Nym curled morosely in her corner of the train compartment she shared with her friends, her mother's latest correspondence crumpled in her hand. Hardly anything all year, and then a note saying that she would be spending another summer with her aunt and uncle. Nym had fired back an angry reply, demanding to know why her parents didn't just disown her, and have her aunt and uncle adopt her instead. That, in turn, had brought an angry letter from her mother, saying that it was for her own good, not to be ridiculous, and that she should appreciate the sacrifice her parents were making for her. It was that letter that was now crumbled in Nym's hand, torn in half in one brief period of intense rage at her mother.

Rick had tried to be conciliatory, but Nym simply wasn't in the mood for sympathy. In the end, he'd shrugged, and told her that he would be around to visit as often as he could, if his father didn't ship him off to North Hampton to stay with Sybil and her part of the family. For her part, Nym had already accepted the invitation to spend a week with Mandy and Zack, in a moment of rashness not caring what her uncle would think.

"Shows what you know." Mandy's tart voice broke into Nym's thoughts, dragging her back to her surroundings. "Nym agrees with me, don't you Nym?"

"Sorry, what?" Nym asked, confused.

Mandy sighed deeply, letting everyone know of her suffering. "Fenbrus Burlax deserves to play for England."

This was the first Nym had heard of it. "How come?" she asked stupidly. She'd never seen World Cup quidditch, but she had thought it was really high caliber. Bruce was… nice, but he wasn't the greatest player. Not by a long way.

"Because he's an amazing player. He's the best at Hogwarts."

Nym shot a look at Zack. Surely he didn't believe that. She could think of half a dozen who were better. No Beaters, maybe, but she'd never thought any of the teams used their Beaters to their full potential. And since when did Mandy care the least about quidditch? She hated to fly.

"You just like him because you think he's good looking," her brother snapped.

"That's not true. He's a really good player. Tell him, Nym."

Nym looked at her friend blankly. Not even for Mandy would she tell such a blatant lie. Well, not unless it was really, really important, but this definitely wasn't. "Nym?"

Nym shook her head. "I'm sorry Mandy, I just don't agree. He's a nice enough guy, and a decent captain, but not more than an average player."

"Shows what you know, I guess," said Mandy huffily, and retreated behind her magazine.

Jimmy spoke for the first time the whole train ride. "I think he has potential, but not as a Beater. He could be a decent Keeper, if he worked at it."

Nym looked at her quiet friend in surprise. "I didn't know you paid attention to quidditch."

"I don't, really. But I saw him practicing one day, and, well, he seemed like Keeper material." Now that she thoughts of it, Bruce probably would have been a better Keeper than a Beater. But how had Jimmy known that, Nym wondered. He wouldn't have stopped to watch them practicing, so he must have been able to tell that from a glance. She couldn't believe that he might be a secret quidditch fanatic, but nothing else made sense. How else could he have made such an assessment so quickly? With a mental shrug, she put it out of her mind to be considered at some future time. Preferably when she had an afternoon free, so she could consider Jimmy's various other eccentric qualities at the same time.

Jimmy didn't say anything else, just returned to his guitar and the purring Morwyn in his lap. Zack caught her glance and rolled his eyes expressively. He seemed to find Jimmy more than a bit strange, and had a bit less tolerance that any of the rest of them, except maybe his sister. Whatever he thought, Nym liked Jimmy. He wasn't a great conversationalist, but he was always there, and he was really good at listening, which was sometimes nicer than having someone else talking, especially when Nym was upset, what with James and Sirius and Remus being gone.

She'd needed that a lot lately. Snivellus was completely unbearable, her mother was distant and cold, Mandy was increasingly moody, and Zack… there was nothing wrong with Zack, except that sometimes Nym found herself looking for him, and missing him when he wasn't there. She had a fairly good idea that she was developing a crush on him, something she sincerely wished to avoid. Sure, Zack was good looking, and fun, but he was her friend, and that would be just... weird. And, of course, she was going back to her aunt and uncle's for the summer. Narcissa had written long, chatty letters throughout the year, especially after the baby had been born. Then they had been full of news about baby Draco - he had smiled for the first time, he'd said his first word, he seemed completely fascinated with the sword collection in Lucius's study, and would stare at it every time Narcissa took him into the room (if he wasn't asleep) - and pictures of a round faced baby that Nym assumed must be a cousin. Privately, she was a bit concerned for him, growing up dressed in all that lace that Narcissa seemed to think looked so cute on him, but Lucius would probably put a stop to that soon enough. Nym wasn't keen on her cousin growing up dressed in nothing but black, either, but it was better than lace. And frilly bows.

