One of the very few things Ben liked about the Walker Manor was that it was incredibly huge. You could scream at the top of your lungs until your throat burned and someone on the other side of the house wouldn't hear you.

Ben could attest to that.

However, Katherine Walker had the sight of a hawk and the hearing of an owl, which meant the boy had to be extremely careful while wandering around the house.

The perfect moment was after he made sure his parents and his sisters were asleep, when he knew the portraits of the corridor weren't interested enough to start screaming and wake up the whole family, when not even the house elves were awake.

That was when he left his bedroom in order to calm himself down after staying there the whole day, only going outside to have lunch and dinner with his family.

A lot had changed since Christmas. He kept the promise he had made to Audrey, the one about not arguing with his parents. It was being burdensome to put up with all kinds of comments, insults and teasing made to provoke him.

Because that was what they wanted, what they always did.

They were never the ones to attack first, at least not directly. They waited for their son's patience to run out, until his heart began beating furiously in his chest, his blood pounded in his ears and felt gusts of anger coursing through his veins, and couldn't hold his words back anymore.

And that was when they attacked, when Ben had already exploded and yelled things he'd later wish had never been said, because they knew they could turn everything around to make him believe that it was all his fault, and that he deserved what they had done to him.

"Who's that?" called a hesitant voice from the pantry. Ben peered into the room, holding his breath. "Oh, it's just you."

Audrey was sitting in the corner of the dark room, half hidden behind some boxes, with a piece of parchment on her left hand and a quill full of ink in the other.

"What are you doing here?" asked Ben, stepping into the pantry.

"Nothing, go away."

"If you get caught you'll be in big trouble."

"So will you," she pointed out. "You're out of bed too, wandering around as you always do."

Ben decided to ignore that. "You're writing to Steve, aren't you?" her angry expression vanished with the mention of his name. She left her quill in a nearby box, next to her ink. "Are you ever going to tell Mother and Father about him?"

"They already know."

"Not the truth about him, though," he reasoned, and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Don't they still think he's a Slytherin?"

"You know what will happen if they find out the truth," she hugged her knees, staring at the letter on her lap.

"So, you are just going to keep him as a secret forever?"

"I guess."

"What's the point of loving someone if you are scared of what people will think?"

The girl's lips pursed, her forehead wrinkled and her eyebrows furrowed as she directed her gaze, once again full of anger, towards her brother

"You clearly don't understand any of this, do you?" She hissed, approaching Ben. "It's not that easy."

"I know it's not easy, but-"

"No!" she shouted. "You don't know! You have no idea of anything!"

"Shut up, Audrey!" he growled under his breath.

"Excuse me?" She threw her head back, surprised that her brother would raise his voice at her like that. They were never too nice to each other, but he always had a slight respect towards her. No, not respect, fear.

"You're excused," he spat bitterly. "In case you've forgotten while you were getting mad at me, I remind you that mother and father can hear us."

"Oh, of course we can hear you." Spoke a slow, cold voice from behind the boy, chilling his blood.

Oh no.

———————————————

Ben thought that summer had been the worst one in his whole existence. After his father had heard Audrey and Ben talking that night, it had all gone much worse. The girl had panicked, and had lied to Sébastian, telling him that she had caught Ben trying to talk to his friends, and he ended up locked in his room once again.

However, that time they had been nice enough to make Deedee bring him food, so he didn't have to resort to reserves again.

He was so furious at his sister he would've murdered her if he had had the chance. He hated how, less than a year ago, she had promised she'd try to protect him, yet she hadn't thought it twice before lying to get him into trouble and keeping herself safe.

How could someone be so selfish?

But his parents' anger and his own anger towards Audrey weren't what had made that summer so awful. It was the fact that Alycia wasn't talking to him.

He didn't know if he had done anything wrong, and he was sure he would've remembered if he had hurt the person he cared the most for. That's why he supposed it had something to do with his parents, so he tried to sneak out of his room through the trees, as he did on Christmas, in order to ask her.

But it didn't work. Instead, he got caught again and earned a black eye.

She didn't go to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on September first, and he had to pretend he wasn't hurt by it. Ebony brought Audrey and Ben to the station, but she had to leave as soon as they entered the platform, like Katherine had instructed her.

