Elizabeth sat on the Hogwarts Express, alone in her compartment. In her hands, she held a worn and dog-eared copy of a Jane Austen book, but her attention kept wandering away from the novel. As she waited for the train to fill with eager students, she stared out the window and thought about the events of the past year.
Her last year at Hogwarts had seemed to go by in a blur. But then, The Triwizard's Tournament had transformed an otherwise mundane year into a rather exciting one. Of course, it had all turned very tragic when that Potter kid had emerged from the last task with a dead body. No one was really quite sure what had happened, but there were plenty of guesses. Elizabeth, for her part, believed the story that Dumbledore had told them at the end of the year, but that made her a minority in the wizarding world. Students trailed past her compartment, dragging their trunks and owls. A sudden knock on the door of the compartment interrupted her thoughts.
Jane pushed open then compartment door, chest heaving from running across the platform. She wasn't late. In fact, she was a good 16 minutes early, but she always felt a sense of urgency in life. She constantly feared she would miss something, that life would pass her by in an instant. And since the events of the prior year, that urgency had spread even deeper inside her. But, sitting across from Elizabeth, both weakly smiling at each other, she realized that she didn't have the time to worry about not having time.
Jane cleared her throat, almost choking in the process. She had never mastered that simple task. "I haven't heard from Evelyn," she whispered through red eyes. "You don't think she finally went mad with all her conspiracy theories do you?" They both laughed for a long period of time. Once they stopped, breathless and overjoyed to be in each other's company once again, Jane realized it was the first time she had laughed since before Cedric's death. It had hit her hard; it had hit many hard, but for some reason, she carried it around with her. Cedric had been a friend of Jane's brother, and something else to her altogether. Maybe she had been nothing to him, but nothing could ever come of whatever feelings she once had, so it was best to let them go. So, with that laugh, that once simple, surprisingly effortless laugh, she did.
Jane opened her newly acquired copy of the muggle's Encyclopedia of Molecular Cell Biology and delved face first into the crazy world or recombinant genetics. Noticing Elizabeth's piercing gaze, Jane straightened her posture and said, "Well, we all have our muggle vices," in an extremely mocking tone while gazing at Elizabeth's Jane Austen book.
"Funny story on how I came by this though," Jane began, once again fearing she would forget to tell Elizabeth this story if she did not begin this second. But before she could, that second slipped by and someone appeared by the door.
Will had walked up and down the narrow corridors for what seemed like forever trying to find himself a seat, hearing the fellow students around him talking about last years events and how that "Potter" boy had lied about the return of You-Know-Who. He simply wanted to forget about it; he was confused on who he should believe. His father worked for the ministry and he always felt the ministry could be trusted, and yet he had a great admiration for Dumbledore, and pity for Potter. And the daily prophet always seemed to lie anyway; isn't that the purpose of the Newspapers?
Finally, Will stumbled upon an apartment with some space, and opened the door whilst one occupants was talking. "Umm, do you mind if I sit here? All of my friends seemed to have disappeared!", Will said, met with a strong glare.
Elizabeth instantly felt bad for the icy reception her friend had given the newcomer. "It's all right, come on in!" she said, hoping she could make the atmosphere less awkward. "My name's Elizabeth, and this is Jane." She could see Jane's glare loosening up. She's probably just upset that her story got interrupted, Elizabeth thought.
He stumbled into the compartment, dragging his trunk in with him and shutting the door awkwardly. Elizabeth cleared some of her stuff out of the way to make room for him, unsure if she should try to make conversation with him or ask Jane to continue her story.
After his awkward entrance, Will wasn't sure whether he should introduce himself; the last thing he wanted was to interrupt the girl opposite him again. After all, first impressions are everything, and Will did not want to be thought as rude. Instead, he tried his best not to stare at the peculiar muggle book she was holding. After possibly the longest 20 seconds of awkward silence, he felt he'd best introduce himself. "I'm Will, by the way..." he said rather quickly, thinking it was best not to keep them waiting any longer.
Jane tried to clear her throat once more, but was once again unsuccessful and teary-eyed. She took a drink of her bottle of water--much like all the other bottles of water she had carried around with her throughout her life, stripped of all identifying marks, warm, and half empty. As she clumsily pulled her fingers away from the glue strip that used to hold the paper to the thin plastic bottle, she remembered what she was trying to accomplish before being interrupted.
