Sapphire Fancourt burst onto platform 9 and ¾, pushing her trolley a little too roughly. Onyx, her glossy black cat, threw Sapphy a look of annoyance as she righted her dignified position inside her opulent silver cage. Pushing fly-away, amethyst coloured hair off her face, Sapphy stopped to soothe her through the bars. Her excitement on the first day back at school always made her even clumsier than usual. Making use of her height, she stood on tiptoes, searching for her friends in the chattering crowd of students and parents. The billows of pearly smoke issuing from the Hogwarts Express hid them for now.
"Sapphy, wait a minute!"
Her older brother Peregrine had appeared by her side. Sapphy noticed two Hufflepuff fourth year girls to his left stop mid gossip to ogle him. Even taller and rangier than Sapphy, Perry's ash brown hair fell into the huge, pale grey eyes they had both inherited from their father. Oblivious of his admireres, Perry turned to help their grandmother through the barrier. "Oh, Merlin's ballsack, why must I get covered in soot every year," she grumbled, reaching for her wand to blast a black stain from her silky robes. As usual, Nan attracted almost as many interested stares from the witches and wizards on the platform as she had from Muggles on the way to Kings Cross station. Here, however, it was her fame rather than her dress sense that captured attention.
Ocean Fancourt was a well known Seer, celebrated by the Wizarding world for the impressive bibliography of books she had written on the subjects of Divination, the Inner-Eye and Astrology. At seventy-one she was still sprightly, with a long waterfall of silver hair that was dotted here and there with tiny beads of turquoise. She had refused, as always, to dress in a low key, "muggle friendly" manner for the journey, and was wearing intricate layers of lavender and peacock blue.
"I better say goodbye now, Nan," said Perry, looking anxious. "I have to make sure the new prefects know what to do." Solitary and reserved as he was, Perry had been made Head Boy. Privately, Sapphy wondered whether this was a good decision on Professor Dumbledore's part. She couldn't imagine the new prefects being able to hear his soft voice over the rumble of the train.
Nan had a very familiar, knowing look on her face and both Sapphy and Perry could anticipate what was coming next. "All right, Periwinkle," she sighed. "But I have something important to tell you before you go." She reached up to take his face in her wrinkled, bejewelled hands and began to speak.
"When war erupts 'twixt heart and mind,
The soul must choose and the battle cease.
For 'til this balance your soul can find,
All three will ever be without peace."
Ocean smiled enigmatically while her words sunk in and a look of horror came over Perry's handsome features. She had never advised him about matters of the heart before and there was probably no subject Perry wished to discuss less.
"Yes, well, that's the…bye Nan, see you at the feast Sapphy," he gasped, kissed Ocean hastily and ran towards the train with a very pink face.
"And you," Ocean continued, turning to Sapphy.
"To love means not to see no flaw,
Nor to be always without ire.
For the truest love is a blend of awe,
with mirth and pity, all bathed in fire."
"Can't you be a bit more specific, Nan?" Sapphy begged, exasperated. Ocean's strange mutterings at the train station always turned out to be prophetic advice for the year ahead which was only useful with hindsight.
"Your dreams will help you untangle it," she said with a wink. Sapphy had inherited Ocean's Second Sight, as well as her rather large, aquiline nose. "Now, look out for that old windbag Horace Slughorn, he'll try to cosy up to you both when he hears your second name," Nan said with a sigh.
"Who's-?"
"The new Potions master," explained Ocean. "And remember, as usual, not to take any notice of anything Sybil Trelawney says," she continued, a sudden edge to her usually ethereal voice. Ocean and Professor Trelawney had been arch-rivals at school, and their bitter animosity lived on.
"I might have Firenze again," said Sapphy brightly.
"Afraid not, my jewel. I had a little vision this morning over my porridge. And I can't say I wouldn't be disappointed either, by the look of him," said Ocean, with a twinkling smile. She gave Sapphy one last jasmine-scented hug, and disappeared into the crowd.
Sapphy stood still for a minute, pondering Nan's strange riddle. She had never given her advice about love before either, and it made her think of a certain handsome Gryffindor who seemed to be a permanent fixture in her thoughts these days. Noah Proudlock was a gorgeous, good-natured boy from the year above, with whom she had exchanged a kiss last term and some flirtatious letters over the summer. She scanned the platform for a while, half hoping to spot him, but also very nervous at the thought of it.
And suddenly her heart gave a lurch. She had spotted Lisa Turpin, her fellow Revenclaw and best friend. Lisa's tiny mother was fussing over her, pulling at the hem of her short skirt while her daughter flapped her away grumpily. As she bent to listen to Mrs. Turpin, her wavy, dark blonde hair hung in a shimmering curtain over her face and she didn't see Sapphy until her arms were around her. After a moment of surprise Lisa's blue-green eyes crinkled with happiness.
