~*Fragments of Yesterday*~
Chapter Six: Lessons, Detention, and Mild Acrophobia
*waves madly* It's here! It's done! People have all been harassing me for this story so… here it is! This chapter packs a wallop in terms of hilarity… and original characters. There are enough of the latter to confuse anyone, so I will be uploading a "special" which will list and categorize the many, many original characters in this chapter and the ones before, in hopes that you will indeed begin to make some sense of it all. And I swear, there will be more of the Hufflepuffs in future chapters than people falling off brooms. I just didn't have the timing here to stick in a Hufflepuff scene. You'll get one. Soon. Really.
Disclaimer: You might notice I wasn't in the credits for the Harry Potter movie. One might suppose that the person listed as the author, J.K. Rowling, wrote Harry Potter, wouldn't you agree?
This chapter is dedicated to the awesomely cool Red Feather, because it's about time your character made an impression, wouldn't you say?
It was eleven o'clock on the fourth of October, and four Gryffindor boys were serving detention in the trophy room. "You'd think they'd be more creative," Sirius grumbled as he polished Tom Riddle's Award for Special Services to the School. "I've had to do this already!"
"You've had ten detentions to date, Sirius," Peter said. His voice reverberated from inside the giant trophy he had had to partly climb into to get to the bottom. "Of course McGonagall's bound to get frustrated."
"It's still better than sorting Potions ingredients," James said. "Which is still better than washing cauldrons. And we've all done that at least twice."
"That's because Professor Macnair likes nothing better than torturing Gryffindors," Remus pointed out, pouring more polish onto a rag. "And he gives the most detentions."
"No he doesn't," Sirius disagreed. "Professor Mizuhara does. Eyes like a hawk, that woman."
Remus shrugged. "Well, but we like Professor Mizuhara. Her detentions are creative. Although that pixie hunt was insane. And pointless."
James laughed. "True enough. But I like when she sent Peter and me fishing at the lake for grindylows. That was fun."
"Except when I got a sunburn," Peter said, his upper body still inside the trophy. "Then she just laughed at me. Excessively."
"Big words, Peter. Have you been hanging around Carrots and friends again?" James said.
Peter bumped his head loudly on the inside of the trophy, whimpered, and came out, blushing. "If you must know, Abigail helped me with Charms last night. That's all!"
"Consorting with the enemy," James grimaced. "Whatever shall we do with you, Petey?"
"We could dress him as a clown, give him a tambourine, and stand him outside the Slytherin common," was Sirius' suggestion.
"But Sirius, we're already in detention," Remus pointed out.
"And why do I have to be the clown?" Peter asked. "Why can't Remus be the clown? Or James?"
"Remus is too dignified, and clowns don't wear glasses," James promptly replied. "Besides, your curly hair is just so cute."
Peter sighed. "Oh, I give up."
***
"Therefore, when you attempt to repot a mandrake, you must find some way to keep yourself from hearing its cry, as..." Abigail glared. "Are you two even listening to me?"
"Mandrake. Loud. Ouch," Lottie said promptly, contemplating her next move. "Bishop to E-five."
Candy made a face. "You're better at this than I am. Knight to… B-4."
"I give up," Abigail said, closing her Herbology text with a snap. "Next time you want to ignore me when I try to help, please inform me of this so that I don't bother at all."
"Oh come on, Abby! We were listening!" Candy said.
"Mostly," Lottie amended. "Sometimes we were thinking."
"My name isn't Abby!" Abigail glared. "For Merlin's sake! You're really-"
"Abby is
faster to say," Candy said reasonably.
"I don't go around telling people to call me Candice, do I?"
"Well, Candy doesn't sound
dreadful," Abigail said.
"Neither does Abby," Lottie countered.
"You're just bent on annoying me, that's all," Abigail said primly.
"Probably," Lottie said agreeably. "Queen to C-two. Checkmate."
"I give up," Candy said. "I'm going to go find Velvet now. Practice makes perfect."
"Not with her, it doesn't," Lottie murmured. "Playing chess takes a bit more than she's got, in the brains department."
"Don't be snippy," Candy said. "Besides, I meant to practice the Braiding Charm. Play chess with Velvet? Are you mad?" To many giggles, she left the room.
"I need some intelligent conversation," Abigail said.
"Well I need someone who can play chess!" Lottie grumbled.
"To both your inquiries, I reply that Remus is in detention," Lily mumbled from behind her Potions textbook.
