelief, "What the fuck?"

"She had a busy year when she would have learnt," Isabelle said coolly, pushing herself up, "I'll take her back, Mary. It's no trouble at all."

"You took two years to pass anyway ... do you remember when you left half your hair behind?" Dulcie giggled, still angry but unable to resist teasing her older sister anyway.

"Can I say goodbye to Dad first?" Aubrey asked softly.

"He's fast asleep, honey," Mary replied with a kind smile, "I'll get him to write to you once he wakes up though," She paused, "He'll be okay, don't worry. This wasn't your fault ... I should have gone with him but when he got that letter but he was out the house so fast, it took me a good few minutes to realise what he was up to. You weren't to know how severe this issue was."

Aubrey nodded solemnly, still aware of her sister's accusatory glowers which felt like they were boring into her, "Thanks, Mum."

"Aubrey," She spun around rapidly to see Isabelle already in the doorway, "Hurry up."

Her goodbyes to the other two sisters were kept short and not particularly sweet although this was through choice. 

"You didn't bring a jacket?" Isabelle raised an eyebrow once they were outside, "It's cold."

"I have my Hogwarts cloak," Aubrey replied firmly as they began to walk to the end of their cobbled road, "That's enough."

Isabelle barely acknowledged this, coming to a stop at the end, holding out her hand for Aubrey to take. She obliged and Aubrey braced herself for the awful feeling of apparating. It was just as bad as before and it took Aubrey a few moments to recover, holding her spinning head. Luckily the streets of Hogsmeade were quiet and deserted so only Isabelle saw and she didn't particularly care.

As they walked, Isabelle evidently wanted to be silent, keeping ahead of Aubrey the whole time. This only made the pit of guilt brought on by everything worse until finally she couldn't help but ask, "Isabelle, do you hate me too?"

This made Isabelle stop and look back over her shoulder, "No. I think Dulcie and Cynthia are being immature frankly."

It was curious that Isabelle had been the ringleader of the teasing in childhood yet right now she seemed to be the only sister on her side, "I really didn't mean for him to get like that, I didn't know what to do when he began crying - "

"I don't blame you but I do think you could have thought it through a bit better. You can get a bit fixated on things, you probably didn't consider the repercussions all too well," Isabelle continued walking, "If he hadn't spoken about something, there was clearly a serious reason for it. You must have seen that. You're not stupid like Cynthia said."

"I know but ... I was so curious," Aubrey admitted, "And he suggested it too, I thought it would be alright..."

"I know. You said," Isabelle stated firmly, "You're just trying to convince yourself now, not me."

This plunged them into silence again, Isabelle only saying one more slightly snide remark about Hogwarts compared to Beauxbatons until she left Aubrey alone outside the Hufflepuff common rooms. Aubrey wasn't sure she wanted to go into the Hufflepuff common rooms, especially now she remembered what she'd just learnt about her. At least she knew now, even if she wasn't sure how you brought up to your friend that she wasn't human. That was a tomorrow problem and one that would best be solved in Fred's arms. Right now, she needed sleep.

It was late so everyone was in bed when she crept into the dorms. She thought she was doing a good job at being silent but clearly not. Within thirty seconds of entering, she heard Lexy softly moan, "Aubrey? Is that you..."

"Yes," She whispered back, shielding her eyes with her hand as Lexy sleepily recited the light incantation, "You're up late."

"I only got back about half an hour ago ... oh my God, I've been waiting for you to come back - "

"Lemme sleep..." Both of them jumped as an unknown dorm mate grumbled this at them and they quickly obliged, Lexy grabbing Aubrey's hand and pulling her out of the dorm unexpectedly.

They didn't stop walking until Lexy firmly sat down on the sofa, dragging Aubrey with her. The landing was painful and Aubrey rubbed her back, "Lexy, what..." She trailed off, realising Lexy's eyes were gleaming, her hands clasped by her lips in excitement. A faint smile crossed Aubrey face as she sleepily sat up, "What is it? What's happened?"

"Um ... I sort of ... um," She giggled, "well, I thought I was going to fight with George but I sort of um ...slept with him instead..."

"Lexy! Really?" She smiled, "Oh wow ... that's big, hon!"

Lexy squealed, "It was!" She fell back against the sofa arm in a dazed state, "Oh my God, I'm so glad you agree. I thought you'd just say 'Okay, cool.' like you would have done before but ... yes, it is big. Lexy Masters will not die a Virgin! Aubrey, just this once, can I go into detail and you won't just recoil in horror? I mean, you'll probably have sex with Fred at some point so I mean ... I'm sure you sort of know what to expect by now."

Aubrey smiled sleepily, "I can't promise I won't be awkward but I'll listen and even try out being incredibly excited - I'll even squeal."

"Yay!" She smiled, "Oh my God, when you and Fred do I'll be all ears, you just need to tell someone."

"Might be a while," Aubrey shrugged, "We're both preoccupied and the furthest we've gone is basically over the shirt months ago ... well, not counting anything the year before."

Lexy continued, "I'm so glad you're back! Oh my God, I've wanted to tell someone so bad for like the past few hours but you and all my second choices were busy! But Angela was fighting so I couldn't tell her, I didn't want tell our other dorm mates even if I think they knew because my shirt was buttoned up wrong, I haven't seen Fred since the fight - that would be weird anyway but better than nothing and Saskia hasn't come to bed so I couldn't tell her..."

"Wait, what?" Aubrey asked.

"She didn't come to bed from her night walk thing," Lexy winked, "Maybe she's with Lee, I don't know ... not to be selfish but can we just ... talk about this right now?" She blushed, "Sorry, I'm just crazy excited right now..."

"Yeah, sure, sorry," Aubrey replied, determined to listen and push the events of the day from her mind, "Carry on ... I'm sure she'll be back by morning anyway... keep talking, I'm all ears."