After experimenting, Gideon realised that the crystal projected a camouflage spell over its holder. It was just short of total invisibility, which he knew to be extremely advanced, but unlike the spell inside his lost Channelling Rod, he was unlikely to learn such magic while at school.

Gideon couldn’t immediately think of a use for what he had decided to coin, the Camostone, but he couldn’t wait to show Ruby and Talia when they returned. He marvelled at the small pile of gifts. It wasn’t quite the haul he was used to, but it was more than he had expected, and somehow it meant more.

Later that day was the Christmas Feast. Even by Hogwarts standards, the meal was spectacular. The usual plates, serving dishes, goblets and cutlery were replaced by gleaming, ornate silverware. A selection of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes brand wizard crackers got the attendees in the mood.

These crackers went off with a much louder bang than the ones Gideon was accustomed to, and each triggered an indoor firework. They also contained much better prizes, and coloured conical hats with kaleidoscope-like patterns that changed when they were worn.

After pulling a cracker with Professor Keane and watching the ensuing display, Gideon was lucky enough to get a spinning hypnotic-patterned hat and a deck of Exploding Snap cards picturing different breeds of dragons. The Hufflepuff girl sitting next to him got a hat with the changing phases of the moon and an Eterna-Bounce ball, which she foolishly dropped. It proceeded to bounce all around the hall until a Ravenclaw Quidditch player caught it, earning a round of applause.

Gideon enjoyed how Professor Dandridge’s Hula-patterned hat clashed horribly with her festive robes, and how Professor Keane forced a flower-patterned one on the head of a reluctant Professor Voronov.

At the end of the table was an old woman covered in shawls and beads, whom Gideon didn’t recognise. She spent a lot of time fighting for Professor Kenyatta’s attention, even though the Astronomy teacher kept trying to talk to other people. She almost really fought a student over a hat with creepy blinking eyes, which was funny seeing as how her own eyes were so magnified by her thick glasses that she resembled a large insect, and because she kept knocking things over.

All of a sudden, the table set for twenty or so was filled to the brim with perfectly cooked stuffed turkeys, mouth-watering bacon-covered chipolatas, glorious golden potatoes, crispy Yorkshire puddings and a spectrum of vegetables. Every face around the table seemed to be grinning as they helped themselves, and passed around boats of rich gravy, mint jelly and bread and cranberry sauces.

After the best meal of Gideon’s life, came the desserts. As he admired the flaming Christmas puddings, deep-filled trifles and delectable-looking gateau, Gideon’s eyes surely became bigger than his belly, and that was saying something at this point. He was so full, and yet, he knew that if he didn’t have a big slice of the white chocolate and raspberry gateau topped with double cream, he would live to regret it.

Upon finally leaving the Great Hall, Gideon, perhaps unsurprisingly, found himself moving much slower than usual. The students separated for their houses while most of the teachers remained for a nightcap. The woman Gideon hadn’t recognised, however, appeared to be having some trouble getting up the marble staircase.

The Hufflepuff girl had informed him that she was Professor Trelawney, the Divination teacher, who usually remained within the confines of the North Tower. There was a loud clunk, and the bottle of Ogden’s Firewhisky that she had apparently swiped from the dinner table began to roll down the stairs precariously. Gideon jogged over with his stomach sloshing, caught it before it picked up speed, and ran it back up to the teacher.

‘Oh, thank you, my dear. Must’ve fallen into my pocket! I’ll see that it’s returned later,’ she slurred, and grabbed for the bottle. Instead, her bony hand wrapped tightly around Gideon’s arm. Unlike the blinking pattern of her hat, her magnified eyes stretched wide, and she continued in an altogether different, guttural tone of voice.

‘The serpent’s bloodline still slithers among us! An heir with a clearer vision and a stronger will than those who have come before has begun to move. They work in secret and shadow, but their deeds do not go unseen. Unless prevented, the fifth point will be marked as the summer sun dawns. Innocent eyes will be closed, the eye of fire will open, and a dark destiny will be revealed...’