"For a change," Davey Gudgeon said from where he was stretched out in front of the fire, playing Exploding Snap with second-years Maureen Abbott and Cory Thurgood. "At least when they're there, they can't be here attempting to murder me."
"Oh come now, your nose grew back, didn't it?" Lottie said good-naturedly, pulling her knees up and resting her chin on them.
"You aren't supposed to defend them, you great idiot," Lily said, and turned the page. "This Swelling Solution, incidentally, is nowhere near as difficult as you're making it out to be. I reckon you just forgot the lacewing flies."
"Oops. Knew I forgot something," was Lottie's cheerful comment. "That's all right. I gave Lucius Malfoy red spots for an hour. It was worth the failing mark."
"Your set of values astounds even me," Abigail shook her head.
"Quiet, you," Lottie said. "You ought to be in Ravenclaw, anyway."
"No I oughtn't," Abigail replied promptly. "I look awful in blue."
The portrait hole opened, and third years began to stream in from their Astronomy lesson. "Did you know," Gina Deacon said, "there's a clown playing a tambourine outside the Slytherin common room. It looks remarkably like Peter Pettigrew. It scared Peeves into hysterics."
"They were supposed to be serving detention," Lily grumbled. "Stupid prats."
But everyone else in the room was laughing.
***
"Madoc, are you going to eat anything today?" Katharine Breslin waved a worried hand in front of her friend's unblinking eyes. "At all?"
"Ignore him," Patricia Wells suggested. "He's staring at the Gryffindor bint again."
"How is she a bint, Tricia?" Angela Avila asked. "That's not a very nice thing to call someone."
"She is friends with Sirius Black," Patricia said, brushing her short blonde hair out of her eyes. "Accordingly, she is a bint."
"Are you still sore that he put Drooble's Best Blowing Gum in your hair?" Gene Randall asked with a laugh, stuffing himself with kippers. "It looks better short, anyway."
"Of course I'm sore!" Patricia glared. "It took two hours to get me off the ceiling!"
"I thought it was rather funny," Oksana Nikolayeva said from across the table in her strongly accented voice, absently running her hand over her long chestnut-brown braid.
"You would," Patricia said.
"Oh, Katharine, I'm sorry, did you say something?" Madoc suddenly asked. "I wasn't paying attention."
"He's sunk," Keenan Harrison agreed. "Hopeless."
"Lovesick," the quiet Jane Graystone remarked from the other end of the table. "And they call us the smart ones. Pass the kippers, Gene."
***
"We've got flying lessons today!" Velvet announced cheerfully as she came down to breakfast the next day. "Incidentally, Lottie, that Ravenclaw is staring at you again."
Lottie looked down into her plate, which was nearly empty. "I think I'm going to be sick," she finally said, in a voice that was suddenly very breathy. "Really sick. I think I'd better go and-"
"You were fine until you saw the schedule for today," Abigail pointed out. "Have some bacon, it's quite nice."
Lottie glared up at her through the cloud of curly hair she had not bothered to tame that morning. "Yes," she said, "but now I'm going to be sick!"
"Are you scared of flying, Lottie?" Candy asked curiously. "It's really not that bad. I'm rather looking forward to it."
"I can't wait!" Velvet said cheerfully. "Candy's dad never let us near his broomstick at home!"
Lily, rushing in a little late and plopping down, put an arm around Lottie. "Lottie, are you all right? You didn't try to… to turn me green or… tickle me to death or… or anything this morning! And you aren't eating!"
"She's scared of flying," Abigail said promptly.
Lottie glared some more. "I am not."
"Then what are you scared of?" Abigail prompted.
"I am not scared!" Lottie shouted. "I simply don't feel well!" With that, she stood and stomped out of the Great Hall and up the stairs.
"Well, then," Lily said. "That was… something. Pass the bacon, please, Gina."
The third year looked at the first year girls rather oddly as she handed Lily the plate. "You act as though nothing out of the ordinary has happened. You can't tell me she's always like that?"
"She is," Lily, Abigail, and Velvet said at once.
Candy sniggered. "Except when she's worse."
Breakfast being more or less finished, the first years trooped down the halls and outdoors into the chilly October morning. Lily sniffed appreciatively at the clean crisp air of autumn. "You think they'll let us play a practice game if we show them how good we are?" James asked Sirius.
Lily rolled her eyes behind them. "Honestly, if your heads got any bigger, they'd explode!" she said. "We're only first years!"
James turned and walked backwards, grinning cockily at her. "Ah, yes, but see, unlike you, Carrots, some of us already know how to fly."