So the two siblings were trying to find any of their friends after leaving their trunk in a compartment, without saying a word, of course. It had been like that all summer, silently glaring at each other every time they had to be in the same room.

"Ben!"

Before he had time to react, a girl threw herself into his arms, hugging him warmly. He didn't have to see who she was to know it; the mop of bushy brown hair that covered his face as she hugged him gave Hermione Granger away.

"Hi, Hermione!"

"I'm so glad you're okay!"

She pulled away from him and gave him a bright smile, which disappeared when she examined his face and saw his eye. However, she didn't mention it and turned to Audrey.

"Good morning, I suppose you are Audrey, Ben's older sister," the older girl looked down at her with an awkward look. "I'm Hermione Granger."

Audrey's eyes widened, an amused glow sparkling on them. "Oh, so she's the mudblood-"

"Let's go, Hermione!" Ben shouted a bit too loudly, wishing his friend hadn't heard it as he grabbed Hermione's hand and dragged her to the train to get them both away from Audrey.

"What's wrong?" She asked, confused. "What did that last word mean?"

"It's nothing."

"It sounded rude."

"Everything Audrey says sounds rude."

Hermione laughed as she entered a compartment where she had left her stuff, probably thinking he was just joking. Ben hurried to sit next to the window, and the girl sat in front of him.

"It's almost time..." she mumbled, looking at her clock. "And Harry and Ron aren't here yet."

"Perhaps they're a bit late," shrugged Ben, tapping his fingers on the window as his eyes scanned the crowd outside, trying to see his friends.

The train began moving slowly, leaving the platform behind. Hermione and Ben shared looks.

"Ugh, I bet they got into trouble!"

"Don't worry, Hermione, okay?" he said, trying to calm his friend down. "Look, they might just haven't seen us, so they're in some other compartment. Or maybe they are searching for each other."

"No, Ron and Harry are together."

"What?" He frowned.

"Harry has been with the Weasleys for a while," she explained. "I met them in Diagon Alley buying our books."

"Oh," he whispered, ignoring a slight anger deep inside.

There was a very uncomfortable silence.

"Ben," Hermione called, staring at the floor. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"It's fine if you don't want to answer," she said in a very low voice, like she was going to tell him a dark secret. "If so, just tell me and I won't talk about it-"

"Hermione, straight to the point please, you're worrying me."

"Yeah, sorry," she laughed awkwardly. "So, well... You know, during the summer Ron and I sent you quite a few letters. And you didn't answer, so I was wondering if something happened-"

"Oh... No, everything's fine. I'm really sorry I didn't reply, I have been very busy," he made his best attempt to sound as though he was telling the truth, playing with his fingers. He didn't enjoy lying to a friend, but what else could he do?

"Oh, okay," she leaned back on her seat, visibly not too happy about his response.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, I just... Ron and I were very worried. You could've at least told us you were alright and that you didn't want to talk."

"No, it's not that- I did want to talk to you, probably more than anything," he said uncomfortably, having trouble explaining himself. "Look, it's just that my parents didn't want me to. They burned the letters before I could see them, and that's why I couldn't answer, I didn't even know they had been sent in the first place."

Was that a good answer? He didn't know.

"That's awful!" She exclaimed angrily. "They can't isolate you from people outside of your family by force!"

If only she knew he had been isolated from his own family, too.

"I sent Harry a letter, though," he explained. "Telling him what happened, and asking him to tell you that, because I really couldn't risk writing two more letters."

"Did you?" Hermione seemed surprised, as though she had never heard about any letter. Maybe she hadn't. "Harry didn't tell us anything about it, or at least I don't remember it."

Ben frowned, wondering why Harry had kept it from them. But he didn't speak about it any longer, knowing he had risked a lot by confessing part of the truth. Luckily, Hermione began telling him about her holidays, and about the books she had read during summer.

———————————————

"I swear, Ben, I'm going to kill those two as soon as I see them!" yelled Hermione, walking at a very fast pace, stomping angrily.

"I'm afraid I might have to do something if you really try to murder them, Hermione," commented Ben, following her around the corridors.

The girl was too mad to listen to him. "It's incredible, can't they stay out of trouble for once? Is it really that hard to just act like normal human beings?"

"Hermione, please, can you go slower? I'm tired," panted Ben, stopping.

"Not until we find them!" She hissed, grabbing his wrist and dragging him down the stairs.

