<The two dash down the hall in a whirlwind, leaving some students and teachers in their dust. They finally make their way to the Potions Dungeon on one of the basement floors of the castle. Potions is generally one of the least popular classes in Hogwarts, mainly because of the man who teaches it. Professor Severus Snape, who also happens to be head of Slytherin House, Nicole‘s house. Snape is known for his greasy black hair, hook nose, sallow skin, and uneven, filthy teeth. He is an unpleasant man who shows favoritism towards the students of his house, and has an absolute disdain for a certain fifth year with glasses and a scar on his forehead. But this is not that student‘s story. Moving on, Nicole and Gold has both made it to the dark classroom, where Snape is standing in front of the class and is looking very annoyed>

Snape:
It took you two long enough.

Gold <winded>:
Sorry, Professor-

Snape:
Save it. Fifty points from Gryffindor for holding up my lesson and having to make Miss Laurette leave to get you.

<The Gryffindor students all groan>

Gold:
But-!

Snape:
Please take your seats so we can finally start. Any questions?

Gold:
No Professor Snape.

Snape:
Good. Oh, and Miss Laurette?

Nicole:
Yes Professor Snape?

Snape:
Must I keep reminding you about that hair of yours?

Nicole:
Oh? And what about my hair?

Snape:
This a Potions classroom. With hair that long you are prone to cause an accident. If you aren’t going to cut it, at least don’t let fly around like that.

(Here we go, Snape’s hair lecture)

Nicole:
The rules state that there is nothing wrong with my hair or the way I wear it.

Gold:
Didn’t the Headmaster already explain that Nicole’s hair hasn’t exceeded the limit? So technically, she hasn’t broken any rules.

Snape:
I don’t recall asking your opinion, Miss Shawson. Another ten points.

Nicole:
Oh but, Professor Snape, with hair as lovely as mine, it’s only natural I’d want to take care of it and let it flow freely, so it doesn’t look like, you know, something that dripped out of a dog’s rear end like someone we know.

Snape:
Detention, Miss Laurette! Is there something you want to add, Miss Shawson.

Gold:
Yes, actually.

Later in Detention

Gold:
Did you have to make fun of Professor Snape’s hair like that, Nicky?

Nicole:
You’re the one who made that comment about his mother being a, what was it again?

Gold:
A dried-out mattress.

Nicole:
Good one. But you know, you didn’t have to get detention with me. Cleaning potion vials isn’t as bad as he makes it out to be.

Gold:
Don’t be ridiculous. Don’t you remember? We swore that if one of us ever gets in trouble, the other would do something just as bad so we could serve the punishment together. Isn’t that what best friends are for?

Nicole:
But you already got in trouble for sleeping in. This is a little like overkill, don’t you think?

Gold:
If you don’t mind, I don’t mind.

Nicole:
Gold Shawson, you are something else.

(Hi everyone. My name is Gold Shawson. I’m fourteen, British, and I’m a witch. The pale girl next to me, with the long white hair and blue eyes, is Nicole de Laurette, my best friend. We both attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and we’re both in the same year. I’m a Gryffindor girl, and Nicole lives in Slytherin house. We weren’t always best friends, though. My first year, Nicole and her former posse of Slytherins enjoyed making me miserable just because I was born to muggle parents. To those of you who don’t know, a muggle is the term for people who can’t perform magic. That year was especially brutal, because students with muggle parents were getting attacked by some giant snake that was moving through the school plumbing. Gross! Anyway, Nicole is a member of a British/French pureblood, that means all-wizarding, family called the de Laurettes. Slytherin is famous for being made up of pureblood families. But at the start of my second year, Nicole changed. I don’t know how, but suddenly she stopped teasing me and started protecting me from her former gang. When I asked what brought on this change, she told me a story)

Flashback

<Gold is being bullied by three Slytherin girls, one of whom is levitating her bookbag in the air and causing the contents to spill out>

Gold:
Stop it! Please!

Girl:
Oh look, the mudblood is gonna cry!

Nicole:
Hey!

