Whether or not there's someone in the castle aiding Isaac Predatel is not something I can share, sorry!

On a different note...

Question: What happens when there's three days till PSAT scores come out? You know, the ones that could determine if you can afford to go to college and have a nice life and basically your entire future?

Answer: Lots of crying and panic attacks and anxiety and I'm going to be sick just thinking about it...

~~~~

"What's the point of this, again?" Albus asked.

We were outside, hidden from the sight of the castle by a large hedge. Colette was demonstrating how to apparate without actually doing it. I personally thought it was pretty interesting (since I'd done side-along apparition a few times), but Wren was reading a book in the shade of the hedge and Albus was lying on his stomach next to her, his head propped up on his arms.

"A head start for sixth year, Colette said, rolling her eyes. "It's only two years until you can get your license, Al."

Albus groaned. Ever since he'd turned fifteen a few weeks before, Colette's determination to teach us how to apparate before we ever took a class had grown tremendously. She'd been fifteen for months now, and had hoped to finally have someone to share her excitement with. Albus was obviously not going to be that someone, though.

"You can't even do it school grounds," Albus pointed out, for at least the twelfth time.

"I'm not trying to actually do it," Colette repeated, closing her eyes. "I don't fancy getting splinched."

"Al, give it a rest," I said, rolling my eyes. "You can take a nap or something if you hate it so much."

Albus sighed but didn't say anything else as Colette showed me how to pivot on one foot like most wizards did when they apparated.

After a few minutes, Wren looked up from her book. "Colette, how much do you know about Occlumency?"

"Quite a bit." Colette frowned, stopping. "Why?"

Wren glanced at Albus and me, then shrugged. "I was just wondering..."

"Yeah. Right." Colette sat down across from the rest of us. "What is it really?"

Wren looked down at her book again. "Well... My uncle... He's a very good Legilimens... And... I was thinking that if I ever had to go back—"

"You'll never have to," Albus said immediately, sitting up and putting his arm around her. "Don't worry about that, please..."

"But if I ever do," Wren said, shaking her head, "I don't want him to be able to see what's in my head."

Colette nodded silently. I looked at Wren, the girl who, only a few months ago, would start shaking with fear at the mention of Henry Stillens, but was now actively trying to defend herself from him. To defy him.

"I think I could teach you," Colette said after a moment. "I'm rubbish at it myself, but I'm all right at Legilimency, and that's the only way you'd be able to learn."

Wren had frozen. "You'd... You'd have to use Legilimency...? On me?"

"It's the only way you can learn to defend yourself from it." Colette frowned. "I mean, I don't think you'd ever need to use it, so it might just be a waste of time. If you don't feel comfortable—"

"No." Wren shook her head. "It's not a waste of time. I have to learn."

I glanced at Albus, who looked a little worried. It was almost as if Wren expected to be ripped away from us again. Maybe she was just paranoid, but this didn't seem like paranoia.

"All right..." Colette stood up, her apparition book under her arm. "If you're sure."

"I am."

~~~~

They started that night, in the Room of Requirement. Albus and I went along, though Colette ordered us to be silent so the two girls could concentrate. Instead of that, Albus and I scooted to a far corner and whispered together.

"Do you think she's all right?" Albus asked as Colette told Wren to try to empty her mind of all emotions.

"I don't know. I hope so." I watched as Colette cast a spell, Legilimens. Wren stumbled a step backwards as the spell hit her, but held her ground. "Why's she so interested in this now?"

"Maybe it didn't just start now," Albus suggested. "Knowing her, she might've been trying to get up the courage to ask about this for weeks."

"Nice job," Colette said, her voice floating to us from across the room. Her eyebrows were raised in surprise. "You might have a proclivity for this, I think."

"That's true," I whispered back to Albus as Colette and Wren tried it again. "But I still don't get why. She knows she's safe..."

"Yeah, but knowing you're safe and feeling safe are probably two different things, wouldn't you say? Anyway, Hogwarts isn't completely safe. Look at you, in a Triwizard Tournament."

I rolled my eyes. "That was Haverna. And we've got an eye on her." She'd returned from wherever she'd gone a few weeks ago, and had been sending and receiving regular owls since then. Whenever I heard students asking if something was wrong, she snapped at them.

"Still. Anyway, school will be out for holiday in a month and a half. Hogwarts is a lot safer than my house. Wren knows that."

I sighed. "By now they'll know she's staying with you, too."

"I don't think anything will happen," Albus said reassuringly.

"I don't either. But I suppose I don't blame Wren for being scared."

