Angel//Fred Weasley

Eileen Prince

Suddenly Seymour - Alan Menken "Sweet understanding Seymour's your friend"

After the first week of school finally came to an end Gem started to feel comfortable at Hogwarts. She had yet to receive a response back from her parents or even from her brother , although she did not blame Draco their father was strict and rarely allowed them to write to anyone. No matter how her father treated her she always strived to make him proud , even if it made her unhappy. During the weekend she spent her time in the library continuing to read about all kinds of potions , they really fascinated her , just a couple of simple ingredients could great the most deadliest potion. Sunday night before dinner she was in the library when Brian came up to her , "don't you reckon you deserve a break from all this reading , I was hoping you would want to take a walk with me" , Gem mauled over the idea and gave in after all she was reading two chapters ahead of the lesson. They walked in silence as they reached the court yard where they sat on a bench , Gem felt awkward, she was never really into entertaining company she was so used to being alone , there was a time at home when her father hosted many parties to the pureblood families but after saying her hellos she would head straight upstairs to her room , she would read her muggle books or have talks with Dobby. Although she was now away from home , somewhere she actually felt comfortable so she should try her best to make friends or at least have some decent conversations , "how did your first week go" she spoke softly , "well its been okay , you know even though it's the first week they assigned a lot of homework , especially in muggle studies , I don't even know why someone would want to learn about them and their bland world when we have a world full of magic" , Gem did not know what to say , she enjoyed muggle studies , she learned that muggles were quite fascinating , they had so many choices in jobs and they had to learn actual skills instead of spells that would do all the work for witches and wizards. Gem wanted to be a healer , she read about something called doctors which she learned was similar to a healer , except not really , doctors had skills she had never heard of , they could help people with nothing but their hands and a couple of random tools. "Well its best if we head over for dinner" she said , they walked together again and in silence , when they reached the Great Hall they parted ways to their table , she sat with Emma and Jenna who seemed so giddy , "we saw you were walking with Brian Avery , he seems to have taken a liking to you" one of them spoke , "really , I haven't noticed , anyways I don't really know him we have spoken a total of three times and we don't seem to have much in common" , they ate and continued to chat , as they all headed to their rooms she bearded Professor Snape yelling at the two red hair boys in her potions class. She looked at them for a spilt second and one of them turned and she caught his eye , she looked down and hurried to her room. She was up at 5am , she spent some of that time reading about more potions , she was so caught up in the book she didn't realize she had missed breakfast , she ran to her first class which was potions , although she was late Professor Snape didn't seem to turn around from writing on the board to acknowledge her , like always she spent the whole class writing notes , as the class was over she was about to step out when Snape called her name asking her to stay back . "You know Gemini you have a really talent for potions don't you , I noticed that you already know most of the potions that I demonstrate" , "yes sir, since I was a little girl my father has had me reading about every subject necessary to be a successful witch" , "Lucius Malfoy is your father am I right" , "yes sir , he is" , "well that's not why I asked you to stay behind Ms. Malfoy , since you seem to have a strong interest for potions and I do know your father very well , I have considered giving you this" , Snape handed her a old book, it was very fragile and torn , it read potions in the front . Gem opened the old book and the book read "Property of the Half Blood Prince" , Snape spoke again "this is the same book that helped me when I attended Hogwarts as a student , now you may leave Ms. Malfoy and do no speak a word of this to anyone" , she just nodded and walked away. Gem had so many questions , one being who was the Half Blood Prince , but she did not want to press the professor further considering she had no idea why he was being generous towards her , maybe she did have a talent for potions and he truly recognized it , but then again he did mention that he did know her father , maybe her father was behind it all , her father probably paid Snape to help her in class because her father didn't believe in her. She thought this over while having lunch , she was brought out of her deep thought when someone yelled "the mail is here" , she didn't think to look up since she knew she would never get a response from her family , suddenly a letter dropped right in front of her , she did not recognize the owl and the address where it came from. She opened it and it was addresses to her from someone named Nymphadora Tonks , she had never heard the name but she read the letter "To Gemini N. Malfoy you may not know who I am but I am your cousin , my mother is my mother' sister although we have never spoken before , I would blame it on the fact that your father