<Nicole walks up the girl who’s levitating the bookbag and slaps her. She then starts to pick up the items that spilled on the floor and is putting them back in the bag>

Nicole:
Here are your things. I’m sorry.

Girl:
What are you doing with that mudblood, Nicole?

Nicole:
As of this moment our friendship is done. You parasites go find someone else to cling to.

<The three girls walk off, shocked that their leaders has abandoned them>

Gold:
Why did you help me?

Nicole:
Gold, have you ever heard the story of the Frog and the Snake?

Gold:
No.

Nicole:
It’s an African fable. At least I think it is. Anyway, there was once a young Frog, and one day, he met up with a young Snake. The two started to play together and they became fast friends. When they went home after playing, they told their parents about the new friends they made. The Frog’s mother was shocked, and told her son that snakes are supposed to eat frogs, not be friends with them. The Snake’s mother was shocked as well, and told him that frogs are actually food for snakes. The next day, the Snake visited the Frog’s home, and told him to come out so they could play a new game he invented. But the Frog knew that Snake was really going to eat him, and he refused. To this day, frogs and snakes don’t play with each other, because they are supposed to be mortal enemies. All because of what their parents told them to do. But…

Gold:
But?

Nicole:
But I don’t think children should have to make the same mistakes their parents made. This summer opened my eyes to that. I’d like to be friends with you, to say I’m sorry for the misery they, I caused you last year.

Gold:
I think I’d like to be friends with you too.

(We started to become best friends after that. We vowed that we would always be there for one another People are always so amazed at the fact that Nicole and I are friends, and not just because of our houses. As I said before, Nicole is pale with long, straight white hair, and her eyes are blue, like looking into a pool of water on a sunny day, whereas I have dark skin, which Nicole usually tells me is the same shade as chocolate, and wavy black hair and gold colored eyes. I love the day, while Nicole is more nocturnal. I like dogs, she likes cats. I like sunflowers, she likes lilies. My favorite color is yellow, hers are navy, purple, and black. Despite our small differences, we still care for each other more then anyone can tell. But despite that, she still won‘t tell me what happened that summer before our second year)

The Great Hall, Lunchtime, The Next Day

<It was cold, sunny day. In the Great Hall, the ceiling reflected the autumnal sky which hinted that winter would be on it’s way. Halloween had passed, and November had started. December was almost near. Gold is sitting down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall when the owls come flying in with the mail. A small, grey owl drops off Gold‘s mail>

Gold:
Thank you.

<Among the mail she has received, a subscription to the Quibbler and an American music magazine which was for Nicole, some junk mail, and a letter attached to a red tin container. Gold sets everything down and takes out the Quibbler. After hearing about the slander that the Daily Prophet was spreading, Gold cancelled her subscription and switched to the Quibbler. It was a little far-out, but entertaining to read nonetheless, and the daughter of the editor was in the same year at school as she was, although they weren‘t in the same house>

Gold <reading aloud>:
Let’s see. In recent news, the Ministry of Magic has yet to confirm if the recent sightings of creatures of as-of-yet unknown species are in fact connected to the recent breakout that was engineered at Azkaban Prison. Amongst the escapees were known Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange, her husband Rudolphous and brother-in-law Rabastan, who helped participate in the torture of well-known aurors Frank Longbottom and his wife Alice. The creatures in question have been appearing in all parts of Europe. They are humanoid in appearance, and there is some possibility that they are responsible for the disappearances of some muggles, wizards, and squibs in the areas where they have appeared. While we at the Quibbler have not been able to obtain a picture of these creatures, a collection of snapshots were sent in by a muggle news crew from international news station SKU News under special pardon from the Minister of Magic. The specific details of this pardon have not been fully investigated, but we at the Quibbler are doing all we can to find the truth. Where did these creatures come from? Have they always been here? Did someone create them, and for what purpose? Whether or not these creatures pose a threat to the wizarding community, they must be left to their own habitat so we learn more about them. If any of you readers know anything at all, please contact the Quibbler with information, We now show you the photographs (none-moving of course), as they were taken by the brave reporters who’ve requested to be named A-Ko, B-Ko, C-Ko, E-Ko, and F-Ko.

