For an entire week,

For an entire week, Lorraine had been keyed up at the thought of returning to Hogwarts. Familiar pathways, rituals and people all seemed to beckon her and welcome her back as she sat alone on the double seat, dreaming out the window. While Lorraine had become entrenched in the friendly cameraderie of the school, there was no one that she had really become close to.

As she descended into a daydream where Tom proposed to her in front of the entire school, underneath the Great Hall blazing comets and rainbows, she failed to notice the girl who paused next to the empty seat.

"I say, may I sit here?" Lorraine shook herself out of the depths of the reverie to see a petite girl with honey blonde hair smiling tentatively at her. She returned the smile back, and moved over to welcome her.

Her name was Lizra Bentley, and she had just moved from Canada over the summer. She felt certain that she would be an absolute outcast, "since everyone KNEW everyone already," and a perfect duffer, "since your school's simply miles ahead of ours, I'm sure." Lizra's perky, talkative nature belied a good listener as well, and she and Lorraine passed the ride through the countryside chatting like old friends.

It wasn't long before Lorraine told Lizra about Tom. In fact, the words came gushing out, untold and hidden for what seemed like an eternity. Lizra listened solemnly and nodded attentively, though her eyes danced. She had been both pursuer and pursued in the elementary game of love for years now, but she could sense that Lorraine's emotions were radically different from the "chase 'em and kiss 'em" schoolyard passions.

By the time that the Hogwarts Express pulled up to the school of its name, Lizra and Lorraine had cemented a friendship that would turn out to be lifelong. However, neither of them knew that right now, and both were anxious to get to the Great Hall, and watch the Sorting of the new-first years. Lorraine watched the shaky-legged younger ones and laughed to think that she was ever that nervous...

...still, she was glad that she didn't have to do it again.

* * *

Schedules yielded a pleasing find. Lizra had joined Hufflepuff House, so she and Lorraine had every class together. Unfortunately, the newly third-year Slytherins seemed to be located nowhere near their classes. This news was highly disappointing, but not quite as traumatic as it might have seemed. Lorraine found that with Lizra by her side, she was more outgoing than her normal "shrinking violet" self. She actually found the courage to wave to Riddle in the halls, or pass the occasional "hello," and to her surprise, he actually waved back.

However, this increasingly casual contact did nothing to prepare her for the bomb that Lizra dropped one day not long after their first DADA test was returned. She came running into their deserted dormitory, utterly out of breath, and collapsed on the bed beside Lorraine.

"Put down that infernal crocheting and listen to the news I've got!"

"Gods, Lizra, did you run the whole way from the Astronomy tower?" she asked, while setting down the sweater she was working on for her mum's Christmas present.

"No, all the way from the Defense Against The Dark Arts room," she retorted, trying to catch her breath. "Are you ready for my absolutely stupendous news? Good. Well, you know my horridly abysmal score on the last exam we had?"

"Lizra, you raced up here to tell me that you did bad on the lesson about zombies?"

"Actually...I raced up here to tell you about who my tutor's going to be. Guess what third year Slytherin with "soulfully grey eyes" happens to be a whiz in DADA?"

Lorraine almost fell off the bed onto her abandoned project, which lay limply on the wood floor. "You're KIDDING."

Lizra loved to break news, and this was a whopper of a development. "And, guess what? I asked Professor Morghaniwyth if I could bring you, my best friend in the whole wide world, who I would die if I were separated from for over fifteen minutes--"

She was interrupted as Lorraine, giggling, flung a pillow at her.

"Okay, well, I didn't say that exactly. But, the upshot is, you're allowed to come. I know DADA isn't that much of a challenge for you, but I don't exactly think you'll be bored."

"That's the understatement of the year..."

"Just don't unleash those sensuous siren powers all at once, OK? My OWL's depend on it!"

Lizra squealed as Lorraine proceeded to shower her with a hail of pillow blows, and she grabbed one from her bed nearby and began to return the volley.

* * *

Lorraine was undeniably excited, but Lizra watched her get more and more nervous throughout the day, anticipating the first tutoring date. ("I wish you wouldn't call it that!" "Well, what else should I call it?" "...I don't know, but not a date!")

