Thank you guys for all the wonderful reviews! Seriously, 68 reviews is awesome. And I love that you guys are invested enough to make suggestions and stuff, but I need to clear a few things up.

So some of you seem to have your heart set on Bill Cipher making an appearance. And I'm sorry about this, but no. He's knocked out of existence right now, and if he returns he won't come back as a powerful triangle, that's for sure. And he certainly won't come back in this story. If I had him come back it'd totally knock the direction of this story in a completely different way. But I do like the idea of a boggart scene. I can work with that (but Bill wouldn't come back even as a boggart. The twins have different fears now. Sorry).

And I'm going to be straight with y'all. I'm not sure when the next chapter will come out. I don't have a lot of time for writing anymore. I can't stay up late like I used to, otherwise I get sick. I have to be up at 5 AM four out of the seven days of the week because of my seminary, plus school and homework. Any free time I have usually goes to my drawing or book. But I do have the basis laid out for the next chapter. I'll try to find the time to clean it up this week. And since we finish the first section of our story in this chapter, maybe I can find motivation again to dedicate more time to this.

But hopefully this is a good chapter for you guys. I'm not sure if I'm happy with it, but it was a personal goal to reach this section. So I hope it's okay and not as awkward as it feels to me. R&R.

Chapter 16: Contact

Harry, Ron, and Hermione were packing up their bags. They had just finished Transfiguration and were eager to go. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be.

"You may all go, except for you three." She pointed to them, "May I speak to you after class?"

"Err, yes?" Harry said, though it sounded more like a question than an answer. McGonagall nodded and retreated to her desk, patiently waiting for the room to be sufficiently empty.

Ron gave them worried looks. "What did we do this time?"

"Perhaps this is about the little sneak out you did with Mabel," Hermione muttered bitterly.

"Oh, c'mon. You're not still mad about that, are you?"

Hermione didn't answer verbally, but her glare was more than enough. Harry got between them. "Oh, cut it out you two. We don't want a duel in front of McGonagall, do you?"

Once the classroom emptied and there was no one but them and McGonagall left, they sat themselves in front of her desk. Hermione bit her lip uncomfortably (even though she knew she did nothing wrong) and awaited whatever scolding was in store.

"I wanted to start this off by saying thank you."

Harry didn't think he heard correctly. "You—what?"

"For being so good to Ms. Pines. Though she hides it well, I know this year has been unimaginable hard for her. And to have such good friends—"

"I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about." Hermione was never one to interrupt a teacher, but she always made sure to let them be aware if she didn't understand something.

McGonagall looked surprised. "Surely, she's told you? About her brother, Dipper?"

They exchanged clueless looks and sounds of confusion. "Err… no, I can't say she has."

The Professor sighed deeply, "Of course she hasn't… well, I hardly think it is my place to tell you, but knowing you three, you will find out anyways." She straightened and folded her hands over the desk. "Mabel's brother, Dipper Pines, went missing minutes before boarding the train to Hogwarts. They were very close, and I wanted to thank you for helping a younger student through these tough times."

Hermione covered her mouth, "That's awful!"

Harry leaned forward in his seat, "What happened to him?"

"We don't know. Ms. Pines' memory was erased during the incident, and thus far there have been no leads."

Ron looked away and nodded in agreement. He remembered when Ginny went missing in the basilisk's chamber. Even though it was only for a few hours, it was terrifying to think about what could've happened. But at least he knew what was going on. He couldn't imagine going for months without knowing where she was or what happened to her. It would drive him mad. "How old was he?"

"Same age. They were twins."

"Twins!" Great, now he felt even worse. He couldn't imagine Fred and George apart.

"Absolutely no information?" Harry asked, "No leads whatsoever? I mean, there must be something. Right?"

The old Professor seemed to age by the minute. Her eyes were long and hands were clasped. "None."

"That's awful," Hermione repeated quietly, as if she couldn't believe it. "Poor Mabel…"

There was a moment of thoughtful silence as they processed the information. Then McGonagall shook her head and rearranged herself. "Well, that was what I wanted to say. I trust that you won't bring it up to her? She must've been keeping it a secret for a reason. And please, don't launch an investigation by yourselves."

Harry nodded thoughtfully as he got out of his seat to leave. Hermione and Ron followed his lead and started for the door.

"I mean it," she repeated sternly, "Don't go looking into this. They've already got people on the job."