When the old woman finally stopped speaking, a panicky Gideon wrenched his arm free from her grip, and she asked with a hiccup, ‘Everything okay, m’dear? My goodness, you haven’t been drinking this, have you? Yes, better I hold on to it, I think.’

With that, Professor Trelawney carried on up the stairs with her bottle, humming a Christmas carol as if nothing had happened. Gideon had heard nothing but bad things about the Divination teacher’s abilities, but he felt almost certain that what he had just heard from her was a genuine prediction.

He ran as fast as he could to his dorm, grabbed a quill and some ink, and scribbled down as much of what she said as he could remember on a scrap of parchment. After checking it over a few times, he was fairly sure he had recalled it all. But what did it mean?

***

The rest of the holiday was far more enjoyable than Gideon had expected. Instead of letting his worries get the best of him, he focused on getting all his homework out of the way and doing a little extra preparation for the next term. Gideon did so while working his way through Caroline’s chocolates, reading the first of the books from the Grimsby’s, and borrowing Gio’s Gramophone to play the Stargazers record Talia had given to him over and over.

He was sure to send thank you notes for those gifts and all the others he had received, including a short one to Caroline. He exchanged letters with his grandmother following the Prophet article the Headmistress had forewarned them about, and Tilly and Tolly sent Christmas leftovers and other snacks with her replies.

Naturally, he conversed with Ruby and Talia, whom he was glad to hear liked the instant-application, flower-scented nail varnish kits he had bought for them in the joke shop (Rosepink Pink for Ruby and Bluebell Blue for Talia).

They expressed jealousy over the feast and were deeply intrigued by Gideon’s run-in with Professor Trelawney. They both claimed to have had interesting breaks but were looking forward to returning. In Ruby’s case it was to get away from her countless relatives. Talia was simply bored and missed being able to use magic.

Unlike those who went home for the holidays, Gideon was allowed to use magic at Hogwarts, so he used the rest of his free time to get some spell practice in. This was spurred on by the fact that he had felt so useless during the duel in Hogsmeade. He focused on the Banishing Charm and the Shield Charm.

The former was for Charms and required a lot of focus to send an object to a desired location with just one flick of the wand. The latter was required for Defence Against the Dark Arts and could reflect incoming spells entirely if used correctly. This would be a big improvement on just being able to deflect known spells, so Gideon was trying hard to master it.

Once Madam Pince returned, he used the library to look up the Stunning Spell, seeing as how he had seen it save him from attackers twice now, and practiced it using a chalk drawn target on a tree by the lake.

He also continued looking for answers about the rune marking and Professor Trelawney’s esoteric ramblings. Sadly, as with his previous search on curse marks, researching references to “serpent’s blood”, “secret and shadow”, “Innocent eyes” and “the Eye of Fire” was turning out to be just as fruitless.

Soon enough, Sunday the eighth of January arrived, and the other students returned to the school ahead of classes resuming the following day.

‘Happy New Year!’ Gideon greeted the boys brightly as they joined him at the Slytherin House table for dinner that evening.

‘For some, maybe,’ Gio commented bitterly without meeting Gideon’s eyes.

‘Hi Gideon,’ said Dorian.

Eoin didn’t say anything.

‘Where’s Tim?’ Gideon asked, noticing the quiet boy’s absence from the group, and craning his neck toward the students still filing into the Great Hall.

‘Not here, obviously!’ Gio snapped.

‘What does that mean?’ Gideon asked Dorian.

‘Tim’s withdrawn from Hogwarts,’ Dorian explained sullenly.

‘What? Why?’

‘Why do you think, idiot! Because of you and stuff like this!’ Gio yelled, throwing a copy of the Daily Prophet in Gideon’s direction. ‘After everything you’ve done—or haven’t done—whatever, the fires and everything in the paper. His parents wouldn’t let him come back! They didn’t want him sharing a dorm with you, which means my best mate is gone!’

Gideon didn’t know what to say. He liked Tim. The boy had always been fair with him. How could his parents believe Gideon was enough of a danger to remove him from the school? Looking down, Gideon saw that the previous day’s Prophet addressed the same question.