"I hope you fall of your broom and break your big head open, Potter," Lily grumbled. "It'd save us all a heap-load of trouble."
"You insult me, Carrots!" James said huffily. "I've never fallen off my broom!"
"At least, not since he was about six and only just learning," Sirius said. "Oh, and when I knock him off. He falls then, too."
"Shut it, Sirius," James said, reddening a bit as the girls behind him burst into laughter. "You'll make me look bad!"
"Nothing could make you look worse than you already do," Lily said staunchly. "Besides, if you don't fall off your broom, the least I can do is beat you about the head with mine until you fall unconscious."
"What a violent bunch you all are," drawled a haughtily amused female voice. They turned to behold a short, dark-haired girl in Slytherin colors, walking a bit apart from the rest of her number. "I'd say you belonged with us, but then, you just don't have the class, do you?"
Abigail turned and looked her over slowly. Lily was shocked to notice a strong family resemblance, though the Slytherin wasn't nearly as pretty. "Do us all a favor and go crawl back under your rock, Amanda," she said softly.
Amanda's eyes widened. "Why cousin, I'd forgotten you had deserted us! I'd curtsy, you know, but you aren't the perfect little princess any longer, are you? Gryffindor. Honestly. Poor Aunt Keaira is probably having conniptions right now."
"One doesn't choose where one belongs," Abigail said just as softly. "Furthermore, I would entreat you not to speak of my mother, conniptions or not. I can deal with my own family, thank you. Why don't you go back to your own house, as mine is so distasteful? Or have you discovered that your mother has affianced you to Xavier Bulstrode? Pity, I'd hide too." They reached the brooms, and Abigail took a spot between Lily and Candy.
Amanda glared. "I shan't marry Xavier, and at least I'll dare show my face at home when the year is over." She turned and went to a broom as far away from the Gryffindor girls as she could manage.
"That was pleasant," Candy muttered.
"She's just sore because she knows they won't let her play Quidditch in Slytherin," Abigail said, forcing a sunny smile. "Well, that and the fact that she really is engaged to that troll. Aunt Tierney has very interesting taste. Either that, or she secretly hates Amanda."
The other girls giggled as the teacher, a young and capable looking woman with flyaway hair left the castle and looked around, flicking out a roll sheet. "Right then. You're to call me Madam Hooch, I suppose, as I don't merit a 'Professor'," she said, looking around. "Have I got all… no, wait. Where is Miss Christianson?"
"Sick," Lily said with a straight face.
Madam Hooch grimaced. "In other words she ran upstairs to Madam Pomfrey because she was terrified at the idea of getting on a broomstick."
"Well… yes," Abigail said, biting back the laugh.
"Professor Carr informed me that we have one every year," Madam Hooch waved it off. "Mild acrophobia. They'll make her fly eventually if they have to toss her out of the Infirmary window with a broomstick." Everyone laughed. "Right, well, I'm a replacement this year, as you well know… Madam Carr was injured this summer and I was on the reserve list for the Magpies anyway, so I will be filling two positions until your actual teacher recovers." She swept the students with a piercing, frighteningly feline gaze. "I haven't the slightest idea of how to teach children, but I have a very good idea of discipline, therefore, if you do not put that broom down this very moment, Mister Potter, I shall send you to detention, and you shan't fly at all."
James put his broom down with a guilty look and Lily smirked at him. The challenge was clear in her gaze.
"All right, everyone extend their right hand over their broom and say 'up'," Madam Hooch said.
"Up," Lily said accordingly. The, broom, however, was obviously not feeling very cooperative and stayed firmly on the ground. "Up! Up! UP!" This didn't seem to do much good.
"Problems, Carrots?" James called, his eyes laughing. He was holding his broom confidently, as was Sirius. Remus and Peter seemed to be having a bit of a problem, but to Lily's other side Velvet had gotten it immediately as well. Candy's broom flew into her hands after her fourth frustrated call, and across the two rows of children all levels of achievement were apparent, though Abigail was apparently quite content to let her broom lie on the ground and Amanda down the row was smirking with her broom held fast in her hands. Lily was too preoccupied shouting at her broomstick to shout at James as well.
"Oh dear," Madam Hooch said with a grimace. Walking down the middle of the two rows she slowly helped each student until all of them were holding their brooms properly. "Now, I suppose I should be prudent and tell you to hover but I've never been very good at prudence. So, instead, experiment. I'll make sure no one gets hurt. We hope."
James and Sirius cheered and took off right away, as did a few others. Lily tried, found she could barely hover, and glared up at James, who was playing tag with Sirius and a shakily flying Remus as though this was his fault.