"Bloody hell Sapphy!"
Startled, Sapphy turned to find Lisa Turpin smiling at her delightedly through crinkled blue-green eyes. "You never mentioned this in your letters!" she said accusingly, running her hand through Sapphy's vibrant hair.
"I wanted to shock you," Sapphy laughed, throwing her arms around her friend. "Bewitched it a few weeks ago. It's finally stopped standing on end quite so much the last few days."
"I love it! Do you think it would work on mine?" Lisa said, examining her own dark blonde waves.
Mrs. Turpin, hovering at her daughter's side, looked scandalized. She was an avid worrier and because she and Mr. Turpin were both muggles, Hogwarts was an unknown entity with the potential for a dizzying array of potential dangers. She was staring at Sapphy in a way that seemed thoroughly disapproving. Sapphy decided to let them say goodbye alone, and started to try to haul her rose-wood trunk onto the train.
"Need a hand there, weakling?"
She glanced behind her to find Terry Boot towering over her, looking a foot taller than last term and very tanned.
"How was your summer?" she asked, pulling him into a hug.
"Great, until the O.W.L results arrived, " he sighed, grabbing her trunk and effortlessly throwing it on-board.
Terry's wizarding parents were obsessed with their sole dream - that their only son would become a Healer. It was a career in which Terry showed plenty of aptitude, but no interest whatsoever. Last May this had led him to do something that possibly no other Ravenclaw O.W.L student had ever done before; he had deliberately tried to fail his potions exam.
"Were they very disappointed with the mark?" Sapphy asked, trying to supress a grin. Though Terry's parents must have been unbearable to deal with, she couldn't help but find the whole situation funny.
"Not exactly. I got Outstandings all round - even in bloody potions," he said gloomily. "Remember me telling you I was sure the witch who was marking us was flirting with me?"
Sapphy's laughter escaped and even Terry had to join in. "So I actually came clean and told them the only thing I've ever wanted to do was work in the Department of Mysteries. They took it badly, but Mum did offer me an extra kipper for breakfast this morning so I think she's starting to get over it."
Having finally lost her mother, Lisa joined them with a hug for Terry and the three of them began to look for a compartment on the crowded train. "Ah, there's Artimus!" said Terry, spotting him through the glass of a compartment door and opening it. "Oh... and he's not alone," Terry finished sarcastically.
The girls peered around his shoulder and Artimus Moon looked up from a copy of The Quibbler with a serene smile. Sapphy noticed that his gravity-defying tangle of strawberry blonde curls looked even wilder than last year, a feat she hadn't thought possible. On the other side of the compartment, Mandy Brocklehurst and Anthony Goldstein were kissing fiercely.
"I don't think they noticed me sitting here when they came in," said Artimus, calmly gesturing at the tangle of limbs opposite him before taking a handful from a bag of cockroach cluster on the seat beside him.
"Hi Anthony. Hi Mandy. Good to see you, too," said Terry flatly.
Sapphy felt a pang of sympathy for him. Anthony and Terry had been inseparable from the first day of their first year, but falling in love with Mandy last year had taken its toll on their friendship. The couple reluctantly resurfaced as everyone sat down.
"Sorry," said Mandy, straightening her robes.
"Just making up for lost time," Anthony explained, slightly out of breath as he stood up. "I'll see you all later, I've got to go to the prefect carriage," he said with reluctance, pausing at the open door and looking very longingly at Mandy.
Tired of his friend's mushiness, Terry pushed him out and closed it with a bang. But a few seconds later, a tiny third year girl appeared in it's glass window and hesitated before knocking on it timidly.
"Clear off, Milly!" Mandy hissed at the girl. Everyone looked round at her in confusion. "She's my cousin," she explained grudgingly. "She's in Hufflepuff and as dumb as a rock. I SAID CLEAR OFF!" Mandy shouted as the girl knocked again. Tremblingly, she opened the door an inch.
"I have a note!" she squeaked. "For Sapphire F-Fancourt."
Now everyone turned to look at Sapphy, who was just as perplexed as they were. Milly handed her a scroll of parchment tied with a violet ribbon. Sapphy unrolled it and read,
"Sapphire,
I would be delighted if you could join me for a bite of lunch in compartment C.
Sincerely, Professor H.E.F Slughorn."
The faces surrounding her looked more puzzled than ever. "Its the new Potions teacher," explained Sapphy with a sigh.