"Yes Professor. Thank you Professor." They closed the door behind them and Ron faced his friends.

"So we're totally looking into this, right?"

"Yes."

"Definitely," Hermione agreed. "I can't believe she would keep something like that secret!"

"I've always imagined Mabel as an open book. But I guess she has more secrets than we thought," Harry muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"I mean, I guess I can understand it… in a way," Hermione contemplated, trying to see from Mabel's point of view. "I wouldn't want to talk about it either."

"But that girl talks constantly."

"Maybe she has talked about it," Ron interjected, his voice quiet. "But we just ignored her."

Harry shifted uncomfortably, "What'd you mean by that, Ron?"

"Oh, come off it. Don't tell me that you haven't tuned her out before! I do it all the time. Maybe she's talked about 'Dipper' before, but we've never listened."

"It's possible," Hermione shrugged, "But she says so many strange things it's hard to decipher reality from truth. Yesterday, we had an argument over whether or not unicorns were evil."

Despite the heavy mood, Ron snorted. "Honestly?"

Harry shook his head and rummaged through his bag. "Look, I'd love to stay here and talk about the intricacies of Mabel, but I've got class. And besides, we've got enough 'mysteries' on our plate as it is. If you're so curious, why don't you just go up and ask her?"

She lifted her chin, "Well, maybe I will."

"I've got classes too," Ron sighed. "See you later 'Mione."

Mabel rocked on her feet. She looked to the one on her left—pretty sure he was Crabbe. "So….. do we just sit here, or...?"

Crabbe looked panicked for a second, as if he wasn't used to being asked things. He mumbled something incomprehensible and shrugged his shoulders. He turned his back to her and focused on the scales in his hand. Mabel frowned.

Draco had said that they were given polyjuice potion to look disguise themselves. Even with their limited vocabulary, it was clear they were not happy with their current female forms. Mabel tried making conversation with them, but they were either unwilling or unable to. The one who she thought was Goyle was on the other end of the hallway. She skipped over to him, hoping he was a bit more entertaining.

"Hey! I was just wondering how long we'll be out here. See, I've got classes and—"

"Until Draco comes out," he mumbled. His voice was surprisingly soft for someone so large.

"Yup. Any idea how long that will be?"

He scowled at her. "Don't question authority, Mudblood."

Okay. Wow. Rude. She briefly remembered Ford's advice about the elbow being the hardest part of the body, but thought better of it. She shrugged and backed away, settling for the section of wall between them. Mabel considered walking away and doing something else, but she really needed to help Draco. It was hard enough getting lookout duty (as boring as it may be), and she wasn't about mess it up. She leaned against the wall and set her scales down. From inside her pockets, she pulled out a set of knitting needles and a spool of yarn. 'Well, looks like this'll be a while. Might as well make the best of it.'

Knitting will help make time fly, and hopefully distract her from negative thoughts. Like Dipper and Weirdmaggedon and stuff. But the real question was who she should make the sweater for.

The Pines girl pulled out her wand and stared at the colorless yarn. Turns out magic was super handy when it came to Arts n' Crafts. So far, she's learned how to make Glitter Bombs, Moving Stickers, Glowing Hats, and how to change the color of yarn; so she doesn't have to carry fifty spools everywhere she went. McGonagall taught her most of the spells, at Mabel's request. She really liked Professor McGonagall. She was super helpful and nice. Maybe she should make a sweater for her?

Liking the idea, Mabel changed the white spool to red and began knitting.

Before she could get very far, however, the wall rumbled and changed to a door. And from it, Draco emerged, looking simultaneously frustrated and determined. "I'm off to the library," he announced. "Don't wait up."

Crabbe and Goyle exchanged confused looks before chasing after him. Mabel remained on the floor, with the very beginnings of a sweater hanging from her knitting needles. She blinked, unsure what to do. On one hand, she could stay here until she needed to go to her next class, or she could follow him and possibly irritate him more. Mabel wasn't stupid. She knew Draco didn't like her. But she had been hoping that her boundless optimism and charm would eventually win him over.

Before she could decide, however, several loud thumps and a curse came from down the hall. Mabel's head snapped to the side and saw who other than Hermione, surrounded by countless numbers of fallen books. Mabel guessed she dropped them. "Ooh! Let me help you!"

