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that the school term starting again would give them more answers. But none came. Not a single answer or stroke of luck could come her way, and it frustrated her to no end.

Her theory about Hagrid being involved in the Chamber of Secrets centred around the off-hand comment Luna had made to her at the Duelling Club. But, when Saffron met Luna in the hospital wing while she visited Olly, Luna merely told her that she felt like Hagrid had opened the Chamber. To Saffron, it didn't seem like the girl was being genuine. Or, at the very least, Luna was keeping her cards close to her chest. Whatever the reason was, it was peculiar. But, as Olly had told her, peculiar and Luna were essentially the same thing. So, she didn't read too much into it and dropped the theory on Hagrid. Maybe she did hold a bit of a grudge towards the man and it was on her to try to get rid of it.

With everyone returning the school, Saffron felt anxious at the prospect of seeing Terry Boot or Lisa Turpin again. The last time the pair had even bothered to look in her direction was when they effectively blamed her for making Olly feel bad enough to go with her and Luna to the duelling club.

The Ravenclaws decided to ignore her again, which Saffron was perfectly okay as she would rather not hear from them at all than to hear anything negative coming out of their mouths. What made it easier though was Padma. The girl, like Saffron, felt an eerie sense of loss notably in Astronomy, as Olly sat beside the two of them. They voiced their thoughts about every single class that they attended.

"He's going to be so annoyed that he's missed this," Padma was telling Saffron with sadness, as January swiftly turned into February, due to the clock passing midnight on the thirty first. "It's going to annoy him so much that he'll be behind with school work,"

"I would have prefered me to get petrified since I don't care that much," said Saffron truthfully. She wasn't lying. She would have switched places with Olly or Emilia or even Colin. They evidently would have wanted to continue their magical education more than she did. It wasn't that Saffron didn't enjoy it, but she just wasn't a natural hard worker and had little motivation when it came to school work.

"Well, Olly wouldn't like that," Padma told her earnestly, shaking her head. "I suppose he'll be happy to have something interesting to write to Locklan about,"

With that, Saffron's stomach churned. She still couldn't get Olly's letter to his brother out of her mind. It echoed through it in a chilling manner daily. It weighed heavily on Saffron's mind that his poor brother wouldn't be able to comprehend why his older brother had suddenly stopped sending him letters. Of course, the school probably gave Olly's family a reason but since his family were Muggles, they wouldn't understand.

"Have you talked to them at all?" Saffron asked Padma stiffly, adjusting her telescope carefully as she attempted to half-listen to Professor Sinistra.

"Sometimes we send them letters," Padma told her, the 'we' referred to herself, Terry and Lisa. "His mum doesn't really write anything, Olly's always said that she's never really gotten used to him being magic. She sort of stays away from it as much as possible. But his brother had responded a few times," She paused, contemplating whether or not she should reveal what she went onto reveal. "We've been thinking about sending him this letter that Olly wrote for him the night it happened, but we didn't want to upset him. I-- It was awful having to read it, I cried about it for a day, and well, I suppose we should let Olly send that letter when he's able to,"

Saffron bit her lip, still feeling guilty for being so invasive. "Yeah, I'd say that's the right thing to do. Hopefully, that'll be sooner rather than later,"

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But it turned out to be sooner rather than later, as Olly remained petrified until Valentines Day, which just so happened to be his birthday. The fact that the boy, or now the teenage boy, was missing his transition into being a teenager. Saffron got Maya to get her a card from Hogsmeade Village and she went to take it down to the Hospital Wing with Parvati, the only one of the girls who were awake in their dormitory when Saffron intended to go (Lavender was fast asleep and Hermione was already up and out). It felt much better to go with Parvati than alone, in general, it felt much better going anywhere going with someone else as it made her feel safer, even if it wasn't the case.

There hadn't been any attacks since before Christmas, making people feel like perhaps the Heir of Slytherin had been stopped somehow or had decided themselves to stop. Parvati, though, didn't subscribe to this viewpoint and was sceptical.

"Whatever this monster is, it's just biding its time. Mark my words," she told Saffron solemnly as they approached the hospital wing. "Some people will be wishing they got petrified sooner so they don't have to face whatever happens next,"

"I think you're right," said Saffron in agreement, knocking on the door of the hospital wing. "It seems far too convenient,"

The door swung open a second later and Saffron grinned when she saw Amanda standing there.

"Morning, Saffron, Padma" greeted Amanda brightly.

"Oh, I'm not Padma," Parvati informed her quickly, rolling her hands under her jumper uncomfortably. "I'm her twin, Parvati,"

"Really?" blinked Amanda in surprise. "Padma never mentioned that she had a twin, well, it's nice to meet you, Parvati. I take it the two of you are here to see Olly, his brother sent us a very specific envelope this morning. Told us that we could open it, it was a card. He wants him to see it once he wakes up,"

"Yeah," nodded Saffron, yet again touched by his little brother and saddened at how hard it must be for him. They followed Amanda over to the curtained off bed that belonged to Olly. She pulled open the curtains so they could walk in. Parvati asked Amanda a question once they got there. Meanwhile, Saffron placed her card beside the one he got from his brother, opting not to read something that belonged to him this time.

"How long will it take for the Mandrakes to be ready?" Parvati asked Amanda curiously, as Saffron stared at Olly's face as she usually did, trying to get any sort of read as to how he had felt in those final moments. But she never got anything out of it to other than the solidification of her prior thought that it was merely a look of surprise at something.

"It's just a matter of waiting for their acne to clear up," Amanda said bracingly, her eyes on Saffron who was staring absently at Olly whilst she spoke. "Once that happens, they'll be repotted again. Then they'll be cut up and stewed, once that happens we'll be able to revive everyone," She paused. "I'll leave you girls to it, I have Stuart Bletchley to contend with, poor thing had an allergic reaction to some snargaluff pods, he keeps breaking out in sweats every few minutes,"

"Thanks for letting us in," smiled Saffron appreciably.

"No bother at all," replied Amanda as she pulled the curtain open to let herself out.

There was a beat of silence in which both girls stared down at the petrified Olly. It broke only when Parvati decided to voice her opinion on a certain subject that she never would have voiced her true view on had Lavender been there.

"I think it's really nice that you have a boy that's your friend," Parvati said with honesty. "I know you have the boys in Gryffindor like I do too, but I don't really think they count. But outside of that, I haven't really talked to anyone, so I think it's great that you have Olly as a friend, Padma never stops going on about him. . . in a good way, of course,"

Saffron sighed. "I never really did anything to get him to even talk to me. I never talked to anyone else outside of all of you, he just started talking to me after that night in Astronomy, when I thought he'd hate me. It sort of just snowballed from there,"

"And I'm sure it'll keep snowballing when he sees you wrote that for him," said Parvati pointing at the card on his bedside table. "Lavender would try and make it into something more than it is," She stifled a small laugh. "But I know that it's not that, which it's what's so great about it,"

Saffron just offered her a feeble smile. At least Parvati was saying it how it was, but she couldn't help but feel like what she had originally seen as Parvati's actual opinion was a fabrication to try and get something else out of her. Regardless, she wasn't going to get her to admit anything. Quite simply because there was nothing to admit, nothing at all.