"And he wants you to have lunch with him?!" Lisa cried incredulously, her brow wrinkled with suspicion.
"Nan mentioned him before she left," muttered Sapphy as she tried to remember Ocean's words. "She said he'd favour me and Perry. Because we're Fancourts," she said quickly, turning pink. Their last name had some cachè among the Wizarding community. Sapphy's great-grandmother was Perpetua Fancourt, inventor of the Lunascope. And then, of course, there was Ocean.
Mandy's eyes were narrowed jealously. "Who else are you giving these to?" she barked at Milly.
"C-Cormac McLaggen. Marcus Belby. Blaise Zabini-"
"Git," muttered Lisa.
"Neville Longbottom. And H-Harry Potter," Milly croaked, looking terrified at the thought of speaking to this final invitee.
"Right, so he's not favouring the cleverest students" said Mandy, looking relieved. "He's only interested in who you know, not what you know. If Granger hasn't been invited that says it all," she muttered with a grimace.
Mandy was one of the most intelligent witches in their whole year but like everyone else, she was invariably outshone by the ineffable Hermione Granger. Her mum, from Trinidad, was a muggle from whom Mandy had inherited caramel coloured skin, springy black hair and bright green eyes. Her dad was English and came from an old wizarding family from which Mandy was the first ever person to not be sorted into Hufflepuff. Sapphy often speculated that after always being the clever one growing up, meeting Hermione in first year must have been a terrible shock for Mandy - one that she was yet to get over.
"Thanks Milly," Sapphy said kindly. She stood up to close the door behind her before ripping up the note and taking her seat again.
"Not going then?" asked Terry.
"No," said Sapphy quietly. "I don't trust anyone who only likes me because of my Chocolate Frog card relatives."
The golden light from the windows dimmed gradually as the evening's sky became coloured with streaks of pink cloud. They were in the thick of the English countryside now. Before long, Anthony had returned with fellow Ravenclaw prefect Padma Patil. It was dark when the boys left so they could all change out of their muggle clothes into robes and they had no sooner returned than the train had pulled into Hogsmeade station. Jostled by the crowd and chattering excitedly, they made their way through the dark towards the carriages.
Suddenly a pair of large, Quidditch calloused hands clapped over Sapphy's eyes, surrounding her with darkness. Pulling them away, she found Noah Proudlock grinning down at her. Taking in his mop of windswept black hair, deep set dark blue eyes and dimpled smile, she realized that she had almost forgotten how handsome he was... The other Ravenclaws sniggered at her gormless expression as they climbed into the nearest carriage. All summer, Sapphy had been looking forward to this moment, yet as he pulled her by the hand into their own carriage she felt extremely shy.
"Hi," she said, in a small voice.
"Hi!" he laughed at her. "Your hair is brilliant!" he exclaimed, running his fingers through it.
She immediately felt more at ease. They had talked and joked together plenty of times last year and his kind, friendly demeanour was nothing to be scared of. He was still holding her hand, running his thumb over it. The carriage began to trundle away.
"How was your holiday?" she asked.
He had travelled with his family to Morocco for the last three weeks of the summer. "It was incredible. And -" he said, smiling at her slyly. "I got you a present."
Sapphy looked at him with surprise. He let go of her hand to delve into a pocket of his robes and produced a small, black velvet box which he handed her clumsily. She could tell that beneath his Griffyndor bravado he was nervous about the gift. She opened it. Inside was a moonstone pendant with a fine silver chain lay on a white satin cushion. It was beautiful.
Noah was fidgeting. "Do you like it?" he asked uncertainly.
"It's honestly the loveliest present anyone has ever given me," she said, feeling a little overwhelmed by how happy she felt.
He smiled delightedly and gave her a dizzying kiss.
As he threw an arm around her to keep her warm, Sapphy remembered her grandmother's advice. Ocean had warned her that loving someone was all about accepting their flaws - but how could she do that when he didn't have any?
Though this was Sapphy's sixth year at Hogwarts, it brought with it a first; a search of all students at the huge, oak doors of the Entrance Hall before they were permitted entry. An intimidating group of aurors oversaw Argus Filch as he prodded them all with a Secrecy Sensor, ostensibly looking for any Dark Objects and getting very het up over any merchandise from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Though Sapphy and Noah pretended to be impatient in the long queue, secretly they were both glad of the extra time in each other's company. All too soon, they had reached the Great Hall, and stood holding hands beneath the tapestry of stars mirroring the nights' sky. They kissed one last time.
"Why couldn't you be a Gryffindor?" Noah murmured wistfully.
"Because I'm a coward. Why couldn't you be a Ravenclaw?" she grinned.