The lead story was a recap about him, the fires, and the attack in Hogsmeade, with a focus on the reactions and concerns of Hogwarts parents. It suggested that even as a victim, Gideon was a danger to those around him.

Gideon was infuriated. He himself had considered that when Talia and Ruby had been put at risk, but they had only been attacked in the first place because of the Prophet telling the world about him.

According to the article, multiple angry or worried parents were considering withdrawing their children from Hogwarts until the mystery of the fires was solved or until Gideon was removed from the school. These views had apparently been encouraged by the Ministry of Magic’s weak statement following the news of the fires:

‘We were, of course, unaware of the ongoing investigation into arson at Hogwarts at the time of our public expression of support for Mr Drake,’ said Mr Percy Weasley, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister for Magic. ‘Naturally, though, we stand by our earlier statements with some confidence, and we will be reaching out to Professor Dandridge to see how the Ministry can be of assistance in identifying those responsible for the fires, whomever they might be.’

***

‘Can you believe that?’ Gideon asked Talia and Ruby in disbelief after dinner. ‘People are actually taking their kids out of school because of me!’

‘Not because of you,’ Ruby corrected. ‘Because the Prophet’s got people scared.’

‘That’s how they sell papers, Gideon. Don’t let it get to you,’ Talia advised.

‘But if I wasn’t here…’

‘Then, there would still be fires but people wouldn’t have anybody to blame,’ Ruby said smartly. ‘You deserve to be here as much as anyone else. Now, let’s see what you brought!’

After a fun-filled half an hour playing hide and seek with the Camostone, Gideon fished out Professor Trelawney’s prediction from his pocket and let the girls read it.

‘It’s like some crazy fortune cookie nonsense,’ Talia remarked.

Ruby read and re-read the words while Gideon and Talia waited for her expert analysis. Finally, she looked up with her brow furrowed.

‘So?’ Gideon asked on tenterhooks.

‘Yeah, “crazy fortune cookie nonsense” about sums it up,’ she concluded.

‘Be serious,’ Talia said once she finished laughing.

‘Well, if Gideon hadn’t seen and heard Professor Trelawney saying this first-hand, I’m not sure I would have believed her capable. It seems to be a genuine prophecy.’

Prophecy. The word carried more weight than “prediction”, as Gideon had been referring to it. ‘Do you have any idea what it means, though?’ he asked.

‘Not the foggiest!’ Ruby answered before picking up the piece of parchment. ‘But I’ll copy this down and see if I can make head or tail of it with my Divination books.’

***

With all things considered, the first day back went as smoothly as Gideon could have hoped for. The days when people were frightened by his presence were actually preferable to those when people engaged with him.

In Charms, Professor Keane was very impressed with his progress on the Banishing Charm. He had moved from banishing feathers to books, and the books he banished headed to the exact spots in the room he intended, earning him ten house points. Alex and the other Gryffindors boys seemed annoyed by Gideon’s obvious improvement, but they didn’t say anything.

Professor Kenyatta didn’t have anything bad to say about his Astronomy homework, for once. In Transfiguration, he had successfully turned a kitten into a teapot and back again, and faster than anyone else. Finally, in Ancient Runes, he was glad to discover he had accidentally absorbed a fair bit of information while scouring the library books for his mystery symbol.

Gio hadn’t spoken to Gideon since his outburst in the Great Hall, unless you counted when he discovered Gideon’s record on his gramophone that evening, after their night-time Astronomy class. ‘What’s this garbage doing here?’ he had shouted before frisbeeing The Stargazers: Unplugged across the dormitory.

Luckily, Gideon had immobilised the record with his wand before it hit the wall and caught it before it dropped to the floor, but the consideration he had afforded Gio due to losing his friend was seriously waning. He went to bed angry and didn’t sleep well.

Gio appeared to be developing a permanent frown, at least whenever Gideon was in his presence, which included in the dorm, at the table in the Great Hall and on the way to History of Magic on the second day of the new term. It was really beginning to irritate Gideon, but he did his best to ignore it, and even employed some of his meditative techniques.

