nothing – and everything – like how Arabella imagined it to be, all at once. They stayed with Viktor's parents, in a house far smaller than she had imaged for a family with a famous son. Nevertheless, his parents were welcoming, and that was all Bella had wanted from the trip (as well as the guarantee of safety from Zoe, of course, but she already had that as long as she was out of England).

Viktor's father was alike his son; tall and broad, with dark hair and a naturally harsh expression, but this was counteracted by the kindness that was present behind his mahogany eyes. Viktor had told Bella that his father's eyes matched his heart; and he was right. The man was warm and inviting, like a crackling fire at Christmas with the Weasleys. Oh, how she missed that.

Viktor's mother was understandably cold and sceptical at first. Following the rest of the Krum family, she too had dark hair and dark eyes, though she was a short woman with a soft exterior that – at first – did not at all match the way that she had acted towards her son's girlfriend. Her personality, or so it seemed, was reserved and distant, with an expression which resembled that of an upper class woman on a pig farm. Ironic, really. She had acted as if Bella, metaphorically, was the pig; but it was Viktor's mother who actually looked like one.

Over time, Mrs Krum – with persuasion from Mr Krum – had softened towards Arabella, and once they had become better acquainted, the girl had learned that Viktor's mother was not entirely different from her husband or her son at all (and it was oddly endearing how sufferingly bad her English was).

For the third time that week, an enveloped letter flew through the letterbox of the house; courtesy of Bella's owl, Henry, whom had flown back and forth to receive letters from home. This one was from her sister, which was a delightful change from the letters that she had received prior; one was from Deanna and the other from her aunt.

Viktor noticed and grinned as he sat beside her. "Read it aloud," he suggested, "so that we can all hear." His grin curled further up the corners of his mouth when Arabella nodded in agreement.

"Dear Bella, I hope you're having fun in Bulgaria because I'm having lots of fun back at home without you!" The redhead paused to chuckle to herself. She knew that Ellie wasn't joking, either. "Mom and Dad are both fine, and so is Gran. They were very excited when they found out that you are dating Viktor Krum – out of all people – and Mom is desperate to meet him. Gran stayed with us for the weekend because she saw two of spades in her tarot cards and somehow she interpreted that into the world ending. And I thought she couldn't get any crazier. See you in a week! Love from Eleanor."

Bella smiled in delight. As much as she loved Bulgaria, and Viktor of course, she also missed her family more than anything. One week down, one more to go. "What did she mean by 'two of spades'?" Asked Viktor's father.

The Ravenclaw sighed. "Gran told me once. In tarot card reading, it's the symbol for conflict." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts. "But I wouldn't worry, Mister Krum. My Gran is a little kooky anyway: any weird theories that she comes up with are all in her head."

But back at Hogwarts, conflict was very much present.

●

Fred and George Weasley had exited their Charms revision class just as they normally did: laughing and joking around (this was surprising, given that they had to endure an extra class during the holidays – and it was compulsory).

Their decision to stay at Hogwarts for the holiday was oddly influenced by Arabella; this was the first year that she would not be staying at their home, the Burrow, in a long time. And neither of the twins wanted to go back home if they did not have her company.

Fred became startled when a hot, sweaty hand forcefully grabbed his wrist. "Woah, steady on," he gasped in surprise. "At least let me buy you dinner first." But upon laying eyes on the recipient, he frowned.

Erin Martell stood in front of them, her eyes wide – with what seemed almost like fear – and her cheeks red and blotchy. She released her hand from Fred's and punched him lightly on the arm. "Shut up, Weasley. I'm desperate, okay? And I never thought I would say this, but I need both of your help."

"Why us, though? I thought you hated us, like you do everybody else." George interjected, grinning playfully when Erin shot him a scowl.

"I do hate you, idiot." She sighed. "But it's about my friend, Zoe. You're the only people who are close to Arabella Flannery that–"

"Were." Fred interrupted solemnly. "We were close to her."

Erin's dark eyebrow raises in surprise. "Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyway . . . you're the only people that were close to her that could help me, because it involves Bella's life being in danger a-at the hands of Zoe. You still want to help me, right?"

Fred's eyes narrowed in scepticism. "But I don't understand – what's the situation?"

Erin glanced around her, scanning every student in the busy corridor. "We need to go somewhere less crowded for me to tell you." She doesn't give them time to reply before she is walking away, and down the moving staircase.

Fred and George shared a look, shrugging. Then, with much anticipation, they began to follow.

George's ginger eyebrows knitted together upon realising that all three of them are stood in an uncomfortably narrow passageway behind the statue of Gregory the Smarmy. Even with the Marauder's Map, the twins were unaware of this secretive passageway, so how did Erin know? "Well, this is cosy." He joked, earning an amused snort from his brother.

"Do you want me to tell you or not?" Erin scolded, her hands on her hip with her right foot tapping on the stone floor. She was growing impatient.

"Sorry, mother." Fred mumbled, restraining himself from laughing at his own joke.

"Right, so y'know how Zoe randomly ended up with severe burns one day, and nobody around Hogwarts knows how? Well, those burns were caused by Arabella's, um, lover – Viktor Krum."

The twins were taken aback. "Why did he do that?"

"He was protecting Bella because Zoe had shifted – it was a full moon, you see–"

"Since when was Zoe a werewolf?"

Erin occupies her sight to her manicured nails. "I don't know exactly how or when she turned, but it must have been fairly recently because I had never noticed it before this school year. But that's not what's important. Basically, because Viktor burned Zoe and left her with scars, she blames Bella because she thinks he would not have done it if it wasn't for protecting her. So Zoe is determined that she wants to do the same to Arabella."

"She wants to burn her?" Fred exclaimed, a slight nervous laugh in his tone.

"Maybe, I'm not entirely sure. She either wants to severely injure Arabella so that she is also left with scars: I'd imagine by using her werewolf claws or something . . . or she just wants to kill her."

"But why are you trying to stop Zoe from doing that? Why are you concerned with Bella's life?" George asked, his voice shaking with fear for his diminishing friend.

Erin shrugged, red with embarrassment. "I don't know, I guess Flannery has grown on me. I still don't like her, but— I don't want her to die. I can't alert Dumbledore about my friend wanting to attempt murder, because if Zoe found out that I did it, she would never talk to me again. And I want to stay friends with her, I just— don't want her to turn into a psychopath."

"So what are you saying, Erin?"

"I need you to tell Dumbledore. Tell him that Zoe Rosenkrands plans to harm Arabella Flannery, and that she needs to be expelled for her own good."

Sorry for the ridiculously long wait on this chapter; college life is a little stressful at the moment and I'm struggling to keep on top of revision, homework aaaand writing aHHH I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway!

Also can you see how the ending of this chapter links back to the ending of last chapter ;))) go read back if you don't know what I'm talking about bc I promise it becomes very obvious foreshadowing ;')))))))))