After teag Lupin the meditatiohod, Scarlet finally cleared her schedule for this holiday and enjoyed some well-deserved rest. Neville’s ritual would take a long time just to gather the necessary materials, leaving that as her task for the Easter break.

  Bd Harry came over almost daily. Bck had even arranged for a Floo work e to her house, installing a new firepce just for that purpose, which crossed aem off her to-do list.

  Oernoon, as they all rexed in the living room with the TV pying softly in the background, Harry approach Scarlet, who was absorbed in a Muggle sce textbook, and asked curiously, “The day before the professor from a left, you were talking to them for quite a while. Is everything alright?”

  “Of course, why do you ask?” Scarlet replied, raising her eyebrows in surprise.

  “Because,” Ron chimed in, “every time you get to know someone and learn about their problems, you always take them on yourself and start running around trying to fix things. ly the best habit, if you ask me.”

  Scarlet g Harry, who nodded vigorously in agreement.

  “Like Fred and Gee,” Ron tinued, rolling his eyes. “They’re pletely hooked on video games, practically glued to the troller, and now they’re saying they want to make games like that. And what do you say? You’d help them! Just let them figure it out on their own, Scarlet. You’ve already got way too much to deal with.”

  Scarlet chuckled, “Like what?”

  “Your novel, for starters!” Ron gave her a pointed look. “When’s the book ing out? Any ce it’s soon?”

  “No, it’s still in the editing stage,” Scarlet ughed. “I’d say at least two months from my end, and then my editor o review it, get it ready for printing, do the advertising, stock it in the shops...It’ll probably be out around the start of school year.”

  Ron and Harry groaned in disappoi.

  But soon, they sat up straighter, letting the topic drop as they shift to discussing the ese hidden realm. Scarlet expined what was happening there aiohat she’d be having a spar session with them.

  “I’m thinking of scheduling it during the summer holidays after my third year at school,” Scarlet said thoughtfully. “We’ll see how things go.”

  The boys exged puzzled looks. “What’s a spar?” Ron asked.

  “It’s kind of like duelling, but more for practice than petition,” Scarlet expined. “It’s a friendly way to test our limits, like when Gryffindor and Hufflepuff have those unofficial Quidditch matches in the off-season. You spot each other's strengths and weakhen give feedbad help each other improve.”

  “So, it’s like a wizard’s duel?” Ron asked, trying to piece it together.

  “Sort of,” Scarlet shrugged. “Oh, and I got a prophecy from the mighty crow.”

  “What?!” Ron nearly jumped. “A prophecy?”

  “rophecy?” Bd Lupin both turowards her, their faces serious. Before Scarlet could respond, Kyle waved a dismissive hand.

  “Rex, it’s nothing important.”

  Both grown wizards stared at him in shock. “You knew about this?” Lupin asked incredulously.

  “Er...yeah?” Kyle looked fused. “She told me that night after she heard it.”

  “How you be so casual about it?” Bck excimed, his brow furrowed. “Prophecies aren’t a joke, Kyle!”

  “Aren't they?” Kyle replied, still looking puzzled. “It just sounded like advice from a wise elder to me. Scarlet’s smart – she'll do fih or without it.”

  “No, you don’t uand, Kyle,” Lupin interjected, his tone ear. “We have to take prophecies seriously, especially from a reliable Seer; they ge everything. I doubt the crht by the ese professor would just offer random advid call it prophecy – it's not mere ce.”

  “Scarlet’s the magic expert in our house, so she’ll decide what to do with the prophecy.” Kyle raised both hands in mock surrender. “I have no trol over this, and I trust her judgement.”

  Bck, staring at Scarlet, asked, “And Scarlet, you really think that prophecy is just advice?”

  “Well, the crow said I’d meet someone soon, and that being friends with them would help make things smoother for me, that’s all.” Scarlet shrugged. “I’m pretty picky about my friends, so I’ll wait and see if I get along with this person when I meet them. But I get it, prophecies be heavy. For now, let’s just rex - there’s nothing I do about it right now.”

  Lupin houghtfully. “It does sound pretty straightforward.”

  Bck, still frowning, didn’t seem entirely vinced but remained quiet. He knew Scarlet well enough to trust she had her own tricks up her sleeve – hidden well enough that not even he or Remus could figure them out. “Fine, but we’ll be keeping an eye on this. Prophecies don’t just disappear.”

  Everybody enjoyed a wonderful New Year, and soon it was time for school to start again. Students boarded the Hogwarts Express, reuniting with friends after the holiday break.

  “Look! You’re wearing the same sweater as the Weasleys!” Maya excimed with a giggle when she found Scarlet in the partment. “You could practically pass as one of them!”