<Gold turned the page to get a look at the photos. The minute she did she started to laugh at how hilarious they were. The creatures in the pictures were indeed humanoid, but they looked so ridiculous. There skin color varied and they carried around large objects and wore skimpy suits. The five reporters in question were either being attacked or defending themselves. For some reason, the girls had obscured faces, making it difficult to make out their features except for their hair.  Gold couldn’t tell who was who, but in one picture a tall, lanky creature with orange skin and begonias sticking out of it’s chest was swinging around a girl by her pigtails, trying to bludgeon a girl with lightning bolts in her hair while the other three were in the corner praying. In the next, a creature that was definitely female, with indigo skin, wild hair, and had a giant cat attached to her back, was being held back by the five girls, this time because a girl who had her hair pinned up, was holding a rabid dog to the female creature. The other four were hiding behind the one holding the dog. The next one had a shiny-looking one chasing after the five as they rode off on a bicycle with five seats. The one after that showed the four putting up a fight to a green one in a leotard. A girl in a ponytail had the thing in a headlock, and a girl with an antennae in her hair was about to slam it with her elbow as she jumped from a fence. But the final one was the funniest out of all of them. This creature, yellow and purple with a mop haircut, was singing with the five as they played instruments like they were in a band. It reminded her of a video she once saw of the Beatles.  Gold put the Quibbler down as she started to calm down and tossed away the junk mail. She placed the music magazine in her bookbag to give to Nicole later. Gold took the letter that was taped to the top of the red tin. She recognized the handwriting on the front> 

(A letter from Aunt Lucy?)

<Gold tore the top of the envelope and pulled out the letter, written in blue ink with a ballpoint pen. Like her parents, Gold‘s aunt was also a Muggle. But she was more…understanding about her abilities than her parents were. She was a woman of nice features in her late twenties who worked in a bakery. Before living with her, Gold had spent a year with her Grandma, before she succumbed to Alzheimer‘s Disease and was placed in a nursing home. Gold always felt a little guilty of having to live with her aunt, because she was still young and really wasn‘t sure if she was cut out to be looking after a child, even if she spent nine months away at school not counting breaks>

Letter:
Dear Goldie,
how are things at school? Been keeping out of trouble and getting good grades? I hope so. Things have been pretty much the same at home since you left. Gran’s been making some progress over at the home, but she’s still forgetting things a lot quicker. One minute she thinks it’s the 60s, the next it’s the 40s. The doctors are worried. Besides that, I sent a care package from the bakery, and I wanted to know if I should expect you home for the holidays or not. I didn’t have anything planned except to visit the relatives and this party with some of the guys from work. Lemme know in your next letter what you want to do. Say hi to your friend for me.
Love, Aunt Lucy

<Gold set the letter down for a minute>

(That’s right, the holidays are coming up. Aunt Lucy has to work extra hard to help the family pay for Gran in the hospital. She probably has her heart set on this party)

<She took the tin and popped it open. Inside were sweet potato turnovers, her favorite treat> 

(Aunt Lucy, you’re too good to me)

Gold:
I wonder what Nicole got in the mail.

<Gold stood up at the table to try and see over at Slytherin Table. Nicole had a letter in her hands, but the minute she finished reading it she crumbled it in her hands. She is visibly distressed at whatever this letter said. Gold was worried. It took a lot to make Nicole upset if it wasn‘t someone bothering Gold. Later, as classes ended, Gold and Nicole decided to spend some of their afternoon in the courtyard and talk>

Gold:
Get anything interesting in the mail?

Nicole:
The mail? No, nothing.

(Why is she lying?)

Gold:
I got a letter from my aunt.

Nicole:
How is she?

Gold:
She’s doing fine. Told me about Gran and wanted to know what I’m going to do for the break. She asked if I wanted to come home for Christmas. Oh, she also said to say “hi”.

Nicole:
That was nice of her.

Gold:
Well, here you go.