By and large, this was chaos. Some of the students had obviously been flying since a very young age, while others hadn't ever flown at all. Lily and Abigail both stayed with feet planted firmly on the ground after a few weak attempts. There was, however, one shock. "Would you look at that?" Lily said, pointing up. In the sky, Velvet was cheerfully executing loops and twirls of a highly complicated nature, swooping in between the boys and by all standards having a marvelous time. "I guess she's a… whatsit… idiot savant," Lily finally managed.
"She's ruddy brilliant," was the opinion of a Ravenclaw boy next to her.
Someone fell from their broom, shrieking. A Hufflepuff boy. Madam Hooch sighed. "To the ground, all of you!" Under her breath, she muttered, "I suppose I had better stick with hovering in the future after all." She walked over to the Hufflepuff boy, looked down, and sighed again, digging up her roll sheet. "Miss… Burke, could you take Mister Welch to the Infirmary, please? And tell Madam Pomfrey to let Miss Christianson off. Just for today." The pigtailed Hufflepuff girl nodded and she and the teacher helped the limping boy stand. "I'm beginning to see why first years don't play Quidditch," Madam Hooch grimaced as the two limped slowly away. "Right then, we start again. This time," she sighed, "you hover. No faces, Mister Black. You lot as a whole would tear up the Quidditch pitch if I let you loose right now. And not in a good way."
"Spoilsport," Candy said, sighing. "I was just getting the hang of this."
"Thank Merlin," Abigail said.
"Thank God," Lily said.
"That was fun!" Velvet grinned. "I hope I get to do it again."
"Surprises," Lily shook her head. "Life's full of them."
"Can't fly, can you Carrots?" James grinned. "So much for all that loud talk."
Lily, however, gathered her wits about her and pointedly ignored him. She was learning.
***
The Slytherin common room was a rather dismal place, at least according to Amanda Layton. Not that she would ever dare say anything about it to anyone, but she did wish there was a bit more light and a bit less feeling that water or something even worse would drip onto her head from the low stone ceiling.
The only well-lit place in the room was the armchair near the fire with a low table holding a candelabra standing to its right. This place, however, had been claimed by the quiet and regal Narcissa Caligo on the very first night, and she sat there, textbooks spread around her, studying quietly, every time anyone bothered to look. Amanda, while she did harbor rather a fondness for reading, wouldn't have dared say anything to Narcissa or take the spot that was being recognized as "hers", though. After all, there was a certain place for everyone in the grand scheme of things, and Narcissa was certainly right at the top of the chain, however one looked at it. She was the society princess in much the same way Abigail had been, and while thoughts of Abigail rankled Amanda, she did have to admit that both girls had an unearthly and queenly sort of demeanor that set them apart. Abigail, however, seemed to have given up her place in society without the least bit of a qualm. Gryffindor. Honestly.
It was all very well when one was Narcissa Caligo, betrothed to the coolly handsome Lucius Malfoy from the tender age of five. Narcissa, being accomplished, beautiful, and intelligent (this last being certainly the most unnecessary in the mind of most Slytherin males) had slid into the mold of the Slytherin princess without even a murmur from any of the other, older, Slytherin girls. Yes, it was all very well when one was Narcissa Caligo, but when one was Amanda Layton, engaged to a troll (she wondered at her mother's eyesight sometimes), plain, betrayed by her own blood (in the form of Abigail), and dismal at Potions, the one subject all Slytherins were simply expected to excel at, then life wasn't all roses and sunshine. As it was, Professor Macnair was letting her scrape by simply because she was in his house. Which, of course, all amounted to one thing, and that was that life simply wasn't fair.
While Amanda sat and stewed in one corner, the Slytherin Quidditch team conferred in another. The team was comprised mostly of tall, burly boys with barely enough brains to fill a thimble, excluding the lanky captain and Seeker, fourth year Orrin Avery, whose strategy at this point consisted, it seemed of "bash them until they can't play any longer". This sentence, incidentally, didn't seem to be solely aimed at Edan Crabbe and Rockny "Rock" Goyle, the second year Beaters who, by their sheer size, quite eclipsed the rest of the team. This, of course, served to anger Amanda even further. She was good-she knew she was good-but girls didn't play Quidditch, and that's all there was to it.
It didn't help matters in the least that there were currently two girls on the Gryffindor team, one the captain, and Abigail the Perfect could have played if she wished. The fact that Abigail was a proper female of the first order and would have nothing to do with brooms when she might as well, her reputation ruined by her placement anyway, stung even more. Amanda Layton wasn't at all a happy girl.