She had been extremely mad ever since she heard Seamus and Dean say they had seen Harry and Ron with Filch outside. She had decided to go find them before curfew, and she had forced Ben to go with her.

"Password?" Ben heard the Fat Lady's portrait ask from the end of the corridor.

"I think I found them," he smirked, watching Ron and Harry stare at Elizabeth's portrait.

Hermione dashed towards them angrily, still dragging Ben, almost dislocating his wrist.

"There you are! Where have you been?" She shouted, sounding like Professor McGonagall.

"Hello!" Ben smiled at them. Harry and Ron turned to him with a weird look.

"You're alive!" exclaimed Ron, who looked even taller than last year.

"Of course I am," he smirked. "You guys won't get rid of me so easily."

"We were so worried about you," announced Harry as Ron nodded. He didn't seem to have grown a lot in comparison to Ron, though he did seem older, and his eyes were even brighter than last year, if that was even possible.

"I sent you a letter telling you what happened!"

Harry's smile turned into a frown. "What?"

"Yeah, the day before your birthday. Didn't you receive it?"

"He doesn't know about Dobby, Harry," Ron reminded his friend.

"Dobby?" Ben repeated. "As in one of the Malfoy's house elves?"

Harry nodded. "It's a long story, I'll tell it to you later."

"But now tell us what happened this summer, why weren't you answering our letters?" inquired Ron.

"No! You two will tell me what happened before!" Hermione was red in the face. "Why weren't you on the train? Why did you miss the sorting ceremony? WHY CAN'T YOU STAY OUT OF TROUBLE!?"

Ben thought it would be a better idea to have that conversation inside the common room, so he approached Elizabeth's portrait. "Wattlebird."

It swung open, revealing the entrance. Ben took advantage of the fact that Hermione was still holding his hand- well, rather squeezing it, unaware that it was hurting him- to drag her into the common room, followed by Ron and Harry.

"Why are you holding hands?" asked Ron, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, she was just torturing me by making me walk all over the bloody castle trying to look for you. Nothing serious."

"Now explain what happened!" yelled Hermione, letting go of Ben's hand, which had marks on the wrist.

"When we were at the station, we were going to get through the barrier, but it was closed, so we bumped into it- It was quite painful, really-. Ron decided to use his father's flying car, but didn't make it turn invisible at first, so a couple of muggles saw us. After a while we drove onto the train tracks, and realised the train was literally behind us, so Ron took a very sharp turn that made me fall out of the car, and I almost died... But I didn't in the end, which is brilliant. Then we came here and crashed into this tree, the Whomping Willow, and we almost died again." Harry said all of that in less than fifteen seconds. "Oh, but we didn't. We got caught by Filch, instead. And we almost got spelled but, once again, we didn't."

"You were seen by muggles?" shrieked Hermione, looking like she was about to have a heart attack.

"You went on a flying car without me?!" Ben exclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry..."

"Don't worry, the next time we steal a flying car and crash into a tree, we'll take you with us," joked Harry.

"You better!"

"Now, tell us, what happened to you?"

"Um, so my parents didn't want me to talk to any of you, and burned the letters as soon as they arrived, before I could see them.

"Did they do that to you, then?" asked Harry, glancing at Ben's black eye.

"No, I just fell," he lied, and let out a fake laugh for realism. "I tried to send you a letter, Harry, the day before your birthday."

"Dobby must've hidden it then, because I didn't see it."

"Why would Malfoy's house elf steal your letters?"

"He was trying to warn me, he says there's a big danger this year here at Hogwarts, and that I shouldn't come," explained Harry as the four Gryffindors sat on the sofas in front of the fireplace.

"But why did he steal your letters?"

"He thought that, if I thought you four had forgotten me, I wouldn't want to come back, but here I am!"

"I'm glad you are!"

It was already dark outside, the dim and clear light of the moon filtered through the windows of the common room, illuminating its interior. With the crackling of the fire, along with the feeling of soft warmth and his friends' laughter, it was impossible for Ben not to feel at home.

He had truly missed him, much more than he thought he would. He didn't know how he would be able to survive the next summer, but he brushed off the thought of it. There were still many months left until he would have to worry about going back to the Walker Manor, and he refused to let himself be affected by his parents even there, hundreds of miles away from them.