Hermione looked up and smiled and Mabel. She quickly shook her head, "No, it's okay. I've got it." She took out her wand and the books arranged themselves into neat piles and started to float.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?"

"Old habits, I suppose." She crossed the hall and stood in front of Mabel, books behind her. She looked down at her knitting needles, "You knit?"

"Only every day of my life!"

Hermione grinned, "Brilliant! I knit too, you see. For the house elves mostly. May I sit down?"

"Nope, I'm saving this spot for someone else." Mabel laughed and shoved her, "It's for you, you doy!"

"Haha, ow." She sat down and rubbed her hip. Mabel was surprisingly strong. "What are you working on?"

"A sweater for my favorite Professor! The Madame McGonagall." She snickered at the nickname and Hermione laughed along uneasily, not really finding it funny but knew it was necessary for the questions she was about to ask.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Hermione finally found a good icebreaker. "My parents of dentists, you know."

"Dentists?"

"Mm-hmm. I'm muggle-born, you see. I'm an only child. It was quite a shock for them when I got my letter—"

"What's 'muggle-born?'"

"It's where both of your parents are non-magical."

"Oh!" she nodded in understanding, as if it all made sense. "You mean Mudblood! I'm a Mudblood too. No wizards in my family!"

Hermione looked at her in shock. "Don't say that! Mudblood is a very insulting term. Who on Earth told you otherwise?"

The girl shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Um… haha. I don't really, uh—"

"You know what? It doesn't matter." They were getting off topic. "Do you have any family?"

She perked up. "Yeah! Mom and Dad and Grunkle Stan and Ford and Dipper! There's also Soos and Wendy who are great friends. Dipper used to have a crush on Wendy but he's way too young for her. He's such a nerd…"

Well, that was easier than she thought it'd be. "Who's Dipper?"

Mabel's smile became softer. "My twin brother. He's honestly the best brother in the world. Really smart too." She paused, "'Wish he'd shower more."

"Was he a wizard?"

"Yeah! He got the letter, like I did. Dipper was super excited to come. But uh… H-he, um… disappeared before we could. Some creepo took him."

"That's awful. I'm so sorry." Wow, this was much easier than Hermione thought it'd be. For someone who was supposedly tight-lipped about her family, Mabel was being unexpectedly open. Hermione almost felt bad, actually. She had prepared herself for prying, but now that this very personal information was given freely, the intellectual girl felt almost guilty. But this didn't deter her from the questions. "Do you remember anything?"

It didn't occur to Hermione until after she asked that Mabel hadn't told her that her memory was erased yet. Thankfully, Mabel seemed too distracted with her own thoughts to notice Granger's slip-up.

"No! Nope! Completely blank!" Her head shook quickly, hair going everywhere. Some strands got tangled in her knitting needles. "They erased my memory."

"I'm sorry. Were… were you two close?"

"Definitely. We were the Mystery Twins! We work really well together, like peanut butter and jelly. Dipper and I were always together. It's uh…" she trailed off and she gripped her knitting needles. Mabel noticed for the past few months, she had been avoiding any thoughts relating to Dipper. And now that she had to talk about him… it stung. "I miss him. A lot."

Mabel's voice cracked and Hermione's heart broke. 'This was a stupid idea. You don't go prying into these things for the sake of curiosity.' The younger girl was clearly uncomfortable. This was stupid stupid stu—

"Want to hear a story about him?"

"I… what?"

"Want to hear a story?" she leaned against the wall. "He saved me from a bunch of gnomes once."

"You don't have to—"

"I want to," Mabel answered firmly.

Hermione was surprised at the determination in her eyes. "Yes, Mabel. I would love to hear a story."

"Okay. So at the beginning of Summer I was on an epic quest to find the perfect summer romance…" Mabel then spun a tale about zombies and gnomes and mysterious journals. Grumpy uncles and paranoid brothers and stacked-up monsters. Hermione was constantly torn between belief and disbelief, but the story was nonetheless fascinating. Mabel had a talent for telling stories. She knew how to build suspense, and kept the listener engaged with body motions.

She was in the middle of explaining how exactly they used a leaf blower to defeat a gnome army when she slapped her forehead. "Oh shoot! I forgot I had class!"

Hermione found herself disappointed as she watched the girl stuff her needles into her pockets and return the scales to her bag. She was enjoying the story. Mabel waved goodbye as she ran off. "I'll tell you the rest later, okay?"