Then, impulsively, Jane looked over at the newest addition to the cabin. He seemed to be somewhat scared of her rash reaction to his impeccably bad timing and trying not to stare at her 2000 page encyclopedia. He was evidently intimidated by her. Many were, and yet many wouldn't still be standing--or in this case--sitting in the same proximity of her. Not that she could help that she radiated every emotion she felt the single given second she felt it. She made of most of everything; that was the only way she knew how to react. Looking at him again, she realized he reminded her of someone. He reminded her of her step-father. She laughed, she couldn't help it.
They both stared at her, unable to comprehend what was going on in the depths of the labyrinth that was her mind. "I'm sorry!" Jane stifled what was left of her laughter. "It's just that you remind me of my step-father!"
He gazed at her, more interested than afraid this time. She stuck her hand out, her face ablaze from lack of oxygen, and said, "Jane. I'm Jane," they shook. It was slightly redundant and frosted over, but to her it was one of the very few things that had happened that day which wasn't a waste of time and that had to mean something.
Looking over at Elizabeth, Jane smiled once more. The past few months had seemed so terrible, but despite the heavy dense air that hung on the outside, in that cabin, it was just a little bit lighter. Elizabeth smiled back, with a look of expectation on her face. "What is it?" Jane asked, lost as to what that smirk could mean. What had she been trying to remember?
Elizabeth smiled at her friend, happy that she and Will had gotten past the awkward first impression. She was the type of person who hated for others to disagree and tended to bring together people who wouldn't normally talk to each other. She wasn't quiet or shy by any means; she just loved it when everything went right. She was always smiling and loved everything that made her laugh.
Jane smiled back at her with a confused expression. "What?" she asked again. Elizabeth realized that she had forgotten about the story she had been about to tell before Will's interruption. "So, Jane. How DID you come by that hefty tome?" she asked her friend, curious to know. Elizabeth had always loved Jane's stories. To her, they were almost as good as the Austen novels she so ardently loved.
Jane rested her palm over the left side of her face. How could she possibly have forgotten that she was about to recant a story that surmised her entire summer experience? She took another drink of water, and this time peeked out the door to make sure no one was there to bother them. She had exactly 12 minutes to tell this tale and she would need every breath of it.
Jane sat back down and looked first at Elizabeth and then at Will, who for being so afraid of her a moment ago, looked rather complacent and eager to hear what she had to say. "Well," she started and the coyly looked around once more to assure she had everyone's full attention. Of course she did, and she knew she did, but she had to make sure despite this small fact.
"Of course my comedic muggle step-father and my depressing muggle mother greeted me at home like I had been off to some French boarding school. Once again, there was a party and everything waiting for me full of important diplomats and wealthy aristocrats I don't know or care to associate with. And don't get me started on the 'acceptable procession of eligible and distinctive young men,'" Jane said, mocking her step-father's rather deep yet nasal voice. Elizabeth laughed. She always laughed no matter how many times Jane had told about the parties, which she did quite often seeing as her family threw many parties.
Jane scoffed at her thoughts of the ordeal. It was funny when she looked back on it, but remembering it alone, all inside of her head, it wasn't comedic at all. All she and her brother Justin had wanted to do when they got home was lock themselves away from their summer realities and forget the past few months had ever happened.
"Anyways," Jane began again after receiving pleading and questioning looks from her audience. "This time, it wasn't a welcome home party. It was a graduation party. Justin and I were stumped. The muggles don't even acknowledge Justin most of the time; he's simply a lost cause to them. So why on earth would they throw him a graduation party? Well, it turns out, they didn't. Once again, they dismissed him as my dear cousin who was staying with them the summer.
"The party was actually for me. Apparently my step-father paid a school dean to forge documents that I had graduated from school and I was qualified to attend a university. I was insane. I had this strange man who had been paid off running me around the room introducing me to deans from Oxford, Cambridge, Yale, and Harvard. It was insane. I don't even remember most of the night. Insane" Jane paused again after greatly emphasizing the insane and then took a deep breath to begin again.
"Then two week later we're in California visiting Stanford and Berkeley and USC and they all want to meet me. I'm telling you my step-father had to have given that man a million pounds to give me these recommendations. The only decent part of the trip was the libraries. Oh, yes, the books aren't nearly as interesting as ours but there are so many. I never knew muggles were intelligent or versed enough to write books like this," she said patting the cover of her book. "And of course, now I must tell you how I came by this book, since I've told you how and why I came to California."