<Gold takes out the music magazine>

Nicole:
Thanks. I need this for Muggle Studies class. We better get ready though, we still have detention tonight, homework, then we have to get ready for Astronomy tonight.

Gold:
Why can’t we have Astronomy classes during the day?

Nicole:
Huh? Because then we couldn’t be able to see the stars, of course. They wouldn’t be there during the day. Look.

<Nicole points up the blue sky>

Nicole:
Nothing but sky.

Gold:
But just because someone can’t see them, that doesn’t mean they’re gone. They’re still up there, in space. The sun just hides them, because…

Nicole:
Because?

Gold:
…because.

Nicole:
What brought that on?

Gold:
Oh don’t mind me, I’m just rambling.

Nicole:
Not like you to space out like that. Kinda odd, you almost sounded like Professor Trelawney.

Gold:
No way! I do not sound like that faker!

Nicole:
You did a minute ago. You gonna start wearing faux jewelry and running around screaming about killer dogs, Goldie?

Gold:
Nicky you’re awful!

Midnight at the Astronomy Tower

<There are no clouds in the sky, showing a full moon hanging above with the millions of stars. The moonlight casts an eerie shadow over some of the dead trees in the courtyard>

Sinistra:
Alright, class, for tonight’s lesson, I want you to…

Nicole <whispering>:
Hey, Gold.

Gold <whispering>:
What?

Nicole <whispering>:
Look at the moon.

<Gold lifts her head up to look at the moon hanging in the night sky>

Nicole <whispering>:
It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

Gold <whispering>:
Yeah, it is.

Nicole:
That reminds me, Professor Sinistra?

Sinistra:
Yes, Nicole?

Nicole:
I know this might sound silly, but what do you think of the possibility of a tenth planet?

Sinistra:
A…what?

Nicole:
A tenth planet, one beyond even Pluto.

(And she called me spacey)

Sinistra:
Well, some Muggle scientists have hypothesized about a tenth planet and have started searching for one using their technology. So far, nothing.

Nicole <peeved>:
What if they aren’t looking on the right frequency?

Sinistra:
The what?

Nicole:
Did I just say that out loud?

Gold:
Shout a little louder, I don’t think the penguins in the North Pole heard you.

Sinistra:
I don’t know what to tell you, Nicole. A tenth planet beyond Pluto, well it would have to be a very cold and desolate place. What did you mean by the right frequency?

Nicole:
I’m just saying, what if they aren’t using the right technology.

Sinistra:
That’s just something you’ll have to bring up during your next class with Professor Burbage. But ten points to Slytherin for a rather interesting question. Now then, everyone start to record on your charts these stars here, around Mars. Locate the position of the moons, Phobos and Deimos, and…

<As Professor Sinistra goes on, Gold and Nicole discuss Nicole’s hypothesis of a tenth planet>

Gold:
Where did you come up with that, Nicky?

Nicole:
Earlier when you were talking about the stars, it made me remember something from when I was a little girl. I once borrowed a book about the planets and I wondered why there was never a tenth planet. Mother used to tell me that Muggles could never find a tenth planet, even if it did exist, with their “inferior ecletrical machines and radios”.

Gold:
She really said “ecletrical”?

Nicole:
She was half-drunk when she told me. But, over time, I forgot I even mentioned a tenth planet. After I took up Muggle Studies, I started looking over books on telescopes and astronomy, and I figured they weren’t looking on the right frequency for it. But, it’s just an idea.

Gold:
Nicky I am so proud of you!

Nicole:
Huh?

Gold:
That’s the first time I’ve ever seen you so interested in school work before. I must be getting through to you.

Nicole:
And what makes you think you had anything to do with it?

Gold:
Who convinced you to take up Muggle Studies instead of Ancient Runes?

Nicole:
…you did.

Gold:
Thank you, I’ll be prepared to take my bow.

Nicole:
Shut up and get to work on your charts, before she deducts some house points.

