“That actually explains a lot.” Tracy said as she saw me pour the vial into my drink. “Just a tip, you can drink it straight. It keeps people out of your business.”

“It's not that big of a deal is it?”

“Technically, you're now on the market for marriage proposals.”

“I'm only eleven.”

“It's an archaic law, but it's still in place.”

I placed the empty vial in one of my robe pockets and scanned the room to see if anyone else had noticed.

“You still have to approve everything yourself. It's not like anyone is going to force you into marriage or anything.” She continued.

“Ooo. What's the gossip?” Pansy asked as she joined us.

“Oh, just a certain someone officially being on the market.”

I'm sure I was visually blushing as I stared daggers into my friend.

“Well that explains a few things. Does a certain little redhead need to be told to make a public declaration?”

“Don't go giving her any ideas. Either of you.”

Their only response was a bout of giggles. Before either of them could compose themselves enough to say anything else breakfast materialized in front of us.

“Ooo, pancakes.” I said as I stabbed a few with my fork and moved them to my plate.

“Hey, babe.” A set of arms were draped over my shoulders from behind and a kiss was placed on my head.

“Morning.” I replied. I tried tilting my head back but Susan's weight pressed against my back prevented that. I was soon released though, as Susan took a seat next to me.

“I hope you don't mind me joining you for breakfast.” Susan said to the two Slytherins sitting across from me.

“Not at all.” Tracy said, grinning from behind her mug of pumpkin juice.

“Planning any… announcements we should be aware of?” Pansy asked her, barely able to hold in her laughter.

I was staring daggers at my ‘friends’ but held my tongue.

“Um, no?” Susan said cautiously.

“Shame. I do love a good spectacle.” Tracy stated, barely able to contain herself.

“That's enough out of both of you.” I said.

“Am I missing something?” Susan asked, slight concern showing in her voice.

“Pocket.” Pansy replied, pointing to where I placed the empty vial in my robe.

Susan acted quickly and had retrieved the vial before I could stop her, aided by me having to put down my fork so I wouldn't stab her hand.

Susan just stared at what she was holding for a moment. “Oh. Oh! Proclamation! No! I'm not ready to, not that I haven't thought about it. We're only first years!” Susan was turning bright red and only getting more flustered the more she talked.

I took the vial back from Susan and placed it back in my pocket. “It's okay, Susan. They're only teasing us. I'll get them both back for this later.” I gave her a quick peck on the lips, which helped calm her, and went back to eating my breakfast.

Susan sat quietly for a moment before blurting out “That explains a few things.”

Her statement broke what little resolve of composure was left in my two housemates and released a torrent of giggles.

“Have I really been that bad?”

This got silent nods from all three of them. “Girl, Draco thought you might be possessed yesterday.” Pansy answered.

I felt heat fill me, starting in my cheeks and radiating down to my chest. “I do owe him an apology.”

The hall had been quickly filling and with more people there was no further mention of my new situation. I quickly finished breakfast and was off to the library with Susan before class started to go over our notes.

“Ah, Miss Potter. I need you to stop by my classroom at some point today. The sign up for the dueling championship opened yesterday, and I need a finalized list of participants by the end of the week.” Professor Flitwick said from behind me.

We stopped and turned to him. “I will, Professor. I do not want to miss out on that.”

“I didn't think you would. I also have a list of the charms you'll be helping with. I trust you will be ready for next week.”

“Yes Professor. I'm looking forward to it.”

“I'm expecting a lot from you, you know.”

“I won't let you down, professor.”

“I'm sure you won't. And, of course, I'll be available if you encounter any problems.”

“Thank you. Now if you'll excuse us, we have some prepwork we need to finish before class starts.”

“Certainly, Miss Potter. I wouldn't want to keep you from your studies. Miss Bones.”

We parted ways and I had only made it a few feet when I heard Hermione calling after me. She was in an obvious hurry, bits of parchment sticking out of her bag. She was out of breath by the time she reached me. “I'm glad I saw you before class.” She had to pause to catch her breath. After she composed herself we resumed walking.

“I was up half the night trying to remember where I read the name Nicholas Flamel, and then I remembered a book that I checked out of the library a while ago. I'm still reading through it, but it talks about rare magical artifacts and their creators and current owners.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of copying paper and held it out to me.

Susan took it from her and read aloud. “Nicholas Flamel is the only known maker of the philosopher's stone. The philosopher's stone is a legendary substance that has astonishing powers. It can transform any metal into pure gold and produces the elixir of life, which will make the drinker immortal.”

“How large is this stone?” I asked.

“Um, I'm not sure, but from the look of the pictures, it's small enough to fit in your hand.” Hermione answered.

“But why would it be stored here at Hogwarts?”

“Because Gringotts wasn't safe enough anymore.” Both girls just looked at me silently.

“I don't know if you remember Hermione, I know you will Susan, but very early in the school year that first article Rita Skeeter wrote about me.”

Hermione nodded quietly. “I do remember. You exploded the paper mid air.” Both girls put a hand on my back to show me their support at the same time. I think their hands touched because I suddenly sensed a tension in the air between them.

“Anyways, on the cover of that issue it talked about a break in at Gringotts, at the same vault McGonagall took something out of when she took me to buy my supplies. She just said it was Hogwarts business, but whatever it was was small enough to fit in her hand.”

“So is someone after wealth or immortality?” Susan asked.

