Sleeping past seven AM the Sunday the tryout results go up is an absolutely impossible task in the Gryffindor Tower. People are up by six, pounding down the stairwells and waking up anyone unfortunate enough to have a bed near their room's door.

A bed that Myr happened to occupy in the second year dorm.

"Good morning sunshine." Charlie Weasley is already up and entirely too chipper in Myr's humble opinion as the Welsh boy struggles to untangle himself from his sheets. "Ready for the big reveal?"

"Ready to cry when you lose out to my awesomeness?" Remi counters from his bed across the room, where he's already dressed and ready to go.

"Patrick is still going to be the Seeker guys, best you'll get is reserves." Brandon grumbles. "Now wouldya keep it down I'm trying to sleep." He rolls over in bed and pulls the pillow over his head pointedly.

Charlie laughs. "Sleep trumps Quidditch. Duly noted." He grins down at Myr. "How about you?"

Myr slings his legs over the side of the bed. "Well I'm up anyway. May as well go see what the fuss is about."

Drake grins, appearing beside Charlie as if by apparation. "That's the spirit! Meet you down there!"

Myr dresses in a sleepy haze and follows his roommates down to the common room, which is already crowded with almost everyone else who had tried out on Monday.

For the most part people are slumping off to the couches in disappointment, but a few of the lucky ones are hugging their friends or jumping around the common room in excitement. Among the celebrators are Charlie and Fiona, while Remi and Evera are both pouting on the couch with a somewhat put-out Drake beside them.

Fiona spots Myr first and waves him over excitedly. "Myr! Come see, you made reserves!"

Myr picks his way over to the notice board, and sure enough he's listed at the bottom with five other reserve players, one of whom is Fiona. However Myr is surprised to see another second year listed in the reserves who isn't Charlie.

"Wait, if Remi is the reserve Seeker why is Charlie..." He trails off when he sees Fiona grinning and pointing higher up on the team roster, where Charlie is listed as the primary Seeker for the team.

Myr takes a moment to process before he turns in confusion towards Charlie. "What happened to Patrick?"

Charlie shrugs. "Maybe he's focusing on school this year? I dunno, you'd have to ask him or Laurel." He then returns to dancing around the common room rather obnoxiously while Remi sinks further down into the couch, glaring at the fireplace and refusing to look at Charlie.

"Bit of a sore winner." Myr comments, looking again at the team list. "Hey, you're reserve for both Keeper and Beater? Good job!"

Fiona just shrugs modestly. "Gives me more of a chance at getting on the pitch sooner, right? Maybe we'll get to be beaters together!"

Myr grins over at her. "Sounds like fun." He looks one more time at his name on the list, and then walks over to join the three on the couch.

"Congrats." Evera sighs when he sits beside her. "But next year for sure you guys will be eating my dust."

"I'm sure." Myr replies honestly. "It was tough competition this year, but a lot of the spots will be opening up in the next two years as people graduate. No way you won't make the team soon."

Evera just sighs again.

"Rough luck little sister." Kent drops down beside them a moment later, tossing an arm around the back of the couch and looking rather like he's not sorry at all. "There's always next year, though Patrick was really the only seventh year and since he apparently left there probably won't be any spots next-" He gets effectively cut off by a sharp elbow to the gut by Drake. Rubbing his stomach and glaring he puts his other hand up in defeat. "Oh alright I'm sorry. I'm sure you'll do fine." He mumbles something else to himself but Myr can't hear it.

"First practice is this Thursday." Laurel's voice rises above the cacophony of mixed excitement and disappointment filling the common room, and everyone pauses their conversations to look over at the team captain, who's standing in the stairwell leading to the girls' rooms. "Eighteen hundred sharp. Anyone who's late will be replaced so look lively. Congratulations to everyone who made it. Now all of you can shut up and keep it down so the rest of us can actually use our sleep in." With that she's vanished back up the stairs.

There's a long moment of silence, but it fills up rather quickly, if not as loudly as before.

"Do reserves have to go to practice?" Myr leans over so he can ask Kent around Evera and Drake.

The Keeper nods. "Yeah. You guys will do warm ups with us and Laurel will usually set you to do some exercises on your own while she works with us. Sometimes you'll sub in but it's pretty rare."

Myr nods. It makes sense that as a reserve he won't really get to practice as much since he probably won't be playing at all during the year, but he's glad he'll still get to be involved somewhat, even if not as much as he'd hoped.

He ends up a bit less enthused when the first practice actually rolls around however. The warm ups prior to the tryouts were easy compared to what Laurel actually puts the team through when they all arrive at the pitch Thursday afternoon.

"Come on people, move it! Cardio won't kill you!" Laurel is jogging backwards nearly two meters in front of the group, shouting what Myr assumes she thinks are encouragements but aren't doing much in the way of making him feel any better about the whole situation.

He is somewhat proud of the fact he's somewhere in the middle of the group rather than at the back. He's never thought of himself as particularly athletic, so the fact he's not struggling quite as much as some of the others is a slight ego boost.

Eventually they complete their three laps of the pitch and Laurel leads them in a few stretches before they begin some stationary exercises.

Halfway through their second set of squats, Remi falls over. "Can I have water?" He requests hopefully from the ground.

Laurel pauses, thinks, and then reluctantly nods. "Right, it is only the first practice for some of you. Alright, take a water break and then we'll get in the air. But next week we're getting through the whole routine, so drink your water before or keep it on hand." He tone is sharp, and the group moves quickly so at to not further irk her.

The primary team takes to the air afterwards, and Myr waves to Charlie as the latter takes off. They'd been ribbing him about 'representing the second years' all week, but as Myr watches the team do a series of aerial maneuvers he can't help but be impressed. Charlie would definitely be doing them proud from the looks of things.

His attention is pulled away from the group in the air when one of the older reserve players clears his throat.

