Gideon remained frozen to the spot until Dorian dragged him out of bed by his arm. Ducking down to avoid the flames, they moved to the opposite end of the room where Gio and Eoin were watching in disbelief.

Just then, Jack, Rebecca and the other prefects arrived at the open door with Tim in tow.

‘Stay back,’ Rebecca told them, raising her arms as if to shield the group of boys. The others conjured water with their wands to extinguish the fires.

‘What happened here?’ Jack demanded angrily while the remaining prefects sucked up strands of smoke with their wands like anteaters feasting on prey.

The boys exchanged looks. Gio looked furious. Gideon didn’t know what had transpired, but if what Gio had said was true, he had to come clean.

Jack’s eyes fell on Gideon with a sign of recognition. ‘You again, huh?’ he accused.

‘No! It was me,’ said Dorian out of the blue. ‘I was practicing a spell and it got away from me.’

Gideon was just about to speak out when Eoin tugged sharply on the arm of his pyjamas.

‘In the middle of the night? What were you thinking?’ Jack reprimanded ‘We’ll have to report this, you know!’

‘I know. I’m really sorry!’ Dorian replied.

***

Professor Voronov arrived a few minutes after the fires were put out. After speaking with the prefects, he simply conjured five sleeping bags in the Common Room, told the boys to get to sleep immediately in a threatening tone, and left.

The boys lied next to each other in their sleeping bags silently. Gideon was still shaken. This wasn’t the first time he had caused a commotion in the middle of the night, as Jack had pointed out. This time, though, it wasn’t his screams which had woken people up. Going by what Gio had said, Gideon had started the fire.

He felt awful. Someone could have been hurt. The guilt of the incident brought him right back to how he felt over his mother, and no wonder, since he had once again lost control of his magic without knowing it.

Gideon’s recurring nightmare seemed to be the source of the problem, but how was he supposed to control his dreams? Madam Longbottom’s potion was supposed to have solved that problem, at least for the weekend. Instead, things had escalated.

Gideon thought about his mother’s hospitalisation, the blackout he had caused in the Great Hall, the small fire he had started unintentionally in Defence Against the Dark Arts and the incident in the Charms Club. Were these normal occurrences? Individually, they might look innocuous, but in addition to the dormitory fire, they formed a pattern.

Gideon couldn’t help but wonder, was there something wrong with his magic? Was there something wrong with him? Had the mysterious sealing of his magic affected his ability to control it? Or was it possible that this was why his magic had been sealed in the first place?

Gideon didn’t like the place where his mind was taking him. He closed his eyes tightly and pictured fireworks. He imagined the colourful explosions metaphorically blowing up his bad thoughts and tried to think of better things. That was no easy task for Gideon but given his tiredness, he soon fell asleep.

***

‘Explain yourself,’ Professor Voronov demanded of Dorian in his office. He had sent Jack to collect the boys before breakfast.

‘I’m really sorry, Professor,’ Dorian responded, ‘I couldn’t sleep, so I was practicing my wand work. I guess I dozed off in the middle of a spell and lost control.’

‘That’s not like you, Mr Thompson,’ the professor replied after studying each of the boys individually for a few moments as he often did. ‘You, your dormmates and the rest of the house could have been seriously injured.’

Dorian hung his head in shame. Gideon wanted to speak up and tell the professor the truth. However, the boys had discussed things before Jack’s arrival.

Dorian had suggested that Gideon only lost control due to the pressures the others were putting on him to study and win points for Slytherin. He went on to say he had noticed Gideon wasn’t sleeping, and he reminded the others how the Gryffindor boys had been harassing him.

There was some truth to that, of course, but it wasn’t the whole story and Gideon had protested to Dorian taking the blame. However, Eoin and Tim agreed to go along with Dorian’s version of events.

Gio hadn’t been so amiable. After some arguing, he promised not to contradict the others’ story, but Gideon noticed that he was beginning to look and act a lot more like his brother, Vinny.

‘I’m sorry, Professor. It won’t happen again,’ Dorian assured the man.