(Astronomy is actually my favorite class. I get some of the best grades out of everyone in my year, besides Nicole, I mean. I love looking up at the sun and the stars. For some reason, looking at the stars makes us both feel whole, in a way. Like the moon. It doesn’t really serve a purpose, and it’s not something you normally think about, but you look at it from time to time and it makes you feel happy. I guess that’s because we both feel like such outcasts in this world. My parents abandoned me because I could do magic, Nicole abandoning everything her parents taught her. What is it about this world that makes me feel so out of place? All I want is to just be accepted by this world, to be just a witch like I was born. Does Nicole feel the same way that I do, do she want acceptance. I hear her speak differently, but is that how she really feels? I don’t have the heart to ask her. It’d be like jamming a sword through this friendship)

Gold:
Say, Nicky?

Nicole:
Yeah?

Gold:
What are you doing for the Christmas break?

Nicole:
The Christmas break?

Gold:
Do you have any plans, or are you staying at the castle like you did last year?

Nicole:
I…I’m…

Gold:
Is something wrong?

Nicole:
I’m going to France for the break. My, my mother told me I had to come home this Christmas.

Gold:
Oh, that’s too bad. I’m going to be lonely.

Nicole:
But your aunt invited you to spend the holiday with her. Why aren’t you going?

Gold:
Because I figure she invited me out of duty.

Nicole:
Duty?

Gold:
She’s still young. She doesn’t need me hanging around her when she can be spending the holidays with her friends. It’d be nice to see her, but they’ll be more breaks after this one.

Nicole:
Oh.

Gold:
Hey, maybe I can come with you for the holidays.

Nicole:
Absolutely not! That is out of the question!

<The other students turn to Gold and Nicole>

Sinistra:
Girls, there a problem?

Gold:
No, professor Sinistra. Nicole just saw a bug.

<Some of the other students snicker>

Sinistra:
Well, don’t disturb the other students.

Nicole:
Yes, Professor.

<The students go on with their work>

Gold:
You didn’t have to yell. I figured you’d want someone to talk to if it meant you’d be spending two weeks with your mother.

Nicole:
I couldn’t ask you to spend two minutes with that monster.

Gold:
I wouldn’t be spending it with her. I’d be spending it with you.

Nicole:
No.

Gold:
Please?

Nicole:
I said-

<Nicole stops short when she sees Gold staring at her with big puppy dog eyes>

Nicole:
You can’t, I won’t, fine! But I apologize in advance for anything that mother tries to pull while you‘re there.

The Laurette Mansion, a Few Days Later

Maid:
Excuse me, madam?

Lillian de Laurette:
What is it? I have a headache so make it fast.

Maid:
This just came for you.

<The maid hands Lillian a letter. In her early forties, Lillian de Laurette is mistress of the Laurette Mansion. Formerly Lillian Greengrass, she married Marcel de Laurette in her early twenties, then separated some time after giving birth to Nicole. But never divorce. What would Mother Greengrass ever say about divorce? Unlike her daughter, Lillian has blonde hair the same color of the gold ring she wears on her finger with the big honking sapphire on it. Her eyes are green, of course, but it’s similar to the color of snake skin. She is always wearing a white fur robe over her lace nightgown whenever she isn’t expecting company. She examines the letter and once she’s done going over the contents, she crumples it up>

Lillian:
Why are my children such disappointments?

Maid:
I’m sure I don’t know madam.

Lillian:
No one asked you! Leave, my headache is getting worse.

Maid:
Yes madam. Oh, and Mitsuru wants to know what he should do with the roses that arrived.

Lillian:
Put them in Nicole’s room. You know I can’t stand yellow roses.

Maid:
Yes madam.

<The maid leaves Lillian’s room so she may sleep off her “headache“. Once in the hall, she takes something out of her back pocket>

Maid:
It won’t be long now.