"Alright you three, you're new, so today we'll go easy, but in the future know that I can be as much of a hard as Laurel." The boy in front of them, a fifth year Myr thinks but he isn't quite sure, is rather short, with dark hair and mocha-colored skin that Myr guiltily thinks is the main reason he recognizes the boy  at all. "My name is Connor, and I'll be keeping you all in shape in the case of one of our teammates getting hurt or otherwise disqualified from playing a match."

The other reserve player that Myr doesn't know, a willowy blonde who definitely does not look like she'd be much good on a broom, claps her hands together cheerfully. "Oh don't freak them out this soon Con, that's not very nice." She turns to the three second years and beams. "I'm Rosie, I'm a reserve Chaser and Connor here is as well." She smiles warmly again. "Why don't you three introduce yourselves? We're going to be spending a lot of time together this year after all!"

Once introductions are over, Connor gets them up onto their brooms, though they stay well below the main team's practice. They do a few laps and work on balancing, which proves much harder to do when only using their leg muscles.

"And that's why we never skip leg day." Connor grins after Remi falls off for the sixth time. None of them are having great luck with their balance, though Fiona is definitely the best, having only fallen twice so far. "Laurel will get you three in shape in no time though, and I'd recommend doing some of the squat exercises in your dorm rooms during the week whenever you have time. It helps a ton - just ask Kent."

Rosie rolls her eyes and Myr figures there's a story behind the comment that he doesn't know about. Fiona's giggling supports his suspicions as well.

"Alright, that's enough of that for now. Let's do some speed work, shall we?" Connor decides abruptly, dropping one hand to the broom and waiting for Remi to clamber back onto his before explaining the new task.

"We'll be racing across the pitch. Yes it seems rather easy on the surface, but as you get better at balancing we'll stop holding onto the broom." He grins at the faint nervousness all three of the second years show at the warning. "That won't be for a while though. We can only do so much this low, but being able to increase speed rapidly at a steady altitude is a useful skill in and of itself. Rosie, would you like to demonstrate?"

The blonde girl smiles brightly and flies over so she's hovering next to Connor.

"Alright, go!"

Myr blinks and Rosie is already halfway across the pitch, leaning low over the handle of her broom with her long hair whipping back behind her. She's back beside Connor within five seconds, smiling as carefree as she had been before.

The three second years exchange glances, and then Remi, predictably, pulls up next to Connor.

"That was nothing! I'll do better!"

Connor laughs. "Kid, Rosie's set world records on her broom, no one expects you to beat her."

"Why are you only on reserves then?" Fiona pipes up curiously as Remi takes off across the pitch.

Rosie grins, a faint blush staining her cheeks. "I can't catch the Quaffle. Total butterfingers. I'm going to stick with racing I think, and eventually I hope to carve brooms with the Nimbus Racing Broom Company."

Fiona smiles back. "That's really cool! I have no idea what I want to do."

"Well we're only twelve." Myr points out as Remi makes his turn at the far end of the pitch. "I don't think we need to know yet."

"To be fair Rosie's known since she was seven and got on a broom for the first time." Connor observes, his eyes never leaving Remi as the latter flies back to them. "She's one of the lucky ones who's path is super obvious. I have no idea what I'm doing."

Remi's lap finishes at twenty three seconds, and Connor waves Myr over to do his lap next.

Myr leans low over his broom, excitement sparking through his chest. He hadn't gone as fast as he had during their races the year before in flying class, and he's looking forward to going all out now. As soon as he hears Connor say 'go' he takes off, practically flat against his broomstick.

Everything falls away but the broom and the pitch, and Myr lets himself really get lost in the feeling of flying. He briefly considers slowing down to make the turn at the end of the pitch, but instead he pulls a hairpin turn that sends him skidding a bit to the right. He course corrects and he shoots back towards the other reserve players and he nearly falls off his broom after he has to pull up abruptly so he doesn't slam into Fiona.

Connor raises an eyebrow. "Seventeen seconds. Not bad for a newbie. Alright Fi, let's see what you've got."

As Fiona takes off, Myr takes a moment to reorient himself. Once he does he finds Rosie grinning at him unnervingly.

"Um, hey?"

She giggles. "Sorry, you're quite fast. Have you considered Quidditch or racing as a profession? Just thinking about what we were talking about before."

Myr shrugs. "Maybe. My sister wants to go into politics so I might look into that, but I haven't really thought too much about it."

"I'm going to be a professional Quidditch player!" Remi butts in loudly. "I want to fly for Puddlemere United."

Connor gives a slight side-eye towards Remi from where he's still timing Fiona's lap. "That's a pretty elitist team, they only accept the best. You'll need to get off reserves for that, and no offense but I don't see that happening if you stick with being a Seeker. Bill's little brother has that spot locked in."

Remi glares mutely, and Myr is grateful that Fiona returns moments later.

"Twenty eight seconds. We'll work on it." Connor declares. "Alright, moving on for now, I want to get through all our exercises today."

They spend the remaining fifteen minutes of practice playing what essentially boils down to monkey in the middle, tossing a Quaffle around and trying to keep it away from whoever is closest to them, forcing long passes and plenty of attempted interceptions.

Myr has to admit it's pretty fun, especially when he manages to block a pass between Connor and Remi and subsequently make a successful one to Fiona.

Charlie joins them as they're putting away the equipment, sweaty but grinning. "That was awesome! Laurel had us run a bunch of different exercises and we're going to do more next week! How was it for you guys?"

"Just as awesome!" Fiona responds, eyes still bright with the adrenaline from the game. "Connor says we're going to work up to using bats in that last game by the way." She adds to Myr. "He said to warn you since you ran off as soon as time was over."

Myr shrugs. "I need to finish my Charms essay. I haven't edited yet."

"Sounds like reserves aren't that bad then." Charlie notes as the three of them head back inside. "Where's Remi? I would have thought he'd be here complaining."