As they rounded the corner to the unused classroom that they would be using, Lorraine's face turned white. Lizra sighed. Lorraine was her best friend, but there were times when she was so stupid about the things that were good for her, it made her want to scream. She took her by the hand and whispered warmly, "Siren charms in check, remember?" Lorraine grinned shakily, and headed in.

Tom had his feet up on the desk, reading over their second year text. When he noticed them coming in, he gave a surprised chuckle. "I didn't know I'd get two for the price of one!"

Lorraine felt like she wanted to turn around, race down the corridor and hide, until Lizra said lightly, "Yes, well, you get one of us, you get the other."

She heard Tom reply, "So I've seen," as she headed for the back of the room to start working on the sweater. She didn't have the skill with needle work that her mother did, and the way it was looking, it would take her till the holidays to finish, and that was if she was lucky.

"Oh, no, that'll never do." Lorraine looked up and saw Tom looking at her. "Come on, you. Up by your twin sister. Honestly, you act just like a mouse sometimes." From anyone else, it would have been a pointed insult, but with Tom's warm voice and smile, it felt like the most radiant compliment she had ever received.

"In fact," he continued, "that's what I'm going to call you from now on. Mouse. It suits you for a nickname."

Lizra shot a quick grin at her, and then raised an eyebrow at Riddle. "Well, if she's Mouse, what am I?"

"With that look, a cat. Plus, where you find one, you have the other, and that's certainly undisputable with you two."

Their conversation, which soon turned to discussion of golems, voodoo and other Dark Arts background information, washed over Lorraine peacefully. She was sitting next to Tom at the teacher's desk, close enough to feel his warmth in the chilly room. As she crocheted, she dropped a few stitches, and snarled her yarn a total of six times. However, one could expect that her mind wasn't on the work in front of her, and predictably, these slight mishaps did nothing to mar her mood.

* * *

Christmas Day dawned snowless, but with promises of a bumper crop of snowy white flakes before the day was over. Lorraine snuggled deeper into her comforter, and sleepily reflected that the tulip print seemed seriously out of sync with the winter weather. She was by nature a person who enjoyed sleep, periods of rest with long full dreams, and she preferred to be woken by the stream of full sun through a window. Since she had to be awake for classes early, she enjoyed these times to their full potential when she could.

Since Lorraine was only very dimly awake, her senses were dulled with the muzziness that comes with semi-consciousness. If she would have been more fully alert, she would have heard the sounds of Lizra sneaking over from her bed and preparing a flying leap specially designed to wake Lorraine up while scaring the wits out of her. Lizra was, needless to say, a morning person by nature.

Both girls had elected to stay at Hogwarts for the seasonal holidays. Lizra because her family was flying back to Canada to visit friends for the vacation, and both Lizra and her family agreed that going back would only reopen old wounds and make her want to stay. Lorraine's mother and father, in a completely uncharacteristic decision, had decided to take a holiday cruise. They had explained that they had never had a honeymoon when they got married-- it was the middle of the Depression, and there simply was no money. Wendell and Caroline Meadows had, therefore been saving up whenever they had the chance, and finally they had scraped together enough for a two-week vacation cruise to Italy.

Lorraine had received a letter and pictures from them soon after the holidays had started. In it, her mother looked up from her ever-present knitting to blow Lorraine a kiss and wave. Her father, dripping wet from the sea, and wearing an ancient bathing costume, proudly displayed the rare seashells he was bringing home. They both were having a wonderful time, as she could see. Every few minutes, they would kiss or cuddle in the moving wizard picture. Lorraine was happy that they were happy, but in the face of parental public affection, she was bloody glad she'd stayed at Hogwarts with Lizra.

Lorraine's half-conscious dreamy state was broken by the utter shock of all 125 pounds of Lizra landing heavily on her without warning. She screamed, rolled over quickly, got tangled in the sheets and ended up on the floor, slightly bruised but laughing.

"It's Christmas morning, Lorraine! I've been up since six thirty!"

"Lizra, you are not human. I swear, you never sleep!"

"It's CHRISTMAS! There are *presents* out there!"

"Yes, and there's a nice warm bed in here, which I was just unceremoniously dumped out of by a greedy little harpy named Lizra!"