<The maid opens her palm to examine the Rose Crest ring>

After the little revelation concerning the holiday gifts, the two friends made their way down to the dining room. Walking down the dark hallways, making twists and turns, Gold noticed that it did not take this long when she was first shown where she was staying for the vacation’s duration. The entire house seemed to be filled paintings and pictures of the entire Laurette family. Mothers, fathers, uncles, aunts, siblings, children, cousins, in-laws. They didn’t speak like normal paintings, well, normal for witches and wizards, of course, but you would suppose that was because they didn’t have anything to say. At least anything worth to saying to a person of Gold’s heritage. But their lack of words was made up by their movements up and about in their frames. As Gold and Nicole walked down further and further, looking for the accursed dining room for what Gold was sure to hold a rather interesting dining experience with Nicole and her mother, the people in the portraits leered down, bending their heads and narrowing their eyes in the dim candlelit hallway to get a better look at the blood traitor and her friend. Most of them would move from frame to frame, squeezing into another person’s view and causing some rather rude awakenings. Others, the more polite ones, simply ignored them. Others simply let a “ha-rumph” or a “hmph” here and there. And the ones who truly touched a nerve with Gold were the ones with a stare that could send shivers up Madame Pince’s spine. Gold turned to Nicole, who was just looking straight ahead and paid no heed to the whispers and stares, and for a moment Gold thought she was back at school.

Nicole (whispering):
Don’t mind them and they won’t bother me.

Gold felt a pang of guilt and she started to blush, although Nicole didn’t notice, or decided not to. The happiness that she had disappeared, and she started to regret

(Why do I always let her stand up for me?)

Nicole turned her gaze to Gold, and read the look on her face.

((If you only knew))

It was around this point that Gold noticed a portrait that was covered with a large burn mark. What was peculiar was that it was in-between a portrait of Nicole and a portrait of her mother. All three frames were vacant. Gold could tell who they belonged to because of the names, written on little gold plate at the bottom of the frame. Gold stopped Nicole and pointed to the empty portraits.

Gold:
Nicole, is that yours.

Nicole:
Yep.

Gold:
Why is it empty?

Nicole:
My portrait self disappeared a couple of years ago, out of shame I think. It’s somewhere in the house, or any of the houses my family owns.

Gold:
How many?

Nicole:
Besides this house there’s the one my grandparents have on the Riviera, one in Paris, and an old plantation somewhere in the Caribbean where we spend our vacations.

Gold:
I meant how many paintings?

Nicole:
I dunno. Don’t bother to count.

Gold:
Where’s your mum?

Nicole:
Drinking in one of the portraits in the third floor ballroom. Hasn’t come down in years.

Gold:
Ah.

Gold read the plate on the portrait in the middle.

Portrait Frame:
Lilith Auralene de Laurette

Born:
May 22, 1977

Gold:
Who’s Lilith?

Nicole stopped dead in her tracks for a minute. She turned to the portrait for a moment, before she turned away from Gold.

Nicole:
Lilith is…was…my sister.

Gold:
You never told me you had a sister.

Nicole:
I don’t. At least, not anymore.

Gold took in a sharp breath.

Gold:
Oh God, I-I’m sorry, I-

Nicole:
No, please. It’s just, it was a long time ago.

Nicole began to clutch her shoulder.

Nicole:
We’d been on vacation, at that plantation I told you about. She was swimming in the ocean. The tide swept her away. When they found her near this beachside cave, they said she’d hit her head on one of the rocks…

Maid:
Madame Nicole?

Nicole and Gold both turned to the end of the hall. The Maid was there, with a smile on her face.

Maid:
Madame is expecting you.

Nicole:
Yeah, right, of course. Well, come along, Goldie.

As Nicole followed after the maid, Gold could recognize that the tone of voice Nicole had was filled with a little sadness, and a lot of anger. Gold turned back to the portrait and looked at the plate.

(If her sister died, why isn’t there a date of death on the frame?)

Maid:
Miss Shawson?

Gold:
Oh, sorry.

Maid:
No need, are you worried about Mistress Nicole?

Gold:
Well, it’s just, I never knew she had a sister.

Maid:
“Had”?

Gold gave the maid an odd look.

Maid:
Oh, yes, of course. Silly me. I haven’t been here long, you understand.

Gold:
Oh, yeah. Of course.

Maid:
Shall we?

Gold and the maid began to head for the dining room again, not knowing about the two figures at the end of the hall, one thinking about his wife and the other thinking about his brother’s state of mind.