Jane took a sip of water and brushed her overgrown red bangs out of her eyes, intending that to be the last break she would take from her tale. She only had nine minutes left now. "Well, there's this antique book store up in San Francisco that we visited, it was quite a quaint shop. It smelled like leather and salt water. And all the books there look at least a hundred year old. While my father was talking to the proprietor about a lot of books he had purchased, I decided to look around. I found myself in the medicine section because honestly, the medical lectures we attended at on our trip were fascinating--that's really what they're pushing me toward and I must say I bought in to most of. And there I found this 'tome,'" she said mocking Elizabeth, just to receive more laughter in return. "I got this chill up my spine read the title and as I reached for it, a hand grazed mine."
The girls giggled, though Will didn't seem quite as rapt about this bit. "He was so handsome. He reminded me of Darcy, tall, dark and deep. Well, we spent much of the two weeks I was in San Francisco together. Even the muggles liked him! They invited him back here, expecting of course, that I wouldn't return to Hogwarts. In the end however, he turned out to be much more like a Collins," Jane's voice trailed off. "Overly anxious to give me 'special attention,'" both girls laughed hard at the last line and didn't start laughing until Will, successfully, cleared his throat. Apparently, he had something to say, and much like Jane, didn't want to waste much time to say it.
"Wow, you went on quite the adventure to get that book; I wish I could visit America, but my dad always seems to be working at the ministry, especially with all the talk of..." He paused for a moment, noticing the once gleaming faces of both Jane and Elizabeth had turned distant. He knew at once why.
"Oh, I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have bought it up at all. It's just...well I'm so confused about what to think. I just wanted a second opinion". He was silent for the moment, pretending to search through his bag for nothing in particular. Will seemed to have a knack for creating extremely awkward moments, and really hoped he could escape from this one. "But, but, it's ok if you don't want to talk about it. It was a horrible tragedy."
Elizabeth had an understanding face, and looked prepared for a reply. Jane still seemed distant. Will was sure it had affected her greatly. Elizabeth nervously glanced at Jane to see how she was taking the subject change. She knew that the events of the past year had shaken her friend, but she wasn't exactly sure why. Perhaps it had something to do with Cedric; Jane had never really been able to hide the gigantic crush she had harbored towards her brother's friend. Whatever the reason, the ordeal had taken its toll on her. But Jane was a Muggleborn, which meant that however embarrassing her summer had been, she had at least been removed from the wizarding world for the past few months. Elizabeth knew that this was probably the best thing for her friend, and that in time she would be able to come to terms with what had happened.
Elizabeth, on the other hand, hadn't had the luxury of being removed from everything that had happened. Every day, she and the rest of the wizarding world had had to read the rumors and lies that littered the front page of the Daily Prophet (an institution she had never placed much trust in.) If there was one thing Elizabeth abhorred, it was lying. She was an extremely frank and honest person, and it pained her to see someone she respected, such as Dumbledore, being lied about in such a manner. So when Will brought up the subject of the Ministry and how they were handling the incidents of the Triwizard Tournament, Elizabeth definitely had some strong opinions.
"Frankly, I think it's rubbish," she said as the train began to pull out of the station. "I can't believe how stupid the ministry is being about this. How blind do you have to be not to believe Dumbledore? People don't just get murdered for no reason. It just doesn't make sense." She stopped speaking, mostly because families were running alongside the train, shouting goodbyes and last minute reminders and drowning her out. Elizabeth's family had dropped her and her siblings off early, because her father had had to go into work at the Ministry. Elizabeth, her older brother Nicholas (a seventh year), her older sister Susan (a sixth year), her little brother Ben (a fourth year), and her little sisters Lucy (a second year) and Katie (a first year), all went to Hogwarts. Her other older brother, Charlie, had graduated from Hogwarts a few years ago and was now training to become an Auror. With such a large family, it took a long time to get them all packed and onto the Hogwarts Express; they allowed so much time to get ready that they often ended up arriving early.
The three of them fell silent for a few minutes, as the scarlet steam engine began to pick up speed. Elizabeth was afraid that there would be another awkward silence, and even more afraid that she would say something stupid in an attempt to fill the void. Luckily, the silence was broken by the sound of the trolley lady coming down the corridor. "Anything off the trolleys, dear?" she asked in a merry voice.
