Chapter 2: Truth

"Truth or dare?"

Hana looked up from her fruit. Ember had plopped down on the bench beside her and grabbed several pieces of toast and was reaching for the butter knife when she repeated, "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," replied Hana.

A grin spread over Ember's face as she said, "Where did you go last night and who were you with?"

"You can't ask a double question."

"Fine, who were you with?"

"I was with Nemo of course," said Hana, nonchalant. She knew that Ember had a longstanding infatuation with her brother, and thankfully, most of the time she refrained from asking endless questions about him and going on about him in front of her. Hana knew that Ember restrained herself for her sake, with difficulty, though. "He told me to come alone or I'd have brought you. He gave me my birthday present, see." Hana showed off her necklace of pearls. In the morning light they had shown to be a soft, powdery blue.

"You were gone for two hours while he gave that to you?" Ember was mumbling through mouthfuls of doughnut now. She always ate as quickly as possible, as if her food would be taken away if left conversation was interrupted by the morning's mail before Hana could reply. Several letters were dropped onto her plate as the owls circled over her and then left. One owl dropped a parcel right on top of her head.

"Look, look, it's a screamer. I wonder who sent it." Ember was more excited about Hana's birthday mail than she was, it seemed. The Howler started to smoke at the seams, Hana wondered who could be sending her hate mail on her birthday, but she didn't have to wait for long. As soon as the Howler exploded she realized it was a love song.

"If I could just hold your hand,

If I could just touch your hair,

I know together we could be great,

My lovely island Hufflepuff girl.

Happy Birthday!"

Hana could feel her face; it was so hot that she felt lightheaded. She quickly stuffed the rest of her morning mail into her bag, threw it over her shoulder and ran toward to great hall. She could hear the hoots and calls from all of the house tables, but the loudest cries seemed to be coming from the Slytherin table. Typical, she thought.

She went out the double front doors and headed toward the greenhouses. She could show up for herbology a few minutes early. Standing outside the greenhouse, she looked in the grimy glass at a particularly huge plant inside. It must have sensed her presence, because a shoot rose from the center of the base and opened into a bright red flower. The flower turned to the glass, and came as close as possible. Hana wasn't sure if she should be grateful for the glass barrier or not. The flower looked innocent enough; it looked cute somehow, almost like a puppy asking for a treat.

"Well now, what's this? I don't think I've ever seen Ollie bloom so fast for anyone before." Professor Sprout pulled out her want and pointed it at Ollie. "Magnimous Golexi," she said in her girlish voice. There didn't seem to be much of an effect on the plant, but Professor Sprout seemed satisfied and she sheathed her wand again.

"Now he'll be good to you. He was marking you for an attack, but we can't have that now, can we?" Job done, the stout lady turned and walked toward the far end of the greenhouse, where the entrance was. She was humming to herself and seemed to have forgotten all about Hana.

"Wait, professor! I wanted to ask you a question." Hana hurried to catch up. "It's about the glass window in the hallway, outside the common room."

"Oh, I love that window. Yes, I remember when it was first put in. I was about your age, and the Headmistress wanted to honor the greatest Hufflepuff who ever lived."

Hana brushed a hair out of her eyes, squinting into the morning light. "What was his name?"

"Well, I don't really remember now."

"But you said he was the greatest Hufflepuff and all that."

Professor Sprout stopped short. "Yes, that's what the Headmistress told us. But he was also one of her ancestors. So, who knows? I know I had never heard of him before then, and I could never remember his name since."

With that, the little lady continued on to where the rest of the herbology class was waiting, and Hana walked toward Ember, who was in the class as well.

Ember held out a sack for her. "You left in a hurry, so I grabbed you some French toast. Sorry I didn't have anything to put the syrup in."

"That's fine, I can eat them dry." Hana knew she could always count on Ember when it came to food!

They stood in front of their mandrakes pruning and mixing plant food, and continuing their conversation from breakfast.

"So, you're saying that with that thing, you can go anywhere in the lake? That'll be helpful for when we have to do reports on marine life." Ember threw her flaming hair over her shoulder, whacking the boy behind her on the back of the head. She continued without even looking at him. "We can get personal interviews from the merpeople. We'll probably get extra credit for having a live source that no one else has."

"Yeah, if we could speak mermish." replied Hana, a bit of toast muffling her voice. I hear Dumbledore used to be able to."

"Lot of good that does us." shot back Ember. "You think Hagrid knows anything about merpeople?"

"Why are you so interested in the lake?"

"Well, I just think it would be cool to dive in it, don't you?

"So all of a sudden, you think it would be great to swim in fish poo and dirt? You've always hated being outdoors. You don't even like being in Care of Magical Creatures." Hana looked at her friend closely. She thought she saw a blush beneath the streaks of dirt on her cheeks.

"You just want to impress Nemo, don't you?" The blush deepened when Hana asked that.

"What are you talking about?"

Truth?"

"You can't just assume I would choose truth. What if I wanted to do…"

"You have never done a dare in the three years we've been playing this game. And stop avoiding the question."

"Fine." Ember didn't look up from the pestle she was mashing herbs with. "It's been years and your brother doesn't even know I exist. It's like I'm just an extension of his little sister. So I think it's time I did something to get his attention."

Hana didn't reply. She didn't want her brother to start liking Ember, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe because it would be awkward to hang out with them. And what if they broke up? That would be even worse. Hana had no problem with the way things were right now.

Except for the look on Ember's face. Ember had liked Nemo ever since she had been sorted into the Hufflepuff house. She had been so disappointed for not making Ravenclaw. Hana had only asked her once what the sorting hat had said to her, but Ember had refused to answer. All she knew was what she had seen, and that was Ember sitting next to her at the Hufflepuff table wiping tears from her face that first night.

Looking at her now, she almost looked as forlorn as she had then. Hana leaned over the table and whispered, "Next time we go diving I'll let you know."

They put up the mulch and shears, and filed out of the greenhouse along with the rest of the class. Ember looked a little bit more cheerful as she looked at Hana and said, "You know, we've never had boyfriends before. We better fix that soon or we'll be the last ones in our dorm to be single. Could you imagine if Athena went out with someone before we did?" She looked truly horrified by that thought.

"I saw Diana yesterday hanging out with Willie Anderson, the Gryffindor. I wonder if they are going out. He's been watching her in Charms since last month."

Ember looked like she might be sick. "We need to get moving, then. I wonder when we'll find out who sent you that love letter. You might have a boyfriend before I do."

Hana desperately wanted to forget the incident from breakfast. "Why did it have to come with the mail? Why not in secret? Isn't that the point of a secret admirer?"

"Maybe it won't be a secret for long." Hana looked at her friend as they entered the castle. Ember had a mischievous sparkle in her eye, it was a look that Hana had become very familiar with over the years. Usually it meant something exciting was about to happen, and it was confirmed by the fluttering in her stomach.

One thing was certain; life at Hogwarts was never dull.