Across the near-silent room, Narcissa Caligo attempted to concentrate on her Charms theory. She was really rather frustrated, as for the past half hour, Severus Snape had found it amusing to sporadically charm the flames of the candles in her candelabra into going out. Had it been anyone else, she would probably have stood and silently glared at them. Narcissa had found early on that people feared her, Merlin knew why, and her silence was interpreted as haughtiness, her rigidity as anger. Accordingly, she could have glared, but this was Severus, a close friend of Lucius, and if there was one thing Deanna Caligo had taught her only child, it was not to upset her superiors.
Lucius Malfoy owned her. Had owned her, really, since she had been far too young to understand what it entailed. Therefore, he was her superior, and if his friend wanted to spoil her studying, then that was exactly what he would do. She absently brushed a long strand of her fine, pale blonde hair behind her ear and turned the page. She wished to be somewhere-anywhere-with more light.
"Stop that, Severus," Veronica Clarke said softly, stopping by the chair-back of the very amused, dark-haired boy.
"Why?" Severus turned a challenging gaze up at the pale, long-faced girl, who was currently looking down at him over a nose far too long even for her face with mild annoyance.
"Oh, cut the crap, beak-nose," she snarled. "That's Narcissa! Let her study!"
"You should talk," Severus muttered, glaring at her through hooded eyes. "What is it with everyone and her, anyway?"
"You may have grown up around Gryffindor harridans, Severus, but some of us recognize a lady of good breeding," Desdemona Muldoon said from where she had stopped at his other side. She pushed her luxurious dark hair back and her perfectly sculpted little mouth smirked. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you fancy her, you know."
"I don't either!" Severus said, instantly riled up. Veronica giggled slightly, for he had clearly forgotten to annoy Narcissa, whose rigid posture was relaxing as the moments ticked by and her candles remained burning.
"Lucius wouldn't like you to be harassing his fiancée," Desdemona said haughtily. "Find someone else to bother. Like the outcast in the corner." All three of them sent veiled glances in the direction of Amanda, who was staring into space with a displeased expression on her face.
"Please, you think I'd be a little more creative," Severus spat. "You two torment her enough without my help. I think I'll go find Ian and ask if he wants to play chess."
With that, Severus stalked out of the room and down the stairs to the dormitories, "Rather like a bat," as Desdemona remarked, and peace was restored. As the two Slytherin girls adoringly watched their idol work, Narcissa sighed to herself and wished to be anywhere else at all.
***
The Hogwarts library was full of students of all ages who were, as it so rarely seemed to be anymore, causing no trouble whatsoever. Even James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter sat at a table by a window, books open before them, and were all working quietly, despite the frequent glares in their direction by Madam Pince, the librarian with the pinched face and the hushed voice.
"Do you have the rest of the properties of the flobberworm?" Peter asked Remus. "I think I might be missing one."
"Highly boring. Do absolutely nothing," Sirius grinned. "There are more interesting potions you could have chosen to write about, Peter."
"Yes, but this one was easy," Peter said.
"Then it isn't our problem that you can't get the required length, is it?" James said cockily. His tongue was caught between his teeth as he carefully measured the length of his own essay. "Shit. It's too long again," he grimaced.
"Language, Potter!" Remus growled in a perfect imitation of Professor Macnair.
James sniggered. "That man will be the death of me yet," he proclaimed.
"Or you of him," Peter said.
"Whichever comes first," Sirius sniggered. "Me, my money's on you, Jamie-boy. Macnair seems to have a rather weak heart after that incident with the fireworks last class-"
"If you recall, no one proved that that was us," James cut him off neatly. He looked at his essay. "I think I'm going to have to shrink this blasted thing again. I didn't write everything I wanted yet!"
"In his own way, he's as much of an academic holy terror as Lily and Abigail," Peter murmured.
"Kindly do not compare me with the carrot-head, Peter. You're supposed to be my friend." He looked at his essay and winced. "Damn it all! Any smaller and he won't be able to read it! Do you think he'll accept it if it's a couple inches over?"
Remus looked smug. "Academic elitist," he said.
"Oh, shut it," Sirius said. "Your essay's too long too, you know."
"Oh, come on," Remus said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "It's only half an inch! You don't think he'd notice… do you? Does he even measure these things? He doesn't seem like he does. Well, but then again, I know McGonagall takes a tape measure to all of hers. Maybe I should-"
"Pathetic," Sirius said. "Simply pathetic."