"Alright!"

Mabel disappeared down the hall and Hermione sat back against the wall. "Well, that didn't go as expected." But then again, when has Hermione's life ever gone as expected?

Later that night, Mabel was asleep in her bed. It wasn't something she had intended on doing. In fact, Mabel's least favorite thing to do was sleeping. Too many nightmares and not enough dreams. She usually tried to stay up as long as possible before dropping dead in her covers, because she realized that the more tired she was, the least likely she'd dream.

But this could only work for so long before it catches up and sleep overtakes the victim hours before they planned. This was one of those nights. But for once, maybe it was for the better.

Mabel dreamt of a grey room devoid of all color and objects. Behind her, she heard a voice. "Mabel!"

She turned around and saw Dipper, looking relieved beyond belief. Mabel didn't care if this was just another nightmare, or if he would disappear in her arms, she was just so happy to see him again. "Dipper!" She ran forward with her arms outstretched, but Dipper suddenly backed away and shook his head.

"No! Wait!" He dove to the side and Mabel pulled back just in time. "The connection's too weak, we can't touch."

She instantly sensed that this wasn't an average dream—or nightmare. "Dipper, what is going on?"

"Our dreamscapes. I connected them."

"So you're real?"

Dipper nodded. They observed each other from an awkward distance, wanting to touch but both feeling the boundary of his 'no touch' rule. Dipper looked thinner than he had before, more tired. His shoulders sagged and his robes were worn. He observed her, still in a state of disbelief. Dipper was then overcome with emotion. His hand flew up to his mouth and his eyes watered. "Oh Mabel…"

Mabel rushed to his side and they knelt on the ground together, being very careful not to touch. "I d-didn't think I'd ever see you again…"

"Sh, sh. It's alright," Mabel comforted.

He choked back a sob and nodded. "I know, I know. It's just—" He hugged himself but kept his eyes on Mabel. It's been too long since he'd seen a friendly face, since he'd seen his best friend.

"You're here now. You're safe now."

This could've happened nights ago. He could've seen her nights ago but he forgot to warn her about the weak contact. "I'm so sorry I'm so st-stupid."

Her eyebrows creased. Oh, how she wished she could hug him. He really needed one. "You're not. You're so smart Dipper. You got here on your own, without any help. You're not stupid."

He let those words sink in, nodding. They had so many things to do before they woke up, but—

"Can… can we just sit here for a moment? Please?" Just a moment with his sister. That's all, just a moment. Before they dive back into the craziness.

Mabel nodded and place her hands next to his, again not touching. They sat for an unknown amount of time — hours maybe — finding comfort in each other's presence. Slowly, Dipper's breathing slowed and tears stopped. Mabel felt like crying herself, but didn't. It's been too long since they've seen each other…

The moment was abruptly broken when Mabel spoke.

"Are you okay? Is he treating you okay?"

Dipper shook his head, "No, it's… let's not talk about…" Not yet. She doesn't need to know. Not yet. Too many other important things. "The cabinet. Have you fixed it yet?"

She frowned and wrung her hair uneasily. The expression on her face was all he needed to know.

"No, you haven't. That's… that's okay. How close are you?"

"I… uh, I don't know."

"Don't know?" Dipper's fists clenched. "How could you not know!?"

"The guy I'm working with is a really big jerk, okay? He won't even let me see the cabinet, let alone—"

"What have you been doing this entire time!?" he said it louder than he meant to, but he couldn't help it. He ran his hands through his hair, "You need to fix it, Mabel!"

"I know! I know! I'm sorry. But he's a jerk and—"

"The guys I am with are really big jerks!"

"I'll fix it, okay?" Draco will let her help him, for real this time. And if he doesn't like it, she'll… she'll… "Tomorrow, okay? I'll demand to be let in."

Dipper groaned and covered his face. "I can't believe this."

Suddenly, a voice echoed through the Dreamscape. It was incomprehensible to Mabel, but Dipper understood it. He paled.

"Look, I've g-got to go. I need to wake up right now. Just… please focus on the cabinet, okay?"

She nodded, "Okay."

The screechy voice came again. He flinched wrung his hands. He wasn't ready to go yet. "Tomorrow. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" He stood up and readied himself. "Tomorrow."

He disappeared into vapor.