After a few uncomfortable moments the professor unfolded his crossed arms and replied, ‘I’m sure that’s true. However, given the circumstances I have no choice but to punish you. You’ll report to my office at four o’clock on Monday for detention.’

Gideon opened his mouth to object, but Eoin surreptitiously elbowed him.

‘Yes, Sir,’ said Dorian.

***

The boys were quiet at breakfast. Unfortunately, word of the fire had spread, presumably by the prefects, and the Slytherins were bombarding the boys with questions. The Barrington sisters were especially relentless, of course, but the boys stayed tight-lipped. Gio sulked off halfway through his cereal, which only made people more intrigued.

‘Did you hear?’ Gideon heard someone at the Ravenclaw table ask their friend.

‘You mean, about the fire?’ another Ravenclaw girl responded in a stage whisper. ‘I know, everyone’s talking about it! Do they know who started it?’

Gideon and Dorian made eye contact and listened in to the conversation.

‘Nobody knows!’ the first voice replied. ‘Apparently Professor Kenyatta came upon it after some stargazing. Supposedly, it was quite bad, though. If he hadn’t been there, the whole Charms corridor could have burned down!’

Gideon was dumbfounded. The Ravenclaws seemed to be talking about a different fire. Another fire—on the same night? What were the chances of that?

***

Gideon spent that Sunday alone in the library. It was a good place to hide. The Barrington’s hadn’t given up on their incessant questioning, and now that rumours of a second fire had made their way around the castle, people were really pressing the boys for answers.

Gideon couldn’t blame people for wanting to know what happened. After all, he, too, was interested in the other fire. Or rather, he was worried they might be connected. As he was reading, the horrible thought that he may have been responsible for the other fire as well, kept creeping into his mind.

When he finally returned to the Common Room, Gideon headed straight for the dormitory and locked the door behind him, much to the disappointment of Sasha, Cheryl and a few others who followed.

‘Oh, here he is!’ Gio announced. ‘Happy, are you? We’ve been cooped up in here ever since it got fixed up, thanks to you! I’ve had people badgering me everywhere I go!’

‘I’m sorry, Gio,’ said Gideon.

‘You could have suffocated us, you know!’ Gio pressed.

‘I’m sorry! What more can I say? It’s not like I meant to start the fire,’ Gideon reminded him.

‘Yeah, well, I wonder about that…’ Gio muttered.

‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ Gideon questioned, getting a little flustered. ‘Haven’t you ever done magic by accident?’

‘That’s kid stuff!’ Gio snapped back. ‘It doesn’t happen to wizards who are in control of themselves!’

Gideon couldn’t argue with that point. Annoying, though, it might be, Gio was right, for the most part. He recalled Alex Grimsby telling him something similar years ago. Gideon had now used magic accidentally four times that he could think of. Worryingly, each instance had involved fire. It hardly seemed comparable to levitating an ice cream or hiccoughing bubbles.

It occurred to Gideon that the other boys were uncommonly quiet. Usually, Eoin or Dorian would have told Gio to “put a sock in it” or something to that effect by now. Gideon realised that as nice as they had been about the whole situation, there was a good chance that the danger of sharing a room with him was on their minds, too.

That thought kept Gideon up for most of the night. Every time he felt himself drift toward sleep, he would snap out of it, worried about what might happen while he was unconscious. He had taken Madam Longbottom’s second potion before bed, but it hadn’t helped the previous night.

All too soon, it was time for a new week of classes and Gideon was exhausted. He dragged himself to Charms, faintly aware that the other boys were walking a few paces ahead of him. A replacement classroom had been arranged due to the second fire, and rather annoyingly, the Gryffindor boys ended up sitting directly opposite him.

It was the first time Gideon had seen them since Anthony had knocked them out, and they looked expectedly resentful, Alex included. Jason glared at him non-stop. Gideon did his best to avert his eyes and listen to Professor Keane explain the difference between casting charms on organic targets and inanimate objects.