"He was talking to Rosie last I checked. I'm sure he'll be up soon."

Myr expects that Fiona may be being a bit optimistic, but he's honestly too jittery from practice to worry about it too much just then. If Remi wants to get himself another detention he could go right ahead.

"So tell me what you guys did!"

Myr has more important things to do.

Really second year isn't all that different from first year for the most part. Rajani isn't sure if she's happy about that or not though.

The first month drifts by rather forgettably, filled with the usual schoolwork and time spent lounging on the common room couches with most of the rest of her year. She wouldn't say it's a bad thing, but she does miss the thrill that came with everything being new.

She of course is on reserves for the Slytherin Quidditch team along with Alasdair, but they don't do much and have only been to one of the five practices the team has held so far.

The others have voiced similar frustrations, and that's what pushes them to finally decide to sneak out after curfew, just to alleviate their own boredom.

Rajani is in charge of getting them around safely - as Nia had put it, "you're the best at schmoozing teachers, so you'll be fine if you're caught." Rajani isn't sure she agrees completely but she does think she's the best option out of the group, aside from maybe Eugene.

They meet in the common room after the prefects finish their final sweep, just past midnight. It's a Friday night,  chosen so that they can sleep in the next day without suspicion. Rajani leads the girls down, including to her surprise a rather enthusiastic Elspeth, who they had thought would decline, as Alasdair and Cadfael had.

Eugene, Lenox, and Finn are already in the common room when the girls arrive. Eugene and Finn look excited and relaxed respectively, while Lenox looks ready to back out.

"Are we sure this is a good idea? I'm not a big fan of rule breaking." He mutters as Rajani pushes open the door and checks both ways before waving the rest of the group out.

"You don't have to come." Finn notes. "Cadfael and Alasdair are both still in the room."

Lenox grimaces and steps past Rajani and into the corridor without another word. She smiles at him supportively.

Truth be told Rajani isn't normally the type to do things like this either, and she can feel her heart pounding against her rib cage as they begin to make their way out of the dungeons. But Nia had been so excited when she'd proposed the idea, and everything sort of spiraled from there. And it's really all harmless fun.

They make it halfway up the stairs to the main hall when they come across the first cat. It's dark brown and stares at them curiously through wide green eyes.

Rajani tenses slightly. She's heard rumor about a cat that apparently reports back to the caretaker and gets students like them into trouble. She's never actually seen Mrs. Norris, but she's been assured by several older students that the cat is real.

"Don't worry, that's just Casey." Nia whispers from behind her. "She's my cousin's cat - he just started at Hogwarts this year."

They continue past Casey, who stares at them blearily, half curious and half bored.

Rajani's heartbeat is pounding in her ears and clogging , a mix of excitement and nervousness eating away at her insides as they stray farther and farther from the safety of the common room and into the heart of the castle.

However, despite her brain's insistence that every shadow is hiding a teacher and every noise is the scraping of Mrs. Norris's claws on the stone floors, the group manages to remain unhindered on their midnight romp for nearly an hour.

Around one in the morning they run into their first actual problem of the night in the form of a vanishing step on one of the fourth floor stairwells. Lenox nearly falls through, and is saved only by Clary and Eugene's quick responses. As the three of them scramble the rest of the way up the stairs, Queenie makes the executive decision to start making their way back towards the dungeons.

Rajani takes a rear position this time, keeping her eyes and ears peeled for even the slightest hint of trouble. It would be rather ridiculous to get this far in their adventure only to be caught in the final stretch. It's only when they're back on the first floor that they realize Elspeth has gone missing.

"I'll go find her." Rajani isn't sure why she volunteers for the task, though she thinks it may have something to do with the flattering idea that she'd be find if caught where the others wouldn't be.

So she splits off and heads back into the castle, wondering where exactly Elspeth would even have gotten to this late in the night.

She starts by carefully retracing their steps, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. It's a lot easier to move around silently when not in a group and she takes full advantage of every possible hiding place available.

She passes a few more student cats, and even a few frogs, and she idly wonders how they even get out of their respective owner's common rooms in the first place. It's not like they have the dexterity to open doors after all.

She makes it all the way back to the fourth floor and the vanishing step without running into anyone - Elspeth included. Sighing she turns around and begins making her way back again. She had tried at least, and the longer she's out the more likely it is her luck will run out and she'll come across a teacher or Mrs. Norris.

Though perhaps she already had crossed the custodian's cat - it's not like she knows what the feline looks like.

The thought has her picking up her pace ever so slightly, and maybe it's because of this that she doesn't spot the other person in the passage until it's too late.

The collision isn't so much painful as it is surprising, and Rajani needs a moment to recover from it and regain her bearings.

Once she does, she's honestly a bit stunned to find the person she's run into is one Cadfael Ashburner. Despite being in the same year and House, Cad was one of the few Slytherins who mostly kept to himself, rather than relying on his fellow snakes as the rest of them tended to.

His eyes narrow as he watches her. "There you are. Everyone got back ages ago, you're going to lose us points."

Rajani narrows her eyes right back. "Well I didn't, and I was just trying to find-" Movement from over Cadfael's shoulder draws her attention, and in a heartbeat she switches the last word. "-you."

Cadfael looks confused, until he turns to follow Rajani's line of sight and sees Professor McGonagall standing at the end of the hall. Rajani can see the boy paling slightly, but her focus remains on the professor in front of them, mind whirling as she attempted to figure out exactly how to worm her way out of this one.

Before she can even begin to formulate a script, McGonagall speaks. "Ten points from Slytherin for being out after hours. Now what exactly are you doing out of bed?"

Cadfael starts to speak, but Rajani beats him to it. She may not have an exact plan yet, but she knows letting Cad talk first would not help her cause in the slightest.