Oddly enough, Ruby did not show up to class with the other Hufflepuffs. Gideon couldn’t imagine why she wouldn’t have been there, but her absence made the lesson drag on. In fact, without her there to keep him occupied, and given how badly he had slept, the monotone drawl of the ancient Professor Binns soon caused Gideon to nod off.

He found himself in a strange land that looked like Hogsmeade except every shop seemed to be made out of Honeydukessweets. In the middle of town, continuing to lecture quietly was the ghostly Professor Binns, but Gideon ignored him and took a closer look around the town. It looked like a harmless enough place, but he soon found that there were oddities to be discovered.

Behind a door, he came upon Professor Trelawney mouthing something soundlessly with her fixed, giant eyes staring into his soul. Around every corner seemed to be groups of angry or concerned Hogwarts parents, just waiting to catch him alone. Up every alleyway were long-coated figures watching him from the shadows.

Ducking into J Max Designs for cover, Gideon found two versions of his sister. One of the Jennifers had her back to him while the other sobbed into a tissue. Gideon didn’t know which to trust, so he left and headed to the Three Broomsticks, which was now made of liquorice. Inside, he was happy to find Ruby and Talia.

Ruby was tearing through books furiously and pulling on her braids, trying to solve a large jigsaw with many missing pieces. Talia stood guard with her wand out. ‘We’ve got to figure this out, Gideon!’ she warned.

‘Can I get you anything, love?’ asked a large jelly sweet shaped like Madam Rosmerta. Gideon was about to ask for a Butterbeer, but he was distracted by the sound of screams. ‘Oh dear,’ said the jelly Rosmerta, ‘that’s going to disturb my customers.’

The screams continued, so Gideon stepped back outside to investigate. Sasha Barrington was sitting at a desk in the middle of Hogsmeade Village, a few feet from the lecturing Professor Binns. She was the one screaming.

Halfway between asleep and awake, Gideon heard the screams more clearly than before. For a moment he was terrified that his nightmare had returned, and that he might be visited by the pained face of Gwendoline Drake at any moment. He wasn’t dreaming, though. Sasha’s screams had been real.

‘Professor!’ Sasha yelled loudly, pointing at the Ghostly teacher. Gideon forced his eyes open and took in the scene before him. He couldn’t see what the fuss was about from his position.

‘Please, Miss Bannerton, if you need the bathroom, you may go but you need not yell in my classroom,’ droned Professor Binns reproachfully before continuing to read from his notes.

‘But, Professor Binns—’ cried Nita Thakur of Hufflepuff.

‘Really, Miss Thatcher, that will do,’ the professor insisted.

More screams and shrieks were filling the room and then, Dorian stood up and shouted clearly, ‘Professor Binns, you’re on fire!’

That’s when Gideon noticed. He leaned over to see around the desks in front of him and saw that violent purple flames had enveloped Professor Binns up past his knees.

‘It might be a rather exciting passage, Mr Timpson, but I hardly think my reading warrants that level of praise,’ said Professor Binns in an exasperated tone, apparently completely aware of the rising fire. But then, he was a ghost. Did ghosts feel such things as fire, or pain for that matter?

The students were getting to their feet, pointing, and pleading with the professor to take notice of the situation. Dorian took out his wand and hurried to the front of the classroom while Eoin dashed out of the door.

‘Really, now, you children will be the death of me,’ Professor Binns lamented. Those were his final words as the purple flames covering his ethereal body rose up past his neck, engulfed his wizened, translucent face and disappeared, leaving no trace of the History of Magic teacher.

A few moments of stunned silence were followed by a cacophony of screams, shrieks, cries, and scared chatter. Dorian remained rooted to the spot at the front of the room with his wand raised and a look of bewilderment across his face.

‘What’s going on here?’ announced Professor Long forcefully, standing at the doorway with Eoin behind her. The crying and shouting reduced to whimpers and whispers. Then, as if in one motion, the heads of the class whipped around in Gideon’s direction.