"Because I'm kind of stupid," he sighed as she laughed. "Anyway... goodnight," he said with a wink, before heading away towards the far right of the hall. Sapphy took her place at the Ravenclaw table between Anthony and Lisa. A hush fell over the hall as the first-years filed in, led by Professor McGonagall.
"There's my little sister Rosie," said Anthony, pointing at one of them as they passed on their way towards the Sorting Hat at the top of the hall. She was the smallest of the girls with long, dark brown hair like her brother's and a round little face.
"Oh, she's so sweet," Lisa cooed.
"Yeah, she looks like butter wouldn't melt now. But you should see her during a temper tantrum, everything around her starts to explode. That's how I got this scar." He pulled the sleeve of his robes to reveal a tiny mark on his forearm. "From the time I wouldn't let her on my hobby-hippogriff," he explained. He looked haunted by the memory.
They quietened as the Sorting Hat began it's song, the theme of which seemed to be urging the four houses to unite against a common enemy.
"Not hard to understand what that's about," Terry muttered grimly above the anxious whispering that followed this. "Or who that 'common foe' might be."
An unnatural hush had fallen over the hall as the students were forced to remember what they all had been trying so hard to forget. At the beginning of the summer, the Ministry of Magic were forced to finally admit that You-Know-Who was definitely back and joined by the dangerous Death Eaters who had escaped from Azkaban the previous year. News of mysterious disappearances, acts of violence and even some deaths had become increasingly common in the months that followed. It was obvious that the wizarding world was re-entering very dark times. Sapphy was relieved when then the ceremony finally began. The distraction was welcome.
"Adams, Lilith," called Professor McGonagall from her long sheet of parchment.
A pale girl with a level stare pushed past Rosie and stalked over the the stool, sat and pulled the hat onto her head. There was a pause.
"SLYTHERIN!" cried the Sorting Hat and the table at Sapphy's left erupted in hisses and foot stamping.
"Aherne, Benan," called Professor McGonagall and a brown haired, freckly boy crept forward nervously to take the hat.
"HUFFLEPUFF!" the Sorting Hat shrieked and a look of intense relief passed over Benan's freckly face.
"Amberley, Thadea," Professor McGonagall continued after Benan had been seated and the din of the Hufflepuff table had died down. An eager looking girl with a mop of wiry, black curls rushed forward.
"GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the Sorting Hat. The far right end of the hall roared and clapped. Sapphy could see Noah clapping heartily on the other side of the hall. She felt herself drifting away into a day-dream about their kiss earlier that night...
"Goldstein, Rosie," announced Professor McGonagall, and Sapphy snapped out of it to watch Anthony's sister make her way to the stool daintily, and lift the hat onto her head with trembling hands.
"Come on, Rosie…" Anthony whispered through gritted teeth.
Without much of a pause, the hat screamed "RAVENCLAW!" and Rosie grinned widely. She ran to their table, where they all congratulated her with many hand-shakes and pats on the back. Anthony proudly made room for his sister .
Finally, the sorting ended and the feast appeared. Sapphy hadn't realized how hungry she was until she began to devour a glorious plate of honey glazed vegetables and baked salmon. The Hogwarts house elves seemed to be out-doing themselves every year. She noticed that Rosie was staring at Artimus with round eyes. His plate was piled high with parsnips - and nothing else. They had nearly finished when the huge doors of the hall creaked open and everyone turned to see one last late-comer striding through them.
"It's Harry!" Lisa cried joyfully, and hastily got to her feet to crane her neck for a better view.
Lisa had been passionately in love with Harry Potter ever since their first year but , unfortunately, one of the side effects of her love was her inability to speak to him - or to speak in his presence. This meant that though she had regularly attended DA meetings last year, she had never been capable of doing much more than splutter and stare at Harry as he made his way around the Room of Requirement. Despite this, when he was not around, Lisa was very vocal about her support for Harry and had always stood up for him no matter what people were saying; from rumors that he was the heir of Slytherin to mutterings that he was responsible for Cedric Diggory's death. Now that everyone's opinion was turning back in his favour, and he was being called 'The Chosen One', Lisa could smugly say "I told you so!" Which she did, often.
Harry's relationship with the beautiful Cho Chang had brought with it many tearful nights in the girls Ravenclaw dormitory, but now it seemed that hope was not lost. Last term, Mandy and Anthony had witnessed what looked like the most disastrous date in the history of Valentine's Day when they were half smooching, half spying in Madam Puddifoot's tea shop. And when ("that sneak") Marietta Edgecomb had betrayed them all to Umbridge, one happy outcome was that Harry and Cho seemed to be finished for good.
