The first thing that Wylan noticed when he entered Victor's office was the badger had been moved to behind his massive desk. Victor's fingers were tracing across Corbierre's sleek coal black feathers whose beady eye was trained on the door. Wylan coughed to gain his attention.

"Yes, what do you want?"

Wylan walked over to his desk and stood with his hands behind his back. Confidence shone from him which he hoped would gain him extra points towards his goal.

"It's the start of the year and we haven't seen anyone in ages," he began. "I thought a social event would be a pretty good idea. We could perhaps…"

"No," was Victor's flat answer.

Some of Wylan's confidence vanished.

"You haven't heard what I was going to say!"

"No," was Victor's blunt reply.

"What was I gonna say then?"

"Let me guess," Victor straightened up. "Were you, by any chance, going to ask for a party to happen in my domain, possibly on Friday, with half the school attending? Because if that was your question, the answer is no."

Wylan deflated. Why did he have to end up with the toughest housemaster? It was just his luck.

"Go away," Victor said.

Knowing not to get on his bad side, Wylan left the office. Once he was out of sight, he slumped on the stairs. He closed his eyes to try to find another answer. It came right under his nose as a shadow clouded his vision.

Opening his eyes, he found a face grinning at him. It was like looking into a broken mirror that someone had placed upside down. Jesper was very similar to Wylan except for a few minor details. Jesper's hair reached his shoulders, his eyes were hazel and he was not interested in girls at all. On the other hand, Wylan's eyes were jade green, he had an olive complexion and he flirted more than a model whose job it was to flirt with the camera.

"Wonderboy!" Wylan shouted.

"Wailer!" Jesper yelled.

They hugged each other until they heard a sarcastic "ah" coming from the girls' corridor. Wylan turned around just in time to spot burgundy hair disappearing around the corner.

"That Iris really is starting to annoy me," Wylan moaned.

"Wailer," Jesper muttered under his breath.

"I'm not wailing," Wylan said.

"Nah, you're whining. Sorry mate, I should know that there is a big difference."

"Ha ha," Wylan pretended to laugh. "Very funny. So when did you arrive?"

"Just now. Trudy said I'm not the last one here which is pretty good. Apparently Miss Devereaux is keeping Nicci captured at the school and Flynn and Ronan are arriving after dinner so it's just us tonight."

"Great! Just me, you and three girls chatting about 'girl stuff'," Wylan put bunny ears around it. "Jesper, can I ask you to do something?"

Jesper shifted uncomfortably under Wylan's persistent gaze. A few seconds passed before Wylan decided to take the silence as a "yes".

"Okay," he grinned, "what you have to do is ask Victor for a welcome back party."

"What?" Jesper exclaimed.

"Come on, roomie!" Wylan pleaded.

"I'm not one of your girlfriends…"

"I know that!"

"Fine," Jesper rolled his eyes, "but only if you give me your pudding…"

"Done!"

"For the rest of the week."

Wylan sighed in defeat. As his very Christian grandfather always recited, 'an eye for an eye'. Trying to be as over the top as possible, he let out a massive sigh, turned to look the other way and gave Jesper a tough handshake.

Jesper grimaced, but it turned into a smile before he walked up the stairs. The blinds in Victor's office were closed so Wylan couldn't see in. He followed Jesper to the door. When his friend knocked, he quickly stepped out of view.

Wylan crept to the door once it had shut. He quietly moved his ear to the door. Although it made no difference to what he could hear, it didn't matter for long. Victor jerked open his door and stared down at Wylan sprawled on the floor for the second time that day. However, he wasn't going to knock a man like Victor to the floor as easily as he could with Iris.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Sight." Victor spat down at the boy.

Jesper was close behind Wylan as they fled to the girls' corridor. They leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"Do I still get the puddings?"

"No way in hell after that attempt!"

It took a while for Wylan to realise he could hear someone trying to hold back giggles. He whipped his head, causing some of his hair to blow in the sudden wind, to the end of the corridor. Immediately the door slammed.

"Girls," he fumed under his breath.

He ignored Jesper's own ragged laughs and marched to the door. Without bothering to knock, he pushed it open. The sight of the girls all crowded around Lydia's bed was sweet. They all faced away from the door except for the owner of the bed. Lydia sat on the covers, leaning lightly on her knees with her elbows. When she noticed Wylan shifting in the doorway, she looked up.

Not the slightest inkling of shame came to him as he watched Lydia's cheeks match the soft colour of her strawberry blonde hair. Instead he lapped it up like the girl was his oasis. Wylan's mouth tipped upwards just enough to gain a greater effect. Lydia's eyes skittered down to her knee that exposed a birth mark. By dipping her head, thick curly locks loosened from their position behind her hairband.

The tutting by the desk distracted Wylan from his prey. He reluctantly looked over at Iris and Kestrel's little barricade from him. A number of suitcases sat open in front of them, but only a couple of shirts were left in them. Kestrel had a soppy little smile, but Iris had her arms crossed. She raised an eyebrow at Wylan.

Without considering Wylan's dignity, Jesper pushed past him into the room. Luckily Wylan caught himself before falling. Third time lucky.

"Girls!" Jesper smiled. "How were your holidays?"

"Okay," Lydia murmured. "I went on a photography course in London and my mum took me to the Globe Theatre. We went to see…"

"That's brilliant," Jesper interrupted. "Could I talk to you later about it?"

Lydia looked a little taken aback, but nodded. Jesper smiled warmly at her before he turned to Kestrel.

"Kestrel," he said, "this is a matter of life and death. I desperately need your help."

Wylan walked closer to listen to the conversation about to unfold. What could be a matter of life and death so early into the school year? School hadn't even started yet so it couldn't be a last minute dash to finish homework.