Jane looked over at Will who, though he wanted to go to the trolley, stayed behind looking rather remorseful that he had said what he had. But despite feeling a sense of great loss creeping up her throat, tightening her grip on vocal chords and the tears forming in her eyes, she understood the confusion and the doubt plaguing everyone; she even understood the accidental mutterings of impulsive and rather crude thoughts. She smiled to let him know all was forgiven--at least she hoped that's what it read. The only other way to interpret it would be that she was going to murder him in his sleep tonight.
Jane stood and placed her large book in the above luggage rack and followed Will out to the trolley where Elizabeth stood buying her sweets. Her stomach rumbled, which wasn't altogether uncommon. In fact, with her efforts to make the most of her time, eating was usually pushed aside. She didn't even remember eating this morning, though she did eat, she was sure of it. Yes, she ate cereal and it was quite disgusting--food was yet another reason she loved to return to Hogwarts. In fact, despite her struggle to remember what she had eaten this morning, she could perfectly remember the last meal she had at Hog--
"Dear, did you want something?" The trolley lady asked her with a tone that said this wasn't the first time she'd tried to gain Jane's attention. "I'm sorry, yes," Jane took out some sickles from the pocket of her tweed coat "Can I get two--"
"Pumpkin pasties please?" Some finished her sentence. The only people who knew what she ordered on the trolley were Elizabeth--who was now in the cabin--, her brother--who was off in Bolivia on a dig for wizarding artifacts--, and Cedric. She knew it couldn't be Cedric, she knew it was ridiculous to hope for it, especially since the voice sounded particularly feminine, but she still gulped at the thought.
Cho's eyes met Jane's. There was a definitive moment of awkwardness lingering behind as Cho, turned and ran, claiming she had forgotten her money. Soon awkwardness turned to pity, and then altogether, Jane stopped thinking of it. There wasn't enough time to even feel all she felt when she though of Cho Chang. To think they used to be so close was even a foreign thought.
"Miss, are you going to get anything?" The trolley lady was fuming. Her face was as red as Jane's hair and it almost intimidated Jane from wanting anything off the trolley. "Yes, I'll have a chocolate frog and a bag of Bertie's Botts," Jane said, but as she watched the woman eagerly pulling a bag from the tray, Jane realized she didn't really like Bertie's Botts because she always seemed to get earthworm. "No, I'll take the pumpkin pasties, two of them."
The woman slammed the chocolate frog and the bag of beans bag with a rupturing fury. "No, I still want the chocolate frog." Jane grabbed them from her hand and shoved the sickles at her admits of screams of "hurry up" and "get on with" it from moronic second years.
Will had returned to the compartment with his rather large assortment of pumpkin pasties, half a dozen chocolate frogs and two bags of Bertie Botts. At first glance he imagined Jane and Elizabeth thought he was rather gluttonous, but right now, he didn't care. He had spent that morning in a complete rush, because his family argued like they had for the entire summer and forgot entirely about breakfast. His father, who up until the Triwizard tournament incident had been a very laid back and placid wizard, had suddenly become rather bad tempered and opinionated. He had always very much respected the ministry and had somewhat respect for Dumbledore, but now his allegiance was entirely towards the ministry. "Of course, Dumbledore losing all his titles was unfortunate, but that's what you get for placing distrust in the ministry!". Will did not like the way his father was; instead of enjoying time with him, Will spent most of his summer avoiding his father and writing to his older brother, Christopher.
Christopher had been working for the Daily prophet, but had recently resigned in protest over the unfair treatment of both Dumbledore and Harry Potter. Every letter from Christopher seemed to be the same, urging Will to trust Dumbledore:
Remember Will, no matter what HE might say about the best intentions of the ministry, you MUST believe what Dumbledore says. Fudge has no clue what's going on, and I know how much both you and I admire Dumbledore. It's just such a shame that The Daily Prophet has sided with Fudge over the entire issue. Anyway, how's mother and the twins? P.S. Prior warning - they say a member of the ministry is coming to 'inspect' Hogwarts. Be aware little brother. C.J.P.
His brother and father had not talked to each other for the entire summer, which annoyed Will a lot, but as always, he kept quiet and out of trouble. His thoughts were with his poor muggle mother, who, although well informed by both Christopher and her husband, was even more confused and upset then Will. She just couldn't understand why her husband and son were not speaking at all; if anything she thought they should be bought closer together over the prospect of the return of this 'you-know-who' person.
