Chapter Three: Two's Company, Three's a Crowd, and… Four's a Road Trip.

After a peaceful rest in the dormitories, the students of Hogwarts descended bright and early for breakfast. That is to say, most of them awoke for it.
Kayla was one of the first to rise and wash, her hair drying in the autumn's drafts as she munched on a fresh apple. Late but not absent completely, Lylia sat at the Slytherin table a few minutes before breakfast's end.
"Are we ready to head out?" she asked with a grin.
"If my joints can stand it," answered Kayla as Malfoy rubbed her shoulder supportively. "Detention was exhausting. Filing and paperwork: all night."
"C'mon!" Lylia grinned brighter, hopping immediately up again. "Let's go, let's go, let's go!" She grabbed Kayla's nearest limb and dragged her by the foot about a foot down the bench before Malfoy threw in his reinforcements, holding Kayla still.
"Letum," he sighed. "Can't we take it easy for an hour?"
"I see at least some of us are prepared to get going," Talem smiled at Lylia as he approached the Great Hall table at which the trio positioned themselves. "I notice that Melinda is missing this day... Perhaps she became ill after Detention?"
"She wasn't here all morning," Draco said simply.
"Can we leave NOW?" asked Lylia hopefully.
"Do we even have a way there?" Kayla realized they had no method to go to Diagon Alley aside from train.
"Err…" Draco cringed. "Didn't think about that…"
Talem gave a soft laugh, raising a pouch. "That one's easy… Floo Powder."
"Leave it to the Ravenclaws, hm?" Lylia shared a smile with the shy one.

The Ravenclaw lad guided the group to one of the Great Hall's fireplaces, tossing a handful of the dust inside his pouch into the fire. "Diagon Alley!
"Alright, you first, Malfoy," Talem nodded the male Slytherin to the spiraling green flames. "Show them there's nothing to it."
Casting Talem one last puzzled look at the outspoken conversation, Draco gave Kayla's hand a squeeze and stepped casually into the emerald inferno upon releasing her.
"You next, Hartland," Talem nodded her onward. After Kayla had gone through, her breath held with every step, the Ravenclaw looked at his housemate.
"Lylia? Are you ready…?"
"Heh. Me, worried? Bah… Don't be silly…" The blonde's cheeks were a distinct pink as she rubbed the back of her neck, trotting past and hopping hesitantly into the fire.
Talem's following chuckling was interrupted as he caught sight of a certain individual across the room. Elden Lesperance's violet-hued eyes glared steadily into Talem's caramel orbs, intimidating and dangerous.
The younger Ravenclaw boy swallowed nervously, his long fringe clouding his vision as he bowed his head and followed the other three into the green fire and out to the crowded streets of Diagon Alley.

Kayla was still amazed by the time the entire quartet had assembled, her gaze overwhelmed in the tumult of the sheer activity. Stores and shoppers decorated the cobblestone and brickwork, loosing their contents between each other. Talem managed to grab Lylia before she could wander off.
"I have your class lists from McGonagall and the money she's giving you two for supplies," he explained as he handed over a scroll and pouch of coins to each of the girls. "She wanted me to pass on the message that you each now have a Gringotts vault. Malfoy and I will go there now to get some more for you two to spend throughout the week and for other things. Meet back here at noon for Ollivander's. Alright?"
"Sure," Kayla waved the males off with her free hand, unrolling her scroll with her other.
Lylia looked about the famous Alley with a wary form of surprise, unfamiliar with the crowds of people. "Where do you wanna go first?"
A single grin spread Kayla's lips. "Brooms." The pair made their way to Quality Quidditch Supplies, Kayla dragging Lylia by the hand. The splendor of the delight found only in this once-imaginary sport washed over Kayla in a wave as she ran inside, her eyes roaming over every robe and broom and glove and book.
"Robes first!" she chimed and dashed away up the stairs to the long sheets of adorning fabric. A short, rotund clerk behind the register downstairs saw the dash of black and green take off up the stairs and decided to investigate before things got out of hand.
"May I help you dearies with anything?" she asked engagingly to the duo as she found them with Kayla staring around in awe.
Lylia pawed awkwardly through a line of black, velvet robes. "Yeah, we're looking for robes-"
"Well, this is exactly a great place to look for them!" the petite lady grabbed Kayla by the waist and practically hurled the poor girl into a dressing room. Lylia ran quickly into the neighboring one before she could receive the same treatment.
"What colours are you looking for, loves?" the stout attendant asked them.
"Well, we each need some casual and some Quidditch ones," Lylia trailed off hesitantly…

After much pain at the hands of their exuberant cashier, the two girls exited the store with a shared grimace.
"Scary," Lylia mumbled.
"Bloody scary," agreed Kayla.
"Books next," Lylia seized her chance to steer the journey away from the fearful woman waving at them happily from the store window, Kayla not minding in the slightest as she adjusted her new Quidditch gloves.

