‘Hop on!’
Secret grinned and hopped on the front of Fred’s trolley as he pushed it towards the wall. Breaking into a run, Secret shut her eyes as she felt herself pass, and then the billowing of a train hit her full force in the face. Opening her eyes, she grinned as she was met with the familiar scarlet train that was the Hogwarts express.
‘Have you seen Ron and Harry?’ asked Hermione, appearing at her side.
She shook her head. Hopping off the trolley, George immediately grabbed her and the twins frogmarched her off to their carriage.
‘So, what was all that with Percy?’ asked Fred.
‘What?’ asked Secret, acting utterly perplexed.
‘Aw c’mon! It’s so obvious that you like him!’ said George.
‘And how much he likes you.’ Added Fred.
‘It is?’ she blurted.
They started laughing.
‘No, but it is now!’ chuckled Fred.
Secret blushed; she was redder than her hair.
‘Damn it. I don’t believe I fell for that.’ She muttered.
‘Neither do we!’ laughed George.
It was at this point the door opened.
‘Have any of you three seen Ron or Harry?’ asked Hermione.
They all shook their heads. Hermione bit her lip, and withdrew her head.
‘They’ll turn up somewhere.’ Said Fred confidently.
Secret leaned back, and looked out the window. Then, something caught her eye.
She blinked, rubbed them, and looked again.
No…
A blue flying Ford Angelia had suddenly dipped below the clouds, before rising above them.
Oh my god, they hadn’t… Oh who was she kidding, this was Harry and Ron they were on about!

Upon entering the station, Secret looked at the twins.
‘So, how d’you get to the castle if you don’t take the boats?’ she asked.
‘Carriages.’ Was the reply.
They lead her off, and as she looked, she gasped.
Pulling the carriage was a beautiful, yet eerie looking horse. It’s wings were folded on it’s back, and as she approached it, it sniffed the air around her. She gently placed a hand on it’s head, and it allowed her to pet it.
‘Secret, what on earth are you doing?’
She looked at the twins. ‘Can’t you see it?’
They both shook their heads.
‘I can.’
She turned to see a boy with shoulder-length black hair, and two piercing, emerald green eyes.
‘I’m Raven.’ He said, holding his hand out.
She gently took it, noting the Prefect badge on his chest, on which a silver serpent gleamed.
‘You’re Secret, aren’t you?’ he asked, shaking it.
She nodded.
‘You want to come in my carriage?’
Before she got chance to respond, she was pulled off. She caught Percy looking at their entwined hands, and then he shot Raven a look of pure venom.
By this point, he was helping her into the carriage. She looked and saw three other boys.
‘Who is this Raven?’ asked one with short spiky black hair, streaked with red and hazel eyes.
‘This is Secret.’ Said Raven. ‘That’s Jeremy…’
‘It’s J!’
‘… Who prefers to be called just “J”.’
‘So would you, if your mother had called you Jeremy.’ Muttered J.
‘This is Kieran.’ The tall, well-built boy with extremely long black hair and brown eyes raised a hand, with a smile.
‘And this is Scar.’ The boy nodded, with a smile. His hair was in a mullet, and his eyes were a set of piercing blue, with a scar over his right one.
She nodded, and then turned to Raven. ‘So, how come you could see the horses and Fred and George couldn’t?’
‘Because they were Thestrals. You can only see them if you’ve seen death.’ Said Raven simply.
‘Oh…’
‘Can she see them too?’ asked J.
Raven nodded, and asked ‘Who did you see die?’
‘My mum. Misfired curse in a duel.’ Said Secret.
That wasn’t true. When she was about 9, she had seen death at the hands of Lucius. She wasn’t meant to, but she had been curious as to what went on in that room. Lucius or Snape didn’t know. She could never tell anyone.
The carriage eventually stopped and Raven helped her out. They walked into the hall.
‘I gotta go to my table.’ Secret said,
‘I’ll walk you over.’ Said Raven.
He walked her over, and then, kissed her hand. He walked off, leaving her there, very confused.
What just happened?