While this was all going on, it was left to Will to explain to his twin sisters, Catherine and Helena, who had both turned 11 and about to begin their first year at Hogwarts, why what happened in July was such an important issue. All they knew was that someone bad had returned, but their parents had failed to inform them as to who it was. Understandable really. And now, Will just wanted to sit in the compartment, scoffing on his chocolate frogs, hoping to get a new and rare card. He also thought it best to share around some all flavour beans.
"Anyone like one at all?" he said, with his mouth still half full with chocolate frog. Jane declined. Will expected she didn't have the best luck with the flavours. Elizabeth declined, but seemed thankful for the gesture nonetheless. Will took one out, and quickly regretted it, as his face shrivelled up due to the taste of extremely sour lemon. Both Jane and Elizabeth laughed as tears were rolling down Will's eyes. He laughed to; he could certainly see the funny side.
Everyone in the compartment seemed to light up once more, mainly down to Will's bad luck with the beans. Will thought he'd bring up the discussion of the possibility of a ministry official in Hogwarts. "So, have you heard? Apparently, someone from the ministry is going to be keeping an eye on the school! Weird, huh?"
He looked at both the girls; they looked quite surprised. Apparently, Will was unaware not many people knew about this. This was news to Elizabeth. Her parents and Charlie were very close to Dumbledore and had spent a lot of time over the summer meeting up with others who were on his side. They called themselves the Order of the Phoenix, but what they did and what they discussed was kept a secret from almost everyone. Even Elizabeth didn't know what her parents and older brother talked about at those meetings. They hadn't told her anything about it, but she had a feeling that it had to do with the ministry and the return of Voldemort. Because of the secrecy surrounding whatever they were doing, she hadn't heard anything about a member of the ministry coming to Hogwarts.
"I wonder what that means... Do you think Fudge will be visiting periodically?" Elizabeth asked. Will shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, his mouth too full of Pumpkin Pasties to speak. Jane still looked shaken from her encounter with Cho, and was staring out the window of the train, her hand on the window. Will was beginning to look curious, and she wasn't sure how much of the encounter he had seen. Elizabeth knew that it was definitely best to not bring it up. Outside the window, the sky was darkening as the sun sank below the horizon, giving the compartment an eerie and slightly ominous glow. Elizabeth's stomach suddenly grumbled, and she remembered how hungry she was. "Hey Will, I changed my mind. Can I have a bean?" He nodded, his mouth still full of Pumpkin Pasty , and extended the box to her. Eying the box cautiously, she selected a tan colored bean and popped it in her mouth. Mocha! It was one of her favorite flavors. She had always had good luck picking beans; in fact, she had always had good luck in everything.
The cabin fell silent again for a few moments. Elizabeth knew that Jane was thinking about Cedric and what had happened again. I'll have to keep an eye on her throughout the year, she thought to herself. She was so used to the old Jane, the lively Jane who found a joke in everything. This new, quieter Jane alarmed her. Will was looking out the window now, too, lost in his own thoughts.
"I expect they want to make sure Dumbledore doesn't tell us any more 'stories' about Voldemort returning," Elizabeth mused. She saw Will flinch, but she really didn't care. She had never had a problem saying his name, and scoffed at people who did. "Get over it, Will, it's just a name. Anyways, I guess this is the Ministry's pathetic attempt at keeping him in line. I hope it doesn't disrupt the school year too much. And it had better not affect Quidditch." Elizabeth was crazy about Quidditch, and was a Chaser on the Ravenclaw team. She couldn't imagine a world where she couldn't play Quidditch. "What do you think 'keeping an eye on the school' entails?"
"Well, I'm sure it wont be anything to bad; probably just making sure everythings in order every few weeks or so. I'm guessing it won't be anything permanent", Will explained, "Well, I hope not anyway..." Elizabeth and Jane both nodded and agreed. Unlike before, the next few minutes of silence were easy going on everyone and went extremely quickly. Will felt like there was something more then coincedence to finding this seat with these two; he was sure there was a link between them all, but couldn't think what it could be. He was also sure this year, there was no way he could just hide in the background; he knew he was in for some trouble. Great, thats all I'm going to be needing this year.
Will went back to peering out of the window; he was quite glad to see the familiar sight of Hogsmeade in the distance, and was both glad and worried about his return to Hogwarts; Be aware, little brother. Christopher's words in his last letter seemed to indicate that the ministry had some sinister agenda in mind for the school.