"I'm sorry Professor, I just didn't want Cadfael to get into trouble." She ducks her head in shame. "I had a nightmare so I went to go find my sister - I thought she might be in the common room if she just came back from her rounds. But instead Eugene was there and he said Cad wasn't in their room and he was worried..." She trailed off and ducked her head. "I'm sorry, I know I should have gotten a prefect." Not her best work, but she thinks it may just do the trick. She's immensely glad she's already wearing her nightclothes - it makes the lie that much more believable.

"Quite right." Rajani keeps her head bowed politely as the Professor speaks. "Mr. Ashburner, is this true?"

"No!" Cad quickly denies, looking honestly scared, and Rajani feels a slightest tinge of remorse for pushing the blame onto him. But really, he should have known the risks leaving the common room, and she certainly didn't plan on taking the fall for this.

"She went out, they all did, but everyone else came back! I was looking for her not the other way around!" Cadfael sounds desperate, like he's actively trying to make McGonagall believe him. Rookie mistake number one.

McGonagall raises an eyebrow, clearly unconvinced. "Detention tomorrow with Mr. Filch. And Ms. Misra?"

Rajani looks up uncertainly, chewing subconsciously at her lower lip.

"Next time get a prefect. Now, back to your dorms."

Cadfael can only gape for a moment before Rajani grabs his arm and hauls him back to the common room, thanking the Professor as they go.

Cadfael gets his voice back just as the wall closes behind them. "What the hell Misra?"

Rajani just rolls her eyes. "You should have gotten a prefect if you didn't want to get into trouble. It's one detention, you'll live." With that she heads back up to her room, leaving a spluttering Cadfael behind her.

The other girls were still awake in their dorm room, and Rajani is relieved to see Elspeth lounging on Nia's bed.

"Oh thank goodness, did you get caught?" Clary is almost immediately in her face.

Rajani shakes her head, gently pushing the other girl away so she can get to her own bunk, which she promptly collapses into. "Had a run in with McGonagall but I only lost five points. Cad got the short end of the deal, but really I don't know why he was out of bed in the first place." She yawns loudly. "And now I would like to get some actual sleep before dawn."

They end up sleeping until almost noon, and even then they only wake up because Gwenog Jones kicks the door in and snaps at them about some sort of commotion in the common room.

Queenie wakes up first, with Rajani rousing herself shortly after, and they venture down the stairs together to determine what exactly Gwenog was on about.

To Rajani's surprise, the commotion in question is centered around an absolutely infuriated Cadfael. She's never heard the blond boy shouting - or really seen him show any sort of emotion other than simmering irritation - so she's a bit taken aback at first.

When he spots her standing in the passageway leading to the girls' dorms, Cadfael storms over. "You! You knew!" He accuses, finger stabbing forward angrily.

Rajani just stares at him in confusion. "What are you on about Ashburner? Knew what?" Her mind is still processing things a bit slowly as she hasn't fully woken up yet.

"You knew about the stairs, you were the one who did it! Why else would you be out later than the others? And you knew I'd get blamed for it when you told McGonagall that I was the one sneaking around last night!"

Rajani at this point is completely lost, and she glances over at Queenie to see if she's having any more luck with decoding the situation. However, her friend seems as bewildered as she is.

"What are you on about Cad? What stairs? We only just woke up, you're really going to have to be more specific than that." Queenie instructs, surprisingly decisive despite her clearly still-sleepy state.

"A couple of the stairs leading to the Gryffindor Tower were vanished and a first year nearly fell through. Cadfael got in a ton of trouble but he wasn't actually out there long enough to get all the way to Gryffindor and back." Eugene explains carefully. "Only Rajani was."

Rajani stares, once again needing a moment to mentally catch up with the accusation. "You think that I..." She trails off as a sudden realization hits her. She shakes her head firmly, taking a few steps further into the common room and noting that there are several other students scattered around the room. Most are at least pretending to not be listening in, but Rajani can tell that every one of them is ready to step in if needed, and she fees a strong rush of affection for her house. Snakes always stick together.

"I didn't do anything to the stairs. We were out last night and we thought someone might have gotten lost so I went back to look. It turned out to be a false alarm and I ran into you on my way back. That's the truth of it - Lions may be annoying but vanishing the steps on purpose like that could have actually killed someone, and I'm not the sort of person who finds that amusing." She stares Cadfael down, and he glares back, clearly not accepting the response.

But Eugene backs her up. "It's true Cad. Whoever vanished the stairs it wasn't her, so she didn't mean to frame you for that. It was probably just one of the Gryffindors being stupid - we all know that Longbottom kid would probably do something like that accidentally no problem."

Cadfael keeps glaring, but he slowly sits down on one of the couches. "Fine. But I've got my eye on you Misra."

"Okay whoa, that's enough. You're both Slytherins, and we snakes will always have each other's backs, alright? I'm sure whatever happened, no one intentionally meant for anyone to get hurt." One of the prefects finally cuts in, and Rajani grins when she recognizes Kingsley standing by one of the windows, an essay left forgotten on a table in front of him. "No threatening each other, alright? We get enough of that from the rest of the school."

Queenie grins at her brother as well. "Preach! And hey, since all you older years got some entertainment out of this, who wants to help me with my Charms essay in repayment?"

That gets most of the onlookers to either book it out of the room or become immensely engrossed in their own work, which causes Queenie to burst out laughing.

"Didn't realize Charms was so abhorred. Raj, have you started on it yet? We're up anyway and there's still some time before lunch."

Rajani agrees and trots back up to the dorms to grab the half-parchment of writing that she's scratched out so far. While she's there, she glances towards the bunk furthest back from the door and frowns.

Elspeth is still fast asleep, dark hair casting a messy halo across her pillow, looking as peaceful as Rajani has ever seen her. But Rajani can't help but wonder if the missing stair and Elspeth's disappearance the night before might be connected.

