When I got up to the common room, it was mostly empty, except for a few older students. I said goodnight to James, then climbed the stairs to the second year girls' dormitory.

"What did he say?" Lacy called almost as soon as I'd walked into the room.

I glanced around the room before answering, partly to see if Colette was there, and partly to see where my bed was. It was in the same position as it had been the previous year, on the floor below. Colette was nowhere to be seen, so I sat down on my trunk and related what happened with the headmaster.

"Wow... He sounds awful..." Iris said, once I'd finished.

Lacy threw herself on her bed. "I hope he gets fired soon, then."

"Why couldn't Professor McGonagall stay?" Rose complained. "She was perfect."

"Yeah, because she thought you were perfect," I teased.

Before Rose could respond, our dormitory's door creaked open and Colette walked in. We all stared at her as she walked over to her bed. Rude, yes, but it matched her behavior at the feast, so I was beyond caring. Anyway, Colette pointedly ignored us as she opened her trunk and pulled out a book.

"What're you reading?" Lacy asked finally, obviously trying to be nice.

"That would be none of you business," Colette said coldly, deigning to send a scathing glare at Lacy.

Lacy only frowned in confusion. "Okay, fine, I was just wondering..."

"Oh, leave her alone," I said, rolling my eyes. "She hates this House and everyone in it. Why on earth would she be interested in talking to us?"

"Exactly," Colette said. Her superior tone was really starting to annoy me. "At Beauxbatons, I never had to socialize with rabble like you."

"Rabble?" Rose asked, a shocked look on her face. "Do you even know who we are?"

"Of course," Colette said, rolling her eyes. "You are Rose Weasley. That is Iris Brown, the one with the strange hair is Lacy Macmill-"

"Her hair is not strange!" Iris said shrilly.

"Of course, my mistake," she said sarcastically. "Anyway, that is Lacy Macmillian. And of course, we cannot forget the celebrity." She turned to me, a mock smile on her face. "Astra Lewis, Gryffindor's hero." Her smile quickly turned into a sneer of disgust. "You are the one I can't stand the most."

"I'm honored," I said blandly.

Lacy gingerly patted her poof of hair. "Believe me, Colette, the feeling is mutual. Isn't it, Astra?"

I frowned at Colette. "Most definitely."

Colette rolled her eyes and climbed into her bed. As she did, I noticed with a jolt that there was now an empty bed. Instead of putting Colette in Wren's old bed, whoever had prepared this room had simply added a sixth bed to the room, leaving Wren's unoccupied. I didn't know why they'd done that, and I wished they hadn't. I was already reminded about Wren all the time just by being here; did they have to throw it in my face?