"I honestly don't know how she's made it," Albus said, shaking his head. "She's been through so much. She's stronger than she looks."

I frowned, an idea coming to me. "She's never told you what happened during those two years, has she?"

"No, why?"

"Well, I think Colette's seeing it all first hand right now..."

Albus glanced over at them, slowly nodding. "You're right..."

"I just don't feel like we can help her if we don't know what's happened," I said. That was completely true. It might sound like I was just interested in a scary story, but that wasn't it at all. I was worried about my friend, and all this time she'd shut us out. I couldn't blame her for that, really, but that didn't mean I liked it. We didn't know what had happened, so no matter what, we could never be sure we'd helped her or calmed her.

"Wren, you're a natural," Colette said after a while, looking tired and a little puzzled. Albus and I got up and started towards them. "How are you so good at this?"

Wren shrugged. "I don't know."

I put my around her shoulders. "It's almost curfew. Maybe you guys can try again tomorrow, but I don't fancy being out after hours without the Map or the Cloak."

The others nodded agreement, and we walked back towards the common room. I didn't know what to say, and neither did anyone else, apparently. We strode on in silence, Albus and I keeping a close eye on Wren, though there wasn't much point to it. It's not like she was going to break down in the middle of the hallway.

We got back to the common room and found our usual seats in the corner. It was one of the few tables not overtaken by fifth years and their books, parchments, and snacks. It was May; they were counting down the days. On the notice board, someone (probably James) had stuck a giant note reading only 25 DAYS UNTIL WE DIE. It had been changed every day for the past week, slowly ticking down as the fifth years' panic grew. I hardly ever saw Marcus now. He was sitting across the room, studying with Colin, but he looked up briefly. I smiled and waved, and he sent me a tired-looking grin before returning to his work.

"So, Wren, why exactly did you get interested in this now?" Albus asked, pulling me back to our table.

Wren shrugged, but I thought I saw her stiffen slightly. "I told you. I want to be prepared if anything ever happens."

"If you're worried about the holidays," Albus said, "you don't have to be. You'll be safe at our house."

"I'm not worried," Wren said. I frowned at her, but she avoided my gaze.

"Wren, is something wrong?" I asked.

Wren shook her head. "I'm sorry. I'm tired, is all." She yawned and stood up. "I think I'll go get ready for bed."

As soon as she was out of earshot, through the doorway to the girls' dormitories, Albus and I turned to Colette. "How bad were those two years?"

Colette shook her head. "It's not my place to say. But I didn't see that much. Do you know why she's probably going to be good at Occlumency? She's already suppressing a lot of those memories. I've just got to show her how to purposely suppress ones she doesn't want seen."

I glanced at Albus, who looked worried. "She's suppressing memories? Is that bad?"

Colette shrugged. "Her way to cope, maybe? I don't know."

"It doesn't sound good," I said flatly.

"I don't think it's hurting her. Not now, anyway."

"It could in the future?" Albus pressed.

"I don't know," Colette said, growing irritated. "It might. It might not. There's nothing you two can do about it, though."

I sighed. "Sorry."

"We're just worried," Albus explained. "Why does she suddenly feel the need to learn this?"

"I mean, I get all this stuff with her mum's letter and her dad and Haverna running off who knows where has her worried..." I trailed off. Speculating wouldn't get us anywhere. Wren wouldn't tell us until she was ready. Unfortunately, I wasn't talented at patience. It seemed I would have to learn very quickly.

For the next few days, we spent every evening in the Room of Requirement. Albus and I brought our homework and tried to be quiet so Wren could concentrate. According to Colette, she was progressing remarkably fast.

I was the first one to think that maybe we needed to let Mr. Potter know what was going on. He might have be able to put Wren at ease better than we could. Albus agreed, but Wren didn't. "Not until I can do it," she said.

Meanwhile, life went on as usual. Studying for exams had finally started for all the other years. I didn't care so much about that as the next task, since I didn't have to take my exams, but as I didn't know what the next task was, I couldn't prepare for it.

Eris Prince had marked me as a lifelong enemy, which was fine with me. Apparently, she'd been forbidden to take points from me, because whenever we ran into each other, she didn't threaten that. No, instead she just reminded me what a terribly bad family I'd come from, with all the Dark Arts and Death Eaters. She told me I was a stain on the name of wizardry with my muggle mother. I didn't know much about the Princes, but looking them up revealed a long history of purebloods. But Eris couldn't talk. Apparently, her great-aunt had married a muggle.

Of course, whenever she talked about my mother, I always felt the need to hex her. Silently, of course, so she wouldn't have absolute proof it was me. And that nearly always ended with her marching me up to Professor Pouri's office or, on the rare, much more fun occasion, trying to hex me in return.