She shakes off the suspicion and heads back down to where Queenie is waiting. Surely Elspeth wouldn't intentionally hurt anyone, and regardless, no one had actually come to any harm. Whatever the truth, snakes stick together, and Rajani doesn't want to cause a rift with Elspeth when the other girl is finally starting to come out of her shell.

And anyway, it probably was just a Gryffindor being stupid.

It's easy to lose herself in her studies. Ana finds herself practically living in the library, and the months drift by out the window as she buries herself in textbooks and additional readings that she finds while perusing the shelves.

It's almost a surprise when the end of October arrives, along with a present from her parents.

"Oh hey, is it your birthday?" Hannah, who Ana has taken to sitting beside at every meal, asks as she eyes the parcel that has been dropped next to Ana's plate as part of the morning mail.

Ana nods distractedly. "I'm thirteen now." She responds. She already has the entire day planned out, including ways to avoid seeing the Great Hall before dinner so that she can fully enjoy the Halloween spirit.

Hannah grins. "Oh man, lucky. I'd kill to be born on a cool day like Halloween. Did you know, some people believe historical events that occurred on their date of birth in the past effects who they become?"

"That sounds like utter pigswill." Sarah sniffs from across the table. Though she holds herself somewhat separate from the rest of the sixth years, she always has an opinion on whatever topic they happen to be discussing. "You can't be affected by events you aren't present for, regardless of their timing in history."

Hannah grins. "Well obviously. I just thought it was interesting how backwards Muggle beliefs can get."

Ana nods. "They're a rather superstitious lot for sure."

"Hey, wizards and witches have plenty of odd beliefs as well I'm sure." Josie Entwhistle, who Ana knows is the only Muggleborn in the sixth year Ravenclaw class, defends from where she's seated on Hannah's other side.

"Like what?" Her boyfriend challenged playfully. Ana is rather certain his name is Horace, but if she's honest she's never spoken to him directly so she isn't quite sure.

Ana is curious to know Josie's answer as well. While she's heard of plenty of strange superstitions and practices among Muggle communities, the Magical world tends to run on a more logical path from what she's seen.

Josie stutters slightly, thinking, when Eric suddenly speaks up from his spot on Ana's other side.

"Well what about the Grim? The idea that a black dog symbolizes death?"

"It does though." Sarah counters smoothly. "It's well known amongst divinators, and I've heard stories about people who died after seeing the Grim. It's well documented."

"Well it seems as silly as thinking a black cat means bad luck to me." Eric shrugs. "Though to be fair I never took Divination." He adds after a moment.

"Divination is a well documented and effective branch of magic." Hannah declares. "Unlike Muggle horoscopes and their other poor attempts at mimicking our abilities."

"I didn't take you for a purist." Josie grumbles, clearly annoyed that she can't think of any wizarding customs that make no sense.

Ana smiles slightly as the group bickers about what qualifies as racism and what is simply stating facts. She bites her own tongue on the matter, knowing that simply being a pureblood will naturally bias some of them against anything she has to add to the conversation (though she's tempted more than a few times to speak up). Instead she turns her attention to the still-wrapped parcel sitting on top of her silverware.

It's obviously a book, unsurprisingly, and Ana hopes it's not one that she already has, or has found in the library during the year.

She tears away the wrapping as she chews on one of the sausages that's she piled onto her plate. Their turn out to be two books inside, both rather thin but when she rifles through the top one she's pleased to see that the writing is rather small and there are no pictures anywhere in either book.

The first one she looks at is a detailed outline of hag culture, which she's rather certain was picked out by her mother. She stores it in her bag and turns to the second tome, which is slightly thicker than the first.

She's thrilled to find that it's a theory book, and not one she's found in the library, discussing higher level spells such as the patronus and the complicated emotional elements of casting. She finds herself becoming immersed in the opening chapters as the debate continues around her.

Thirty minutes later the plates clear themselves and Eric taps lightly on Ana's shoulder to say goodbye. Ana distractedly waves to the sixth years as they head for their classes while she continues studying her new book. After almost an hour however, she reluctantly puts it into her bag and heads down to the dungeons for her double potions block.

She had hoped against hope that Evie and Remi would somehow not cause any catastrophes in class that day, but unfortunately for her she actually ends up partnered with her least favorite house mate.

"I saw you got a present this morning! Is it your birthday? Happy birthday!" Evie grins excitedly as they start in on their hair-raising potion.

Ana just nods shortly in answer to the question as she double checks they have the right amount of rat tails before she begins mincing them.

"Now we're both thirteen! Isn't it cool, being teenagers now?"

Ana doesn't really find it to be particularly different so far, but she chooses to focus on the tails in front of her in hopes Evie will talk herself into exhaustion and perhaps give Ana at least some peace and quiet before the end of the period.

The hour and a half drags by as Ana works on the potion, doing her best to keep Evie far away from the cauldron or any of the ingredients. She refuses to get a detention on her birthday.

Finally the class ends, and Ana rushes to lunch without a second glance back at Evie, who she thinks had been in the middle of a sentence but honestly Ana hadn't been listening. She just wanted to escape the whirlpool of destruction that followed her dorm mate everywhere before it could ruin what was supposed to be the best day of the year.

She sits with the sixth years again, of course, and settles in to continue her new book as the older students discuss essays and other assignments.

"Good book?" Eric guesses with clear amusement as he joins the table about fifteen minutes after everyone else has settled in.

Ana nods distractedly. "Quite intriguing. The intricacies of love potions are really quite astounding."

"Oh hey, we've been studying those in Potions this week, you think you could lend me that book when you're done?" Horace pipes up hopefully. "I honestly don't understand anything Snape told us about them and if history has taught me anything it's that the next essay will be about whatever I understood the least."

Ana finally looks up from the book. "Well, I suppose I could. As long as I get it back."