Not in the mood to talk anymore, I muttered goodnight to my friends and climbed into bed. It had been a long day, and I was only just beginning to realize how tired I was. I fell asleep quickly.

~~~~

The next morning, I awoke to the normal flurry of activity you get from sharing a room with Lacy Macmillian. Her mouth seemed to be in overdrive, and Iris looked like she was comprehending maybe ten percent of what her friend was saying. She stifled a yawn and waved at me from across the room.

Colette was gone already, which I was perfectly fine with. After a few minutes, the four of us who were left walked down to the common room together. I spotted Albus and James almost immediately. It was probably the yelling that drew my attention.

"You said that didn't exist!" Albus yelled. His face was white.

"It doesn't! Relax, Al! I'm just joking!"

"Really, James, you were just being mean," said the girl sitting next to him. My stomach twisted when I recognized Mackenzie Walker. Even the disapproving look she was casting towards James didn't help. I mean, I didn't know why it would. Why did I care if Mackenzie was upset with him? I should have been sad for James's sake. He liked her and all.

Albus scowled at James and trudged over to me. "Morning."

"Morning. Why're you mad at James?"

"Oh... Well... A few days ago, he told me this story about a dragon that lives in the Forbidden Forest, then told me it doesn't exist. Then, he and Fred today were saying it did."

"So...?" Rose asked.

"So I said, 'I thought that didn't exist.' And James told me that he just thought I wasn't brave enough to face it. Then he and Fred started saying how they'd make me come out with them..."

"Oh, Al, you had to know they weren't serious," I said, trying not to laugh. The things those two could fight about would fill the Hogwarts library, and then some.

Albus shrugged. "Oh, well. How's that new girl?" He motioned with his head over to one of the corners. Colette was over there, buried in her book.

"She's a terror," Rose said, shuddering.

"Hope she gets expelled," I said, sighing. "It's going to be a long year."

"Why?" James had walked up behind me, it seemed. He now stood next to me, glancing questioningly between Rose, Albus, and me.

"The new girl, Colette, is the definition of evil," I whispered, glancing over at her to make sure she didn't hear me. She didn't so much as move.

"Oh, come on, she can't be that bad," James said, laughing.

I crossed my arms. "Oh, really? Go talk to her. You'll see."

"Maybe I will," James said, mimicking me by crossing his arms as well.

"Go ahead," I said. "You'll regret it."

James rolled his eyes. "Sure, I will. You just have to introduce yourself the right way."

He walked over to Colette and stuck his hand out amiably. "Hi, I'm James Potter. And you are?"

Colette frowned at his hand disdainfully. "Way out of your league."

I felt my jaw drop.

James didn't skip a beat before replying, "Well, obviously. To get down to your 'league,' I'd have to punch myself in the face with an anchor a couple hundred times, not to mention lose my charm and sense of humor."

A couple snickers burst out throughout the room, and Colette's face grew incredibly red. She glared at him, apparently not able to speak, then turned and stormed off.

After the portrait hole slammed behind her, Lacy and Iris started clapping, and I burst out laughing. Leave it to James to make everything funnier.

The common room was starting to empty as people headed down to the Great Hall. We joined the crowd and wound our way through the castle. Soon, we were all seated at our House tables.

As Professor Potter handed out our schedules, I looked around at the other students. Most of them looked excited, especially the first years.

I noticed Adalyn walk in, and instead of sitting down with the other Slytherins, she walked over to River, down the table from me. Her face was tearstained, and her eyes were red.

I should go see why she's upset.

What? No way. Adalyn was completely insane. There was no way I was going over there and voluntarily talking to her.

But she looked so upset, and she looked up to me so much...

Brain, I hate you.

I quietly stood up and trudged down to where the two girls were sitting.

"Good morning," I said, forcing my brightest smile onto my face. Hopefully it didn't look too fake. "How are you guys?"

Adalyn promptly burst into tears and put her head on the table. River put her arm around her and sighed. "Morning, Astra. Ady, it's okay, all right? Being in Slytherin does not make you evil."

"Yes, it does," was the muffled reply.

I sighed. What had I gotten myself into? Awkwardly, I patted Adalyn's back. "It doesn't... There are good people in Slytherin. Like...Scorpius Malfoy."

"That's it, though," she said. "He's the only one!"

I was about to say You're absolutely right, but River said, "I'm sure that's not true. Who else is there, Astra?"

Who else was there? "The Headboy is a Slytherin," I said. I couldn't think of any besides that. Which was probably sad. If it was sad on my part or Slytherin's, though, I couldn't tell.

Adalyn looked up then, at River. "You know I'm not evil, right?"

"Of course," she said, smiling.

"Yeah, Adalyn, you aren't evil," I said, standing up. The sooner I got away, the better. After all, she wasn't crying anymore. "Anyway...well...I'll go, now..." River smiled gratefully at me, and I walked away as quickly as I could.