"I think he looked at me," Lisa confided breathlessly, sitting back down with a thump and staring fixedly at the table. The empty dinner plates disappeared and every conceivable type of pudding, dessert and cake took their place. "Aren't you going to have anything?" Sapphy asked Lisa through a mouthful of almond tart. Her friend was turned almost fully in her seat and gazing at the Gryffindor table. "I can't eat... knowing he's so close..." she breathed. Sapphy felt slightly alarmed. Lisa's obsession seemed to have increased in intensity over the summer.
Sapphy was helping herself to a cup of tea when she felt a cold presence hovering over her left shoulder. She looked up to see the Grey Lady looking down with an expression somewhere between envy and revulsion. "One good thing about being dead, you know," she said in her mournful, melodic voice, "is being thin." Her wispy white hands skimmed over her slender hips. "But one does miss something sweet," she sighed, and with her waist length hair flying out behind her she whooshed through Sapphy and disappeared through the wall.
After the plates cleared, Professor Dumbledore got to his feet at the staff table. The talk and laughter echoing around the Hall died away almost instantly.
"The very best of evenings to you!" he said, smiling broadly, his arms opened wide as if to embrace the whole room and a few of the Ravenclaws surrounding Sapphy gasped. Dumbledore's right hand had caught their attention; it was blackened and shrivelled, looking as though his flesh had been burned away. Whispers swept the room; Dumbledore, interpreting them correctly, merely smiled and shook his purple and gold sleeve over his injury.
"Nothing to worry about," he said airily. "Now... to our new students, welcome; to our old students, welcome back! Another year full of magical education awaits you and Mr. Filch, our caretaker, has asked me to say that there is a blanket ban on any joke items bought at the shop called Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. Those wishing to play for their house Quidditch teams should give their names to their Head's of House as usual. We are also looking for new Quidditch commentators, who should do likewise."
"Oooh, Luna!" Sapphy heard a fifth-year girl exclaim from further up the table. "You should apply!"
"We are pleased to welcome a new member of staff this year. Professor Slughorn," Slughorn stood up, his bald head gleaming in the candlelight, his big waistcoated belly casting the table below in shadow, "is a former colleague of mine who has agreed to resume his old post of Potions master. Professor Snape, meanwhile," said Dumbledore, raising his voice over all the muttering that had filled the hall, "will be taking over the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher."
"That's a brilliant choice," Mandy remarked scathingly. "Giving an ex Death Eater the job!"
"Actually, it is a brilliant choice," Artimus replied quietly. "Who better than someone who knows from the inside how Voldemort operates?"
"Artimus," yelped Padma Patil. "Don't say his name!"
Dumbledore cleared his throat, seeming to be looking in their direction. Two bright red patches rose on Padma's cheeks. "Now, as everyone in this Hall knows, Lord Voldemort and his followers are once more at large and gaining in strength. I cannot emphasise strongly enough how dangerous the present situation is, and how much care each of us at Hogwarts must take to ensure that we remain safe. The castle's magical fortifications have been strengthened over the summer, we are protected in new and more powerful ways, but we must still guard scrupulously against carelessness on the part of any student or member of staff. I urge you, therefore, to abide by any security restrictions that your teachers might impose upon you, however irksome you might find them - in particular, th rule that you are not to be out of bed after hours. I implore you should you notice anything strange or suspicious within or outside the castle, to report it to a member of staff immediately. I trust you to conduct yourselves, always, with the utmost regard for your own and each others safety."
Dumbledore's blue eyes swept over the students before he smiled once more.
"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know your top priority is to be well rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"
Everyone was abuzz as they climbed the winding spiral staircase to Ravenclaw tower. While Perry led the way, he was busy distracting Rosie and her new friends from Dumbledore's unnerving speech by telling them what to expect following breakfast the next morning. When they reached the top of the stairs they found a large group huddled outside the handle-less common room door.
"We can't figure out the question," Michael Corner admitted grumpily. He knocked again with the bronze eagle, who repeated the riddle in a high, sing-song voice.
"What always runs, but never walks? Often murmurs, never talks? Has a bed but never sleeps? Has a mouth but never eats?"
"Oh! A river!" said a small second-year girl from the very back of the group.
"Well executed," the eagle knocker congratulated her, and the door swung open to admit them to the airy, blue and bronze draped, circular common room. The first years ooohed at the high, wide windows and star spangled ceiling.
"See these bookcases?" Perry said smilingly, indicating the shelves that lined each wall. "They're enchanted to hold more books than there are in the entire library downstairs. And just wait til morning time, the view from our tower it the best in the school. You'll see; it's good to be a Ravenclaw."