Horace grins. "Awesome! You're the best Ana, really you are."

Josie rolls her eyes from where she's perched next to her boyfriend. "I'll make sure he doesn't lose or damage it." She adds. This sets of a playful quarrel between the two, something that's rather common though Ana doesn't understand it herself. If they like each other, why would they always be arguing?

She gets through the rest of the chapter during lunch, marks her place, and then hands the book to Horace who once again promises to take excellent care of it and return it by Sunday at the latest. Josie helpfully confirms that she'll hex him if he fails to do so.

Ana then heads out to the greenhouses for Herbology, hoping she can get Jemma as a partner and avoid the agony that Potions had been.

The blonde Hufflepuff has proven a rather tolerable partner for Ana's least favorite class, so Ana has done her best to situate herself nearby the girl each class in case the task requires partners.

On this particular day Professor Sprout spends most of the forty five minute period talking about fluxweed and it's properties of mutability. Ana takes very careful notes, remembering that fluxweed is a prime ingredient in Polyjuice Potion, something she'd read in her new book.

Quite pleased that her worst class had gone rather well, Ana retires to the library for the hour break until History of Magic and works diligently on the assigned essay Professor Sprout had given them just before the end of the class.

Finally the final class arrives, and she quickly locates a seat beside Alasdair. She hasn't unfortunately, seen as much of her Slytherin friend as she would like, but they're both busy with school and Alasdair seems to have become closer with one of his dorm mates, something Ana won't begrudge him even if she is a bit bitter that she's now the only person with a terrible seven year living arrangement.

"Hey, happy birthday." She's surprised when he hands her a small package. "Something I saw this summer, thought you might like it." He adds nonchalantly as she turns the gift over in her hands.

"Well thank you, you really didn't have to do that." While flattered he'd thought of her, Ana feels a bit badly. She isn't even sure when Alasdair's birthday is, nonetheless how she'll be able to get him anything being stuck at school most of the year.

"It's nothing big." He replies, and the discussion is left there as Professor Binns begins droning through yet another lecture on the Medieval Assembly of European Wizards. It's their third week on the subject and Ana can honestly say she isn't quite sure what else there is to talk about. She's read the entire chapter in their textbooks dedicated to the assembly three times already and she's growing quite tired of the material.

The lesson drags more than usual due to her being more distracted than she normally would be, and she's glad when Binns dismisses them.

"Say, would you be interested in studying together until dinner?" She asks Alasdair on a bit of a whim. His gift is making her feel a bit guilty that she hasn't done much to spend time with him so far, even if he's been as active as she has in maintaining their friendship.

"I can't, Cadfael and I are going to work on the Herbology essay. Maybe some other time." He replies, and she nods and heads to the library on her own. She ought to keep working on her own essay as well.

The halls are starting to echo with cackles and groans as the castle prepares for the Halloween Feast, and Ana can't help smiling as she hurries to the library, wanting to save all of it for later when the effects aren't ruined by the sunlight streaming through the full-length windows that line every hallway.

She very determinedly loses herself in her Herbology essay, and in no time at all the sun is sending beams of golden light over the wooden tables, indicating that it's about to depart for the day and the real festivities can begin.

Ana rolls up her scroll almost in the same second after the sun has fully vanished below the surrounding mountains. She waves to Madame Pince as she exits the library, and the librarian smiles in return.

And just like that Ana is swept up in the creepy atmosphere that is saturating the Hogwarts halls. Every corner echoes with wails and the clanking of chains, and she swears she can feels the brush of bat wings just over her head.

She reaches a hand up curiously, wondering if she could grab one of the squeaking creatures, but her fingers only brush air and she grins. She'll have to learn how they do that so she can charm her own house in the future.

The castle cats seem to be more active as well, and she spot several of them darting between the shadows lining the passageways leading to the Great Hall.

And the Great Hall itself is a fantastic sight. The House Ghosts are swooping through the tables while Peeves shrieks joyfully and upends several goblets over top students' heads. Jack-O-Lanterns float menacingly from the ceiling, lighting the hall with a flickering orange glow.

Ana happily perches herself in the darkest corner of the Ravenclaw table and watches as the rest of the school files into the room.

She's startled when someone taps her on the shoulder, and she spins around, wand at the ready, in case Peeves is thinking of ruining her birthday by dumping something sticky in her hair.

Eric puts up his hands, grinning slightly. "Whoa, hey, just me. I'm going to be sitting with Laurel at the Gryffindor table tonight since she's a big Halloween fan, but I wanted to give you your present now."

Ana slips her wand back into her sleeve, feeling her face heating up slightly, and she's glad the shadows are hiding her embarrassment. "Oh, um, thanks. You really didn't have to get me anything."

He smiles easily. "It was honestly nothing, just something I saw down at Hogsmeade last weekend that I thought you might like. And when i remembered that your birthday was coming up I figured why not."

She nods slightly. "Well, thank you again. Have fun with Laurel."

He grins and cross the room to join his girlfriend and what appeared to be the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Ana honestly isn't sure of the full story behind how Eric and Laurel Kiddell had ended up dating, but honestly they seem happy and Ana won't begrudge her friend a social life. Even if she does feel a little put out that he won't be spending her birthday with her this year.

She looks down at the present that she'd accepted from Eric. It's unwrapped, but the shadows make it difficult to tell immediately what it is. With a sigh she pulls out her wand again and mutters a quick Lumos. With the light from her wand, she notices that Eric has stuck a note to the present with muggle tape, something he'd taught her about during one of their study sessions earlier in the month. She pulls it off gingerly, still not trusting it as much as a sticking charm.

Ana, I remember you mentioning that your mom is going to start teaching you Occlumency soon, and I thought this might come in handy. I know you're not a jewelry person, but supposedly wearing this will help calm your mind, which will definitely come in handy for Occlumency.