"Wylan and I have got ourselves this little problem," Jesper continued. "We're trying to convince Victor to let us… have a social event on Friday, but he said something along the lines of 'no way in hell'! Seeing as you have your gift of persuasion, could you perhaps help us?"

"It's not a gift, Jesper," Kestrel said but Wylan could see that she appreciated his words. "I could help you though."

"Yes," Wylan cheered.

He threw an arm around Kestrel's neck. She squealed in shock and fell backwards into the desk. Moaning, she gripped her leg.

"That hurt!" she whined.

"Sorry," Wylan mumbled. "I got a bit…"

"Over excited," Iris finished.

"Exactly! We'll see you girls at dinner then. See ya!"

Wylan opened the door into the corridor. He turned to see Jesper saying something to the girls. They all burst out laughing before Jesper came out too. Puzzled, Wylan asked his friend what was so funny.

"You owe me a week's worth of puddings!"

Wylan moaned.

Flynn heard the sound of clinking knives and forks when he finally arrived at Anubis House. It had been a very boring day of travelling and he couldn't wait to reach his room. He left his suitcase by the front door and walked over to the door leading to the living room. Carefully he peeped through the crack between the door and wall to spy on the rest of the Anubis residents.

Five people were crowded around one end of the dining table. Flynn watched Lydia and Kestrel's hair flow down the back of the chairs, bobbing with each spoonful they had. Jesper and Wylan sat opposite them while Iris sat at the head of the table. They were all cramming lasagne into their mouths.

Flynn felt salvia begin to form in his mouth at the thought of Trudy's cooking. It was always packed with flavour, but she knew the right amount to put in before it became overloaded. He closed his eyes to picture what he thought could be the taste. Flynn's tongue twisted in his mouth at the thought.

He was surprised that he wasn't the last one there. Normally he was always late to school due to the sheer amount of paperwork that nobody liked to fill out. There was also the amount of train switching he had to do and the trek to Anubis House. Flynn never trusted taxi drivers.

His suitcase wasn't the only one in the entrance hall. A dull grey one stood next to the cellar door. There weren't any labels or keyrings that made it stand out. Flynn guessed that it belonged to one of the boys and didn't question it as much as he should've.

Grabbing his own suitcase, Flynn walked to his room opposite the kitchen. He opened the door to find it empty except for some bare furniture. It looked like Ronan wasn't there yet.

The bed on the left was where Flynn placed his suitcase. He had unpacked everything in minutes so he decided to see if there was any leftover lasagne. If there wasn't, he was determined to make some himself.

When Flynn entered the kitchen to find a plate, no one seemed to notice him except Lydia. She looked over Jesper's head and blinked at him like a mouse trying to decide whether to run. Eventually she looked back down at her plate. Flynn mentally sighed. This was the normal reaction from some people and he didn't like it at all.

Trails of conversation and laughter reached Flynn's ears as he busied himself with the cutlery drawer.

"I've only been here an hour," Jesper said. "No time to find out anything from the other houses. Although it was enough time to trash my room."

Kestrel and Iris cackled around Lydia who smiled gently. Flynn didn't feel anything close to amused. He'd be annoyed if anyone had trashed his room that quickly.

"That wasn't all me," Wylan said with a trace of annoyance. "It was Iris as well."

Jesper let out a low whistle.

"What?" Wylan asked. "It doesn't mean anything. She was the first here, I was the second, so we chatted in my room."

"Our room."

"Our room! I was starting to unpack and she helped me. Right, Iris?"

Flynn turned around in time to see Iris nod. Her mouth had tomato sauce around it and the bowl of extra cheese was extremely close to falling off the table next to her. He shook his head at her ignorance.

"Then she started the pillow/clothes/light-fist fight."

"Now wait just a second…" Iris perked up.

"And I won of course."

"Liar," Iris hissed playfully. "I knocked you over that suitcase! Remember that? You're short enough to notice something of that height."

"Hey!" Wylan interjected. "I'm exactly the same height as you!"

Flynn finally found all of the things he needed and left the kitchen. Lydia's eyes scurried back up to look at him. Her smile disappeared as he sat down next to Jesper who was laughing into his empty plate.

The laughter suddenly died down and they all looked at Flynn. He took a mouthful of lasagne, savoured the flavours and swallowed. When he noticed everyone was still looking at him, he spoke.

"Good evening."

Jesper wiped his mouth and stood up.

"Well, I'm going to grab pudding if no one here minds!" he said. "Oh sorry Wylan. Didn't mean to be insensitive!"

Flynn didn't know whether Jesper said that on purpose, but it dug his pit a little deeper. Even though he had said it to Wylan, he was being insensitive to him and so was everyone else. Why did they suddenly stop talking? They weren't even talking about him.

With a plate of pastries, Jesper sat back down. He licked his lips and took a huge bite. Even though she hadn't finished, Kestrel took one as well, followed swiftly by Iris. She looked over at Flynn who was staring at her. He pointed to his mouth. Confused, Iris touched her own and looked at her hand. Sighing she wiped it clean with her sleeve.

"Thanks," she said.

Nodding in return, Flynn concentrated on his meal. The room was abandoned when he finished. Slowly, he got up, walked over to Iris' seat and picked up the cheese bowl. He looked at the crumbs left, wondering how the bowl hadn't smashed with the rush Iris made when she was done.

Thank you for everyone whose reviewed so far! I'm so pleased you are interested in this story. Most of the reviews have mentioned Kestrel's medication and how serious. I want to say that it won't greatly affect her personality and it isn't the thing that defines her. She is an amazing character with great complexity. Wallflowerpower is brilliant for creating her as well as the other people who submitted an OC. (Their names are all on my profile!)

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and see you soon for the next!