Nico Jasper had receded into the shadows. Somehow, that seemed worse than having him hanging around Ciara and causing trouble. I didn't necessarily like the idea of him gliding through Hogwarts unnoticed and unsupervised. I felt like there was a lot more trouble he could get up to that way. However, there wasn't much I could do about it. Nico was a weird person.

On the Wednesday, I was called out of Charms about twenty minutes before class was over. Haverna glared at the messenger, a sixth year Hufflepuff, but waved me off. All the Hufflepuff could tell me was that the champions were wanted in the entrance hall. I walked down the marble stairs, watching the three other champions, all grouped around Roger Davies and Mr. Potter. Davies was going on about something or other while Mr. Potter seemed to look around for a distraction.

"Ah, Astra's here," he said quickly, spying me. "Shall we get started?"

"Of course, of course," Davies said, clapping his hands. "All ready? Follow me, then!"

We followed him outside, walking in the direction of the Quidditch pitch. This was about the next task, evidently. We came up on it, and I stopped short. Half of the stands were gone, replaced by meter-high ridges seemingly at random. They stretched on quite a ways, and I could hardly see the forest at the far end of... Whatever this was.

"Well, I'm sure you all know what this is," Davies said. "These hedges should be six or seven meters high by the task next month. The maze will be filled with magical obstacles and beasts you'll have to get past! Fun, right?"

I glanced around at my fellow champions, a little surprised. A maze? Again? Hadn't they had that when Mr. Potter had been a champion?

The other champions didn't look surprised. All three stared grimly into the distance, but all looked as if they'd expected this.

"You don't seem too surprised," I whispered to Faith.

"Of course not." Faith gave me a puzzled look. "Some things are the same almost every time."

"Oh."

The hedges almost seemed to grow in front of my eyes. They weren't really, of course, but I was simply surprised to see hedges there. Right where the Quidditch pitch had been.

"The champion with the most points will enter first," Davies was saying, nodding to Étienne, "then we'll have these two lovely ladies in second," a nod at Faith and me, "and finally, third place." Kirsten glared at him. "Don't worry!" Davies exclaimed, not seeing her glare. "You'll all have an equal chance! It just depends how you get past the obstacles!"

I stared out into the maze, dreading what sort of obstacles they'd come up with. The people who decided to set children down in a horde of dementors were not likely to go easy on the traps and obstacles in their death maze of a third task.

~~~~

"You didn't know it would be a maze?" Colette scoffed.

"I thought everyone knew that," Albus said, frowning in puzzlement.

"I didn't grow up in the wizarding world!" I exclaimed, flinging my hands into the air and dropping down onto a sofa in the common room with a huff.

"Those books, Astra! All those books you read about Triwizard Tournaments? How did you miss the fact that every single third task was a maze?"

"Oh." I felt my face growing red. "I only read the sections about the second task."

"If it makes you feel better, I didn't know either," Wren said, smiling a bit.

"Thanks, but it doesn't." Wren's smile dropped quickly, and I changed my tune. "You're American. You get a pass. You call muggles No-Majs. We can't expect you to know all this stuff."

"Well, you grew up with No-Majs, so you can't be expected to know it, either."

I frowned at Albus and Colette. "I can expect my friends who do know to tell me."

"Sorry!" Albus exclaimed. "I thought you knew!"

"I'd like to know how arguing about this is in any way productive?" Colette asked.

There was silence for a few moments, and Colette nodded. "That's right. It's not. So get over yourself, Astra. You've still got a full month to prepare."

"You're the best at spells in our year," Albus said, grinning. "This should be easy for you."

"Maybe." I really wasn't that worried about the maze, actually. I hardly expected there to be something Mr. Potter hadn't taught me how to handle at some point.

"You might actually win," Albus said quietly after a minute, almost to himself.

I blinked. I'd never even thought about winning. That hadn't ever been my goal. Why would it be? I hadn't even chosen to enter the stupid competition. My primary goal until that point had been staying alive. But now that the idea had entered my brain, I suddenly found myself seriously considering it for the first time. Could I actually win? Really? Somehow, I believed I could.

"You could win," Albus repeated, nodding. "You've got a whole month to prepare. You're just as good as the others, Astra." He grinned. "You've got a shot at this."

~~~~

Question of the Day: Harry, Ginny, Ron, and Hermione are all dying. You can save three or one, but not all four, or even two. Who do you save and why? (Question from ProbablyAwfulAuthor)

Vote and comment!

~Ellie