Flourish and Blotts held for them a wide variety of every possible textbook they could reluctantly acquire.
"So what classes are you signed up for?" asked Kayla of her companion as they wandered the maze of classroom reading materials.
"Uh, Defense Against the Dark Arts; Care of Magical Creatures; Divination; Potions; Charms…"
"Sweet! I have Transfiguration, Charms, Quidditch, Care of Magical Creatures, Defense Against the Dark Arts." Kayla proceeded to pocket her class list.

"Aw, man," Lylia blinked as she examined her own list upon departure from Flourish and Blotts and a stop at a smoothie stand. "I have to go to 'The Apothecary'…?"
"Dude. It smells awful in there," Kayla laughed innocently into a pineapple smoothie she had acquired along the way.
"Great," sighed Lylia.

Snape sighed heavily, trudging down Diagon Alley to The Apothecary. Melinda was not far behind him, talking uproariously as they neared the rear of the establishment.
"I mean, it wasn't even my fault! SHE insulted ME! There was nothing fair ABOUT it!"
Severus Snape was not a patient man, but he managed to last quite a few minutes of this until reaching the safety of the store's back door.
"I understand that your level of intelligence would lead you to pour out all your problems to me," he stated over his shoulder as he vanished inside and slammed the door shut behind him. "But you must learn this: I really could not care less."

The Apothecary was a miserable store huddled along one side of the Alley. Lylia winced upon seeing its carbuncled blot among the cheerful shops. "So that's the place?"
"Have fun," chuckled Kayla teasingly as she picked off the last bits of pineapple smoothie from the bottom of her cup and waved goodbye to her best friend while leaning against the poor store's wall. Lylia made a face as she went inside, her stomach beginning to twist at the horrid scent assailing her within.
"I didn't… imagine it would be this bad," she wheezed between a few gags, crouching down in the dusky room. A pale hand took her arm and dragged her up to her feet once more, looping through her arm and beginning to guide her through the store. She kept her watering blue eyes focused on the floor as her unknown helper guided her, her mind distractedly noticing the shepherd placing different ingredients into her bag as they went along.

Kayla canted her head as Lylia stumbled out of the shop, and so the concerned friend went to kneel at her side upon the blonde's collapse. "Hey! Are you alright?"
"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Lylia coughed in an attempt to clear her throat of the awful scent. "Someone helped me and such... They paid and everything…"
"Awfully nice stranger," was all Kayla said as she raised her eyebrows.

"I think that's about everything," the Slytherin girl beamed as the pair trekked one last time along the roads. "Except for pets!"
"We'll be going to the Menagerie, then." Lylia pointed out the animal store in question and led her friend to it. "I don't need any other pets than Shadow, but you'll probably want one…"
"A snake!" Kayla made the decision instantaneously as they slipped in, her feet taking her off to the back wall where rows of terrariums poised themselves. "I definitely want a snake!"
"I think… I'm going to look at bridles…" Lylia tore her gaze away from a white rabbit turning itself into a hat and started to examine the other merchandise.
"Are you going to go after the kelpie?" Kayla cast her a worried glance even while taking a venomous reptile from its tank.
Lylia said nothing, confirming her friend's concerns, but she strolled to the snakes as well.
"I wonder what kind you are," Kayla crooned to the expansive snake coiled around her.
"That's… a king cobra," Lylia took a small step back. "It's the largest venomous snake in the world."
"Other than a basilisk?" the brunette teased as she pet the obsidian creature hugging her. "I wonder what to name her… Something dark…"
Lylia paid for both the snake and a black bridle decorated with gothic crosses, the expenses covered with some of the money McGonagall had personally bestowed unto them. "There's always the Greek word for night… 'Nyx.'"
"Nyx," Kayla smiled endearingly down into her newest friend's cage as they headed to the wand shop. "I like that…"