The good-natured argument was interrupted by the arrival of Professor Nibelungen in a dark green bedrobe with bunny slippers. Her blonde hair was still messy from bed, and her features held a look of alarm.

"I heard a thump in here, and a scream! Is everyone all right?" Then she noticed Lorraine tangled on the floor and Lizra sprawled on the naked bed, and relaxed. "Honestly, you two. I thought that Grindelwald had made his way in here or something!"

The girls and Nibelungen had gotten to spend some fun, non strictly student/teacher time together, since all the other Hufflepuff students had left for home. The professor confessed that holidays were especially lonely for her since her family and friends were back in Sweden, and the holiday wasn't really long enough for her to travel back. So, Lorraine and Lizra had adopted her as a sort of older sister for Christmastime.

"Well, now that you're both officially," and, with a glance at Lorraine, "or, in some cases, unwillingly awake, let's go down to the common room. There are presents for both of you under the Christmas tree, and and even some for dried up old me!"

Lorraine quickly got dressed and washed and headed down. She hadn't wanted to get up, but now that she was awake, she could feel the excitement and anticipation rising within her. As she came down the stairs, delightling in the unaccustomed feeling of the thick, stringy carpet against her feet, she saw that Lizra had already organized the presents by the recipient.

"Well, I needed *something* to do while you were getting your beauty rest!" she said, answering the unspoken question.

Each of them settled into an armchair with their stack of presents nearby. "Do we want to take turns opening, Professor Nibelungen?" Lorraine asked. She liked to see what everyone else got, almost as much as she enjoyed opening her own gifts.

"Sure, Lorraine, that sounds like fun. And, for this holiday, both of you do me a favor and call me Brunhilde. It sounds so ridiculous to be badgering titles around when it's just the three of us. Lizra, do you want to go first?"

Lizra tore into her first present with a vengeance, revealing three boxes of the newest delight from Honeydukes' Sweetshop-- Chocolate Frogs!

"Oh, thank you, Lorraine! You knew I wanted to try these out ever since the third years brought some back. How did you get them, since we can't go into the village?"

Lorraine grinned. "I got that Doris Crockford, she's a fifth year Gryffindor, to get them for me."

"Well, thanks, they'll be great for back row DADA sneak snack fests!" Lizra said, with a devilish look at Brunhilde, nee Professor Nibelungen . Lizra's sweet tooth was already legendary among the second-years, and she usually had something delectable and toothsome hidden about her person.

Brunhilde sighed. "No wonder you need tutoring in that class."

"Actually, when the caramel sticks her teeth together, she listens up, so it's all for the best really," Lorraine said wryly.

"Oh, hush up you! Profes-- I mean, Brunhilde, open yours next." As much as the two liked the professor, and as nice as she was, it still felt strange to call her by her first name.

The tall, blonde teacher leaned down to pick up a soft, flexible parcel. As she gently unwrapped it and saw what lay inside, her eyes widened. Brunhilde lifted a beautiful silken shawl free of the paper, and a drafty breeze from the walls caught a fold and blew it wide so that the girls could see the delicate embroidery of scarlet poppies that decorated it. To their surprise, when she lowered it, the teacher was crying.

Lorraine instinctively moved to her side. "What's wrong, Professor?"

She sheepishly dried her eyes on her robe. "I'm sorry. Gods, what a beautiful thing...utterly impractical, but, oh..." Shaking herself back to reality, she continued. "It's from my...beau, I suppose you would say, back in Sweden. His name is Sven, and I thought he had totally forgotten about me here in Scotland when a gift didn't arrive."

"Well, the evidence is quite to the contrary," said Lizra dryly.

Brunhilde laughed out loud, a happy laugh that showed her white teeth and vigorous smile. "I suppose you could say that. Now, enough of that, and on to some of yours, Lorraine."

Lorraine ended up with a beautiful string of Italian beads, one half of a friendship necklace from Lizra, and a curious white envelope with a note in it. She unfolded the paper, and, in her mother's handwriting, it said, "Go to the owlery, fifth perch in the eighth row."