Ana tilts her wand to get a proper look and finds a simple wooden box. She sets it down on the table and pulls off the lid, curious as to what exactly was supposed to improve her Occlumency.

Inside sits an unassuming silver bracelet. It has a simple enough clasp, and after regarding it for a moment Ana slides the object onto her wrist.

She somewhat doubts it actually will help with anything, but she appreciates the gesture nonetheless. She flicks her wand off and stows the box and note in her bag next to the rest of her birthday gifts. And finally the Feast begins.

Franziska hadn't really intended to go to the Gryffindor-Slytherin Quidditch match, but when the first weekend of November dawned bright and surprisingly warm she found herself unable to resist her friends' insistence that she accompany them in support of Charlie Weasley.

The mass of second year Hufflepuffs arrive for the game early, to get the best seats according to a very excited Aidan. He's naturally seated right at the front, with Tyler next to him. The blond boy has a quill and parchment with him, much to Leona's amusement.

"Scoping out the competition then Abbott?" She teases, but he only nods seriously.

"I want to know exactly what I'll be up against so I can practice over break!" He confirms. "Captain Ainsley says that knowledge is as important as skill in the game."

Franziska smiles at his enthusiasm. Tyler had been on a high ever since he made the Hufflepuff team as a Chaser at the start of the year, and his dedication to impressing the captain was honestly kind of cute. "I think that's really smart Ty." She offers with a smile, and he beams back.

Franziska opts to sit behind the two, and she's joined by Tonks and Kiera, who flank her on either side.

"This is going to be awesome! The first match is always the most intense since Gryffindor and Slytherin hate each other so much. Remember last year? One of the seventh year Gryffindors threw that inkwell at Laurel Kiddell for losing." Kiera grins excitedly. "I hope something as dramatic as that happens this year!"

"I don't think you can get more dramatic than Lola's killer game-winning Snitch catch last year." Tonks points out. "But the lions and snakes can try."

"Why thank you!" Everyone jumps as Tyler's older sisters sit down beside them. Lola is grinning wickedly. "I do think I did rather well myself, though it's lovely to hear others in agreement."

"Hey Lola, hi Maisie." Tyler jumps over the benches so he can hug his oldest sister, nearly stabbing himself in the eye with her Head Girl badge in the process. "Are you guys excited for the game?"

Maisie smiles warmly. "I admit I'm more inclined towards the next match. I can't wait to see you two up in the air together."

Tonks rolls her eyes dramatically, but Franziska can't help smiling, a bit jealous if she's honest. The Abbott siblings have always been close, and she sometimes wishes she had a sister to be friends with the way Tyler had Lola and Maisie.

They settle in shortly after, Tyler returning to his spot by the railing. Franziska finds herself getting swept up in the atmosphere swirling around the stands as the two teams take to the field. She shouts along with the other second years when Charlie waves to them before the teams mount their brooms and Coach Crowell releases the Snitch, signaling the start of the game.

Franziska can't help shrieking slightly when the buzzing golden ball pauses only centimeters from her nose, hovering there for a heartbeat before zipping off into the hazy glow of the noonday sun. Kiera nudges her in the side teasingly, but they're both quickly distracted by the action on the pitch.

Franziska has to admit, she doesn't really know any of the players other than Laurel and Charlie on the Gryffindor team, and she only recognizes the captain because she's good friends with her little sister Holly. As such she ends up really only cheering for the two of them and remaining politely enthused by the rest of the players.

And really, it's a very impressive game.

Both teams are clearly out for blood as they race around the field. The beaters are utterly merciless, though Franziska notes that the new Gryffindor beater isn't quite as effective as the other three on the field.

It's mostly all good fun until one of the Slytherin beaters - Franziska hears the commentator call her 'Jones' - knocks the Gryffindor Keeper right between the eyes with a well-placed bludger and he tumbles almost fifty meters to the sandy ground below.

Crowell is immediately back on the pitch, whistling to pause the game as he conjures a stretcher for the downed player. Across the pitch, Franziska can just make out Holly in the Gryffindor stands, trying to restrain one of the other second years from jumping over the railing to get to the pitch.

"That was low, even for Jones." Maisie frowns slightly. "You two keep an eye on her when you play Slytherin next year, please."

Her siblings nod. Their group has gone mostly silent as they watch the keeper carried off the pitch by Crowell and the school matron Madame Pomfrey, someone that Franziska up to this point had only ever seen at mealtimes in the Great Hall.

"Will he be okay?" She asks nervously as she registers that most of the spectators are actually still yelling, and some of the words being used make her wince. "I mean, that looked really painful, and the fall was pretty far."

"Coach Crowell likely had a cushioning charm placed before he even went back onto the field." Lola assures her firmly. "He doesn't around with player safety.

"Lola, language." Maisie reprimands, though it doesn't have much bite as she's clearly still shaken from the injury.

The game has started back up again, but Franziska can't seem to focus on it. She remembers defending Lola's insane game-winning stunt to her parents during the summer, and something in her stomach twists. She suddenly gets why her parents hadn't been quite as excited as she had been.

She notices belatedly that Jemma has vanished from her seat beside Tyler, and she vaguely remembers that the girl Holly had been restraining was one of Jemma's Gryffindor friends - what was her name? Franziska can't quite seem to remember it as the players continue swooping around the field as if a teenager hadn't just had his face bludgeoned in by a magic metal ball.

"I have to use the restroom." She mumbles suddenly, standing up and squeezing past Tonks, who has become completely reabsorbed in the game.

She makes it almost back to the common rooms when she runs into someone she knows.

"Brandon?"

He turns, clearly surprised. "Oh, hey Frannie. Didn't expect to see you down here. Not at the game?"

"You aren't?" She counters curiously, and he shrugs with a mischievous grin.