does not like my family since I am muggle born , but that is besides the point , the reason I am writing to you is because your mother asked me to , she knew she could not be able to write because of your father but she was able to send Dobby to me to convey the message while your father is away on Ministry business. She wanted me to inform you that she is doing well and that Draco wishes to write to you but it is better that he doesn't , she wants you to know that she is happy for you and she hopes to see you for the holiday , she also wants to inform you to not write home. I know you and I Gemini don't know each other but I hope you listen to your mother and sustain from writing home , if you wish to convey one last message to your mother please write to the address on the back of this , and please make sure it is within the week , we mustn't have your father know that Narcissa has communication with me". Gem was confused and saddened at the same time , was this person really related to her and why would her mother not want her to write home. Against what she was feeling she decided not to write back she was scared that this was a ploy that her father had set up to prove her to be a gullible failure , either way in no time would she be able to travel back home for the holiday , although she would not bring this matter up in fear of being punished . As the time passed by Gem continued to thrive in class , although she focused most of her time on potions she accelerated in all the classes she was taking. As the weeks passed by Gem spent some time trying to figure out who the Half Blood Prince was and what connection he had to Snape. One night she snuck out of her room and into the library , she was able to use a simple potion on Filch that knocked him out for about two hours , she continued to search until she came to halt when she was in the restricted area , she carefully went over and searched through every row almost giving up when she came across a book of magical family trees. Although she doubted she would find useful information in there she decided to look in there , she opened the book and it was blank. She had no idea what to do but then she said Malfoy and the pages came to life , she saw pictures and names of people who were related to her and her family , as she went down she saw many when it came to her mother she went down until she saw the name Nymphadora Tonks , surely there she was listed under her mother's side of the family , so maybe the letter from weeks ago was true. She wanted to continue but that is not what she came to look for , she spoke the name Snape and the page changed , there she saw Professor Snape , his mother was listed as Eileen Prince and his father Tobias Snape , a muggle , it made sense to her , he was the Half Blood Prince. But it did not make sense to her, Professor Snape said he knew her father and Gem's father would not tolerate anyone who was not pure blood how would they know each other. She heard a noise and quickly put the book away , she looked around the corner and saw Filch , she had to leave without him knowing so as he was passing by she took out her wanted and temporarily blinded him , she ran to room hoping no one else would see her. At morning after breakfast she headed to her potions class , it was a normal day until yet again she was called to stay after class by Snape , he waited until the last person left before he spoke "did you find what you were looking for in the restricted area of the library Ms. Malfoy" , "I- um I didn't- I'm sorry" she confessed , "what exactly were you looking for in there" , she couldn't tell the truth now she felt as if she had uncovered a big secret , "nothing specific Professor Snape , I just felt as if I have read every possible book about potions in the library , I wanted to see if there was anything else to read about potions" nice save Gem , she thought to herself , "well as it stands Ms. Malfoy I have to give you detention , tomorrow after school hours please show up to my classroom you will aid me in cleaning up after your classmates" , Gem solemnly nodded and headed out. She was ashamed of herself , what would her father think if he ever found out surely she would be severely punished , she decided not to think about it anymore but went on with her day in a haze. Before dinner she headed to study in study hall , when she walked in she noticed Snape was chaperoning and she kept her head down feeling embarrassed. She sat down at the end of the table closest to the door , she was concentrated on her homework when she heard someone cause ruckus at the opposite end of the table she was sitting at. This time she recognized who it was , it was the two twin boys who had hair like fire , they were in Gem's potions class where she learned their names were Fred and George Weasley , they were always causing troubling in and out of class , they were laughing loudly and throwing things , until Snape came up behind them and yelled "detention , tomorrow afternoon in my class". "At least someone else with be there to help me tomorrow" Gem thought to herself. Before she knew it , it was the next day and she was in her last class with Professor Flitwick , Gem did not want the class to end dreading detention with Snape but before she knew it she was walking towards his classroom , there he stood at the front with the other two boys already there. "For the next two hours all three of you will be cleaning up after your classmates and some of their failed potions , I will be in my office".