She immediately jumped up and raced down the corridors, Lizra and Nibelungen right behind her. It was a blessing that she didn't pitch down any of the steep staircases, for at the speed she was going, it would surely have been a grisly death sentence, not a festive Chrismas activity by any means.

Lorraine made a hairpin turn into the owlery, and quickly checked her coordinates. On the designated perch, a marvelously dignified owl was just settling down, and gave the breathless three humans a curious look.

She was a graceful, intelligent creature, with shiny feathers the color of fine slate. As Lorraine held out a slightly hestitant finger, she perched and gave her a thoroughly interrogative stare.

"I think she's accepted you as a mistress," Lizra joked half-heartedly. "What are you going to name her?"

Looking back into the owl's inscrutable amber eyes, Lorraine answered, "Quandary."

Quandary -- a synonym for Riddle.

* * *
Before getting off the Hogwarts Express at the end of the year, the girls had already made elaborate plans to meet over the summer. Lizra was invited to sleep over at Lorraine's cottage anytime, and Lorraine was told that "you absolutely *have* to come to the seashore with us this year. Otherwise I'll be stuck with my three little brothers for two weeks, and that is a fate worse than death. You would be shirking your duty as a friend not to come!"

So, towards the middle of July, Lorraine and Lizra were headed off to the Bentley family cottage for two glorious weeks of sand, surf, sun, and, of course, the incessant sniveling and whining of Lizra's younger brothers Sean, Treye and Anthony, eight year old triplets with a zest for battle. Within five minutes of the time she had met them, they proceeded to embroil themselves in a three way tussle which ended with Lizra's mother promising "spankings so bad they'd have to eat standing up for a WEEK, if you three don't hush up back there!"

Despite the murderous triumvirate, which busied themselves with digging a hole to China as soon as they hit the beach, Lorraine and Lizra had a marvelous time exploring the little shore town. Within three days, Lizra had all the of age boys competing for her attention. While she privately confessed to Lorraine that she had no interest in any of them, she was always seen surrounded by a cloud of three or more. A few of them half-heartedly approached Lorraine, but, while she was never mean to them, she always gently discouraged it. She was always semi-consciously comparing them to Tom-- the way that one walked, the color of that one's hair-- but none duplicated or outranked him to Lorraine.

The time passed before she knew it. All too soon, the Bentley family (with the addition of Lorraine, of course) was inhabiting that frenzied state consisting of stuffing all the clothes back into suitcases, checking under the beds for lost items, arguing over, "who's toothbrush that really was, and no, I refuse to pick it up and throw it away, " getting one last bag of pretty shells, and, of course, pulling Anthony and Sean off of Treye, or Treye and Sean off of Anthony, or....you get the drift.

When the Muggle town car (the Bentley family used one so as not to appear abnormal) arrived at Lorraine's house, the whole family piled out to help her with her things. Caroline invited them all in for a cup of tea, which the grownups accepted. The kids headed out to the backyard, which stretched for a full, untamed acre into the countryside. The twins, predictably, wrestled and argued, while Lizra and Lorraine sat down in the sun and talked.

"Only a week till third year. God, I can't wait!"

"Oh, that's only because you get to see the love of your life again."

Lorraine threw a clump of grass at her. "Oh, hush up. At least I don't have beaux spread all around the United Kingdom."

"Is it my fault I'm incredibly attractive and desirable?" Lizra fluttered her eyelashes in a parody of some of the older girls from Hogwarts.

Lorraine cocked her head to the side and considered. "Yes."

Lizra laughed. "No, seriously. I miss Hogwarts, too. I hear that we're supposed to have a new Transfiguration teacher this year."

"Really?!"

"Yeah, didn't you hear? At the end of last year, Professor Chelys resigned to become a sea captain. Said it had been his lifelong dream to sail the oceans blue."

"Gee, sounds like we should get him an eye patch and wooden leg," Lorraine said, shaking her head. "Always thought he was a bit barmy."

"Half the teachers at Hogwarts are -- that's why we love the place."

"True."

An inexpertly thrown rock landed next to them as the triplets launched into another fight. Lorraine and Lizra exchanged glances.

"C'mon, I'll go get Mom and Dad before they rip your house apart."

Lorraine chuckled and followed her inside.