“Immortality.” Hermione whispered. “That explains the unicorns.” She stopped walking and it was easy to tell the wheels were turning in her head. “Not immortality. A return to life.” The three of us stood there quietly staring at each other for a moment.

“Bloody hell. Come with me. I need to tell you both something. I held my hands out to each of them and when they had each grabbed a hold of me I led them down a hallway that doesn't get much traffic through it this time of day to an unoccupied and room. I closed the door behind us and locked it.

“Okay. Fuck. This is going to be a lot to take in, but I need you both to trust me and just let me get through everything in one go. And this can NOT be told to anyone else.”

They both nodded. “I mean it. If the wrong people find out it could end our friendship and I don't want to lose either of you.”

“Of course!” Replied Susan.

“Cross my heart.” Said Hermione as she performed the accompanying action.

I was pacing a bit and the girls each took a seat sensing the gravity of what I was about to say. “Okay. I will probably sound crazy, but just listen to the end. Susan, you know this part already, but I've had a recurring dream since like forever about being in the woods with my parents but then I fall and I'm captured by another woman and bound so tight that everything just goes black. In my dream my mum has bright and vibrant violet eyes, and all I know of the other woman are green eyes. Back on Valentine's Day Susan and I accidentally found something called the Mirror of Erised, which shows what we want most in life. I've always wished I could be with my parents and that is what it showed me, but it wasn't James and Lily Potter, and I know that because Mrs. Abbott gave me some pictures of them for Christmas. The woman I saw in the mirror was the woman from my dream, who I found in an old Hogwarts yearbook. Turns out her name is Bellatrix Black, oh and get this, Bellatrix’s sister is Narcissa Malfoy, I found that out while shopping at Twilfitt and Tattings over Easter break.”

Both girls were speechless so far, but Susan's jaw dropped when I mentioned the bit about Narcissa, but I was ranting now and didn't give either of them time to interject. “So anyways, remember when I disappeared all day during the Gryffindor Hufflepuff quidditch match? It's because I got a note left in a yearbook from 1945 marking the picture of the man I saw in the mirror, someone named Tom Riddle and the note said to meet in the astronomy tower during the game, and I did. And I still don't know who it was, but they shared a memory of my mum holding me as a baby and singing to me, and of me summoning a stuffed dragon to myself when I was only a few months old. I think it was my dad. I felt a sense of pride that he had for me.”

I took a few breaths to calm myself for the next part. “And I haven't told either of you the truth about what happened in the forest Monday night. Hell, I haven't told anyone the truth yet. The person that Draco and I saw didn't just knock me over. He held me down and spit something into my mouth. I was struggling, but he whispered something that no one else could know. My name, my real name. Lyra. Later that night when I was talking to Dumbledore, he said there was only one person strong enough to break into Gringotts and powerful enough and desperate enough to kill a unicorn, and that person is Voldemort.”

I stopped pacing and just looked at my friends. After what seemed to me like an eternity of silence Hermione was the first to speak. “Bellatrix Black. You're sure it's Bellatrix? And Voldemort? This isn't good. This is not good.” She was starting to freak out and I didn't blame her.

“Hermione, do you know who Bellatrix Black is? I know I've heard the name before, but I haven't been able to find anything.”

“Me neither.”

“That's because you were looking under the wrong name. She had married by the time she was newsworthy. Her name in the papers was Lestrange.” She waited for a moment before continuing. “She was one of Voldemort’s top Death Eaters. She was the one who tortured Neville’s parents into insanity.” She stood up. “I can't do this right now. I'll keep your secret, but I need to work out what all of this means.”

I collapsed on the floor, stunned by Hermione's response, and about hearing what my mum had done to another of my friend's parents. Susan had chased after Hermione, they were talking, but I was so devastated at the thought of losing one of my best friends that I couldn't hear them.

“Hermione! Hermione, wait.” I grabbed her free hand as she was just about to unlock the door. “Please, talk to me.”

“I can't. I just can't right now. You heard her. She's claiming that both of her parents were the two leading the war for blood purity.”

“But that's not Holly. You know her. You know that even if what she says is true, she's not like that. How many times has she stuck up for you or anyone else? How many times has she kept others in check? Don't abandon her, I'm begging you. I know you like her. And I know she loves you…” I never dared admit that even to myself and now tears were falling down my face.

“Susan, I do like her but you know I would never try stealing her from you, but I just can't deal with this right now. I'm not abandoning her, I need time to process everything she just told us.”

Hermione turned back around and unlocked the door. She paused in the doorway. “Tell her… tell her we'll talk more after class.” The door closed behind her, leaving me alone to pick up the pieces.

‘Why today?’ I thought aloud, but barely at a whisper. I took a deep breath before turning around. She was sitting on the floor in a little ball. “Holly?” She didn't respond. I walked up to her “Holly?” She still didn't respond even when I shook her shoulder.

“Lyra?” She lifted her head, looked at me and smiled.

“Let's keep using Holly for now. At least until I figure out more. Susan? Am I crazy?”

“Okay. And I don't think you're crazy. Currently extra hormonal and emotional right now, but not crazy. I've been taking the potion for a little over a year now. My mum said she was on the verge of sending me to Aunt Amelia's several times. It'll even out after a few months.”

She let out a little laugh, which was good. “Is Hermione mad at me?”

“Of course she isn't, love. She just needs time to process everything. She is muggleborn, you know. And you being you-know-who’s daughter, well… that was a big shock. She said she'll talk after class.”

I grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet. “Speaking of which, we need to get you cleaned up quick or we'll be late.”