Professor Potter handed me my schedule as I walked back to my seat. I opened it as I sat down, skimming it. Charms was our first class that day. Once I'd seen that, I folded the paper up and stuck it in my book-bag.

We ate in relative silence. For the past few weeks, James and I had been working on an ongoing project. We'd been getting a copy of the Daily Prophet, the British wizarding newspaper, and the Magical Herald, the American one. Every day, we'd search the papers front to back for any mention of Wren, or anything that sounded remotely similar. So far, nothing. And today was no better, it seemed.

"Any luck?" James asked, looking up from his newspaper. The headline was something about a scandal on the Brazilian National Quidditch Team. Eric Finnigan was staring at it, and eventually reached over and grabbed the paper from James, who just sighed.

"Nothing," I said, sighing in defeat. "A lot about some escaped convicts in Texas... Nothing interesting, though." I dropped the paper on the table.

"Escaped convicts? Why wouldn't that be interesting?"

I glanced behind me to find out who was speaking and saw Scorpius. He reached over me and took the paper, then squeezed onto the bench between Rose and Luke Castel.

"I didn't know they had wizarding prisons in America," Albus said absentmindedly, stirring his spoon in his oatmeal.

"Of course they do," Rose said, rolling her eyes, which I was beginning to realize was one of her most common gestures. "Did you think the world sent their prisoners all to Azkaban? Of course not. America has five major wizarding prisons."

"Merlin's beard, Rose!" Luke said, a overwhelmed look on his face. "Do you literally know everything?"

Rose blinked. "Well, I don't know everything-"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Luke said, his usual teasing smile on his face. "Have fun with your extensive knowledge of everything ever." He stood up and walked away.

Anyone who didn't know Luke probably would have been confused by his apparent mood swing, from overwhelmed to teasing in half a second. But I was used to it by then. We ate in silence for a few minutes before Scorpius exclaimed, "Listen to this! 'Yesterday, four convicts broke out of Truatin Prison, located near Houston, Texas. They are believed to have headed south, towards the border, and are classified as highly dangerous and armed. Wizards and witches in the area are advised to keep on their guard and lock their doors at night.'"

"All right..." James said slowly. "Really stinks for them in Texas. What's your point?"

"I'm getting to that. Shut up. Anyway, 'are advised to keep on their guard and lock their doors at night. The convicts are all known to be powerful Dark wizards. Truatin Prison reports that the prisoners were Vane and Alistair Hellion, Semias Hart, and Isaac Predatel."

"What?" My mouth dropped open. How had I missed that? Of course, I had stopped paying attention to the article after it said "Houston, Texas," because I knew Wren had lived in Maine.

"There's more, listen. 'The Hellions, Hart, and Predatel were imprisoned for brutally murdering a large family of halfblood wizards on the tenth anniversary of Lord Voldemort's defeat, in 2008. It is unknown still whether they were followers of his of not. Some believe that another wizard was in charge of them, but all four refused to answer questions. Needless to say, the act itself was enough to chill everyone's blood.

"'The murdered family had been holding a family reunion, and the convicts managed to kill 34 of the 37 present. They were apprehended almost immediately, but the terrible act still haunts the memories of witches and wizards in New England.'"

We all sat in a shocked silence for a long time. Why had Wren never mentioned that?

"That's awful..." Rose whispered.

"Do you think Wren knew?" Albus asked.

James took a breath. "We don't know if she did or not. I think, for now, we should just assume she didn't."

"Good idea," I said automatically. If only I could convince myself that.

Scorpius sighed. "It's still so awful. Wren was always so sweet... And her dad did this?"

It's kind of like you with you dad, only worse, I thought, but immediately regretted it. Mr. Malfoy had never killed anyone.

"Does the article mention anything about Wren?" Rose asked suddenly.

Scorpius scanned the rest of it, then shook his head dejectedly. "It only says she exists, and doesn't even give her name. 'Predatel's wife claimed that she and their daughter had no prior knowledge of the incident.'"

"Well, I mean, she was two." Albus said helpfully. "That was ten years ago."

"Perfect," James said, sighing. "What do we know now? Wren was forced into attacking everyone, and her dad is a mass murderer."

"That's more than we knew before," I said, trying my hardest to remain optimistic. It was hard, though. Wren had to have known, right? Could someone really hide that from their child?

Almost everyone had left the Great Hall by then, so we quickly gathered our newspapers up and hurried off to our various classes. I now knew how I'd be spending my free times for the next few weeks. Researching Isaac Predatel.

~~~~

Sorry this is late...

And that it's short...

A few quick announcements!

First, a huge thanks to BenMolseed for editing each of my chapters before I post them! I don't know what I'd do without you!

Second, AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Ok, sorry, here it is in English: my milestone got put in Ambassadors Milestones book! I freaked out when it happened!

Ok, you don't care, sorry!

Anyway, vote and comment!

Love you guys!

~Ellie