"Pat, did you use Tribble for anything?" said Jim, poking his head through the kitchen door.
"Hmm?" said Pat, looking up from her cereal bowl, the contents of which she'd been absently stirring, "Oh, er, yea. I sent a letter to Hogwarts last night. I'm sorry, I know I should've asked."
"That's alright," said Jim, kissing the top of Anne's head and sitting down next to her at the table, "You're welcome to use him, but let me know next time; I was hoping to send a letter to a supplier, but I suppose it can wait."
Pat mumbled another apology as she spooned up a mouthful of very soggy cereal. Anne was eying her somewhat suspiciously.
"Why did you need to send a letter to school?" she asked, raising one eyebrow, "You're going back tomorrow morning. What couldn't wait for a day?"
There was a long silence punctuated only by a soft clunk as Jim put his coffee mug back on the table. Finally, Pat muttered "I'm not going back to school."
Another silence. "You're what?" said Anne, exchanging looks with Jim.
"I'm not going back to school."
"What do you mean you're not going back to school?" exclaimed Anne, a little louder than she'd intended, "You're in seventh year, you're almost done. Why are you quitting now?!"
"I'm not quitting," said Pat irritably, "I'm just not going back right now. I'll go back next year and finish it off then. It's just – I'm not – This has been a bad year, Anne-"
"Oh, everyone has bad years!" said Anne, looking cross, "Seventh year is hard, it wasn't a cakewalk for any of us, but you'll get through it!"
"No, you don't understand," said Pat, shaking her head, "Anne, it was worse than that for me. I'm lucky I'm even here now."
"What are you talking about?"
"Anne, I didn't want to tell you," said Pat, feeling a pinch in her stomach as she recalled the past few months, "but I haven't been myself this year. My marks have been horrible, dad's been horrible about it, and I just - I couldn't take it anymore. I stopped eating. I stopped eating and I was throwing up all the time. And you know what? I didn't care. It felt good to be empty like that. But it went too far and I ended up in the hospital wing for a good month. I'd only been out for a few weeks before the holidays started."
She waited for Anne to say something, but her sister was merely staring at her, tight lipped, from across the table.
"You told me I looked peaky when I first got here, and that's why. And you know what? This is the best I've looked in ages. It was downright scary, and I don't want to fall into that again. I need this time, Anne. I can't go back yet. I know you don't like it, but I've made up my mind. I need to do this."
"Why didn't you tell us when it was happening?" said Anne finally, "I'm sure we could've done something to help."
"No," said Pat, "you would've told dad, and you know how that would've gone over. I told Mags, but only because I know she's not a blab."
Anne glared at her. "Whatever you may think, Patricia, I happen to care a lot about you. Whatever happened at school, I don't think you've thought this decision through. I mean leaving school!"
"I have thought it through, actually. I'm not leaving forever, just for now. I'll go back next year and finish it off."
"Oh Trisha, it's not that easy!" said Anne, pleadingly, "You think you'll go back now but...Going back after dropping out-"
"I am not dropping out!" said Pat defiantly. Anne ignored her and continued.
"If you go back after dropping out, into the lower year, where people know you don't fit in - you think they won't talk about you behind your back? That they won't have their own versions as to why you're taking the year over? You think they won't think you're stupid!?"
"They won't think that!" exclaimed Pat angrily, "I know people in that year - Bitsy and Lindsey - I'll fit in well enough. And I don't care if people make up their own stupid stories about me. I'll be fine!"
"Oh it's easy to say that now!" cried Anne, getting as frustrated with Pat as Pat was with her, "Just wait...After a few months of living away from school, you may think you don't need that final year - which I can tell you right now is absolute-"
"Excuse me ladies..." said Jim awkwardly, getting up from the table and backing out of the room, tactfully avoiding the possibility of Anne asking him to back her up.
"You just wait, Patricia, in a month or so it'll seem much easier to just keep living live without having graduated. But if you do that you'll never amount to anything!" she seethed, "Just look at the Abernethy boy across the road!"
"Who?" asked Pat, her tone a little more hostile than she intended.
"Tybalt Abernethy!" said Anne impatiently, "You know who I mean - tall, with the ponytail...He stocks shelves at Drysart & Sons Grocers."
"Oh," said Pat, finally comprehending, "You mean Ty!"
"Oh, so you've met him, have you? Well let me tell you," said Anne, "don't let him set an example for you. He was in my year at Hogwarts. He didn't even wait to start seventh year - dropped out after OWLs. And what's become of him? The best job he'll ever get is working in his uncle's shop."
"You work in a shop," said Pat spitefully, "And you didn't drop out."
"I own my shop," said Anne, her eyes narrowing slightly, "There's a rather large difference between running a store and sweeping chewing gum off the front walkway, so I'll thank you not to try using that line on me again, Patricia."
Pat said nothing, choosing instead to look moodily at the tabletop, her arms crossed defiantly.
"The point is, that's someone who decided education wasn't terribly important. Do you want to end up like that? Stuck in some menial job for the rest of your life? You're better than that, Patricia!"
"I never said I didn't think education was important!" said Pat hotly, "I've told you, I'm going back! I'm going to finish!"
"I pray to god you're still thinking that way when September comes around," said Anne, shaking her head, "I've lived here for five years, Patricia. If you want to see what becomes of people who stop their schooling short, look around you: Gregor Kerr, he cleans out cages at Eyelops; Andy Sherlock, he spends his time trying to pawn off fake amulets on tourists; Madison Everard, sweeps up clippings at the barber's for an absolute pittance of a wage...I don't want you to end up like that! I don't want you to give up on your dreams!"
Pat looked away from the tabletop and up at her sister. She could tell Anne was serious, that she was genuinely concerned.
"Anne," she said, as calmly as she could, "You don't have to worry. I'm going back. And, if for some reason, when September comes, I tell you I don't need to go back, you have my permission to put me in a body-bind and drag me back up to Hogwarts."
Anne sighed and finally smiled, though her face was still flushed from shouting. "I don't mean to make you angry, I just worry about you, Trisha. You're my baby sister, I don't want you to do anything you'll regret."
"I know," sighed Pat, "But trust me, I know what I'm doing."