The train finally came to a halt at Hogsmeade and the three of them changed into their dress robes and made their way out into the corridor with their Trunks. Will glanced down at a frightened first year; how daunting it must be for her to try walk next to a group of fifth years. "Don't worry, I'm sure a prefect will be here soon to help", he told her reassuringly.
"Oi, you there! Potter! I want a word with you!". Whoever spoke sounded rather impatient, but Will paid no attention; after all, he wasn't Harry Potter, and was quite glad of it at that moment.
"Oi! I'm talking to you!". Will felt someone force his shoulder round, and there stood a slytherin prefect with grey blue eyes and striking white-blonde hair.
"Oh, it's just you Palmer", he said, with blatant dissapointment in his face.
"Malfoy...". Will, like most others who weren't Slytherins, despised Malfoy; it was definitely his smugness that got to him. Why did he think I was Harry Potter? He could only guess it was because they shared the same dark brown hair, but his eyes were a distinctly dark brown, and he certainly didn't have a scar on his forehead.
Malfoy quickly rushed through the crowd of first years, shouting at them to move out of the way. Will never understood Malfoy's vendetta towards Potter, perhaps it was because Potter had more fame. That had to be it. "Who made him a prefect anyway? His 'daddy' must've paid someone a hefty amount to someone, because no one would make someone that cruel a prefect normally..."
Will was generally cross with his encounter and made no effort to talk to either Elizabeth nor Jane, despite their concerned looks towards him. They quickly made their way towards the coaches waiting to take them up to the gates. He stared at the strange horse-like creatures which always pulled the coaches, and wondered why he had never asked what they were. "So, do either of you know what those weird horse things pulling the coaches are?"
Elizabeth and Jane both looked at Will, slightly dumbfounded at his enquiry. Elizabeth's look of surprise was somewhat different to Jane's however. "What? Don't look at me as if you don't know what I'm talking about!"said Will, with slight impatience in his voice.
"You can see those too?" Elizabeth asked breathlessly. In the past five years at Hogwarts, Elizabeth had rarely ever met anyone else who could see the huge winged beasts. Thestrals, she thought she remembered them being called. In fact, the only other people she'd met that could see them were Luna Lovegood, a rather eccentric girl who was also in Ravenclaw, and Neville Longbottom, a rather sad looking boy from Gryffindor. At the time, she had thought that he had only admitted to seeing them to make Luna happy... and as for Luna seeing them... well, Luna saw a lot of things.
Because she was such a bookworm, Elizabeth had immediately rushed to the library when she had found out she could see the thestrals. She was the kind of person who had to know everything about everything; she lived in the library at Hogwarts, and she could spend hours sitting amongst the stacks of books, lost in the hundreds and hundreds of worlds the books would open for her. "They're called thestrals," she told Will, who was beginning to look worried. "They're wonderful creatures... but kind of tragic. You can only see them if you've seen someone die. I read all about them in The Monster Book of Monsters."
A look of apprehension spread across Will's face. "Oh! So I'm NOT going crazy," he said with a smile of relief. "No, you're not. At least, not as far as we know," Elizabeth reassured him. "I think other people at Hogwarts can see them. At least, I've met two others who could. I wasn't sure if they were telling the truth about it or not, but now that you can see them too... I couldn't see them before last year. Before that, I just thought that the carriages were horseless."
Elizabeth paused, her mind filling with the memory of that fateful day in July. "The summer before that," she said slowly, "I was in Diagon Alley waiting for the Knight Bus to take me to Jane's. An old lady was crossing the street, and the Knight Bus came careening down the road. Right before it was about to hit her, a man jumped into the street and pushed her out of the way. She was safe, but he didn't make it. The only people that saw it were the people on the bus, and me." She could sense Jane and Will's eyes on her as she entered the carriage, but she determinedly kept her eyes ahead and concentrated on not crying. This is silly, she told herself. It was over a year ago, and you didn't know the person at all.
"So are you guys worried at all about your OWLS?" she asked brightly as Jane and Will followed her into the carriage. "I think it'll be a lot of work... but I'm looking forward to the challenge. I don't know what I'll do if I don't get at least 10." She lifted her head to see the two of them still staring at her, but neither face held the pity that she had feared seeing in them. Instead, Will had a whimsical expression on his face, presumably confused by her sudden mood change. Jane's had an understanding look. She of all people would know what it was like to bring up subjects you would rather not think about. Neither of them answered her question, but she knew that they probably knew she hadn't meant for it to be answered anyways.