  “I know,” Scarlet said, flipping her hair pyfully. “Maybe I’m their long-lost sister, sharing some a aor from a thousand years ago. Haha!”

  “So, Harry would be the adopted ohen?” Amelia pointed out, notig Harry wearing the same Weasley-branded sweater. Harry shrugged, “I don’t mind.”

  “Why didn’t I get one?” Hermione asked, gring at Ron, who gave an exaggerated pout and replied, “We werely on good terms until a few weeks ago, so maybe my mum didn’t knoere friends yet?”

  Hermione rolled her eyes and muttered, “What I say? Boys!”

  After the long journey back to Hogwarts, everyohered for dinner in the Great Hall. Professor Sprout warmly weled the Hufflepuffs back before the students settled down. Suddenly, a loud murmur arose from the Gryffindor table, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “What’s going on?” Maya asked, curious.

  Amelia dashed off to iigate aurned shortly after. “There’s a raudent in Gryffindor. Professonagall is introdug her – she’s from America.”

  “A traudent? Midterm?” Maya frowned, cutting into her steak. “Why didn’t she e at the start of term iember? It’d be hard to fit in halfway through.”

  “I knht?” Amelia agreed. “And she seems...a little odd. I don’t know, it’s hard to expin. I’ll find out more a you know.”

  “Thanks,” Maya said with a shrug. “Though, I don’t think I o know much. What do you think, Scarlet?”

  “It’s always good to have a bit of information about someone,” Scarlet replied, gng over at the girl Amelia pointed out. She was sitting with the third years, so they weren’t likely to cross paths unless it was iional.

  So, this is the one I’m supposed to befriend? A fn star like me? Scarlet thought to herself, taking a bite of her meal. It might take a while to get to know her, especially since she’s not in my year...

  Scarlet’s daily life finally settled into a routine. She had a nicely anized schedule bang physical practice, csses, homework, novel writing, business ma, and news updates from her hired assistants and William. Life felt more rexed now that she had postponed her Muggle textbook studies until the summer holidays – she wasn’t starting from scratch, after all, having already found some useful shortcuts.

  In trast to her quiet and productive life, there were quite a few rumours buzzing around sost of them about the raudent in Gryffindor.

  “Her at is so funny!” Maya said excitedly one day while the three of them were in the dorm. “It’s a bit different from what I’ve heard in Ameri movies and TV shows.”

  “It sounds too...” Amelia struggled for the right word, frowning, “...bubblegummy? Is that even a real term? Whatever it is, she sounds like her brain is just there for decoration. Her homework’s a total disaster!”

  Scarlet raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that? Did you see her homework?”

  “I caught a glimpse when I passed by her table in the library,” Amelia said with a dramatic wave of her hand. “She’s really struggling with every single subject. I heard even Snape has shifted his sneering from Harry to her if they’re both in front of him.”

  Maya’s eyes widened, “That’s why she was g the other day!”

  “What?” Scarlet and Amelia turo her, curious.

  “You know, my book club always look for quiet pces to exge books and talk about what we’re reading. Oime, we met up he Astronomy Tower and heard someone g. We followed the sound and found her curled up in a bush under a tree.”

  “Is she being bullied?” Scarlet frowned.

  “If you t Snape’s sneering as bullying, then yes,” Maya replied, rolling her eyes, obviously disliking the Potions professor. “He’s beera harsh with her. Her Potions paper was crumbled in her hand, pletely covered in red marks. She was muttering something through her tears.”

  “Muttering curses at Snape? How dare she!” Amelia excimed, though she looked more thrilled than appalled.

  “No, it was more like, ‘this isn’t what I was expeg,’ if I remember right,” Maya said with a shrug, “Her words were a mess because she was g so hard. I’ve seen some of the Slytherins sneering at her too. Fred and Gee prahem ialiation, and it turned into a chase. They all got an hour’s detention with Filch.”

  “Sounds like she had high hopes for transferring to Hogwarts,” Amelia ented. “I mean, our professors are good...except for Snape, obviously.”

  Maya turo Scarlet. “Speaking of which, I’ve never heard you pin about him.”

  Amelia gred at Scarlet suspiciously. “Don’t tell me you actually like that gloomy bat.”

  “I don’t like him, but I don’t dislike him either,” Scarlet replied with a shrug. “My father’s Asian, and in case you didn’t know, Asian parents love strict teachers. They believe that great students e from strict teachers. Professor Ss their idea of a perfect teacher. If we were living in aimes, my dad would probably beg to have me under Professor Snape. And as for Quirrell, he’d be the first ohey’d ditch, seeing as he didn’t teach us anything useful.”

  Maya and Amelia both shuddered. “Thank Merlin we don’t live in aimes,” Maya muttered.

  Qiya