Malfoy watched Talem thoughtfully as they went to Gringotts and were waiting to be escorted to the girls' vaults. "Kyker," he spoke up.
"Yes, Malfoy?" The boy's nature was shy and demure once more, his thin arms folded.
"I am most surprised by you being so conversational to your housemate." Draco made the approach casual, examining the cards on which the vault numbers were recorded. "Last year, when you were new, you didn't speak a word."
"You mean Lylia, then," the younger boy let his bangs fall before his eyes as he smiled wanly. "Is that it?"
"I simply want to understand why you've changed. Don't pull Ravenclaw paranoia out on me."
"It's nothing quite so complex," Talem smiled gently across the bank, gaze focused ahead. "I simply understand that she felt lost and alone that first night at dinner. She's given me such a sincere friend. Also, she was injured when I first met her."
"But to bind her wound yourself?" Draco grilled him all the more as they withdrew a few pouches of galleons from each vault.
"I have nothing to hide. I find Lylia to be kind and sweet." The Ravenclaw emerged with his affiliate from the bank, and they made their way together to Ollivander's. "I do not, however, hold the same sentiments for the man antagonizing her."
This caught Draco's attention.
"And who do you believe that to be?"
"That popular Ravenclaw in your year, with that dyed blonde hair… Lesperance." Talem no longer made eye contact with Draco, just watching the street ahead of them. "Lylia must have spited him somehow, but… He's taken to hassling me now in her place… Maybe it's because of my friendship with her. A strength he'd rather not let her have…
"But such is silly," he smiled bashfully to the Slytherin, waving as the two girls came into their view. "Hogwarts has been my home for over a year now. I'm in perfectly safe walls."

Together the four students met with the renowned wandmaker Ollivander.
"If you'd be so kind as to let me see your wands," he offered the two females, "I'll be able to analyze them for you."
Kayla drew hers first and placed it in the pair of waiting, aged hands. Ollivander gave it a good look-over, flicking it occasionally.
"It's a very rich-quality wand," he commented to her with a note of pleasure. "Thirteen inches exactly, with a dragon heartstring."
"Made in China?" asked Lylia good-naturedly.
"Made from a sturdy, dark oak tree," Ollivander corrected her. With a wave of the wand, individual sparks of flame began to spurt from the wandtip and spiral down in slow circles. "These marks here, on its held end, are runes engraved as symbols for flame."
Kayla held it with a new reverence once it was handed back to her.
"Yours next, Miss." Ollivander looked over at Lylia.
The blonde brought out her wand, watching it roll between her fingertips ponderously. The thin strip of wood had already saved her life, and she knew nothing about it. She wordlessly handed it over.
"Fourteen inches… Spruce whitewood. The core is a kelpie tailhair." Ollivander peered closely at the albicant wand. Lylia turned white as well.
"Kelpie…?"
Ollivander paid her no mind, just going on in his study. "These patterns of black embossing it… They're in the shape of chervils."
"What are chervils?" Lylia posed her second question.
"Flowers," he responded as he returned to her the wand. "They represent mental depression due to their origin as an aid for such an ailment…" He flicked the stick, casting small glimmers of silver in a leisurely wave down from the wand.
"That's very cheery. Thank you," Lylia took her means of both a weapon and a shield back guardedly, immediately pocketing it again.

"That's the end of today's adventure, then," Malfoy slid a hand into Kayla's as the two witches and two wizards made their way to the Leaky Cauldron for a Floo trip back to the castle.
"We still have a few days before Hogsmeade," Kayla reminded him. "It's barely even the middle of the week."
The quiet Cauldron welcomed them in and left them a clear path to the fire, where Talem drew out his small bag of Floo Powder. They departed from the calm buzz of Neville Longbottom's patrons and reentered the Great Hall.
"Looks like this place isn't very busy either," noted Lylia.
"That's because lunch is already over." Malfoy resisted the urge to point out the obviousness of it all.
Talem just smiled behind a hand, caramel eyes twinkling.

For the first time since her Hogwarts start, Lylia Letum arrived at dinner on time.
The same could not be said for Melinda's appetite, though the girl herself reappeared.

The following morning, Kayla finally got to sleep in. Oh, how she loved to sleep.
The clouds over Hogwarts that next day were dark and oppressive, brooding over the castle and all the students confined within it.
"Don't be so glum," Draco drew Kayla by the hand away from a stained-glass window. "There's still a lot to do inside the castle! C'mon… Let's look around. Where did you always want to go?"
"I… think that'd be the Owlery," Kayla smiled despite herself as she was led through the long halls. She took in all the sights of birds of flight mixing about the rafters of the coop, the day's dreariness completely lost on her now.
At the same time, Lylia made her way out through a courtyard and onto the expansive, rain-sodden Grounds, lightning flashing down over the Black Lake. A black form followed her to the lakeside before it barked a command:
"Lylia Letum, do not go near a lake in the middle of a thunderstorm!"
Severus Snape was not a patient man. He stared venomously at the aurulent-haired girl as she looked to him. "You will follow me," he declared factually before turning and leading her back into the establishment.