However, his lack of sleep soon caught up with him. Just as Gideon’s eye lids seemed to close of their own accord, Jason was kind enough to jolt him awake with a Shocker Spell. Thankfully it wasn’t very strong. Jason would have to do more than whisper to make the spell work properly, and the smaller classroom meant Professor Keane was within earshot. Still, the boy was persistent.

Angry with Jason and a little hurt that none of his friends had blocked the spell, Gideon smacked his cheeks and tried harder to stay alert. Jason continued to send Shockers his way throughout the class and Gideon defiantly tried to block them. Unfortunately, he was too tired to perform the counter-spell properly, especially after Greg joined in, and got hit more times than he would have usually.

Now that Gideon was paying more attention to his surroundings, he became aware of how many furtive looks he and Dorian were getting from whispering pupils around the room. Gossip about the fires had apparently identified them as possible culprits.

By the time it came around to practicing the spell Professor Keane was teaching them, Gideon’s patience had been sorely tested.

‘Okay, has everyone got a feather?’ Professor Keane asked the students. ‘Good, let’s give the Beacon Charm a go!’

According to the professor, the aim of the Beacon Charm was to make an object flash intermittently. Most of the class managed to get a single flash out of their feather easily enough. However, making the feather flash without continued wand work had a knack to it.

Unfortunately, Gideon didn’t know as he had yet to get a single flash out of his feather, much to the amusement of the Gryffindor boys. Even Alex Grimsby seemed to be enjoying how much he was struggling to perform a spell for once. Gideon couldn’t understand it considering how easy he had found the Glow Charm.

‘Micos!’ Gideon recited angrily for the umpteenth time to no effect. He examined his wand, worried for a moment that he had brought his previous second-hand one to class by mistake.

‘Micos!’ Greg mimicked loudly in falsetto with a silly motion. Jason buckled over with laughter. Greg’s taunt went over Professor Keane’s head, but it was clear to Gideon, who was getting quite cross now on top of being tired and frustrated.

All around the room, feathers were flashing in various colours. Alex appeared to be the first to get his to continue flashing unaided, which the professor awarded him five points for. Vexed by that, Gideon raised his wand to try the spell again. However, just as he uttered the incantation, Jason hit him with another Shocker.

In that instant, Gideon lost his concentration, and his emotions overrode his intent. The resulting effect couldn’t have come at a worse time. Instead of making his feather flash, a stream of fire burst forth from Gideon’s wand and set it alight, along with Tim and Dorian’s.

The Gryffindors opposite ducked for cover. The surrounding students turned away from the sudden heat, got up from their seats and the room was filled with gasps and a few screams. The flaming feathers that had fallen to the floor were promptly extinguished by Professor Keane.

Gideon couldn’t believe what he had done. He scanned the room, taking in the frightened expressions and whispered conversations of his peers. His heart began to race, and when he observed even Dorian looking more than unsettled, his bottom lip began to quiver.

Gideon gathered up his things and fled the classroom, not a difficult task given that the other students parted like the red sea to let him by. Professor Keane called after him, but Gideon broke into a run.

***

Gideon sprinted through the castle without any real idea of where he was going. On finding his way to the Entrance Hall, he decided to get some air. He walked down towards the Great Lake and arrived at the tree he had sat under when he first discovered his magic.

He perched on its roots again and pulled out his wand. As he looked at it, he questioned whether he had made the right choice in staying at Hogwarts. The way things were going, it was looking like there was a real chance he might end up hurting somebody—again.

Perhaps whatever had happened to him as a baby had been a good thing? If he was becoming a danger to himself and those around him, maybe he would be better off without magic?

Gideon watched the lake for a few more minutes before determining that the cat was now out of the bag. With the existing rumours circling, what had transpired in Charms was sure to get around the school quickly. There would be no doubt left in people’s minds about who was responsible for the fire in the dormitory.

He decided it was better to come clean with Professor Voronov and save Dorian an unwarranted detention. Sadly, he was sure to be blamed for the fire in the Charms classroom as well, at least by the students. Gideon wasn’t even a hundred percent sure that he wasn’t responsible, so it was a natural conclusion for others to come to without more evidence.