When the train pulled up to the station, Nym took her time getting off. No one was coming to get her; her uncle had sent the coach, figuring she could manage by herself. Jimmy hung back with her, his guitar on his back and Morwyn asleep in his arms, until Nym at last could think of no other reason to dawdle, and stepped into the coach. Then Jimmy passed the slumbering kitten up to her mistress.

"I'll see you later," Nym said, smiling as best she could. She was going to miss Jimmy, she realized with a pang. He was like another Morwyn; he mostly slept, and stared into space, and he hardly ever made a sound, but he was soothing to have around. Merlin knew, she was going to need that over the summer.

Jimmy smiled up at her. "Yeah." He turned and walked back to where his own trunk sat on its own on the platform. Nym's heart went out to him, left alone.

"Wait, Jimmy," she called suddenly, surprising even herself. When he paused to look back at her, she spoke hurriedly, "Do you want to come with me? You could floo back to your place from my uncle's, he won't mind…" She trailed off. Jimmy was watching her with that unreadable, cat-like expression of his. Then, he smiled and nodded, the grin flashing on and off his face in an instant. He went to grab his trunk and Nym, excited, jumped out to help him, leaving Morwyn to sleep on the velvet coach seat.

The trip to the manor with Jimmy was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. They talked a little, and played with Morwyn, who had decided that she couldn't sleep in the bumping coach. Jimmy wouldn't bring his guitar out, but he sang some of an old wizard ballad, full of love and treachery and great battles.

The door to the manor opened of its own accord, greeting someone it now recognized as part of the family. The two children dragged their trunks across the marble entry hall. Nym relished the noise it made, horrible and cacophonous. They didn't get very far into the manor before Madame Pince arrived, as full of fury as the other Madam Pince, who tended the Hogwarts library.

"Young lady, just what do you think you are doing?" she demanded, hands on her large hips. She glared at Nym from half way up the main stairway, with a malevolence strong enough that Nym could feel it, even so far away.

"Pardon?" Nym asked, looking at the housekeeper coolly.

"Look at the mess you are making, you foolish-"

Nym looked back at the entry hall where she had dragged her trunk. She couldn't see any sort of mess from here, and she doubted the housekeeper could from her place on the stairs.

"- ungrateful, treacherous-"

"What mess?"

Madam Pince paused in mid-rant, and gave Nym a very pointed look. "Look behind you."

"I did. There isn't any mess."

"Young lady, if you dare…"

"Stuff it, lady," Nym said, pointing her wand at the housekeeper, who was quite suddenly gagged. Jimmy gave Nym a slightly wry look, and she blushed. Yes, she was showing off. But it was just like Jimmy, even though he'd caught her at it, not to say a word.

Lucius chose that moment to make his grand entrance. He marched into the entrance hall, black traveling cloak swirling about him, head held high. He didn't even seem to see his housekeeper, standing with a gang in her mouth, but looked right through her as his eyes swept the room for Nym.

When he saw her he smiled, though with his mouth alone. She had never seen Lucius smile with his eyes, as though true amusement were something alien to him. "Welcome home, Nymphadora."

"Hello, uncle. I'd like to introduce you to my friend Jimmy."

Jimmy and Lucius shook hands, just as Lucius did with his adult friends. "A pleasure, Master Jimmy."

"Yes, Mister Malfoy," replied Jimmy dutifully, just as Rick had when he'd come to pick Nym up at the manor the summer before.