Talem intercepted Kayla at lunchtime, finding her sitting with Draco at the Ravenclaw table, where Lylia was apparently tardy to yet another meal.
"Hartland," he asked gently. "May I have a minute with you?"
"Sure," the Slytherin immediately agreed, wondering if it would explain Lylia's absence.
They climbed level after level of stairwell and hallway, one guiding and the other following, until Kayla was led to a nondescript door just a short distance from the stair that brought them to their current passageway.
"You have to promise that you won't tell anyone," Talem breathed happily as he put a hand on the door handle. As Kayla nodded her assent, he pushed the door open and stepped through the aperture, his company following.
The thing Kayla saw next took away her breath and left her light-headed: a beast crouched on an enormous perch in the tall room's furthest corner, the light from the expansive window beside it casting illumination on the creature's nature. It was easily ten feet long (although, by the end of its growth it should become twice that size) and was adorned half in feathers and half in scales. Both elements of its composition were of soft gray and tender white from its colubrine tail to its avian head, and a dark beak marked the countenance of this majestic flyer whose liard wings were tucked neatly to its sides.
"W…What is it?" stammered the stupefied girl.
"He is Eli," smiled Talem affectionately to the animal as he went over to it and ever-so-calmly stroked its chest feathers. "Eli's an Occamy. They're very rare to wizards, since they're mainly just sought out for their silver eggs. Come on over- he's very docile…"
Kayla allowed herself to overstep her hesitation, approaching the master and pet. Eli eyed her thoughtfully, his head giving a benign tilt to let her shaking hand brush the plumes on his neck.
"He's wonderful," she managed to say after a while, all of her anxiousness turning to admiration for the Occamy.
"Even when I didn't have any friends last year," Talem explained as he stroked the creature's flank, "Eli has been here for me… I can spend days up here with just him for company, and not miss out on a thing of Hogwarts."
Kayla looked questioningly at him. "But, Talem…? Isn't Lylia your friend too?"
"Oh, yes," the shy boy turned his aeneous gaze to the window. "I should think so. You are too, in a way… Kayla."

Lylia reappeared that evening for dinner, carrying a leather-bound book not acquired from the library. Its scribbled pages were overflowing with incantations and spells, each described in detail below the name; and Lylia rarely looked up from it to lift her fork or goblet. Talem sat beside her without a comment on the book, subdued in his dinner and avoidance of a luteous-haired man staring with great enmity at him from down the Ravenclaw table.
To add to the insular nature of all within the group, the Slytherins of it as well were quiet. Melinda made no eye contact with anyone as she ate her sparse portions, her expression pallid and hands white. Draco resigned himself to a silent meal upon realizing that Kayla was not in a loquacious mood: her mind was still filled with the glory of an airborne species to which she had just earlier been exposed, and there was little room in her mind for anything aside from the image of Eli.

The next days graced them with equal grayness, and yet again Lylia was ushered by their call outside. She kept her focus leisurely on the pages of arcane delights, across a bridge and through a field until she was disrupted by unwritten magic sailing by her head.
"IT'S A WIZARD SNIPER!" she gave a shriek and dove into the grass. "DON'T TAKE THE SHOT!"
The next thing she felt was a large man pulling her to her feet and consoling her. "There, there, take it easy. There ain't no shooter!"
"Whuzzat?" Lylia blinked as she calmed, dusting herself off.
"This is the Hufflepuff Dueling Club!" grinned the rotund student that had helped her up. His face was friendly, but his black and yellow sweater mixed badly with his stature and brought the image of a bumblebee to mind. "You might get hit if you're not careful!"
"You guys… have your own club for it?" The Ravenclaw tilted her head.
"Of course! Are you into sparring and that sort of thing? I'm Hank, by the way." He tried twirling his wand and dropped it within three seconds.
"I'm Lylia Letum," she gave him back his makeshift baton (not that anyone wants to see him in the leotard). "Nice to meet you… I never really dueled."
"Oh, you'd love it!" Hank looked as though he threatened to bounce with his jubilant disposition. "You come to us if you want a good duel!"
"Thank you for the invitation," Lylia nodded and continued on, book reopening. "I'll remember it!" The cluster of other random bumblebee impersonators waved goodbye to her as she left.
"Bloody badgers," she mumbled with a grin.

Consumed in her reading and pleasant conversations with Talem, Lylia barely registered the difference in the air as the day of the Hogsmeade celebration arrived.