"And I'm still missing three inches," Peter grumbled. "Why are they smart? You could always give me a couple inches, James."
"Write your own sodding essay, Peter," James said, raking his hands through his hair to make it stand on end. Peter stuck his tongue out at him. "Dear Merlin, if he really does measure them-"
"Oh, for Merlin's sake," Sirius laughed. "I'm going to go… blow something up, or something. Maybe Professor Mizuhara's back room. The one with the oni. Then I'll tell her you two did it."
"Have a nice time," Remus said absently as he carefully shrunk his essay.
***
The reader will remember that this was all unusually quiet for Hogwarts in those days. In fact, another week passed, and by mid-October, when nothing had exploded (at least, nothing too important) and Davey Gudgeon wasn't in the hospital wing, the teachers began to relax. Other than a rather amusing incident which involved Lottie getting a hold of a soy sauce bottle from Professor Mizuhara's back room (Sirius kept asking her how she had managed to get in there) and liberally lacing Ke Wang's tea with it, nothing out of the ordinary happened at all. This, naturally, was far, far too nice to last.
"Potter! You are, without a doubt, the most revolting human being on the planet! How dare you?" In the middle of the Gryffindor common room, James Potter and Lily Evans were having a blazing row. This, however, seemed to have become the norm for Gryffindor Tower, as no one was really paying attention.
Lily stood, nearly hissing, looking between James and a small, white bunny which was sitting innocently on the floor between them. This bunny had recently been her owl, but had been transfigured by James with the comment that "This pet suits a carrot-hair like you much better anyway!" This, understandably, had never failed to get Lily in a perfectly pugnacious frame of mind. "Aw, c'mon, Carrots, can't you take a simple joke?"
"NO!" She shouted forcefully, grabbing the first thing she could find underhand-an Arithmancy textbook belonging to Kara Maechin-and throwing it at him before fleeing up the stairs to her right, tears in her eyes.
"Lil? Are you all right?" A concerned looking Abigail glanced momentarily up from a heavy tome and went back to reading. She looked remarkably pretty that day in a white jumper and a crimson skirt. Lily just glared, not trusting herself to say anything for the moment.
"So, what did he do this time?" asked a cheerful voice from the direction of the window. Lily turned and sighed, for the owner of the voice had magicked the glass away again, and was now sitting with her legs dangling off of the ledge.
"Lottie, get off of there, please," said an exasperated Abigail, not even bothering to look up from her book. "I'll owl your mother, and I know how Mrs. Christianson gets when she's angry. You'll be getting Howlers every day for a week. Besides, there's a draft."
Lottie sighed and jumped off the window into the room, her blonde curls bouncing, waving her wand at the glass and muttering something. The glass sprung back into place, and she threw a pillow at Abigail. "Why owl my mother? It appears I have one right here. At least you're not calling me Charlotte yet." Then sighing, she looked at Lily again out of curious blue eyes. "So, Lily, m'dear, I repeat myself, what did he do this time?"
"He turned Athena into a bunny rabbit," Lily said. "I see that smile on your face! It wasn't funny!"
"Was it at the very least a cute bunny rabbit?" Candy stuck her head into the room from the bathroom. Lily threw a pillow at her too, narrowly missing as she jumped to get out of the way. The mirror behind her reflected not only the back of Candy's auburn head, but also the face of Velvet, who seemed to be busy holding her wand to her very upturned nose and muttering spell after spell. Lily assumed she was still trying to give it a more dignified shape.
Lily sighed again. "Candy, why is it you always joke about everything? Yes, it was a very cute bunny rabbit, but that's not the point!"
"At least he didn't turn it into a rat," was Lottie's observation. "Look on the bright side, Lily!"
"If you cad't turd her back, cad I have the buddy?" asked Velvet, her voice sounding muffled and rather stuffed up.
"Velvet, I think you've done something wrong," Candy sighed, and disappeared back into the bathroom, wand out.
Abigail placed her book reverently on her bed, carefully smoothing the pages, then came up to Lily and gave her a hug. "Lily, don't worry. We'll turn her back; I've got just the spell, I read about it yesterday, luckily. Don't let him get to you so badly!"
Lottie joined the hug from the other side. "Cheer up, Lils, tonight we'll go and put toads in his underwear drawer, or something."
Lily let out a choked giggle, realizing she was very near crying. She let the tears fall. "I hate him," Lily whispered. "I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!"
"I know," Abigail said soothingly.