Next morning, Secret was sitting at the breakfast table.
‘How on earth do you read that stuff?’ she asked Hermione, wrinkling her nose at Hermione’s copy of Voyages with Vampires. ‘Honestly, I think they’re a load of twaddle.’
Hermione was about to open her mouth to answer, when the owls came flooding in. She saw Andy fly in, and land on the table with a package. He nuzzled her cheek with his head, and took off again.
‘What did you get?’ asked Hermione.
‘Chocoballs.’ Said Secret, unwrapping the package. ‘And some Sugar Quills and Dungbombs.’
something large and gray suddenly fell into Hermione's jug, spraying them all with milk and feathers.
‘Errol!’ said Ron, pulling the bedraggled owl out by the feet. Errol slumped, unconscious, onto the table, his legs in the air and a damp red envelope in his beak.
‘Oh, no –…’ Ron gasped.
‘It's all right, he's still alive,’ said Hermione, prodding Errol gently with the tip of her finger.
‘It's not that - it's that.’
Ron was pointing at the red envelope. Secret’s eyes widened.
‘Oh dear.’ She said.
‘What's the matter?’ said Harry.
‘She's - she's sent me a Howler,’ said Ron faintly.
‘You'd better open it, Ron,’ said Neville in a timid whisper. ‘It'll be worse if you don't My gran sent me one once, and I ignored it and’ - he gulped – ‘it was horrible.’
‘I’ve had one off an old lady down the road, because I accidentally turned her cat blue.’ Said Secret, shuddering at the thought. ‘I’d open it if I were you.’
‘What's a Howler?’ Harry said.
But Ron's whole attention was fixed on the letter, which had begun to smoke at the corners.
‘Open it,’ Neville urged. ‘It'll all be over in a few minutes –…’
Ron stretched out a shaking hand, eased the envelope from Errol's beak, and slit it open. Neville stuffed his fingers in his ears and Secret clapped her hands over her ears. A roar of sound suddenly filled the huge hall, shaking dust from the ceiling.
‘STEALING THE CAR, I WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SURPRISED IF THEY'D EXPELLED YOU, YOU WAIT TILL I GET HOLD OF YOU, I DON'T SUPPOSE YOU STOPPED TO THINK WHAT YOUR FATHER AND I WENT THROUGH WHEN WE SAW IT WAS GONE –…’
Mrs. Weasley’s yells, a hundred times louder than usual, made the plates and spoons rattle on the table, and echoed deafeningly off the stonewalls. People throughout the hall were swiveling around to see who had received the Howler, and Ron sank so low in his chair that only his crimson forehead could be seen.
‘- LETTER FROM DUMBLEDORE LAST NIGHT, I THOUGHT YOUR FATHER WOULD DIE OF SHAME, WE DIDN'T BRING YOU UP TO BEHAVE LIKE THIS, YOU AND HARRY COULD BOTH HAVE DIED –…’
Secret winced, feeling sorry for Harry.
‘-ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTED - YOUR FATHER'S FACING AN INQUIRY AT WORK, IT'S ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT AND IF YOU PUT ANOTHER TOE OUT OF LINE WE'LL BRING YOU STRAIGHT BACK HOME!’
A ringing silence fell. The red envelope, which had dropped from Ron's hand, burst into flames and curled into ashes. Secret removed her hands and breathed out.
‘Geez, sorry guys.’ She said.

After Herbology, Secret said goodbye to the trio and headed up to Dumbledore’s office. Once inside, she sat in front of his desk, and pulled the heavy, gilded book out her bag. She placed it on his desk, turned to a well-worn page and leaned over it, reading it. She had brought this book when she was ten, and to this day, was still studying a very complex, expert branch of magic contained in the pages.
She straightened up, closed her eyes, and began to mumble a long string of ancient powerful words while waving her wand in a complicated manner.
Suddenly, a warm gust of air wound round her, lifting her off her feet. She spun in the air, feeling warm inside.
She landed, and opened her eyes, looking in the majestic mirror. A small brown falcon was perched on the desk. What was different however, was instead of the brown eyes, it had grey ones. She gave a low cry.
‘Quite amazing Miss Snape.’ She spun to see Dumbledore. She changed back.
‘How on earth…’ she began.
‘I was watching.’ Dumbledore finished her sentence off as though reading her mind. ‘For exactly how long have you been working on this?’
‘Since I was about ten. I was watching a bat fly back to my house, and it changed into my Daddy on the front door step. I thought, “I wanna do that”. So I went to the shop the next day and asked them what it was, and they gave me this book. I’ve been studying I ever since’
‘Does your father know?’
‘No. I reckoned he would try and stop me. So I haven’t told him.’
It was at this point Snape walked in.
‘Flying Saucers.’ She muttered.
‘Secret Snape..’ began Snape.
‘Oh my, I do feel peckish. I think I shall go and find a custard tart.’ Said Dumbledore.
He left and Secret looked up at Snape.
‘What on earth are you doing hanging around with Raven Lister and his group? They are much older than you!’ said Snape, arms folded.
‘So?’ she snapped. God, he was so overprotective.
‘I don’t want you getting hurt!’
‘Somehow I doubt either Raven, J, Kieran or Scar is going to hurt me.’ Said Secret.
‘You don’t know that!’
‘Well I’m willing to take that risk.’
‘Miss Snape, do not make me….’
‘Oh, it’s Miss Snape now is it? Well I am very sorry Professor. I shall be off now.’ With that, she stuffed the book in her bag, slung her bag on her back and left in a temper. Walking down, she bumped into J.
‘Hey Secret!’ he said, smiling. ‘What you doing? Shouldn’t you be in lessons?’
‘Stormed out.’ She muttered.
‘Tut tut.’ He shook his head, smiling still. ‘C’mon, let’s go find the others.’
He took her hand and led her to an abandoned classroom.
‘Guys? I got Secret!’
He pushed the door open.
‘Heya Secret!’ said Scar, looking up and smiling.
‘How are you?’ asked Kieran from where he was tapping a Muggle speaker set with his wand.
‘Fine. Exactly what are you doing Kieran?’ she asked.
‘Trying to get this blasted thing to work.’
He gave it a hard whack with his wand and suddenly “We Stitch These Wounds” started blaring out.
‘There we go!’ said Raven. He looked at Secret.
‘Fancy an air guitar competition?’
‘You’re on!’