"Won't your parents be worried if they don't know where you are?" Lucius asked, sounding as if he were genuinely concerned. Of course, Nym thought, Lucius was a Slytherin. Deceitful and cunning were a given for any Slytherin personality. For all she could tell, he might well be up to something horrible. She'd heard plenty of stories from Sirius, and though she'd yet to see anything really evil of her uncle, she had no illusions that he was the nice, if somewhat overbearing, man he pretended to be around her.

"Nah," Jimmy said, and then the front doorbell rang.

A wave of Lucius's hand opened the door to an irate witch in long purple robes that matched her large-framed glasses. The slight summer breeze stirred the folds of the robes, and Nym thought she looked horribly imposing and not just a little crazy. She didn't even bother to greet Lucius before she launched into a tirade.

"Jimmy Raven, just what do you think you're playing at? I arrive at the station, and what do I find? Not you, that's for sure!"

She might have kept on in this vein for some time had not Lucius, ever conscious of his dignity, intervened. "What is the meaning of this, Madame?"

The woman was very nearly the color of her robes. "What is the meaning of your kidnapping my son, I'd like to know!" she returned hotly. Lucius's eyes narrowed in distaste, and Nym could feel her own doing the same, before she smoothed her face to polite blankness. Now was no time to be acting like one of her nasty pure-blooded relatives. "I ought to call the authorities!" On the other hand, glaring at the woman seemed like a wonderful idea all of a sudden.

"And have them arrest you for trespassing on my property," Lucius snapped. "A wonderful idea."

The woman tossed her long blond hair in irritation. "You just watch yourself, Mister Malfoy. Come along, Jamison. I don't want to catch you anywhere near a Malfoy ever again, do you understand me?" she demanded, dragging a reluctant Jimmy out the door. Nym's last view of her friend was his panicked and reluctant face, looking back at her with regret as his mother pulled him away.

Nym and Lucius stood in silence for a minute, before Lucius spoke. "I wasn't aware you were friends with one of the Raven's." He said it without any expression, as though it didn't really interest him, although Nym could tell that it did, and quite a bit.

"I didn't realize it was something of note," she returned, hoping he would give her some clue of his thoughts.

Lucius looked at her thoughtfully. "You wouldn't, would you? Despite my best efforts, you still resist all attempts to bring you into proper society."

Nym raised one skeptical eyebrow at her uncle. "And you would consider that proper, I presume."

His thin smile said he found her amusing, but that she had best not try too much more wit in the future, as it wasn't all that funny. "The Raven's are a very old family, almost as old as the Malfoy's." He said that as though it were all that mattered. "But not, perhaps, the best bred family. They have a habit of producing some quite unsavory characters."

And the Malfoy's didn't? Nym wondered. Or the Black's, for that matter. "Your friend Jimmy comes from the worst possible branch, you know. The father played quidditch for the Isle of Mann for a time, before he was expelled for tampering with the opposition's brooms."

"Who was that woman?" Nym asked. "She hardly seemed well bred." Ah, the magic words, Nym thought, as she saw her uncle preparing himself for another lecture on breeding.

"Not hardly, Nymphadora. Well spotted of you. I suppose something's gone into that head of yours in the time you've been with us. See here: Constance Raven was born Connie Skeeter. The family has only been magical for about sixty years, and was purely muggle before that. They still throw up quite a few squibs. Comes from having too much muggle blood in the line; dilutes the magic, you see. Now, that wouldn't be such a crime, there are plenty of decent magical folk who come from such lines way back, but the Skeeters are really the most detestable people. Not a one of them has had a respectable job in the past thirty years, and not likely before that either. And don't you be asking what a respectable job is, missy, I know you. Your aunt would have a fit if she knew I'd said even this much." He gave Nym a very pointed look. "Just remember, girl, you can't get diamonds out of manure."

But you can get flowers, Nym wanted to say, but didn't. She'd already pushed her uncle far enough for one day. Instead she said, "Yes, uncle."

He nodded. "It is good to have you here again. Narcissa will be pleased."

Nym curtsied, the only proper reply. Lucius nodded again, evidently pleased that she had remembered the correct response to such a remark, and swept out the door. Nym made her way up the stairs, past the irate and still gagged house-keeper towards her room. It looked like it was going to be a very long summer indeed.