***

On the way to Professor Voronov’s office, Gideon passed by the Charms classroom. The door had been locked since the fire. There was a sign attached saying “Keep Out” in big letters and a note below informing students of the replacement classroom’s location.

However, with everyone else in the middle of class, there was nobody around. Gideon’s curiosity got the better of him, and he decided to take a peek inside, assuming he correctly remembered the spell needed. ‘Alohomora,’ he whispered.

The lock made a distinct click, and Gideon pushed open the door slowly. The Ravenclaw girls had been right, it was very lucky that a teacher had discovered the fire. It must have been huge. Everything in the room was covered in soot. Chairs had been burned to cinders and the ceiling was marked as if the flames had been high enough to reach it.

As he turned to leave, something in the middle of the room caught Gideon’s attention, so he crept a little closer. On the floor where Professor Keane usually stood in front of her desk, was an oddly shaped scorch mark. It was a diamond with a cross inside it. Gideon thought that it resembled a kite—a flying toy Muggles were known to play with.

To his way of thinking, it looked too even to have been an accident. Gideon vaguely wondered whether it might be a rune, but decided it was more likely the outline of a fallen object such as a table, before quickly leaving the smoky-smelling room. He locked the door behind him and continued on to see Professor Voronov.

The clock tower bell signalling the next period rang as Gideon approached the Transfiguration classroom. He waited for students to file out and drew a deep breath before heading inside on shaky legs.

‘Professor?’ said Gideon with a lump in his throat. He coughed and continued, ‘Do you have a moment?’

‘Mr Maxwell?’ said Professor Voronov with a raised eyebrow. ‘Of course.’

‘There are some things I need to tell you,’ Gideon announced with trepidation, ‘I’m not sure where to start, though.’

Gideon nervously told the imposing professor the truth about the dormitory fire and how his friends were only looking out for him, unable to meet his eye as he did. He went on to explain the accident in class that morning and shared his worries about his ability to control magic.

‘I don’t know what to do. I’m so tired but I’m afraid to go to sleep. I’m afraid of hurting someone,’ Gideon confessed, close to tears.

The professor took a few moments to consider Gideon’s words before answering, ‘Thank you for coming to me, Mr Maxwell. I can tell this has been a difficult time for you. I understand now that the fire was out of your control. However, you should have been honest with me. For that, you will replace Mr Thompson in detention.’

Gideon nodded in understanding.

‘Now, regarding your concerns, there are things we can do. Madam Longbottom will no doubt have more options to help with your sleep issue. We’ll report to her later and see what can be done.

‘As for your magic, it’s unlikely that there is any real problem to speak of. Your quick transition from your previous school to Hogwarts, and from first- to third-year may have been a contributing factor. As your Head of House, I am also aware of your current family difficulties. I dare say that has added to your stress levels. Again, Madam Longbottom may have some suggestions for us.

‘That said, we can also arrange to test your magic if need be. Depending on the results, there are ways we can help young witches and wizards adapt. Everything will be okay, Gideon. The important thing is that you have asked for help.’

It was as though a weight had been lifted. Somehow it helped Gideon to know that another person knew what he was going through. ‘Thank you, Sir,’ he said gratefully. ‘About the fires, though. After this morning, I’m guessing I’ll be blamed for burning down the Charms classroom, too. Do you think it’s possible that I am responsible?’

The professor took one of his signature pauses, ‘I think not, Mr Maxwell. Regardless of whether your magic has any unusual properties, accidentally starting a localized fire is a far cry from starting one on the other side of the castle. I can’t prevent students from gossiping, regrettably, but I can say with some certainty that you are not responsible.’

‘Then… How did the fire start, Sir?’ Gideon enquired cheekily, knowing he was pushing the bounds of their conversation.

The professor’s dark, piercing eyes met Gideon’s, ‘That’s a good question, Mr Maxwell.’