"For all intents and purposes my lady, I am." He replies cryptically and she can't help but smile slightly. While she and Brandon don't speak much normally, they'd developed a pretty good friendship over the previous Winter break, and she's rather pleased it seems to be in tact despite neither of them really trying to maintain it once school started back up again. "So what brings you down here?"

She shrugs. "Honestly? Your keeper fell fifty feet and I found it kind of hard to stay enthusiastic after that."

Brandon frowns, whatever he was up to clearly forgotten in light of the new information. ", Kent? That's Evera's older brother. How bad?"

She can only shrug again. "He took a bludger to the face and gravity did the rest. I couldn't really get a good look but yeah, sort of ruined the mood."

Brandon nods lightly in understanding, one arm raising for half a second before he reconsiders and pulls it back. "Well, this is a magical school after all. I'm sure he'll be right as rain soon enough. So um, you think you could not tell anyone I was down here?" The abrupt topic change is rather obvious, but Franziska thinks it's just Brandon's awkward way of trying to make her feel better.

"Sure Brandon. I never saw anything." She says, though really it's quite out of character for her to agree to something resembling breaking school rules.

His grin is worth it. "Thanks Frannie! I owe you one." And with that he's bounding down the halls and out of sight, and she's pleased to find she does feel a bit better.

She spends the rest of the day in the library alternately working on homework and getting distracted by interesting books she finds while searching for reference materials. When she joins the others for dinner that night no one comments on her abrupt departure from the game, but Aidan does casually mention that Kent is recovering well, and that somehow the entire Slytherin team's clothes had been doused in itching powder so he had been properly avenged.

Franziska manages to bite down on a knowing smile at that particular bit of news.

The next two weeks she does her best to focus on school and the impending exams, but although she enjoys meeting up with the study group in the library - and Brandon is starting to come more often now which makes her rather pleased - and working on essays with the other Hufflepuffs in the common room, as the Hufflepuff-Ravenclaw match approaches she feels an ever increasing weight of concern in her gut.

She can't opt out of going - it's Tyler's first game and he's been talking about it nonstop for two weeks now, constantly switching between ecstatic and terrified which Franziska thinks is fair enough. It wouldn't be fair of her to not be there to support him with the rest of their friends, as queasy as looking at the Qudditch pitch makes her feel now.

Kent is fine now though. She comforts herself as the second years and Maisie Abbott all settle themselves right at the front of the Hufflepuff stands again for the second game of the season.

"Don't look so worried Maiz, Ravenclaw play more than fair. Your siblings will be fine."

Hunter Vaughan, the sixth year prefect, is the last person Franziska wants sitting behind her right at this moment, but there isn't much she can do about it, and at least it seems like he's trying to be nice for once.

Maisie glances back at him. "Oh, I'm not worried about Ravenclaw playing dirty. I'm more concerned that Lola will put herself into the hospital wing. She's not exactly a shining beacon of survival instincts."

Hunter laughs. "Fair enough. She's always been a wild child."

Franziska tunes out the two prefects in favor of turning to Donaghan, who's occupied the seat next to hers and who always radiates an aura of calm that she hopes will help her nerves during the game.

"So, are you excited?"

He shrugs with a small smile. "I'm mostly here to support Tyler if I'm completely honest. Quidditch is fun but not really something I'm enamored with."

Franziska is relieved to hear it. "I really like it myself, but that last game scared me a bit." She admits. "I think it's going to be a while before I'm completely comfortable watching games again."

His smile shifts to one of support. "You'll get there. For now we'll focus on Tyler, yeah?"

She grins in return. "Sounds like a plan."

The teams come out onto the field then, and Franziska shouts encouragingly when Tyler waves up at them, the familiar look of mixed nerves and joy still resting across his features.

"Let's go Abbott, show them what for!" Leona shouts, loud enough that her voice somehow manages to carry over the cacophony surrounding them and getting Tyler to laugh despite his obvious tension.

Coach Crowell releases the snitch and tosses up the Quaffle and the game begins, both teams taking to the air in tandem.

One of the Ravenclaw chasers snags the Quaffle, but Tyler and one of the other Hufflepuff chasers (and Franziska thinks perhaps she should try to properly learn their names at some point) are hot on her heels as she takes off across the pitch.

The actual announcer is less animated than he is during Slytherin matches, but Leona decides to begin narrating herself and Franziska finds that she rather prefers her friend's enthusiastic blow-by-blow recount, littered with jokes and personal insights, to anything that usually comes from the current announcer.

"Brilliant deflection by Heartwell just there - I hear she's good at deflecting the boys in her year as well so lay off with the terrible attempts at flirting Johnson, she's way out of your league anyway -"

One of the boys sitting further up the stands shouts something angrily while on the field Franziska can swear she sees Heartwell laughing at the comment even as she knocks back yet another Quaffle from entering the hoop furthest from the Hufflepuff stands.

Tyler catches it on the rebound and is off like a rocket, keeping below the other players and neatly completing a pass to one of the other Chasers just before jerking to a complete stop to avoid being smashed in the side by one of the Bludgers.

"He's really good." Franziska can't help but noting as Leona spends a full minute bragging about being friends with Tyler.

"He's the first second year to make the team since I arrived." Maisie responds lightly. "He's always loved flying though, seems like second nature to him. I'm not surprised that he's taken to Quidditch as well."

But despite her confident words, Franziska can tell Maisie feels the same pull of relief that she does each time there's a near miss between a Bludger and Tyler's head.

Hufflepuff wins, and Leona's shouting something about Lola continuing her perfect catch record as the stands around Franziska roar in celebration. She knows that the common room is going to be a bit louder than normal for the next few hours, so once she's managed to catch Tyler for a quick congratulations she decides to head for the library to continue preparing for the exams that are starting on Monday.

All in all, not a bad day, but Franziska honestly is looking forward to taking some time off during the Winter Break.